X-Men: Evolution and all related characters in this fic belong to Marvel, Stan Lee, and whoever else is involved in creating the series. I'm not making any money so please don't sue me-instead sue the creators of that Wolverine movie for the $^$%^$^#$^$&*(*) they did to Deadpool!
Chapter 2
"Your-your daughter?" Ororo broke the silence that followed.
"Yeah she is," Pietro said. He looked Xavier square in the eye. "I know I aint given you much reason to trust me, and plenty of reasons not to, so you have permission to go ahead and read my mind. After Pyro and I left S.H.I.E.L.D., we ran into my old man." A dark glower came over Pietro's face. "He said he was planning something, and he needed the two of us. We didn't have anything better to do, so we let him take us to this new Asteroid M he'd built.
"When we arrived, he took me aside and said he had something I needed to see. We went off to a section in that asteroid. I was shocked to find it built like a nursery, and who should be there other than Mystique, taking care of this little girl here."
At the mention of the girl, Pietro's face seemed to brighten up. "The old man told me that she was MY daughter-that a year and a half ago, one of my ex-girlfriends had dropped her off at an orphanage. Mystique had infiltrated it, and brought her to Magneto. They did some DNA analysis, and confirmed that I was her father."
"Who was her mother?" Xavier asked. Mentally he sighed at the thought that his old friend would kidnap a child from an orphanage, even if the child was his own granddaughter.
Pietro shrugged. "I dunno. They never told me anything else. I try thinking back, considering her age and what I can make of her looks, but that narrows it down to maybe eight or nine."
Logan cocked his head towards the door. Walking over, he pulled it open, showing Kitty, Kurt, Tabitha, and Scott standing outside. "Hey, this aint for evedropping! If anything happens that you need to know, you'll find out soon enough."
Kurt and Kitty ran off mumbling to themselves. Scott however, just stood there. "Aint you going, Shades?"
"I'm supposed to be one of the Institute staff, right?" Scott asked. "That means I should be let in on whatever goes on here." He glared at Pietro. "Especially if it concerns the likes of him."
Xavier nodded. "You're quite right Scott. You're not a child any more and I'm sorry I didn't let you in here to begin with. Come in." Scott walked over and stood next to Ororo, his red-shaded gaze firmly on the speedster.
"You may go on," Xavier said to Pietro.
"Oh yeah. Well, it seems my old man's setting up a new group of Acolytes. Some Russian guy called Omega Red who's got these metal tentacles and unleashes poison spores. And there's this redhaired guy who calls himself Fabien Cortez. His powers aint that showy-something about being able to enhance or increase another mutants powers. Of course there's Mystique too. And Sabretooth.
"And there's this other guy called Mister Sinister. Real pale, with a red diamond on his forehead-kinda looks like that big Russian metal guy who used to be on of the acolytes. He's some mad scientist type had this lab on Asteroid M where he does these experiments. And he's got this bunch who seem only to answer to him, called the Nasty Boys-and boy does that name fit! Their leader's a pink haired guy called Ruckus who's got a sonic scream. They also got a guy called Hairbag, who as you can guess is awfully hairy. He's kind of like McCoy there, except McCoy at least bathes and uses deoderant. They also got someone called Ramrod who can manipulate wood and another called Gorgeous George who's like living putty. And there's these creepy French Canadian twins." Pietro shuddered as if at some bad memory.
An eyebrow rose over Scott's sunglasses. "You're talking about creepy twins?"
"Hay, Wanda's creepy. I'm just good looking," Pietro preened like a peacock. "Anyway, they're speedsters like me only they can fly and when they touch, they unleash a really bright light. Girl's a real hottie but she's got this weird multiple personality disorder. And her brother-" Pietro shuddered again.
"Thank you Pietro." Xavier's gaze shifted to Lorna. "Now can you tell us about yourself?"
Lorna let out a deep breath. "Well, my mother died giving birth to me; I was raised by my aunt and uncle. I never knew who my father was, although every month an anomyous envelope filled with money arrived on our doorsteps-we always assumed it was from him, to help with the expense of raising me.
"Two years ago I began to feel strange-then my hair started-," She stopped and paused, as if she said too much. "My hair started to turn green."
"Your hair turned green?" Xavier asked.
"Yeah." Lorna looked down at the floor. "It still is-I've just been dying it."
"Hey sis, don't let it get you down," Pietro laughed. "Strange hair runs in the family." He ran a hand through his own silver locks. "Besides, compared to some of the people here, green hair doesn't seem so odd," he added, looking at Hank.
"Thank you very much," Hank muttered under his breath.
"I doubt very much Pietro would have brought you here if your mutation was simply having green hair," Xavier said. "Do you have any-additional abilities?"
"This." Lorna held out her left hand and concentrated. First a metal paperweight lifted into the air-then the Newtons Cradle, then the letter opener. She let down her hand and the objects returned to their place on the desk.
"So you can levitate objects," said Xavier.
"Only metal," replied Lorna.
"So you're a living magnet, like Bucket Head," Logan quipped.
Lorna nodded. "It started not long after my hair went green.I've tried to keep it a secret, because that's when the TV showed the bunch of you fighting that robot."
Xavier nodded. "Perfectly understandable."
"I never told anybody, not even my aunt and uncle. I manged to keep anyone from finding out, but three months ago, we were going fro a drive. My uncle swerved to avoid hitting a reckless driver, and-" Lorna's face clouded up, and she began to sob. "I was so scared-two pieces of metal came out of the winshield frame-and went straight through Uncle Dave and Aunt Lucy's-" Now tears were flowing down the girl's cheeks. "I-I KILLED THEM! I just know somehow my power had caused that metal to come loose and go right through their heads!"
Lorna covered her face with her hands and wept. "Lorna," Xavier said, "what happened was an accident. Don't be so hard on yourself. You simply didn't know how to control your power. That you tried to hide it is understandable; yet you power is a part of you and unless you learn control you will cause more accidents. That's why I set up this place-so young mutants could learn how to control their powers and find positive applications for them."
"Yeah sis, don't beat yourself up over it." Everyone in the room was shocked to see the normally insensitve and callous Pietro put a reassuring hand on Lorna's shoulder. "It's not like you did it on purpose."
Judging by the emotions that were leaping at from Lorna, Xavier told Pietro, "I think it's best if you finished the story."
"Oh all right. I was there for about four months, when one day I was playing with Luna. Her favorite ball had bounced out of her nursery, and I ran to get it. I found it underneath behind a computer console and went to retrive it when I heard my old man enter the room with that Sinister guy.
"I heard them talking, and a lot of them was bunch of scientific jargon I didn't understand. But I told you this guy does these strange experiments right? Well, I heard them say that he was going to do another one-only it was gonna be on Luna." Pietro shuddered.
"I waited until they were gone, then went back to Luna's room. I just looked at her-and I couldn't let them do it. For once in my life I felt like doing something decent; I couldn't let Luna down the way I did Wanda. But I didn't know what to do."
Eric, Xavier thought sadly. He knew Magneto had no qualms about doing genetic experimentation on mutants, even infants-he had already done so with Kurt. But to subject his own granddaughter to such- "Please, Pietro, go on."
"The very next day, Magneto came to my room and told me that I had another sister-Lorna here. That she was in a hospital recovering from the shock of what she described-and that we were going to retrieve her.
"Somehow, Mystique had found out what they were planning to do to, and offered to help. The old man, me, Ruckus, Hairbag, and that Gorgeous George guy went off to the hospital; Sabretooth and Pyro were with Sinister and those twins doing something else somwhere.
"The old man rips off the the window to her room, wraps a bunch of metal bands around her wrists, and brings her down to the street. Starts telling her about how he's her father, she's a mutant like the rest of us, and this big thing about how mutants are destined to be the masters of the world-when all of a sudden the metal he has binding her bursts open.
"As you can imagine, the old man was shocked. That's when I saw my chance. I punched him from behind, knocking him down, then I grabbed Lorna. I ran as fast as I could without suffocating her to the place where Mystique and I agreed to meet. Sure enough, there she was with Luna. I tried to explain things to Lorna as best I could, then took both her and Luna, and ran here, where I knew they'd be safe from him."
All were silent for nearly a minute. "Thank you Pietro. You've certainly given us much to think about." He looked at Lorna, who seemed to be calming down. "Is this what happened?"
Lorna nodded. "Yes."
"Very well. For now Lorna, you can stay in a vacent room we have, and Pietro, you and your, ah, daughter, can stay in the guest room."
"Ya got a cradle in this place?" Pietro asked. "Otherwise, Luna'd have to sleep next to me. Not that I'd mind, but-"
"Oh yes. There's one that's been tucked away in the attic for years." The bald professor shifted to Ororo. "Ororo would you please show our guests to their rooms?"
"Of course, Charles." The African-American woman got up from her chair. "Come with me," she said. Lorna followed afer her; after cradling Luna who'd fallen asleep in his arms Pietro did likewise.
"Well Charles?" Hank McCoy asked.
"Pietro's mind is very difficult to read. His emotions read easily enough, but the images of his thoughts and memories-watching a video in fast forward is the nearest thing I can compare it to."
"Ain't just that," Logan retorted. "I've been listening to his heart beatin' and his breathin' patterns, hopin to detect a shift that would indicate he was lying. But they was going such much faster than a normal person's I couldn't notice anythin'."
"So it's not just young Maximoff's body that moves at superspeed-he practically lives in it at a constant pace?" McCoy asked.
"So it would seem, Hank," replied Xavier. "It certainly explains why he always seemed so short-tempered and impatient."
"Surely you're not going to let him stay here, are you?" Scott said.
"For now, yes," replied Xavier.
"You mean you actually believe him?" Scott cried. "Of all the Brotherhood, that speed demon was the worst, the way he stole from his old schools lockers and framed Evan, and the way he betrayed the lot of us the day we were all exposed-."
"I'm not saying you're wrong to be suspicious Scott," Xavier replied. "And he will be monitored, until I'm absoloutly sure he can be trusted. But his emotions and what images I could make sense of did seem to correspond with the story he told. And whatever else, it seems he genuinly has formed a paternal bond with the girl he says is his daughter."
"I go along with it," Scot said. "But I don't like it."
"Neither do I," agreed Logan. "He's Magneto's son and from he's shown us for the most part the apple didn't fall far from the tree. But still, until he gives us a reason, we aint gonna just throw him out."
"No kidding?"Rogue said. The students were all gathered in the hallways outside of the top floor beddrooms, where Kurt and Kitty had told them the news. "Pietro's got a kid?"
"I'm not surprised," said Tabitha Smith. "When I was staying with the lot of them, it was like Speedy Boy would have girls in his beddroom about every other night-one time he had the entire Bayville cheerleading team!"
"You can't be serious," said Kitty.
"Oh I believe it," said Remy LeBeau. Because of their age and having full control over their powers, he and Pieter Rasputin were staff instead of students although they didn't play as big a role in the running of the Institute as Jean and Scott. "Back when Remy and Petey were with da Acolytes, I saw Magneto keep a file on his boy, includin his 'activities' ith the ladies. From what it had, it a wonder he aint given ol Mags swarms of gran'chillun by now!" A mixture of derision and admiration rode in the Cajun's voice.
"Did he also keep a file on you?" Rogue asked.
"Not dat Remy know of," the Cajun replied. "O' course, anyone try getting a record of 'ol Lebau in dat regard into a computer, 'dat computer gonna crash!"
Storm showed Lorna to an empty beddroom. "You can stay in this room for now," she said.
"Thank you miss-" Lorna paused.
"Munro."
"Thank you miss Munro." Lorna looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry for my outburst earlier."
"You had to get it out of your system," Ororo said compassionatly. "And today certainly has been a hard one for you."
"I'll say. I've always wondered about my father, and now I learned he's an international mutant terrorist." She looked out Pietro and Luna. "I also found out I have a brother. And a niece."
Pietro looked his half sister quare in the face. "One thing I got to tell you sis-you're gonna hear the other say a lot of bad things about me. And trust me every one of them is true."
"What do you mean?" Lorna asked.
"Trust me-you'll find out."
Ororo walked with Pietro towards another room near the staircase. "This room we keep for guests. You and your daughter can stay here for now; the couch inside opens up into a bed. There's a cradle in the attic; I'll go up and retrive it."
"Uh, thanks." Pietro acted as if showing gratitude took a lot of effort. "Tell me, do you still sometimes-see your nephew?"
"Yes, when I can. Why?"
"Next time you see him can you give him this?" Pietro reached into his shirt and pulled out an envelope. "It's a letter of apology for what I did to him. I was a stupid kid caught up in a stupid game of one-upmanship with another who didn't even really care."
Ororo took the envelope, then really looked over the silver haired mutant. "You've grown up."
"Say what?"
"Earlier in Professor Xavier's study, as you told your story you mostly refrained from insulting us, and when you were derisive it was mostly towards your father and yourself. You also just tried to comfort Lorna when she was crying; and you just acknowledged that you had wronged Evan and want to make amends."
"Well don't tell anyone here about that last one," Pietro said. "I have a reputation to uphold."
Ororo chuckled. "Trust me, your secret is safe."
Asteroid M II
"So your son has betrayed us?"Nathanial Essex, aka Mister Sinister, asked Magneto.
"Yes," replied Magneto as they walked through the halls of the asteroid. "He knocked me down, than ran off with my daughter before I realized what happened." Magneto scowled; his son had frequently been a disappointment to him, but never for once in his life did he imagine the boy would turn on him like that. Pietro had always but on a show of bravado yet Magneto knew his son was intimidated by him.
Or perhaps there was more to Pietro than Magneto realized, the Master of Magnetism mused. "Mystique and my granddaughter are gone too, I trust?"
"Yes indeed," said Sinister. "And I was so looking forward to my appointment with that little girl."
Magneto glowered behind his helmet. He didn't want to this but he had no other choice. Sinister had told him from his analysis that little Luna had great potential. But that potential could not be reached naturally, it had to be done by artificial means, or Luna would be condemned to be ordinary.
Changing the subject, Magneto went on, "Your own mission went well, I take it?"
"Oh yes, certainly," replied Sinister. "Th twins proved themselves especially useful."
As if on cue, a female voice said in Quebecois French, "I don't know what kind of signals you thought you were getting from him, but trust me, you were just wasting your time."
"He would have come around," a male voice replied in the same language.
"He kept turning you down."
"Playing hard to get."
"He kept hitting on ME!"
"To make me jealous."
"He has a freaking kid!"
"Proves nothing."
As Magneto and Sinister rounded the corner they saw a boy ang girl of about fifteen with streaks of silver in their hair arguing. Magneto had found them on the streets of Montreal; their family had thrown them out. Oddly not because they were mutants but for other reasons. Yet, once Sinister had worked on them, their powers were truly amazing-and made them extremlly useful to his purpose.
The girl was pointing to a man-sized hole in a nearby wall. "The last time he said no, he kicked you through that wall!"
"Your sister is correct." Both twins turned and saw Magneto and Mister Sinister. "Trust me, Jean-Paul, I know my son well, and he has never shown any indication of sharing inclanations such as yours. And plenty towards young women like Jeanne-Marie."
Seeing the young man's face fall, Magneto walked over to the two siblings and gently placed a hand on both their shoulders. "Do not worry. For too long, that boy has failed and disappointed me; with this act of betrayal I now wash my hands of him. But today, the two of you have proved yourselves." He smiled an almost fatherly smile. "The day is coming soon that mutants shall take their rightful place as the masters of Earth. And when that day comes, I want the two of you at my side-as Northstar and Aurora Magnus."
Yes, I know I said I would have Alex meet Lorna, but that will have to wait until the next chapter. And Hank will be telling Pietro something about his daughter that's going to have the young father do some serious soul-searching. Rahne will also be coming, and Guido too. And no, I'm not makinf this into an m/m slash fic; Pietro quite clearly showed Jean Paul he wasn't interested.
Wanda right now is with S.H.I.E.L.D., to become part of this world's version of the Avengers. I hope to include them in a few chapters down the road.
And for the last-I just couldn't resist the idea of Magneto adopting the Beaubir twins.
