Chapter 2
Moira was functioning in a place beyond fear and uncertainty. The impossible had happened, was continuing to happen and Stephen Hawking had been right. No surprise there she supposed.
A quick rap on her office door caught her attention and she quickly smoothed her hands down her skirt and adjusted her suit jacket. No reason to look as flustered as she felt.
“Come in,” she called briskly, trying to look professional and alert even though she couldn’t remember the last time she’d left the compound.
Her field partner, Munoz, entered her office with a quick smile, trailed by their newest team member, Cassidy, and a handsome young man she knew only by reputation.
“Good work agents,” she said with a genuine smile of relief. “Welcome to Langley Dr. Xavier, I’m sorry to take you away from your family in this trying time.” She began warmly, taking a moment to shake his hand. The one unoccupied with a drowsy kitten.
She arched an eye brow at Munoz who gave a prosaic shrug at the direction of her gaze.
“It’s no trouble, I’m happy to be of service to my country,” Xavier said with a welcoming smile.
They all took seats around the small meeting table that took up one end of Moira’s office as Cassidy started a fresh pot of coffee. Moira declined a cup; she was past help when it came to exhaustion. The thought of any more caffeine made her nauseous.
“I’m glad to hear that you’re willing to help, Dr. Xavier, “
“Please call me Charles,” he said earnestly, leaning forwards in his seat and pinning her in place with his bright blue eyes.
She gave a short nod, “Charles, what’s said in this room, in this facility can never leave it. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” he said nervously, breath coming quickly as his palms started sweating. He set Albert on the cool surface of the table to gratefully accept a mug of steaming brew from a fatigued Cassidy. Albert mewled softly and jumped off the table back into his lap to snuggle against his cardigan.
He hid an eye roll at the dramatic little cuddle slut.
Agent McTaggert gave him a sad, fleeting smile and continued her address, “It’s not just your country that needs you doctor. It’s the entire world.” She raised a hand to cut off his questions. “And I do mean the world, Charles. The Earth itself is in true danger of being destroyed.”
She paused for a moment, but Charles was struck dumb, Moira had become accustomed to this reaction. Everyone had the same response when they heard. Disbelief, blank shock, incomprehension.
“Wh-What do you mean?” he finally stammered out after a long, tense moment, looking to Munoz and Cassidy for confirmation of her mad claims and receiving it in spades. He sat back with a deep exhale, pale as a ghost. “How is that possible?”
“Charles,” Moira began again, catching his full attention with her grim demeanor. “We’ve been invaded.”
~~
Moira hated this aspect of her job. The CIA hired the best and brightest in their field and rarely had to bring civilians into their jobs. But Charles Xavier was young, twenty eight and entirely uninterested in government service. He preferred shaping young minds and sharing his knowledge to sitting behind a desk and dealing with the bureaucracy.
“I get enough of that at university,” he’d laughed during his offer interview for MI6. They’d desperately wanted to recruit the young dual citizen upon completion of his degree at Oxford. If they’d had any inkling of coming events he likely would have been pressed into service against his will.
Hindsight was 20/20.
Moira had been granted access to his interview in an unprecedented information share from agencies around the world. She had a good feeling about him, so she called him in. Now she could only hope her plan would work.
“This is what we know. The initial blackout lasted for exactly fifteen minutes. An audio file played exactly five times in that stretch of time. Three minutes per loop. Only federal government agencies received this missive. We got it in English. Canada in English and French, Mexico in Spanish. China in Mandarin and so on and so forth. As far as we can tell, every nation on Earth was informed of our options and stripped of our defenses in the same stretch of time.”
Charles was looking a bit green around the gills, “What are our options?” he asked shakily.
Agent Munoz leaned in with a grim frown, “Surrender or die.”
~~
Charles was suiting up to meet their alien overlords. Outer space invasion, really? Surely this was all a very bizarre dream and he was going to wake up and laugh. Maybe he’d write a science fiction book about it, become a best seller. Only he couldn't wake up, not for lack of trying. Maybe he was in a coma, and that’s why he couldn’t wake himself up.
He anxiously jiggled his knee as he sat outside the briefing room with Cassidy who was happily cuddling a now fully alert Albert. Charles was seriously considering giving him more cat-drops to put him back to sleep. The last thing he needed was his little ball of mischief running loose in the CIA.
He nervously tugged his tie and adjusted his collar. He’d changed into his nicest, bespoke suit. The one he used for grant request proposals. Perhaps that how he should think of this, ‘please don’t kill my species and destroy our home, here is a ten point list of reasons why you should consider my request.’
He ran a shaky hand through his hair. The fate of the world rested on his shoulders. Seven billion people and who knew how many plant and animal species, the planet itself, depended on what he said to alien invaders.
They were all doomed.
“I really am the worst person for this job; I always say the wrong thing at the wrong time! It’s a curse!” he’d tried to reason with his handlers by they weren’t having it.
“Relax, man,” Cassidy drawled softly. “Moira has great instincts, that’s why she’s our team lead. She believes in you, so do me and ‘mondo.”
“‘mondo and I,” Charles corrected absently as he stood to pace the hall. Albert mewled at him impatiently, clearly picking up his tension.
“Dude,” Cassidy began when the office door opened and Agents McTaggert and Munoz stepped into the hall, looking dour. Their conference call must not have gone well. Charles’ heart sank.
“Different countries are trying different tactics, but we agree that surrender in the face of an overwhelming force is our optimal chance of survival, Moira informed them shortly.
“But what do they want?” Charles wondered, baffled.
“Subservience,” Munoz said flatly. “They’ll settle for nothing less."
“See, Charles. What’d I tell ya’? How could you make this worse?” Cassidy said with a happy smile, earning him looks of disbelief from his three companions and a head butt from Albert since the petting had stopped. He seemed supremely unconcerned with the goings on. Charles wanted some of whatever he was on.
Moira cleared her throat and pursed her lips, "Agent Cassidy is right, Charles. This situation can't get much worse, just do your best. It's all we can ask of you."
Charles took a deep breath and let it out in a tremulous sigh, he was out of time. They all were. Armando's words rang in his mind on a loop. "Surrender or die, Subservience." What could they possibly mean by that? Why humans? Why Earth? He supposed he'd find out soon enough.
He straightened his shoulders and carefully adjusted his suit jacket. If he was going to die at least he'd die looking like the gentleman he was raised to be. "Alright Agents, lets meet our masters." Charles said, pale and unsmiling.
They made a silent treck through the bowels of Langley and into a motorcade that took them through the nearly empty city streets of the capitol until they reached the Pentagon.
Charles greedily watched the city pass by, intimately aware that this may be his last chance to do so. He had so many regrets. He'd taken his future for granted and now that future was gone, replaced by a great unknown. He watched the few pedestrians they passed on the street, they were anxious and drawn. He envied them their ignorance. He'd been so afraid of the unknown just a few hours before, now he knew there were worse things than ignorance.
But even in the face of his blind fear, in the small, still part of himself that always demanded more knowledge, he was more excited than he'd ever been. This was the dream of scientists and philosophers for centuries past, and he had the honor of being on Earth's vanguard. The jumble of emotion made him queasy but he reveled in it. The feeling proved he was alive, he'd enjoy every moment for as long as it lasted.
After too long and not nearly long enough, they arrived at the Pentagon and went to meet the future head on.