A/N: Oh boy I had a lot I wanted to squish in here. This story is growing larger by the chapter, LOL. Be prepared for some angst and bad humor…and a nice chunk o' Jonda in here. Oh yeah, this is early just because I needed some happy something to make me not hate Marvel comics so much. D:
Chapter 11 - Consequences
Lance closed his bedroom door behind him and blew his hair from his eyes. After finally getting himself a couple of hours of sleep and a hot shower, it was already well into the evening. Not one to sit around and listen to the soap operas that were his teammates' lives, he preferred to scoop up the phone and talk to his girlfriend. With said device clutched in the mutant's hand, he seated himself on the edge of the bed and stared down at the numbers.
He felt happy at the thought of talking to her. He wasn't entirely sure why, but after all of the crap he had gone through the previous night - the head aches, the bruises, the tears, the blood - he didn't want to give his mind the chance to process everything that had happened. Instead, he wanted to talk to the one person in the whole world who he believed would take such thoughts and feelings away.
His thumb swiftly moved over the keypad of the phone and punched in the familiar seven digit number. It had only rung twice before the line was picked up.
"Who is it?"
Lance snorted. "Rogue?"
"Oh shit…hold on," she muttered and then he heard some shuffling on the other end of the line. When she picked up again, her voice was lowered to a whispered hush. "Ya gotta lot of nerve callin' here!"
He was confused. "What? Why?"
"It ain't mah job to berate ya," she sighed. "But just let meh warn ya that things might not be pretty once Kitty gets on the phone."
"What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped; her jumping around his questions was beginning to annoy the hell out of him. Lance just didn't have patience for stubbornness.
"Hold on, will ya?" she spat at him. "Kitty! The phone is for ya."
Lance tried to listen, but he couldn't make out the words the girls were exchanging on the other end of the line. Whatever they were saying though, it didn't sound as if they were very happy. However, for the life of him, Lance couldn't figure what it was that would have Kitty upset. Last time they had been together, they had left on good terms - so good that her hair was messed and her lips were swollen.
"Hello?" her voice was soft and distant.
"Kit? What's the matter?" Lance asked feeling concerned. "Did something happen to you?"
She let out a bitter laugh. "Something happened alright, but I should be the one asking you 'what happened'."
A sinking feeling began in his chest. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, let's see," she spat angrily. "Five feet ten inches tall, long brown hair, and the ability to cause earthquakes; last seen destroying a massive, privately owned warehouse and participating in a pro-mutant sentiment that killed over four dozen people! Does that ring a bell, Lance?"
Lance's mouth dropped open in horror, and instantly the sinking feeling he felt turned to dread, and then to nausea. "Oh god, Kitty…"
"No, don't start that with me, mister," her voice cracked, and he just knew that she was starting to cry. He wanted to die every time that he made her cry. She sniffed. "How could you be so cruel and callous? I thought you changed!"
"Kitty, you don't understand," he whispered. "Please don't…"
"Please don't what?" she asked. "Please don't get mad at you for being a murderer?!"
"Kitty I'm not, I swear I…" he tried again, but was once more cut off.
"You are, Lance!" she shrieked through the receiver. "Fifty seven people died! Fifty seven innocent people lost their lives because you and your filthy hood friends decided to play God. How could you?"
He squeezed his eyes closed and gripped the phone harder. "I had no idea anyone was dead!"
"You did too! They had no problem giving your description to the police," she was sobbing now. The sound of the desperation and sadness in her voice nearly made him start trembling; he loathed himself for it. "It was you, Lance. They pointed you out. You can't sit there and lie to me and say that you had no part in their deaths!"
Lance finally opened his eyes and stared at the broken ceiling over his bed as her words processed through his mind. He was a killer. Those men had died, and he and the Brotherhood were responsible for it. The building was destroyed and each and every one of the soldiers in there had seemingly perished inside of it, save for a lucky few. They died. The mutant hating scum bags had gotten what was coming to them.
"Kitty, I don't think you understand," Lance finally found his voice.
"No, I don't think you understand, Avalanche!" she huffed. "Us being on opposite sides is hard enough to deal with. It was that way a few years ago, and we broke up because of it! I thought you changed after Apocalypse…I thought…"
Lance frowned. "That I was good enough for you finally?"
"I…" she trailed off quietly. "I never said that you weren't good enough for me."
His frown deepened, and this time he began to feel angry and self conscious. "You didn't have to! I know that you're constantly just waiting for me to screw up! And when I do, you don't even give me a damn chance, Kit." He took a deep breath and clenched a fist at his side. "How the hell do you even say that you love me?"
She let out another sob. "Because I do, okay? I don't even know why, but I do!"
'I don't even know why…' he let her words sink into his head, and once more he squeezed his eyes closed. "I don't know why you do either."
"Lance," she pleaded with him. "How do you expect me to feel? What you did was…I don't even know what to say! I know you, Lance…this isn't who you are."
Wasn't it? "Kitty, I don't even think you'd believe me if I even fucking tried," he whispered.
"Lance, I'm gonna go…I don't…" she trailed off and sighed. "I don't think I can talk to you right now."
Without another word, the rock tumbler hung up the phone and stared at the vile object in his hand. He couldn't even process a thought through is mind as he sat there feeling so empty and alone. His grip tightened around the black receiver, and in a fit of rage he flung himself from his bed and threw the phone into the door of his room. A loud cracking sound echoed through the empty space, and the pieces rained down onto the dirty floor of his sanctuary.
"Fuck!" he screamed, and swung his fist at his dresser. He was so upset he could no longer feel the injuries on his body, nor did he pay any attention to the yells and cries of his housemates for letting tremors go through the building.
He didn't care.
Tabitha kicked open the door in front of her and walked into the room with a wide smirk on her face. "Well now, I was not expecting a free show." A chiseled eyebrow perked as she let her eyes roam Pietro's body; he laid sprawled out on his bed with nothing on but a pair of boxers, and a pool of papers messed around him.
"Don't you knock?!" he yelped as he sprung up from his spot. "What do you want?"
She folded her arms and scoffed. "Like you don't know." She walked toward his bed and took in the mess. "Are you actually reading? I didn't know you had a brain under all that hair gel," she joked.
His eyes widened in panic as she grabbed at a few loose papers, and instantly he used his powers to attempt to clean the mess. It was predictable however, and she clutched the paper in her hand and turned away. "Where did you get this?"
He glared at her. "Give it back."
On the paper was information regarding Wolverine's clone, X-23. Tabby narrowed her eyes at the girl's vital statistics, and then gazed at the identification photo. What on Earth was he doing with a file on her? As far as Tabitha was concerned, all of the mutant files were supposed to be destroyed - Pietro had even claimed they were.
"What is this, Pietro?" she snapped again.
Finally he ripped it from her hand and tossed it on the floor next to them. "What the hell do you care?"
"I don't really," she rolled her eyes and grinned at him. "Question is why are you getting so worked up about it? You got something to hide, speedy?"
She scanned his face as a mixture of things flashed across his features. He was definitely up to something, and she wanted to know what it was! Pietro was always pretty arrogant, but in the time that Tabby had known him the two of them had grown close. It was usually pretty obvious to her when Pietro was up to something.
"I have nothing to hide," he smirked, as he sped to his dresser and dumped the contents of the file inside a drawer. "What if I said I was just scouting the enemy?"
"What if I said you were full of shit?" Tabby countered and folded her arms. "If that was the case, all you had to do was ask. I used to be one of them, remember?"
"What if I thought your information was useless?" he spat in a snotty tone, which didn't go at all unnoticed by her.
"Why would it be?" she put her hands on her hips and glared. "You think I'm so useless all of a sudden? Quit being such an immature jerk, Pietro!"
His lips twisted into a scowl. "Because you don't know what you're talking about, Tab! You're already twisting my words around."
"I am not!" she defended. "You insulted me!"
"No I didn't!" he barked back.
"You did too!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
He glared at her, and folded his arms. "Maybe you shouldn't barge into people's rooms when you're uninvited. Did you ever think about that?"
"I didn't know that I was suddenly uninvited in here," she scoffed. "Maybe you shouldn't give people the wrong idea that they are."
The two teens stared each other up for a few moments, neither being willing to back down first. Tabitha had no idea what was going on his head, or why he was suddenly acting so frosty toward her. She figured it had something to do with his little file folder he collected, and she hated that he wasn't being up front with her.
"Get out," he simply said. His face was stone cold.
And without another word, she turned on her heel and stormed out.
Lorna bit her lip as she walked the halls of the institute. After her awkward incident in the morning with Bobby, she had kept herself holed up in her room for most of the day. Lorna was not one of those girls that got over embarrassment easily. Instead, she was more of the crawl-into-a-hole-and-die type of person. Of course at the same time her mind was screaming at her that there wasn't anything at all to be embarrassed about; she liked Bobby a lot, and he was a nice boy.
But he wasn't even her boyfriend.
She frowned at that last thought, and then nearly jumped a foot in the air when she bumped into someone while turning the corner.
"Oh god! I'm so sorry; I didn't see you," she tucked a strand of green hair behind her ear and smiled at the boy in front of her.
"Like, hey Lorna dude!" Alex gave her a bright smile and put his hands on his hips. "I've been looking for you all day! Where have you been?"
She blushed at the day's activities and shrugged at him. "Oh, I've just been cleaning my room. My room mate is a little on the messy side."
"Who Siryn?" Alex laughed. "She's definitely a weird chick, dude."
Lorna frowned. "I said she was messy, I didn't say she wasn't my friend."
"Oh, sorry," the blonde boy scratched his head. "Say, how about we hang out today?"
"What did you want to do?" She questioned. "I have homework to do, so we can't do anything too late."
He smiled at her and gently grabbed her by the elbow to lead her back toward the stairs. "I was thinking that maybe we could go to the mall?"
She gave him a small smile. "I suppose we could do that. Maybe we should…"
"Young man, please get your little paws off of her," a booming voice made Lorna jump. When she spun around to see who it was, her father stood about ten feet behind her with his arms crossed over his chest and an angry look was plastered on his face. Alex jumped away from her so fast it looked like he had been burned.
"Uh, sorry, sir," Alex nervously raked his fingers through his hair. "Me and Lorna were just going to go…"
"You and Lorna will not be going anywhere," her father practically growled at him. "Now please be gone so I may have a word with her."
"Totally," Alex squeaked and practically ran to the stairs. Lorna had to bite a laugh back at that.
"What is it, father?"
The white haired man placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I summoned you earlier and you did not meet with me. Did something happen?"
She furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh, um, I never got your message."
He uncharacteristically rolled his eyes. "Never leave Iceman to do anything important," he muttered. "I will have to speak to him about that."
Lorna bit her lip and willed herself not to blush again. "Don't worry about that. I'm sure he had a good reason."
"I'm sure," he grumbled. "Now, I have something I need you to do for me."
"What is that?" she questioned him. She turned and followed him as they began walking toward the common room.
"I need extra mutants on my team," he stated with a wave of authority. "I'm not entirely impressed with any of the new recruits at this moment in time. I want you to come up to my roster."
Her eyes widened at that. "But father Sunspot, Multiple, Dazzler, and Chamber are all better with their powers than I am. Why don't you ask one of them first?" (1)
"Different reasons for each of them prevent me from doing so. I have faith in your abilities, Lorna. You are being self conscious, and there is no reason for you to feel that way. Now I demand that you stop that, and accept your membership, please." He turned to face her, and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. "We have been training for a few years now, and I know that you are capable."
"I know that, father," she sighed. "I've just never been on a real mission before; I don't even have a codename yet!"
Her father gave her an incredulous look. "That is hardly an excuse! You've been training in simulations throughout your time here and with me back at home. You are ready. Other mutants on the roster will be there to support you, as will I." He sighed and stared at her. "Your codename can come later."
She nodded gently. "Maybe can you help me pick one?"
He blinked. "I can see what I can come up with; although I don't expect you to want a name that isn't chosen by yourself." (2)
"I just want a cool one; all the other kids have one," she quipped sarcastically.
"Lorna, don't be foolish," her father scolded. "You are now a member of the main roster. Be aware that you now have a more rigorous training schedule, so be on time to the danger room session tomorrow morning."
"Yes father," she replied with an eye roll. She watched as he turned on his heel to leave.
"And one more thing, if I may," he stopped walking and looked at her. "Stay away from that damn Summers boy. He irritates me."
Lorna nearly burst out laughing. "Yes, sir."
Pietro nearly tripped on his own feet as he sped up the stairs of the Brotherhood boarding house and stopped at Lance's door. His father, Mystique, and a few others for that matter, had warned him before about drinking and using his powers, but that was hardly enough to deter the great Quicksilver.
He damn well knew he had smooth moves.
Gambit had come home with a few bottles of liquor that evening in an attempt to congratulate the team on completing the first mission. With Pietro's metabolism it didn't take him much to get tipsy, which was exactly why he was already stumbling over his feet after only three shots. However, Lance was the only member of the team who hadn't made an appearance since dinner, and Pietro in his curious state wanted to find him.
So he banged on the door as loud as he could.
"LANCE!"
"WHAT?!"
Pietro snickered at the angry tone and turned the doorknob. "What're you doing?"
"Fuck off, Pietro. I'm not in the mood." When Pietro got the door open all the way, he noticed Lance sitting on his bed and facing the wall. His shoulders were slumped and his hair spilled over his face. There were also the remnants of a few smashed items all over his floor. Something bad had happened by the look of it, and Pietro wasn't quite sure what.
"What's with the temper tantrum?" the speedster asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"I said fuck off! Do you need me to spell that out for you?" Lance still hadn't turned to face him.
"I'm sure I can figure it out," he joked. "Why don't you come downstairs?"
Lance turned and glared at him. His eyes were dark with anger, and his lips were twisted into a dangerous scowl. "Why the hell would I want to waste my time with you bozos?"
Pietro glared back at him and folded his arms. "You know, if you're going to be an asshole then I shouldn't invite you to do anything."
"Look," Lance raked a hand through his hair and sighed. "I'm just dealing with some shit right now and I'd like to be left alone. So if you don't mind, just…get the fuck out, or something."
"Well what happened?" Pietro, being his nosey self, sat on the edge of Lance's bed and stared at him. "You were fine this morning and not being any more of an ass than usual. Did your mommy call and yell at you or something?"
Lance fully turned and shoved Pietro off his bed and onto the floor. "You know better than to say shit about my fucking parents, Pie!"
Pietro grumbled and brushed off his pants. "Sorry! Touchy touchy," he mumbled. "Well then what the hell is it?"
"Nothing," Lance grumbled and turned back toward the wall. "Just forget it."
"Fine, whatever," Pietro was getting way too impatient to play the whiney emo game. "Look, I just came up here to tell you that we have a bunch of booze downstairs and you're more than welcome to come drown your PMS in it."
Lance perked an eyebrow, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face. "Hard liquor?"
Pietro nodded happily and stumbled a bit. "Yes!"
"You got any green, too?"
Pietro nodded again. "I am a man of service."
Lance jumped from his spot on the bed and practically ran out the door and down the stairs. Pietro looked around Lance's room and shrugged before once more speeding down the stairs and into the kitchen, passing Lance on his way by. When he got there, he noticed his sister trying to pour two drinks at the same time. He perked an eyebrow and grinned at her.
"What are you trying to do?"
She glared at him. "I'm pouring drinks."
"You're trashed," he pointed out. "And you just started too, you lush."
"Like you're one to talk!" she spat. Her tongue poked out of the side of her mouth as she concentrated at the task at hand. Pietro just watched her with curiosity.
"Why're you pouring two? You should probably only drink one at a time," he pointed out.
"I told John I would get him one while I was up," she muttered.
Pietro nearly burst out laughing. "You are so obvious, you know that?"
She turned to take a swing at him, but he easily dodged it. "I'm not anything!" she yelled at him. "Leave me alone."
He grinned. "No, you like him. Lord knows why you would like that psychotic freak. He's not even that pretty. And he's annoying and has a weird laugh, and says words that don't even make any sense."
"He does not!" Wanda protested, spilling half her drink on the floor before glaring again. "He's more tolerable than you are…like that's even hard, but still."
Pietro grinned and snatched the bottle from her quickly so that he could pour his own drink. "You actually blushed at him. I saw it, and you hex everyone that says something mean to him. Shit, Wanda, if anyone doesn't know it's probably only him because he's so dumb. You're so obvious."
"Shut up."
"Obvious and oblivious…that sounds good together!" He laughed as she once again tried to hit him.
"When will you leave me alone?" she snapped at him. "Why do you care anyways? You've slept with half the phone book, but I don't say shit to you."
Pietro rolled his eyes. "You call me a slut all the time. And besides, you don't like anyone, so it's just funny when you act all wussy and girly!"
"I do not!" her hand glowed an eerie shade of blue and she gestured it in his direction. However, in her drunken state the hex bolt was well off target and hit the toaster - which caused it to start jumping around on the counter. "Oops."
Pietro sped away from the possessed appliance and stared at her. "Just admit it."
"No."
"I'll keep bugging you until you do."
"I'll kill you in your sleep."
He rolled his eyes. "How loving of you."
"I don't love anyone!" she seethed.
"Except Pyro," Pietro teased.
She grabbed her drinks and turned to leave the kitchen. "You need to lay off the drugs."
He sped in front of her and blocked her way out. "And you need to lay off the hostility and just admit for once that you're a normal human being."
She glared at him. "What do you want me to say, huh?"
"Just admit that you like him!" he urged her.
"…" her face never faltered, but the look in her eyes gave her away.
"I'll take that as a yes," Pietro grinned triumphantly and stepped out of her way.
"You tell anyone anything and I'll rip your eyes out and shove them up your ass." She then stormed away from him, leaving him alone to ponder her words.
"That…would probably hurt a lot," the speedster muttered, and left to join her in the living room.
Mystique pinched the bridge of her nose tightly. The banging and loud music from upstairs was putting a rather large damper on her concentration, and she was about ten seconds from going upstairs and shoving her gun up the ass of the closest idiot she could grab.
Since the early hours of the morning, she had cooped herself up in her personal basement headquarters going over all of the startling information that had been discovered in the information packages brought home from the mission. She had completely expected hidden agendas and plans to overthrow mutant rights. In fact, such things as a proposed registration act did not surprise her.
But their plans did not end there.
The plans of the FOH were much more cruel and dangerous than she could begin to imagine. They had a list of every known mutant on the planet. In fact, Mystique wondered to herself if even Xavier knew of the whereabouts of a number of them. She herself had no idea that so many of them existed; the fact that an anti-mutant organization knowing these numbers just scared her. And not only did these people know names, locations, and details about their abilities, they also had each mutant separated by classifications - everything from Omega level to the lowly Epsilon-Delta.
On the surface, the FOH made it a point to publicly support particular Bills, registrations, affidavits…but hidden underneath it all was a sinister plan to destroy their race. She found blueprints and sketches of Sentinel building plans and models, as well as more high tech and extreme versions of the robots. Plans for experiments and imprisonments were set, as well as what looked to be an actual virus.
A virus that was actually developed to attack the mutant X-gene.
The details were blurry to her at best; Raven was in no way a doctor or a scientist of any kind, so the medical terms and scientific formulas were nearly foreign to her. The only thing that she gathered was that this virus was planned to be released, and that it would lessen the number of mutant gene holders drastically.
And unfortunately for her, she needed another opinion. She could go to her old friend and lover Irene for a brief synopsis on the disease's affects in the future, but she would have to speak with a doctor or scientist of some sort on details - because without details, she would not know a sure fire way to stop it.
She set the folder down and stared absently at the scans of DNA follicles and blood samples.
She would have to bring her team to the X-Mansion and speak with him. As badly as she wanted to go on without his help, he was the only person that she knew who would be able to explain this to her and study it further - and hopefully he would come to his senses and stand where she knew he belonged.
If not, the war was about to get much more difficult.
John took a long drag from his cigarette as he watched Toad dance about in the middle of the room like an idiot. The pyromaniac exhaled a large puff of smoke and cracked a grin. "Say, mate, why don't ya show me that again?"
"This is not funny," Wanda complained from the other end of the couch. "Stop it, you rancid reptile!"
"This's jus' my way of showin' ya my undying devotion for you, poopsie!" Todd hiccupped and spun on his heel, swaying his hips to music only he could hear. John nearly died from laughing at the sight.
"Toad if you don't stop singing, I'm going to hurt you!" the witch snapped. However, that just made John laugh even harder. All night Toad had been singing any sappy radio ballad he could think of, and Wanda would try and hex him…and her drunken hex bolts would miss and hit someone else or screw something up. Earlier Pietro and Lance had been playing a game guessing what would come out of each hex bolt. Her hexes - especially when drunk - were so unpredictable that John figured even she didn't know the outcome of each one, and Lance and Pietro nearly died of laughter each time she let one go.
And that abruptly ended when Fred's pants fell down. Lance drank the rest of the bottle and went and passed out, and Remy went to go sit in the kitchen to drink by himself. Fred, sober and completely embarrassed, wandered off to his room, which left only Tabby, Todd, Pietro, Wanda, and John to finish the night off.
Pietro and Tabitha had busied themselves with random apologies and making out, and John wasn't entirely interested in speaking with either of them anyhow. So for the past half hour, he had been left to be entertained by the Toad and witch, and he would be lying if he said that he wasn't having fun.
"Get outta my dreams!" Todd thrusted his hips drunkenly. "Get into my car! Get outta my dream, get into my back seat!"
John wiped at his tearing eyes furiously as he laughed. "You're singing it wrong, mate!"
"Don't encourage him!" Wanda shrieked.
Todd stumbled and fell to the floor. "Smooth operator…touch my bumper!"
"God, you're…argh!" Wanda buried her head into the pillows. "I give up!" John let out a loud snort and clutched his stomach as he fell into a fit of giggles.
Todd stood back up and spun around in a couple of random circles. "Make it real like a roadrunner…I'm…coming…after you!" he stopped abruptly and gave Wanda a strange look before his long, dark green tongue shot out of his mouth and slapped her right in the ass. The witch was so stunned that she fell off the couch in a heap and growled. John's eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he momentarily feared Todd's life. John looked up at the green skinned mutant and cocked his head to the side as the boy incoherently swayed on his feet.
"Though it's cold and lonely in the deep dark night…!" he let out a violent hiccup. "I could seeeee paradise by tha dashboard light!" Wanda got to her feet and limped violently toward the younger boy, but before she could reach him, he randomly attempted a black flip and landed promptly on his face and threw up.
"Okay, that was…" Wanda nudged him in the head with her shoe. "Oh, that's gross!"
John bit back a violent urge to laugh, and cleared his throat. "Uh…is he passed out?"
"What happened?" Tabitha suddenly asked after finally pulling her face away from Pietro.
Pietro stood from his spot on the chair and approached Todd. "Hey, Froggy!"
Todd's eyes rolled around in his head as he lifted it from the floor. "I gotta know right now! Before we go any further do you love me?!" his head swayed dangerously as he sang a new song.
"Let me sleep on it," Pietro joked before grabbing the boy by the arm and speeding off toward the stairs, and not two seconds later came back for Tabitha and brought her up as well. Wanda stood dumbfounded in the middle of the room for a few seconds before she turned to him. (3)
"What the fuck just happened?"
He couldn't hold it in anymore; he fell over onto the couch and laughed so hard that he cried. "Billy Ocean! And Meatloaf!" he clutched his sides and pressed his face into the couch. "Oh, I didn't think the bloke had it in 'im!"
"How do you find this funny? He's a perverted little twerp!" Wanda scowled and limped back to the couch.
"Ya have ta admit, Sheila, he's got a lot of heart," John grinned at her, and moved over to let her sit down.
"Yeah, heart that he should give to someone else," she scowled and folded her arms.
John shifted himself so that he was looking at her directly. "Does it really bother ya that much, love?"
She refused to meet his gaze. "Why wouldn't it? Do you know what precautions I have to take just get changed in my room?"
"Maybe if ya just flash 'im a little bit he'll leave ya alone," John winked at her as he joked, which only caused her to scowl. He figured he was entering dangerous territory with her, but in his drunken state he couldn't stop the words from rolling off his tongue.
"Why on Earth would I do that?!" she shrieked at him. "That's like inviting him to molest me."
John grinned and flopped lazily over the arm of the couch. "Who can blame 'im then?"
"Excuse me!" she screamed, and soon he felt the painful sensation of a hex bolt as he flew roughly to the floor and was attacked violently by the bean bag chair. He laughed maniacally as the piece of furniture ripped open and showered him with its insides. "I can't believe you just said that!"
He shook his hair to free the caught beans and grinned. "What did I say again?"
"Don't you dare make me repeat it!" she hissed.
"I'd never dare try it, love," he laughed and stumbled to his feet. "Am I allowed back on the couch?"
She gave him a suspicious look, but moved back over nonetheless. "Fine. But all conversation about that disgusting vermin ends now."
"Aw, we can't even talk 'bout his Ricky Martin impression?" John sulked and flopped down next to her. "He had that sexy Latino hip grind down pat!"
Wanda visibly shuddered and smacked him with a pillow. "That's so gross. There is nothing sexy about him."
He grinned at the glazed over look in her eyes. "Not even that tongue? He was all the way on the other side of the room and he gotcha!"
Wanda folded her arms. "He's slimy."
"Aw come on, ya can't tell me that ya've never thought about it once?" he shifted himself on the couch so that he was fully facing her. "I mean, that's gotta be one major plus about hookin' up with a mutant!" he grinned at his thoughts and looked at her unimpressed face. "Not even once?"
"Why would I care? I have the power to do whatever I want!" she huffed again, and he couldn't help but grin at her reddening cheeks.
"Well, now that's just interestin'. Care to demonstrate?" he threw his hands up again to save himself from getting slapped. His mouth was definitely working against him tonight.
"You have a lot of guts," Wanda spat. "Obviously more of them than brains."
"Ah," John rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I've been told, but ya know that's never bothered me so much. Unless it was my Grandmamma sayin' it."
The sides of her mouth quirked up slightly. "Grandmamma?"
John grinned. "Yeah, I used ta live with her back in Sydney."
She shifted and frowned. "Don't you ever want to go back there?"
He shrugged. "Maybe someday. There really isn't anythin' there for me except cops. I'd probably just get arrested if I went back."
"Why?" she asked. She wasn't smiling, nor frowning; she just looked indifferent.
"I was in jail when I left," he explained casually. "Actually, I'm still supposed to be there right now! Until I'm twenty-one, actually. That was why I was workin' for yer dad there. He busted me out and took down a bunch of coppers in the process."
"Huh," she bit her lip, and looked to be in thought. John had a guilty thought about the memory wipe, and wondered briefly just how much Wanda actually did know about her father's past activities. He decided to drop the subject.
"Anyhow, it's really hot there anyways! So playin' wit' fire is kinda dangerous because things catch a lot easier."
She gave him a deadpanned look. "You control fire. It doesn't matter how big it gets, remember?"
He grinned. "But the bigger the better."
"So they say," she mumbled and leaned back on the couch. "But even if you're in trouble, don't you ever miss home? Or your grandma?"
John ruffled his hair and forced a tight smile. "Like I said, not much to miss. My Grandmamma died while I was in jail."
She frowned. "Sorry. What about your parents? Do you have any siblings?"
"Ya didn't know, and no none," John shifted again. "Although I wouldn't want a siblin' if there anythin' like some of the ones I've seen."
She snorted. "Yeah, they're overrated," she paused. "I always wanted to go back to where I came from."
He perked an eyebrow at her; he was surprised she seemed willing to open up to him about something from her past. "Yeah? Where's that?"
She leaned against the couch arm and maneuvered herself so that she was curled against it. "Europe…Transia to be exact. I was just born there though, we moved to America when I was really too young to remember much."
John smiled. "I figured ya would be a pure blooded New Yorker. Ya certainly come across that way."
She gave him a look and lifted her foot to kick him. "Thanks for the compliment," she joked.
He caught her foot with his hand. "Attitude isn't necessarily a bad thing, you know."
"Give me my foot back."
"Does it still hurt?" he questioned quietly as he inspected her Halloween themed socks.
He lifted his gaze to meet her eyes, and saw something flash in them. "Does what still hurt?" she asked.
"Yer foot…leg?" he quirked an eyebrow and set the foot down gently on his lap.
She shrugged and managed a small smile. "A little. I kinda forgot about it for awhile there though."
He blinked. "I'm sorry, ya know."
She watched him. "You don't need to be. You did what you had to do to get us out of there."
He rubbed a small circle on the top of her foot with his thumb. "I know that I get a little crazy sometimes when I fight, but I never meant to hurt ya at all. I just wanted ya to know that."
She looked to be holding back a laugh. "Wow, words I never expected out of your mouth."
He frowned. "Because I'm bein' serious, maybe?"
Her laughing smile was replaced with a genuine one - which was rare coming from her. "I know."
John moved his arm up when Wanda placed her other leg across his lap as well. He smirked and looked at her. "That was a pretty cool fire though."
She nodded. "The explosion was better."
He let out a laugh. "Now we're talkin'."
(1) Dazzler, Siryn, and Chamber were randomly thrown in there as names for the current roster of new recruits at the institute. They're all canon characters from the comic-verse. Don't worry too much about the new recruits though because any appearances or mentions of them will be minimal and unimportant.
(2) Lorna didn't even pick her own name in the comics, lol, so I guess she wouldn't mind
(3) Toad was singing "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into my Car" by Billy Ocean, and then the lyrics to "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" were sung…and then jokingly finished by Toad and Pietro. Both are recommended listening if you are in a silly mood. :)
(-) John's only ever known relative in any 'verse was his grandmother. Besides being uninterested in his powers as a teen in the comics (which is something we can't say for his evo counterpart, LOL) nothing else is known about his childhood.
A/N: Oi, this is what happens when Kristen listens to Meatloaf and Beastie Boys when she writes. Hehehe. Next chapter Mystique takes the boys - and the girls - to Xavier's to figure out more about this virus being developed. Confrontations take place between Romy, Lancitty, Xietro, and more Jonda! Anyhow, this is it for chapter 11, please review!