Sylum Clan

First Chapter: Part 1

Previous Chapter: Part 11

***

“Do you really love him?”  Raven asked leaning against the kitchen counter.  “I mean he can be violent.”

“Yes.”  He turned and studied her.  “He’s also gentle, deep down, well mostly to me.”  Charles smirked slightly.  “Raven, I’ve seen what Shaw did to him, and the fact he’s as sane as he is, is astounding.  Erik needs to deal with the rage, and I’m willing to help him find his serenity, but it’s going …”

<<MOM!!>>

Charles cringed.  His hand moved up to his forehead as Alex’s voice slammed into his mind.

<<CHARLES!>>

He blinked focusing on Alex, pushing in to find out what was going on.  He saw enough to know it was bad.

“Fuck!” He jumped up and ran for the stairs, Raven only a few steps behind him.  By the time he got to the right corridor, all hell was breaking loose.

Angel and Sean were flanking Alex, all three standing in front of Erik, who was in a shouting match with Moira.  Charles’ could feel Erik’s powers moving through the hallway, the lamps were bending to his will, every metal tray was vibrating, doors were rattling as pins were being pulled out of the hinges.

<<Erik NO!>>

He hit a block wall, hard enough that he actually blinked and looked at Erik to make sure he wasn’t wearing that damn helmet.

<<Erik!>>

“Moira this isn’t a good time …” Raven stepped next to her, taking her arm to pull her away.

“It’s as good as time as any!” She pulled out of her grasp.  “He has to answer my questions?”

“It’s been a week since he’s been shot!”  Sean stared at her in frustration and shock.  “The man is barely standing.”

“He seems perfectly fine to me.”  She glared over them at Erik.  “You were going to kill those innocent…”

“Innocent?!”  He snapped at her. “Innocent.  No soldier is innocent!”

“They were following orders!”  Hands on her hips she held her ground refusing to be intimidated.

“So where the Nazis when they shoved my father into the gas chamber, along with millions of my people!”  He growled.  “The moment you put on a uniform you don’t get to claim innocence.”

<<She’s no different, Charles.  This is what you don’t want to see.>>

“So you get to be judge and jury!”  Moira stepped closer, only to have Alex step away from Erik to block her.

“You may have missed the part where they were going to kill all of us.”  Alex waved his hand around the hallway.  “Every single one of us, just because we were different.  We saved their lives from Shaw and they were going to kill us – get rid of the freaks so they can rest easier.”

<<Please darling, I’ll make her leave.  I need you to calm down.  You’re hurting yourself.>>

“You were just collateral damage.” Angel added arms crossed over her chest.

“It gives him no right to turn the missiles back on them!”  She threw her hand out pointing towards Erik.

“Eye for an eye.”  A new voice popped into the fight.

A few turned to see Janus walking into the area, Hank not far behind him.

McCoy ignored everyone and made his way through the line of defense to get to Erik.  He growled low in his throat.  “Calm down all of you.”  He reached out taking Erik’s wrist, cursing when he felt his heart rate skyrocketing.  “Out.  Every single one of you.”

“NO!”  Moira held her ground.  “He has to be accountable.”

<<Who’s next Charles?  At the moment she’s after me.  She’s afraid of me.  My power.  Who’s next?  Azazael?  Raven? Which of the kids will she fear next?  I’m only the beginning.>>

“You shot him!”  Raven pointed out, she looked to Charles who was staring at Erik.  She couldn’t help but wonder if they were arguing via telepathy.

<<You have to trust me.>>

“He was going to kill innocents.”

“They were going to kill us.”

<<You’re the only one that I do trust.>>

“We’re all culpable!”  Charles snapped, they all turned and looked at him.  “I am, for not realizing the true threat Shaw was.  Erik is, for putting on that damn helmet.  Moira you shot at a man who manipulates metal…”

“I paid my price.”  Erik snarled hand clutched over his chest hating the weakness he was showcasing.  “You refused to see the same mistakes the damn soldiers were making.  You shot at me with Charles in the line of fire.  You shot at an innocent.  If I had deflected that bullet like I had intended to it would’ve hit Charles.”

Everyone turned back towards Charles, who only had eyes for Erik.

<<Darling…>>

<<I would do anything to protect you, Liebling.>>

“I couldn’t let that happen.  But what did you do?  You continued shooting. Like those innocent soldiers, who were shooting weapons of mass destruction at an island filled with other humans, but who cares, right, they were just Cubans.”

Hank moved behind Erik, not liking the sudden paleness he was seeing.  “We’re done here.”

“Everyone out…”  Charles took a step towards Erik, Sean moving out of his way.

“What were you even planning?”  Angel asked.  “Erik supposed to be on bed rest for weeks. Recovering is going to take months…”

“He needs to be brought in.  Detained and questioned.”

“You mean to lock him up?”  Sean asked bewildered. “But he’s our teammate.  He saved us from Shaw …”

“He’s dangerous!”

“You take him.”  Alex pulled back his shoulders, he could feel Angel’s wings vibrating next to him.  “You take us.”

<<No.  I will not allow her to take our children.>>

Sean looked at her in shock and pain.  “I thought you were our friend.”

<<Erik.  I will…>>

It was Beast that first realized the metal in the hallway stopped moving.  His hand tightened on Erik’s wrist, the other moving around his waist, prepping for the man to faint.  His blood pressure was too high, and body was about to give out.

<<I promised to protect you.  The school.  These kids. I can’t do that in a weakened state.  I need full use of my powers.>>

Raven grabbed Moira’s arm pulling her away from everyone else.  She could feel Janus’ whirlwinds, and had no doubt he was ready to use them.  She couldn’t help but think about the irony of the moment – Moira had done the one thing no one that possible.  She proved Erik’s point.  If she, who had worked with them, was willing to lock one of them up, who was next?

“ERIK NO!” Charles screamed as he reached out to his lover, pushing past Sean in haste.

Hank frowned at Charles’ frantic expression, and then he heard it … the sound of metal hitting the floor.  Followed by a second, third … with a growl he pulled Erik closer, using his larger paws to hold him up.

A cry of agonizing pain echoed through the hall, halting everyone in their tracks.  They all turned, staring in shock horror as a bloody wire was pulled from Erik’s chest and landed on the wooden floor.

Blood flowed through Hank’s fingers, as he yelled for Azazael.  In a flash the teleporter appeared grabbed patient and doctor and was gone.

Leaving behind 8 metal staples, 2 broken wires, and a pool of blood.

Part 10

***

Alex had snuck down the hallway and into the room, when he saw Raven stalking into the kitchen after her brother.  No one wanted to get in the middle of that sibling argument.  He slipped into the furthest bedroom, and gave Hank a half smile.

“How is he?”  He glanced over to the resting Erik in the chair.  Like the others, the shock of seeing their teammate coming back from the hospital hit home.  He was recovering from a gunshot wound.

“Resting at the moment.  I don’t like how high his blood pressure is.”  Hank frowned right down some notes in the medical files.  “We have to keep him calm.”  Alex’s snort was pretty much what the other mutant was thinking.  “Look lets be frank.”  He looked at the younger man.  “He’s got metal staples and wires in his chest… think about that.”

Alex frowned not quite understanding why that was important.  Then he realized what Erik’s mutation was.  “Damn.”

“He lashes out when pissed and also in fear, so if feels threatened.”  Hank ran a hand through his blue fur.

“He’ll use his power and it will pull on the healing wounds.  Yeah, got it.  Keep dad calm, which why haven’t we tied him to Charles?”

Hank chuckled.  “He has to deal with Raven.”

“If you two could whisper quieter some of us could get more sleep.”  Erik opened his eyes groggily glaring at the two of them.  “And I’m not your father.”

Alex gave him a smile and moved closer taking a seat on the coffee table.  “How you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been shot.”  He gave him an annoyed look.

Summers at least looked a bit embarrassed.  “Raven and Charles are having it out, so I figured I would keep you company.”

Erik shifted, cringing when his hand gave out from under him.  Alex held out his hand, giving Erik the leverage he needed to shift until he was sitting up.  He took a few breathes, trying to will the pain down.

Hank eyed the two of them, tempted to pull the oxygen tank over, but Erik seemed to settle down.  “I’m going to see about getting some of these scripts filled, Alex make sure he drinks more water and takes his pills in an hour.”

They watched as Hank left, then turned and looked at each other.

“Good he’s gone you can break me out.”

Alex held out his hands, shaking his head. “He’ll kill me.  And if he didn’t the disappointed look mom would give me, would just want me to kill myself.”

“Charles isn’t that scary.”

He gave him a look.

“Yeah okay, he does have the ‘I’m very disappointed look down’.”  Erik’s smirk, was enough to scare Alex even more.  “I’m not asking you to help me rob a bank, just walk over to the balcony.  I haven’t seen daylight or been outside in over a week.”

“Well that may have something to do with getting shot.”  Alex stood and held out both his hands, letting Erik use him as leverage to stand.  He easily shifted, taking a portion of the older man’s weight staying still until he was settled on his feet.  “You got this?”

He ignored the pain, instead taking a small step forward.  It was humiliating having Alex help him, like he was an old man, but at the moment he was grateful it was him and not the others.  Alex got the need to stand on your own, how showing weakness wasn’t an option.

It took ten minutes to get across the room, and onto the balcony.  Erik leaned against the balcony railing, taking in the fresh air.  He was sweating profusely and his body was shaking slightly, but damn the fresh air felt good.

“I can get the need for fresh air.”  Alex leaned his back against the railing keeping an eye on the patient.  He knew who would take the brunt of Charles’ anger if Erik was to fall and injure himself further.  He saw what happened on that beach, the desperation and fear had bled to all of them.

It was something none of them wanted to talk about.

But it was something Alex would never forget.

He felt Charles’ anguish.

It was when he knew that whatever was going on between the two men wasn’t a fling or scratching an itch.  That he understood.  You don’t spend time in prison, even juvenile prison and not get that.  His heart ached for Charles, and he was willing to do anything to fix it.  Thankfully Azazael stepped in and actually did do something, while the rest of them had just sat there like morons.

“So now what?”  He glanced over to the older man.  “I mean Shaw’s dead, which despite all the bluster, is a good thing.”

“I’m actually not sure.”  Erik answered shockingly honest.  “I’ve spent twenty years hunting that man down.  Hell for a moment there I probably would’ve taken over his organization.  He had some points, we are superior to humans and they will come after us.”

“But now?” He asked.

“Getting shot changed a few things.”  He looked over at Alex.  “It’s going to take me months to heal, and that is me likely pushing the envelope every chance I get.  I don’t have the energy to take over the world, at least not at the moment.”

He laughed, knowing full well Erik wasn’t kidding.

“So you’re playing house husband to Charles.”  Alex gave him a look, he knew Erik wasn’t a man to sit around and do nothing.

“He wants to open a school.”  Erik shifted until he was standing more upright, hands resting on the railing.  “And he should.  He’s right we need a place to hide.  A place where our kind will be safe, where they can learn to use their powers, to protect themselves and yes even others.  I know how out of control I was when I was a kid, I had spoons attached to me everywhere I went.”  Alex snorted.  “We don’t need humans using kids who can’t control their powers as an excuse to lock kids up.”

“So the world domination is on hold.”

“Don’t doubt for a second I wouldn’t bring the world to it’s knees if they ever came after Charles and his dreams of a school.”  Erik’s tone was dark and held conviction that gave Alex no doubt he would.  “So I’m going to do what Charles will hate, and make sure his school is protected.  There will need to be systems set up, surveillance in and around the school, and enough of a threat that if anyone shows up trying to bring harm to any of his kids, they’ll regret their life choices.”

“I can help you with that.”  Alex shifted sideways taking in Erik’s profile.  “Not every mutant is also going to appreciate Charles.”

“No.  Some will have had experiences with humans and will not like Charles’s naïve idealism.”  He agreed glancing at Alex.  “We need that.  You and me. We know what humans will do to us, hell we’ve seen what they do to their own kind.   We also have to watch out for other Shaws.  Mutants using mutants for their own gain, it’s not right.  And I hate to say I could’ve gone further down that path in my own extreme idealism.”

“You two balance each other.”

“I’m still not your dad.”  He gave him a dark glare.

“Sure thing, dad.”  Alex patted him on the shoulder.  “Want to go back inside?”

“How about a small walk around the hallway, then you can dump me in my chair and I’ll likely sleep like an old man for a few hours, and Charles will never know about the escape.”

Alex held out his arm, waiting patiently until Erik took it grumbling in German as he leaned against the younger mutant.  They made their way back into the room, and then out the door.

The coast was clear.

There was no need to talk as they made their way down the corridor, to the stairs.  Alex gave him a pointed look – they weren’t going down the stairs.  He knew exhaustion most be setting in, when Erik didn’t even contemplate it, just turned around to head back to his room.

They were almost home free.

When footsteps were heard coming up the stairs.

As they both turned, Alex knew instantly it wasn’t Hank or Charles.

He wouldn’t be that lucky.

Standing at the top of the stairs, was Moira.  Which meant only one thing, she was on her way to Erik’s room, as he was the only one staying in the section of the Mansion.

Alex stepped in front of Erik, ready to defend his friend.  As he mentally screamed for Charles, the light fixtures on the walls began to shake and bend.

“Fuck.”