/-Three Mile Island, Military Base, 1986-/

"How come I'm never invited to any of these fancy shindigs?"

Amy didn't say anything as she slipped an earring in. Once in was secure, she asked him to zip her up. Sighing, Wade crossed the room and slid the small metal latch up her back. "You never answered me." He murmured.

"Probably 'cause you never shut up." The pair turned to face James in the door way, clad in rather nice dress clothes.

Wade's jaw dropped, "the newbie gets to go?"

"Of course," Chris smirked as he walked into Amy's room, "Stryker's got to show off his new pets."

James glowered at him, but didn't say anything about it. He could already sense the woman's annoyance with their presence.

"They're both going?" The man snapped, turning to his lover as she clipped a necklace on. Amy cast him a soft glance, and put her hands on his shoulders. They sunk at the touch and his eyes locked on her face.

The other men shared a look. They saw it often, but it was still strange to see Wade shut up for the girl.

"I'll be home in a few hours." She tilted her chin up with a finger. Kissing him gently she smirked. "Wait up for me?"

Wade nodded, almost submissively before a grin sprung onto his face. "Always, Ames."

-/Somewhere over Alberta, Canada, 2004/-

"So," John was leaning over in his seat, the plane's steady motion bothering his stomach slightly. He glanced at the older man and female mutant to his right, "they say you're the bad guy."

Magneto smirked, "is that what they say?"

"That's a dorky lookin' helmet-"

Mystique cut him off, muttering a quiet, "like father like son."

Pyro froze, the flame in front of him promptly distinguishing as his line of thought was forgotten. He sat up slowly, giving her his rapt attention. "What'd you say?"

Neither answered right away, instead choosing to share a coy look. The teenager didn't respond well to that, "You knew my parents?" He demanded.

"You could say that," Mystique's lips turned into a knowing half smile, "why? You don't remember me?"

John remained silent as Magneto joined in on the conversation, "that's right," he grinned knowingly, "you raised young master Allerdyce for what was it, dear, a month?"

"Three weeks," She corrected, seeming both cocky and bitter. "Longest three weeks of my life." Her yellow eyes rolled as she explained, "you were colicky. No one likes a colicky baby."

"So, you did know my parents?" Pyro repeated a tad disgruntled that the Professor hadn't told him that. "Why'd you have me? What happened to them?"

"I-" Mystique's eyes dropped in an uncharacteristically moment of uncertain doubt, "I owed your mother a favor." Her gaze shifted to Kurt Wagner, or as he was known in the Munich circus, Nightcrawler, but only for a nanosecond before looking back at the boy. "So she had a friend hunt me down and make me play babysitter for the first few weeks of your life."

"A very touching story indeed." Magneto drawled. "As for what happened to them, I would hardly classify a plane full of people to be an appropriate place to tell you neither of your parents' discretions nor of your unfortunate origins."

John stared at them. This was more information then the professor had given him in attending his school almost five years, in five minutes. He was annoyed, and oddly betrayed. "How can I trust the bad guy?"

"How can you trust anyone?" Erik challenged, "Even those claiming to protect you," his eyes snaked over to Logan at the front of the plane, "seemed to have lied to you. Kept you out of your own business, haven't they, John?"

The boy lowered his head to his lighter and flipped it open and closed, listening as the man continued to speak. "Seemed to pick up on Amelia's pyrokinetic abilities?"

"I can only manipulate the fire." He snapped it shut, "I can't create it."

"You're a god among insects," Magneto told him, completely confident in his words. "Don't let anyone tell you different."

Pyro didn't say anything, but thumbed over his lighter briefly, before tucking it back into his pocket.

/-Somewhere over Europe 1982-/

They were just suppose to escort her back to the base. A simply easy task that would usher Amy into the working ways of Team X. But it wasn't.

The blue mutant wouldn't stop talking, and she knew all the right things to say to put the new comer at ill ease. "How can you do this to one of your own?"

Amy didn't glance at her, but lowered her head in shame as she went on.

"How could you? You know what they'll do to me in there? What they do to us?" The woman leaned closer, her chains keeping her pinned back to the wall. There were only three of them in the plane, the others still continuing their mission, with the exception of Chris who was flying the plane. "You know why they want me?"

Amy stood up with a hand on her hip. On her taser.

But Mystique went on, her tone dropping dangerously. "Because I'm pregnant."

The young woman's eyes snapped to her yellow ones as she visibly paled. "You know what kind of experiments they do on-"

"Shut up!" Amelia snapped, "I've had enough of this crap! Chris!" The man looked up, "take her down!"

"What?" He blinked in surprise as her hands lit up (as did Mystique's hopes) into two large blue flames. "Why-"

"I didn't sign up for this shit, now take her down!" Amy raised a menacing hand to the control panel, "or I will."

Sighing, the small man (though still taller than the woman threatening him) did as he was told.

Amy tasered him when they were about ten feet from the ground, making for a rather rough landing that threw her across the plane, and gave the prisoner a rather good shake.

"What'd you do that for?"

The free woman ignored her, moving quickly around the plane for supplies. She came up with about sixty dollars and an emergency supply kit. She paused outside Mystique's cage. "If I let you go, can you promise to keep out of sight for a while?"

A nod.

"And if I let you go, can you promise not to kill me or Bradley?"

Another nod. Brown eyes stared up in to yellow a long moment. Finally, the mutant, or at least, the mutant with the more visible mutation, sighed. "Fine, I promise."

"Can I trust your word?"

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see." Mystique teased, smirking as her hands were unbound.

Amy pulled away and they stared at each other. "Are you really pregnant?"

"Does it matter?"

"I guess not," The petite woman shrugged, handing her the taser, "hit me in the back of the neck with this and I'll go out like a light."

Mystique did it quickly, but stood over the girl –who looked to be barely eighteen, if she was a day- for a few minutes. Unsure what to do, she silently put a hand on her limp shoulder.

"Thanks, kid." With those final words, Mystique left the plane.

It was the last mission Amelia Allerdyce was ever welcomed on.

A/N: I'd really like to hear some feedback on this chapter, because it's a huuuuge development, at least in my own puny little mind.