☭ POST WORLD WAR II, the world was a confusing place. Between the United States and Russia, the threat of nuclear war plagued the minds of everyone. The former allies fought with shady, backhanded trade agreements, showing off which nation had...
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* chapter two — running fast; 1667 words ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
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"I — WE — CALL IT CEREBRO," SAID HANK ENTHUSIASTICLY.
"You.." Charles chuckled.
"As in Spanish for brain," Hank added. "Anastasia came up with the name."
All eyes darted over to the blonde sipping from a water bottle. She swallowed her drink quickly and smiled, looking more so over at Erik than Charles despite Cerebro being for the telepath.
"I'm a bit of a linguistics buff," she said, still smiling. Her eyes danced around the circular room, taking in all of the equipment and lights. "I thought Cerebro had a nice ring to it."
"It definitely does," Charles muttered. He was in awe of the machine, fully confident in the two scientists' work.
"Okay, so," Hank cut in. "The electrodes connect Charles to the transmitter on the roof. When he picks up a Mutant, his brain sends a signal through a relay and then the coordinates of their locations are printed out here."
"Or in my words: Boom—" Anastasia pointed to Charles head — "Bang —" then she pointed at the transmitter — "Bing—" her finger danced over to the roof and then over to here Hank stood — "Location."
Erik chuckled. His eyes had been following each of Anastasia's movements and thought out the fluidity of each point of her finger to smile of her lips. "That's a brilliant oversimplification," he said.
Her eyes locked with him, an even wider smile burst out on her face. The smile was so big that even her nose scrunched up a bit. "It really is, isn't it?" she replied cheekily.
"Did you both design this?" Raven asked, looking between Hank and Anastasia.
"Yeah," Hank said. "Ana did most of the research, and I put the rest together."
As Hank began to flip switches and turn dials on the machinery, Charles moved to under the transmitter. He position it so it rested on his head.
Anastasia couldn't help but giggle softly. She thought Charles looked ridiculous with that large thing on his head while wires sprouted from the top like spaghetti noodles.
"What an adorable lab rat you make, Charles," Erik commented, walking around the center of Cerebro.
"Don't spoil this for me, Erik," Charles shot back, a slight smirk on his face.
Anastasia felt a twinge of arrogance over come her, but she couldn't place where it came from. Her eyebrows furrowed together and her smile dropped.
"Oh, I've been a lab rat." Erik pointed to himself. "I know one when I see one."
Another wave of emotion crashed over Anastasia, only this time it was nostalgic pain. That was the only way she could describe it — a painful memory designed for missing it.
