Chapter 28. Saving Charles

                                    

                                          
I'm racing the plane, squeezing everything I can out of the engine. Faster, faster. 
I see a destroyed Cairo, debris floating in the air, which I quickly remove to the ground, and an enormous pyramid. I land the plane close to the pyramid. I can't land it too close to the pyramid - I can't attract the attention of that mutant.
I run out of the plane and immediately some crazy woman comes at me with an electric sword.
- "Well, Phoenix. Now it's your turn. Come out." -just when I think about it, it's like something's hitting me in the chest. I'm sorry, my baby. I will have to give my strengthes to someone else.
Phoenix snatches the sword from the woman, chokes her to unconscious, and tosses her against the crumbling wall. The sword it destroys.
And the Phoenix goes into the pyramid. Phoenix, like me, has the main task of rescuing Charles. At any cost. 
Just then, a man with wings flies into the hallway I'm walking down. He knocks me down. If it hadn't been for the forcefield, I don't know what would have happened to me. I roll to my side, dodging the hit. Phoenix doesn't have any trouble with him - it plucks all the feathers from his wings and tosses him off the pyramid.
I don't know where Charles is. I need to find him. I'm trying to get inside Charles's head telepathically. I succeed.
- "Charles, I'm close." -I tell him. I don't know if he can hear me. But I can see where he is. And I run like crazy. I've got to get there in time. I'm gonna make it. Phoenix helps me, making me fly over the floor.
I run in just as the slab with Charles is lifted off the floor and he convulses. There's a purple glow all around him.
- "Get out!" - he screams.
Phoenix tries to tear off what Charles is chained with, but it only succeeds in collapsing the slab. The glow is gone, but Charles get unconscious. The slab splits. 
- "No, no, no." -I run up to Charles. - "Charles, I'm here, I'm with you."
And it's not Phoenix talking in me. I throw Charles on my shoulder and drag him with me to the exit.
I get us out of the pyramid just as the plane approaches with the others.
- "Hey! We're here!" -I wave my hand at them, drawing their attention.
Hank and Raven jump out at me.
- "Take Charles. Careful, he's unconscious." -I hand him over to them. - "And get the hell out of here. Faster."
- "What about you?" - Raven asks. - "What are you going to do?"
A plan comes into my head at once. It was like I'd been thinking about it all my life. Or as if I'd been born to it.
- "I'm going to stay here. And I'm going to try to destroy that blue bald prick." -I say. 
The baby probably can't take the strain. It's either my baby or Charles and the world. I'm sorry, my little one. But I have to.
Raven looks at me and sees the determination in my gaze. She pats me on the shoulder.
- "Whatever you say, Mental. Just try to get through to Eric first. Maybe he'll listen to you."
- "We'll be around if you need help." - Hank says.
And they fly away. I run back to the pyramid, but Eric blocks my path.
- "No." -he just says. - "I won't let you go."
Phoenix really wants to toss him aside, but I hold it back with an effort.
- "Eric, please. I know you've lost your family, I feel your pain, but don't let the rest of the world lose their families.  At least for my sake."
He looks at me, then at the pyramid. And flies back out.
- "Thank you, Eric." -I say. 
And then this ancient mutant comes out.
- "Charles! Show yourself!" - he yells.
No. You can't have Charles, you blue prick.
Phoenix comes out again. It restrains him, and begins to destroy him. Phoenix will shatter him into atoms.
The mutant notices me and tries to shackle me in the sand, or to throw me away. But the force field protects me. I feel my skin starting to crack.
- "Who are you?" -he asks.
- "Mary Cassidy. You've got the wrong people." -I say.
The mutant tries to move away from me, but then, preventing him from doing so, two metal beams crash in behind him. It's Eric who helps.
I try to exert myself even harder, but my nose is already bleeding. I'm about to pass out. 
- "Come on, Phoenix. Squeeze everything out of me, but hurry up." -I think.
And I see the mutant's skin starting to slip off. First the skin, then the muscles, then everything else. As disgusting a sight as possible.
Before it disintegrates into atoms, it holds out its hands to me and says.
- "It is you, my child. The one the whole world has been waiting for."
And Phoenix sprays him.
I can see everything as if in a fog. It's all mixed up - the sounds, the smells, the sights. Eric comes down to me.
- "Mary? Mary, are you okay?" -He asks.
I want to wave, like I'm fine, but instead I fall to my knees. I can barely see the plane coming down. Then someone comes running out of it, but I don't know who.
And it's like someone in my mind turns off the lights. I fall to the ground.