Stumbling Along the Path
"Does it ever wake you in the middle of the night?" Erik asked, "The feeling that one day, they'll come for you? And your children?"
Xavier wheeled around, "I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble."
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or universe. They belong to Marvel and FOX Studio.
A/N: Sorry for the days off, been really sick.
Wanda and Peter waited for the crowd to disperse, people were taking photos of Magneto, clapping at his words, while others threw things to which the crowd would frenzy over. They often exchanged looks, unsure how to feel. On one hand Peter thought his words were a bit inspiring but on the other hand, he knew what his mom had said about Erik, and knew he had his own agenda for all of this.
As the rally ended, people began to go their separate ways. Magneto and a few other people followed: a blonde in a red dress, a tall and massive man in red armor, a girl with green hair in a green dress, and a small greasy looking man who hopped on all fours.
Peter looked over to Wanda and motioned for them to follow. Wanda shook her head but reluctantly followed behind Peter. They saw them go into an alley and followed behind but were stopped by the gigantic man in armor. He picked them up by the collar of their shirts and turned them to show Magneto's his catch, like a cat with a mouse.
"Look what I got here?" He laughed a deep guttural chuckle.
Peter vibrated so fast that the man's hand started to burn and he dropped Peter. Wanda put her hand out and soon the man was tortured by his own thoughts and biggest fears as he dropped Wanda who ran to Peter while never taking her eyes off of the man who curled up on the filthy alley ground in the fetal position in pain.
The blonde took a step forward, her hands out and began to glow a green tint, but Magneto stopped her and lowered her hands.
"No need for that, Lorelei." He said, as he stepped forward and looked closely at the both of them.
"You were the one who freed me from the government… and were also in Egypt… no?" Magneto asked, his eye brow raised.
"That would be me. Peter's the name. My mom calls me Pietro." Peter says, cracking his neck and rubbing his back.
"Ah yes, you were Charles' acquaintance. And who is this?" He asked, motioning to Wanda had finally put her own hand down since disarming the man.
"That's something I was hoping you could fill in for us. Do you know a Madga Maximoff? Cause she knows you, man. Pretty well I would say." Peter stated, noticing his favorite shirt collar was now stretched out.
"How do you know Madga?" His eyes narrowed.
"I think we need to go someplace we can talk that isn't a sketchy alley. Do you live around here or just passing through? We could go to Xavier's?" Peter asked, sensing some tension amongst everyone and the group.
"We have a place we can go. Everyone else, leave me, except you, Lorna." He said, putting a hand on the girl with green hair's shoulder.
"Lead the way, and I will do my best to explain on the way." Peter said, as he watched Wanda anxiously switching her gaze from person to person.
Everyone disbanded and they began to walk through more alleys, eventually reaching what looked like a more run down version and smaller version of the Xavier Institute. Magneto bent the gate open, and motioned for them to walk in, so they did.
"So how do you know Magda?" He asked again.
"She is my mother." Peter said.
Scott pulled the car into the empty lot in downtown. He moved the gear into park and removed the keys putting them in his jacket pocket. He slid out of the seat, and did a 360 degree turn to make sure there was nobody posing an immediate threat, after the other night he was a bit anxious.
"Looks like everything is pretty boring at this time of the day." Scott said as he walked around to the passenger side as Jean and Ororo got out. They too looked around anxiously and then headed down the road.
There was enough room on the sidewalk for the three of them to walk side by side. Jean hooked her arm around Ororo and Scott and they all shared a laugh which eased their nerves as they passed parked cars and made their way to the coffee house.
Scott held the door open as the girls walked in and noticed the place was empty. It sent a chill down Ororo's spine but they continued to the counter anyway where Scott soon caught up with them.
"This is kind of weird…" Scott muttered.
"Someone is in the back room. Ororo ring the bell." Jean said, as she took a couple steps back and then sat down, her head hurting.
Ororo rang the bell and soon the barista from the night before came out of the back room, carrying boxes of coffee beans and wearing mittens and a scarf.
"Oh hey guys, sorry, I meant to turn the sign to closed, we are stocking today and probably won't be open til tomorrow cause I forgot to order the shipment in time and so we are…uh.. out of coffee." He said, before the ground beneath his feet started to freeze and he slipped.
As he fell, Jean jumped up and caught both Robert and the boxes suspended in the air with her telekinesis.
"Need a hand?" Scott said, going over and gathering the boxes and setting them on the floor to help Robert up.
"Uh thanks, man." He said, shaking his blonde hair with his gloved hand.
"Seems like you are having some troubles with the ice, not the coffee." Ororo said, pointing out the icy floor which could be seen tracking into the back room.
"Yeah. Just started happening on a small scale a month ago, and now it's like everything I touch and myself." He took off his scarf and gloves to reveal that from the neck down he was ice.
"Would you mind coming with us to the Xavier Institute? It's a school for people like you and me, mutants, where we can learn to work on those things, and still get an education." Jean asked, as she levitated the boxes onto the counter.
"Consider it like a full ride scholarship to college." Scott joked.
"Whoa, it's free? No more busting my butt, literally, working these odd end jobs?" Robert said putting back on his gloves and scarf.
"Exactly!" Ororo smiled as nicely as she could manage.
"Wow. Yeah, what all will I need? Oh by the way the name is-" He was cut off.
"Robert Drake. Your friend's call you Bobby." Jean filled in.
"Well yeah. If I had any friends anyway. Did you just read my mind?" He nervously laughed.
"Jean can read minds and move things with her mind. Ororo can manipulate the weather. And I just have giant laser beans behind my eyes." Scott joked.
"Wow…" Bobby said again.
"We should head back to the institute soon, after last night's show down I don't want to be here too long, Scott." Jean sent him telepathically.
"So if you are ready, we should probably head out? We made a bit of scene here last night so best if we not show our faces around here too much til that dude forgets the whole thing." Scott urged Bobby.
"Yeah man. I was planning on taking off later anyway cause my mom and dad would flip if they see me like this. So lemme grab my bag and we can ditch this joint." He laughed and ran towards the back room again.
"That was easy." Ororo said to the group.
"Yeah. It was." Jean and Scott said in unison and they all laughed.
"So you and her are… my children?" Magneto asked, as Lorna gave him a look.
"Yup. It would see that way, paps." Peter joked hoping to lighten up the room a bit.
They all sat in silence for a while. Wanda's eye wondering from Peter to Magneto to Lorna. She grew anxious but kept a calm demeanor, not wanting to show any weakness in the presence of them.
"So what were you doing at the rally?" Wanda spoke up.
"I was finding other mutants like yourselves who are interested in my cause." He simply put.
"And what cause is that?" Wanda asked.
"That no matter what we do the humans will not accept us for who we are and we must protect our own because the world will not. It's becoming more and more clear every day with their mutant registration proposals and the MRD that peace was never an option." He looked at all three of his children with a certain determination in his eyes.