"Nononononono!" Pietro chanted as he pushed himself to his limits, trying to catch the bullet that was going to kill his sister, if he didn't stop it. He felt the tarmac bite into his feet where his suit had been worn off, and the friction from the air itself stripped his costume off of his arms and legs.
"Janet! Answermewoman!" He spoke so fast, it was like one giant word "Hello?! Isthereanyoneatthemansion? Weneedhelp!" He said more big words that were almost impossible to understand. He lunged for the bullet only to have it weave out of reach. Whatthehell even his thoughts were giant words. The bullet rocketed towards Wanda with Pietro hot on its metaphorical heels.
"Nonononono! NO!" he lunged for the bullet again. The force of it slammed him into the ground and he skidded for several feet.
"I got it Wanda you're safe now." He raised his hand to show the bullet to her, "you're…" His voice trailed off as he found a hole through the palm of his hand that was as wide as a silver dollar. His head shot up to look at his sister and found a bald, slender man with a faint goatee, a light grey and dark blue hoodie, blue pants with a white Union Jack on the left leg. The man had a light blue sling pack on and the handle of some weapon jutted from over his right shoulder. As Pietro watched the man fell to his knees and blood began to pour from his chest. Pietro appeared at his sister's side to make sure she wasn't hurt.
"Did the bullet get you?" he asked. His sister shook her head.
"No, I'm perfectly fine, but he's going to die if we don't help him!" Slowly the man stood up, and began a stubborn walk to a trio of phone booths, staggering the whole way. Wanda frowned; people who just got shot should not be trying to make a call to someone. She nudged her brother.
"Pietro, stop him." Pietro walked up to the man's side and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Umm excuse me but what are you going to do?" the man jerked his shoulder away and kept walking towards the phone booths. Pietro furrowed his eyebrows in puzzlement, by rights the man should be unconscious or dead, but he seemed to have something important to get off his chest. Thus, the phone booths. The twins kept watching as the man braced himself; suddenly electricity was streaming onto his arms and seamed to soak into his chest. When it was over, the man rolled his shoulders and sighed with relief. He looked at the twin's bewildered faces and sighed.
"I'm getting a beer, you two comin' or not?" he said in a rough voice. The twins nodded mutely and followed.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Budweiser, and whatever these two want." Cole said to the pretty waitress. He half listened to the heroes on the other side of the booth order their drinks.
"So," the white-haired man began conversationally "I am Pietro Lensherr, or Quicksilver, and this is my sister Wanda, or the Scarlet Witch"
"That so?" Cole grunted. Pietro frowned but said nothing. Cole was content to wait until he had some beer to talk. When the waitress came with the drinks had a third of his down in one gulp.
"Alright my name's Cole Macgrath. The best I can tell, me and a friend are from an alternate reality. I'm a Conduit and an electro-kinetic. I got my abilities in an explosion that my future self, Kessler, caused. I fixed the city, Empire City, as best I could but there was another threat coming, the Beast. Any questions so far?" Cole paused and took a drink. Pietro mulled it over while Wanda counted points off on her fingers. When they both shook their heads he continued.
"When me and my friend were loading up to leave to go to New Marais a city down south, the Beast attacked. Basically I had my ass handed to me, on a silver platter. When we got to New Marais I fixed the problems there, all the while getting stronger so I could power a device that would take away the Beast's powers. My little band of adventurers got split up when we found out that device, which was called the RFI, would kill Conduits when we used it. I fired it off, and killed off the Conduits; the Beast included. I don't know for sure what happened next, but here we are. Questions?" Cole waited.
"What does RFI stand for?" Pietro started.
"Ray Field Inhibitor. A guy named Sebastian Wolfe made it. It was designed to cure the Plague, a disease caused by Ray Field radiation." Cole answered.
"What was the Beast?" Wanda asked.
"He was a Conduit named John White. Before he was a Conduit I worked with him in Empire City to find the Ray Sphere the thing that gave me my abilities."
"What's Ray Field radiation?"
"It activates a Conduit's abilities." The twins were about to continue when a TV over by the bar started spouting a "breaking news" logo. Some anchor saying that Central Park had been invaded by monsters. Cole thought nothing of it, as he was going to let the Ultimates or the Fantastic Four take care of it, until he saw the footage. To anyone else in the place, it was a monster, and yes it was a monster, but to Cole it meant a whole lot more. A horde of swamp monsters bounded through the streets, ravagers ran over anything in their way, and at the back, a huge armor-covered devourer launched puke-missiles and ate the odd cop or pedestrian. Cole jerked his hoodie on and tightened his pack, making sure that the amp as he called stayed where it was. He looked at the twins and said two words.
"Get help." Then he hurtled through the doorway and was gone.