Chapter 18
Alarms blared in the middle of the night in the area surrounding the hospital. SHIELD agents and military soldiers took over the entire area, moving in their Emergency Protocol plan.
All exits and entrances were closed. An electric current of 10 thousand volts was going through the walls surrounding the hospital’s grounds and buildings. Big flashing lights blared in the gardens and every outside area to catch every single move there, as armed agents and soldiers spread out everywhere.
The patients’ rooms were closed. No one was allowed to get out. The hospital’s corridors were cleared out, except for the absolute necessary workers, and doctors were allowed to walk around. Security cameras watch any movement in every corner of the hospital.
In short, the place was almost like a military base by now, with no one allowed in or out.
In the middle of all that, Charles Xavier’s car stopped ten feet away from the main entrance as instructed by the surrounding soldiers and agents.
The moment he returned to the country, he didn’t waste a second to find out where Erik and his friends were then rented a car and drove directly to the hospital. He didn’t even go home first. In fact, he didn’t even have luggage. He left everything back in London. He only cared about coming back to his husband and family, who were facing a danger he had no idea about. There was no way he would leave them alone in all this.
He got out of his car frantically the moment he stopped it, rushing towards the team leader in charge of guarding the entrance.
The moment the leader saw who was approaching them, he immediately straightened up, a tight look on his face as he raised his hand to the communication device in his ear.
“Code Blue! Everyone, Code Blue. Defense up!” He ordered firmly in a crypted way. Every single soldier and agent in the area pressed something to their helmets, which started to glow a soft blue light on their heads, making them look like walking fairy lights. In any other situation, Charles would have laughed.
At the same second, Charles could no longer hear anyone’s thoughts in his mind. Everyone around was suddenly completely blank and radio silence to him.
Code Blue, huh? Charles thought with a shake of his head. He hoped for a more creative name. like Professor Blue or X Code or something a little cooler, but that was just disappointing. It was a little flattering if he had to admit though, that they consider him a major threat enough to take precautions against him like that. It proves they are acknowledging how powerful he was.
They didn’t need to know that their defense was actually not that good. If he focused hard enough, he could get through those glowing blue helmets, if he really wanted to. But they didn’t know that. Let them keep their false feeling of protection for now. He had more important things to worry about.
He made his way to the leader, his heart pounding hard in his chest. Fearing for his family, who were facing whatever was happening inside, causing all these soldiers to be here.
“I want to get in,” Charles announced frantically, the moment he reached the leader. “My husband is inside. I need to go to him!”
“It is impossible, Professor.” The leader raised his hand to stop Charles from getting any closer, eyeing him firmly and carefully. Probably hoping his brain protection was working fine. “It is absolutely forbidden to get inside or outside.”
“I have every right to get inside!” Charles exclaimed indignantly, looking offended that he was prevented entrance. “Whatever is happening there concerns me as well! This is my team in there! SHIELD knows that perfectly well! Certainly, they would allow me to join my team inside!”
“Our orders are to prevent the entrance of anyone, no matter who they are.” The leader stated just as firmly, not even deterred by Charles’ words, his eyes darkening as he eyed him. “And I am certain it involves you as well, professor. Even Mutants aren’t allowed inside.”
“They need me inside! They are on their own there! They need me!” Charles wasn’t backing down. He needed to go there. He needed to see his husband. His friends. His family.
“Then maybe you should have been there from the start, instead of appearing just now.” The leader snorted, eyeing him with disdain, as if Charles’ late coming was disgracing to him.
Charles clenched his teeth, burning the man with his eyes. Of course, he would have been from the very beginning, if he had known sooner. Did that man really think he would have abandoned his team in their moment of need?
“I insist on going inside,” Charles demanded sharply, storming closer towards the leader.
The leader didn’t move an inch, he kept standing tall in his place firmly, his hands linked behind his back, as his men moved fast and raised their weapons in Charles’ face, who flinched and took a step back nervously, eyeing the weapons aiming at his face carefully.
“And I insist on not letting you in, Professor Xavier.” The leader smiled mockingly, eyeing Charles with a victorious glint in his eyes. Like threatening a powerful telepath with weapons was satisfying to him too much. “I have orders to shoot first, with no questions later, the moment someone refuses to follow instructions, no matter who they are or what they are, so don’t force me to do it.”
Charles’ clenched fists started to shake from anger and fear. Not fear for himself but for his family inside. What the hell was happening? What was so dangerous that the soldiers were given such orders? Is his family really all right? Is Erik alright? His heart was about to burst from how worried he was.
“Listen, sir.” Charles started in almost a begging voice. He was not above begging if it meant he would get inside to his family. “Maybe your orders are firm and important, but my husband is inside, my family is inside, facing the danger that is making you do this, so please, please, I need to go to them! I need to see if they are all right! Please!”
Maybe it was because of how pathetic and sad he looked, or maybe as Erik always claimed, his puppy eyes could turn stone to a shriveling mush. Charles had always thought Erik was overacting, but in front of his eyes, he saw the mocking smile melt away from the leader’s face, replaced by hesitant sympathy as he motioned for his soldiers to lower their weapons, looking the same as him, eyeing Charles with big, wide sad eyes.
“Believe me, Professor, if the decision is in my hands, I wouldn’t have hesitated in letting you in.” The leader stated earnestly, looking at Charles apologetically and regretfully. “But I swear that my orders are unnegotiable with no exceptions, in the middle of what is happening. Believe me, it is out of my hands.”
“I-I believe you,” Charles uttered the words from between the lump in his throat, bitterness filling him, as defeat threatened to flat him down on the ground.
He stepped back and started to walk dejectedly towards the car, his brain asking thousands of questions at the same time, as confusion, worry, and bitterness filled him to the brim, drowning him.
What was happening? He literally left barely two days ago. How did things go so wrong in this short time? He did have a feeling something would happen, but he didn’t know it would happen this fast!
He didn’t know anything. He just knew that Erik was hurt. And many of his family were hurt as well. The thought was suffocating, and the fact that he didn’t know what hurt them and how they were was like a nightmare to him.
He shouldn’t have ever left. He should have ignored that conference, and let Hank and Logan go without him. he should have stayed by his husband’s side. By his students and sister.
He didn’t know where Raven was with the children. He tried to contact them but always got nothing. He knew his mansion was a mess at the moment, though he didn’t go see what happened there yet.
He just wanted to see his husband. He needed to see if the others were all right. He needed to help them. he needs to be there.
It was absolutely not in his nature to give up and fall back. It just wasn’t computing in his system. He wasn’t built to back down just like that.
His husband was behind those walls. the most important person in his life was there, and he didn’t know what happened to him.
His family was there. His family needs him.
So, he made a decision. A firm, stubborn, and crazy decision.
With his decision made, he marched back toward the car, got inside, and sat behind the stirring wheel. He took a deep, long breath, filling his lungs with it.
“Forgive me, Erik, but I am doing this for you.” He murmured under his breath, clinching his hands on the stirring wheel, as he started the car. “I am coming, Darling. I am coming, my friends.”
He pressed the gas pedal with his foot, then drove the car forward for a few feet, before taking a sharp turn suddenly, right towards one of SHIELD’s cars.
He let out a loud, blood-curdling scream that ranged through the entire area, as he abandoned the stirring wheel, covering his face with his arms.
The car hit the other parked car violently. Way too violently, if he was being honest.
His car flew into the air in a very scary way, his panicked, terrified screams never stopping, as his car passed the wide parking lot, falling outside it, hitting the ground hard and violently, as it fell to its side, crawling harshly for a few more feet, before stopping on its side, its wheels still moving pointlessly.
“Get him out! Get him out fast!” The leader’s panicked voice ranged through the area, shaking his soldiers from their panicked shock. “Fast! Before the gas catches fire and the car explodes! Hurry!”
He didn’t leave his position, because of his orders, but he watched with very concerned eyes, as his men rushed towards the upturned car, while he called out for an ambulance from inside the hospital. They started pulling Charles from inside it, while spraying foam from fire extinguishers at the car, to stop it from exploding.
The ambulance came fast, passing the garden and through the main entrance. Paramedics rushed over towards Charles with a stretcher.
“He lost consciousness!” one of the paramedics exclaimed, as they moved Charles carefully to the stretcher. “We need to take to the ER immediately!”
Even with how they were checking him carefully with attention, tending to him fast, no one of them noticed the quick, victorious smile that passed Charles’s lips for a second, as they carried him towards the hospital.
His entire body hurts. He might have overdone it a little bit, but that didn’t dampen the sense of victory he was feeling all the way towards the hospital.