Yes, I've edited this again. I'm going to try to get the third chapter up today... it just has to be written first. At the least, the first two chapters should be slightly better now.
The Brotherhood Boarding House lay in disarray; discarded trash littered the floor at random, once intact furniture tilted half-hazardly, walls were dented and stained with miscellaneous substances, closet doors opened on half-broken hinges.
Beyond this normalcy, the kitchen seemed to be in an unusual state of calm; the counter lacked food and dishes, the floor lacked spills, and the cabinet lacked its usual supply of soft drinks. Those missing sodas somehow, despite all efforts from Lance to forbid the act, vanished down Pietro's throat. The resulting energy rush accounted for the clean kitchen.
Yet, the speed demon couldn't possibly be entertained so easily with cleaning for more than a few seconds. Nor could the Brotherhood's explosion extraordinaire- who, frankly, never cleaned anything at all.
Tabby leaned against the door frame, absently toying with a handful of glowing cherry bombs. She glanced across the room to Pietro and shared a smirk. At 2 AM, none were awake to witness or divert their plans. Perhaps, if Lance had known, he would have protected the youngest member of the Brotherhood. Surely Freddy would have defended their hapless victim. But, both snored on upstairs.
Somehow, Todd Tolansky had fallen asleep on the den couch, unnoticed by the 'responsible' members of the Brotherhood, and remained that way through the first half of the night. Unfortunately for him, his once peaceful location lay directly in the path of a caffeine-high Quicksilver and a bored Boom-Boom. As Todd mumbled in his sleep, curling slightly from cold, Tabby's smirk grew, and Pietro vanished momentarily to return with spray cans proclaiming 'Sky Blue' around its girth.
So it began, and so normally, too.
"Blue?" Tabby mouthed, "Like Elf-boy Blue?" The speed demon nodded, a grin approaching malevolence on his pale features.
Boom-Boom laughed, "I like." Grinning, she took one of the many cans, shaking it quietly while Pietro vanished once more for more 'supplies.'
By morning, Todd found himself dangling from the school flag pole, wearing only a pair of sweatpants, baring blue skin to the world of gawking teenagers and a suspicious handful of snickering staff. Below him, Pietro and Tabby grinned.
Pietro mock-saluted. Beside him, Tabby announced, "It's modern art- Bayville High should be so proud to be see it!" She took up the mock-salute.
Pietro laughed, "Obviously the product of the creative genius of the brilliant Pietro Maximoff, namely myself, and the shocking ideas of the lovely Tabby Smith!"
Todd blurrily looked around him. For a moment, his situation did not register.
Then, he yelped, "Guys! This isn't funny, yo! Let me down!"
"But, you're our masterpiece, Todd! Everyone wants to see you." Tabby grinned up at him, gesturing to the crowd behind her. That group mixed jock and prep, geek and nerd, goth and punk, the several students yet to fall prey to a clique, and teachers in a wonderful phenomenon of unity never seen before. Among those stood the shocked X-Men, some of whom began to snicker while the others looked back for the rest of the Brotherhood.
Jean sighed in relief when she caught sight of them. Far behind the gawking crowd, running from the parking lot, Lance and Fred arrived, staring at their missing companions.
Oblivious to the coming aid, Todd continued to try to reason with the guilty duo. "This ain't funny, yo! Let me down!" His panicking only served to tangle him worse, setting his thin body to swaying overhead. The air began to grow heavy with laughter.
Tabby grinned openly. Pietro smirked.
At last reaching them, Freddy stomped forward, glaring at the duo, and began to mess with the ropes suspending his friend.
"Freddy careful," Lance cautioned, "You don't know what you're doing-"
"Ye-aahhhhhhhh," burst from Todd as the rope gave way, and he plummeted towards the ground, only to land, mostly unharmed, on the Blob. Concerned and unfazed, Freddy pulled his friend off his shoulder and set him carefully on his feet.
"You okay?"
A numb nod responded from the blank-eyed boy.
Sighing, Lance steered the two away from the crowd toward the bathroom, muttering, "And they wonder why I actually go to school… Gets me away from them for a while…" He looked to the distraught freshman, "Don't worry, Todd. I'm sure that stuff'll wash off."
Todd bit his lip, "There's no way they're gonna forget this one, yo."
Freddy shook his head while glowering at the students who hesitated from clearing a path for them, or, worse, dared snicker when he could see their faces. "Everyone'll forget it by tomorrow."
Back in the crowd, Jean looked around, "Class is about to start. Go on! There's nothing happening now." Slowly, teenagers obeyed the popular girl. With a start, the teachers began to mime her words, determinedly pretending they hadn't been rubbernecking with everyone else.
Meanwhile Scott took control of the X-Men with a barked, "Evan! Kurt! Let's go!"
Distracted as everyone was, noone noticed the troublesome duo of the Brotherhood double back to the parking lot.
Congratulating themselves on a prank well pulled, the restless duet skipped school, blatantly stealing Lance's jeep with a quick hotwiring compliments of Tabby. After a 'dull' hour of cruising, read as 'scaring pedestrians and outrunning both cops and vigilantes,' they jerked into a back-alley. Graffiti sprawled harsh words across the brick walls, trash overflowed the dumpsters, and a handful of thugs smirked at the two, beginning to plot a theft.
Ignoring the danger, Pietro smirked, "Well,-what-do-you-think? Will-it-work?"
"Duh," Tabby gestured grandly around her, "This is perfect! The cops won't find us here, but we can have some fun." She glanced to the men watching her, "And we have unreliable witnesses to make it even better!"
At that, she gathered a handful of cherry bombs, tossing them carelessly into the alley. Startled yelps answered as they exploded a little too close to the would-be muggers. But, they didn't retreat quite yet.
Seeing this, Pietro huffed and zipped past, beginning a tornado to scare them off only to jump back from an explosion inches from where he'd stood.
"Tabby! What-gives?" But, his ire faded as he turned, eyes shifting from the confused girl to the shadows behind her. Tabby hesitantly followed his gaze to see a trench coat garbed man calmly leaning against a dumpster, a glowing card dangling from his fingers.
Pietro choked, face a shade or two paler than normal, "Gambit?"
"Hey, garcon" the Cajun smiled lazily, "I have a message for you."
Unnoticed by the trio of mutants, the thugs fled, babbling senselessly of magic and a demon.
"A message?" Pietro whispered nervously.
"From your pere, Pietro. Magneto's got a job for you."
Shock marred Tabby's face, and she didn't think before she spoke. "Magneto's your dad?"
Amused, Gambit turned on her, red eyes gleaming, "You didn't know, fille? Does any of the Brotherhood know, Pietro? No matter. But, I don't remember you," He smirked at Tabby, "Did Mystique recruit you?"
"No, I-" She stopped short as Pietro clamped his hand over her mouth.
"She-did,-but-indirectly,-you-see!" The speed demon slurred, "Mystique-sent-Lance-to-talk-to-Tabby-when-she-just-got-into-town-"
Pietro froze, eyes fixed on the glowing card balanced on his nose. Hand extended lazily, barely holding the explosion-in-waiting still, Remy murmured, "Don't lie if you're that bad at it, garcon. So, Tabby, Lance talked to you, probably after Mystique left?"
"I never met Mystique." Tabby huffed, preparing to continue speaking only for Gambit to cut her off.
"Good. Mystique's decided to go solo. It's been a real joy to be around Magneto when he's in that mood." He rolled his eyes, faux harmless as he smiled at the girl. "But, a new recruit may change his mind. Of course, fille, he needs to meet you."
Calm as ever, he released Pietro from the danger of explosion, pulling the card away, the charge vanishing as Gambit casually slipped the paper back into his trench coat. Pietro sagged back in relief.
"Garcon, if you'll get the rest of the Brotherhood back into shape and inform them of their renewed allegiance, Magneto'll be pleased. If not, I take your place as field leader." Before the teens could register what had happened, Remy snatched Tabby by the arm and pushed Pietro back into Lance's jeep, watching the boy fall painfully over the door into the driver's seat. "Get to work, garcon, and I'll bring Tabby back when Magneto's decided where to put her."
Possibly from his background as a thief, possibly from the duo's shock, Gambit kidnapped Tabby, vanishing into the shadows while Pietro sat dazed in the jeep, without resistance from either one.
When the speed demon finally realized what had happened, he winced, jolting to start the car and find his friends. He missed the passing "Au revoir," as he sped away, oblivious to Gambit's remaining presence and the recovering Tabby's anger. Perfectly aware of his actions, the thief produced a slim container, maneuvered it under her nose as she started to speak, and caught the explosive mutant when she fainted.
"Chloroform does wonders, doesn't it, fille?" he asked the comatose girl as he slid her over his shoulder and headed back to Magneto.
Translations… (very basic- I don't speak French. The letters are what English uses, because that's all I can figure out to do. Any corrections are welcome, just please be nice about it.)
Garcon- boy
Fille- girl
Pere- father
Au revoir- goodbye