driftfleet | (no subject)

[ when they get there, she's comfortable walking quietly until he sorts out what he wants to say ]

[it takes a few moments, honestly, as he tries to figure out exactly how and where to start. There was so much]

How much have I told you so far? So I don't - repeat anything.

Honestly? Just about the stuff with the president, I think.

Right, I remember that. That was more recent.

Cuba . . . was our last chance to stop a mutant named Sebastian Shaw. To . . . put it all very simply, he wanted to start World War III, and he thought that in the chaos, mutants would rise above as the superior race - or some nonsense like that. [he scoffs, but a hand comes up to rub at the side of his neck] That's why we were all brought together - to stop him and the mutants working with him. His power was that he could absorb energy and use it himself, so . . . shooting him wasn't an option. They tried.

[oh, how they tried]

So that's why we were all brought together. To train our powers to do what the military couldn't. [he glances at her] The group Kitty's apart of - that's where it started for us. The X-Men.

He sounds like a difficult opponent.

[ an understatement though ]

Incredibly so.

[Hank hates Shaw so much, ugh]

I know I've told you about - the CIA being attacked, and what happened to my boss. That was him, trying to get to us. He wanted to recruit us to his side. Erik and Charles were out looking for him, and he took the opportunity. He killed most of the agents, and . . . one of us, and managed to convince another to take his side instead.

That's awful. I'm sorry...

Mmm. [he wants to say that it gets better after that, but it doesn't]

After that, we moved to Charles' mansion to start our training. Meanwhile, Shaw had manipulated the Russian military into moving their missiles to Cuba, and President Kennedy had issued a blockade - so our military was out there to stop them. So that's when we knew we - had to stop him before he really did start a war.

[he pauses, and finally sighs, rubbing at his neck again] The night before that is when I enhanced my mutation by accident. Which - I suppose is good timing, but -

[anyway] There isn't a lot to explain about the fighting - and the missiles. Erik and Charles handled going after Shaw, while we handled the other mutants. Moira was there trying to stop the military from firing on one another. We fought and won, and - Shaw was eventually killed.

[and this is where he hesitates]

Are you describing the... Cuban Missile Crisis?

. . . yes, I am.

I wasn't - sure if that happened in other worlds.

Fair enough.

It sounds like there's more to it, though.

. . . there is.

Our own military and Russia's, after watching us fight one another . . . decided they were going to fire on us. [he can't quite keep the bitterness out of his voice] Because it didn't matter if we had stopped Shaw, we were now threats, because they'd seen what we were capable of.

[he hesitates again, before he makes a frustrated noise] I can't talk about the rest, not - in any detail. Especially since it's resolved. But . . . it's why Charles ended up paralyzed, and why Erik and Raven - and the mutants with Shaw - all left. They saw the military firing us as proof that humans would never accept us. They - the missiles were stopped, of course, but . . . it was all at that cost.

[god, he suddenly feels so tired] So now you know about what happened in Cuba.

[ she'll reach for his hand to squeeze it lightly but let it go swiftly ]

Thank you for sharing. I really do appreciate it.

[he squeezes back, managing something barely passing as a smile, very briefly]

I know.

. . . that night before, when I - did what I did to myself, I said something - really stupid to Raven. You already know I have - issues with what I am, but she was starting to accept what she was. I'm . . . part of the reason she left the next day.

That's why - I kept saying it was complicated. And why it's all tangled up in the rest of - explaining what happened.

She left because she decided to leave, Hank.

[he takes a deep breath. He isn't going to argue. He's been so good at not arguing in favor of his own guilt when it comes to any of this]

She left for a lot of reasons. But - I know.