Good Times and Bad (five years prior to X:Men)

Lily noticed the sadness that plagued Matthew for months after Thomas had left. She felt awful that she had caused the previously inseparable brothers to go their own ways. It was apparently noticed by Matthew that she was bearing this guilt because he often told her that it wasn't her fault. Then she realized that if she truly wanted to help Matthew move on from the separation of his brother she ought to be as happy of a wife as possible.

And she was truly happy.

They moved to an area outside of Baltimore. There they had found a struggling greenhouse and tree nursery that would hire them. The pay wasn't real good, but it was enough for the two of them. They lived in a basic studio apartment which was fine now that they didn't need an extra bedroom.

The summer flew by. The owner, an older woman with some medical issues, began to trust Matthew and Lily with more responsibility at the nursery. When winter came the she released all her employees but Matthew and Lily. They got a slight pay hike and had employment all winter long.

Then in the following spring Lily had a dream come true. The owner told her that she could no longer work due to her medical issues, but that she felt that she could trust Lily to run the nursery and greenhouse. Soon Lily found herself managing the whole place, with Matthew organizing the workers. She didn't think she could have been happier.

That was until one day she didn't feel so great. That morning she gave Matthew a list of tasks to get done at the nursery while she would stay at home. Matthew didn't want to leave her, but she insisted that she was fine. So he took off for work.

Lily felt fine enough to work around the one room apartment until she felt sick to the stomach. She spent much of the morning sick in the bathroom. She rummaged through their medicine cabinet looking for anything that would help her. Why don't we keep cold and flu medicine in here? Then she laughed. Most medicines are plant based. I could probably make my own remedy. As she consider the new possibility, she tried to think of what could have been the cause of this illness. I could make some sort of organic antibacterial. Or maybe it's not a disease. Maybe it was something I ate. What did I have last night? No that couldn't be it.

Then a new thought exploded in her mind. When was the last time I… Suddenly her mind worked quickly. If it's not a disease and it's not food poisoning, perhaps…could it be so?

Lily spent the rest of the morning anxiously waiting to feel just a little better. In the afternoon she walked to a nearby pharmacy, made a purchase, and returned home. She followed the instructions on the package and awaited the results.

Matthew was worried about Lily all day. He knew that he was over reacting, but it was just uncomfortable knowing that his wife was home sick, and he was not there to be with her. Matthew, you had a bad father, but that doesn't mean you don't need to hover over your wife's every need. Just relax, work, and go home at the end of the day.

Finally 6:00 came and Matthew closed the store. He asked a coworker for a ride, rather than waste time waiting for a bus, and he got home at around 6:25.

As Matthew entered the apartment, he was surprised to see Lily up and about. See, there was nothing to worry about. But Lily wasn't simply fine, she was excited.

"Matthew, I have been waiting for you."

"You know I had to close today," answered Matthew. "How are you feeling?"

"Great."

"The nausea is less."

"A bit."

"Do you think you have the flu?"

"No, I don't have the flu."

"What do you think is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong?"

"I'm confused."

"Matthew," said Lily deliberately as she held up some strange medical looking thing. "It's positive."

"What's positive?"

"This test." Lily paused, but Matthew didn't get it.

"Matthew, I'm pregnant."

Matthew stood there wide eyed and stunned silent. Lily excitedly added. "Isn't this great! We need to celebrate."

"Yeah," answered Matthew, but his heart was pounding, and his mind was working a mile a minute. Questions came flying into his mind. How are we going to support a child? We barely have ID's much less health insurance. How can I make sure that Lily stays healthy? The apartment is too small for a child. Where are we going to live? What if we have to run again? Can we run with a baby?

Lily must have picked up on his hesitation. "Aren't you happy?"

Matthew gathered himself. "Of course I'm happy. We need to celebrate." He then embraced Lily is a hug. He felt her excitement as she held him tight.

But there was one question in Matthew's mind. Am I capable of being a good father?

Now that she knew about her pregnancy, Lily was positive that she could sense the new life growing in her womb. She was of course still very early in the pregnancy, but she nonetheless was convinced that she was already connected with the little boy or girl. Boy I think. I can't wait to find out.

Matthew too seemed excited. He had celebrated with Lily the evening they had found out. After that he was supportive of her when she wasn't feeling well. He bought a crib that was falling apart and then fixed it with his metal. He would give her a hug and a kiss whenever he could.

But then there were other moments; moments in which Matthew didn't know that Lily was nearby. One time she heard him talking to himself while he was pacing up and down the far end of the tree nursery. He was talking about money, expenses, and other obstacles. Lily felt her heart drop. Does he not want this child?

But the next day he was just excited again. Lily pretended that she didn't notice those other moments, but more and more she got the feeling that Matthew was wishing that she had never gotten pregnant.

The next month and a half continued, and the joy that Lily had expected in her pregnancy was overshadowed by some unspoken gloom. Why can't he just be happy about this?

Then one day something felt very wrong.

Matthew was worried. There was no other way to say it. No matter how he worked the numbers, he couldn't come up with a way to feel secure about having enough money to raise a kid. But it wasn't just the money. Their fake ID's would hold up to some scrutiny, but not enough for them to get health care. And how would he ever get the kid into a school? And what if they were discovered. They would have to move to a new city. And if the authorities found out that he had a kid, it would make them easier to track. What kind of life is that for a kid?

Then Matthew heard Lily's voice from her office. They were at the greenhouse. He listened carefully and heard his name. He went to her office and walked in. "Lily, did you need me?"

"Matthew, something is wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"It hurts."

All other thoughts left his mind, and protective instincts kicked in. His wife was in pain, and he needed to do something about it. "It hurts? What can I do?"

"I don't know, but I'm scared. What if something is wrong with the baby?" Then Lily turned pale. "Matthew! I'm bleeding."

Health insurance or not, Matthew knew what he needed to do. "We are getting you to a hospital right now."

He immediately picked Lily up and brought her downstairs to the sale room. One of the other employees noticed. "Is something wrong?"

"I need to get her to the hospital."

"I have a car."

"Good, let's go."

The employee drove them to the hospital, and Matthew brought Lily to the emergency room. The doctors immediately began to work, but they pushed Matthew out. He saw in waiting room of the emergency room for what seemed like hours. All the while Matthew was worried sick. His wife was not well, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Finally the doctors came out to speak to him. Matthew approached them. "Is she okay? Is my wife okay?"

The doctor raised his hand to calm Matthew. "You wife is fine, and we have the situation under control." Then the doctor bowed his head a bit, and Matthew knew what was coming.

Lily sat in her hospital bed, wearing only the hospital gown. She felt a sadness come over her. No one had told her anything, but she knew.

Matthew entered the room. He seemed somber, but he smiled genuinely as he pulled up a chair and kissed her on the forehead. "The doctor says that you will be just fine."

"That's not all the doctor said, was it?"

"No that wasn't." Matthew bowed his head and then spoke. "We lose the child."

Lily already knew it, but hearing it out loud broke her heart. She began to cry. Matthew slide closer and put his arm around her. "Doctor said that the child was gone before we even got here. There was nothing we could have done."

Lily leaned into Matthew's arms, and closed her eyes.

"Maybe it is for the better."

Lily didn't move from her position, but she felt like her heart stopped. What did he just say?!

"I don't think we can support a child in our current state. Maybe when we are more secure, we can try again."

And Lily cried all over again.

The Harvest of Alloy (four years prior to X:Men)

Living alone was both a terrible adjustment and an exciting new adventure for Alloy. The first month was filled with much excitement and much loneliness. But soon he found himself in Los Angeles. The California sun lifted his spirits.

He bounced around odd jobs before landing a fulltime job with a construction crew. What he lacked in skill and knowledge he made up for by working hard. Over a number of months his foreman began to rely on him, and he got an increase in pay. His apartment was crummy, but it was enough for him.

"Hey M, it's A. Just wanted to let you know that things are going well. No troubles with old friends. I think I am setting in. Hope things are good for you too." Alloy hung up the pay phone. I really do hope things are well for Matthew and Lily. He and Metalloy had set up a voicemail box for one way communications. It was a bare minimal way of keeping in touch, but shouldn't draw the attention of the police, the 'old friends' he referred to.

He looked at his watch. Uh oh, I am going to be late. He had a date with his girlfriend. Alloy had been trying dating ever since he had moved to California. He found it to be a somewhat enjoyable experience. He had dated a number of girls throughout the fall and the winter, but he had actually been dating the same girl since early January.

His girlfriend was a college student. She had her last exam of the spring semester today, and she wanted to celebrate. He had just finished work and was going back to his apartment to shower and change. Then he was going to meet her for a night of partying. And she parties hard. While he was somewhat looking forward to it, the reality was that Thomas was tired after the long day's work. Why didn't Metalloy tell me this dating thing was so demanding? Thomas noted that his brother never minded spending time with Lily. I guess he got lucky and found the perfect girl for him the first time. I will probably have to search a while.

Just then Thomas noticed something strange. It was a man standing across the street from his apartment. He was reading a newspaper, but just a second ago Thomas thought he had spotted the man out of the corner of his eye spying on him. A cop? Then Thomas saw a fully uniformed pair of cops talking to a shop owner in front of him. He passed by them, but they took absolutely no note of him. Either they are really good, or they have nothing to do with the man across the street. Alloy decided to go up into his apartment and see what that guy would do.

And that was Alloy's mistake. He got into his apartment and got ready to jump into the shower. He had only managed to get his shirt off when they came into the room. A team of men in tactical armor broke down the door. They fired electric stun weapons at him, but Alloy dodged them. He threw knives at the assailants, but didn't look to see if they hit. A taser hit him in the chest, but bounced off his metal. Even so he felt the electric current hit him for the brief moment when the prongs had touched his metal armor.

It wasn't until he punched a man in the face that he realized they were wearing gas masks. Oh crap! A cylinder landed at his feet and started spewing green gas. His warning sense told him that the gas would knock him unconsciousness. He made a push for the door, but ran into a big man blocking his path. He slashed at the man's chest with a knife, only to feel some resistance under the man's vest. Kevlar vest! Before Alloy could make the appropriate adjustment, the man swung his baton at his head. Alloy easily dodged the attack, but was prevented from counterattacking when the man kicked him over.

All the while Alloy was breathing in the gas from the grenade. He knew from his warning sense that he only had a few more seconds before he passed out. The big man who was preventing him from leaving tried to pin him down. Alloy reshaped his knife to be thinner and sharper, and then plunged it through the man's armored vest. By the sound the man made Alloy knew he was successful.

Got to get to the window. He stood up, but he was already off balanced. He stumbled towards the window, but he couldn't see straight. A green mist from the grenade and a black cloud from his lack of oxygen gathered in his sight. More tasers deflected off his metal, but he trudged forward.

Just as he neared the window all went black.

Thomas had no concept of time in what he later calculated to be about three weeks of captivity. He was in varying levels of sedation the whole time, but never brought to full consciousness.

But his secondary mutant ability kept him alerted to all the dangers to himself, and there was no shortage of dangers. He saw needles, large and small; drugs were pumped into him; and fluids were extracted at alarming rates. He saw all of this through his warning sense, but he was unable to do a thing about it. The whole experience was like a horrible nightmare, filled with pain, but he was unable to escape by waking up. His mind lost rationality in this drugged unconscious state, and he slipped into insanity.

He could later recalled some of the conversations that were held next to him. He recalled a man saying, "Why don't we just kill him? He killed Frankie and Sam when we took him." Another voice answered, "The boss wants him alive for now. We are to get as much out of him as possible."

At one moment when Thomas were nearer to wakefulness then other times, the people seemed to be extracting something from him. The experience was extremely painful. He wanted to scream, but his lungs just wouldn't do it.

Thomas lost his, but he could hear those around him. "He's going in to shock, stop the operation."

"We are not supposed to do that."

"He's going to die if we continue. Stop now."

"Stopping."

"His heart has stopped. He's crashing. Bring me the paddles."

Thomas' forewarning system alerted him to the electric shock, but he felt nothing. This happened two more times. "Give him the adrenaline." Thomas saw the needle, but still felt nothing.

He saw the next shock coming, and suddenly, out of pure instinct he reached out and grabbed the paddles and threw them aside. Someone came from his left to hold him down forcefully, but Thomas threw himself at the perceived attacker. IV's and medical equipment ripped off his body. Thomas landed on the floor.

Thomas' consciousness had returned, but his mind hadn't. He had little recollection of what he did. All he remembered was pain and anger. He savagely attacked anyone he perceived as a threat with his bare hands. He ran nearly naked, having no idea where he was or where he was going.

His mind and thus his memory started to come back when he encountered a guard of sorts. He was running at high speed despite his drugged stumbling. He caught the guard by surprise. The guard drew a pistol, but Thomas swatted the gun arm aside. He then willed his hand to be coated with metal and beat the man in the face over and over and over again. All his rage and anger was released on the poor man.

It was only when he took a pause for breath that Thomas noted the pain in his hand. His knuckles were skinned and bleeding from beating against the man's skull. Why is there no metal? It was then that Thomas realized what had happen to him.

Once years ago Thomas had tried to test the limits of his ability. He produced as much metal as he could. At a certain point he felt sick such as one who was malnourished. At that time he merely reabsorbed the metal. But now he felt the same sickness. They were taking my metal! Thomas knew his body would regenerate whatever it was in him that made the metal, but he have never been emptied before. There was no telling how long it would take to regain his mutant ability again.

I guess I will have to do without it. At least I still have my other ability. Then for the first time since before his capture and torture Thomas stopped to think and plan. He was still drugged, and thus he did not have the mental capacity for any elaborate plan. But he was able to keep it simple.

I am not safe. I need to run. Then I need to hide. So he ran. Where am I? He looked around and saw massive shipping crates. Can I hide in those? Why are they here? Where am I?

He stopped to catch his breath next to one of the crates. As he did, he saw a crane pick up one of the crates. He followed it will his eyes like a kid who had never seen such a thing. Then the crane set the crate on a massive cargo ship. I am hiding there. He stumbled towards it, but stopped when he heard voices.

"He must be here somewhere."

"He's going to pay for the people he killed."

Who did I kill? Thomas couldn't make sense of his memories. Oh yeah, that guard.

"Do you think he would try one of the ships?"

"How would he get on one? The man is nearly dead."

How indeed? But at that moment he saw the crane come back for another crate. There was a man on top of the crate guiding the crane's hook. The crate had a small vent like structure that looked damaged. Not really thinking it through Thomas ran for it.

He reached the crate and jumped with all his might. How he reached the grate, he was never sure, but perhaps desperation or the adrenaline that was given to him when he was dying allowed him to grab hold of it. One bar broke, but he was able to climb up. Then he squeezed his way into the shipping crate.

Thomas vaguely remembered the crate being lifted into the air, but he never remembered it being set down. For the first time in a long time Thomas fell into an undisturbed sleep.