chapter thirteen • 13
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"Raven, come home"

•••

After the first crack at the Cerebro after Charles' little talk with his older self, Charles found Raven at an airport, ready to go off into a plane. He went into a ladies mind that was a metre away from Raven and turned to her.

"Raven, stop," Charles made the older lady say. "Stop running."

Raven turned towards the old woman, her mouth agape. "Charles?" Then she looked around the room for us. "Where are you?"

"Back at the house, where you should be." the old lady replied. "I need you to come home."

"I know what I need to do," Raven got up and walked away.

Charles then made his way into some guys head. "If you kill Trask, you'll be creating countless more just like him," he said as Raven walked past him.

"Then I'll kill him too," Raven walked off.

"Those are Erik's words, not yours," a teenage boy told her.

Raven bumped into a flight attendant and dropped her passport. The two of them bent down to pick it up when the flight attendant looked at Raven. "The girl I grew up with wasn't capable of killing," the girl said in a monotone voice. "She was good, fair, full of compassion."

Raven froze for a few seconds, letting Charles' words sink into her. "I have compassion. Just not for Trask. He's murdered too many of us." Raven snatched her passport from the girl's hands and then walked off.

"She's not letting me in," Charles said. "I'm barely holding on, I'm not strong enough yet."

Raven walked through the airport and looked up, only shocked to see Charles standing just metres away from her. But it wasn't him, it was a spirit version of him.

"I know what Trask has done. But killing him will not bring them back. It will set you in a path from which there is no return. An endless cycle of killing. Us and them until there is nothing left. But we can stop it right now, you and I. You just have to come home."

Raven just shook her head. "I have to." Raven mimicked. "You haven't changed at all, Charles. Like I said, I know exactly what I have to do." And with that, Raven walked straight through Charles' spirit and away.

•••

The lights turned on and the Cerebro groaned.

"Where is she?" Natalie asked.

"Sh-she's at an airport, boarding a plane," Charles shook his head.

"A plane to where?" Logan asked.

"Washington D.C" Charles spoke.

"Hey, guys," Hank spoke up. "There's something I need to show you."

•••

"This is the system that I designed to record any news about Paris over all 3 networks and PBS." Hank led the three of them into his computer room where he tends to design things.

"All 3? Wow," Logan sarcastically said.

"Yeah - and PBS," Hank shrugged. "Look what I found." Hank turned on the TV screen in front of him.

"Tomorrow in front of the White House, the President will make his announcement," the TV reporter said. "He'll be joined by secretary of defence Laird and has even sought the help of renowned scientist Bolivar Trask, his special advisor to combat this mutant issue."

Hank stopped the video from going on.

"Raven doesn't realise that if she kills Trask, at an event like that with the whole world watching -" Charles thought allowed.

"Then I came a long way for nothing," Logan mumbled.

"And there's more bad news," Hank continued. "I saw a report. They found traces of her blood in Paris. For all we know, they already have her DNA, which is all they need..."

"To create the Sentinels in the future," Logan finished off for him.

"Now there's a theory in Quantum Physics that time is immutable," Hank stopped them. "It's like a river. You can throw a pebble into it and create a ripple, but the current always corrects itself. No matter what you do, the river just keeps flowing in the same direction."

"What are you trying to say?" Natalie asked almost reluctantly.

"What I'm saying is, what if the war is inevitable? What if she's meant to kill Trask? What if this is just simply who she is?" Hank asked.

"Just because someone stumbles, loses their way, doesn't mean they're lost forever," Charles said and then a smile broke out onto his face.

Charles shook his head at Natalie and then looked up. "No, I don't believe that theory, Hank, and I cannot believe that that is who she is." Hank nodded in agreement. "Now ready the plane, we're going to Washington."

•••

Natalie sat in the same seat as she did before in the plane, but this time they were on their way to Washington DC. Natalie wore black bell bottom jeans, white camisole top and black combat boots. Natalie tied her hair up in a ponytail and looked in front of her. Logan looked over at Charles who was massaging his leg.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Getting there," Charles sighed.

"You're in pain again, aren't you?" Natalie asked him. Charles nodded so she walked over to him and knelt down and wrapped her hand around his ankle and dug one of her nails into his skin, temporarily paralysing his pain.

"Thank you," Charles mumbled as she sat back down in her seat.

"It's only temporary, okay? It'll come back in a couple of hours," Natalie smiled at him.

Logan sighed. "Whatever happens today, I need you to promise me something," Logan began. "You looked into my mind and you've seen a lot of bad, but you've seen the good too. The X-Men. Promise me you'll find us," Logan leant forward so his elbows were resting on his knees. "Use your power, bring us together. Guide us, lead us. Storm, Scott - Jean," Logan was almost reluctant to say the last name. "Remember those names. There's so many of us. We will need you, Professor."

Charles nodded, a small smile on his face. "I'll do my best."

"Your best is enough," Logan said. "Trust me."

"You all might want to take a nap while you still can. You're going to need it for tomorrow," Hank called from the front. Natalie folded out her chair and got a blanket out from the overhead cabin and took a breath and closed her eyes.

•••

They all made their way through the event, watching as hundreds of Americans cheered and talked excitedly to one another about what the government has in store for their future.

The line in front of them began to shorten as the humans got through the metal detector and showed their invites. When it was their turn, Natalie pushed Charles through with his wheelchair and heard the metal detector beep.

"Can I see your invitations please?" The guard asked us.

Charles held his fingers subtly against his forehead, "Yes you may" Charles smiled at the man. "These three are with me."

"Go ahead," the man nodded, Natalie pushed Charles ahead. When Logan walked through the metal detector without a beep, he turned back around and looked up at it. Remembering that he doesn't have an adamantium skeleton .

"You alright?" Natalie asked. He smirked and nodded.

The group got good position due to Charles needing a wheelchair. Once they were set, Charles raised his fingers to his forehead and searched the crowd for Raven.

"Haven't found her yet but she has to be here," Charles informed them.

"The President of the United States." President Nixon walked onto the stage, his body guards following closely behind him. The crowd cheered for him as he made his way up to the podium.

He held his hands up to silence the crowd. "My fellow Americans. Today, we face the greatest threat in our history. Mutants." Charles continued to go through everyone's head. "We have prepared for this threat. In the immortal words of Robert Oppenheimer. Behold. The world will never be the same again." The sheet behind him dropped, revealing monstrous purple sentinel robots.

All of the army men held their hands up in salute.

"I got her." Charles pointed towards the secret service man on the side of the stage. "There! See, the Secret Service Man left of the stage. Go!" Hank and Logan left to get Raven.

All of the Sentinels began to turn on and fly upwards. The crowd all cheered and clapped at the wonderful sight. The Sentinels began to fire at the cop cars.

"What's happening to them?"

Natalie looked towards the Sentinels and realised what they were doing: killing humans. Natalie looked around the area to see where Raven was, until Natalie saw a baseball stadium flying in the sky and a little figure flying above it.

"Erik," She spoke to herself. Natalie held onto Charles' wheelchair looking around to find a safe exit. She looked up and to her shock the stadium flew above them and then stopped. It began to drop quickly and was about to crush Charles and Natalie. Natalie held her hands up vines broke through the ground and stopped the wall from crushing them.

"Charles! Natalie!" She heard Logan yell. All of the debris above them got held into the air. Natalie's legs were spread apart and her knees bent as she gritted her teeth, using everything she had to hold it up.

Logan came and quickly got Charles out of the way, unfortunately leaving his wheelchair there. When Natalie saw that he was out of harm's way, she let the debris drop and sprinted towards the middle, just as the stadium fell and surrounded the White House.

•••