☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎

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  OLIVIA CLASPED HER HANDS over her ears as a piercing ringing rang out. She wasn't the only one that heard it — everyone else in the cell did the same, startled from its suddenness. "Hear me, inhabitants of this world, this is a message,"

"Is that Charles?" Olivia called over the voice. Her wide eyes connected with Hank's — he was frozen.

"A message to every man, woman and mutant in the world. You have lost your way," It was Charles, but the words he was saying — those were not his. "But I have returned. The day of reckoning is here. All your buildings, all your towers and temples...will fall," Olivia couldn't believe what she was hearing. "And the dawn of a new age will rise...for there is nothing you can do to stop what is coming. This message is for one reason alone -- to tell the strongest among you, those with the greatest power...protect those without. That's my message to the world."

Olivia couldn't help her smile. Those last words were Charles', no doubt. Hank looked between her and Raven. "How is Charles doing that without Cerebro?"

They didn't get to respond, however, as someone pounded on the glass above. Stryker looked furious, and to Olivia's amusement, also scared. "I know that voice. It's Xavier, isn't it? What's going on?"

"We don't know!" Raven yelled.

"We don't know, bro!" Peter added. Olivia couldn't help the small smile that crossed her face.

Stryker stepped back, clenching his jaw in frustration. Olivia watched them, biting her lip. "If they weren't gonna let us out before, they definitely won't now," She looked around at the green walls. Peter watched her curiously. "We have to try something," As if on cue, yellow emergency lights started flashing and an alarm started blaring. "Well, that's convenient."

The group looked around, panicked. Whatever was going on, wasn't good. "We have to get out of here," Hank mumbled, running a hand through his blue fur. From above, they could see how panicked the men were, including Stryker.

"What are they doing?" Moira looked around nervously.

"What's going on?" Hank questioned.

No answers. They watched as Stryker left without another look in their direction. Not moments later, gunshots began firing and guards starting yelling incoherent words. Olivia gasped, backing up into Peter. He softly held her elbow, equally scared. A man was thrown against the glass and they all collectively ran out of view, in case whatever was in there decided to attack them too. "Are you okay?" Hank whispered to her. She nodded silently.

When the screaming stopped, they moved back to the middle. Olivia looked around at the green bulbs again, breathing heavily. "Maybe I could-"

"No, Olivia," Hank shook his head. "You already tried and you nearly passed out. There has to be another way."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Her annoyance lifted, however, when she caught sight of blue hair and skin from the top. "Kurt!" Everyone's heads snapped to the blue boy, who looked glad to see them.

He began to speak, not realizing they couldn't hear him without the intercom. "What?" They all shook their heads. Raven pointed to her ear, hoping to get the message across.

Kurt looked down and the intercom scratchily turned on. "Stay...away...from the-" His voice was distorted and being cut off.

"The what?" Hank pressed.

Kurt tried again. "The do-" He motioned with his hands. "Stay...a-way from the door-"

Olivia's eyes widened. "The door! Get away from the door!"

The others gasped and they all ran to the side of the room. "On three!" Kurt announced. "One...two..." On what was supposed to be three, the door to the cell was blown open. Hank moved to cover Olivia from flying debris.

Raven ran out first, followed by the others. Olivia felt like cheering at the sight of Jean and Scott standing there. "We know where the professor is," Jean announced.

"I think we might have a way out of here," Scott added.

Jean's eyes met Olivia's and they smiled at each other. The girls reached for a quick hug. "Well, you've been busy," Raven gasped.

Scott shrugged. "We had a little help," Peter, Hank and Moira stepped out and Scott motioned for them all to follow. "Let's go," He ushered.

As they began running, Kurt poofed in just in front of Peter. "Ah! Jesus!" He jumped back.

"Oh, sorry!" The German mutant apologized and joined in their running.

"This way!" Scott led them down short hallways, turning left and right until they made it to a plane hanger. A massive jet, almost like the one Hank was building, waited for them.

"Nice," Hank whispered in amazement.

"Hey, Hank!" Raven called. "Do you think you can fly this thing?"

Hank shrugged. "Yeah, I can figure it out."

"Hey, guys," Scott grabbed their attention. Next to him were display-holders full of black suits. "Flight suits."

Hank smiled. "Let's get to work," He clapped his hands. Everyone made a move for the suits. Olivia made sure everyone had the right sizes. "Thanks, Liv," Beast nodded.

Olivia smiled back. She turned back to grab another suit as Peter approached. "Shouldn't you be grabbing one for yourself, too?" He cocked his head as she handed him the black flight suit.

"I am now," She pulled the final one from its case and smirked.

Take-off was bumpy. Hank apologized multiple times, blaming it on the unfamiliar controls. Olivia chuckled, but as they fly higher into the sky, she couldn't help the nervous pit that formed in her stomach. She couldn't control her powers well — what if she hurt somebody? "You'll be amazing." Jean's voice inside her head made her jump.

Peter looked at her quizzically. "You okay?"

Olivia glared quickly at Jean and nodded. She looked up at Peter, smiling softly. His stomach did excited summersaults. "Yeah, I'm okay." She turned back to Jean and frowned. "Don't do that." She scolded inwardly.

Jean shook her head softly and only smiled in response. "You like him," She laughed. Olivia nearly choked on her saliva. "Oh, you REALLY like him!"

Olivia wanted to disappear right then and there. "Stay out of my head, Jean," She snapped — she wasn't having this discussion as they were on their way to save Charles and stop a madman.

Jean frowned and looked down at her lap. Olivia immediately felt bad, she didn't mean to be rude, but having someone in your head is never fun, no matter how close they are. "Were you scared?" Jean suddenly looked up, her question directed to Raven. "That day in D.C., were you scared?"

"No," Raven answered with no hesitation. That answer was clearly disappointing to not just Jean, but also Scott, Kurt, Peter, and even Olivia. "But...I was scared on my first mission. I was on a plane with my friends, about your age," She told Jean. "We called ourselves the X-Men," She chuckled. "And your brother was there," She looked at Scott. Olivia could feel the absence of Alex hang over her like a storm cloud. "We used to call him Havok. He was a real handful...but when it came down to it, he was very brave.

"What happened to the rest of the kids who went with you?" Kurt asked. "The X-Men?"

Raven hesitated, clearly hurt by the subject. "Hank and I are the only ones left," Olivia looked over to the blue man with a frown. He wasn't facing them but she knew he had tears in his eyes. "I couldn't save the rest of them," She frowned. "I told you, I'm not a hero."

"Well, you're a hero to us," Jean proclaimed. "Seeing you that day on TV changed my life."

"...mine too," Kurt added.

"Mine too," Peter admitted. Olivia smiled softly to herself. "I mean, I still live in my mom's basement but, you know..." He huffed. "Everything else is, uh...well it's pretty much the same," He chuckled and got a small laugh out of everybody. "I'm a total loser." He looked over at Olivia, seemingly hoping his self-deprecating joke made her laugh.

Olivia shook her head, a smile growing. "Idiot," She mumbled quietly.

As they approached Cairo the jet shook. Olivia hated planes of anything and turbulence was not helping. "It's just turbulence," She whispered to herself. "Everything is okay." In the beeping and the shaking, Peter could hear her mumbling. He watched her, unsure if the strange feeling in his stomach was because they were about to fight a maniac or if it was because of her.

"Seventh wonder, twelve o'clock," Hank announced as they cleared the dust cloud and multiple pyramids emerged. Raven stood from her seat and moved to the cockpit. Her breath hitched at the sight of metal tentecal-like shapes flying through the air.

"He has the Professor in the center of the pyramid," Jean said, eyebrows knitted together in focus. "He's going to transfer his consciousness to the Professor," Her voice shook. Olivia felt her stomach drop. They needed to get to Charles now. "If he does that...he'll have the power to control every mind in the world."

Hank sucked a breath in through his teeth and piloted the jet around the pyramid. "What the hell is that?" Moira gasped at the sight of what seemed to be a floating ball of magnetic energy.

"It's Eric," Raven said. At that, Peter sped out of his seat and next to Raven, leaning in behind Hank to get a better look at his father. Raven looked back at Olivia and the rest of the team nervously. "You guys help Nightcrawler get into the pyramid. Get Charles. I'll take care of Eric."

"How are we gonna get through that?" Hank questioned as they flew closer to Eric's bubble.

Peter looked between Hank and Raven. "I can get you in there," He told Raven. "I came here for him. Let me help you."

They nodded before Raven turned to the group once again. "The rest of you, get Charles on this plane and get him out of here," Peter looked at Olivia, who was staring ahead, face pale. She could feel his eyes on her. When she looked at him, he smiled softly and nodded.

"We're not leaving without you," Olivia shook her head.

"Don't worry," Peter smiled. "We'll catch up." He winked.

"Hold on," Hank announced as he carefully landed the jet.

AUTHORS NOTE
uhhh, here ya go. nothing much to say except I love Peter Maximoff