After his agreeable nap, Pyro moseyed down to the recreation room for some always needed R&R. Colossus, as a way to celebrate after completing the Danger Room session, had ordered pizza. The familiar aroma of crisp baked bread covered with warm melted mozzarella cheese and filled with luscious ripe tomato sauce was intoxicating.
"Hey, Pyro. Want some pizza?" Peter greeted him as John walked into the room, glancing over at the table where Colossus sat with two boxes of delivery pizza, half of which had been blissfully consumed before Pyro arrived. The table also held leftover drinks, side dishes, napkins, and potato chips despite the mini celebration reaching its end.
Eyeing the delicious offering, John looked up at the husky mutant who used to be his roommate before the students had gotten personal dormitories as part of the remodeling period after Stryker's goons had invaded the institution. "Don't mind if I do, thanks." John perked an eyebrow, grabbing a disposable plate to put some pizza on. He casually marked the presence of Kitty, Nightcrawler, Artie, Jubilee, and Jones who were scattered throughout the room. Wolverine had stopped by earlier to bring in the food after having an awkward exchange with the delivery boy. Babysitting as Logan called it wasn't his forte, so not a minute later, the gruff mutant had bugged out for a smoke.
"What's the occasion?" Pyro asked Colossus as he chewed his first slice. Waiting for Pete to tell him, John licked some stray sauce off his fingertip. The pizza was to-die-for. John noticed Jones 'blinking' through the TV channels.
"Nothing special. Everybody was starving after the Danger Room session."
"Huh," Pyro remarked as the big man's words melted into his thoughts. "What the hell do you guys do in there?"
"Train," Colossus bluntly replied.
"For what?"
"The X-Men," Kitty interjected, who had been chatting with Kurt, before becoming curious about the manly conversation nearby. As the petite girl strolled over to them with her plate in hand, she gestured with her other hand and continued. "For the greater good. So one day, we can protect…those who hate and fear us," Kitty said as she put a new slice of pizza onto her plate. "Want another slice, Kurt?" The tiny girl called over to blue mutant on the sofa.
"Nein danke, Kitty. I believe I am full," Nightcrawler responded kindly, who found the X-Men's cause intriguing. He was slowly getting used to living at the school after being a pariah and part of a traveling circus for many years.
Initially not knowing what to say about Kitty's comment, John bit down on the crust of his pizza and caught a brief glimpse of "Manhunt continues for mutant terrorist Magneto" before Jones blitzed past the boring news channel. Where had 'the bad guy' gone after leaving Alkali Lake? John remembered watching Magneto leave in a helicopter.
"Good luck with that," John curtly replied to Kitty. He thought back to when he had attacked the Boston police department. People thought mutants were dangerous, so why not make them eat their words? "I'll stick with pizza."
"Well, if you change your mind, we could use you on the team," Colossus told Pyro and reclined bulkily in his chair.
"Nah," Pyro repeated, unfazed by Pete's earnest sentiment. Kitty wasn't surprised—why did Pete bother trying? The last thing Kitty needed was to have some unpredictable hothead around that would rather be burning police officers.
"No biggie," Kitty breezily dismissed John's words. "Bobby's cooler than you, anyway." She went back to the sofa. Pyro simply scoffed at the girl and popped open a soda to wash down the pizza.
Once Colossus turned in, John chatted with Jubilee about the idea of joining the X-Men. "Someday, sure. But I need to do some weekend shopping first! Night," she said before leaving. Soon everyone but Jones turned in for the night.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
That night, John had a strange dream. He was back at Alkali Lake, creeping within the trees as Magneto and Mystique emerged in the distance to approach a helicopter. He could feel the chill of the snow on his shoes and the harsh wind slashed at his face. In the dream, despite being several yards out of earshot, John heard Mystique say, "Where is that kid? He was supposed to be here. We can't afford to be late." Mystique quickly gave up waiting and began prepping the chopper for takeoff. A pang of awkwardness mingled with the wind and struck John. Magneto held one arm on the open door with the other holding what John had called a dorky helmet. As Mystique readied their flight, 'the bad guy' scanned the area for any sign of the boy that could manipulate fire. "What a shame…"
Hearing Magneto's lament, John anxiously stepped out into the clearing. Magneto noticed him immediately as John stood there in his blue X-MEN jacket and track pants. The chopper's blades were gaining speed, so when John called out to Magneto, he couldn't hear him. He took off running to the chopper, kicking up snow with every step.
"Pyro!"
"Hey!" John replied over the noisy helicopter blades. "What's going on?"
"We have a delivery to make! We need your help."
"For what?!"
"Step aboard, and see for yourself."
Following Magneto onto the helicopter, he discovered a grill. Nearby was a small table with…pizza ingredients.
"Light the grill, Pyro. We have a pizza to make." Magneto called back from his seat once he was strapped in.
Confused, John took out his lighter. "Uh, yeah, sure." He lit the charcoal. Who grilled pizza on a chopper?
"Have you washed your hands?" Mystique called back to him.
"Uh, I made a snowball earlier."
"Clean enough!" Magneto said. "We don't have much time. Get started."
Luckily, the dough was already made so John simply spooned on the sauce and sprinkled the cheese.
"Pyro?" Magneto called back again. "We have a jar of olives, don't we? Put some on. Charles loves them."
"Don't you mean 'the Professor'?" Mystique corrected Magneto's fond usage of the name, nastily emphasizing the term of endearment. John didn't know Professor X by his first name.
"Right, my dear," Magneto realized. He called back to John, "Professor Xavier! He ordered the pizza."
They were delivering the pizza to the Professor? How? Wasn't Charles being held captive at the Alkali Lake base? Despite his confusion, John didn't question it. The pizza was ready to cook. After 10 minutes or so, John put on oven mitts and opened the grill. He was amazed by the transformation the pizza had undergone. It smelled lovely. Walking up to Magneto, John held out the pizza on a serving tray. "What do you think? The olives look great."
"Outstanding!" Magneto exclaimed. "Give it here, Rogue." Magneto called John, and then magnetically seized the tray out of the boy's hands, into his lap, where he began to eat it. "Agh! Burned my tongue. Delicious, though."
Why had Magneto called him Rogue? And hadn't they made the pizza for Charles? Why was Magneto eating it?
"I thought we were delivering the pizza to the professor."
"I got hungry," Magneto said. Shocked, John was stuck between disputing it and asking for a slice when suddenly—John woke up. The dream was gone.