Chapter 16
Finally, they stopped in front of a huge metal door at the end of the tunnel, which opened the moment AU Erik placed his hand on a specific place, and thin, red laser scanned his eyes.
The door opened, revealing what could only be described as a beehive.
Mutants and humans alike, some familiar and some not so much, were moving around, surrounded by ancient looking computers and machines, moving supplies, shouting orders at each other, loading guns and all kinds of weapons.
The six of them stepped inside, watching everything with wide eyes, while Clint and Bucky were still dragging the unconscious Dark Steve with them.
The moment AU Erik stepped inside the beehive, everyone stood at attention as they looked at him with deep, devoted respect.
“Commander Lehnsherr!” They all saluted together like one strong voice.
AU Erik just gave them a nod, which apparently was enough for them to nod back and get back to their work.
“Okay, wow.” Tony murmured in disbelieve as he stared at the Metal binder with wide eyes. “That is unexpected.”
“Not really. Erik could be an amazing, well respected leader when he wants to be.” Charles just shrugged with a soft smile, feeling an ache in his heart.
God, he missed his Erik terribly.
“Beast! Havok!” AU Erik called out in a strong voice. Almost immediately, Hank and Alex Summers were in front of him in attention, the former in his beast form. “Take the prisoner. Make sure he is chained properly. Place one of the collars around his neck.”
“Yes, sir.” They nodded and turned to them, only to freeze and take a terrified step back when their eyes landed on Dean, Tony and the unconscious Dark Steve.
They were probably not sure which one of them was the prisoner.
Then their eyes met Charles’ and they looked like they were staring at a ghost, from how pale and confused they were.
“Commander, what-what? The king? And-and-“ AU Hank stammered as he looked at AU Erik, who kept his calm cold face.
“Take the unconscious soldier. Ignore the rest.” He ordered calmly, not even bothering to explain the situation.
It seemed like the two mutants trusted that version of Erik enough to only nod, and move to take the unconscious soldier from Clint and Bucky, while eyeing Charles specifically with sad, confused eyes, before moving out with the prisoner.
“Aren’t you going to explain to them who we are?” Natasha asked curiously, looking over at AU Erik. The Mutant just gave her an empty look, not answering.
“We will gather them all later and explain everything.” AU Raven was the one to answer, as she waved someone over to them.
They looked up at who she was waving to, only to see an AU Logan coming over to them, while eyeing them curiously.
“The whole X-Men are here apparently.” Dean commented as he watched AU Raven, Logan and Erik talk quietly among themselves.
“What’s more confusing is the presence of humans here.” Tony said in confusion. “I thought no version of Erik will tolerate working with all these humans.”
“Who are these people anyway?” Clint asked in frustration.
“We are the Freedom Fighters.” AU Logan announced as he approached them with AU Raven. He trailed his eyes over them, before stopping at Charles for longer than necessary. “So, let me get this straight. You two are the good doppelgangers of the King and his mad scientist from another world?” he nodded over at Dean and Tony respectively.
“’Good’ might be an oversimplification.” Natasha commented with a smirk, ignoring Tony and Dean’s glares.
“And you three from that world too, but have no powers.” He pointed at Natasha, Bucky and Clint. “And obviously, you are not our Charles. Am I getting all this right?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” Dean just shrugged at him with a tired smile.
“Don’t you have doppelgangers of us here?” Clint asked curiously.
“Used to. When the crazy king and his three goons destroyed SHIELD, they killed everyone there, starting from Nick Fury until the recruits themselves. Including our Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov.” AU Raven reported grimly.
“You killed us?!” Clint and Natasha exclaimed, as they turned to Dean with wide eyes.
“That wasn’t even me! Why are you yelling at me?” Dean looked indignantly at them. “But damn, you have to admit, that guy is efficient in a really scary way.”
“As for you,” AU Logan looked over at Bucky. “We had one of you. The Winter Soldier, a cold-hearted assassin for the king. Our commander killed you a few years ago.”
“Let me guess. He killed him with his own metal arm by his powers?” Bucky asked, looking strangely amused by this.
“Yes, exactly.”
“That must have been funny. Probably played ‘why are you hitting yourself’ with him too.” Bucky chuckled in amusement, finally noticing the strange looks his friends were giving him. “What? He obviously deserves it; you have to admit that.”
“Your self-loathing is blowing my mind.” Tony commented with a roll of his eyes.
“Anyway,” Charles eyed Bucky in concern, before turning to AU Logan and Raven, while trying to ignore their piercing looks that they keep giving him. “Do you know how they brought us here?”
The two AU mutants exchanged a meaningful look.
“Yeah, we have a pretty good idea.” AU Raven nodded with a sigh, before grabbing a tablet from a nearby table and tapped on it for a few seconds. “I think you guys came from this.”
She showed them a 3D illustration of an oval shaped gateway.
“A temporal gateway?” Charles murmured with a frown.
“Same physics as a breach through the worlds, just more stable and much larger.” Tony murmured as he eyed the small screen with deep attention.
“So, we have a way to get back.” Dean announced with a hopeful look.
Charles noticed that AU Logan and Raven were avoiding their eyes now.
“Where’s is this thing?” Natasha asked carefully, also noticing their strange behavior.
“It’s actually not too far from here. About 22.2 kilometers to be exact. Obviously, need to drive to it.” AU Logan shrugged, still not looking at them.
“Then take us to it.” Dean urged eagerly, stepping closer towards them.
“We can’t do that.” AU Raven sighed sadly, as she looked away from them.
“Why?” Natasha demanded with a frown.
“Because the gateway is in a facility guarded by a not-so-small army of New Nazis.” AU Logan stated with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah, well, we have faced worse, so..” Tony just rolled his eyes.
“Look, it is our only way home.” Dean said firmly, undeterred. “We are going through it.”
“Nobody’s is going through anything.” AU Erik’s firm, harsh voice startled them, as he approached them again with firm steady steps. “Because we are blowing it the hell up.”
“What? Why?” Clint exclaimed in panic.
“Why do you want to blow our only way home?” Tony eyed him with wide eyes.
“We don’t exactly want to.” AU Logan said as he and Raven moved to stand beside their commander.
“Everyone we care about is on the other side if that gateway, imprisoned by your new Nazis.” Natasha snapped with a frustrated glare.
“The Nazis who want to cut open my husband. We have to get back!” Dean exclaimed desperately.
“Eliminate that facility and you eliminate our only chance of saving our friends and family from your enemies.” Charles tried to speak calmly, but couldn’t help the frustration that leaked into his voice.
“I am sorry, but we have been waiting for an opportunity like this for years. We can not wait any longer.” AU Erik interrupted their exclaims and protests firmly. “This is our only chance to separate the king from his army. We are trying to turn this war around.”
“You are gonna leave our world at the mercy of the three psychopaths, who have ravaged yours!” Dean shouted in rage as he looked at the mutant indignantly.
“Watch your tone when you speak to me, Good Copy. You should feel thankful I let you in here with your little friend, even though you two look exactly like the two men I want to kill the most.” AU Erik snarled as he glared hard at Dean and Tony.
“Look, Eri-I mean, Commander.” Natasha interjected a little calmly, trying to diffuse the tension. “All we are asking is for a little bit of time. Let us get into the facility and through that gateway.”
“The gateway is guarded by 30 panzer XIIs, 50 Sturmtigers and a squad of 100 hundred officer.” AU Logan reported with pursed lips. “Not the best odds, maybe.”
“We will take them.” Tony said firmly.
“No, you will not.” AU Erik snapped in a tone that suggest no objections. “We are blowing that gateway right now. Final order.”
With that, he eyed them all with a stern look, avoided Charles’ eyes, then walked away from them towards a side room.
The six of them turn to look at each other helplessly.
“Sorry, he is a little rough around the edges.” AU Logan shrugged with a sigh. “But he is the commander and he has issued his commands.”
“Never thought I will hear these words from Logan.” Tony scoffed in frustration.
Charles eyed AU Raven and Logan for a second, before turning towards the room AU Erik disappeared into and moved to walk towards it.
“Hey, hey, hey.” AU Raven rushed to get in his way. “You won’t be able to change his mind. No one can.”
“Look, I have to try.” Charles insisted stubbornly, looking AU Raven straight in the eye. “I was always able to reason with Erik no matter how hot headed he got.”
“No matter what you will say to him, you are not his Charles.” AU Raven pointed out sternly, trying to shake his confidence.
“I need to at least try.” The telepath insisted, undeterred by her sentence.
They stared at each other tensely for a few seconds, neither of them backing down.
“Raven, let him try.” AU Logan sighed with a shake of his head.
“Thank you.” Charles gave AU Logan a small smile, that just managed to increase the sad look in his eyes.
When Charles moved this time towards the specific room, AU Raven didn’t try to stop him.
***
Charles walked into the room, to find AU Erik, with his hood pulled down, staring at a tablet placed in front of him on a huge table that took most of the room.
To Charles’ aching heart, he noticed a huge scar on the back of the mutant’s head. It was severe enough that his hair wasn’t able to cover it.
As he approached to stand next to him, the metal binder still didn’t turn to face him.
“Apparently, all your versions are unable to take an order.” AU Erik muttered with a tinge of bitterness dripping from his voice.
“I was never a soldier, so I am not good with orders. You obviously know that.” Charles said softly, willing the other to meet his eyes. He desperately wanted to reach for his mind, but he suspected this Erik won’t really appreciate it. “Erik, please, you can’t do this.”
“It’s Commander Lehnsherr.” AU Erik snapped, as he turned to Charles with a harsh glare on his face. “I don’t know if you haven’t noticed or what, but this world is in a war. We are tired! Humans. Mutants. They are all dying for absurd reasons by a devil of a man and his demons.”
“We are not asking you to surrender.” Charles tried as he reached a gentle hand to place it on the other’s arm. “Just let us get back home, before you destroy that gateway. I am just asking for a little time.”
“Time is what I can’t give you!” AU Erik barked, as he snatched his arm away like it was burned.
Charles flinched and that seemed to make the Metal Binder pause. He eyed the telepath for a second before sighing.
“They have a weapon,” he explained a little more calmly, voice strained. “A doomsday weapon powerful enough to affect other worlds. It has to be eliminated.”
Charles heart started to beat a little faster in his chest, but he still had hope.
“Erik, please.” Charles murmured softly, stepping closer to the mutant. “The king, the people you hate, they are going to kill our friends and family. A version of you is waiting for me back home. My husband. They are going to kill him.” Charles’ voice hitched as he thought of his Erik, desperately waiting for him to come back. “Please, I can’t lose him.”
The Metal Binder looked positively pained at that as he turned to look away from him, hands gripping the table in a white knuckled grip.
“You will survive.” He gritted through his teeth; pain evident in each word. “Like I, sadly, did. You will handle it much better though.”
Charles placed his hand again on his arm. This time, the mutant didn’t shake it off.
“What happened to you?” the telepath murmured softly, carefully. “What happened to him?”
AU Erik took a shuddering breath, eyes trained on the tabletop, unable to look Charles in the eyes.
“Stark. He took him away from me.” He whispered in a voice filled with pain and anger. “When he realized he was better off as a crazy, sadistic bastard, he tried to get Charles to his side. To use his powers to help him and help the fucking king. Charles refused. He and I escaped. Stayed away from all the shit they did to the world. Tried to stay hidden as long as possible. He won’t let me kill the bastard. Still having fucking hope for his childhood friend.”
He then turned to Charles; his once cold eyes were now filled with unbearable pain.
“But they found us.” His grip on the table tightened. The metal in the room started to vibrate. “They have the same mentality as the Nazis. They hunted down mutants. I am a mutant and Jewish. I was a fucking Jackpot. They took me to force Charles to come out and do what they want from him. The idiot did to save me. They took him right in front of me.”
He took a shuddering breath, then looked away.
“I tried to get him out.” He whispered, sadness dripping from his voice. “I was captured by the king. Before he shot me and threw me in a ditch to die, he made me see Charles’ dead body, who was killed by Stark after refusing to cooperate with him.”
Dread and pain filled Charles as he stared at the pained man in front of him. Heart breaking at the tragedy he suffered through. He couldn’t imagine the amount of pain that man went through to become like this.
“To them, I have been dead for years.” AU Erik straightened suddenly. His face was back to its coldness and ruthlessness so fast, that Charles thought he imagined the last few minutes. “In a way, I did die that day. So, I am sorry about your family and friends. I am sorry about your world. But today, I have the chance to protect my people, my world. To not let his death, go in vain.” He eyed Charles coldly before turning to walk away.
“Erik, just please, wait-“ Charles tried again desperately, but was stopped by the harsh look sent his way by the eyes that always looked warmly at him.
“My decision stands.” AU Erik said in a final tone, before walking away, leaving a helpless Charles behind.