New Divide

New Divide: 20

With the new day also came something new. Walking behind Erik, Margo followed him as well as Raven and Charles up into the circular structure they had just entered.

Hank was already up here pottering around. He turned away from a piece of machinery and looked to them. “I, uh...call it, Cerebro.” He said while looking to the platform and wires which led out of the helmet, the many cables and wires led back into the machinery he was just standing near.

“You...?” Charles trailed off laughing quietly. He stood to one side looking it over and then looking to Hank. “As in Spanish for the brain.”

“Yes.” Hank moved away from the platform and over to the monitors and machinery. “Okay. So 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 location is printed out here.” Hank explained while Charles moved forwards and inspected the thing he was about to be hooked up to. Hank turned to the monitors and pointed to the things he hoped would explain his words.

“You designed this?” Raven asked curiously while looking over everything in front of her.

“Yeah,” Hank replied while taking to pressing on a few keys.

“What an adorable lab rat you make, Charles.” Erik said while moving around the platform which Charles was now standing on. Margo stood in front of it with her arms crossed. She'd never seen something like this before so it sort of grasped all of her attention.

“I prefer guinea pig.” She said quietly while looking up at the taller male by her side.

He inclined his head and smiled lightly. “Do you two mind?” Charles asked while looking between them, they look up at him. “Don't spoil this for me.”

“No. I’ve been a lab rat,” Erik said surely while pointing a finger up at him. “I know one when I see one.” He smiled, beside him Margo seemed to nod agreeing with him. He sent her a curious look.

“You're so not the only one to suffer that fate.” She whispered bitterly while sighing and taking a step back as Hank appeared suddenly.

He checked that everything was in working order. Leaning down he looked thoughtfully at Charles. “Are you sure we can't shave your head?”

“Don't touch my hair.” Charles sighed and looked down as Erik leant against the railing surrounding the platform. Raven and Margo had taken to standing side by side looking curiously up. Briefly in the background they paid attention to Hank flipping switches and typing.

“It's working!” Hank exclaimed and looked over his shoulder. Beside him the locations of the mutants which Charles was managing to find were quickly typed out.

----

Having a break from tracking down the mutants that they had found. Both Charles and Erik sat on the steps to the Lincoln Memorial with a chess set in between them. It was peaceful out here. The sun was slowly setting and there was oddly enough no one else present.

“Can't stop thinking about the others out there.” Charles said while leaning back against the step behind him. Erik briefly glanced over at him as he spoke. “All those minds that I touched. I could feel them. Their isolation. Their hopes. Their ambitions. I tell you, we've started something incredible, Erik. We can help them.” Charles said sounding so full of optimism.

“Can we?” Was the simple retort which got sent his way. Erik looked over his shoulder and looked to Charles. He just looked at him, Erik shook his head and looked back ahead. “Identification, that's how it starts.” Erik explained while casually waving a hand. “And ends with being rounded up, experimented on. Eliminated.”

“Not this time,” Charles said firmly while frowning. “We have common enemies. Shaw, the Russians. They need us.”

There was a moment of silence before Erik looked over his shoulder at him again. “For now.”

----

Socialising was still a skill which was rather alien to Margo. Narrowing her eyes thoughtfully she leant her arms against the back of the chair. She had pulled a chair away from the dining table and sat on it backwards with her legs crossed.

“We should think of code names! We're government agents now, we should have secret code names. I wanna be called Mystique.” Raven said while smiling widely around at the people surrounding her.

“Damn!” Came the slow exclaim from Sean Cassidy. He looked over at her from his seat in the black leather armchair. “I wanted to be called Mystique.”

“Well, tough! I called it.” Raven said while sitting and shifting forms so she looked like Sean. The others exclaimed and looked at her with wide eyes. “And I’m way more mysterious than you.” She said slowly in Sean's voice. “Darwin, what about you?” She smiled over to the man she question.

He shifted and shrugged. “Well, uh...Darwin's already a nickname. And you know, it sort of fits. Adapt to survive and all.” He paused to jump up from the sofa. “Check this out,” strolling around the sofa he moved over to the fish tank which was in the room. Sticking his head into the tank it took moments for gills to appear on his face so he could breath under water. “What about you?” He pointed over to Sean.

He turned in his seat and looked thoughtfully down at the floor. “I'm going to be...Banshee.”

“Why do you want to be named after a wailing spirit?” Was the simple question which Hank posed to him.

Giving a sigh Sean pushed himself up out of the chair. “You might want to cover your ears.” He said while walking over to the coffee table and crouched slowly down. Making sure everyone's ears were covered, he took in a sharp breath before whistling it out and aiming it towards the window in the room which looked out onto a lawn area. The window shattered and cracked. And from there it crumpled in on itself and the pane fell backwards onto the path. “You're turn,” Sean returned to his seat and pointed over to Angel.

She stood up and shrugged off her leather jacket. “My uh...stage name is Angel. It kinda fits.” She turned and looked over her shoulders as filmy shimmering wings parted from her back.

“You can fly?!” Raven exclaimed.

“Uh-huh, and uh...” Angel trailed off and leant forwards and spat a ball of fire from her mouth. It hit against the statue outside. “What's your name?” Angel pulled on her jacket and waved a hand to Hank. He suddenly looked awkward with being put on the spot.

“How about big foot?” Alex said while drinking from his bottle while giving Hank a sidewards look. His words caused the others to laugh quietly.

Raven turned and looked to the blonde sitting in the chair beside her. “Well you know what they say about guys with big feet? And uh...yours are kinda small.” Raven said sarcastically while looking Alex over, upon getting childish noises from everyone she turned and smiled lightly at Hank.