Peter had to admit, Emma had delivered. Ever since she had offered her partnership their funds had increased exponentially. Their hideouts became better, their equipment more modern. They had two computers now, which meant more ways to read the floppy disks that they captured. That was good. He liked lounging around houses that he once would have stolen from, liked driving cars that had some speed to them.
However, he could tell that things were changing. Astra was becoming increasingly angry, not that she had ever been easy to live with. Peter had decided to leave her alone all together. These days even a wrong look could set her off.
He'd thought he'd heard her crying in one of the rooms once, which had given him a kind of mean pleasure. It had also surprised him: he hadn't thought that she cared enough about anything enough to get upset. He'd later heard that she'd dislocated her shoulder in an unsuccessful mission. That had made him grin.
They'd also gotten a new face in the Brotherhood. Domino was three years older than them. She was also the first obvious mutant he'd ever seen, even though he knew that probably sounded a little harsh. Her skin was as white as a sheet of paper and a single black circle blotted one of her eyes. Magneto had apparently heard about her existence from Emma and gone down to recruit her.
She'd also brought something new to the Brotherhood: weapons. Emma had been generously funding them, which allowed them to buy the latest weapons from the market. He'd always loved the plastic explosives they used to destroy some of the vaults. Now they were practically rolling in it.
The guns were different. They were swimming in them too, as well as ammunition. On any one mission he could go out armed with a revolver, a machine gun, and a grenade launcher. Well, the grenade launcher was being reserved for special occasions. Not that he wanted to use it.
He wasn't complaining about the weapons they were getting. Not exactly. He was just getting uncomfortable with them. He'd never needed a gun before, and they just hadn't really factored into his thinking. Guns were things that he took from guards, things that he hid or destroyed. They weren't something he used.
He'd been trained in firearms in the past, but that had been different. Ink had taught him how to use some basic sidearms in case he ever had to take one from a guard or a soldier. Ink had been a soldier at one point, and he had been an excellent shot.
The semi-automatic handgun was a different matter entirely. He looked at it distastefully.
"Why do I have to learn to use one of these things?" he asked.
Domino smiled at him, her black lips revealing teeth as white as her skin. It was a weird effect, but she was kind of hot. Not on Emma's level, but a good runner-up certainly. Besides, she could shoot guns.
And she was there. That was a good plus.
"Because Magneto said it would be a good idea," she said, "Now, face forward. I don't think you're paying enough attention."
She grabbed the back of his head and jerked his head forward.
"Can't keep your hands off me, huh?" he asked.
She smirked.
"You need better pick-up lines," Domino said.
"Hey, who said it was a pick-up line?" he asked.
Still smirking she rolled her eyes. Peter wanted to say something else, but she pulled out the gun at her side. There were five loud bangs, and Peter saw that the resulting bullet holes formed an 'X' in the middle of the target.
After all the practicing he'd done, it was a little annoying to train alongside someone whose mutation was that they never missed.
"I'll go out with you when you can hit all of those marks," she said, "Not a second before."
Peter looked at his past targets, the sloppy patterns he'd created over the last hour.
"You know, you could've just said no," he said.
"I think this illustrates my point better," Domino said.
She threw one of her hands over her shoulder when she walked towards the door.
"Oh, and with smartass lines like that, get used to girls blowing you off," Domino said.
On her way out she passed by Wanda. Domino bumped her shoulder.
"Teach your brother how to talk to girls," she said, "He sucks ass at it."
"Oh, and I bet you're great at talking to guys!" he called after her.
"My husband thought so," she said.
Peter made a face.
"What?" he yelled.
"You heard me."
Domino rounded a corner and Wanda walked next to him.
"Geez, can you imagine being married at our age?" Peter said, "Crazy shit."
"No crazier than what we do every day," Wanda said.
She picked up a handgun from the table and aimed it. She cocked it back and forth before surrounding it with red light and making it vanish.
"Where'd you put it?" he asked.
"Somewhere," Wanda shrugged, "It doesn't matter."
She crossed her arms.
"Quicksilver, does it feel like this is all escalating a little bit?" she asked.
His own earlier thoughts flashed through his head. He put the semi-automatic down.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean, well, ever since Emma stepped into the picture, we've been better funded," Wanda said, "But I think that the weapons are a sign that she wants us to, I don't know, start a revolution or something."
"Duh, that's what we've always been trying to do," Peter said.
"Well, yes, but before we seemed a little less focused on killing people," said Wanda, "I mean, four years ago when we first came here, did you think that we would be trained like this?"
"I didn't think a lot of things four years ago," Peter said, "Not important."
His sister sighed and hopped up on the countertop. She began swinging her feet absently. Peter noted that she was still wearing her favorite red boots. She hadn't grown out of them since they had joined the Brotherhood and, for all of their impracticality, she really seemed to love them.
She'd been so easy to please when he'd gotten her those. Ever since they'd left Lorna behind she had gone through these really weird gloomy periods. They never lasted long, but they were starting to get annoying.
"When was the last time we had fun?" asked Wanda.
"Don't know what you mean," Peter said, "I have fun all the time."
"Real fun," snapped Wanda.
"Again, I do that all the time."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Fun that doesn't involve hurting people," said Wanda.
"You make me sound like a masochist," Peter said.
Wanda wrinkled her nose.
"Okay, so maybe I think it's funny when some asshole falls flat on his face," he said, "That's not masochism. Not really."
"Whatever you call it," Wanda mumbled, "I just...when was the last time we had fun that was meant to be fun?"
Peter frowned. He knew what his sister was asking, and he didn't like answering.
"I think it was when we went to that fair with Lorna," he said.
Wanda nodded and looked down.
"Quicksilver, when we left her-" she said.
"We didn't leave her," Peter said, "We're coming back for her, aren't we?"
"Yes, we are," said Wanda, "I mean, I just think that we might have left behind having a life outside of missions."
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Scarlet, let's get one thing straight," he said, "Do you regret leaving Lorna behind?"
"Don't be stupid," Wanda said, "She couldn't stay with us: especially not with what we're doing now."
"So, you're saying the reason that we left her behind was the reason why we should have her with us?" asked Peter.
Wanda stopped, thinking back over her words.
"That wasn't what I meant," she said.
"It sounded an awful lot like it was," said Peter, "I mean, come on. Why are we even talking about this?"
"Just thinking," Wanda mumbled.
"It's not like I don't think about her," Peter said, "Yeah, she's turning sixteen in a week, but, come on."
His sister squinted her eyes. She had a really odd habit of doing that when she was perplexed about something.
"It's March," she said.
"Yeah, and her birthday is in March," Peter said.
"Don't tell her that," said Wanda, "I think she was always under the impression that her birthday was in April."
He made a face and began counting his fingers.
"Oh, right," he said.
"She'd be pissed if she knew you said that," Wanda said.
"Come on, Lorna never gets pissed," said Peter.
"True," Wanda said.
She sighed and clasped her hands together.
"I just...sometimes I feel like we might be a little too focused," she said.
"If I were more focused, then I would be able to hit all those damn bullet marks," Peter said.
He tapped the semi-automatic.
"Do I really have no idea how to talk to girls?" he asked.
"Not a clue," said Wanda.
"If anything, I should have an advantage," Peter said, "I grew up with two girls."
"That doesn't make you an automatic expert," sighed Wanda.
Peter crossed his arms irritably.
"Yeah, well when the other guys were chasing girls I was stealing stuff for my sisters," he said, "And myself of course. And then I signed up to join a revolution, so I never really had time to go and be flirty-flirty."
"Not to mention you thought your charm and good looks would automatically have all the girls run to you," Wanda said.
"Of course," Peter said.
As soon as Wanda began grinning he realized just what it was that he'd said.
"I mean, um, not that-" he said.
"Could you be any more conceited?" asked Wanda, "Even though it's a terrible reflection on me, you are not as good-looking as you think you are. And, whether you realize it or not, I can see that smartassery in your eyes."
She tapped the middle of his forehead. He swatted her hand away.
"Like you've had so much experience with guys," Peter said.
"Well, I had two boyfriends before we joined up with the Brotherhood," she said, "Then there were those assholes at the diner, Toad, who never seems to take a hint, and there are these complete weirdos I meet on my missions-"
"Woah, there were assholes at the diner?" Peter asked.
"Of course," said Wanda, "Don't worry: just comments. Nothing a good wad of mucus in their food couldn't fix. Same thing for the weirdos on my missions. Of course, I'm stealing their military secrets at the same time, so I don't worry about it too much."
She jumped off the counter.
"Anyway, we're talking about you, not me," Wanda said, "Tone down that smartassery and then you might have a chance. Not with Domino: she knows too much about you. And not with Emma either."
"I'm not interested in Emma," Peter said.
She snorted and punched him in the shoulder. He rubbed his arm. Her punches had gotten significantly more powerful in the last few years.
"That hurt," he said.
"I meant it to," said Wanda, "And don't lie to me. You were practically drooling over her when we walked into the room."
"Hey, there's a difference between thinking a girl is hot and actually wanting to have her that close to you," Peter said, "In reality...Emma's kind of crazy. And she kinda freaks me out."
"Good," Wanda said.
She paused, and then lowered her voice.
"I'm not sure if we can trust her," she said.
"Why's that?" Peter asked.
Wanda shrugged, but she looked uncomfortable.
"I'm not sure," she said, "Just a feeling I suppose."
She shrugged again, her gaze on the targets.
"Just a feeling," Wanda repeated.