A'right! A new chapter! Sorry for the wait, but since I'm enjoying (sarcasm here) my last days of school everything has been a bit hectic, to say the least. I wanna thank all the reviews! You guys are soo cool! Haha, I sound like such a kid, well whatever.

Pietro: Yeah you do!

Oh shut up you are not even in the story yet.

Anyways, here's the new chapter, hope you guys like it :D


Ch. 4 – Communication Breakdown

Piotr Rasputin, better known as Colossus, was one of the most patient human beings inhabiting this planet, but even his patience had its limits. It just happened to be that such limit was tested upon quite the unusual circumstances. He had been assigned one simple task: pick up some furniture at the store. It was probably that his supernatural strength had been the reason why he was assigned such task, and he was not complaining. Yet no one had taken into account that the clerk and owner of the place was an old little Chinese lady with a limited knowledge of English, not a good mix with a Russian whose English was not much better.

This very nice old lady was finishing showing Piotr the last of her family's generation. Unsure of how he had ended up in this situation, he was containing himself from exploding. He had spent at least the past two hours hearing the clerk talk about her entire family history and stop at least five attempt to be married off with one of her nieces. In a desperate call for salvation, he had phoned Gambit asking for his assistance, now he waited anxiously for his arrival. He had suppressed his urge to just call Pyro and burn the whole place down, but the lady was so nice, he just didn't have the heart. Besides he had pretty much scared everyone in the store after he had briefly lost it. A reminder of his outburst was imprinted on the wall, where he had changed into his metal force and punched the said place. Everyone had ran away terrified, anti-mutant sentiment was still present, and in fear they had escaped for their lives. Oh how he envy them! The lady had only wished them luck and had yelled out, "Bye-bye! Come back soon!" in the most chipper tone. Piotr suspected that the lady had not seen anything since she didn't have her glasses at that time.

The worst part of his torture was that he didn't understand her, and he doubt she understood him. The lady had finished talking about her great-grand kids, he believed, and had gone to get some tea. Again that's what Piotr assumed she said.

"What's da problem homme?" asked Gambit relieving Piotr from his misery.

"COMRADE YOU ARE HERE!" Colossus gave Gambit a bear hug.

"Can't breathe. Air!" muttered Gambit.

"Sovvy," apologized the Russian. "I can't understand her!" cried out the big man.

"Dere, dere, Remy's 'ere t'make it all good," said Remy comforting his friend.

Gambit approached the clerk's desk and rung the bell for assistance. Just as he did, an old lady came in with a platter full of cookies and two cups of tea. The lady was no taller than 5 feet, tops, and her gray hair was tied in a bun. She had the sweetest looking face around and her big glasses magnified her teeny little eyes. Gambit took empathy for the old woman.

"Where big man?" she asked looking for Piotr.

Gambit turned around to look for his friend just to see he was nowhere to be found, Da homme must be pretty tense, he thought. "Bathroom," he answered.

After a couple seconds Gambit asked, "Where can I pick up mon order?" He had make note to pronounce every word correctly, except a bit of his French had slipped in.

"Ooh! Velcome! Me, Margaret, owner, help you need?" said the lady with a huge smile in her face. Remy looked at the lady, she talked like Yoda from Star Wars, apparently. Mental Note: Make Petey watch Star Wars. He smiled kindly at the old woman.

"Oui, yes," he corrected himself, "Remy has an order to pick up."

The lady looked at him puzzled, with a smile she asked, "Who's Remy?"

"Je suis Remy," he replied without thinking. After seeing the old lady scribble the name, Remy quickly retracted, "I am Remy," he said pointing at himself.

"Velcome, me Margaret, owner, cookie?" said the old lady again, this time offering him food. Remy shook his head, "Non, t'ank ye."

"I'm here to pick up Erik Lensherr's or Magnus' order," he stated.

The old lady gave him a quizzical look, before Remy repeated himself, she said, " 'pick me goo 'ere." She pointed at her ear after finishing.

Remy gave a disgusted look, "Non, I want my order," he said in the most polite manner he could.

The lady repeated her request. At this time Piotr was standing next to Remy and was also disgusted at the old lady's petition. They both looked at each other in confusion.

--

Regina rejoiced in her good luck, she just could feel life smiling upon her for once. She approached the mutant carefully—she didn't want to startle him.

"Excuse me," she said softly. The young man didn't turn around or showed signs of noticing her. He must be really concentrated, thought Regina.

"Um, sir?" Regina tried once again raising her voice a little. Yet the boy did not acknowledge her. Regina faked a cough to catch his attention but it didn't work. She tried once again.

"Look mate, I don't wanna be gettin' sick now, so go away," said the pyromaniac never drifting his gaze away from his flame.

Regina clenched her hands into fists at the young man's insolence. How dare he? She sighed; she was not going to screw this up. Regina gently tapped the man in the shoulder, "Sorry but I just need…" She was cut off short by the young man who grabbed her hand and turn around looking at her challengingly.

"Look sheila, I'm not interested, yer pretty but I'm busy." He said releasing her hand and motioning her to go away. Before Regina could reply he turned around and returned to playing with fire.

That was it for Regina. It was bad enough that he had thought so highly of himself as to assume she was interested in him, but he also had the guts to send her away and ignore her. Without thinking twice of her situation Regina grabbed the pyromaniac by the back of his collar and shoved him to the ground. The young man was in utter shock at what had happened just to see the girl on top of him with anger in her eyes.

Regina squatted down to eyelevel with the boy and with a menacing demanded, "Look punk, I just need an answer to a quick question."

"Ye are wreckin' me favorite Guns shirt Sheila," warned John.

"Ye are in no position to demand anythin'" replied the girl, who was losing her patience by the second.

John looked at her, and a smirk formed across his face, "If ye like it rough, ye just had to say so," he said winking at her.

Regina was furious, her face had turned red between a mix of anger and embarrassment. John took this chance to grab his lighter that had fallen of his pocket. John grinned at the girl, who gave him a puzzled look. "There's a reason why I'm called Pyro love," with that a big fire creature formed behind Regina. Without losing grip of Pyro's shirt, Regina turned around to see a enormous fire bird behind her.

"Burn, baby, burn!" yelled Pyro maniacally, before he could add his signature laugh, Regina shoved him deeper into the ground. Regina had turned the solid cement in something more like quicksand or mud and John was sinking into it. At his realization that he was going deeper, Pyro lost his concentration and the fire creature quickly disappeared. Every part of his body was underground except for his knees, chest and everything above it.

"Disco Inferno," muttered Regina, "Where can I find Magneto?" she asked before John could say anything.

"Why do ye want to know? Ye are not another crazy daughter seekin' revenge are ye?"(1) replied Pyro.

"What? No! Look I just need to know where he is!" demanded Regina growling at him. That boy was impossible.

--

A couple blocks away, an odd trio was walking. Rogue and Kitty were complaining and questioning Kurt about their mission.

"This is pointless," said Rogue pissed.

"Like yeah! I was busy y'know? I was learnin' how to make cookies the right way Kurt." Said Kitty also mad at her teammate.

"Look, ve got a mission, ve do it, ve go back to zat place and everyone is happy!" said Kurt throwing his arms in the air in desperation.

"Ah just don't get why we are here, Ah mean Scott and Jean could've taken care of this!" Rogue pointed out, "It's a furniture store! And there's no fire! What's the big situation?"

"I don't know Rogue, I just know zere's a disruption and ve got to fix it."

"Like we are not the police," said the valley girl still mad at the fact that her cooking classes were interrupted.

The three entered the store. It was completely empty except for two men talking to the clerk. Rogue quickly recognized one of them. It was her former kidnapper, Gambit. She smiled without realizing.

"Acolytes," said Kurt.

Rogue came back to reality and her smile was replaced by a frown. "What are they doin' here?"

"I don't know, but the look like they are having trouble," pointed Kitty out.

The three mutants approached their enemies, who had failed to notice them because they were too caught up having a misunderstanding with the clerk.

"NON! Fer da last time, ma'am, I don't want to pick y'r ear!" cried out Gambit.

The lady only blinked at him and pulled out her family album, "Meet family!" she said cheerfully.

"Oh not that again!" lamented Piotr.

"What's the problem here?" asked Rogue. Gambit recognized her voice and couldn't help but smile.

"Chere! Y'have no idea how tres magnifique is t'see y'again!" exclaimed Gambit with a smirk in his face.

"Ah don't think that answers mah question, swamp rat," said Rogue crossing her arms and looking at him challengenly.

"Where's all dis nastiness comin' from, cher? Tu es très belle pour la colère."

"Look mann," warned Kurt to Gambit, " ve are ze X-Men and ve don't got time to vaste."

"Feisty petite blue fella, 'ere," Gambit replied arrogantly.

Meanwhile Kitty had said quietly hi to Piotr and had asked him what the whole deal was. He had briefly explained her the situation and she had giggle at the thought.

"Like just leave it to me, I'm a people person," with that Kitty approached the old lady and started talking to her.

"Kitty vhat are you doin?" asked Kurt when he noticed his teammate completely out of the fight and making small talk with the clerk.

"It looks like da petite knows how t' listen," pointed Remy out.

"Sadly this is a rarity," commented Rogue.

"Hey! I heard that! And by the way, she was saying, speak in my good ear, cause she cannot hear very well," said Kitty proud of her accomplishment.

"You vant to tell me zat zis whole zing vas a misunderstanding?" asked Kurt in amazement.

"Oui," affirmed Remy, "See, mon ami et moi, came t' pick up an order but couldn't communicate wit' da ma'am 'ere very well."

"What's all the furniture fo'?" asked Rogue when he saw Piotr moving the order to the truck outside.

Meanwhile Kitty kept on talking to the nice clerk and asked her for her recipes.

"Curiosity killed the chat, mon amour," said Gambit moving closer to Rogue.

"What? Havin' a nice mahke over, swamp rat?" mocked Rogue.

"What's wit' da pet names? Remy thought 't happen'd after da first date," (2) flirted the Cajun.

"Hmph!" was Rogue's reply.

"Je suis desolé, Remy forgot we've a'ready had our premier date," said Gambit putting his arm around her shoulder.

"An' when did that happened exactly? In yahr dreams?" shot back Rogue removing his arm.

"Remy's hurt, could it be his chere doesn't remember da nice time dey had in New Orleans?" Rogue looked at him infuriated.

"IF YAH CAN CALL KIDNAPPIN' A DATE!" yelled out Rogue.

"Oui, den it's a date! Bien, well den we can make 't official!" Gambit loved how Rogue looked when she got mad.

Rogue mentally slapped herself for her own stupidity, she had just walked straight into that one.

"Look swamp rat, Ah dunno if yahr good in the head, but Ah would nevah, and Ah'll reapeat it so it gets through yahr thack skull, nevah in mah life would go out with a man lahke ya!" Rogue shot a death glare at him for more effect.

"Too late ma petite amie, y' already went on one." Gambit smirked at her, "Well Rogue, I'm sorry but votre amour has t' go," with that Gambit exit the store and blew a kiss to Rogue, who only growled at him.

"Kurt! Let's go! Ah gotta pick up mah car," Rogue said turning around just to see her stepbrother busy eating the cookies and Kitty still conversing with the clerk. "GUYS!"

"Oh my gosh Rogue, don't be so impatient," Kitty turned around to the lady, "Adios Mrs. Xing!"

Kurt also waved bye, and Rogue finally joined in.

"Who would've know that Mrs. Xing was actually Spanish!" said Kitty before everyone bamfed out.

--

John blinked at the girl's responsed, Could it be? he thought, she had too, who else would be looking for ol' Mags?

"I be damned, ye must be the Sheila Mags sent us to pick up," said John looking at her. Why she ain't that bad, a bit temperamental, but quite the looker. He looked at her from head to toe, and couldn't contain his smile.

Regina didn't notice Pyro's scanning of her. She was deep in her thoughts, "Ye work for Magneto?" she asked bringing John back from his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, what ye think I like to run errands for the bucket head?" said John with arrogance. "Look Sheila, as much as I'm enjoying being pinned down by ye, me fingers have fallen asleep."

Regina pulled John out by the collar. She didn't want to waste more time fighting with that insolent fool. She just wanted to go to Magneto's base and rest. The quicker she could get there the better for her.

"What ye say we take this to the base?" said Pyro getting closer to her.

Regina shot a death glare to boy who quickly stopped in his tracks. "Or not." He added.

"Just take me to Magneto" Regina requested.

"What he got I don't?" asked John dramatically.

"Ew, no! He is my godfather!" Regina said before John could go on.

John laughed at Regina's response, "What ye thinkin' Sheila? Ye got a dirty mind!" John's laughter kept on, louder and louder.

"Stop ye bloody hyena," said Regina angered.

"Oh the Sheila got a temper," said John pouting.

"Who wouldn't after walkin' aimlessly because of the mediocrity of some?" shot back the girl glaring at Pyro.

"Ye should know better that wonder off," said John crossing his arms, "here I thought ye were mighty powerful. I'm not sure why Mags would want a melting-pavement mutant."

"I can do more than that," said Regina bitterly. "Besides he said ye guys were quite capable. Some bunch ye are, ye cannot carry out a simple task such as pickin' up a gal from the train station."

"Resolved: Mags is a liar." Said John in an announcer voice.

"That's not what I said," Regina corrected. She was not going to take Pyro's insolence anymore, especially not about her godfather.

"Ye make a hosts job quite hard," said John sitting on his bike.

"Host?" asked Regina.

"Yup, I'm yer host, Mags assigned said task, Gambit was supposed to pick ye up, and Colossus yer furniture," explained John, "seems like I'm the only one that has succeeded…HA!"

Regina just looked at him blankly, who on earth would assign this lunatic the job of a host—her host, to be more exact? Regina shook her head in dismissal; she didn't want to know. "Where's Gambit?"

"What's with ye an' askin' fer other men?" said John faking being hurt.

"What's with ye avoidin' simple questions?" replied Regina, putting her hand on her hips.

"Why do ye ask so many questions?" asked John.

"Would ye stop? Is there another thing ye are good at except pissing off other people?!" exclaimed Regina finally losing it.

"Fire," was John's simple reply.

"I give up, can ye just take me home?" asked Regina in defeat.

"Only if ye tell me yer name and smile fer me," said John with a grin.

Regina raised an eyebrow questioning his seriousness. After seeing that John was waiting she just resigned herself to please him in such request. "Regina, but me parents call me Rhye fer short," she was sure why she had shared that with him, she hadn't with any other human being outside her family household. "Can we go now?"

"I'm waitin' fer me smile," pointed John out, "Rhye."

Regina smiled containing her laughter at the way John had called her.

"That's good enough! Hop on!" Said John. Regina mounted the bike and wrapped her arm around his waist.

"The name is St. John, but ye can call me John just like everyone else," he said with a smile. Regina smiled at him but quickly faded as John added, "Don't have yer hands wandering off down under, that's fer home." Regina contained her urge to smack him in the head.

"Just go!" with that John started the bike and departed.


(1) That's in reference to Wanda, but I'm pretty sure most of you know that
(2) I have no idea how many times I have seen that line being used, but since it is quite popular I saw no harm in using it one more time...Someone should copyright that phrase

A/N: Ok I hope you guys liked it, I'll try to post the next chapter by next week. I realized there's no cliffhanger here, but I guess we will all survive that. Another thing I kind of realized too, there wasn't a lot of Kiotr, I guess it will develop further into the story, although I'm not sure how, any suggestions are welcome, really.
Well don't forget to review!