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No? This one then, perhaps? Honestly. They should include a manual.

[It's just audio at first, muffled and distant, interspersed with the beeping of pressed buttons and the confused ramblings of a man far beyond his league with this kind of technology.]

Or a pamphlet of some sort at the very least. Maybe an explanation of my whereabouts. I don't suppose that would be too much to ask.

[How were you supposed to accomplish anything on this device? Where were the wires? ]

Is anyone there? Hello? I think it's on now. I believe it is. Sorry. I appear to be a bit lost. If you're there, please respond. My name is Charles Xavier and it is really very important I get back at once. The situation-

[There are a few more beeps from the buttons and a camera feed clicks on as well, aimed to the dirt and debris of the ground.]

Oh! Well, that did something. What is this little light for?

[The video jostles a little more and with another button press the entire feed goes dead.]

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[She leans in close, although still with the gun aimed at a vital area]

I don't give a rat's ass what your name is, slick. I wanna know how many of your chums are on this planet.

Are we gonna have to do this the hard way?

[She clips him once across the face with the butt of her gun. Not too hard, just enough to make him realize he's not gonna be able to weasel his way out of answering.]

I can be there in about four minutes. Maybe less.

[Because at the message, Erik switches to a run instead. He doesn't doubt that Charles can take care of himself if he has access to that individual's mind, but that doesn't mean he has to like the fact the other man is on his own right now.]

Are you safe?

[g u i l t.]

Oh, thank you. But I'm not the Raven you think I am, I guess. I'm not your sister, I mean.

[She's wincing a little at the expression on his face because damnit she should have said something sooner, something about how she is Raven, yes, but not the same Raven he knew.]

I'm afraid I don't know who you mean. In my world, it's just us. Well, up until recently, but Hank isn't here either. --If you even know Hank. I'm not sure how different things are for you.

[ And this Charles cuts off the video.

His heart is racing. He shouldn't have so childishly severed the link, he knows, but he needs a moment to cope with this. He'd been prepared to face the reality of other universes, but -- at a distance. Over a link. Not in his mind.

He closes his eyes and shudders, resisting calling for Raven. ]

[The action catches him off guard and he loses his focus for a moment, his other hand moving to the place where the weapon made contact. Erik said four minutes, and Charles had little illusions in his head that things would escalate quickly if he came in to this. He had to think and act quickly.

So much for calm and civilized discussions. She was apparently having none of that. If she made to attack him again, he would retaliate the only way he could. With a swift command to her mind's control center to knock her out for a while. At least long enough to get both himself and Erik far away from her, but with his mind slightly off balance from everything going on around him this past hour, there was no telling exactly how short or long it would last.]

My chums? [He gave her an odd look and pressed his fingertips back to his temple, already seeking out her motor functions within her mind. The gun was too great a danger to risk. He took control of her arm and shoved a mental command for her to release the weapon. If he could just eliminate that threat, maybe she would listen to him.]

I do have one friend here, and he is on his way right now. It would really be in everyone's best interest if you were not aiming a gun at me when he gets here.

[It was one part hopeful boast and one part truth, but it would not matter as long as he got the gun free. Surely she wouldn't continue trying to attack him then... would she?]

that comes with the dimension thing, yeah. i've met one like you before, which is why i asked. do you still wear those ratty blue cardigans that make you look like an old man

[It's a couple more minutes before Charles responds, but when he does it is with reassurance and none of the panic that laced his earlier cry for help.]

I will be fine, Erik, thank you. A misunderstanding, that is all.

I- What? [He barely resists the urge to refute it. They do not make him look like an old man. Cardigans were perfectly acceptable and he looked good in them. Besides. They were comfortable. But he kept that to himself. He was not a petulant child, and he would not rise to that remark. I did, however, beg the question of how Wesley knew about them.

All this talk of dimensions, and other Charles, and people that knew him but that he had no recollection of meeting. It was giving him a headache.]

Where have you met me?

Charles, tell me what's going on?

[He sounds slightly out of breath, having pushed himself in to a sprint not long after he realised Charles wasn't replying. He's not too far away now, though it still means he's left trying to remember which passageway to head down.]

a long time ago in a galaxy far away. you introduced yourself as a telepath, mutant, geneticist. in that order.

[he'll leave out the part with erik and the brotherhood, for now. his alliances with erik was shakier than the one he had with shepard back home, no need to parse that here as well. unless erik was from back home, too; but even then, wesley didn't really want to talk to him. there were Scores to settle.]

There was a woman here. She had me confused for [something] someone else. She's sleeping now.

[Only because he had forcibly knocked her out with a mental command. Erik might have been proud, but then again, he also might have wanted to shoot her. Charles is heading away from where he had left her, hoping to meet Erik and get out quickly, in case she was going to wake up soon.

His voice is still just a bit shaken, though, despite his attempt to calm down before contacting Erik. And the place where the butt of her gun clipped him is a redder color than the rest of his skin.He sends a mental projection of the area of the ship he is in, reaching to find Erik's mind and find the other mutant.

Everything was fine. He was in an unknown ship, possibly on an alien planet somewhere far from Earth, with a homicidal woman, a Raven who was not his sister, and a Charles that was not him. What could possibly be wrong?]

Sleeping. Of course.

[That pride is most certainly there, though tinged with amusement too. It's an entirely Charles thing to do. That he'd rather take the temporary route than the permanent one in stopping a potential attacker. The idea of going ahead and finishing the job himself only crosses his mind briefly, quickly pushed away in favour of focusing on the more important reason for him returning to the ship.

Charles is here. The same Charles he knows.

Slowing to a jog, he works his way toward the room, navigating the ship made that much easier with Charles' input. It's only once the other man is actually in sight that he visibly relaxes, making his way over with a sense of ease he hasn't felt in weeks now.]

I'd been wondering when you'd turn up. [Or maybe that was "hoping". If the past months with Charles and the group have taught him anything, it's that sometimes, having a team around you makes everything easier to handle.]

[She feels the urge to drop her weapon and almost does it, but she fights hard against it. Because he's a Cylon and if there's one thing she knows for sure, if she's weaponless, she's probably dead. Her fingers curl and flex and curl again. If there's one thing she is, however, it's strong-willed.]

Great. I can kill two birds with one stone. I already know about him, though. What about others. Other versions of you.

[If the other Charles is coming, though, she's gonna have to act quickly.]

You know what? Maybe I'll just ask him.

[She brings her gun muzzle back up to his temple, having to use both hands to force the action since there's a part of her still wanting to put the gun down on the ground. It's not a bluff. She will take him out if he's gonna continue to frak with her.]

[I'm not your sister echoes in his mind. Charles' expression does fall for a moment, though it is quickly replaced by one justatid bit less sincere.]

Yes. I know Hank. The others are Alex and Sean. Are you from the same [He paused on the word. It is an odd thought, still. Confusing.] reality as [the other Me] Charles...

[All right, so this person may be a bit off in his own head, but he did seem to know a considerable amount about Charles. There's a few minutes pause before he replies again. He had yet to answer the actual question, however, and with little else to go on, finding his mind would not be as simple a task.]

All right, I will give you that you have done your research. You know who I am. That still does not tell me where you think we met before this.

Erik! [Relief gave Charles' voice a hopeful tone as he caught sight of the other mutant. He was glad to see Erik without that bloody helmet, but more than that, just to see him at all. This place was confusing and disorienting.

Having a familiar face- A familiar mind even more than that, was a welcome relief. Seeing the other Raven and his apparent double had been enough to leave him uncertain, but this was the Erik he knew. Charles was sure of it.

His brows knit together a bit, regardless, as the other man approached.]

How long have you been here?

Close to two weeks. [Two weeks too long. He'd arrived after the Blackbird had crashed on the beach, only minutes away from finally getting his hands on Shaw. But then he'd turned up here, torn away from his one goal, and forced to find a new one.

But now Charles is here. The Charles he knows. The one who'd spent those extra thirteen days back in their world. Who'd been there when Erik couldn't.]

What happened? [With Shaw. With the Americans and Russians. With Cuba. His anger slides back easily; a part of him that he's always been most comfortable with.] I should have been there. I was meant to kill him.

[And that thought is the last thought Charles needs to hear, to know how this is going to proceed if he does not do something, and quickly. But her will is stronger than he expected. Time for measures a tad more drastic.]

Then I am sorry for this, I truly am, but I am afraid you are really not leaving much room for civil conversation.

[Two fingers pressed to his temple, he puts a great deal more of his concentration into a single command to her mind. Perhaps a bit more than necessary, but she has a gun and no apparent qualms of using it; and he has no desire to be shot. A direct and simple command.
Sleep.]

Go to sleep.

Two weeks? [Surely he could not have been unconscious for that long. Could Erik have really been here for two weeks all ready?

And then realization caught up with him. Erik did not know. He didn't know that he had succeeded. That he had killed Shaw.

Charles was sure he would never be able to forget. Not the event, nor the pain. Or the disappointment. He shoved the welling of emotions forcefully back down, along with the feeling of that connection severing between them to leave only cold emptiness and silence in its wake.]

You were there, Erik. [He paused then, uncertain of how to press forward. It would please Erik to know that he had killed Shaw, or would, Charles was uncertain how this worked. But he hesitated. Would Erik shove him away again, now that his goal was complete? Block him out of his mind, somehow, or distance himself from the telepath? He needed to tread carefully here.]

We crashed, and then I woke up here. [In those pods. Equipment he'd be more than happy to never have to deal with again. He has no idea what happened after he was relocated. Abducted? He remembers everything that happened before and everything since. But it's that time in the middle that still eludes him. But it's a feeling he knows he shares with all of those who'd turned up in the pods.]

Did you- [The sentence remains unfinished; a sign of just how unsure he is that he wants an answer to his question. He wants to know what happened with Shaw, but at the same time, he doesn't know which outcome he hopes for the most. His death wasn't by Erik's hand, and that's the only reason there's a part of him that wants Shaw to have survived.] Did everybody make it? [The team. It's an easier question to focus on.]

it's not exactly 'research' when it's intel you readily give.

[switches to VIDEO and you see one (1) wesley gibson looking bored as fuck on the screen. slow drawl:]

Mirror, mirror, on the wall.

[Charles makes no motions to tell him. He's keeping that information to himself until he decides whether knowing would do more harm or good. To Erik, to him, to everyone.]

Everyone survived. A few minor injuries, but nothing serious.

[His head was aching in a dull memory sense and he shook it away. This was no time to focus on things they could not change. Right now, they needed to find a way back. Charles just had to have faith that Moira would see to the safety of the children. They would be heroes, after all. What could go wrong?]

No one was injured in the crash.

[To push or not. He knows that Charles is holding back on him, and it doesn't take a telepath to know just what it likely is. But his own stance hasn't changed. He doesn't want to know what happened when he wasn't a part of that fight. As long as the rest of the team made it out, he'll have to put up with not knowing. Or try to.

He's silent for a long while, weighing up his options. To carry on pushing for more answers to questions he isn't sure he wants the details to, or to continue on and try to get Charles settled with what's going on right now.]

We need to get away from this ship. It was the target of an attack recently.

[Well, those inside had been. But by default, that means the ship isn't safe either.]

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