Chapter 11: Mind Games
"So, Pietro was it? There's this saying: The sins of the father shall be visited upon the sons. Have you heard of it?" "No." "Too bad, but it is true. Vengeance is a very natural feeling and if you can't get to the father, well, the son may be the next best thing." "Why would you want to go after my father?" "Ooh, you want to know, do you? Very well, I guess I could indulge your questions for a minute or two. You see, my wife was killed in an accident, which turned out to be no accident at all. Your father was responsible and he, in this case, you should pay." "I haven't done anything to deserve this!" Pietro says feebly. "I'm sure Dr. Lovely doesn't agree with that. You are just as dangerous and violent as your old man, so I'm doing the entire world a service. I'm just being a good citizen." A sinister smile crosses his face.
After calling out for Pietro and covering the woods behind the valley with every available body, they realize something's wrong. "I don't suppose he would have changed his mind and gone back to school after all?" Mystique carefully ventures. "He could have gone with them. He didn't want to." "Do you mind if I check it out anyway?" "Sure, go ahead." Rather you than me. Asking Charles for yet another favor isn't his favorite activity. "Get him to use Cerebro while you're at it, would you?" He mentions it as an indifferent afterthought; his true feelings masked.
Mystique is to be teleported to the school and ask for information and perhaps assistance. She hopes that Pietro is there, but her instincts tell her otherwise. Magneto is right; Pietro is happy with them. He is Magneto's son and doesn't like to be tied down to the behavioral rules and regulations that the school provides. Even so, Charles has a right to know and might be able to offer support.
"You can see how I'd like to rid the world of yet another mutant creating danger for us ordinary folks." "Will you get a move on, please?" His partner pushes quietly. He is starting to regret joining this adventure. "Wasn't killing them enough?" "Killing who?" "I wanted to tell him myself, you moron!" "Killing who?" Pietro demands to know. "Your dear mother and sister. Now, you were supposed to go as well, leaving your father without a family, just like he did to me." "My father didn't even know about that." "Nor would he have cared particularly much… It's what he deserves." "You deserve a horrible death yourself." Pietro finds his courage. "Killing innocent children in such a horrible cowardly way." His eyes narrow. "My father will find you and tear you to shreds. You will rue the day you were born." Pietro's steel blue eyes burn into his.
"That's it! I'm out of here." Before he can stop him, his partner runs outside, takes their car and speeds away. "Looks like it's just us." "All the better, this is personal." Both of them are trembling with rage and fear. "It's not much of a showdown, is it? Killing an imprisoned wounded teenager? You'd think you'd have more pride than that.." Pietro challenges his tormentor, stalls for time.
She is taken right into his office giving Charles quite the fright. "What the…" "Charles, sorry about that. Is Pietro by any chance here with you?" "He has chosen to stay with the Brotherhood, hasn't he?" "We can't find him and we're worried something's horribly wrong…. Could you give us a hand?" "Isn't Erik with you?" "He has sent me." "I see. You need me to track him down…" "Please, Charles, we haven't got any leads, nothing." "Of course, I look after my students even if they abandon their education."
"You know, I have been looking for you too. When I remembered what had happened to my mother and sister a little while ago, I vowed to avenge them. Take down the bastard responsible. So I suppose you did me favor. No need to search for you anymore…" The special agent is taken aback by this display of power and hate from a incarcerated teenage boy. He pulls out his gun in a reflex.
"Takes me back a few days, this." Before he puts the device on his head, Charles states: "I'd like to have him back here, you can tell that to Erik. Clearly the Brotherhood is no place for a boy his age." "You might want to tell him that yourself." "Oh no, I don't. You can do it. It 'll be better coming from you," he adds slyly. Mystique is not happy about this, not happy at all. Let them fight it out amongst themselves, not through her. She is determined to tell them that, both of them, but Pietro comes first.
"Don't you think your wife's memory deserves a more elaborate plan. A quick execution is so…so ordinary. Not special at all. And also," Pietro is thinking on his feet, "disappointing to her perhaps. Taking the child instead of the man is bad enough, but in such a dull way is even worse." "Shut up, you evil…" "I'm not the one with a weapon in my hand. You're calling me evil?"
Magneto and the Brotherhood have spread out, but cannot find anything that might shed some light on Quicksilver's whereabouts. I didn't even get to give him his new name. Mystique's quick return is all they can hope for now. The thought of losing another child does not bear thinking about. Loss seems to be the story of his life. So far the only thing he hasn't lost is his power and even that does not soothe him right now. His powers cannot help him as long as he doesn't know his son's location.
Charles invades the special agent's mind. The memories provide him with plenty of motivations that have led him to this drastic action. In the meantime, Mystique collects Magneto and shortly after Charles has liberated a very confused Pietro, the teleport takes them there as well. Charles hasn't made his presence known yet, but does so the moment Pietro makes a grab for his gun. "Professor," he gasps. "You should never kill if you can help it, Pietro," he lectures. "This circle of vengeance is never-ending and is also known as a blood-feud or vendetta. It is not something to aspire to."
"Pietro, are you alright?" Mystique's voice can be heard a floor above them. "I'm here," he calls at them. Magneto and Mystique enter the dark damp cellar with the teleport on their tail. "What's going on?" he thunders. "The Professor invaded his mind, just like with Dr. Lovely," Pietro explains. "Who is he?" "An agent whose wife died as a consequence of your actions," Charles answers. "He killed my mother and Wanda," Pietro adds. "Really? So he's the one I've been looking for all this time?" His eyebrows move upwards and a murderous glow appears in his eyes. "You've had your fun, Charles. Get out of there and let me have him!" "I will not! If you want to kill him, you'll hurt me as well." Both of them remember Shaw's final moments in the submarine, slightly different yet so similar.