Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or any of the characters in this story.
A motorcycle with flames painted on it tore down the highway. Its single rider's helmet concealed his face almost completely, but underneath it, St. John Allerdyce wore a strange expression. He was grinning, but his eyes had a slightly troubled look to them. Not only was he technically sneaking off base to consort with the enemy, he was also risking the wrath of Wolverine. He knew from Sabertooth that the short Canadian had in fact killed before, but that didn't matter, he had to see her. Amara Aquilla, Magma. She was so beautiful, whether in her fire form or her human one. In both, she was just as exquisite as the flames he loved and played with, and in many ways even better than those. Still, he didn't have any idea what he was thinking to be doing this. The sheila was a princess for crying out loud! Nothing could ever come of this, but what he felt for Amara was so strong, he just couldn't resist.
At the same time, Amara was carefully feigning being asleep as Logan walked through the hall doing his rounds for the evening. She listened closely, and when she heard him leave the dormitory area to check the rest of the mansion, she got out of her bed, already dressed for her date. No one in the mansion knew about her romance with Pyro, and she was afraid of what would happen to him if Wolverine found out, thus their continued sneaking around. So far, she had been lucky enough to keep her teacher from noticing his scent on her, thanks to her using some perfume after their dates. Thankful her room was on the first floor, Amara opened her window and climbed out of it, running to the gate and leaving the mansion grounds before Logan had a chance to turn the security system on for the night. A few minutes later, two things happened at almost exactly the same time. First, St. John pulled up on his motorcycle, screeching to a stop by the curb. A split second later, as the two teens embraced, Wolverine went outside to look over the perimeter before turning in for the night. Immediately, he smelled the pair and saw what was happening. He ran down the driveway, extending his claws and yelling wordlessly. Upon hearing this, Amara hopped onto the bike behind her boyfriend, hugging him around the waist as he started it back up. Just as Logan's claws started to slice through the gate, they took off, laughing and giddy with relief at managing to get away. They didn't even consider what would happen when Amara had to go back to the mansion.
As usual, the pair was going a few towns over for their date so there was less of a chance of them being recognized, the public opinion of mutants being what it was, and even the younger X-Men like Amara being particularly well-known around Bayville. True, since she'd appeared on the news more than once there was still a good chance of someone realizing who and what she was, but at least the odds of going unnoticed were better out of town, even more so the further they went from Bayville. As they sped down the streets of Bayville far faster than legal, Amara, her voice raised against the wind, asked, "So, where are we headed tonight, St. John?"
She pronounced his name Sinjin, like he had told her the first time they had met off the battlefield. Smiling just a bit wider under his helmet at hearing that because of how few people got it right here in America, the fire-controlling Aussie said, "New York City, luv! Me pal Gambit told me 'bout a club there that's really going off."
As they rode through the factory belt around Bayville and a couple of neighboring towns, the pair didn't realize it, but something had found them. The escaped Bolivar Trask had just gotten his new Sentinel project up and running a few months ago and he already had a small handful of working robots. One of those Sentinels was being given a trial run when it came across the two mutants. "Mutant life signs detected," the robot droned just loud enough for the two riders to hear as they left the last of the large buildings behind. "Objective: terminate with extreme prejudice."
Catching what the Sentinel had said, Pyro glanced back over his shoulder and saw the approaching killing machine. "Holy dooley! It's 'nother one of them bloody tin toys!" St. John exclaimed. Realizing that they weren't in the best place to make a stand, he yelled, "'Old on tight, 'Mara! This is gonna be a rough ride!"
Speeding up, they headed down the highway. While fleeing, Amara would occasionally turn to the rear and shoot off a fireball or two at the robot, but it was hard to do so while clinging to her boyfriend and the projectiles only did so much damage against metal anyways. The pair of mutants managed to keep ahead of the Sentinel, but unfortunately its three fellow working machines joined it, meaning it would be folly to try and stop to fight the machines; they'd just have to lose them somehow. As the Aussie mutant saw the first of several cornfields to come, an idea formulated in his head, causing him to laugh at its sheer brilliance. Turning off the lights on his bike, the pyrokinetic veered off of the road and into a cornfield. As he neared the center, he slowed to a stop. Though it wouldn't keep the Sentinels from finding them forever, it would delay them long enough to put his plan in motion. Turning off his bike, he dismounted and put the kickstand up, motioning for Amara to get off as well. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and clicked it on. Using his powers, the tiny flame turned into a stream that caught the corn a ways off ablaze. He whispered to the princess beside him, "Oi'll keep the flames back from us and the bike with me powers, but it'll still be getting pretty 'ot in here, so you moight wanna turn into your fire form 'Mara, luv."
As he said this, he made the flames spread around them, leaving the pair in a dome surrounded by fire, where the heat was indeed on the rise. Amara took his advice and transformed into the state that had helped earn her the codename of Magma. Figuring that St. John was trying to get the sentinels to think the two of them were dead or melt the robots in the process, she lent some of her own flames to him, shooting off fireballs that added to the growing blaze. Hopefully, the machines weren't smart enough to recognize the pair's powers and reason that neither would be killed by a fire. They could still hear the four robots stomping and flying around, occasionally shooting lasers or missiles into the fire.
Once it was raging in its full glory, the pair inside the blaze turned to each other. The Aussie took his helmet off, revealing a head of wild strawberry blonde hair and a grin that bordered on insanity. Both of them knew that now all they could hope to do was wait it out, so after a second's pause they embraced passionately, not caring that St. John's clothes would be burned by the Nova Roman princess's fiery form. Somehow, even as they kissed each other deeply, the pyromaniac retained enough concentration to keep the flames back from the bike so they'd still have a ride.
In the meantime, one Sentinel got too close to the flames and had some of its circuits burned to a crisp, wrecking all of its motor functions and leaving the machine to be consumed by the inferno, but the other three remained a safe distance away. Thankfully, the raging fire blocked the remaining robots' scanners, meaning that within ten or fifteen minutes they determined, "Mutants terminated. Reporting back to base."
St. John let the fire gradually die down over the course of a few minutes to be sure the robots had, in fact, left. He was amazed that no one had come to investigate the blaze yet, but he didn't want to test their luck by sticking around to wait. With most of the cornfield reduced to ash and only a few small fires lingering here and there where there where there was still a bit to be burned, Amara powered down, grinning sheepishly upon seeing her boyfriend's heavily burned clothes, his shirt being completely blackened and falling apart. His jacket had come off at some point, so it was only a bit singed, and his pants were fine except for a few scorch marks. Seeing what his girlfriend had noticed, Pyro shrugged, took off the remains of his shirt and put his jacket back on. He winked at her and said, "'Ope you enjoy the view, luv!" before replacing his helmet.
As she got back on the bike behind him, Amara rolled her eyes at his remark despite her small smile. Then, they tore back onto the highway, and she was clinging to him even closer than before, her chin practically resting on his shoulder. Her grin was just as wild as St. Johns as the bike went well over the speed limit until they ran into the infamous New York City traffic. Even then, they made very good time due to Pyro's weaving in and out of traffic, even sometimes riding the double yellow line. He managed to get them to the club without getting lost and rather than getting in line, he led her straight up to the door. Looking confidently at the bouncer, he reached out to shake the man's hand while playing with his lighter with his other hand. He had a slightly insane gleam to his blue eyes as he said, "Allerdyce. Oi'm on the list."
As he shook the bouncer's hand, he slipped the man a twenty, all the while flicking his lighter off and on. Amara's eyes widened slightly at this, but she didn't say anything when the bouncer, looking slightly nervous, said, "Aw yeah man, right here! Go on in. She's with you, right?"
St. John nodded as the bouncer unhooked the velvet rope to let them in. "Absolutely, mate!"
The couple went inside and Pyro put away his lighter before they went out on the dance floor. As they started to dance together, she whispered excitedly, "I can't believe you did that!"
Pulling her close, he replied, "Believe it, luv. Besides, ain't it better than waiting in line for hours to get in?"
Instead of giving a proper answer, Amara just threw back her head and laughed as they danced right next to each other. They continued dancing for the better part of an hour, occasionally stopping to sit down. Then, as they danced, St. John said to her, "Oi'm gonna get a soda. You want anything, 'Mara?"
"Sprite," she answered, having gotten a bit addicted to the lemon-lime soft drink since she'd come to the mainland. Nodding, he made his way to the bar and asked for two Sprites, begrudgingly forking up the cash for the overpriced beverages before trying to get back to Amara without spilling either glass. When he found her, he dropped both cups in shock at seeing a man covered in tattoos who was, as he'd put it, 'built like a brick shit house,' coming onto her. Pyro's hands curled into fists and without thinking, he shoved in front of the man. Practically growling, he said, "Rack off hairy legs! 'Mara 'ere is me shelia, she ain't interested in a yobbo like you."
Then he punched him in the face. The brute stumbled back a bit and then spat something out. Looking down, St. John realized he had knocked out one of the man's teeth. With a gulp, he grabbed Amara's wrist and said to her, "Time to do the Harold Holt!"
They ran for it, pushing and dodging through the crowd to get to the front door. They darted outside and got on the bike, peeling out into the street and swerving in and out of traffic, trying to lose the man, who had gotten on a motorcycle of his own, a hog, and was chasing them. Pyro's bike flew through a light just as it turned red and the man on the hog followed them. Unfortunately, the man also cut off a police officer in the process, who turned on the sirens on his squad car and started to pursue him. Within a few blocks, the tattooed man was pulled over, leaving St. John and Amara home free.
The drive back to Bayville was comparatively uneventful and as they rode back into town they went around the factory belt to lessen the risk of another Sentinel encounter. As they rolled up to the mansion, the pair could see Wolverine sitting on a lawn chair on the driveway. Even so, Pyro automatically put the bike in park as the tough Canadian got up and started towards them. However, instead of Amara getting off, the two younger mutants turned toward each other and an idea passed wordlessly between them. Amara looked at her teacher with a big grin and waved as she and her boyfriend shot back off into the night.
