Flickers (Charles Xavier)

Chapter 2

"Our other facility was attacked," Charles told Iris as she walked beside him towards the plane, "By Shaw, of course. It would be unsafe for us to continue to train at the FBI facility, so I have thought of a location which we will train at instead. There are more of us, and you will meet them soon enough."

Iris nodded slowly, but she couldn't suppress the feeling of fear in her heart- fear of what she had done in the coffee shop.

"You're scared," Charles stopped, turning to face her, "What you did in the coffee shop- whatever it was, it is nothing to be afraid of. We will be able to find out soon enough what your ability is, I am sure."

Iris offered a small smile, "Thank you, Charles. It isn't just that, though. For some reason, the name Sebastian Shaw- I recognise it. I have no idea why. I feel like it is something to do with my childhood, but I don't know what."

Charles began to walk again when he spotted Erik sitting by the window already, "We will find out everything, don't you worry, Miss. Miracle."

"You can call me Iris, you know," She smiled, stepping onto the plane and finding a seat near to the front. Charles sat opposite her, to her surprise, although she did not express it.

The plane was silent while they waited for take off, but once the plane was securely in the air, Charles stopped looking out of the window at the view surrounding him and turned to face Iris.

"So, did I hear you say you lost your job today?"

Iris sighed, nodding, "I'm a research journalist, but I never seem to get the articles that I want to write about. Who wants to read an article about the newest local plants? So I complained to my boss... in what I must admit was probably not the kindest of tones before he fired me."

"Well," Charles shook his head, "Perhaps you will continue with journalism again in the future- the newspaper that you were working at may not have been for you."

Iris smiled at his kindness, "What did you do before this?"

"I researched mutants and mutations. It was through my research that an FBI agent, Moira, managed to find me and ask me to begin to pull the team together."

Iris nodded with a smile, turning to look out of the window at the clouds beneath them. She wondered how on earth she had managed to go from being fired one minute to hired at another job in the next. And for a mutation- a skill- that she didn't even know that she had.

"You know," Charles leant forwards, breaking into her thoughts, "The key to discovering your talents could involve searching for the name Shaw in your past. You may not be able to access it, but I could."

"You would be able to do that?" Iris asked softly, and Charles nodded slowly, reaching his two forefingers to his temple.

"Do you mind?"

Iris shook her head quickly, and she was suddenly conscious of Charles' presence in her mind, searching through it to find the relevance of Shaw to her past and abilities. She felt old memories being flicked through, memories of childhood and early stages of being a teenager. The further that he went back, the more strained Iris felt her head becoming, and she could see Charles wincing slightly.

"Charles," Erik's voice interrupted from the seat behind Iris' as he stood up. The connection was broken, and Iris relaxed slightly.

"Moira wants to speak with you before we meet at the Mansion- she needs to know the exact destination, and she seems a bit lost."

Charles glanced at Iris quickly, but she simply smiled, allowing him to reach out and take the device from Erik's hands to speak to her.

As he began to speak, Iris turned, leaning her face against the window and falling into a light sleep, trying to ignore the headache that she felt forming.

*

Iris slept for most of the journey on the plane, and only awoke briefly to walk to the car before she fell asleep again on the backseat.

"Iris," Charles spoke softly, opening the car door, "We're here."

Slowly, she sat up, rubbing at her eyes groggily, "That wasn't a dream. I'm actually here."

Erik walked past, pulling a suitcase behind him, "Unfortunately not."

She clambered out of the car, smoothing her hair down and glancing upwards as she did so.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she stared at the mansion in front of her in wonder. It was grand, with large windows and doors running along the front.

Behind her, another car pulled up, and the sound of the tyres against the gravel caused her to break away from her thoughts.

"These are the others," Charles smiled, walking forwards and gesturing for her to follow suit.

A smart-looking woman got out of the front seat, who Iris assumed to be Moira. Several others tumbled out of the back, who all looked much younger and amazed by the building than Moira did.

The only other girl, who looked about the same age as Iris, rushed forwards to hug Charles. Her wavy blonde hair blew out of her face in the wind, revealing the look of relief at seeing him.

Charles pulled away and pointed at Iris, "This is Iris Miracle, our final recruit."

Iris waved shyly, and Charles pointed at the others.

"Iris, meet Raven, Hank, Alex and Sean, or Banshee as his friends prefer to call him."

"What's your thing?" Alex asked, stepping forwards, "What can you do?"

Iris glanced at Charles, swallowing anxiously. What was she supposed to say?

"I'll give you all a tour of the house," Charles stepped forwards, smiling at Iris kindly and projecting a message to her brain.

They'll find out when you do.