I don't own X-Men: Evolution, or any related characters. I do own some OC's, but they're not appearing in this chapter yet, and I can't make any money off of them.
Chapter 3
"Alex!" Scott said as he walked up to his brother at the La Guardia airport. He held out his arms for a hug, and stopped when Alex held up his hand.
"Please Scott," the blond 16 year old said, "could you get me to the institute now?"
"Well, we've got another person arriving for us today," said Scott. "Why're you so-" Scott looked in his brother's eyes and saw the unmistakable look of intense pain. "We'll get you there as soon as we can."
"Don't know-how much longer-I can-hold it in." The younger Summers brother held his chest. "Started feeling it-in California. As I switched planes in Michigan-got harder to ignore. If I don't release soon-."
"I understand." Scott sighed, wishing Kurt could teleport as far as New York City from the Institute. No help for it, he thought, as they walked to the flight arriving from Scotland.
"Scottie!" A Scottish accented voiced cried out. Scott looked and saw Rahne Sinclair step out from the departing passengers. "Scottie, 'tis so good to see ye!"
"It's good to see you too Rahne," Scott replied. He looked at the Scottish girl; she wasn't much taller than the last time he'd seen her but she had filled out more. Her hair had grown down past her shoulders, and she kept it in a loose ponytail. "Rahne, this is my brother Alex."
"Pleased to meet ye," Rahne held out her hand. Alex shook it and grunted. Scott realized they had to hurry, or Alex would have no choice but to release the plasma blast building up inside him.
"C'mon," he said as they followed him to luggage department. "We've got to get back to the mansion and fast, or else we'll have a real PR disaster on our hands."
Back in one of the laboratories in the lower bowel of the Xavier mansion, Pietro Maximoff had broken yet another treadmill. "That's quite enough," said Hank McCoy. He looked over to fifteen others that were lying there, useless because he's used them to study how Quicksilver's speed worked; he'd also wondered how the silver haired youth could run so fast. "The speed you've topped at is about 28,0000 miles per hour."
Pietro just smirked. "I've gone faster."
"I believe that," said the furry simian-like scientist. He walked over to the printer readout from the computer camera that had been scanning the speedster. "According to this, your body is considerably denser than a normal person's, especially your bones and the muscles in your legs making them incredibly strong. What's more, it's like your legs are designed to absorb the shocks the impact of running at such speeds would cause and further, where most people's bodies would produce fatigue toxins such as lactic acid, your's produces more adrenaline." A clawed finger scratched the top of McCoy's head. "It's like the longer you run, the faster you get."
"Wow brother," said Lorna, who'd been watching the procedure while holding Luna. "You'd make Jesse Owens look like a snail."
"Yeah, I'm just a big running machine," Pietro smirked.
"All right Lorna, now I want to test your power," said said McCoy. Lorna walked over to Pietro and handed him Luna. As the speedster sat down with the girl in his lap, Lorna held out her hands towards wrecked treadmills. Cosing her eyes she concentrated on the metal parts, and slowly they began to rise.
"Good, good," said Hank. "Now see how long you can hold it."
After thirty seconds, the treadmills dropped to the ground. "I'm sorry, said Lorna after letting out a deep breath. "I couldn't hold it any longer."
"That's quite all right," Hank said. "Although, from the account Pietro gave, you were able to summon enough power to break out of the bonds Magneto had you in."
"Yeah." The thirteen year old looked down at the ground. "I was just so scared, and then-I was free."
Her power levels must have something to do with her emotional state, Hank thought. And they possibly increase through strong emotions such as fear or anger-although she is till quite young. Xavier had told him when he first met the man who would later become Magneto that mainly used his power for small things such as opening doors or locks from a distance. As the years passed, the Master of Magnatism's power increased; it very likely could be the same with her. "That'll do very well for now. We should be able to get a better assessment your abilities during your first Danger Room session."
"Da-Da-Da-Danger Room?" Lorna stammered.
"Oh don't worry sis, it's just what they call this special training room-obstical-course they have here." Lorna breathed a sigh of relief, but then Pietro continued, "It's tricked out with laser cannons, killer robots, giant buzz saws, and razer sharp blades that come flying out at you. Always wished we had one for the Brotherhood, but the Old Man was just too cheap."
Seeing Lorna's apprehension McCoy put in, "We do take precautions in regards to safety, and the beginner's level, which of course you'll start at, includes none of those things." The blue-furred intellectual smiled reassuringly. "Trust me, we consider nothing more important than our students' safety."
Just then the automatic doors opened and in wheeled the Professer, along with Ororo, Rogue, and Kurt. "Ah Pietro," the bald telepath said. "We've tested out the blood and hair sample you've provided. They confirm that you and Lorna indeed are half-siblings, and you are are Luna's father. We intend no offense, but-"
"You don't trust me," replied Pietro. "I knew that when I came here, so let's not bother pretending all right?"
"Well, yes." The professor rubbed his bald head. Maybe he should have had Logan convey what he'd found; the Canadian's frank bluntness would be better suited to telling Pietro what he'd found. "Pietro, remember when we asked you about Luna's mother?"
"Yeah. My father and that creepy mad scientist I mentioned never told me who she was. I've tried to narrow it down some, given her age and what I can make out from her looks, but that still leaves about a dozen possibilities." By the tone in his voice Pietro wasn't even bragging, simply stating a fact. Xavier wondered if the boy's superspeed in some way affected his hormones.
"Yes. Well, anyway I've traced down an orphanage that had a baby girl stolen from them several months ago, and they had the mother's name."
Xavier spoke the girl's name and Pietro's eyes widened. "Oh yeah I remember her! She was one of my dates at the Sadie Hawkins dance! Long blonde hair, great behind and her chest-and what me and the three other girls did later thet night-," Pietro's eye were glazing as he relfected on a very fond memory.
"Pietro," Xavier said, his coice taking a harder tone, "I'm afraid she's dead."
The speedster blinked and he was brought back to the present. "Dead? What do you mean dead?"
"When Luna was kidnapped, the orphanage contated her. The next day, her parents found her in the bathtub with her wrists cut open."
"She killed herself?" Pietro just stood there, his eyes blank.
"Oh how awful!" cried Lorna.
"Indeed. And there's more." Xavier looked squarely at Pietro, the concern evident on his face. "I may have found the reason that your father and the man you called Sinister were going to experiment on her. Luna's X-gene is inert."
"Huh? What're you talking about?"
"There are currently three classifications for the X-Gene. One is Active, which of course means that a mutant's powers are activated. The second is inactive, which means the gene hasn't activated, and as yet a mutant is by all appearances a normal human. And an inert or dormant X-gene never activates on it's own."
"What're you saying?" Pietro asked. "That Luna's a flatscan?"
"Not quite," said the professor. "It's more like with Ms. Munro's sister-Evan's mother. Very likely any children she may have will be mutants, especially if the father is a mutant or X-gene carrier himself. But, discounting the possibility of an outside force like what turned my half-brother Cain Marko into the Juggernaut, Luna will very likely live her life as a normal human girl."
The backyard of Xavier's estate consisted of a cliff a few feet from a forest overlooking the ocean, the white foamy waves beating perpetually against the rocks.
Lorna found Pietro standing near the tree grove, leaning against an elm. Luna was several feet away, toddeling on her legs.
"Hi Pietro."
"Oh. Hi Lorna." Pietro didn't look at Lorna but kept staring at his daughter wistfully. "I just needed to be alone with her."
"Mind if I stand here with you two?"
"Sure go ahead."
The two simply stood there a minute, watching Luna as she toddled after a butterfly. "It must neat to be her, without any worries or care in the world," Lorna said, breaking the silence. Pietro said nothing, just watching his daughter. "Does it-bother you? That she won't have any powers?"
"No. Yes. AAAGGGHHH! I can't answer that!" Pietro let out a long breath. "When I decided to take her from that place, I just thought I was saving her from being experimented on by that Sinister guy. But that must have been the reason our father was going to allow that Dr. Frankenstein wannabe to work on her. I've seen pictures of those Nasty Boys of his before he worked on them. They looked normal then, but now they're even uglier Mr McCoy or the blue furred German freak." Lorna frowned at her brother's words; she'd met Kurt and though he and Mr. McCoy were both nice people in spite of their looks. "When I first saw her, I was totally shocked though I guess I shouldn't have been, the way I carried on with the girls for the past three years. I kept checking up on her since I didn't have anything better to do; the old man didn't tell me what it was he was planning. Mystique-she's a blue-skinned shape-shifter who also happens to be Wagner's mother-she was kinda acting as Luna's nanney. She even tought me a lot about caring for a baby and changing diapers is nothing compared to living with my old housemates!
"Anyway, when I found out what they were planning to do, I'd just look at Luna, smilling at me-and I'd think about how I let Wanda down.
"Wanda-she's our sister, right?" Lorna asked.
"Yeah. My twin." Pietro shrugged. "When her powers first started acting up, she'd act up and get all out of control. The old man just couldn't be bothered to deal with it so he had her put in an insane asylum."
"He did?" The more Lorna was hearing about her father the more she was glad he didn't raise her. "But how did you let her down? You were just a kid yourself."
"Yeah, but I promised myself that I would free her once I had the chance. But after I was starting to get real fast, the old man just left. Oh he'd send money but it was barely enough to get by. I started stealing to help pay the bills-it's real easy, when you go as fast as I do-and I just forgot about Wanda. I didn't even see him again until he told me he needed me.
"Thing is, I was nothing but a tool to him-something to use when needed, and ignored when not."
"From some of the stories I've been told, you were a tool even when he wasn't using you. In fact, they say you were a real #$%%."
Instead of acting insulted Pietro just laughed. "Ha! I raise being a #$%% to an art form. Anyway Wanda got free thanks to Mystique, and when she nearly got close enough to him she walked into a trap and dear old Dad had a telepath named Mastermind rewrite her memories. And I went along with it too.
"And later when we were at S.H.I.E.L.D. they had this telepath called Moondragon-she got her powers from aliens or so she says; she's a real weirdo-examine Wanda. She kinda restored Wanda's memories, but she's not as angry as she used to be. She even told me when we were alone that she forgave me. And I was thinking of that as I held Luna. And when I learned about you, I thought maybe I could make up for what happened earlier." Pietro looked down at the ground. "And what did I save Luna for?"
"You did it because you love her," replied Lorna.
"Yeah I do. But you got to understand, all my life the old man told us our powers set us above normal humans-that they would fear and hate us, and try to destroy us, unless we set ourselves above them. And I looked down on them, and laughed at them. And now I learn my own child's one of them."
"Pietro," said Lorna, "would it really be so bad for her to grow up normal?"
"I suppose not. And I sure wouldn't want her to be turned into a some monstrosity like that Hairbag guy. It' just-" Pietro trailed off as he looked back at his daughter and saw her reaching for the butterfly she'd been chasing. And standing dangerously close to the edge of the cliff-
In less than a second, Pietro ran over, grabbed Luna, and ran back next to Lorna. "You really had me scared for a split second Luna."
The little girl just smiled. "Da da."
"Don't frighten your da da like that again," Pietro said but he was smiling too.
Luna turned her face at Lorna. "Ornma."
Lorna let out a small laugh. "I'm your aunty Lorna."
"Anmy. Ornma." Luna paused then said "Anmy Ornma."
The two teenaged mutants laughed, enjoying a small family moment, when a series of loud explosions burst from several feet away.
"Man," said Scott as he saw the plasma burst from his brothers hands over the seaside cliff and explode louder than any fourth of July fireworks. "I'm awfully glad you didn't release that in the airport."
"Yeah. That would really be bad PR, wouldn't it?" Alex sighed, then winced. "The longer I hold it in, the worse the pain gets-and I have to release it more and more lately."
"I'm glad we got you here when we did." Scott said sympathetically. "And I thought it was tough just looking through red sunglasses all the time."
"Whatthe$%^$&*$$$wasthat!" Pietro appeared right before them. "Shades, that noise scared my little girl and she's crying her lungs out!"
"Sorry," muttered Scott sarcastically. "My brother Alex just arrived, and he had to relase the energy that was storing up inside him, or HE might have exploded!" Scott wasn't sure if that would really happen or not, but he wasn't eager to find out.
Instead of making a quick retort, Pietro just looked at Alex. "Hey, I remember you! You're Shades' brother who was on that Asteroid with us!"
"Yeah that's me. Alex Masters." Alex stuck out his hand.
"Pietro Maximoff." The speedster took Alex's hand and shook it. Scott stood there glaring behind his sunglasses; he didn't want his brother socializing with the speedster.
Lorna came out from the tree grove carrying Luna. "I manage to calm her down," said Lorna. "But what was that explosion?"
"Ah, I'm afraid it was me," Alex smiled shyly. "I'm Alex Masters. Scott's my older brother." Boy she's cute.
"Oh." For some reason Lorna found herself blushing at this handsome blond guy with the Hawaiian accent. "Lorna Dane."
"She's my half sister," said Pietro. He took Luna from Lorna and set her down. The toddler stood next to her father, clinging to his leg. "And this is my daughter Luna."
"Your-daughter?" said Alex in disbelief. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen. Long story."
"And I'll bet it would make a great porno film." Scott scowled behind his sunglasses at Pietro. "Listen Maximoff, the Professor may be allowing you to stay here, but we've got our eyes on you. You're nothing but trouble."
"Oh, I'm so flattered," Pietro said dryly.
"Just remember, you pull any of those antics like you did before, you're out of here." He turn away and walked back towards the mansion. "C'mon Alex, I'll show you to your room."
"Catch you two latter," Alex waved to Lorna, and followed his brother. "Scott, did you have to act so cold to them?"
"You'd understand if you only knew the trouble that guy's caused," Scott muttered. "He's no good, and I'll bet that little girl turns out to be a real demon seed."
Less than a second passed before Scott suddenly found his face slammed into a nearby tree with his left arm twisted behind his back. "Listen up Shades," Pietro whispered into his ear. "I don't give a rat's $$ whatever you say about me. But if you say anything like that about my daughter again, and we'll find out how well you can breathe at 800 miles an hour!" He twisted Scott's arm and squeezed his neck alittle more, then let go and ran back to Lorna and Luna.
Scott rubbed the back of his neck andwringed his left wrist; never in his life had he imagined Pietro was that strong! "See what I mean?" he said to Alex.
"Actually bro, I kinda think you had that coming."
Lorna looked angrily at her half-brother. "You didn't have to threaten him like that."
"I only did after he insulted Luna," Pietro replied. Luna started crying again, and Pietro picked her up . "What is it little girl?" he said and felt her bottom. "She needs changing," Pietro said as he handed Luna back to Lorna, then was gone.
Three seconds later he was back seething. "I went to where I'm keeping her diapers," he said, "and I find them all frozen up in ice!"
Pietro ran off again, and returned five minutes later with a box of diapers and some baby powder. "I've figured out who did it," he said with a laugh as he started to change Luna, "and I've already gotten even with him."
"All right!" Sam Guthrie said as they looked at the signs on the movie theater. "Rampage IV-the Explodening. Explosions every fifteen minutes, and big busted scantily clad babes every ten! And 150% more blood than the last three put together!"
"Are you sure you can afford to pay for all of us?" Roberto DaCosta asked Bobby Drake. "I mean, I can spring if you can't."
"Relax," replied Bobby. "I've got plenty of money." His parents had sent him a large check for his birthday that weekend, and he'd cashed it earlier today.
He was also pleased with the joke he'd played on Pietro Maximoff. Although maybe simply icing up the speedster's daughter's diapers was a little unoriginal; he'd just thought of something trully spectacualer for a follow up.
Drake pulled out his wallet-and found only two dollars, a few quarters, what looked like a reciept, and short note. Pulling the note out he read: Hey Drake, I just left the reciept and the change here to show I wasn't shorting you. Now I've got enough diapers to last until Luna's potty trained.
His face turning red, Bobby crumbled the note and reciept. If that speed demon thought he could get away with this, he had another thing coming!
"Ah, Bobby?" Sam's voice brought Bobby back to the present.
"Oh ah guys," Bobby said as he looked at his wallet. "Turns out I'm a little short."
End of chapter three.
Although Scott's normally a boy scout and a nice guy, he's also human and has moments when he can be a jerk and wasn't thinking when he said that about Luna. And Pietro's strength: According to Marvel Internet Database statistics Quicksilver rates as a 4 in the strength department while Cyclops rates only 2. True it's mostly in Pietro's legs but on two occasions showed he was considerably stronger than Cyke, who once was only able to break out of Quicksilvers grip due to a lucky ricochet and the second time(the Infinity Crusade) got beaten up pretty badly.
Guido arrives at the Institute next chapter. Beast examines him and learns some disturbing secrets about the boy's power. The six gather together, and a new team begins.
