-A few minutes later in the Brotherhood Kitchen-
Amara walked to the fridge and opened the door. She then bent over and looked at its contents, sifting through various expired and fuzzy items. Suddenly she felt a small tickle on her rump.
"Stop it," she said with a blush.
She then felt a small practice pat.
"Quit," she chuckled out, still rummaging in the fridge.
She felt her zipper being undone.
"Give up," she said, purposely wiggling her butt.
Suddenly, she felt two hands ease down the back of her pants and cup her.
"No," she said with a small moan.
"Mystique didn't raise a quitter, love," St. John said with a lecherous smile.
-Meanwhile in the Brotherhood Garage-
Regan leaned against the Challenger, her head down but her eyes looking up to Lance. He smiled down at her shirtless, and raised his eyebrows in intrigue. She closed the gap between them and placed her hands on his Pecs. He held her and ran his hands along her back and down to her butt; he then grabbed her by her ass and lifted her up. She twirled a grease rag over her head as she wrapped her long legs around his waist. He carried her to a bench seat and sat down, Regan now straddling his hips.
Regan leaned forward to kiss her husband but her lips wouldn't make contact this night.
"You're so much different than Pietro."
Both mutants turned their heads to see Laura standing at the open garage.
Lance peeked an eyebrow, "I though I told you to close the door," he said in an accusing tone.
Regan whipped her head to stare at Lance, "Yeah? And I thought I told you I hated that shirt," she said in frustration grabbing said shirt off the floor.
"You did, but what you fail to realize is that's why it's my favorite shirt!" he exclaimed in response wrenching it out of her grasp and throwing it on a near by stool.
Laura rolled her eyes and cleared her throat regaining their attention.
Regan glared at the younger girl, "Are you going to keep staring or do you feel the need to elaborate?" she asked sarcastically.
"I could hear you from the living room, you make more noise than Wolverine and the blue-woman," Laura said now leaning against the door frame.
"So you decided to come and peep?" Regan asked with a smirk.
"I was curious, you're not like Pietro," Laura responded staring Lance in the eyes.
Lance peeked an eyebrow, "Thank you?" he said in confusion.
"Pietro is so fast, so careful, so intense, he vibrates, and my mind explodes," Laura said with a shudder.
"Too much information," Regan said sticking out her tongue in disgust.
"But Lance," Laura continued unfazed, "Is rough, but intimate, he does things because they're romantic."
"It's not always about getting off," Lance said with a smirk.
Laura furrowed her brow, "Is that how he was with Anna?" she asked.
Lance's smirk faded, she genuinely wanted to know. "I couldn't tell you, but what I can tell you is that what you feel towards my little friend is probably just lust, you should try and find a guy, hell maybe even a girl, and try and build that romantic bond," Lance said with a nod.
Laura features shifted to determination and she promptly walked out of the garage.
"You know sometimes I forget just how caring you really are," Regan said planting kisses all over Lance's face.
Lance smiled, "I wonder if she woulda wanted to join," he said with a peeked eyebrow.
Regan glared at her husband, "You are grounded from hanging out with Pietro," she said sternly.
-A few minutes later in the Brotherhood dining room-
Anna sat across from Raven with her arms crossed below her chest. Her mouth would open as if she were about to speak, but no words came forth, so she was forced to slowly close it. She would continue to stare as Raven read through the news paper, seemingly having nothing better to do.
"We should be out there," Anna finally said with a sigh.
Raven put down her paper to look her daughter in the eyes, "Anna Marie, we can't get involved between a lover's spat," she said calmly.
"A lover's spat?" Anna asked with wide eyes, "All of this is because Jean and Wanda aren't gettin' along?"
Raven nodded in confirmation, "Granted both lovers are exponentially more powerful than most, it is still a matter that only the two of them can solve," Raven explained folding her newspaper and setting it down on the table.
"But… Pietro's out there," Anna said with more worry in her voice than she intended, "And Jean's not rahght, she could take out most of the city," she said quickly in an attempt to cover her true emotions.
Emotions, that didn't go unnoticed by the resident shape-shifter. "You have feelings for him don't you?" Raven asked knowing full well what her daughter's answer would be, "Tell, me why you left him," she said, eyes pleading.
Anna buried her face in her hands, "Ah thought ah could protect him, if he wasn't mah boyfriend," she said with a hint of shame.
Raven nodded mulling over the information, "Why would he need your protection?" her voice wasn't accusing, or defensive, it was curiosity.
Anna looked at her mother for a moment then worked up the courage to explain her actions, "Remy showed up in mah room one nahght, and… he told meh to break it off with Pietro, or he'd get his cronies together and kill him… but before I could answer, Pietro showed up, and Remy used it to his advantage. Making it seem like ah still had feelings for him," Anna suddenly found the table very interesting.
Raven examined her daughter's body language for a moment, head bowed in shame, restless hands occupied by a cloth napkin, "You hurt the boy Anna Marie," Raven said in a soft tone, "But he, although an idiot, is still in love with you."
"Ah know," Anna responded with a smile.
But as usual a touching mother daughter moment has no chance of surviving while the Brotherhood roams the halls.
The walls shook with an intense explosion.
Anna rolled her eyes, "Yours or mine?" she asked in an annoyed tone.
Raven smiled, "With my luck? Both," she responded in a slightly amused tone.
And at that moment Freddy, Todd, and Bobby ran into the room.
"So you're sure he's indestructible?" Todd asked slightly out of breath.
"Well yeah… but I've never seen him catch fire and fall into a stack of fireworks," Bobby said slowly catching his breath.
At that moment Sam walked into the room, his face covered in ash, his uniform charred, and a lone strand of hair atop his head still on fire. He looked at his comrades, "That… was awesome!" he exclaimed.
Raven and Anna shook their heads, "Idiots," they said in unison.
-Meanwhile in the living room-
Warren dashed into the living room, his wings swaying elegantly behind him; his eyes immediately fell upon Karima sitting on the couch flipping through systems on her laptop.
"Did you hear that?" Warren asked with a slight panic.
"Hear what?" Karima asked, her eyes never leaving her screen.
"The huge explosion outside!" he exclaimed now slightly out of breath.
"That's a daily occurrence in this household," she explained calmly, "You get used to it after a while."
Warren sat down next to her and starred out into space for a moment, "You're not like them are you?" he asked now looking at the side of her face.
Her head snapped to face him, "What do you mean, 'like them'? You mean a villain?" she asked in an offended tone.
"I didn't mean it like that. I've seen first hand how capable they are in the 'hero' situation," he said never losing his composure, "Any one can be a hero. All you have to do is make the choice, and maybe you could help them make that choice," he said getting to his feet and leaving the cybernetic woman alone with her thoughts.
"Could the Brotherhood be heroes?"
-In the Brotherhood kitchen… Again-
Lance and Regan walked into the room, still bickering about a certain shirt. Lance walked to the island and saw a bowl of salad.
He eyed the green leafy concoction suspiciously and reached into the bowl, "Why are their boxers in the salad?" he asked pulling said boxers out of the salad, "And a pink bra on the knife rack," he said pointing at said bra, with a bewildered look on his face.
Regan peeked an eyebrow, "And a matching pair of pink panties," she said holding them up.
Lance smiled at his wife, "Come here and look at this," he said waving her over.
Regan rounded the island and chuckled, there on the floor were St. John and Amara lying naked on the floor, the blanket that would normally keep St. John's legs warm was now keeping the two teens nudity covered.
"They're so cute together," she said with a small smile.
"Wait… he can't feel his legs, so how did they…" he trailed off scratching his head in confusion.
Regan snaked her arm through Lance's and lead him out of the kitchen, "That only means she was on top."
-A few minutes later in Central Park-
Wanda held Jean close to her body, occasionally stroking her hair. Tears stained both of their faces. Wanda quietly sobbed into the top of Jean's head.
"Can you take it all back?" Wanda asked rubbing her eyes.
"I can hear them, the SHIELD agents; they think if I absorb the power…" she paused for a moment, "It'll… speed up the process."
Wanda's breathing became erratic, "Damned if you do, damned if you don't," she said shaking her head.
Jean cupped Wanda's face and looked into her eyes, "I love you, Wanda," she said her eyes know glowing, the Phoenix raptor appearing behind her drawing in all the ambient psyonic energy.
Wanda smiled through her tears, "I love you, Jean," she said holding onto Jean's body as it went limp.