Disclaimer: I wish I owned the X-Men, but alas...
A/N: It's been so long! I found the first two chapters of this hiding out in my documents and decided I'd give it a shot. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
What's my age again?
Thunder boomed across the sky followed shortly by a strike of lightning – a surefire sign of a storm to come. It was a humid summer evening, the sun had yet to set and the Brotherhood boys could be found inside, windows open as the first rain drop landed on the carpet.
"Hey Pietro, get the windows, would ya?" Lance called from the kitchen, fighting to close the window above the sink.
Pietro glanced up from the newspaper and then zipped through the house and back to his seat in record time. "Sure thing." He called back, flipping the page.
"We already watched this episode, Freddy." Toad complained, sticking his tongue out in an attempt to snatch the remote. He was successful.
"Hey!" Fred huffed, glaring at the younger boy. "I was watching that."
"Like I said, we already watched it, yo!" He proceeded to flip through the channels until he found something more suitable.
"Will you two keep it down?" Pietro griped, turning the page loudly. "I can't hear myself think."
"You have to have a brain to be able to think, Pietro." Wanda commented, passing by on her way to the kitchen.
"Hilarious." He muttered, rolling his eyes.
A knock at the door had Wanda glancing back to the living room with a raised eyebrow. Figuring it was probably just Kitty, she turned the knob opening the door, not at all expecting the person on the other side.
"Pyro." Her fists glowed blue.
"Hold up, Sheila! Oy'm not 'ere for a fight!" He held up a hand in surrender. "Oy swear!"
She eyed him warily, unclenching her fists.
"Then why are you here?"
"Well, ya see, it's kinda a funny story." It wasn't until that moment that she realized he was holding something in his hand - specifically, another hand. A small head peaked out from behind his leg with wide, blue eyes.
"What the hell?" Wanda questioned slowly, bringing her narrowed eyes up from the child to the manic mutant standing in front of her.
"Oy…Oy can explain." He stammered, keeping a wary eye on her hands. "Well, sorta. Uh. Can Oy come in at least? It's startin' to rain and Oy ain't exactly a fan, ya know?"
Wanda growled, but let him pass.
"Who is that?" She pointed to the child, who looked a mixture of frightened and intrigued.
"Yo, where'd the kid come from?" Toad asked, hopping into place next to Wanda. He placed an arm around her and she promptly shoved him away.
"Hey, she looks a lot like-"
"Boom Boom?" Pietro raised both eyebrows, looking between the child and Pyro, not entirely sure what to make of the situation.
"Heh. About that…" Pyro rubbed the back of his head, glancing around nervously.
"No way! Tabby has a kid?" Toad assumed. Pietro smacked him upside the head.
"Give her a little more credit, would ya?" He frowned, shooting a glare at the pyromaniac. "Explain."
"Oy'm tryin'! You're all jumpin' to conclusions!" He let go of the little girls hand and she backed up toward the kitchen only to run into someone else's legs.
"Uh…who's the kid?" Lance asked, eyeing the blonde head. The little girl looked up at him with wide eyes. "Tabby?"
"Roight!" Pyro nodded, pointing to the three year old. "This sheila is the one that goes by Boom Boom. There was a…" He glanced around, taking the shocked silence as his cue to continue. "A bit of an…accident, ya see."
Pietro had slammed him up against the wall before he had the chance to say anything else.
"What do you mean 'accident'?"
"Well, it's kinda obvious, don'tcha think?" He nodded his head toward the little girl. "She got a little nosy and well…"
Pietro ground his teeth and Avalanche caused a small tremor to break up the fight.
"Why'd you bring her here?" He asked. Tabby had grabbed hold of his pants and was hiding behind his legs.
"Sheila lives here, does she not?"
They all glanced at each other.
"Well, yeah, but…she's difficult enough to deal with at seventeen, let alone…" Lance glanced down at the miniature version of his housemate. "How old are you?"
"Tabby's three!" She held up four fingers to prove her point. Lance had to fight back a laugh.
"Fantastic." Pietro rolled his eyes before turning back to Pyro. "Magneto's responsible for this, then?"
"Pretty obvious if ya ask me, mate."
Pietro glowered. Wanda decided it was time to step in.
"What are we supposed to do with her?"
"Oy dunno, was just meant to drop off the little ankle biter."
"Can't he just reverse it? What are we supposed to do with a three year old mutant?" Pietro crossed his arms, eyes narrowed.
"Oy'm not sure she still has her powers. And ol' Buckethead ain't got the remedy."
"Enough questions, it's time for us to go, mon ami." A new voice joined in from the doorway. Gambit was leaning on the frame, arms crossed as he eyed the group. "All Magneto said was to make the deliveries and get back. Best of luck, bozos."
He then grabbed his teammate by the shirt and shoved him outside. "See ya at the next meeting." He mock saluted, tossing a charged card into the mix.
Lance's eyes widened and he immediately snatched up Tabby and ducked into the kitchen while the others made a mad scramble to their own safety.
When the dust cleared a new noise pierced the air. Lance's eyes widened as he stared at the mini-mutant in shock. He hadn't landed on her or caused her any physical harm, but obviously the explosion and loud noise had scared her.
"Way to go, you made her cry." Pietro reprimanded as he joined him in the kitchen a second later. He grabbed Tabitha from him and began bouncing her up and down. "Hey, the Tabby I know wouldn't get freaked over an explosion, she'd be the one causing it." He whispered, surprisingly gentle, to the little girl who was clinging to his neck. She sniffled.
"I never knew you were such a softie, Pietro." Lance smirked, watching him.
"Shut up, Alvers. Somebody's gotta get the screaming under control. Kids are obnoxious."
"So are you, but we still keep you around." Wanda joked, joining the two boys. "What are we supposed to do with her?"
"I don't know. But Gambit said 'deliveries', as in plural, as in one of the X-Geeks probably got de-aged as well." Pietro muttered, rubbing Tabby's back subconsciously as her sniffling began to subside.
"You think?" Wanda raised an eyebrow. "Why would she have been with them?"
Pietro rolled his eyes. "It's Tabby. She has no loyalty."
"That's rich coming from you," Lance frowned. "Tabby's our teammate, you should treat her like it."
"She's always hanging out with those losers. But I wouldn't have a clue which one would've been with her." Pietro ignored Lance; Tabby pinched him. "Ow!"
Lance laughed. "Yeah, that's our Tabby." He watched, amused, as she climbed out of his hold and fell to the floor before taking off into the living room. "We'll take her to Xavier's in the morning."
"Hungry!" They heard her shout from the living room, and the three followed her in, only to crack up at the sight in front of them. "Tabby hungry!" The little girl insisted, kicking Blob in the shin. He merely blinked and looked at her.
"You want a chip?" He asked, holding out the bag for her. She grinned and Lance saw what was going to happen before it did. Tabby snatched the bag and took off running. "Hey!" Fred exclaimed, getting up and chasing after her.
"Woah, big guy." Lance held out a hand to stop him. "That may still be Boom Boom, but she's currently only three years old. Watch yourself."
"Yeah, well I didn't want those chips anyway." He pouted, waving his hand and storming off toward the kitchen.
Tabby was hiding behind the chair, munching on her stolen chips when Wanda used her powers to pull her into the air.
"I don't know about you guys, but I don't particularly want to play babysitter to an out-of-control toddler."
Tabby dropped the chips when she was lifted in the air. She seemed frightened for only a second before deciding she could fly and it was cool. Laughing, she stuck her arms out, but didn't go anywhere.
"Tabby fly!" She demanded, throwing her arms out again, only this time a small, spherical object flew from her hand. Lance's eyes widened and Pietro cursed under his breath. Wanda let go of her hold on the girl as she ducked out of the way. "Weeee!" The young girl laughed as she plummeted to the floor. Pietro caught her just in time.
"Great. Boom Boom is still Boom Boom." He spoke sarcastically. "Maybe we should take her over to the Geek Squad tonight."
Lance sighed. "I'll grab my keys."
Lance, Wanda, and Pietro piled into the jeep and headed over to Xavier's. The mini-Brotherhood babe fell asleep on Pietro's lap on the ride over. It was silently agreed upon that it was going to be a really long night.