Peter walked down the stairs as he joined the rest of the team for breakfast, sighing as he realized that he still had several hours until he could run again. Though he would tell no one, not being able to use his speed was torture. Twelve hours was quite a long time to not run somewhere or use his speed to get something done faster. In fact, last night at around three, Peter had woken up so hungry that he'd abandoned the dare altogether so he could eat half the food from the mansion's fridge in under ten seconds. He just couldn't eat food that slowly! His body digested it too fast for normal speed to keep up!
Of course, Peter didn't tell anyone this. And he didn't tell anyone how cold he was, either. He hadn't realized that running around at super speed wasn't just fun, it kept him warm. Being unable to run had quickly dropped his body temperature. Hot showers and hot chocolate last night had helped somewhat, but Peter himself couldn't wait until the last hour was up and he could finally run again. It would be his reward; his healing freedom. He absolutely loathed living life in slow motion.
"Good morning, Slowsilver," Scott said, pounding Peter on the back as he entered the kitchen.
Peter glared over at Scott as he made his breakfast beside Raven. She herself had gotten cereal, and Peter, not feeling like going through an odious amount of work required to make himself a traditional breakfast of eggs and bacon, simply grabbed some cereal and milk as well. Just as Raven was walking over to the kitchen table, Nightcrawler appeared right in front of Raven. Startled, Raven jolted.
Peter watched in slow motion as the cereal and milk covered Raven's entire blue form, but he simply shrugged it off before sitting down at the table with his own food.
Raven looked shocked for a moment, then she glared over at Peter. "Peter!" she yelled.
Peter shrugged. "Not my fault. Besides, I can't use my powers until after breakfast, remember, Blue?"
Raven pouted for a moment as she realized that she'd backed herself into a corner.
"Oops," Kurt said. "Sorry, I forgot vat you are startled vy my povers."
Raven rolled her eyes and got a cloth from the kitchen as she attempted to clean herself off. "It's no big deal, Kurt."
"Yeah, Circus," Peter said from the table. "I think it was pretty awesome."
"Is this what Charles has been teaching all of you over the past month?" Erik asked as he walked into the room with a cup of tea. "How to spill food?"
Raven's eyes widened briefly, and she turned away from him, still trying to clean herself off with a cloth. Peter thought he'd seen her face going a bit red, but he couldn't be sure.
"Kurt," Raven muttered as Erik took a seat at the table as well, "teleport me to my room. I need to change."
"Of course," Kurt said. Raven took Kurt's arm, and instantly they disappeared. Erik took another sip of his tea in almost apathy of it all, but Peter glanced over at Scott and exchanged a knowing look with him. Then Jean entered the room with her breakfast, and Peter looked down so she wouldn't see him laughing.
"You've got one more hour, Peter," Jean said as she took her seat.
"She's right about that, Pete," Scott said, stretching a bit and resting his arm on the back of Jean's chair. "You hanging in there?"
"I'm fine, Shades," Peter said, now trying to eat as fast as possible so that his incessant hunger could be stilled.
"So, I'm assuming that Mystique forbid you from using your powers for an entire day," Erik said.
Peter shook his head, taking another large bite of food and swallowing. "Twelve hours." Then he looked over at Scott and Jean. "I'm really hungry, guys. Can't I just speed up to eat? Just once? Or would you rather see me starve? Is that what you want? For real?"
Jean and Scott looked at each other.
"As long as Raven's not here," Jean said, "I guess it's okay."
Scott nodded. "Wouldn't want you to starve, man."
Now free for a moment, Peter consumed the entire box of cereal and the whole gallon of milk in under a second. He devoured three boxes of cinnamon rolls from the fridge as well. Pulling out a dozen eggs, he was just finishing up preparing them and returning to his seat when Raven reappeared with Kurt by her side. Slowing down just enough so Raven wouldn't suspect anything, Peter realized that she had changed her clothes. A different smell hit Peter's nose as he took his first bite of eggs. Wait a second. Was Raven wearing . . . perfume?
Peter couldn't help grinning as he continued eating, but the entire team pretended not to notice as Raven got another bowl of cereal and sat down next to Erik. Except, however, for Hank, who walked into the room a minute later. His nose went up the instant he entered the room, and he paused for a moment.
"Raven," he said. "You smell nice."
Raven looked up at him, then took a bite of cereal and nodded blandly. "Yeah."
"She was covered in milk a few seconds ago," Scott snorted.
Raven gave Scott an exasperated look. "Well, I could see how you like it."
"Hey, soak Kurt!" Scott said. "It was his fault!"
"At least he's not getting after me," Raven said.
"It was a joke!" Scott said.
Raven looked at Erik for a moment. "Not a very funny one," she muttered, returning to her cereal.
Peter glanced over at Erik. He wanted to question him about . . . well, everything, but he didn't know where to begin. He didn't want to be nearly caught as he had yesterday. He had to be careful with both his questions and how he phrased them. "So, everyone, how'd your powers all emerge? What happened?"
"I was fourteen," Hank said. "The football team was ragging on me, so I just reacted. I got expelled from school and chased for the next year by the FBI and the CIA. It was brutal. Only after I managed to control my mutation could me and my parents live in relative safety."
"My powers have been around for as long as I can remember," Raven said. "I was abandoned when I was born, and it was probably because of my . . . . mutation, I guess."
"I thought I was going crazy when I woke up one night and found myself ten feet in the air," Jean said. "I think I was twelve at the time."
"I nearly killed my parents when my powers emerged," Scott said. "I came downstairs for breakfast and blew a hole in the side of my house."
"I grew up in va circus," Kurt said. "I vas also blue from birth."
"My family relied on me to bring rain for their crops," Ororo said. "I became tired of being used and ran away."
Once Peter realized that everyone else had described their power's beginnings, he actually paid attention to what was being said. Everyone was looking at Erik, waiting to hear his side of the story. Peter waited with the most expectancy of all of them. Maybe now he could finally find out a bit about his father that he didn't already know!
"I grew up in Poland. My powers emerged when I was nine," Erik said.
"Wait," Hank said. "Wasn't that in the forties?"
Erik nodded.
Hank blinked. "You . . . were alive during the Holocaust?"
Peter gasped, only making the connection after Hank had stated what should've been so obvious. Of course! His father was, what, fifty? If he'd lived in Poland when he was a child, it stood to reason that he probably would've been in caught in-between such a momentous historical event.
"Yes, I was," Erik said stiffly.
Suddenly, the walls began to rip as support beams poked through and bent downward. Jean screamed, Raven gasped, and nearly everyone began talking at once to calm him down.
"We're training tonight, right, Raven?" Hank asked.
"Yeah, the Sentinels should be really hard to beat this time," Raven said.
"You know, these eggs are delicious," Ororo said.
Jean nodded. "Besides food, we've also got some super fun ping pong, foosball, and an outdoor running track. You should try it sometime, Erik."
"Don't forget about the archery and lake we've got," Scott added.
Peter looked at Erik nervously, surprised to see that he looked incredibly calm despite the fact that he'd nearly demolished the kitchen just a few seconds earlier.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't destroy my Institute, Erik," Charles said, coming into view from a hallway off to their left and taking his hand away from his temple. "It's already been destroyed once."
"I'll keep that in mind," Erik said, finishing his tea and standing up to walk out of the room. Charles, giving the shocked students a slightly apologetic look, was the only one to follow him.
No one else moved from their seats for several moments, and Jean couldn't take her eyes off the metal support beam that stood a few inches away from her and had nearly struck her in the head.
Peter's brain, able to move at super speed even when his body wasn't able to, was already putting the pieces together. His father had lived in Poland. He'd somehow been caught in the middle of the Holocaust. Did that mean his powers had emerged because of some tragedy? It seemed likely considering how much Erik had reacted to the mention of the emergence of his powers. And the Holocaust.
"I can't believe that guy's your dad," Scott whispered after Charles and Erik had left. "Man, I'm glad he's not my father."
Peter blinked, then turned to Scott. "Come on. You got to admit that was awesome. Really awesome. Totally amazingly cool."
Scott stared at Peter. "Yeah, Pete. Having a guy flip and bring the roof down on top of your head really is amazing." He glanced over at Jean, who shrugged.
"Bending metal?" Peter contradicted. "Think of it, Shades. That way, you'd never have to worry about another gun or bullet again. Or a submarine. Or a—"
"But you don't have to worry about those things anyway," Hank said.
"Still. He could make me a car if I wanted him to."
"Now that would be cool," Scott said. "Just make sure he didn't kill you first."
Peter laughed. "Like he could catch me. No one can catch me; that's obvious."
Scott raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"
"Just wait until Blue's challenge is done," Peter said. "Then just see if you can even spot me with those eyes of yours, much less hit me."
"Well, we'll be able to see soon," Jean said. "You've got only five minutes left."
Peter blinked in surprise, then checked his watch and saw that she was right. He made himself another six eggs and returned to the table, checking his watch again.
"Three minutes," Raven said.
"I know, Blue," Peter said. "I've got a watch on, you know." Peter glanced at his watch, and it seemed as though the second hand was moving slower than usual. It hadn't broken, right? Man. Peter had to keep reminding himself that he only had three minutes to go. Just three minutes. One hundred eighty seconds.
"Two minutes," Hank said.
"Got it, Furry," Peter said, now not letting his eyes wander from his watch as he finished his plate of eggs.
"I'm impressed," Scott said. "I didn't think you'd be able to do it."
Peter smirked a bit. "I'm Quicksilver, Shades. I can do anything. Unlike you."
"Except tell Erik that—"
"Shut up!" Peter said.
"A minute left," Jean said.
Peter nodded. "I know."
Peter began tapping his foot on the floor as he waited in anticipation, mentally counting down the seconds. Twenty. Nineteen . . .
"Fifteen," Jean said.
"Fourteen," Ororo said.
Peter was grinning now as the time was now under ten seconds. Time seemed to slow down, probably because Peter was preparing himself to go into his speedster state. He looked at his watch again. Three, two . . .
Peter's watch beeped. Instantly, everyone froze in the process of yelling, "zero!" Letting out a shout of joy, Peter placed his music into his ears and played, "I'm Free," before he was off. In true Quicksilver nature, he tore through the mansion, racing down the hallway in a spiral fashion and burning marks into the floor, the walls, and the ceiling as he used his mutant ability to its fullest extent. In a blink, he was there and he was gone. Papers flew as he raced by. Carpets were scuffed and bore the black mark of his speed on them. The tornado that was Quicksilver zipped through the mansion, laughing in delight as he was finally able to run again. To do what he'd been made to do. He felt like a rubber band that had been stretched for the last twelve hours and could finally be released.
It was a joy, really. Twelve hours was far too long. Some three years in his super speed state. But now, all was better, because now, he could run. Peter tore through the mansion fifty more times before racing across the world. Man, he'd missed this. Running on water and ocean waves. Running on the Great Wall of China. Racing over Arctic glaciers. Running through the Russian tundra and all the way back to America. Peter felt so much better now. As though he'd been sick and had finally been injected with the cure.
Now recovered from his slight withdrawal brought on by no running for twelve hours, Peter slowed to half his speed as he leapt and bounded across the United States, skipping his way across Pennsylvania as he made it back to New York and the mansion. He felt so much better. So . . . free. Like Quicksilver.