A Little Complication

Chapter 04: You Have No Idea

Marie sighed contentedly as she made her way through the garden with Bobby, her mutant boyfriends arm securely around her waist. She looked up at the ice mutant, smiling warmly at him. Bobby felt her gaze on him and glanced down, returning the smile. Both jumped slightly as two of the kids went running past them, almost knocking them over.

"Careful!" Bobby called after them, but there was a laugh in his voice. The boys stopped in their tracks.

"Sorry Mr Drake," they said in unison, both smiling sheepishly. Bobby just laughed again and waved a hand for them to continue. Marie laughed quietly, snuggling closer to her boyfriend as they carried on walking.

A loud churning noise suddenly caught the couple's attention. Looking up to the sky they both frowned as a large, dark helicopter appeared, hovering above them.

"Everyone out the way!" Storm appeared suddenly as the helicopter started to lower. Bobby turned towards her and frowned.

"What's going on?"

Storm just gave him an apologetic smile and continued to try and usher the gathering inquisitive children away from where the helicopter was trying to land. Bobby's frown deepened as he looked more closely at the helicopter. There seemed to be a lot of damage and the pilot seemed to be struggling to keep it on an even keel…

Finally the helicopter thumped to the ground, the engine cutting out almost as soon as it landed. There was a hushed silence as the gathered students stared at the helicopter expectantly. Instinctively Bobby stepped forward with Storm as she approached the helicopter, the pilot door opening. The ice mutant's eyes widened slightly as the mutant he recognized from the rally stepped out.

"A welcoming party?" the new mutant smirked, but he took a slight step back, holding up his hands as there was the distinctive sound of Logan's claws unsheathing. "Hey! We come in peace!"

"Logan…" Storm turned and stopped him in his tracks. "It's ok."

Logan raised an eyebrow dubiously as the smirk returned to the new mutant's face.

"You must be Wolverine," he remarked before glancing over the other x-men. "And you must be Storm, and I know you're Iceman," he arched an eyebrow at the ice mutant, his eyes darkening for a brief moment. "I'm Multiple Man and I'm sure you all remember…" the multiplying mutant frowned slightly as he turned and realised he stood alone. Rolling his eyes, a duplicate slipped away from him and rounded the helicopter.

"Jamie! Fuck off I don't…"

Bobby's heart and stomach did synchronised flips at the familiar voice. Despite the fire mutant's objections, Multiple Man reappeared carrying Pyro in his arms. Bobby's eyes widened in horror at the huge bloodstain on the pyrokinetic's trouser leg.

"Marie will show you to the medical lab," Storm said calmly. Logan, Bobby and Marie herself turned to look at her incredulously.

"She will?" Logan frowned.

"You can go too if it'll make you feel better."

Multiple Man regarded the group with a slight smirk as he rejoined with his duplicate, still holding a rather disgruntled looking Pyro.

"Jamie, put me down!" he hissed as the multiplying mutant started forward. "I can walk myself!"

Multiple Man frowned dubiously but never-the-less lowered the fire mutant to the ground, one hand lingering on his back but Pyro shrugged it off. He only made it a few steps before his injured leg gave out below him. Multiple Man dove forward to catch him but it was a cold arm that broke his fall. The fire mutant tried to object – tried to push the cold arms away – but waves of nausea and dizziness swept through him.

"Come on firebug," he heard Jamie's voice and felt another pair of arms around him as everything around him dulled. "You've lost a lot of blood. Let us help you."

Pyro breathed heavily, closing his eyes as he leant towards the multiplying mutant. Reluctantly he nodded, hooking one arm around Multiple Man's waist as he held onto his T-shirt with his other hand. Multiple Man gave Bobby a pointed look, causing the ice mutant to shrink back, reluctantly letting go. Storm looked at Multiple Man questioningly.

"Is the helicopter movable?" she asked, eyeing the unsafe looking flight machine. A duplicate pulled away from the original.

"I'll move it somehow," the duplicate said, splitting again into several more duplicates, each rounding the helicopter to try and fix what damage had caused the engine to earlier cut out. Storm nodded and turned to Bobby.

"Bobby, can you get the children back inside please?" she asked simply. The ice mutant frowned slightly, glancing over to where Marie and Logan had already started to lead Pyro and Multiple Man towards the mansion, but he turned back to Storm and nodded.

"Sure."

Storm gave the ice mutant a soft smile and made her way towards the mansion after the others. Bobby sighed softly, giving a slight shake of the head to dispel the frown and turned his attention to the inquisitive children around the helicopter…

x-x-x x-x-x x-x-x

Finally Multiple Man managed to manoeuvre the increasingly unsteady fire mutant onto the medical lab table. Pyro cursed violently as he collapsed onto the table, his breathing ragged as he fought the urge to vomit. Maybe his head was still giving him a little trouble too…

"I need a look at the wound," Marie said, starting to busy herself with gloves and bandages. Pyro looked at her blearily, only just compos mentis enough to realise what was going on.

"Hey – she's not…HEY!"

Logan shoved the fire mutant down on the table, ripping the bloody trouser leg downwards with his claws, exposing the wound but maintaining the pyrokinetic's dignity.

"Christ…" Multiple Man muttered. "John, you said it wasn't that bad!"

The fire mutant managed a smirk.

"Sometimes I lie…" he whispered hoarsely, squirming slightly as the cold air hit his wounded leg.

"This is deep," Marie commented. "It's going to need stitches."

Pyro tried to sit up and object, but found himself slumping back dizzily, desperately trying not to vomit.

"Whoa…woozy…" he muttered, closing his eyes.

"It's alright John, Marie's training as a nurse, let her look after you," Storm leant over the fire mutant and spoke softly. Pyro curled up his lip slightly but rolled his head away, not arguing. Storm pursed her lips and stood back up straight, walking over to join Logan as Marie set about her business, Multiple Man standing next to the fire mutant watching closely.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Logan whispered to the female next to him. Storm turned to look at him innocently.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Logan arched an eyebrow. "The Brotherhood just crash landed in our garden and you barely batted an eyelid. Pyro is getting medical treatment from Marie and you barely bat an eyelid. What's going on?"

Storm sighed quietly, placing a reassuring hand on Logan's arm.

"Just trust me. You'll all find out soon enough."

Logan just frowned as Storm gave him a smile and left the room. Shaking his head he returned his attention to Marie as she attended the fire mutant, and more importantly, to the fire mutant's hands – just to make sure they stayed lighter free…

x-x-x x-x-x x-x-x

Bobby sighed quietly as he watched the new mutant – or a copy of him from what Bobby could gather – lower the patched up helicopter under the basketball court out of harms way. Shaking his head slowly in a vain attempt to clear the thoughts racing through his mind the ice mutant turned back towards the mansion, intent on heading for the medical lab. He had to make sure…

Well he had to make sure his girlfriend was ok of course.

The ice mutant paused as he wandered past one of the rec. rooms, the TV within showing the news channel. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of the burning building on the screen, the subtitle underneath reading mutant attack on medical research institute. Bobby felt a knot tighten in his stomach as he looked at the flames ravishing the building. So that's what they had been doing. John had done that. John had…

The ice mutant clenched his jaw determinedly and quickly made his way down to the medical lab, knocking sharply before entering. Marie looked up at him and smiled from the side where she was clearing up. The fire mutant on the table rolled his head lazily to look at him briefly before returning his attention to the roof. Logan stood in the corner with a cigar and Multiple Man sat by the pyrokinetic's side, looking at the ice mutant inquisitively.

"A medical research base?" Bobby said bluntly. Again John's head rolled to look at him.

"Is that what they're saying it was?" he replied blandly. Bobby frowned heavily.

"Was is the operative word," he muttered. "How many innocent people were in there John?"

The fire mutant's eyes narrowed for a moment before he curled his lip up and rolled his head back towards Multiple Man.

"You have no fucking idea Drake."

Bobby's frown deepened. He opened his mouth to reply but Marie gently pulled on his arm.

"Come on Bobby," she said softly. "Let's just leave them."

The ice mutant clenched his jaw but nodded. He turned to follow Marie and Logan but all three stopped as Storm appeared in the doorway.

"Right…" she looked over everyone in the room in turn. "Mystique's here. I want everyone in my office – now. We all need to talk."