CHAPTER TEN  —
( No more hiding. )

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        Early the next morning, everyone met up in the living room and then walked towards the lab to get Hank who had spent the entire night before creating uniforms for everyone to withstand the G-Force of Hank's jet. They were immediately greeted by a note on the labs door. "Gone to the airbase, bring the crate marked X — Hank."

The group didn't think much of it before they walked into the lab. The whole room was a mess with all of the lab and science equipment thrown around everywhere and smashed, including the tables and chairs. The only thing that wasn't smashed was the crate sitting on the other side of the room.

"Damn," Lydia mumbled as Charles walked towards the back of the room, everyone slowly following him.

"What the hell happened here?" Erik asked from the door.

Lydia shared an uneasy look with Alex before walking to the crate marked with an 'X'. Charles opened it up to see eight yellow and black suits. Lydia immediately pulled a face. "Yellow is definitely not my colour," she said. "Should've gone with green."

"I think fashion should be the least of our worries," Erik told her before nodding. "Hank has been busy."

"Do we really have to wear these?" Alex asked with a disgusted look on his face.

"As none of us are mutated to endure extreme g-force or being riddled by bullets, I suggest we suit up," Charles said, grabbing the first yellow suit that laid on top.

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The group all met up at the airbase in their yellow suits. Lydia was a bit disgusted in the yellow suit she was wearing but she couldn't complain if it meant that her skin wouldn't rip to shreds from the G-force. The group stood still as they stared up at the jet in awe and waited on Hank to appear.

"Where is Hank?" Raven eventually asked.

Lydia sighed as she placed her fingers onto her temple to see where he was and immediately heard his thoughts. Hank was embarrassed with what he looked like, but Lydia honestly thought that he looked pretty cool with his new blue furry look. Charles smiled down at Lydia as he read her positive thoughts.

"I'm here," Hank voiced out.

Everyone turned their heads and watched as Hank's silhouette made its way towards them. When he got into view, Hank's skin was completely blue and he had fur covering his body.

"Hank?" Erik asked.

"It didn't attack the cells, it enhanced them. It didn't work," Hank looked down.

"I think you look cool," Lydia smiled at him. He gave her a thankful smile in return.

"Yes, it did, Hank. Don't you see? This is who you were meant to be," Raven spoke as Hank walked up to her. "This is you." Raven caressed his cheek. "No more hiding."

"You've never looked better," Erik smacked his arm with a smile. Hank suddenly grabbed onto Erik's neck and began chocking him with a growl.

"Hank!" Charles warned.

"Don't mock me!" Hank warned Erik before releasing his neck.

Erik landed on his knees with a cough and then looked up at Hank. "I wasn't."

"Even I got to admit you look pretty badass," Alex crossed his arms against his chest. "I think I got a new name for you. Beast."

Sean looked up at the jet. "Are you sure you can fly this thing?" He asked Hank.

"Of course I can. I designed it," Hank gave him a smug smile before making his way towards the jet.

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Everyone was dead silent in the jet. Each and every person were thinking of ways the mission could turn south if they didn't make it better. If they couldn't pull this mission off, World War 3 could start and a lot of people would die.

"It looks pretty messy down there," Hank mumbled as he flew the jet around the Embargo Line.

Charles briefly glanced at Lydia before raising his fingers to his temple. Charles invaded one of the minds of the men on one of the Russian ships and saw that Azazel had killed everyone onboard.

"The crew of the Aral Sea are all dead. Shaw's been there," Charles announced to the group.

"He's still here, somewhere," Erik insisted.

"He set the ship on course of the Embargo Line," Charles said.

"If that ship crosses the line, our boys are going to blow it up and the war begins," Moira spoke.

"Unless they're not our boys."

Charles closed his eyes again in concentration as he controlled one of the men on the ship to blow up the Russian ship that was about to cross the line. The missile shot up and almost hit their jet if Hank didn't dodge it in time. The jet went completely upside down with Charles' hand immediately pressed against Lydia's stomach to stop her from falling out of the seat. The missile crashed into the Russian warship that had been commanded by Shaw's men.

"A little warning next time, Professor," Hank said as he glanced over his shoulder at them.

"Sorry about that," he quickly apologised. "You alright?"

"Never been better," Lydia sarcastically said.

"That was inspired, Charles," Moira commented.

"Thank you very much, but I still can't locate Shaw," Charles tried to go through to his mind again.

"What if he's got that helmet that blocked me out back at the CIA base?" Lydia asked. "It makes the wearer immune to telepathic abilities."

"Then that's going to cause us a big problem," Charles said.

"He's down there. We need to find him now," Erik pushed.

"Hank?" Charles asked.

"Is there anything unusual on the radar or scanners?" Hank asked Moira.

"No," Moira spoke, looking down at the panels. "Nothing."

"He must be underwater in that submarine," Lydia spoke up.

"We don't have sonar," Hank announced.

"Yes, we do," Sean spoke up immediately.

Lydia looked at him and smiled. "Yes, we do," Charles agreed. Charles, Erik, Sean and Lydia were quick to rip off their headsets and unbuckle their seat belts. They all gripped onto the railings as they made their way towards the back of the jet. "Hank, level the bloody plane!" Charles yelled out.

"Whoa!" Sean held his hand out to Lydia and made her halt in her steps. "You back right off!" A chuckle escaped Lydia's lips as she held her hands up in surrender. "Beast, open the bomb bay doors!"

The doors below Lydia and Erik opened up and they could see the ocean racing past below them. "Remember! This is a muscle," Charles pointed to Sean's neck. "You control it! I'll be in here the entire time!" Charles pointed towards his head.

"So will I!" Lydia called out. "Wanna witness the ocean and whether there are any sharks down there."

Sean glared at her. "Not helping!"

Lydia lightly chuckled. "I'm kidding." Sean let out a huge sigh of relief. "Totally not kidding."

"We'll see you soon! On my mark! Three! Two! One! Go!"

Sean whooped as he jumped out of the plane before spreading his arms out like a bird and using his supersonic scream against the surface of the water to fly himself upwards. Sean glided against the water for a short while, before diving into the ocean and out of sight.

Lydia closed her eyes, placed her fingers against her temple and concentrated on his mind and on exactly what he was seeing. "Concentrate, Lyds," Charles told her. "Concentrate on his mind and his mind only."

Sean suddenly let out a massive scream in the water and it immediately found the ship. The co-ordinates were sent straight to Lydia. "Banshee has a location on the submarine," Lydia told them.

Charles patted Lydia's back. "Good job, Enchantress."

Lydia smiled at him. "I wouldn't have done it without you, Professor X."

Charles turned towards Erik. "You ready for this?"

"Let's find out," Erik said as Hank circled the plane back around and they began to hover just above the water.

Erik carefully climbed down the jets wheel. He grabbed onto the metal with one arm and with the other he held his hand out above the water. Erik struggled to get the massive submarine up, and without much thought, Lydia slipped down the jet's wheels too and held onto the metal despite Charles attempt at stopping her. Erik wrapped his arm around Lydia so that she was squashed between himself and the wheel and they both held their hands out above the water.

Lydia closed her eyes and tried to picture what it was like under the water, her powers passing every living creature under the ocean until it wrapped around something large and metal. Lydia mentally felt the weight of the sub against her hands even though it was below the surface.

She closed her eyes and took a big deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. When Lydia opened her eyes again, the submarine was just breaking through the surface of the water. She let out a small chuckle as the whole submarine emerged with a layer of green magic surrounding it. Erik and Lydia then directed it towards the beach so that they could safely land it.

One of Shaw's henchmen, Riptide, opened up the hatch and stood on the roof of the submarine. His eyes were filled with anger as he held his arms out and then spun around. A tornado formed in thin air from where he spun and made its way towards the jet.

"Lydia! Erik! Take my hand!" Charles called out to the pair. Lydia let go of her magic in an instant as Erik still held onto it tight.

"Erik!" Lydia called to him. "We have to move!" He suddenly lost his grip on the submarine as the tornado began to go through them. In an instant, Erik gripped onto Lydia's shirt and latched his arm around the metal column.

"Erik! Grab my hand!" Erik reached up to Charles' hand as Lydia held onto the wheel. When Charles had a good enough grip on Erik's hand, Lydia let go of the wheel and Charles pulled them into the jet. The jet began to spin around and Lydia crawled over to Charles' body as Erik laid on top of them, using his abilities to hold them in place as they crash landed onto the sand.

When the jet stopped, Erik slowly let go and the three of them landed gently onto the ground.

AUTHORS NOTE
They're in love, the end