(no subject)
See Previous Volumes Here
Title: The New Mutants, volume XII: Brotherhood
Author: kanedax
Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Spoilers: X3; New Mutants volumes I-XI
Rating: PG-13 for language and insinuated violence
Pairings: Theresa/Remy
Summary: Dates are made, differences are resolved, and a new brotherhood is created.
Notes: In light of Jason Stryker, a character from X2 who shares the first name and powers of Jason Wyngarde, I have changed Mastermind's first name to Alvin for my series. I hope it doesn't confuse anyone. As usual, I do not own the X-Men, Marvel Comics, 20th Century Fox, or Buckingham Palace. But myheritage.com says I look like Prince Harry, so I might be able to swing it.
Previous Chapter (Secondary) / Next Chapter (Release The Hounds)
"Ooh, the Evans Gambit," Theresa said as Remy moved his pawn forward. "Tricky."
"Gambit's my middle name," Remy shrugged.
Theresa sighed staring down at the chess board. She was trying to focus, but the noise of the other students in the living room, with the television blaring, caused her to miss where Remy was going when she moved her bishop the previous turn.
"You learned from your dad?" Remy asked, but Theresa Cassidy stuck her finger up in silence. She brushed her red hair behind her ear, sighed, then moved her black king one square to her left.
"You learned from your dad?" Remy repeated.
Theresa nodded.
"And you know how to recognize the Evans Gambit."
"Apparently not," she thought. "I should have caught it from the moment you moved your knight."
"Still," he said quietly, "You're better than you let on."
"My dad beats me all the time," she replied quickly, her face turning pink.
She raised her eyes, and caught his.
Even his eyes are pretty, she thought. Red and black are always a nice combination.
"He must be a hell of a player," he replied. "You're good."
Theresa smiled in what she thought was her best playfully seductive smile. "A girl has to have her secrets," she responded.
Remy cracked a small smile. "I suppose they do."
He leaned back in his chair, tenting his hands in front of his face, staring at the board. From behind him, Jubilee cracked a big toothy smile, sticking her thumbs in the air.
Theresa's eyes got big, and she tried to give Jubilee a look that said cool down.
Jubilee didn't seem to notice. She whirled her hands in a circle, telling Theresa to keep the conversation moving.
"So," Theresa said loudly and sharply, more than she preferred, "speaking of secrets, where'd you learn to fight like that?"
Remy looked up from the board. "Like what?"
"Like on the lawn," she responded. "I've never seen anyone fight Wolverine like that before."
"Who's Wolverine?" Remy asked, leaning over and moving his piece across the board.
"Mr. Logan," she said. "That's his code name."
"Hm," Remy said. "It fits."
"So?"
"Family practice," he said.
"What does your family do, run a dojo or something?"
"Not exactly."
"What exactly?"
"I'd rather not say right now," he said in his usual slow drawl.
"Why not?"
"I have trust issues," he said.
Theresa's heart sank. "You don't trust me?" she said quietly.
"I don't trust some people in this room," he said. "Someday, when it's a little quieter and we're a little more alone, I'll tell you about them."
Her heart stopped sinking and immediately flew back into her rib cage so fast that she felt like it had slammed into her larynx.
"When... when we're a little more alone," she stuttered.
"Yeah," he said, his eyes returning to the board.
She felt like her face was on fire. He didn't say if, her mind squealed, "when we're alone." Which implies that he wants to be alone.
With me.
AAAAAHHHH!!
"Your move," he drawled.
"Huh?" she said dreamily.
"Your move."
"Oh!" she jumped, her mind slamming back into place.
"Might want to tell your friend to stop bouncing for joy behind me," he said, smiling. "It's breaking your concentration."
Marie awoke slowly to the sound of a knock on the door. Once again she hoped that it was all a bad dream, but rolling over to see the unfamiliar clock clicking to 12:35 convinced her that she wasn't back in her dorm.
It must be Ororo again, she thought. Bringing my lunch.
She closed her eyes, once again convincing herself that she could trust Ororo, if not everyone else in this place. Ororo hadn't done anything to hurt her.
"Come in, Professor," she said, sitting up in bed. Despite the fact that she was already wearing three layers of clothing, Marie pulled the covers up to her chin in a protection.
The door opened, and she jumped back against the wall, uttering a short scream.
"Hey, calm down!" Bobby Drake said quickly, recovering from the shock before the tray of food fell to the ground. "It's just me, okay?"
"What the fuck are you doing here?" she asked, the sheet pulled up to her nose.
"The Professor said it would be okay if I brought up your lunch," he replied, setting the tray on the side table, then backing away when he saw her cringe back at his approach. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I just wanted to see you. To see how you were doing."
"I'm doing just hunky dory," she snapped. "Now leave."
"Rogue, I--"
"Don't call me that," Marie said between clenched teeth.
"Sorry, Marie," Bobby stumbled. "I just... You've been up here for almost four days now. Are you going to come out of the room at some point? Come downstairs?"
"I moved from Ororo's room to here," she responded. "That's all the movement I'm planning to do until I get Cured again."
"Ro--Marie," Bobby said, taking the desk chair and sitting in it, making sure he was as far into the opposite corner as he could be, "there is no Cure."
"Maybe not permanently," she said hopefully. "But, maybe, I don't know, I could keep taking it. Like allergy meds. Or an insulin shot. You know, take a poke when the drain starts coming back?"
Bobby shook his head. "The reports are saying anyone who had a re-manifestation is immune to a second dose."
Marie shook her head violently. "No," she said, "That can't be true. Warren must have--"
"Warren spoke to Ororo personally," he responded. "It's something that's reacting in combination with Jimmy's duplicated cells. One of their synthetic elements. Unfortunately, this Cure was the culmination of over a decade's worth of research. And with this failed serum, combined with the fact that they lost their top researcher on the project at Alcatraz..."
"I may never be cured again," Marie moaned softly, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"I'm sorry," Bobby said. "That probably wasn't the news you wanted to hear. And you probably didn't want to hear it from me, but..."
Marie remained silent, her knees curled up to her chest.
"I'll go," he said quietly, and stood up to leave.
"Bobby?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"There's no need to apologize," he responded. "You're freaking out right now, it's understandable."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm sorry about everything that happened. With us."
"I know."
"I can feel you in my head," she said, her voice breaking. "I know how you felt when we kissed. How much you cared about me then."
"I still do care," he said. "I want to see you get better. You're still my friend."
"Are you with Kitty now?"
He paused, deciding if the truth was best.
"Yeah," he admitted. "We've been dating for a few months now."
Marie nodded. "Good," she said. "I saw you two the night of the Professor's funeral. Out on the fountain."
"Marie, that wasn't..."
"I saw how you two looked at each other," she continued. "And I knew I could never give you what she could. I thought it was because I couldn't touch you. But I know better now. It was more than physical. She's a great girl, Bobby. You deserve someone like her."
Bobby nodded, a small smile crossing his face. "So you're not freaking out about it?"
Marie smiled back, and shook her head. "If I were with you, I'd be Rogue, X-Man extraordinaire. Even with what's happened to me the past few days, I don't want that. I just want to be Marie D'Ancanto, average American college student."
"I think," Bobby replied, "that's why I'm Iceman. And Kitty's Shadowcat, Ororo's Storm, and Professor Cassidy is Banshee. Because someday we just want to be Bobby Drake, Kitty Pryde, Ororo Munroe, Sean Cassidy.
"Just average people, scraping a life with the other six billion people on earth."
"Bobby Drake," Marie drawled, "that was damn near close to being poignant."
"So do you want to come down?" he asked hopefully.
"Not today," she said, sighing. "I'm not ready yet.
"Someday, though."
"I'll take that as progress," Bobby smiled, and left the room, closing the door behind him.
"Hey, Blondie joins the real world at last!"
Logan smiled and stood up from the mat. Jimmy and Lucas turned around on their own mats, and stood as well.
"Yeah," Alex Blanding said, walking uncomfortably into Logan's classroom. "Mr. Forge had to make a lot of adjustments, but he says that this one's safe enough for low-impact travel."
"It looks, um," Lucas mumbled. "tight?"
Alex looked down at his containment suit. It was skin-tight and black, leaving only his face uncovered. Fine silver wires gleamed from within the weave, and a small metal energy unit was attached to his back.
"I should have at least asked him if it would be okay to cut off the top of the head," he muttered, wincing. "This shit's tuggin' on my hair."
"What's the matter?" Logan smirked. "Don't like the speed skater look?"
"Hopefully I can catch him before he leaves with the Doctor," Alex responded. "I guess they're going to England to help that kid with the chest thing."
"So how does it work?" Jimmy asked, walking around him.
"Well, I think I was able to cut through the techno-babble," Alex explained, "but I think that these wires absorb any incoming energy, and the junk attached to my back converts it and dumps it out, um, here." He pointed to his chest, on which was sewn more metal wiring in the shape of two circles, one inside the other.
"What about your head?"
Alex shrugged. "I guess he thinks that my face isn't taking in enough energy to make a difference, so I don't have to go with the ninja look."
"Okay, enough about your pretty pretty dress," Logan snorted. "You're here for class, right?"
"Yes, sir," Alex said.
"Then grab some floor, Summers. We're gonna learn about our chi."
"Blanding, sir," Alex corrected him, sitting down and crossing his legs. "I barely remember my time with the Summers."
"Yeah, whatever," Logan grumbled.
"Before we begin, I wanted to say thank you," Alex continued, "for putting in a good word for me with the Professor."
Logan was momentarily taken aback. He didn't get thanks very often. "Don't mention it, kid. Besides, nothing's going to happen as long as Jimmy's around. We're all average homo sapiens right now."
"Either way," Alex persisted, "I'd still be up in the room taking private lessons and talking to people on monitors if you hadn't decided I was honest enough to not be a danger to anyone."
"Don't worry about it," Logan replied, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. "Now shut the fuck up and meditate."
"I'm gettin' bloody tired of this."
"Ugh, not again."
"Sod off, Wyngarde," Cain Marko yelled off to the side, his eyes never leaving the man across the table from him. "I'm getting bloody sick and tired of sitting around, pulling small-time shit."
"We're not 'pulling small-time shit', Marko," John Allerdyce said calmly, flicking his Zippo lighter open and shut.
"Then what would you call it?" the huge man said, standing and leaning across into Allerdyce's young face, blocking the light from the single light bulb that hung in the grubby room.
"Marko..."
"Polo!" a voice tittered.
Juggernaut spun to face the small woman, who was sprawled on the sofa, giggling insanely.
"That isn't funny, Marrow!"
"Polo," she snorted, reaching into her arm and pulling out a sharp bone. Absently, she stuck it in her ear and scraped out some wax.
"Bloody disgusting," Juggernaut muttered.
"Sarah, please," John said patronizingly, then turned back to Marko. "It's not 'small-time shit,' Cain. It's fighting the power from the bottom up."
"'Fighting the power?'" Marko said with disbelief. "'Fighting the power?'"
"Yes, fighting the power," John repeated.
Marko exploded. "How the bloody hell is robbing department stores and holding up 24-hour restaurants considered 'fighting the power?'"
"And while we're at it," said Wyngarde in a reedy, trembling voice, "my name's not Wyngarde."
He leaned back, brushing his greasy black hair from his face, and adjusting the tie wrapped around his crumpled white shirt.
"It's Mastermind."
"You can't be Mastermind, Alvin," John said in disbelief.
"Why not?" he whined.
"Because you can't be called Mastermind if you're not the mastermind!"
Marko snorted, shaking his head. "And you are, right?"
"That's right," John said proudly.
"And what have you done?" Cain responded. "Blew up a Cure clinic, then got knocked out by Popsicle Boy?"
"Says the man who got pummeled by a little girl," John mumbled.
"Oy!" Cain roared. "You take that back!"
"Please don't yell," pleaded the fifth member of the group. A young woman in her mid-teens, the girl had purple hair and skin, and was sitting on the same couch as Marrow, but pulled about as far to the opposite end as possible.
"No one's yelling, Clarice," John yelled. "I'm the mastermind because I was the right-hand man to the big guy. Sure, he may have pushed me aside for that bitch Callisto, but I stayed by him. I believed in his vision."
"Even after he ran away like a scared little human," Marko sneered.
"That's right," John replied. "Magneto was weak. But his weakness left an opening for my strength to shine through. And I intend to take advantage. To make the Brotherhood more of a threat than it ever was."
"Yes, the humans are taking the Brotherhood very seriously," said a familiar voice from the door. John spun around in his chair.
"Very frightening, what with you stealing from the clearance rack at Walmart."
"Ha, ha," John said, turning around and facing Alvin. "Very cute trick, Wyngarde."
Alvin's eyes bugged out of his head. "That ain't me, man."
John Allerdyce's throat dried instantly. Slowly he turned around, and cracked a nervous smile.
"Hey, boss."
Magneto smiled darkly. "Hello, Pyro."
"What's everyone so scared of," Marko snickered. "He's just an unpowered old man."
Magneto reached his hand out, and Cain Marko found himself hanging in mid-air by his metal gauntlets.
"My dear Juggernaut," Erik said, shaking his head. "You must really watch the news. It's much more enlightening than Spongebob."
"Alright, Alright!" Marko yelled. "I believe you!"
Magneto lowered his hand, and Cain fell to the ground, smashing the table beneath him.
"The cure," Magneto boomed, "Was a failure. They attempted to destroy us. They failed, miserably."
He smiled. "I intend to make them pay for that failure."
He walked around the shattered table, eying each member of the Brotherhood individually. "I have a mission for each of you," he said grandly. "If you succeed, you may join me in the new Brotherhood, one founded in the bloodline of Lehnsherr."
"And if we say no?" John said.
"Follow me back to the lair," Magneto said calmly, "and you can ask Raven. Her head's currently splattered against the wall."
John's throat tightened.
"What?"
"Yes," Magneto said absently, "and drawing flies. It's quite messy, actually."
"Holy shit..." John breathed.
"What do you want us to do?" Wyngarde asked.
"Ah, the correct answer," Magneto said. "I need to release a few... 'special'... inmates from the high security installation called The Raft. I intend to get in and get them out as quickly as possible."
"The Raft?" Cain asked. "Isn't that that new super prison? The one S.H.I.E.L.D.'s running?"
"Yes, it is," Magneto replied.
"Okay, how, one, do you expect to get inside, and two, find who you're looking for before you're blown to bits?"
"We have a man inside," said a voice from the door.
"Jesus Christ," Marko groaned, "It's like I'm on an episode of Maury or something.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here, Madrox?"
"I'm not Madrox," Jamie said, walking inside. "Jamie Madrox is currently sitting in a cell on The Raft."
"This is one of Jamie's copies," Magneto said. "Before he was apprehended, he voluntarily left one copy separate from the others."
"I've been living in an East End apartment for the past six months," the copy smirked, "keeping in constant mental contact with my original on The Raft."
"So you want us to help you get in?" John asked.
"No," Magneto chuckled. "Well, yes, one of you will be able to help me. I want the rest of you to be the distraction. Make as much noise as you can, to keep their eye off of the prison for, oh, five minutes?"
"I like makin' noise," Marrow giggled.
"Meanwhile," Magneto continued, walking to the couch where the two women sat. "I, along with the copy, will be blinking into the Raft with our new best friend.
"Isn't that, right, Clarice Ferguson?"
Clarice looked up quickly, then huddled away from Erik.
"How do you know my name?" she asked quietly.
"I've had my eye on you for quite some time, dear," he said, smiling warmly and kneeling next to her. "One of my friends found your name on some government files a few years back. I always believed you would make an excellent member of the Brotherhood, and it's so good to finally meet you."
"So you want Blink to get you in?" John asked.
"I'm hoping so, yes."
"I can't," she stumbled. "I can't blink anywhere that I don't know. That I can't... can't picture in my head."
"If I give you a description?" Jamie's copy asked, but Blink shook her head.
"I have an idea," Wyngarde said, turning to the copy. He closed his eyes, and within a few seconds the room had disappeared. In its place was a large steel hallway. Thick metal doors ran along both walls, with numbers and names hanging on all of them. Sounds of mad screaming issued from some of them.
"How's that?" Wyngarde asked.
The copy's mouth hung open. "That'll do," he said, impressed.
"Blink?"
Clarice hesitated, her green eyes averted from the scene.
"Blink?" Alvin repeated.
"No one's..." Clarice whispered. "No one's going to get hurt, right?"
"Of course not," Magneto said, patting her leg heartily. "You'll be sending me in and out so quickly that they won't even know we're there."
"Okay," she said quietly, and the hallway disappeared.
"What do you want us to do for a distraction?"
"I don't know," Magneto said, standing. "Be creative."
Pyro smiled evilly. "Oh, I have an idea."
Previous Chapter (Secondary) / Next Chapter (Release The Hounds)
Title: The New Mutants, volume XII: Brotherhood
Author: kanedax
Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Spoilers: X3; New Mutants volumes I-XI
Rating: PG-13 for language and insinuated violence
Pairings: Theresa/Remy
Summary: Dates are made, differences are resolved, and a new brotherhood is created.
Notes: In light of Jason Stryker, a character from X2 who shares the first name and powers of Jason Wyngarde, I have changed Mastermind's first name to Alvin for my series. I hope it doesn't confuse anyone. As usual, I do not own the X-Men, Marvel Comics, 20th Century Fox, or Buckingham Palace. But myheritage.com says I look like Prince Harry, so I might be able to swing it.
Previous Chapter (Secondary) / Next Chapter (Release The Hounds)
"Ooh, the Evans Gambit," Theresa said as Remy moved his pawn forward. "Tricky."
"Gambit's my middle name," Remy shrugged.
Theresa sighed staring down at the chess board. She was trying to focus, but the noise of the other students in the living room, with the television blaring, caused her to miss where Remy was going when she moved her bishop the previous turn.
"You learned from your dad?" Remy asked, but Theresa Cassidy stuck her finger up in silence. She brushed her red hair behind her ear, sighed, then moved her black king one square to her left.
"You learned from your dad?" Remy repeated.
Theresa nodded.
"And you know how to recognize the Evans Gambit."
"Apparently not," she thought. "I should have caught it from the moment you moved your knight."
"Still," he said quietly, "You're better than you let on."
"My dad beats me all the time," she replied quickly, her face turning pink.
She raised her eyes, and caught his.
Even his eyes are pretty, she thought. Red and black are always a nice combination.
"He must be a hell of a player," he replied. "You're good."
Theresa smiled in what she thought was her best playfully seductive smile. "A girl has to have her secrets," she responded.
Remy cracked a small smile. "I suppose they do."
He leaned back in his chair, tenting his hands in front of his face, staring at the board. From behind him, Jubilee cracked a big toothy smile, sticking her thumbs in the air.
Theresa's eyes got big, and she tried to give Jubilee a look that said cool down.
Jubilee didn't seem to notice. She whirled her hands in a circle, telling Theresa to keep the conversation moving.
"So," Theresa said loudly and sharply, more than she preferred, "speaking of secrets, where'd you learn to fight like that?"
Remy looked up from the board. "Like what?"
"Like on the lawn," she responded. "I've never seen anyone fight Wolverine like that before."
"Who's Wolverine?" Remy asked, leaning over and moving his piece across the board.
"Mr. Logan," she said. "That's his code name."
"Hm," Remy said. "It fits."
"So?"
"Family practice," he said.
"What does your family do, run a dojo or something?"
"Not exactly."
"What exactly?"
"I'd rather not say right now," he said in his usual slow drawl.
"Why not?"
"I have trust issues," he said.
Theresa's heart sank. "You don't trust me?" she said quietly.
"I don't trust some people in this room," he said. "Someday, when it's a little quieter and we're a little more alone, I'll tell you about them."
Her heart stopped sinking and immediately flew back into her rib cage so fast that she felt like it had slammed into her larynx.
"When... when we're a little more alone," she stuttered.
"Yeah," he said, his eyes returning to the board.
She felt like her face was on fire. He didn't say if, her mind squealed, "when we're alone." Which implies that he wants to be alone.
With me.
AAAAAHHHH!!
"Your move," he drawled.
"Huh?" she said dreamily.
"Your move."
"Oh!" she jumped, her mind slamming back into place.
"Might want to tell your friend to stop bouncing for joy behind me," he said, smiling. "It's breaking your concentration."
Marie awoke slowly to the sound of a knock on the door. Once again she hoped that it was all a bad dream, but rolling over to see the unfamiliar clock clicking to 12:35 convinced her that she wasn't back in her dorm.
It must be Ororo again, she thought. Bringing my lunch.
She closed her eyes, once again convincing herself that she could trust Ororo, if not everyone else in this place. Ororo hadn't done anything to hurt her.
"Come in, Professor," she said, sitting up in bed. Despite the fact that she was already wearing three layers of clothing, Marie pulled the covers up to her chin in a protection.
The door opened, and she jumped back against the wall, uttering a short scream.
"Hey, calm down!" Bobby Drake said quickly, recovering from the shock before the tray of food fell to the ground. "It's just me, okay?"
"What the fuck are you doing here?" she asked, the sheet pulled up to her nose.
"The Professor said it would be okay if I brought up your lunch," he replied, setting the tray on the side table, then backing away when he saw her cringe back at his approach. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I just wanted to see you. To see how you were doing."
"I'm doing just hunky dory," she snapped. "Now leave."
"Rogue, I--"
"Don't call me that," Marie said between clenched teeth.
"Sorry, Marie," Bobby stumbled. "I just... You've been up here for almost four days now. Are you going to come out of the room at some point? Come downstairs?"
"I moved from Ororo's room to here," she responded. "That's all the movement I'm planning to do until I get Cured again."
"Ro--Marie," Bobby said, taking the desk chair and sitting in it, making sure he was as far into the opposite corner as he could be, "there is no Cure."
"Maybe not permanently," she said hopefully. "But, maybe, I don't know, I could keep taking it. Like allergy meds. Or an insulin shot. You know, take a poke when the drain starts coming back?"
Bobby shook his head. "The reports are saying anyone who had a re-manifestation is immune to a second dose."
Marie shook her head violently. "No," she said, "That can't be true. Warren must have--"
"Warren spoke to Ororo personally," he responded. "It's something that's reacting in combination with Jimmy's duplicated cells. One of their synthetic elements. Unfortunately, this Cure was the culmination of over a decade's worth of research. And with this failed serum, combined with the fact that they lost their top researcher on the project at Alcatraz..."
"I may never be cured again," Marie moaned softly, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"I'm sorry," Bobby said. "That probably wasn't the news you wanted to hear. And you probably didn't want to hear it from me, but..."
Marie remained silent, her knees curled up to her chest.
"I'll go," he said quietly, and stood up to leave.
"Bobby?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"There's no need to apologize," he responded. "You're freaking out right now, it's understandable."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm sorry about everything that happened. With us."
"I know."
"I can feel you in my head," she said, her voice breaking. "I know how you felt when we kissed. How much you cared about me then."
"I still do care," he said. "I want to see you get better. You're still my friend."
"Are you with Kitty now?"
He paused, deciding if the truth was best.
"Yeah," he admitted. "We've been dating for a few months now."
Marie nodded. "Good," she said. "I saw you two the night of the Professor's funeral. Out on the fountain."
"Marie, that wasn't..."
"I saw how you two looked at each other," she continued. "And I knew I could never give you what she could. I thought it was because I couldn't touch you. But I know better now. It was more than physical. She's a great girl, Bobby. You deserve someone like her."
Bobby nodded, a small smile crossing his face. "So you're not freaking out about it?"
Marie smiled back, and shook her head. "If I were with you, I'd be Rogue, X-Man extraordinaire. Even with what's happened to me the past few days, I don't want that. I just want to be Marie D'Ancanto, average American college student."
"I think," Bobby replied, "that's why I'm Iceman. And Kitty's Shadowcat, Ororo's Storm, and Professor Cassidy is Banshee. Because someday we just want to be Bobby Drake, Kitty Pryde, Ororo Munroe, Sean Cassidy.
"Just average people, scraping a life with the other six billion people on earth."
"Bobby Drake," Marie drawled, "that was damn near close to being poignant."
"So do you want to come down?" he asked hopefully.
"Not today," she said, sighing. "I'm not ready yet.
"Someday, though."
"I'll take that as progress," Bobby smiled, and left the room, closing the door behind him.
"Hey, Blondie joins the real world at last!"
Logan smiled and stood up from the mat. Jimmy and Lucas turned around on their own mats, and stood as well.
"Yeah," Alex Blanding said, walking uncomfortably into Logan's classroom. "Mr. Forge had to make a lot of adjustments, but he says that this one's safe enough for low-impact travel."
"It looks, um," Lucas mumbled. "tight?"
Alex looked down at his containment suit. It was skin-tight and black, leaving only his face uncovered. Fine silver wires gleamed from within the weave, and a small metal energy unit was attached to his back.
"I should have at least asked him if it would be okay to cut off the top of the head," he muttered, wincing. "This shit's tuggin' on my hair."
"What's the matter?" Logan smirked. "Don't like the speed skater look?"
"Hopefully I can catch him before he leaves with the Doctor," Alex responded. "I guess they're going to England to help that kid with the chest thing."
"So how does it work?" Jimmy asked, walking around him.
"Well, I think I was able to cut through the techno-babble," Alex explained, "but I think that these wires absorb any incoming energy, and the junk attached to my back converts it and dumps it out, um, here." He pointed to his chest, on which was sewn more metal wiring in the shape of two circles, one inside the other.
"What about your head?"
Alex shrugged. "I guess he thinks that my face isn't taking in enough energy to make a difference, so I don't have to go with the ninja look."
"Okay, enough about your pretty pretty dress," Logan snorted. "You're here for class, right?"
"Yes, sir," Alex said.
"Then grab some floor, Summers. We're gonna learn about our chi."
"Blanding, sir," Alex corrected him, sitting down and crossing his legs. "I barely remember my time with the Summers."
"Yeah, whatever," Logan grumbled.
"Before we begin, I wanted to say thank you," Alex continued, "for putting in a good word for me with the Professor."
Logan was momentarily taken aback. He didn't get thanks very often. "Don't mention it, kid. Besides, nothing's going to happen as long as Jimmy's around. We're all average homo sapiens right now."
"Either way," Alex persisted, "I'd still be up in the room taking private lessons and talking to people on monitors if you hadn't decided I was honest enough to not be a danger to anyone."
"Don't worry about it," Logan replied, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. "Now shut the fuck up and meditate."
"I'm gettin' bloody tired of this."
"Ugh, not again."
"Sod off, Wyngarde," Cain Marko yelled off to the side, his eyes never leaving the man across the table from him. "I'm getting bloody sick and tired of sitting around, pulling small-time shit."
"We're not 'pulling small-time shit', Marko," John Allerdyce said calmly, flicking his Zippo lighter open and shut.
"Then what would you call it?" the huge man said, standing and leaning across into Allerdyce's young face, blocking the light from the single light bulb that hung in the grubby room.
"Marko..."
"Polo!" a voice tittered.
Juggernaut spun to face the small woman, who was sprawled on the sofa, giggling insanely.
"That isn't funny, Marrow!"
"Polo," she snorted, reaching into her arm and pulling out a sharp bone. Absently, she stuck it in her ear and scraped out some wax.
"Bloody disgusting," Juggernaut muttered.
"Sarah, please," John said patronizingly, then turned back to Marko. "It's not 'small-time shit,' Cain. It's fighting the power from the bottom up."
"'Fighting the power?'" Marko said with disbelief. "'Fighting the power?'"
"Yes, fighting the power," John repeated.
Marko exploded. "How the bloody hell is robbing department stores and holding up 24-hour restaurants considered 'fighting the power?'"
"And while we're at it," said Wyngarde in a reedy, trembling voice, "my name's not Wyngarde."
He leaned back, brushing his greasy black hair from his face, and adjusting the tie wrapped around his crumpled white shirt.
"It's Mastermind."
"You can't be Mastermind, Alvin," John said in disbelief.
"Why not?" he whined.
"Because you can't be called Mastermind if you're not the mastermind!"
Marko snorted, shaking his head. "And you are, right?"
"That's right," John said proudly.
"And what have you done?" Cain responded. "Blew up a Cure clinic, then got knocked out by Popsicle Boy?"
"Says the man who got pummeled by a little girl," John mumbled.
"Oy!" Cain roared. "You take that back!"
"Please don't yell," pleaded the fifth member of the group. A young woman in her mid-teens, the girl had purple hair and skin, and was sitting on the same couch as Marrow, but pulled about as far to the opposite end as possible.
"No one's yelling, Clarice," John yelled. "I'm the mastermind because I was the right-hand man to the big guy. Sure, he may have pushed me aside for that bitch Callisto, but I stayed by him. I believed in his vision."
"Even after he ran away like a scared little human," Marko sneered.
"That's right," John replied. "Magneto was weak. But his weakness left an opening for my strength to shine through. And I intend to take advantage. To make the Brotherhood more of a threat than it ever was."
"Yes, the humans are taking the Brotherhood very seriously," said a familiar voice from the door. John spun around in his chair.
"Very frightening, what with you stealing from the clearance rack at Walmart."
"Ha, ha," John said, turning around and facing Alvin. "Very cute trick, Wyngarde."
Alvin's eyes bugged out of his head. "That ain't me, man."
John Allerdyce's throat dried instantly. Slowly he turned around, and cracked a nervous smile.
"Hey, boss."
Magneto smiled darkly. "Hello, Pyro."
"What's everyone so scared of," Marko snickered. "He's just an unpowered old man."
Magneto reached his hand out, and Cain Marko found himself hanging in mid-air by his metal gauntlets.
"My dear Juggernaut," Erik said, shaking his head. "You must really watch the news. It's much more enlightening than Spongebob."
"Alright, Alright!" Marko yelled. "I believe you!"
Magneto lowered his hand, and Cain fell to the ground, smashing the table beneath him.
"The cure," Magneto boomed, "Was a failure. They attempted to destroy us. They failed, miserably."
He smiled. "I intend to make them pay for that failure."
He walked around the shattered table, eying each member of the Brotherhood individually. "I have a mission for each of you," he said grandly. "If you succeed, you may join me in the new Brotherhood, one founded in the bloodline of Lehnsherr."
"And if we say no?" John said.
"Follow me back to the lair," Magneto said calmly, "and you can ask Raven. Her head's currently splattered against the wall."
John's throat tightened.
"What?"
"Yes," Magneto said absently, "and drawing flies. It's quite messy, actually."
"Holy shit..." John breathed.
"What do you want us to do?" Wyngarde asked.
"Ah, the correct answer," Magneto said. "I need to release a few... 'special'... inmates from the high security installation called The Raft. I intend to get in and get them out as quickly as possible."
"The Raft?" Cain asked. "Isn't that that new super prison? The one S.H.I.E.L.D.'s running?"
"Yes, it is," Magneto replied.
"Okay, how, one, do you expect to get inside, and two, find who you're looking for before you're blown to bits?"
"We have a man inside," said a voice from the door.
"Jesus Christ," Marko groaned, "It's like I'm on an episode of Maury or something.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here, Madrox?"
"I'm not Madrox," Jamie said, walking inside. "Jamie Madrox is currently sitting in a cell on The Raft."
"This is one of Jamie's copies," Magneto said. "Before he was apprehended, he voluntarily left one copy separate from the others."
"I've been living in an East End apartment for the past six months," the copy smirked, "keeping in constant mental contact with my original on The Raft."
"So you want us to help you get in?" John asked.
"No," Magneto chuckled. "Well, yes, one of you will be able to help me. I want the rest of you to be the distraction. Make as much noise as you can, to keep their eye off of the prison for, oh, five minutes?"
"I like makin' noise," Marrow giggled.
"Meanwhile," Magneto continued, walking to the couch where the two women sat. "I, along with the copy, will be blinking into the Raft with our new best friend.
"Isn't that, right, Clarice Ferguson?"
Clarice looked up quickly, then huddled away from Erik.
"How do you know my name?" she asked quietly.
"I've had my eye on you for quite some time, dear," he said, smiling warmly and kneeling next to her. "One of my friends found your name on some government files a few years back. I always believed you would make an excellent member of the Brotherhood, and it's so good to finally meet you."
"So you want Blink to get you in?" John asked.
"I'm hoping so, yes."
"I can't," she stumbled. "I can't blink anywhere that I don't know. That I can't... can't picture in my head."
"If I give you a description?" Jamie's copy asked, but Blink shook her head.
"I have an idea," Wyngarde said, turning to the copy. He closed his eyes, and within a few seconds the room had disappeared. In its place was a large steel hallway. Thick metal doors ran along both walls, with numbers and names hanging on all of them. Sounds of mad screaming issued from some of them.
"How's that?" Wyngarde asked.
The copy's mouth hung open. "That'll do," he said, impressed.
"Blink?"
Clarice hesitated, her green eyes averted from the scene.
"Blink?" Alvin repeated.
"No one's..." Clarice whispered. "No one's going to get hurt, right?"
"Of course not," Magneto said, patting her leg heartily. "You'll be sending me in and out so quickly that they won't even know we're there."
"Okay," she said quietly, and the hallway disappeared.
"What do you want us to do for a distraction?"
"I don't know," Magneto said, standing. "Be creative."
Pyro smiled evilly. "Oh, I have an idea."
Previous Chapter (Secondary) / Next Chapter (Release The Hounds)