A/N: I AM SOOOOOO SOOO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. I had planned on finishing it the day I posted Ch. 2, but homework and whatnot got the better of me. I'm SO sorry. I hope it is worth the wait.


Jubilee rolled her eyes. "On your mark!" her hands began glowing again. "Get set!" Again she raised her hands above her head. "GO!" she shouted, shooting her 'fireworks' into the sky for a shotgun start.

The boys took off the instant the words left her lips, leaving nothing but a cloud of smoke behind and sliver and orange streaks in their wake.

Quicksilver held the initial lead, though only barely. Kid Flash trailed slightly behind, steadily keeping only a few feet between them. In all honesty, if he knew the town better, he'd be waaay out in front already. Or, at least that's what he told himself. His speed was nowhere near its maximum, but he wasn't sure he could say the same for the silvery haired speed demon in front of him. He could only hope that it wasn't.

Pietro, reassured now that he had taken the lead, took a risk and snuck a glance behind him. The redhead was a few feet behind him, but keeping steady with his speed other than that. Pietro turned his eyes forward again and let a cocky smile slip onto this face. The upstart obviously wasn't as fast as or faster than him, or else he'd be out in front already. His own speed was not anywhere close to its uppermost limit yet, so he felt confident that he would have no trouble leaving this kid far in his wake once the race was closer to conclusion.

They were about halfway across town when something far in the distance (and closing in fast) caught Pietro's eye. Recognition instantly dawned on him as a black hole opened up in the pit of his stomach. His eyes widened and his rapid breath caught in his throat. His legs deadened as he squeakily skidded to a halt. His arms shot out on either side of him, partly for balance, but mostly to warn the boy trailing just behind him.

Wally too had noticed something up ahead, but it hadn't seemed threatening to him so he had shrugged it off, deciding that he'd be speeding by too fast for anything to be a danger to him. He hadn't counted on Quicksilver's sudden tension and skidding halt, barely having enough time to react before he collided with the teen, sending them both flying forward a few feet.

"What the heck?! Why did you stop?!" Wally shouted at Pietro. At first he thought it was some sort of trick to get Wally to stop and lose his momentum, but after he saw the pure, blatant shock written on Pietro's face, he realized that something was definitely wrong.

His green eyes snapped forward and he realized why Pietro was in the state he was in. Standing, er, more like hovering in the middle of the street was an older looking man clad in some sort of red and purple-blue suit, with a dark helmet adorning his head, covering most of his face. Though he could not clearly make out the man's face from the distance, he could feel his eyes boring into him. Standing on the ground beside the man was a woman with dark blue skin and startlingly red hair. On his other side was a man who appeared to be completely made of metal, a cold, (no pun intended) metallic look on his face.

"Who are they?" Wally gasped at Pietro, whose expression hadn't changed. "What the hell is going on here, Quicksilver?" he hissed. Clearly, Pietro knew these people, and clearly that was not a good thing. He grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him, trying to coax some sort of reaction other than shock out of him. "Pietro! What the hell is going on? Who are these people?"

Pietro shook his head, slowly coming back into reality. He was vaguely aware of Wally shouting at him, but that wasn't the focal point of his thoughts. "Dad?" he choked out, his eyes on the congregation of mutants before them.

Wally's head shot back around to the people Pietro was referring to. Now another man had gathered with them; he wore a long brown leather trench coat and was playing with what appeared to be a deck of cards, leaning against a parked car. At that time another man hopped up from behind another car. He was clad in an orange suit and flames danced around him as he laughed maniacally.

Now that his mind was clearing, Pietro stepped past Kid Flash and approached his father, who seemed to be emitting a painfully intimidating atmosphere. "What are you doing here?" he asked, his brows furrowing together in confusion.

For a short, infinitesimal moment, Pietro's hopes leaped in his chest, hopes that maybe, maybe, his father had come here for him, to take him in as his right hand man. A tiny prodding at the back of his mind, though, whispered his doubts. "No, this is too big of a display. Why would he go through all this trouble of gathering the Acolytes and assembling them here just to talk to you?"

Magneto turned to him with a triumphant gleam in his eyes. "Ah, Pietro. How long has it been, my son?"

If he wasn't before, Pietro was now completely baffled. "Too long," he replied, a slight bitterness creeping into his voice. "What are you doing here?" he asked again, not trying as hard to hide the agitation behind it.

"Why, I'm here to thank you," Magneto said matter-of-factly.

"Thank me?" he questioned, his face quirking into a confused expression.

"Yes, for all your help in isolating Kid Flash from his team for easy capture." The Acolytes all stood up straight now, preparing themselves for the inevitable. Sabretooth leapt down from the roof of a nearby building and onto a street lamp, his fangs bared mercilessly.

"WHAT?!" Wally whirled around and grabbed Pietro by the collar of his uniform, brandishing a fist in his face. "I thought you didn't have any hidden agendas?!" he snarled.

"I-I don't!" he cried. "I have no idea what's going on! Honest!" he murderous glare in Wally's eyes caused a new wave of panic to set in.

"Who are these people, Quicksilver?" he spit his name out like it was sour. "What is happening?"

"Wally, listen to me. I honestly swear that I have no idea what's happening." He leaned in a bit closer to him, silently praying that none of the Acolytes, especially Sabretooth, could hear him. "Just let go, and I'll figure this out," he whispered.

Wally, his face still contorted in a snarl, shoved Pietro away from him. His glaring green eyes bored into Pietro's dark blue ones, You better not be screwing with me.

Pietro turned back toward his father, taking a protective half-step in front of the redheaded boy beside him. "Father, what's this all about?"

Magneto landed and took a few steps toward his son. "Pietro, please, step away. You've done well. Leave the boy to us."

Pietro cringed, "You've done well," it was the closest thing to an 'I'm proud of you, son' he'd ever gotten. "What?" he gaped. And suddenly, he was torn, almost physically torn. Literally. In that moment of indecision Sabretooth had leapt from his perch on the street lamp, claws outstretched, aiming straight for the two speedsters.

With his mind still pulling him in two different directions, Pietro didn't have a chance to react to the feral mutant launching himself toward him. Seconds before he would've been sliced to ribbons, he was shoved firmly to the side and collapsed on the ground. When he looked up he saw Kid Flash above him, panting slightly. "Get up! Go!" he shouted.

Pietro stood quickly and took a step back. "What am I supposed to do?" his mind shouted. Part of him was still caught up in the pathetically small amount of affection and pride his father had shown in him only a moment before. He'd been craving just that for so long, how could he so directly betray his father now? But part of him, a much less prominent part, yes, but it still loud enough to be heard, urged him to protect the upstart that had gotten him into this in the first place.

He looked at the boy who was rapidly dodging swipes from Sabretooth. What was he supposed to do about this kid? Despite everything he thought of him, was he just supposed to let his father and his cronies take his fellow speedster?

And then it hit him. "What does my father want with this guy? What could he possibly need from him?" If Magneto wanted him to get to the X-Men or Kid Flash's Team, this wouldn't be the way he'd go about it. And if that wasn't it then there was only one other reason he'd want him: his powers. "But, Father couldn't possibly need him for that. He already has someone with superhuman speed. He has me. And I'm better than this guy. I'm his son…" That's it. Magneto thought Kid Flash was better than him. Anger, jealousy and betrayal boiled in the pit of his stomach.

With a furious shout he raced toward Sabretooth at full speed, a fist outstretched and aimed straight for his furry face. He collided with the feral mutant and knocked him backwards, slamming him into a wall. He spun toward his father and his cohorts with a deep blue fire burning in his eyes. "You think you need him?!" he spat. "You think he's better than me?! You think he's better than your own son?!"

Before they could react he was racing up to the Acolytes, knocking Mystique out with a well-placed, well-timed punch. Pyro attempted to douse him in fire, but a few quick doughnuts rendered him downed and gasping for air. Gambit was a bit more of a problem, launching a blizzard of charged playing cards at him. Pietro managed to avoid the majority of the cards, but when he was close enough to land a punch at the Cajun, the man's quick reflexes proved themselves as he caught Quicksilver's hand mid-punch.

Pietro gasped and steeled himself for the blow that never came. Just before Gambit was able to charge another card, his grip slackened and he fell backwards, revealing a fist belonging to a certain redheaded speed demon.

"Thanks," Pietro choked out, unused to the word.

"Don't mention it." Wally nodded.

Together the two boys tackled Colossus and managed to knock him back into a wall, though their knuckles had definitely suffered from such high-speed contact with the metallic skin of the Acolyte.

Watching all that had taken place, how his son had turned on him, his plans for quick capture of Kid Flash had failed, and how the two boys had defeated his entire team by themselves, a wave of fear suddenly entered Magneto's bloodstream. The way Pietro's eyes had flared…the furious, life threatening glare he'd shot at him…he never thought his son would be capable of that kind of fury, especially toward him. Having already seen a taste of the boys' combined strength and not wishing for a sequel, Magneto raised himself into the air and shot off for his hideout, deciding to deal with his rebellious son and his orangey counterpart later.

By the time they had finished off the Acolytes, the boys turned toward where Magneto had been, yet saw no sign of him. "Crap," Pietro swore, his heart pounding against his chest with the rush of battle. "He got away."

"So that was Magneto, huh?" Kid Flash said beside him.

Pietro nodded.

"So, really, what happened back there? Because seriously, I'm insanely confused."

"My father happened, that's what." Pietro spat. His eyes focused on the floor, looking steadily at nothing, "You know, all my life, all I'd wanted was to make him proud, you know? But no matter what I do, I'll never be good enough for him." Pietro shook his head.

Wally looked at him, his mind forming a completely different opinion about the boy he'd once pinned as a psycho. "So that guy was his dad?" Despite his initial distrust of the infamous Brotherhood member, Wally couldn't help but see the boy in a different light now, after getting a glimpse into his past. He took a step closer to him and awkwardly patted his shoulder, not sure how to comfort his once-rival. He offered him a weak smile before he offered, "Well, I think you're pretty cool. Don't listen to that old fart, he obviously doesn't know what he's talking about."

This earned him a rare, genuine smile from Quicksilver. No mischief or cunning or secret meanings, just a real, honest to goodness smile.

Wally took a step back as a grin spread across his face. "C'mon, we're in the middle of a race, aren't we?"

A cocky grin flashed onto Pietro's features. "Yeah, right. There's only room for one of us in this town."

"And may the best man win!" Wally shouted and shot off at blinding speeds.

The next instant Pietro was after him and rapidly catching up. Within moments he was neck and neck with the redheaded boy, who seemed to be running faster than he had in the first leg of the race. The buildings began to turn to indiscernible blurs as they poured on more and more speed. The X-Mansion flew past them as they neared the final part of the race. The only reason Pietro knew they had passed it at all was because the place was too large to miss.

Pietro couldn't help but feel a tiny encroachment of worry begin to build up in the pit of his stomach. Passing the X-Mansion meant that they were approaching their next half-lap of the town, which meant they would be re-approaching the battle-sight. He didn't even realize his tension until he caught himself falling slightly behind Kid Flash.

Wally sensed this and turned his head, slowing up a bit so he was even with Pietro. "You alright?" he called.

"Huh?" Pietro asked, coming back to his senses. "Uh, oh, yeah, totally." He shook his head and sped up a bit, bringing their speed back up to where it was.

Kid Flash pursed his lips together, concerned for him. He kept his gaze trained forward, scanning in case of another attack, but out of the corner of his eye he continued to monitor Pietro.

The battle sight flew by, nothing but a blur. Wally didn't bother to see if the unconscious bodies of their foes had been removed. He didn't want to know. He snuck a quick look at Quicksilver, only to see the other boy running just as hard as him, if not harder. His jaw was clenched tight and his eyes deep blue eyes were locked stonily forward.

They rounded the final corner; it was just a straight shot for the X-Mansion and the glory of victory. Both boys' minds now clicked in the same direction. Both had been holding back the entire race, attempting to lull the other into a false sense of security before making a literal mad dash for the finish line.

The blur of legs slowly became less discernible, chests heaved harder, and hearts pounded with greater intensity in an attempt to pump oxygenated blood to screaming muscles. When Pietro looked over and saw that despite his acceleration, he remained perfectly tied with the younger speedster, he set his jaw and forced his legs to move faster, trying desperately to best the other boy. What he didn't realize, though, was that Wally had the exact same idea.

Both were accelerating at the same rate, and completely unaware that their opponent had the same tactic as them.

As the X-Mansion loomed ahead, the dueling speed demons both poured in as much of their strength as they could muster in a last ditch effort to outrun their opponent. And finally, as the sound of heavy panting was lost to the uproar of cheers and shouts, they skidded to a halt, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with the hard stone walls of the mansion.

The crowd of their fellow superhumans rushed toward them, proud cheers ringing in the air.

"So," Pietro stood and dusted himself off, his breathing was still a bit heavy. "Who won?"

"There's no way to be completely positive, because you guys were way too fast," Scott began.

"But," Jean interrupted, "according to mine and Miss Martian's mental readings and what Avalanche was able to read from the vibrations in the ground, we believe the safest and most accurate assumption is that you two tied."

"WHAT?!" the speedsters shouted at the same time.

"Wait wait wait, are you guys absolutely positive that there's no way to tell who really won?" Pietro pleaded.

"Absolutely not. You guys tied." Jean shrugged.

"But- but we can't tie!" Wally whined. "Now how are we supposed to prove who the better speedster is?"

"Well, my little buddy," Pietro slung his arm around the redhead's shoulders, "we may not be able to prove that, but I think this race has definitely proved that there is more than enough room for two speedsters in this town." He offered Wally a half-attempt at a friendly smile.

Wally slung his arm over Pietro's shoulders. He put his hand up to his face and whispered in a low, conspiratorial tone, "But you know what this means, don't you?"

Pietro raised a silvery eyebrow.

"REMATCH!" And he sped off to the far ends of the grounds with a familiar silver streak in tow.


A/N: Ok, cheesy ending. I'll probably end up rewriting this one day. But I hope you liked it anyway! I honestly wasn't sure how to end it, so I hope it's not too bad.

And a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewd/followed/favorited. They honestly brighten my day :)

Please drop a review! :D