There was something about suburban surroundings that had Alethea leaning against the back of Hank's chair and looking over her glasses, blinking a little rapidly, she had to let her eyes adjust to the different light; the glasses could combat against the glare of the sun to a certain degree, not acting as sunglasses but enough to be somewhat effective. Her purple hued eyes looked around the rows of houses, trees were planted here and there, wide branches spreading out and creating some shade on whoever was walking along underneath them.

All the houses looked the same, she couldn't even lie, it was like they figured out one design and thought they nailed it and went with it; there was nothing different really about any of the houses, other than maybe the door colours and letterboxes outside, it was all so uniform she found herself raising an eyebrow. She hadn't been within such surroundings for years, leaving home and then living with Charles, it wasn't like the apartment in Oxford was conventional, it was crammed with so many of his books it was ridiculous.

Yes, the apartment blocks all looked the same, but the three who dwelt there then found themselves within a CIA base, Alethea remembered the horrid white decor with disgust. What was with people finding one avenue for design and sticking to it? It was so unbelievably dull and boring. The point was that having stayed within the school for the last many years, she had forgotten what suburban life looked like.

Drab, primarily was what was coming to mind. Just, even the people busying around looked like they were on autopilot. Was this what the quiet life was like? She had memories of being back home with her grandparents, and though those were simple times, they were happy times; perspective, her life was anything but normal, but these people's lives were and perhaps they were content with just that?

She didn't mean to appear rude or judgemental, she had been a shut in for a while and the outside world hadn't changed all too much, she was both curious as she was disappointed that it was just meh. That the few times she did go out shopping with Hank, not much had changed within the world then either, and it was much the same as it was now, people were walking about minding their own business, getting on with their day to day lives without much worry to what their neighbours was up to.

Leaning her chin against the chair, she didn't mean to look suddenly disheartened, but she did. It was like she was expecting to go on this sudden adventure and everything would be new, fresh and exciting. Where Peter lived just looked so normal, she couldn't help but wonder whether Logan had the right address, or even the right person. Although, it wasn't like she wasn't hiding within plain sight with her grandparents, was it? Sometimes the best place to hide was in plain sight.

"Here, here. Just up here," Logan seemingly recognised the area, he sat forwards and leaned against the back of Charles's chair. Alethea just flicked her eyes around, the house they were pulling up to looked like the rest, the lawn was perfectly trimmed, the hedgerow the same height as others around them, it looked nice enough.

"All right, all right. Don't get excited," Charles waved Logan away, even more so his hand reaching forwards and pointing to the house they were going to. Charles's disregard of the steering wheel had Hank almost reaching over again, he didn't only because Charles pressed down on the brakes, the squeaking noise made Hank wince and for Alethea to peer over and down into the footwell.

"Next time, I'm driving, all right?" Logan was more than happy to open the car door and get out, standing and keeping the door open he nodded Alethea's way. She left her bag where it was, not that there was anything valuable in it, so no one on a suburban street was likely to break into a rental and take it. She could've just got out her side, but who was she to deny such a gentlemanly act of having a door opened for her?

"You'll have to pry him away, remember?" Alethea climbed out, she straightened her top out, slipping gloves onto her hands that she had plucked from her bag before scooting along the seats to get out of the car.

"Believe me, I'll do just that." Logan shut the door perhaps with more force than necessary and received a laugh from her while she tightened the tie keeping her hair up, and slipped her glasses quickly onto her face.

"I can hear you both, my driving wasn't that bad." Charles climbed out and shut the door with more care, unlike Logan.

The pair turned and looked at him, both with frowns on their faces, evidently, they didn't agree. Which was fine, and accurate, seems each time Charles decided to have a lead foot and press too hard on the brake, they would get slight whiplash from it. In the back it was a bumpy ride with Charles driving, not smooth at all, primarily just because of how much he loved to hit the brakes too hard.

"I can't drive, and even I could do better." Alethea waved her hands in the air and eventually slid them into her back jean pockets, she'd left her jacket in the car too, not quite seeing the point of taking it seems they were about to go inside someone's home.

"We've been through this, remember?" Charles pushed his glasses up his nose when they slid a little from him looking about himself. "You'd do more damage or hurt yourself, and I couldn't have that."

Alethea inhaled and looked from Hank and Logan then back at Charles. "Can you let one of them drive back?"

"No promises," Charles said with a wry smile, he put an arm around her shoulders and looked up at the house before them, the white brickwork stood out against the black facings which accentuated the framework of the windows. "This feels a little familiar, doesn't it?" He asked sounding distant, a lingering sadness in his voice as he looked at Alethea.

"Yeah, a little." She agreed, she had often travelled with Charles to go and search for people who'd be wanting to enrol in the school. Most times the parents were more than acceptant that their child gets help from someone who knew how to help. Other times there was ignorance, and they were told to leave. It could go either way really, just like now, they could approach Peter and ask for his help, and he could either say yes or no and ask them to leave.

"Well, let's get this over with then." Charles patted her arm and slipped his arm from her shoulders and took to walking forwards.

With a gentle sigh, Alethea walked after him, she had noticed a curtain twitch in some of the neighbouring houses which had her frowning a little. She had forgotten what neighbours could be like, and she couldn't lie they did all look equally suspicious as a group appearing as they did and walking towards the house. She didn't know what the neighbours presumed was happening, but she could guess they'd formulate anything and then gossip about it to each other.

"What do we do if we get a no?" Charles was standing at the back of the group with Alethea, he looked away from just staring at the street stretching out beyond their car, to look over his glasses at her. He regretted that; it wasn't overly sunny but it was bright enough for him to wince. She stood rocking slowly back and forth on her heels waiting for him to answer.

"Then I guess we think on our feet." Charles looked quickly to the side when Logan's knocking on the door became a little more urgent, it wasn't like they couldn't hear a television playing within the building, so someone was clearly in.

Alethea just frowned, that was an awful response she felt. She was going to tell him as such but the door opened, her mouth shut and she looked towards a rather startled looking brunette. There was something about her expression though that also just seemed like she was expecting company. "What's he done now? I'll just write you a check for whatever he took." She sounded resigned, that's what it was, it dawned on Alethea, the woman just seemed to have done this routine so many times that she was just repeating perhaps the same words over and over, just to different people.

Hank and Logan just exchanged a look, both appearing as confused as the other, clearly it wasn't the greeting either of them were expecting while Charles just looked inwards at the woman and the home behind her, Alethea just sighed. "We just need to talk to him," Logan said firmly enough, it wasn't a total lie, they were here to see and to chat to Peter.

There was a slow nod, she didn't seem to debate on the statement for very long before turning and letting them inside. "Peter, the cops are here, again!" She called out over her shoulder, she clearly had done this before, though Charles got a look from Alethea which he responded to with a frown.

"You'd be the weirdest looking cop, ever." She stated with a quiet chuckle, he tried to look offended and, in the end, just shook his head. Well, she wasn't entirely lying, out of all of them the only one who could perhaps pull it off was Logan, and that was purely because of the general aura around him and how he carried himself. Alethea didn't want to say intimidating, because she didn't find him to be like that, but he could clearly put himself across like that.

The sounds of a ping pong ball being repeatedly hit reached their ears before they even fully entered downstairs, when they did it was clear the last thing, they expected was to watch a one-man match. Peter, the silver haired teen living in the basement in his Pink Floyd t-shirt was evidently having fun wasting time and trying to burn off energy by playing ping pong by himself. It was an easy enough feat to achieve, seeing as how in a blink of an eye he could be at one side of the table and then the other.

"What do you guys want? I didn't do anything. I've been here all day," Peter simply explained, disappearing and letting the little white ball drop lifelessly to the table before appearing relaxing in a chair.

"Relax, Peter. We're not cops." Logan looked to the lounging teen; he was definitely different to how he remembered him. It seemed like this was a thing, meeting people who he knew, but were younger and or around when he thought otherwise.

"Of course you're not cops. If you were cops, you wouldn't be driving a rental car." Peter simply kicked one of his feet to cross his legs at the ankles, his hands came up and rested behind his head as he looked over the group, they were strange, he didn't quite understand what they were doing in his home, but here they were.

"How'd you know we've got a rental car?" Charles couldn't help but ask, his idea to ditch their own car for a rental was to stay off the radar. Well, that seemingly was going great, just great.

"I checked your registration when you were walking to the door. I also had some time to kill, so I went through your rental agreement and saw you're from out of town. Are you FBI?" Peter explained with ease, no struggle here with how to reply to Charles as he looked the group over and frowned a little, they weren't the police, that much he had gathered, but another organisation? Peter tilted his head, well, he didn't know much about the FBI or agents, but they could've been them. "Nope, you're not cops. Hey, what's with this gifted youngster place?" Before Charles could even process what had happened, his wallet was taken from his pocket and Peter was going through it and found a business card.

"That's an old card," Charles looked about, perplexed putting it lightly, perhaps even a little annoyed as he walked over and retrieved his wallet from where Peter left it.

"Why, he's fascinating." Hank, much like anyone else who was a mutant, found interest in other's mutations. He hadn't seen someone with Peter's skills yet, at least he didn't think he had.

"He's a pain in the arse." Charles quipped back without a second's delay. There was a lot of energy in Peter, he couldn't sit still and was clearly always on the move.

"What, a teleporter?" Hank looked Logan's way, this was someone Logan knew, so seeing as how Peter had apparently left the room for a moment, he decided to just ask the man who bought them here what Peter's mutation was.

"No, he's just fast. And when I knew him, he wasn't so...young." Logan placed his hands on his hips and replied, it was the truth, this Peter had to be late teens, early 20s at best. Hearing the sound of the ping pong ball bounce off the table, he cast a look Alethea's way, she smiled awkwardly, well he couldn't help but definitely feel like this was a theme now.

"Young? You're just old." Peter's voice came from behind them, most of the lollipop ice cream in his hands finished as his dark eyes looked amongst them.

"So, you're not afraid to show your powers?" Hank asked curiously, perhaps even a little hesitantly. Sometimes people were like that, unashamed to be blatantly on show, then other times hidden away and not wanting to be seen at all. It could go either way, depending on the power, and on the person.

"Powers? What powers? What are you talking about? Do you see something strange here? Nothing anybody would believe if you told them." Peter had the foresight to at least play ignorant as he finished his ice cream and looked incredulously up at Hank and shrugged. "So, who are you, and what do you want?" He disappeared and reappeared near the arcade game in the corner of the room. Pong was basic as basic could be, but he happily wasted time speedily playing it.

"Please...let me have a go," at least he was playing it until he noticed in the reflection of the games screen the female of the group appear beside him.

"Sure, but just a warning: you won't beat my high score." Peter got a happy look sent his way before relinquishing the controls. He tilted his head, it was strange to watch other people play, they were so slow at it.

"Well, if I played this a lot, like you clearly do, I think I'd have a record high score too." Was the reply, accompanied with a grin, "But I'll give it a good go."

"Good luck, you'll need it." Peter crossed his arms and just frowned, it wasn't the hardest game because of how absolutely basic it was, but she wouldn't reach his score, he knew that much. "Why are you with these guys? They seem super...you know?"

"Weird?" Was the offered word, from the corner of her glasses her eyes flicked his way, Peter hadn't met someone with purple eyes before and he just found himself slowly nodding.

"We can hear you," Charles hated to state this again, but they were literally across the room, neither were particularly quiet though they tried to be, their whispering was awfully loud still.

"Sure, we'll go with weird." Peter just ignored Charles and opted to agree with the girl playing his arcade game.

"They're my friends and family." The reply was simple and easy to give, no struggle or no hint of a lie there at all in her voice. "Oops," wincing when she failed to hit the little white dot to the other side, she turned and gestured to the game. "Go on then, show me how it's done, pro." She stood next to him, arms crossed behind her back and watching as he easily and speedily played the game. She had no chance to beat his score, not with how he played.

Shaking his head, and just opting to inwardly accept that these two would be the most endless energy duo ever, Logan decided to get the topic back on track. "We need your help, Peter."

"For what?" He sounded like he wasn't wholly paying attention, his eyes unblinkingly staring at the screen in front of him as the sounds from it made for a constant background noise.

"To break into a highly secured facility and get someone out." Logan wasn't going to mention that place being the Pentagon, but he felt that his explanation was enough to at least garner Peter's attention.

"Prison break? That's illegal, you know." He nodded his head, finding it somewhat amusing what was being put across to him.

Logan looked about the room, a confused noise coming from him as Charles and Hank did the same. So, Peter's room was conventional at best, it could be like other teenagers his age, band posters and film ones too on the walls. Little trinkets here and there, even the arcade game, sure it took up a lot of space, but it wasn't totally out of place with the other bits and pieces he had scattered about. However, and this is where Peter's room differed, his room was filled with boxes, and boxes, rows and rows of stuff. Food, lots of sweets, chocolate, electrical devices, anyone could name something and chances are, Peter would have it here.

"Well, only if you get caught." Logan had, perhaps like the others, come to the realisation that Peter had a little penchant for thievery. Hence why his mother was perhaps used to people always coming to speak with the teenager down here, or rather, why she instantly just offered them a check.

"So, what's in it for me?" Peter was curious, the prospect was interesting but he didn't want it to be a one-sided thing.

"You, you kleptomaniac, get to break into the Pentagon." Charles said tiredly, he took his glasses off and rubbed at his eyes. He didn't think that the person they were seeking would be such hard work, no offence to Peter, but he was really tiring Charles out.

Peter turned, totally not missing the excited expression on the female's face beside him. As much as his own eyes lit up, he tried to downplay it, after all this could still be a trap or a ploy. "How do I know I can trust you?" Peter looked the guests over.

"'Cause we're just like you," Logan replied simply, surely by now Peter had figured it out that they weren't just normal humans coming for a chat about something he had supposedly stollen. In this room, that could've been any number of things.

Peter still looked a little uncertain, his eyes did flick to Charles and Hank before Charles just nodded Logan's way. Seems he was the one who was going to do show and tell, he removed a hand from his hips and held it up. Peter's head just tilted as his eyes watched as Logan's claws shifted until his skin before appearing out of his knuckles. He looked a little awkward, shrugging one-sidedly as he nodded Logan's way. "That's cool, but disgusting." He was honest enough, like that really did make his expression turn.

Leaving Peter's home, the small group had to wait near the car while he said bye to his little sister and explain where he was going to his mother. To be honest, neither of them knew if he was telling her the truth or coming up with some elaborate lie that she was likely to see through. Either way he soon came jogging out, silver jacket pulled on and goggles resting against his equally silver toned hair. He looked over the car they were all about to pile into and pulled a face, it wasn't the best rental they could've got, surely?

As promised, Logan did manage to pry Charles from the steering wheel, he sat in the middle of the front seat looking dejected. The front could sit them three comfortably while Peter and Alethea took the back, chewing gum and letting it grow into a bubble when he blew into it, he soon had Alethea looking his way. She'd taken her glasses and gloves off so the full force of her purple eyes staring his way had him cheekily grinning and reaching into his jacket to offer her some gum.

She held up her hands and rummaged in her bag and offered him a sweet in return. Peter's eyes lit up, the pair exchanged, him taking his gum out for a moment to eat the sweet and her take a gum and took to blowing bubbles. Each time it popped Charles in front of them flinched, there was a quick look shared between the pair before Peter blew a bubble too. Charles looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses.

They were doing that on purpose, and he damn well knew it. They did too! Especially by the looks on their faces, stopping at traffic lights had even Logan staring blankly over his shoulder at them. He was at least pleased to see his earlier musings were right, these two were going to be a nightmare of a friendship; Peter was endless energy because he simply couldn't help it, he was always moving fast and everyone and everything around him was so slow. Alethea was powered by energy which was kept under control by sheer willpower and a sense of calm that always radiated around her. But put the two together? All that energy in one place, blowing bubbles with gum and cheekily looking as innocent as they could, which wasn't at all when someone shot them a displeased look, was just a terribly bad combination.

It also didn't help they were having competitions on who could blow the biggest bubble and when it failed there was laughter. They were bouncing off of each other's energy in such a way that it was just instant, and though it should be annoying, it was clear after a while that Charles just smiled and shook his head. A small smile was playing on his face, Logan had caught it lingering there, he may have found Peter annoying, but he couldn't fault the teen for making his sister laugh, actually laugh like she was having fun. He couldn't remember the last time he had heard her sound like that, her laughter had been so cynical and hollow for years.

Alethea wanted to know people, especially get to know what mutations someone had and what was the limit of them; it didn't wholly surprise Logan at all that she had gelled with Peter quickly. When it went silent, the three in the front got a little suspicious before it was clearly known that Peter had given her one of his Walkman's headphones, they sat listening to some mixtape he had made, both nodding along, Alethea even miming the song with over exaggerated hand movements and expressions which had Peter laughing and at least joining in a little.

"Have you ever done something like this before?" Peter asked, he had broken into many places but all those places had rubbish security. He wasn't nervous, well maybe he was a little, but the group around him seemed so collected.

"Nope," Alethea said, she looked at him with a sympathetic smile. He was the one who was going to be in the thick of it. She didn't blame him if he was feeling a little hesitant the closer, they were getting to the Pentagon. She blinked and missed him each time he moved, as long as he kept like that no one would be able to catch him.

"That didn't reassure me," Peter said while fiddling with his headphones, they weren't far off so Alethea gave him the one he loaned back.

Looking him over, she sighed and looked out of the window, watching people pass, she shook her head and turned in her seat. "I have done scary things, seen scary people, but whatever happens in there Peter, trust me when I say if you are in trouble, if things go bad, I will try everything to get to you, and get you back home." Alethea said while looking at him honestly, she sounded it too hoping that he would believe her, she wouldn't leave him behind, he had a family to go back to when this was all done with, and she would not see him not returning and leaving a gaping hole in their lives.

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that," Charles turned in his seat the most he could and looked back at the pair, they stopped looking at each other and glanced his way. "We'll be fine."

"Do you honestly believe that?" Peter asked, Charles's expression said otherwise, even his tone was flat sounding. Peter got the sense that even he was expecting something to go wrong, he just didn't want to think on what that thing was.

"I have to, or else we won't succeed here." Charles stated, he didn't want to get Erik out, he still had conflicted feelings there, but he had to believe that they would manage to get him out of his cell, or else what would be the point of them even being here? If they didn't do this, Logan's future was going to be theirs, and those that are in the car with him now, Charles would no doubt watch systematically die, one after the other in different ways.

"So, what's the plan then?" Peter just decided to change the subject, so far in their journey here no one had actually said what they intended to do. He looked from the front three passengers to Alethea, she seemed just as lost, he was glad it wasn't just him.

Alethea could guess, Peter needed to get to Erik's basement cell, but the rest of them would no doubt have to split up, it seemed like just that was going to happen. Logan and Charles would get to the nearest access point elevator for Erik's cell, Peter would find his way down below and get to him while Hank and Alethea would pose as visitors, Hank had kept a little device secreted away until they exited the car and explained it could hack into the feeds of the cameras within the building.

"Wonder if there's a gift shop..."

"Thea," Charles turned, stopping walking away from their car and looking at her while he pulled his jacket on. She at least tried to look confused, though her eyes flicked around suspiciously. "This isn't a day trip, remember?"

"Everyone loves a gift shop." Alethea shrugged; Peter stood beside her nodding his head thoughtfully. She pointed her thumb his way, Charles just rolled his eyes and turned away to continue walking. He wasn't entertaining them; they had a working plan and they needed to get to it. "Logan?" Alethea reached out and grasped onto his arm, the leather of his jacket felt cold under her palm where he'd just left it in the back of the car for most of this journey. He at least paused taking a step and looked at her curiously, even with his glasses on she could see his eyes look her over worried she was getting cold feet too. "Look after Charles. Please, just...make sure he doesn't do something stupid and gets himself hurt. I'm not asking you to be a human shield, but just...you know?" Alethea asked sounding awkward, she wasn't very good at asking for favours but the thought of Charles going in there without his powers and getting hurt made her stomach turn.

"Keep an eye on him, yeah?" Logan asked while gently prying her hand from his arm and urging her forwards, they weren't that far behind the others but considering Charles had this sixth sense if they were discussing something privately, Logan wouldn't be surprised to see him turn and look suspiciously their way. He didn't, thankfully, instead he was trying to reassure Peter of the plan.

"There isn't much love lost between him and Erik. That's a lie...Charles misses him, and I know how Erik can be, he is a twat with a capital t. My point is that if agents don't get to him, Erik will. And that won't even be physical, he can just speak...that'll be enough."

"Are you asking me to stop your brother from starting a fight?" Logan raised an eyebrow, he shouldn't find humour in this, but it was amusing to him. The fact a slow chuckle came from him had Alethea hitting his arm gently, she looked offended. "Sorry," Logan inhaled slowly, she still glared at her, the glasses making her eyes a sharp green, she still looked annoyed. "Charles, in the future spends a lot of time telling me to get along with those around us. Admittedly I may get into more fights than needed, it's just ironic to see the tables turned." Logan decided to explain why he found it funny, hopefully that'd stop her glaring at him.

"Not people friendly, Logan?" Alethea readjusted her denim jacket and tilted her head to look up at him, she did just measure slightly to his shoulders so her head did have to tilt at a silly angle.

"Selective, it's called being selective." Logan corrected her pointedly, sue him for wanting to spend time with those he truly cared for and got along with above others.

"But I suppose, yes. I am asking you to make sure he doesn't start a stupid fight." Alethea thought about it, not that she thought Charles could do much damage, he was never much of a fighter...

"I'll see what I can do. No promises though," Logan said while they paused and looked at the building before them, it was definitely larger than what Alethea ever guessed, as ridiculous as that was to say.

"Just do your best, I'm sure that'll be fine." Alethea smiled gently, looking away from him and just eyeing the building up. Erik was in there somewhere, just her eyes travelled down to the ground, he was so far down. Somehow the magnitude of how far down Peter would have to go hit her, she looked at him, Peter just tilted and nodded his head. It seemed like he was summing up everything here and getting ready for what he had to do.

Crossing the road and entering, it was hard not to feel the shift in atmosphere, Alethea had the same feeling when she entered the CIA building and base, it just felt different; this tension held in the air, suited men and women walking about working, not paying mind to the small tours that were available. Her eyes looked around the foyer though, cameras were situated in most corners and she hoped Hank's little device would work.

"Logan?" He turned in the queue and looked back at Alethea when she quietly said his name. "Be careful too." Alethea had a feeling he'd be fine, but even still, she couldn't very well show worry for her brother and not Logan, she didn't want either to get hurt she just wanted to make that clearly known.

Watching the person in front sign up for the visitor card to clip onto themselves, he didn't know when they cut in because Charles, Hank and wherever Peter had gone were already sorted. To be honest, he had probably already run off to hide somewhere until he needed to move. No one would notice him go, because he would've been so quick. "Are you worried about me, Thea?" Logan couldn't help but sound amused, Alethea smiled and held her forefinger and thumb together with a small gap between them. "I'll be fine, thanks though." He nodded forwards and let her go first to get her visitor card, he got a thankful smile before she walked over to the group and had Charles looking at her suspiciously.

The rest of the tour group were almost buzzing with excitement, to walk in this building and to learn a little from it and what it held and did was something of great interest to everyone but them. Everyone in the group was calm enough though, the lady who was doing the tour introduced herself and directed a hand to follow her down a corridor.

"Build in 1943, the Pentagon is the world's largest office building, housing more than 25,000 military employees." She said, the sentence rolling off of her tongue with ease as she clearly had to say this sentence many times a day.

The group held back at the tour, credit to them they had tried to at least look less suspicious then, well, what they could before; Charles had bought a change of clothes, he had hunted out a suit from his closet before they first set off to find Peter. He had speedily got changed halfway through their journey to the Pentagon, even if that did mean finding a public toilet somewhere and doing a speedy change. He looked like he could fit in here, if he at least cut his hair, but he had combed it somewhat even if Alethea had to say it still looked like pure bed hair.

Hank and his disguise was purely just wearing a hat, it covered most of his features quite well because of the wide brim of it, he had pulled his blue jacket on too not that he had any real reason to wear it other than to just try and hide as much of himself as possible. Logan hadn't changed, didn't have a change of clothes, and it was clear he didn't care if he was caught on camera or not, he just breezed down the corridor looking around the beige walls with a certain level of disinterest.

Alethea hadn't changed either, all she had done was make sure she had her gloves, glasses and her jacket on. Much like Hank, the coat was just to try and further disguise herself. She wasn't cold, it was rare she felt cold, but she ended up linking an arm with Charles as the pair walked about looking around, trying to look like everyone else in the tour group.

In fact, Alethea was holding on, just keeping him close until him and Logan parted ways from them, she was worried for him, how could she not be? This was the most time he had been out the school, let alone sober; but here he was about to break Erik out from his cell, and confront him after years. Alethea trusted Logan though, Charles and him were good friends in the future, so why wouldn't Logan keep an eye on Charles now?

She felt a little silly for asking him to do so, but also the worry bubbling away in her had her having to ask him. Hearing children asking about the toilets seemed like a collective signal, especially seems there was a set of stairs looming. Charles took Alethea's hand from his arm, kissed her knuckles and nudged her to walk beside Hank, Hank looked at Charles when he patted him on the back and Alethea stepped close to him.

"Well, here we go, huh?" She asked nervously and quietly, Hank's eyes looked about worriedly, he was hoping them diverting wasn't seen, thankfully they weren't. "They will be okay, right?"

"Yeah, yeah...they'll be fine." Hank nodded slowly; he didn't sound certain but neither did she as they exchanged a worried look.

"I feel like I'm about to throw up."

"Please don't." Hank would rather her not, and he'd rather have not known that information. She did look pale, well, paler than usual and he guessed it was nerves kicking in. He was worried too, of course he was, this could end in absolute failure, literally a die trying kind of thing, he got her concern because he felt it too, it was like this unbearable weight pressing down on him.

"I hope you don't mind, Hank. But I am going to hold onto you," Alethea said while linking an arm with one of his, Hank wasn't an overly personal person, not that he hated being touched but it was also best she found to tell him beforehand; that way he didn't tense up and react like she'd just scorched him.

"It's fine, come on." Hank tried his best reassuring voice and got a watery smile for it while the group paused at something and then continued on. As inconspicuous as possible, he reached within the little bag around his waist and pulled out the device he had made. Turning it on and slowly rotating the dial, he just looked up from it and around at the people that were enjoying the tour.

"What did you set it to?" Alethea was curious, she couldn't help it, she didn't quite know how most of the things worked that Hank made, but she would always have plenty of time to listen to him explain what they are, what they did, if they failed then why did they. He knew she didn't quite follow, but he appreciated sometimes having someone to listen to him when Charles was shut away.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. But whatever it is, I hope they're enjoying the show." Hank admitted with a small smile growing on his face, it could be anything, the news, a soap drama, movie even; he hadn't a clue, he just wished it was something half entertaining for the guards to distract them long enough and slow them down enough until they fixed the issue. Though he wished them luck with that one.

"We never discussed an exit plan." Alethea whispered, it suddenly hit her, they got in, how were they getting out? She sounded even more worried than she did moments ago.

"To be honest, I don't know about the rest, but we can go through the front door." Well with any luck they could, truth be told Hank didn't know what the exit plan was. The fact he was winging it too had Alethea tightening her hold on his arm as the lady guide was talking about some painting, they'd all stopped at. Alethea hadn't really been listening to the tour, she was too busy thinking of little bits and pieces.

She hoped Peter had managed to get to Erik; little did she know he'd disguised himself as a guard, had got to Erik's cell and even broken him out. Even as Hank turned another switch on the device in his hand, the pair were currently coming up in an elevator. She didn't know where Logan and Charles were, they had actually got to the kitchen within the Pentagon, the sprinkler systems had just come on, thanks to Hank's device, and currently the staff were running about confused and wet.

That seemed to be going relatively fine until a couple of guards at the elevator started questioning Charles just who himself and Logan were. Logan had to give credit to Charles and his gift of rambling absolute rubbish, but even he could see the guards reaching for their guns not believing a word that came from Charles's mouth.

The guards came down with a severe case of saucepans to the face and being knocked out, Logan had had enough of just standing there getting wet and getting ready to get shot at, so he stroke first. "Oh, I'm sorry. Were you finished?" He turned; sarcastic tone of voice easily heard over the pattering of the sprinklers while pointing down at the guard nearest to him. Logan didn't believe Charles had any of this situation under control, and it didn't get much better once he found the elevator key and Erik was before him.

So much for not allowing Charles to do something stupid, because he went and punched Erik the first chance he got. Logan had to admit, it wasn't much of a punch, but it was equally amusing to watch the taller man go collapsing backwards. Having to be saved from being shot by Peter was something that it was clear no one saw coming, for more than one reason, they literally didn't see him move but also didn't know he would be such an asset above what they initially bought him on board for.

The moment alarms started blaring though they echoed throughout the building, the tour was escorted out of the building and Hank and Alethea looking around just diverted back to the car, they didn't know where else to go, it wasn't like they figured where they could meet. They knew their next stop was Paris, a private jet waiting for them at the nearest strip, but they had to actually get there without getting caught.

The pair were at the car, Hank sitting in the driver's seat waiting for the others and Alethea pacing about worriedly twiddling her fingers, she jumped though when two figures appeared in front of her. Peter smiled her way, a hat now on his head and Erik standing there looking a little bleary eyed. Before she could even say anything to him, Peter was gone and reappeared another two times, this time both Charles and Logan looked close to being sick.

"Souvenir," Peter pulled something out from his jacket and handed it to Alethea. The happy noise which came from her as she stuck the cap on her head had Peter grinning. They stood there enjoying their matching hats and ignored the fact they needed to go.

"Guys, come on!" Hank looked at them like they were mad just standing there exchanging looks and comments over a hat. They scrambled into the back, Erik looked absolutely confused still by everything, let alone leaning forwards in his seat and glancing Alethea's way.

"Hello!" She said, cheerily enough, too cheery considering the atmosphere in the car was heavy, Peter sat in between them with wide dark eyes, reaching around himself he pulled his headphones forwards and gave one to her. Even he got the sense that maybe talking right now wasn't needed.

Hank's driving was a little less frantic than Charles's, and he managed to weave throughout traffic enough to not speed or alert anyone to something being wrong, by the time they all pulled up on the airstrip there was a collective sigh of relief. Climbing out of the car and looking to the awaiting jet, Peter got arms put around him by Alethea, she was thankful he was in one piece, she thanked him for the hat before grabbing her bag and running up onto the jet.

Logan had seemingly got comfortable at the back, already sitting and looking like he had zero intentions of moving anytime soon, though he also looked around tensely. "Don't like flying?" Alethea paused passing him by, she hadn't seen the man look uncomfortable, even when Hank was throwing him about the school he didn't seem as tense as he did now.

She side stepped a little to allow Erik to go pass, he looked around the small cabin, Alethea shouldered her bag more and looked back at Logan. "Not particularly a favourite of mine, no." He replied, it wasn't that he was afraid of crashing, it wasn't like the crash could kill him, he just wasn't comfortable in planes, never had been and he guessed he never would be.

Alethea looked sympathetic, it was hard for her, she flew, she couldn't get this fear. Not that she'd flatly point out Logan might be afraid, he seemed quite fearless of a person. Turning and looking at Erik's back, she coughed quietly. The taller male turned and looked her way, "I have a present for you." She said while patting her bag, Erik looked at her bag and then at her. Walking over to the one sofa in the cabin, she sat down took to undoing the clips and rummaging about in her bag.

Erik slowly sat down beside her, he could feel Logan literally watching the interaction with perhaps hard eyes and not enjoying the weird friendliness that Alethea was showing. She had animosity for Erik, as much as anyone else, but things would only get worse if from the get go she was aggressive. "Here, you left a load of your things back at the school." She held out a small bundle of clothes and a pair of shoes. Logan just found himself frowning, that was what she was hauling about in her bag? Things for Erik. "Unless you want to live in your prison gear, I suggest changing. Might get odd looks when we land otherwise." She shrugged and watched as he took the clothes from her hands.

"I was not expecting to see you here." Erik had to say it, he patted the bundle of clothes in his hands before looking up at her.

Alethea smiled, "Well that makes two of us then!" She laughed and shut her bag quickly before standing and walking over to where Logan sat. The smile on her face was gone the moment her back was turned to Erik, she sat down opposite to Logan and shuffled to get comfortable before looking out the window. She could minutely hear Peter and Charles talk, but she couldn't hear what the conversation was about.

Taking her glasses off and putting them down on the table, she pulled her gloves off and watched Erik walk past to the small toilet cubicle to get changed. Logan glanced from the small aisle to her, "Charles punched him." He just came out with it, Alethea looked up at him with wide eyes before slowly smiling and letting out a laugh. Logan found himself smiling too, it shouldn't be funny, he was glad at least she didn't hold anything against him for not stopping Charles from doing this, but it seemed he wasn't the only one that found it funny. Erik did deserve it, he really did, even if the punch was truly pathetic.

"I wish I saw that."

"Don't, it wasn't very graceful." Logan said while reading over the front page of the newspaper in front of him.

"Can punching someone be graceful?" Alethea found herself asking, she didn't think fighting in general could be graceful, it was just who could hurt who more and in how much time to get the fight to finish.

Logan leaned forwards, resting his forearms against the table, he just looked the hat over that was still on her head, reaching forwards he pushed it down, she let out a disagreeing noise when the peak covered her eyes. He chuckled quietly, "In my experience, no."

"Logan, I feel you punching anyone would result in claws puncturing them..." Alethea ventured to say while waving his hand away and peeking out from underneath the hat.

He couldn't disagree, "Well, yeah...that is true, but not all the time."

She narrowed her eyes in thought, "You really should stop trying to find fights. Maybe future Charles is onto something, try and get along with those around you."

"Fights find me," Logan watched her take the cap off and actually reach behind herself to pull her hair free of the tie. Shaking her head, she blew stray locks of purple hair out of her face and raised an eyebrow at him. She was clearly thinking over that response, and Logan was expecting her to have some response of her own.

"Thank you," Erik's voice interrupted them, his sharp blue eyes looked between the pair. He was finishing doing the buttons up on his blue shirt, he couldn't help but look quizzically at the pair. He just walked into their little moment and now had Logan frowning up at him and Alethea waving a hand at him.

"Don't worry about it. We're trying to be as undercover as possible, you walking about in your prison suit doesn't really go with that, does it?" Alethea smiled, "I did just grab anything though, so sorry there," which was true, most of his stuff got shoved into storage by a very angry Charles. Anyone who left their things got put into storage when Charles was on a trip, either an alcohol or serum trip, everything went into storage.

"Have you been at the school all these years?" Erik glanced towards the door, Charles and Hank still hadn't come in. He thought they were urgently needing to leave, but they were still out there with Peter. That boy was something else which gave Erik too much food for thought.

"Well, yeah." Alethea said, she didn't mean to sound stupid in her reply, but where else was he expecting her to go?

"And you're not hiding, I see." Erik couldn't believe it when he found Charles had not got his powers anymore, he just had no words; as for Hank, Erik already knew he had tried once before to conceal himself, so it wasn't a surprise he finally managed to crack the formula. Erik just never thought Charles would crumble and take it too.

Alethea frowned and crossed her arms on the table, "I may not wholly trust people, or like how they can look at me, or what they say; but I'm not ashamed of myself, or of what I can do. They could throw all manner of abuse at me, but I would never cut myself off from my powers."

Erik sighed and tilted his head, "You were wasted there."

"No, I was a good English teacher, Erik. Remind me, where is your team?" Alethea's eyes darkened, she didn't like him patronising her, like her life would've been better if she stuck with him. His team were gone, and he'd spent the last years in prison. His eyes darkened too before trying to reach for the newspaper, Logan's bone claws stopped that and Erik turned away with a roll of his eyes.

"Imagine if they were metal," he offhandedly said while slowly sitting back down on the sofa, he stretched his long legs out before bending one and resting it over the other. "And where did they dig you up?" Erik looked over the table in front of him, it was set up in case anyone wanted to sit and eat something, not that he had any clue what outside food he'd want to eat first. Prison food had been so dull and bland.

"You're gonna find this hard to believe, but, uh...you sent me. You and Charles. From the future." Logan explained leaning against the table and looking Erik's way, he watched the younger version of the man he knew and had spent a lot of time fighting against just turn and look at him blankly. The look on Erik's face was one of confusion, but also, he was clearly trying to figure out if Logan was telling the truth.

Alethea peered around the chair and smiled his way. "In Logan's future I'm dead, and you and Charles are apparently best friends again."

Erik's eyes shifted to Alethea's, not missing the disheartened look which flitted over Logan's face at her oblivious way of stating this fact. "Stranger things could happen, or have, I suppose." Erik didn't quite know what else to say to her words, he just watched her give him a wry smile and slip back around to look out the window, even though they hadn't moved yet the tarmac out there seemed very interesting to her.

Perking up, she turned and looked his way again, narrowing her eyes and pointing a finger at him, a serious look appeared on her face and Erik just sat there looking at her and waiting for her to speak. "We're trying to change the future, Erik. Logan's future cannot happen to us, I quite like being alive and would rather not die, just yet at least. So please, I am just going to ask you nicely, please don't bodge this for us and go off on your own. If I die because of you, I will haunt your arse, you can bet on that." Alethea said while wagging her finger and tilting her head, watching as he listened to her and gave a reluctant nod, his eyes flicked to the doorway when Hank appeared, he just looked about and made his way to the cockpit, Charles came up and made sure the door was shut tightly before basically ignoring Erik and going to sit in the seat nearest to the door that Hank just went through.

Turning back around, Alethea double took, Logan was just looking at her with a rather flat expression. "Well, you really told him, didn't you?" He asked sarcastically, she pouted his way and crossed her arms, slumping in the seat and narrowing her eyes as Logan just raised an eyebrow. They all knew Erik would go off on his own, he just never seemed to be a team player unless it suited him, it wasn't the case of if he would branch off with his own ideas it was the matter of when.

"I don't have your skill of being broody sounding and livid." Logan just sat up straight and thought that over. Alethea raised an eyebrow in turn waiting for him to reply. The fact he just shook his head and then gripped onto the armrests when the jet started to move had her looking sympathetically at him again. "If you're scared, you can hold my hand," Alethea smiled and put her hand palm up on the table between them on the newspaper.

"Very funny." Logan said while opting to ignore the window and the moving ground he could see getting steady faster in moving past.

"I'm being serious, Logan. You look pained, and it's uncomfortable to look at, touch is a powerful thing, you know? You can get reassurance through the slightest thing, plus I don't think the seats can take you almost stabbing them." Alethea explained kindly and eyed his hands, she could definitely see his claws shifting underneath his skin. Being tucked away in the corner and with the sounds of the engine, no one else heard their interaction, luckily. Alethea wasn't at all surprised that Logan didn't take her up on her offer, but she kept her hand on the table anyway and looked out of the window.

The turbulence didn't help, a quiet groan definitely came from Logan and Alethea had had enough, she leaned forwards and pried his death gripping hand from the armrest and stayed half leaning over the table to hold onto his hand. She looked plainly at him, the juxtaposition of this all, someone who seemed so strong to dislike such a thing as flying; Alethea smiled kindly, everyone had a fear, she didn't like deep water, so really this was hellish for her too but she could fly, if she lapsed and fell the thought of drowning made her feel sick, but she had ways of coping and facing that fear.

Sometimes the best way to face a fear was headfirst, but clearly it wasn't working for poor Logan who literally looked like he was hating this before the jet levelled out. All the while until it did, Alethea stayed where she was, holding onto his hand and feeling his fingers eventually wrap around hers, he didn't grip on tightly, evidently, he didn't wish to inflict harm on her. She continued to lean and smile softly, looking at him reassuringly as he leaned back against the chair tense as anything, but he at least held her eye contact until everything stilled and they were past the worst of it.

She smiled one last time before slipping back into her seat, turning the newspaper as she did so. The claw marks had definitely destroyed some words, little puncture holes adorned the paper but she was sure she could guess what the word was meant to be to try and understand the sentence she was reading. She flicked it open idly and leaned her chin against her palm while Logan finally stopped gripping the armrest and looked at her with a heavy sigh coming from him, he really did not enjoy flying, but having calming company certainly made it a little bit more bearable.

Alethea heard the noise come from him and a coy smile appeared on her face as she turned the page, Logan just shook his head and looked at the other two occupants in the cabin, Erik and Charles were practically glaring daggers at each other, and Logan couldn't help but feel like the worst of this journey was just about to hit.