Chapter 7: Legalities
Rogue was glad when she heard Eden's voice as she and the others came in from outside. She stood when they entered, with one hand jammed nervously in her pocket.
"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have—" Pyro stopped mid-sentence, looking up from his conversation with Eden to Rogue. "Ho-ly shit…" he said jauntily. "You are definitely the last person I would've expected to see here."
"Leave her alone," Eden muttered.
Pyro approached her, crossing his arms appraisingly. "Marie, Marie, Marie…bad girl," he laughed.
She looked down, away from him. He turned a half-circle around her. "Ah, come on Marie—we're not strangers."
She took a deep breath and looked up at him. "Hi John," was all she said.
He looked disappointed. The delight he was taking in seeing her at the Lair drained out of his face. He gazed at her now as one would a terminal patient in a hospital. "What happened?"
Rogue could not speak. The terror of seeing him now over, his presence suddenly brought to mind all that she had been through in the last several weeks—his association with the mansion forced her to think about Bobby and Logan. She did not want to think about them.
Eden saved her from explaining. She came up behind him and took his arm. "Come on," she instructed, "let's get you something to eat."
Pyro took the hint. He smiled at Rogue—a strangely gentle grin, from his usually cocky expressions—and followed Eden out of the room.
Rogue noticed that she left the room and did not beckon Toad to follow. He stood in front of her in an unsure kind of way and saw that she was looking at him. "Wha?" he spat.
She shook her head. "Nothing."
He looked to where Eden had just left and then behind him, over his shoulder. Rogue still stood there, stupidly, watching him. He approached her. "You know that expression? 'I wouldn't trust you any farther than I could throw you?'" He came closer. "Well, I could throw you so far, you'd die before you hit solid ground again—I could take you and your little friend, one in each hand—" here, he held out both of his green, webbed hands for her to see—"turn you into little balls and make a good game of it." He clapped his hands together in front of her face so fast and hard that she jumped back in fear of the sound. "There's far too many ex-X-Men in this Lair—and I'm watching you, both of you. Eden's too good to see what you both really are—but me?" He grinned devilishly, and his little, green-gummed teeth smirked grossly at her from inside his mouth, "I'm just plain evil, girl." He reached up and twisted a chunk of her white hair around his finger. "Remember that, eh?"
Remember—she remembered something like this. Well, that is, Marvel remembered something like this. A larger man, running his fingers through her hair. She had known what he had wanted from her at that time, and she had felt so weak and defenseless then.
But she wasn't weak and defenseless now.
"Get away from me," she hissed.
Far from intimidating him, this demand actually made Toad laugh. Then, all of sudden, he stopped laughing. His face became like a devil's and he no longer played with her hair, but pulled it so hard she cried out!
Instinctually, she reached up with both hands to grab his arm. But he only pulled harder. She could feel her roots giving way. He thrust her to ground before they pulled free and turned and walked away from her.
Part of Rogue was only too glad to see him go—but the other half screamed at her to retaliate. How dare he touch her? How dare he hurt her? She deserved better than to be treated like this.
As if in a dream, she lunged at him, knocking him off his feet, and off his guard. He recovered quickly, wheeled around and kicked her across the face. It was strange how painless that kick seemed. She ignored gravity, raising herself off of the ground, and kneed him, quickly under the chin, knocking him back.
He shook his head in a quick motion, spitting and laughed, "Well, well—bitch has a got a backbone. Watch me fucking break it!"
He flipped backwards, and his feet found the wall and used it to project him across to her like a cannonball. He slammed into her center and knocked her out of the air, to the ground. She rebounded, punching him the stomach, and then kicking him swiftly in the same place. She knew the power of his legs, and flew away from the ground in moment, just managing to avoid his crushing power. He glared angrily up at her, extended his tongue, wrapped it around her waist, and pulled her back down again.
She had her opportunity and took it. Her bare hand grabbed his tongue, and held it tight. At first, he seemed to not be affected by her touch, but then suddenly, he was frozen. His eyes widened in such surprise. And then, there was only pain.
Someone was on top of him. Punching him, over and over and over again. His face was swollen, he could barely see.
"Mortimer, you slimy, fucking frog! Fight back frog, fight back!"
He was losing consciousness—and so was the Toad that Rogue was seeing in the memory.
It was sudden, but the Toad in the memory, who was called Mortimer, made a last ditch effort to save himself and kicked his bent knee against the stomach of the boy who was on top of him.
As if it had been a wrecking ball, his knee crushed the boy's insides upon impact and his blood spilled all over Mortimer, to his amazement. Rogue watched through Mortimer's blurry eyes as his persecutor died slowly and gasping. Rogue desired to look away, but she felt the corners of her mouth lift into a grin, as Mortimer looked on feeling—vindication—feeling pleasure.
Rogue let him go, a horror welled inside of her like nothing she had ever experienced. She had never felt so intrusive—this was an episode in Toad's life that had been meant to stay a secret—always. His first kill… She did not want to know it—but God, how she knew it now!
He was staring at her from the ground, where he had fallen. His eyes were glazed over, but cold. He got up shakily.
"I'm…sorry…" Rogue whispered. "I…didn't…"
He walked past her without another word.
"Place hasn't changed much." Pyro sat down at the table and watched as Eden prepared him something to eat. It was uncanny, how similar this situation was to the first time he had met her.
How much had happened since then? Events rolled over and over in his mind. He saw her in a dozen different situations—in their hotel rooms, watching TV—on the floor of the mutant clinic, dying—in bed, lightly covered with a white sheet. He blinked—yes, this was so like the first time he had ever seen her. She had hardly changed since then.
She sat across from him, after pouring him a cup of coffee and making him a sandwich. He touched the sandwich, but could not bring himself to eat it.
"You want something else?"
He looked up at her. "Yeah…" he said. And then shook his head, "I mean, no, this is fine. I was…just thinking…"
She did not press him or ask him what he was thinking. He watched as she sipped her tea, nonchalantly, as if nothing had ever happened between them that they might need to talk about. She gave him no chance to segue into what it was he wanted to say. He just had to say it, awkwardly and abruptly.
"Eden…I know that with Toad…I mean, I know that you and him are—" The hardest part of this was that she refused to look at him or give any indication that she was hearing him at all. "You—you said that you loved me Eden. And—"
She sighed, letting her cup drift to the surface of the table. "Pyro, please don't. Let's not do this."
His heart beat faster. "You did say it," he said.
She sighed again, shaking her head.
He took her arm. "Why did you come for me, then? Why did you save me?"
Still, she refused to look at him. "You're one of us, Pyro. I wasn't going to leave you there to die."
A thought occurred to him, his chance. "You were going to leave Toad," he said.
She froze and then, looked at him at last. "What—what are you talking about?"
"Magneto told me. I remember. In California, he said that you were willing to let Toad go at his say so. That you would give up trying to save him because Magneto wanted you to."
Eden's mouth opened and closed. Her defenses fell. She had nothing to say, no words to defend herself. She tried anyway, "No…that's not—"
"Eden," he stopped her.
"It was different then," she whispered. "Magneto had no powers. We had no followers…I thought Toad was dead…"
He drew closer to her. "You love me. That's why you did this—why you risked your life, and Toad's too—you love me."
He was so close to her that his lips brushed against hers as he spoke. She did not pull away and he could not stop himself from kissing her. At first, she held back. Hopelessly, she gave in—but only for one moment.
She pushed her hands against his chest, and stood up. "No!"
"Please, Eden—"
She wiped away his kiss with the back of her hand. "I love Toad, Pyro. I'm sorry…I'm sorry—"
He got up from the table. He reached for her and she drew back. He let his hand drop and moved past her.
She grabbed his arm and there were tears in her eyes. "Pyro—"
He held up his hand. "Don't," he whispered. "Just…don't…"
Toad massaged his jaw where that bitch had kicked him. Twice, in the same place. It cracked as he rubbed it, but it was feeling better. As he entered the kitchen, Pyro was leaving it. He was glad of that.
Eden was standing there, looking surprised. There were two tears on her face and her eyes were red. She looked down, away from him and started to clear the table.
"Hey," he said, "what gives?"
"N-nothing," she mumbled.
He grabbed her by her shoulders and turned her around to face him. "He say something to you?"
"It doesn't matter," she said, trying to get away. He knocked the plates out of her hands and they crashed to the floor. "Toad!" she cried.
"What the hell is going on?"
"We were having an argument—that's all. Nothing serious."
"Nothing serious!" he repeated. "And he made you cry?"
She was trying to get out of his grasp, but his grip was relentless. "You're hurting me," she whispered.
Toad let go suddenly, afraid of his own anger, and of the jealousy that was rising in him. He could feel it coiling around his heart like a poison. "I'm…sorry…I didn't mean to."
"It's ok," she said.
"I just—he shouldn't be making you cry—" He touched her face with the tips of his fingers. "No one should make you cry."
He kissed her lips. It took him only a moment to realize why she had tried to pull away from him as he did so. He yanked back. Fury…he knew fury. Rage…he knew rage. He spat onto the floor. The taste, the taste!
Toad had never seen her look more frightened, more terrified. He was glad she was frightened. He clenched his fists, spitting again. He could not get rid of the taste! "You bitch…" his voice rumbled inside of him, making him shake, "you fucking bitch…I can taste him on you!"
She reached for him. "Toad…"
"Don't touch me!" he screamed.
He tore out of the room. Don't follow, he mentally told her. Don't follow. But she did follow. Stay back, he warned, as he felt his anger become him. He was becoming blind to everything but his rage. It was overtaking him. Everything came into sharp, disgusting focus—why she had insisted on saving Pyro—why she had brought him here. Oh God! It was unbearable! He wanted to kill her!
He spun around when he heard her call his name. "Eden, I swear to God!" His hand was raised and it stopped her in her tracks.
"Toad…let me explain—"
"Do you love him?!"
"No!"
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" He punched his fist through the wall. Dust and metal and stone burst out upon his arm and cascaded to the floor. He spoke, barely above a whisper, "Get away from me, Eden."
"Toad—"
He tore his hand back out, bringing more dust and chunks of wall with it. "GET AWAY!"
She did not understand. He could not explain. She had to get away from him before he hurt her. He wanted to hurt her, and the only thing stopping him was the thought of how angry Magneto would be if he found out—which, of course, he would—especially if he killed her by accident—which was very likely.
"Toad, Toad!" she pleaded. "You don't understand!" She got too close, just too close! He backhanded her! Hard! He sent her flying sideways into the wall. She bounced off the wall, and fell at his feet. She cradled her face in her hand, crying freely now.
He grabbed his own wrist, as if to hold himself back from beating her any further. Having struck the blow, his anger lifted just enough for him to see what he had done. "Oh fuck…" he whispered. "I told you! I told you! I told you to get away from me!"
He grabbed hold of the wall and scaled it, blinded by tears, feeling his way up, getting as far away from her as he possibly could.
"Hey, you alright?"
Pyro turned towards the sound of the voice. It was Rogue. He kept walking. "Like you really care."
He heard her start to follow him. "Look, I'm trying here!" she called out.
He stopped and turned. "You shouldn't have come here, Rogue. Everybody here is insane."
Rogue shrugged. "Maybe that's why I'm here." She smiled. "Is that why you're here?"
"I guess," he said. "Must be."
They stood facing each other rather awkwardly. Rogue looked older, different somehow. Her face had fine, almost unnoticeable lines in it that did not seem to belong to her. Her eyes seemed to be two different colors at the same time. "You've been through something," he commented.
"You too."
She pretended to be interested in something on the ceiling. He did likewise. They did this for some moments. "How long you been here?"
"Almost three weeks," she answered. He waited for an explanation. Rogue twisted her fingers together nervously. "I kind of…got some issues, memories that aren't mine—new powers. It's hard to explain."
"So you came here?"
She frowned. "I was brought here," she said. "By the person who—well, the one whose memories I have…"
He thought he understood. "You kill somebody?" he asked incredulously.
She nodded.
Pyro digested this information. Unexpected, yes, but life takes so many strange turns. He found he was curious to know all about it—what new powers she had, how she was using them. At any rate, it would take his mind off of Eden. "I'm going for a walk outside. Come with me."
"Alright."
It was hardly the end of the world.
Or was it?
Her teeth had cut the inside of her mouth. A little puddle of blood was forming on the floor below her. How red it was—a black red, thick like melting sugar.
She put her finger in it, and stirred it thoughtlessly. What a mess she was making! She would have to clean it up, before it stained the floor.
She could feel her face swelling, even as she held it. She should get some ice before it got worse. She should—she should—
So, why did she just stay there? Why did she just sit in the middle of the passageway, where, at any moment someone might walk through and find her?
She knew why.
She was waiting for him to come back, to pick her up and mop away the blood. She was waiting for him to hold her in his arms and tell her that he loved her. She did not want him to apologize, no—she wanted, needed, to beg him for forgiveness.
But he did not come.
She knew he would not.
"Get up," Eden demanded of herself. Her mouth was so swollen, it sounded more like, "Ger ip."
It was cold on the floor, and she was not sure how long she had been there, but her legs were stiff and her arms were stiff and her face was stiffer and swelling all the more. She had been there long enough to feel the tears dry like plaster on her face and the blood become crusty like sand.
She was still playing with the blood pool, when two converse sneakers appeared out of nowhere at the edge of the puddle. She looked up and scrambled to her feet, keeping her head down.
"The hell happened?" Quicksilver asked.
"Nerthing," she said through the swelling. "Jerst go awey."
She turned away from him, but he moved speedily in whatever direction she tried to go. He rested his hands on his hips. "Not going anywhere. What happened?"
She stepped past him. He followed. "Medical lab?" he asked. "Should get some ice."
She rolled her eyes. "Yer think?"
"The Senator from South Carolina has the floor!" called the Senate President.
"Thank you, Mr. President," Duro drawled. The Senate was unusually full today, Senators and Pages scattered throughout the room. "You all know my position on the mutant phenomena, and I am more than proud of this august body for its recent passing of the new Mutant Registration Law. However," he paused for emphasis, "however, I do not think we have done enough."
Several sleepy heads peered closer at him, wondering what he meant, curious to know his next move. "Some of us lived through the Cold War, all of us have lived through the War on Terror—we know, perhaps better than most, that an enemy within one's own country is more dangerous than an enemy without it. We know that it is easier to fight a war when one knows whom one is fighting. We know that recently, war has become a less broad concept—more finite, more particular. War, Senators, is what I am here to talk about today."
Everyone was awake now. They sat upright, hanging on his every word. "Senators, many of us, more than half, have unofficially declared war on the mutant community. I know I have." Some smiled at this statement, knowing what was coming next. "I propose that this august body, at long last, declare, officially, and openly, war on the Mutants. They are our enemy now," he yelled, as the din rose, some cheering, others protesting, "the only enemy we need worry about!"
"Senator!" shouted one of his staunchest opponents, a Senator Gavin Ross, "Senator, do you seriously mean that we are to declare war on citizens of this country? Are we to declare war on ourselves?"
"More mutants are joining Magneto in the fight against us!" argued Duro. "Are we to wait for them? Are we to stand by and do nothing?!"
Ross stood up. "Duro, you know we're doing all we can to track Magneto. We will capture him and he will be brought to justice!"
"We have already captured him and he has escaped!" Ross was silenced. "Senators," cried Duro, "I beg you to consider this. A war, an official, declared war, would serve as a means to destroy the threat that Magneto poses within the limits of the laws of war! It would allow us to focus all of our energies on the protection of our people, our citizens!"
"Senator," said Senator Mitch Griffin, "I agree with you about seeking out Magneto and destroying him, but to declare war on the mutants as a whole is absurd! There are mutants that are peaceful, others who have fought along with us!"
Duro smiled. "Fought along with us?"
"Yes, and you know the ones I mean."
"Oh, I know!" declared Duro. "You mean, Xavier, and Doctor Jean Grey, perhaps?" The Senate hummed. "Xavier who was killed by one of his own people, and Jean Grey who, after killing him, disintegrated over four hundred men in our armed forces—ladies and gentlemen, these are not our allies!" Duro laughed. "Perhaps you mean Logan, or the Wolverine, perhaps you mean the one they call Storm—who allied with Magneto and murdered General Stryker, several dozens of his men, and burst the dam to drown the place into oblivion! My God, with friends like these, who needs enemies?!"
"Senator Duro, there are circumstances and events which—"
"Which what?" he cried. "Excuse this behavior? No!" He slammed his hand against his table. The thud silenced the chamber. "No. This cannot be excused, this cannot be washed away! I tell you, my friends, this is what they want! To divide us amongst ourselves, to occupy us and thus destroy us. Senators! Can you not see, can you not hear! The writing is on the wall and it spells 'Mutant'!"
"How long's this been goin' on?"
Magneto looked up from the television at Juggernaut. "All day," he said.
Juggernaut watched as the lead Senator slammed his hand onto the table, screaming and going off like a madman. "You think they'll do it?"
"They're running around in circles right now—but they'll have to come to a decision—and yes, I think they will. Duro is—persuasive."
"Finally," Juggernaut said with satisfaction. Then he frowned. "Tha's a good thing, right?"
"Honestly, they'll be doing us a favor," Magneto said.
"How d'you reckon?"
The man smiled. "Well, by declaring us legal combatants," he mused, "at least we won't be outlaws anymore."
