“No!” Dormammu shouted.
“Do it!” Sabretooth growled.
The door latched, cutting off the flow of life force so quickly that Christopher felt it all the way down to his marrow. The churning in his belly eased. The queasy aura that had surrounded the Box ever since that first moment that Christopher had seen it vanished in an instant as if it had never existed.
Sabretooth was gone.
The Box released them. Christopher fell to the ground of the soccer field, stunned and crying. Eva sprawled on the ground next to him. They wrapped their arms around each other and wept for Sabretooth and all that he could have been, if only he’d tried.
The powerful artifact rolled onto the ground only a few feet away, smoking as if from some great heat. Slowly, the sigils on the sides dimmed until they faded completely from view.
Chapter 32
Eva washed her face and took a moment to examine her reflection in the blurry bathroom mirror of the soccer complex bathroom. She felt like a completely different person than the one who had left the school that afternoon. That person had been determined to prove that she didn’t need anyone. But she’d seen firsthand what that kind of independence did to a person. Sabretooth didn’t trust anyone, and look where it had gotten him. He’d nearly died alone. He would have, if not for Christopher’s determination to be a part of a team whether Sabretooth liked it or not.
A wave of worry overcame her. She couldn’t hear Christopher, and she knew that he’d taken Sabretooth’s loss hard. It didn’t matter that maybe he would make a deal with Dormammu and come back. It didn’t even matter that he’d betrayed them. The emotions remained the same. At first, Eva had wanted to shake some sense into Christopher, because how could he care so much about someone who had done them so wrong? But then she realized that she felt much the same way about Graydon. He hadn’t been the best person she’d ever met, but they’d connected. She felt a pang of loss every time she thought of him.
She rushed out of the bathroom to check on Christopher, worried because she couldn’t hear him. But she found him standing quietly, looking out across the soccer fields under the darkening sky. A light mist rose over them, giving them a spectral feel that was somehow fitting.
“You ready to go?” Christopher asked. “I think we missed dinner, but hopefully they saved us some.”
He didn’t sob or wail, but he wasn’t his usual cheery self either. Instead, his quiet voice held a world of hurt. She slipped her hand into his and squeezed it. After a moment, he squeezed back.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’m jonesing for some sandwiches. I’ll take your pickles, if you don’t want them.”
That won a faint smile out of him, and they crossed the misty field in companionable silence. It took them a moment to orient themselves, since they had spent so many hours crisscrossing the enormous park, but eventually they found some signage that pointed them in the right direction. They found themselves walking through a large military memorial, with an array of glossy plaques displaying the names of soldiers who had fallen in the line of duty.
Eva continued on, eager to finally get back into the sky, but Christopher pulled his hand free from hers to take a closer look at the display. She paused, trying to contain her impatience. A few more minutes wouldn’t hurt, and maybe he needed the time to process what had happened. It still didn’t feel real to her either. It seemed like Sabretooth would come leaping out of the trees at any moment, because something so much larger than life couldn’t be diminished so easily. She’d seen it with her own eyes, but she couldn’t believe it herself.
“You know, I do a crappy job of picking my heroes,” said Christopher. “My pops was a mess, and I worshipped the ground he walked on. I knew Sabretooth was bad news going in, but I still latched onto him. Neither of them would ever be on a plaque like this. My pops got discharged from the military. It broke him.” Christopher hung his head for a moment. “Sometimes I’m worried that I’ll be the same. If I join the X-Men, I won’t be able to hack it either.”
“If our first mission was any indication, you’ve got it together,” Eva said. Christopher huffed. “No, I’m serious. I’m just the opposite, you know. All my life, I’ve idolized the big heroes. I wanted to be a Captain America or a Cyclops. I wanted to be a star. That’s part of the reason I dragged you out here, and I’m sorry for it. I didn’t realize what I was doing at the time.” She sighed. “But you made me realize that being a part of a team is better. I think you gave Graydon some chance at redemption, you know? And I honestly believe that you made Sabretooth care, even just a little. Maybe it’s not the big, splashy triumph I always imagined. There won’t be a parade. We’ll never be on one of these plaques.” She ran her finger down the list of names. “We’ll probably get kitchen duty for about a million years. But if I could do it again, I would. I think I learned more about being an X-Man from you than I did from all our instructors put together.”
He flushed, looking down at his feet. “Yeah, well, don’t tell Emma. She’s a little crazy.”
Eva laughed. “I won’t if you don’t.”
He began to walk away from the display but stopped abruptly after only a few steps. “Hey, Eva?”
“Yeah?”
“You deserve the parade, you know. You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met.” His face twisted up into the first genuine smile she’d seen him wear since Sabretooth had made his sacrifice. “I might have to quit following my dad’s lead on that and start following yours.”
“Oh. Well…”
Her cheeks flushed, and she kicked at the ground with the broken toe of her boot. Normally, she accepted compliments with a grin and perhaps a sarcastic comment, but she couldn’t do that this time. It felt too special to laugh off. Better than a ticker tape parade any day.
After a moment, the awkwardness passed, and they resumed their walk toward the X-Copter. When they reached the shore, they found a few scattered boats out in the harbor, daring the choppy water and overcast skies. But although the rain had let up again, the cold wind off the lake had kept most potential onlookers at bay.
“Please tell me you still have the remote,” said Eva, not unkindly.
Christopher produced it from his pocket with a flourish. Then he fumbled it, dropping it onto the ground at his feet.
“Whoops.”
As he retrieved it, a robotic voice from further down the docks interrupted them. It felt all too familiar. Exhaustingly so. Out of all of the things that had changed that day, Christopher realized that this one was the most profound. Fear still overtook him when danger threatened, but now, he also felt incredibly tired at the same time. Perhaps that’s what the older X-Men meant when they talked about being jaded, although it seemed like he really ought to be too young for that.
<
A pair of Sentinels stood up from their hiding place behind some boxes at the end of the dock, where they must have been waiting for some time. One of them had a long piece of seaweed wrapped around its metal forehead, and both of them were splotched with seagull droppings.
Christopher and Eva exchanged a look, and he clutched the Box a little tighter. The artifact might be inert now – based on everything that Christopher could sense, anyway – but he didn’t like the idea of giving access to all of those doors to the multiverse to just anybody. Let alone a bunch of jerk robots who hated mutants. What if they found some way to use it to exterminate people like him? No way.
“Who’s asking?” asked Eva.
<
“Who wants the Box?” Christopher asked. He sidled toward the end of the dock, where a rack full of mysterious boat tools awaited the return of the sailors. “On whose authority are you taking it?”
<
Christopher and Eva exchanged alarmed glances. That had escalated fast. They’d gone from hey-can-I-have-that to or-else-I’ll-kill-you in just a couple of sentences.
“Sure,” Eva said, clearly buying time. She looked at Christopher, trying to wordlessly communicate a game plan. He flicked his eyes toward the rack. She responded with the smallest of nods. “We’ve got it right here. Come get it.”
She took the Box from Christopher, conveniently leaving his hands free, and stood waiting for the Sentinels to approach. They took a moment to scan the artifact, a red laser emitting from the visor of the left-hand robot to fully map the exterior of the Box. Once the scan had been completed, the Sentinel completed some internal process, pausing as if waiting for some feedback or response.
Finally, it said, <
“Sure thing,” said Christopher.
They waited calmly as the robots approached. At least that’s what Christopher hoped it looked like. His heart clopped along at a fever pitch, and his hands shook with adrenaline. He couldn’t believe they were doing this. It was one thing to take on some Sentinels with Sabretooth at their side. He could heal any damage so long as no one died, and with the mercenary ripping their enemies’ arms off for fun, the odds tended to be stacked heavily on their side. Sure, he’d been scared witless when the dinosaur came at them, but it had never occurred to him that they couldn’t beat it. It felt like Sabretooth was invincible, and the rest of them had proven not to be slouches either.
But now, they were about to fight Sentinels without any help at all. No instructors. No Sabretooth. Nothing but each other. Eva and Graydon had already done it, so he knew they could too. But still, part of him wanted desperately to hop off the ride before it crashed. He knew it was just nerves, but that didn’t make them less potent, especially when the nerves were caused by two giant killer robots that closed in on them with rapid efficiency.
One Sentinel moved in on Eva to take the Box while the second one held back near the edge of the dock. Perfect. Christopher couldn’t have set it up better if he’d tried. As the Sentinel reached for the Box, he coughed with theatrical force, lurching forward. The automatons tracked the movement but otherwise didn’t react, so the ruse had worked. He grabbed onto the weapon he’d been eyeing, a long and sturdy pole with a wicked-looking hook fastened to one end. Christopher knew little about boats and had no idea what it would be used for, but it looked to him like a boat jousting tool.
He used it like a jouster would too, planting the sturdy pole onto the Sentinel and using its body to shield both him and Eva as he shoved it backwards with one firm push. It toppled into the second Sentinel, overbalancing it and knocking it into the water. The visor of the remaining Sentinel flared red as it sighted some weapon on them that would probably burn their faces off, if Christopher had any guess. But before it could fire, Eva froze it in place with a bubble, breaking off the end of his boat jouster in the process.
He looked at the useless end of his tool sadly and tossed it aside. He didn’t need it anyway, but he’d liked it. The jouster would have been nice to hold onto just in case any other Sentinels showed up.
“That worked great,” said Eva, holding her hand out for a high five.
He slipped her some skin.
“Let’s get into the chopper before more of those things show up.” His brow furrowed. “Too many people want this Box, and I’d like to be out of the way before they all show up to fight over it.”
“I can’t argue with you there. Call the X-Copter, and let’s get the heck out of here.”
Christopher patted his pockets. The remote was nowhere to be found. He hadn’t picked it back up after he’d dropped it. The killer robots had distracted him. After a quick, panicked search, Eva found it. She picked it up, dusted the sand off, and took firm ownership of it.
“It’s mine now,” she said primly. “And that’s that.”
This time, he didn’t argue with her.
Chapter 33
Eva collapsed back into her seat on the X-Copter with intense relief. Sand and dirt sprayed everywhere, spattering the immaculate control panel. If it stopped working, she would probably cry. But when Christopher began flipping switches, everything lit up exactly the way it should have.
He worked with a practiced hand, without even consulting his notes. It was like he’d been doing this for a million years. Like he’d never even been a student.
A student. Eva jerked out of her blissful haze just as Christopher flicked the switch to turn the comms system back on.
“No, don’t!” she blurted, but it was too late.
About two milliseconds after the comms came back on, Cyclops’s voice came blasting through the speakers at full volume. The engine wasn’t running, so the noise nearly took Eva’s eardrums out.
“Where have you been?” Cyclops demanded. “Tell me you’re OK before I ground you permanently.”
“We’re fine,” said Christopher. “We’re sorry we worried you.”
“Sorry. Sorry?! We couldn’t even track the X-Copter. Illyana has been in a magic circle all afternoon, trying to get a read on you. Jean was searching for your mental signatures. I’ve got Hijack working on that decommissioned jet, trying to get it working well enough to come and hunt for you, and all you’ve got to say is, ‘Sorry’? I just… I… You…” His voice dissolved into angry sputters.
“We’ll tell you all about it when we get back,” said Eva, weary.
“Oh, will you?” Cyclops responded, all icy anger now.
“Yes.” Eva sat straight up in her chair. She understood his concern, but she’d had enough of being treated like a kid. “We need to fly home. And you won’t ground us, because we’re not children. We’re X-Men. I understand that we’re in training, and I’m more than willing to treat my instructors with respect, but I expect the same in return, Scott. You’ve been jerking us around like we’re toddlers ever since we got here. You keep lecturing us about how this is a war, and we need to be ready to step up, and now that we did, you’re upset because we didn’t get a hall pass first. But I am not going to ask for your permission to be an X-Man. I sure as heck could use your guidance, though, because…” Her voice hitched on a sudden sob. “Today was really hard.”
Christopher reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “She’s right. I think you’ll be proud of us when you hear everything, but we still have a lot to learn.”
“Like what?” Cyclops asked, quietly.
“Like how do you deal with the loss of a team member?” asked Eva. She was crying again. She wiped the tears away with exasperation, but they kept falling anyway.
There was a long silence from the other end. Finally, the comms crackled to life, and Cyclops said, “I think you’re right. That’s a topic best addressed in person. I’ll see you when you get back.”
“Be there soon,” said Christopher. “Over and out.”
•••
The flight back was uneventful. No police helicopters intercepted them and demanded that they land immediately and prepare to be arrested. No government craft surrounded them and tried to force them out of the air. They flew back home and landed without incident as darkness began to coat the sky. Eva thought she was getting pretty good on the stick. Christopher complimented her, but maybe he was just being kind. It was hard to tell at this point.
The debrief with Cyclops and Magik took a couple of hours, lasting deep into the night, and they each wolfed down three sandwiches during the course of it. They held nothing back, not even the bits that made them look like spoiled brats. Christopher talked up the parts that made Eva look good, and Eva found herself doing the same for him. It f
elt good to do that, although they both struggled to keep their eyes open by the end.
Magik took charge of the Box. She didn’t like Dormammu’s connection to it, and she liked his ability to control Graydon through its doors even less. She asked Christopher to work with her to study it further, and he agreed readily. Then he suggested that perhaps Eva could be on standby to freeze everything in place in the event of an emergency.
“It just seems like a good idea,” Christopher elaborated. “Buying a little extra time in case something goes wrong isn’t a bad thing, right?”
Illyana nodded, smiling faintly. “If you think it is wise, we can certainly make those arrangements. But if you will excuse me, I am eager to begin my evaluation.”
She took the Box of Planes with her, frowning at it in concentration, and nearly walked into a wall on her way out.
In her wake, Eva thought they were going to get yelled at big time, but Cyclops didn’t so much as raise his voice. Instead, he sat back in his chair, and he said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said, and you’re right. I still firmly believe that we’re facing a war, and we don’t have much time to prepare. But you’re in a tough spot. On one hand, I’m telling you to hurry up and go, and on the other, I’m overprotective. I’ve let my problems blind me to the stress that I’m putting on you.” He touched a hand to the shield that covered his eyes. “Ironic, isn’t it? I guess my sight has gotten messed up in more ways than one.” He sighed. “I’ll try to do better, though.”
“Thanks,” said Eva.
She stood up, hoping to get out before he changed his mind.
“Rules are rules, though, and I’m going to put you on cafeteria duty for going off on a mission without reporting first,” Cyclops interrupted them with a faint smile. “I’m glad you made the choices you did in retrospect, but I don’t want Fabio and David getting it into their head that they should go on a taco run.”
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