Author Notes: I like Quicksilver. A lot. Call me crazy but I think he and Shadowcat would make a good couple...I toyed with the idea of writing Quicksilver as bi-sexual--he's always up for a thrill and doesn't give a damn for social taboos, but I still think he's straight. He's got the James Dean thing going on^^ And Evan, the guy he'd most likely be involved with, is just too lame. So no slash, just ambiguity^^ Please excuse my slight disregard for continuity and proper grammar. Prologue is staged from the end of "Speed and Spyke."
"Hey! You gotta let me out of here!" Pietro Maximoff has spent exactly thirteen minutes behind bars and already he feels his head beginning to explode, the walls closing in, his muscles aching with inactivity even though he's zipping frenetically from one place to another in his cell. Being able to move around quickly in a ten foot cell means nothing to a boy who can run ten miles in less than twenty seconds. Pietro jumps from the floor up to the bars and starts pulling on them with all his might like a plaintive child, yelling, "I want out of here!"
Suddenly the bars begin to vibrate and Pietro falls in a long, ungraceful heap on the floor. Momentarily shaken, he looks up to see a figure cloaked in crimson shadows standing in the corner of the jail, his body almost invisible except for the eyes that glow like white fire.
"Wha--you?" Pietro is so stunned it takes him a full second to recognize his visitor.
"It is good to see you again, Pietro," says the man in a cold voice rich with authority and only the slightest touch of amusement. "Even under such...distressing circumstances."
Pietro glares at the dark tower, too eager to escape from his cell to question the sudden appearance of this apparition, this shadow of the past... "Yeah well you could make them a lot less distressing you know. C'mon, hustle it up! MOVE IT!"
Damn him, Pietro thinks, he always just STANDS like that, silent and impassive and cold, waiting, waiting, waiting, knowing full well that Pietro can't stand being locked up (especially just because he trashed some stupid school lockers), I need to get out I need to break free!
"Still impatient," says the oh-so-mysterious yet familiar man. "But you have grown much, Pietro. And I have need of your services..." The figure moves forward and it is almost as if he brings the darkness with him. "If you think you can handle the job."
"Oohh," says Pietro, undeniably intrigued, "sounds like a challenge." His decision is already made. "OK, whatever you want! just--" Pietro starts pulling on the bars again, "let's bail this jail!"
"Very well..." The figure raises a hand, fingers outstretched. Pietro steps back warily and watches the bars shake, twist and then yawn open wide enough to accomodate his escape.
Pietro stands there for a second, enough time for him to the situation. He doesn't stop to think of their last meeting, all he sees is the freedom that is being offered him.
"Come with me."
Pietro smiles and slowly takes his father's hand.
by Kiki
9:42 AM. So here he is, Pietro Maximoff AKA Quicksilver, the fastest boy alive, stuck at boring at old Bayville Public High School. He'll have you know that he's only here so he can get back at his lifelong rival Evan Daniels AKA Spyke. And to show Magneto that he's capable of handling anything. Pietro doesn't really give a hang about anyone's ideology except his own which comes in two four-letter words
LIVE FAST
if you can call that an ideology, which you couldn't but Pietro can because it's all he has and all he can ever remember knowing.
"Party at Duncan Matthews' tonight," says Lance as he walks by Pietro's locker.
"Whoopee."
"Should be there around nine."
"You mean you're actually going?"
"Hell yeah, Matthews may be a dumb jock but there'll be free beer and lots of it! Half the school is gonna be there, with no freshmen allowed. His parents are out of town, got the whole huge place to ourselves."
"Hmm," Pietro cracks an evil smile. Pietro's smile is usually evil. "Doesn't sound too lame."
"Yeah--but don't tell Blob or Todd about it, 'kay? Todd's too young, and there's only gonna be so much food. It's not really their scene anyway."
Pietro looks at Lance, the de facto leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Lance is a senior, the only one in the Brotherhood, and een though Pietro is smarter and faster, Lance would quit the team entirely if Pietro became leader because Lance could never take orders from a sophomore. Of course Pietro doesn't care, Lance is the closest thing he has to a friend and more importantly, an equal. Pietro doesn't care, he can only feel an irking speedbump or something in his stream of thought every once in a while, but it is happening now when Lance is talking about keeping the party a secret from their "Brothers." Pietro ponders this for a nanosecond, then lets it pass.
"Yeahsure, whatever--god can you imagine what'd happen if Freddy showed up? He'd eat up all the food and probably half the people in less than a second!" Even for Pietro, that's fast.
Lance grins. "Yeah, well, we can call him and have him crash if it's lame. Don't think that'll happen though."
Pietro stops in his tracks (for a millisecond). "What about the X-Geeks?"
"Are you kidding me?" Lance snorts. "You think Xavier is going to let his toy soldiers out to a party unchaperoned?"
Pietro shrugs. "Dunno. Nevernotho."
"Heh, if they do show up," says Lance clenching his fist and furrowing his brow, "I'll rock the party that rocks the body."
Pietro rolls his eyes. "Man, back in New York I'd never have to waste a Friday night at some kegger with football players and dorky high school kids, no matter how unchaperoned it was."
"Hey man, if you miss New York so much you can move back there," Lance says half-jokingly.
"Justmightdothat."
"What?"
"Nothing. So when's the party?"
9:21 PM. Mr. and Mrs. Matthews are out of town again and their sole offspring is taking the opportunity to show the rest of Bayville just how
rich they are: half the student body is gathered inside the spacious mansion and Duncan apparently has not bothered to put away any of the the valuables: the food selection is good, the kegs are full, the girls are pretty and the music, some half-decent alternative top 40 joint is pumping through
the stereo system.
Pietro feels the whoomp whoomp of the bass resonate inside his hard, slender frame. Not bad, thinks Pietro, checking out the scene. Not bad. So this is how small-town suburbanites entertain themselves on weekends...
It had been fairly easy keeping the party a secret from their teammates. Fred wasn't invited--not that any of them had been extended a private invitation, but Fred was the only kid at Bayville who had nearly smashed the host into a pulp on with a row of lockers. And Todd is a freshman, and freshmen were anathema to Duncan Matthews and his crowd--not to mention small, slimy ones. Mystique just replenished their bank accounts so Lance and Pietro bought enough food and rented enough horror movies to keep the Blob and Toad happy and distracted for at least one night.
Pietro spots Lance near one of the kegs talking to a leggy blonde. It seems Lance is intent on enjoying himself tonight: he's copped a slightly
less insouciant pose than usual and is actually talking to some of these preps without openly sneering. Not to mention the cost of the groceries
and videos--Lance footed most of the bill. For a split-second Pietro wonders if he should wonder about this sudden burst of social behavior on Lance's
part before settling back in his usual ten-miles-a-minute stream of consciousness (too fast to put into words)...
Pietro moves from room to room, wins a couple of games of pool, chugs a beer, talks to some adoring sophomore girls, wins a game of darts, drinks
some more beer, raids Matthews' fridge and swipes some silverware (don't ask). Yeah, I am the MAN he thinks after each of these events. He
heads towards the kegs again. I've never been really smashed before he thinks idly. Wonder what it feels like... He passes by a group
of seven kids standing in a semi-circle and two of them smile and say hi. You'd think he would be popular cause he's got looks and confidence and
style to burn, but there's something about Pietro Maximoff that makes people look twice but ultimately look away...he radiates cold fire
and something else that is not quite right, a sureness of movement that is not quite normal. It is impossible to be around him and feel comfortable--you
get the feeling that he'd rather be somewhere else and he is doing you a great favor by gracing you with his presence. And on some unsettling level, you realize that he is right.
Pietro smirks a bit wider than usual after realizing he's in a good mood even though he's moved at sub-sonic speed for more than thirty minutes.
Then he spots them--the X-Geeks! All of them, including Kitty Pryde, resident Valley Girl (even though she's from Chicago) and, even more offensive, a FRESHMAN. Pietro will freely admit that he's not overly fond of the Toad, but the thought of that ditzy, snot-nosed little X-Freak being allowed at a Duncan Matthews party while his teammate and friend(?) is stuck sitting at home and probably trying to avoid being eaten by Fred is annoying. Very few things can annoy Pietro. Most things only have the capacity to bore him. But this, this is annoying and he's going to do something about it or his name ain't Pietro Maximoff AKA Quicksilver AKA the fastest kid alive!
To be Continued...