Chapter 1
Two sets of blue eyes stared back at each other. An unspoken tension settled into the air. The whole world seemed to hold its breath.
“What the hell Raven?”
4 MONTHS EARLIER
“Ok, class dismissed. But, don’t forget I want your final projects on my desk by Monday,” Charles called to his students as they shuffled out into the halls.
“You know, you have quite a way with words.”
“Well, thank you very much. Now may I ask what has brought such a beautiful woman into my lecture hall today.”
“Well, I’m Agent Moria Motagrent CIA and I was wondering if I could have a word with you. In private,” her voice dropped.
“Um, well yes. You can come to my office.”
“May I know what this is all about now?” He asked shutting the door.
“It’s about your sister. Raven Darkholme.”
“Oh my. What has she gotten herself into now.”
“We might want to sit down.”
“Over the past several months she has been breaking into highly secured facilities and aiding in the escape of certain subjects. We’ve tracked her all across the world, from Texas to Vietnam..”
“I see. And, why are you coming to me about this.”
“We were hoping you could help us find her.”
“Oh, you found your way here. I’m sorry I couldn’t come to greet you I had to help one of our guys with something.”
“It’s ok. I didn’t mind the walk.”
“Oh hey, Moria do you know who-” The young man stopped when he saw Charles was in the room. There was an awkward sort of staring contest between the two before the man seemed to regain his thoughts. “Um yeah, I can ask you later. This must be Dr. Xavier. Nice to meet you.”
“It is a pleasure as well. You must be one of the tech guys working on my sister’s case.”
“Oh, yes. I’m Hank. I’m gonna be working with you to help find Raven.”
“Well how about we sit and talk first.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Do you have any idea what Raven could be up to or where she could be?”
“I have no idea, I haven’t seen her in five years.”
“Well, let’s begin there.”
PRESENT-DAY
“You can’t just show up here after five years with no explanation! Did you know that the CIA was looking for you? They came to me a few months ago, I’m helping them right now look for you!”
“Will you shut up, Charles! Do you wanna even ask me anything before you trust some idiots at the government over me.”
“Ok, well then how about you explain?”
“When I left with Eric things weren’t great it was a lot on the run. But about two years ago we got a tip that they locked up a teenage boy after he defending himself when he was attacked outside a gay bar. We went, broke him out and he started to ride with us. The more we traveled the more cases and more cases kept popping up. We were doing fine until Vietnam, I guess messing with the military experiments was the last straw for them to get involved.”
Charles stayed silent for several seconds, “Raven, I...I had no idea.”
“No, you didn’t”
“But, that still doesn’t explain why you’re here?”
“Before this, we were staying on a small island off the coast of Africa. Made friends with the locals and they agreed to give us a small plot of land. But, when we made a pit stop in Egypt where some girl approached us. She had been taken in LGBT kids for a long time, but she was running out of space. She recognized us from the paper. We couldn’t turn her away, but the island is getting too crowded. So these kids need somewhere to stay.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles stared out the window. The phone rang, disrupting Charles from his thoughts. Wheeling himself over he was surprised to hear Hank’s voice.
“Hey, Charles.”
“Well, hello, Hank. I didn’t expect to be hearing from you.”
“Yeah, Moria asked me to call. Neither of us has heard from you in a few days.”
“Oh yeah, sorry. I’ve been busy,” his eyes drifting to the scattered teens and young adults outside.
“Any leads on your sister?”
“Um, no sorry.”
“Oh, ok. Are you still going to be there this Friday?”
“Huh?”
“For the meeting? About Raven, with the head in charge?”
“Oh, yes. I will be there.”
“Ok, see you there then,” Hank said before ending the call.
“What the hell am I gonna do?”
“Perhaps, you could kill them all?”
Charles looked up to stare wildly at Erik.
“So I see you haven’t changed one bit.”
“Oh, come on, it was a joke.”
“What’s the problem anyway?”
“I’m supposed to meet with the head of the department looking for Raven Friday to give him an update.”
“I say you go march in there and tell them to fuck it and you won’t assist in their witchhunt.”
Charles rubbed his forehead, “If we’re going to make any sort of progress we are going to need to learn to be civil.”
“Whatever you say. Do you want to join me and Raven for lunch on the lawn?”
“That sounds lovely.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Well, I’m eager to see what information you’ve gathered, but please make it snappy, I have other matters to attend to,” the Head of the department started as soon as he entered the room.
“Of course. As you know she first came to our knowledge when she broke the kid out of jail. We tracked her getting a few hits over the weeks. But, always after she was gone. Then she hit the military base in Vietnam and have been tracking her since. They made a pit stop in Cario where she picked up more passengers before flying to Genosha. But we lost her there. With your permission, we are hoping to take a squad down there to check it out.”
“Thank you, Agent. But, before I waste potential resources, Charles. Have you come up with anything on your end?”
The man paused preparing to lie through his teeth. But, he thought about what Eric said, and about the smile coming back to Raven’s eyes during the past week, and the kids waiting for him. You know what, fuck this.
“Yeah actually, when they disappeared it’s because they contacted me. And they told me the truth behind this whole operation. The truth of instead of breaking out troubled kids and possibly building an army or something their helping LGBT kids out of horrible situations. Giving them a sense of home they’ve never had before. So you can try to find them, but you will not get a single once of help from me. And I hope you two will follow my lead.” Charles lectured before storming out of the office.
“How’d your little CIA meeting go?”
“I took your advice.”
“And how’d that go?”
“I feel better.”
“Yeah, your still a little red around the face there.”
“What, what advice are you talking about,’ Raven butt in.
“Dear Charles here told the CIA to suck it.”
“Nice Profesor didn’t think you had it in you,” Alex said walking over and plopping himself on the couch.”
“Well, one I did not use such vile language, and two. Professor?”
“Yeah, you don’t remember our nicknames, Charles?
“Wow, that felt like ages ago.”
“Whole different lifetime,” Eric commented with a pat on the shoulder.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Hi, I’m looking for Charles Xavior?” the nerd asked almost as a question.
“Yeah, what do you need him for, bozo.”
“Um, I’m, here to help him with LGBT kids?”
“Yeah, and I can I be sure you ain’t lying. That your not here from the CIA to arrest him or something.”
“Well, you can’t be sure. Especially since I used to be part of the CIA, but then I quit. But, I guess so did Charles?”
“Ok, ok dude. You’re too, everywhere, to be considered a threat. I’ll go get him for you”
“Thank you. Tell him it’s Hank.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was a soft knock on the office door, a soft come in as a response.
“Hey, professor some dude is here to see you,” Alex explained.
“Who?”
“Says his name is Hank.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, tall brown hair, gives off the biggest nerd vibes.”
“Yeah, yeah I know who he is. We worked together with the CIA, I just, didn’t expect him to actually quit,” the teacher explained as he rolled his way towards the front door.
“He said something bout that. Didn’t know he was actually telling the truth.”
“Well, here we are. I would rather handle this alone. So, if you could leave us.”
Alex nodded and walked off.
“Thank you for meeting with me Charles.”
“It will always be a pleasure, Hank. Now, I take it you want to get right to business.”
“Well, I take it you know why I’m here. I quit, the CIA two days after you stormed out. Took me this long to gather the courage to come to talk to you. So, here I am,” the younger said fiddling with the strap of his messenger bag.
“And, what made you do it. Risk it all for some random guy you met a few months ago?”
“I want to help Charles. I’ve been alone my whole life drifting from job to job trying to do something. But nothing has ever spoken to me like your speech did. I grew up a closeted bisexual in a small conservative town. I know what it means to be surrounded by hate. And the fact you think there’s something I can do about it. That means more than keeping my nose clean.”
“Well, welcome to the team.”