I Die Often Hank

Chapter 68

Crimson's POV:

Today was the day, make peace or pull an Erik. Now of course we'd told Kirk that it would just be the three of us, but even we aren't that stupid. Peter and Kurt were on standby to bring in the calvary at a moment's notice. As so we stood and waited impatiently in the middle of nowhere for Kirk to arrive. 

"Erik don't you dare use that unless you have to," Charles warned when we saw a car approaching.

"Since when have I gone against the plan?" Erik asked and I tried to contain my laughter. Erik shot me a glare which I sent right back. He better follow-through today or I might push Charles to divorce him... again. 

The car pulled to a stop and Kirk climbed out, seemingly covered in weapons. Metal weapons, he really is a dumbass. Or he's just incredibly cocky. Maybe both? Probably both. 

"Victor so nice of you to join us," Charles spoke with a strained smile. 

"What the fuck do you want?" Kirk asked clearly unhappy to be in our presence. 

"Peace, we want peace. Nothing more. This fighting isn't getting us anywhere-" Charles was cut off. 

"It's not getting you anywhere, it's getting me exactly where I want to be," Kirk interrupted. 

"We're people just like you, we didn't choose this. There's no reason for bad blood, we can all get along and stay out of each other's hair," Charles offered. Kirk froze for a millisecond before moving his hand to rest on his gun. His face turned to a scowl and it became clear that Charles had prevented him from moving further. 

"I have a counter-proposal, go fuck yourselves," Kirk spoke and then he spat in Erik's face. I starred Kirk directly in the eyes. 

"Do it," I instructed. Erik required no convincing. The needle flew out of his pocket and the point rested on the bulging vein on Kirk's neck. 

"Last chance," Charles spoke in an almost pleading tone. 

"If I stick this in you, you will gain an unhelpful but very noticeable physical mutation. You'll be one of us, for life," Erik explained. Kirk looked panicked. He didn't seem to know what to do. 

Make peace with those you hate or become one of them?

"Fine. I'll play nice in order to protect my honor, I'll have everyone back off," Kirk finally gave in. Erik started to move the needle before I stopped him.

"One more thing, the machine you built to alter memories, we'll need that too," I added. Kirk sighed and thought about it for a moment. 

"Deal, I'll have it dropped off outside your gates," Kirk answered. Erik finally fully removed the needle and Kirk speed-walked to his car and quickly drove off. I clapped Erik on the back.

"I'm proud of you, you didn't go nuclear," I teased. 

A Few Days Later

I had filled everyone in on my plan for the machine and Charles agreed to it. Hank had finished setting it up and it was time. Only one problem this was going to suck. Charles had informed the others of our role in this and something tells me they won't exactly be excited. Charles cleared his throat and gathered everyone's attention. 

"Now then in order to protect ourselves, and frankly all of mutant-kind I will use this machine to simultaneously alter the memories of everyone on Earth. No one except our students and their families will know the location of the school. The world will know that King Andrew was a mutant and they will believe that the royal family was murdered by Anti-Mutant terrorists"

I smiled at Charles mentally thanking him for clearing my name and removing my status as a terrorist. 

"This will clear our names, and help preserve Alex's memory and legacy as a hero."

Scott looked up with a large grin on his face. Alex deserves to be remembered as a hero, not an assassin. 

"None of the students will remember people hurting us or attacking the school. I will also clear all of your names of any prior criminal acts."

Peter smiled a lot at the last part. Probably too much. I think Erik noticed. Erik is not one to judge about this. Hypocrite. 

"However, even with the power of Cerebro, I cannot do this alone. I will be sort of borrowing all of your strength in order to amplify my powers. It is going to feel quite unpleasant," Charles warned. Well, I should be fine, sucks for them though. 

"Your body may be immune, but your mind isn't," Charles spoke to me telepathically. WAIT. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?? CHARLES!? I spotted Charles in the corner smirking. Damnit. 

Charles followed Hank up to the platform and Hank lowered the helmet onto Charles' head. Charles closed his eyes and the room lit up. Everyone looked on in anticipation of the less than pleasant experience Charles had promised us. Then it hit. Incredibly intense pain in the head caused all of us to fall to the floor clutching our heads. Soon millions of images and short clips flashed before my eyes. They would be the original memory then it would quickly switch to the version Charles implanted. 

Some of the memories were tamer than others. I saw a police officer trying to chase after a younger version of Peter whose arms were full of seemingly stolen records. Then it switched to Peter buying the records. Then it was a memory of the people who were attacking the school. It switched from them lighting up bottles of alcohol to a huge crowd of people holding a candlelight vigil for Alex. And then one for Logan. 

After what felt like an eternity the pain and the flashing images stopped. Soon we all picked ourselves up off the floor. We'd actually done it. We rewrote history. 

Author's Note:

At last, I've finally returned. 

The next few chapters will focus on the wedding, including the bachelor and bachelorette parties. Featuring a cameo from an X-Men we haven't seen in this book... Any guesses as to who it will be?

Which party do you think will be better? Erik and Crimson's Bachelorette party or Charles and Hank's Bachelor party?