The Boy Who Destroyed the World
an original X-Men Movieverse fan fiction
written by: jennifer s. a.k.a. assassinelektra
Disclaimer:
I do not own the X-Men movies or comics, or their characters. This is a fan fiction story meant only for the enjoyment of myself and other X-Men fans.
Title: The Boy Who Destroyed the World
Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance, Angst
Setting: Right after X-Men 3: The Last Stand
Pairing: John/Kitty
Rating: Teen
Author's Note: There are definitely X3 spoilers. And yeah, I ship Kitty/Peter, but this idea occurred to me after seeing the movie. Plus I don't want Pyro dead…I imagine this will be a short fic though.
"Once there was boy who had vibrant glow, but as it goes, someone took it from him."
AFI "The Boy Who Destroyed the World"
"Fire, water and government know nothing of mercy."
Unknown
Chapter 14
John glanced up as the guy with wings walked into the room. "Boy, everyone wants to pay the prisoner a visit today." He said sarcastically.
Warren looked at the Vision, not phased by his strange appearance at all. "Your wife called." The emotionless guard suddenly looked concerned. "They uh, they asked me to watch him. I guess everyone else is busy." He explained.
Vision nodded. "Thank you." And having said only that, he walked through the wall, leaving Warren with a near stranger.
He'd only heard bits and parts of John's story, but it was enough to let him know that the mutant he now watched guard over, did pose a threat. So, he kept his eyes on him as he walked over and sat down on the couch. Wings folded carefully so as to not lose any feathers, Warren sighed. This was on his list of things he really didn't want to deal with right now.
"Everyone's busy doing what?" John asked, sitting up. He'd been lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, completely ignoring anything else until now. Because if the others were all busy doing something, and he was stuck here in this fucking room, he at least wanted to know what he was missing out on.
"They're looking for the Senator Trask." Was Warren's simple answer.
John thought for a moment, then looked up from his lighter. "So, you really fly?"
"No." Warren said, and John raised an eyebrow. "The wings just make me look pretty." Warren added sarcastically.
"Okay, a bit touchy about." John concluded, smirking. He loved finding the right nerves to mess with when he first met people. If he knew how to get them angry, he could easily find their weakness as well.
"So, you really betray them?" Warren asked, and it was John's turn to not like the direction their conversation was going in.
"I didn't…I just…" He sighed and flicked his lighter open. He had tried to kill them all. More than once. And he'd almost succeeded. But time changed a person, and now the only one he really wanted to kill anymore was Bobby. Oh and maybe Jubilee too. But other than that, John wasn't going to attack anyone like before.
"How come you're not with them?" John asked, suddenly realizing that this guy had seemed like a part of the team but had been left behind after all.
Warren shrugged casually. "I guess they still don't trust me."
"Why?" John was curious. This guy seemed—in every sense of the word—to be an angel, so why would the self-righteous X-Men not welcome him into their fold? He pondered that as he continued to flick his lighter open and closed.
"My father invented the cure." John stopped flicking his lighter, just froze completely when Warren gave him that answer.
The cure. The damn thing that had paralyzed him for weeks, had gotten him nearly beaten to death, had forced him to find refuge with Kitty—who didn't deserve all the baggage that came from helping him. The damn fucking cure that was the cause of the Virus.
John's eyes shifted as he looked up at Warren, who, oddly enough, seemed unafraid of him. "Worthington." He concluded bitterly. Warren merely nodded in acknowledgement that, yeah, that was who he was.
"You're the reason, aren't you?" John asked. "Daddy couldn't handle his kid flying around like a fairy, so he came up with something that would destroy all of us."
"He didn't alter it into the Virus." Warren said quickly, his tone changing from casual to almost dangerous. "He didn't want to hurt anyone."
"Well he fucking did!" John screamed, standing up. "He tore peoples' lives apart! And now…" John shook his head, "Now even more of us are dying, and it all started with you!"
"Sit back down." Warren said, standing up. His tone wasn't demanded, but it wasn't a request either.
"No!" John flicked his lighter open. "No, you're the reason for all of this!" The reason I have to watch her die a little each time she looks at the damn Russian. "You ruined my life, you know that?" Because now I actually care about something that won't burn when you touch it. "You fucking ruined everything!"
"Sit down." Warren said, eyes narrowing as he gave John a warning look. And when John decided to ignore him and flick his lighter on, Warren grabbed him and threw him across the room with unnatural strength.
"The wings come with other surprises." Warren said, giving John an amused grin when he saw the way he reacted in shock. "Don't tempt me to prove it anymore." He honestly didn't want to hurt John. Whatever he'd done in the past had nothing to do with Warren, so what the hell did he care?
XXXXXXXX
The X- suit could make her look brave and confident, but it didn't mean that Kitty really was. Her mind was being torn apart from every direction it seemed. Bobby had been unusually quiet, had ignored her when she asked him what had happened with John. And not only that, he seemed uncomfortable around her now. It was odd, and it bothered her.
She was worried about Peter. Kitty had already called his sister and told her to make arrangements to get to the US in the next week. She hated it, but she wanted the girl to be able to say goodbye at least.
And John? He was confusing her so much she didn't even want to try and figure him out anymore. One minute he was cold and indifferent, and the next he was giving her the comfort she needed. Hot and cold, on and off. He kept switching. And the only consistency she could find was that he reacted when she was feeling something.
"You okay?" Kitty awoke from her thoughts and glanced at Rogue.
"Fine." She lied, giving her friend a smile.
"I know ya want to believe tha' he's changed." Rogue started, and there was no need for an explanation as to who 'he' was. "But the thing is, he never does. He just tears at the people who care about him until they can't take it anymore. And then he leaves." She was a bit bitter, even Kitty could see that. And it made sense. She and Bobby had spent the most time with John before he'd left. She didn't know if they had really ever been friends, but there was a certain aspect to their time together that she was sure made it at least close to being friends.
Kitty wanted to argue, but there was some truth to her friend's words. Of course, only she knew the reason he probably did try to ruin people—self preservation. John just didn't know how to care and be able to handle it. The concept of giving a damn, really caring, was completely foreign to him. And he saw it as a weakness, so he fought against it.
"So just," Rogue hesitated, then finished quietly so that Bobby couldn't hear, "Don't get too attached."
Too late. Kitty thought, glancing out the window.
Luckily, they were landing, so Kitty didn't have to keep up her conversation with Rogue. She wasn't sure what she would have done if they had kept talking. She didn't like the conclusions her mind was coming to. Or maybe she did like them, and that right there was the actual problem in all of it.
"Okay, this is a simple meeting." Storm was explaining once they had landed, as Logan stood at the side casually, rolling his eyes about what she was saying. "We're not here to fight."
"Then why did you bring us along?" Bobby asked. They younger X-Men all looked up, waiting for an answer.
"Because we're a team." There was no hesitation in Storm's reply. She had been waiting for one of them to ask that question. "We can fight well together—we saw that at Alcatraz." The look on Logan's face changed as dramatically as the feeling in the room did.
The X-Jet was small enough already, but bringing up Alcatraz made Logan feel like he was stuffed into a tiny, dark box with no way out. Everyone had tried so carefully to not talk about it since it had happened, but they had all known that eventually it would come up again. Storm noticed his reaction and made a mental not to apologize later. But right now, she needed to give them a little pep talk to get the younger X-Men ready for what they were about to do.
"Senator Trask has made his opinion of mutants known more than once, and it's anything but positive." Storm told them. "But I think, if we speak to him calmly, he may be willing to make some sort of deal and call these Sentinels off." Logan scoffed at that, earning him a side glanced glare from Storm.
"Again, isn't this something you and Logan could have done?" Bobby asked. Rogue glanced at her boyfriend, wondering why he was so hesitant to do this.
"Yes." Storm answered. "But it's better coming from the X-Men." In days gone by they would have simply had the Professor or Dr. Grey deal with the politics, because they were both much better at it. But those days were gone now, and they had to deal with it without the two people who had always helped the most in this area.
"Okay." Bobby said in reply. "Let's go." He stood up, and Kitty glanced at him.
Bobby always looked so professional in his X-suit, as did the others. And there was a certain feeling that wearing the suit gave you—like you really were part of a team that made a difference. The only one who ever seemed uncomfortable in it was Logan—who usually preferred more 'rugged' clothes. But even he looked incredible in it.
But Kitty felt so small that even wearing the suit didn't make a difference. She was afraid, and if someone had asked her she would have not hesitated in admitting it. Kitty Pryde was afraid that when they got back to the mansion, she'd get the news that Peter had died. The idea of leaving him behind for even only a few hours had caused such anxiety at first that Storm had had to take the girl aside and explain why she needed to go with them.
"He'll be fine." Storm told Kitty, wrapping an arm around her. It was as if the other woman could read her thoughts sometimes.
"We won't be here long, right?" Kitty asked.
Logan's ears perked up on the despair in the girl's voice and he immediately wished they hadn't brought the kids along. They were X-Men, yes, but they were still just kids. And he hated how they had to forget that fact sometimes just to survive.
"Yes." Storm said, in answer to Kitty's question. Though when Logan caught her eye, Storm seemed a bit unsure herself. And that was never a good sign.
The Senator made them wait in the lobby for a good 30 minutes. And right when Logan was about to kick down his door and demand some time, his secretary let them in. The rest of them took the seats offered, but Logan stood, glaring at the other man—who had yet to look up from his paperwork and acknowledge their presence.
But Logan had promised to let Storm do the talking. And he knew there would be hell to pay if he broke that promise. Rogue looked at Logan, as if to ask why he hadn't done anything yet, and then she glanced back at the Senator when he spoke.
"I'm sorry about the school." He said, but there was no regret in his voice. He didn't really care, and they could tell.
"Senator, we…"
He finally looked up at them, and Storm paused. "I know why you're here." He glanced at them each in turn, recognizing them from files he'd seen, making mental notes of what their individual abilities were. Then he looked down at his papers again.
"Then you'll understand that we…"
"I made them for a reason." He said, interrupting her again. Logan was getting furious. "And it, honestly, wasn't this." Everyone waited for the Senators explanation. "I programmed them to locate mutants, gather the dangerous ones, those few," You could tell in the way he said it that he believed there were a great deal more, "who pose a threat to humanity."
Studying the Senator's face, Kitty noticed the dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he had aged before his time, like he was exhausted completely. She had seen him in interviews on the news only weeks before where he'd looked years younger. And he seemed worried, almost as worried as they were. She wondered what he had to be worried about.
"Their programming, it…it was supposed to be flawless." Trask continued to explain, and suddenly Kitty knew what he was going to say. "But they're machines." He looked angry now, thinking on what they had done. "Their interpretation of which mutants are evil is completely merciless."
"They see all mutants as threats." Kitty concluded, her technological mind putting two and two together. "They think they're following their programming by getting rid of us all."
"Yes." The Senator agreed, looking a little impressed with her conclusion. And then the worry returned as he continued, "Their thought process is unchangeable, absolute. The idea of an exception to the rule doesn't even exist for them."
"So, you're saying that they're out of control?" Logan asked. "That you let these things walk around like this?"
"I didn't plan on it turning out this way." The Senator argued, though his voice sounded tired rather than angry. "I…I don't know how to stop them."
"If the next words out of your mouth are 'can you help me' I swear…" Storm placed a hand on Logan's chest to keep him from lunging at the Senator. She turned her attention back to Trask.
"There has to be a weakness you programmed into them." Storm told him. "Anything, however small it is."
Kitty, whose mind had been racing with the possible outcomes of the situation now that she had more detail, spoke up then. "They're going to go after humans eventually." She announced. "They'll conclude that humanity is a threat to itself. We have to stop them." She looked at Storm and Logan. Bobby and Rogue stayed quiet, also looking to their mentors.
"This isn't like anything we've faced before." Storm pointed out. "These things have no hesitation in the violence. There's no possibility of talking them out of it."
"Guess we'll have to kick some metal ass then." Logan concluded, a slight grin crossing his face at the idea. He preferred a good old fight to the usual attempted 'negotiations' the X-Men always tried anyway. The Wolverine wanted to taste some violence, and with something emotionless and not truly alive, he was free to destroy completely. No hesitation when it wasn't really a person.
"The President has asked me to ask you…" Trask glanced at Logan a bit nervously, "For your help."
Help them? Help the very people who had designed these things with the thought of controlling the mutant population according to who they decided was dangerous? Help the people who had first created the cure, then altered it to kill? Why was it that these people were always fucking with their lives then asking them to clean up the mess? Logan almost walked right out of the room.
"Okay." Storm said quietly, and Rogue looked horrified. Logan carefully masked his face to not show emotion, and Bobby and Kitty just looked at Storm in shock. "But you need to promise us, that the government will put at least half of their funding into finding a cure for the Legacy Virus."
The mood shifted yet again as Trask's eyes narrowed. They were in no position to make demands, in his eyes, and this made him furious. "The government was not responsible for the Legacy Virus, and we're trying our best to find out who was."
"Really?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow. "So you've got everyone you have out there tracking down who turned the damn 'cure' into a killer?" He yelled, and Kitty flinched. "Because there are kids dying from this!" Logan slammed his fist down on Trask's desk, and it cracked a little.
Storm took a step forward, and Logan backed off, still frustrated but now in control of himself again. "You help us, and we help you." Storm told the Senator, her voice cool and professional compared to the outburst that had just occurred.
"Fine." Trask finally agreed.
"I want it on paper." Storm told him. "I'll have Dr. McCoy by to review it in a few hours, and after it's signed you get Dr. Moira Mac Taggart whoever she wants on her team and whatever she needs."
XXXXXXXX
Kitty walked through the door and Warren jumped in surprise. He actually hadn't known she could do that, which amused John. And John was more than happy to see Kitty there, because it meant that the fucking fairy didn't have to stick around anymore and baby-sit him.
She nodded to Warren that it was okay for him to leave, and he did, locking the door behind him. Kitty looked at John, and her face said it all.
"Didn't go so well, eh?" He asked her, and he was almost worried about what her answer would be.
"Humanity's not ready for true, evolving artificial intelligence." Was her confusing-as-hell answer.
"Kitty, what the hell are you talking about?" John asked, standing up and walking over to where she stood.
She looked at the floor, thought about just phasing down and through it, deep down into the ground where she wouldn't have to deal with anyone or anything but the dirt. But that thought passed as she looked up at John. "They misinterpreted their purpose. They weren't built to destroy us." She explained. "And now they want our help to stop them."
"Who wants our help to stop who?" He asked her, completely confused by the way she was saying things.
"The government!" She snapped, getting frustrated. "They want us to stop them!"
"Okay." John said, a little surprised by her anger. "And like the good little X-Men you are, you all agreed to, didn't you?" She looked up at him, the look on her face softened quiet a bit considering she'd just yelled at him. John scoffed in disbelief. "I can't believe it."
"John, we can't just let these things run wild!" Kitty argued.
"Don't you think I fucking know that?" He demanded, matching her raised voice. "But to agree to do it for the very people who caused it! How can you people keep doing this?"
" 'You people?'" Kitty asked in disgust. "What's that supposed to mean?" She folded her arms, waiting for an answer.
"Oh come on, Kitten!" John told her, sighing. "You know I'm not one of you. I'll never be a fucking X-Man, and I'm damn glad." He was glad. Who wanted to prance around in a black suit pretending to be the good guys when everyone hated them and saw them as the villains?
Kitty took a shaky step backwards, backing away from him. She stood there, looking at him in disbelief. She wasn't just appalled, she was hurt. This broke her heart almost as much as watching Peter slowly fade away. She had honestly thought that John was her friend, and now…
He laughed quietly. "Wait, you thought I'd what? Join the team? Fight evil at your side?" John knew he was being an ass, but he just couldn't help himself. "Did you think you could change me?"
"John, I didn't…I just…" Kitty felt tears forming in her eyes. They stung. They weren't her normal tears, the sad little reminders that she was still just a kid. These were tears of utter pain and confusion, tears that screamed she felt betrayed. "I thought maybe…" The words caught in her throat.
"What?" John asked, nearly whispering. He wanted her to finish what she'd been saying. He wanted to know what she had thought would happen. What she had thought would happen with him, or her, or them. He wanted to know, and he hated himself for it.