Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution.
Chapter 26
Lance bit back a sigh as he set the book down in front of him. He had essentially taken over the game room over the past five days since Wanda had been "fixed" again. Thanks to his schedule, he normally didn't have even a few free minutes during a day.
The second-in-command had training with the team in the mornings, then specialized solo training in the afternoon, and once that was done he would read until Magneto was finished running everyone else through their solo sessions. Once Magneto was done, he had to spend about two hours with his boss, who coached him on strategy while reviewing the training room sessions performed earlier that day. Afterwards he ate dinner before meeting with Magneto again in order to gain much needed experience interpreting data that Magneto supplied him, trying to see the connections between two seemingly unrelated events. Any spare time was spent reading.
Given his busy schedule he had only visited Todd and Pietro once since they had been placed in the med bay. He'd have liked to have stopped by more, but given the fact that he still had eight more books to read it didn't look like he'd have much of a chance to do so. The free moments he did have, such as during meals and just before going to sleep tended to be spent with Wanda, who seemed to be just as desperate for company as he was. They normally vented their problems to each other before he went back to reading or work and she went back to being bored.
The stressed mutant picked up the book, an extremely long and detailed instruction manual teaching how to operate nuclear fission reactors, and began reading again.
The door opened and Wanda walked in. She bit back a laugh at seeing his glazed expression shift from his book to her. He blinked a few times, trying to focus on this new party.
"Father just left for the rest of the day. He said he wouldn't be back until tonight. I figured you'd like to take a break." She answered before he could even begin questioning.
"Did you finish your training session?" He asked, mind still stuck in "leadership" mode.
"Yeah. Now put those books down and let's do something. You have no idea how bored I am." She responded, nearly pleading with him.
"Alright. Got anything in mind?" He got up and stretched, his back letting out numerous small cracks as he did so.
"Not really." She admitted.
"We could duel each other in the danger room." He said seriously. Wanda stared at him for a moment stone faced. His lips cracked into a smile first and they both burst out laughing. Magneto had made it an official rule that the two of them weren't allowed to use their powers together in the base after their session in the Danger Room earlier that week.
"Let's kick everyone out of the rec room and watch a movie." She suggested.
"Well, if Magneto's really gone for the day, then we can just watch it in the computer room." Lance responded, a light smirk still on his face.
"Okay. I'll find a movie, you get some snacks." She said, trying to suppress a smile of her own.
"Snacks? We just ate like two hours ago." He countered.
Wanda's eyes narrowed just slightly. "And?"
Well, Lance couldn't refute that kind of logic. "Okay. I'll meet you in the computer room."
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The two mutants were halfway through Scarface when the door burst open and Fred ran in, red faced and breathing heavily. Lance jerked in surprise before calmly pausing the movie, while Wanda jumped completely out of her chair and just caught herself from blowing up every monitor in the room.
Fred looked surprised to see them there. "I've been looking all over for you guys!" He wheezed. His panicked voice and expression made Lance spin out of his chair and draw himself up.
"What's wro-" He was interrupted by Blob.
"Something's wrong with Pyro! He's gone crazy!" Fred shouted.
"Where's he at and what's he doing?" Lance demanded.
"In the dorms. Gambit's with him. You just gotta' see!" Fred answered quickly, bending over slightly to try and catch his breath.
Lance threw a glance at Wanda who responded with a confused look of her own. He pushed past Blob and dashed to the dormitory.
The dormitory was not the disaster scene he expected. A few sheets were on the floor, but otherwise everything was in place. At the far end of the room Gambit was behind Pyro and had his arms locked around around him in a bear hug, pinning the orange haired mutant's arms to his sides. Pyro shouted obscenities and spun around into walls and bunks, trying to force the Cajun off.
Gambit saw Lance enter and shouted, "What de' hell took you so long!?" He grunted as Pyro slammed him into another wall.
"Fuck off Remy! I'll fucking kill you!" Pyro shouted, his voice alternating between an angry growl and a higher warble, while trying to work his arms free.
Lance ran over to the both of them and tried to pry them apart. "What is going on?!"
"Let go Lance! He's dangerous!" Remy shouted as he tried to maintain his grip.
Pyro raged and shouted out a stream of curses. He kicked out with his legs and caught Lance in the face, knocking him to the ground and splitting his lips.
Gambit took the opportunity to fall to the ground on top of Pyro and attempted to pin him while still holding his arms. Pyro began clawing at Gambit's legs to try and get him off.
"I HATE YOU! I HATE EVERYONE!!" He kicked at the floor, trying to keep Gambit off him.
Lance recovered as Gambit looked up. "Get some rope! Or belts, or somethin'!" He ordered, trying to maintain his grip on the madman below him. Lance quickly ran to Gambit's locker and found it locked. He shook it open and began throwing clothes throughout the room as he searched for a belt.
Pyro managed to get an arm loose and spun around, to swing at Gambit. A vicious strike crushed the Cajun's nose and caused him to let go of the Australian who sprang to his feet in time to meet Avalanche, who had found two belts. He tackled the younger mutant and immediately had his arms grabbed before he could start punching.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!" Pyro shouted, trying to bite at Lance's face.
Lance headbutted his opponent, stunning him for a moment, which gave Lance – an experienced grappler – the time he needed to roll Pyro over and pin his arms behind his back. Remy suddenly appeared beside him and tied the lunatic's arms together at wrist with one belt, and then his ankles with the other. The mutant struggled, but was unable to break free. Lance cautiously stood up, expecting a trick. After a few seconds to make sure Pyro was really bound he turned to Gambit. The Cajun had procured some tissues and was holding them to his nose, in an effort to staunch his bleeding.
"What is going on?" He demanded, moving threateningly towards the Cajun. Gambit attempted to answer but was cut off by another long chain of expletives from Pyro.
Gambit motioned for Lance to follow him and they walked to the other end of the dorm, where Fred and Wanda were standing, having watched the confrontation. Wanda's eyes were wide and she looked shaken. She was no doubt having flashbacks to her time in the asylum.
"You all know John idn't quide righd up here." Remy pointed to his temple. His voice was thick as he tried to talk despite sudden swelling. "Somedimes he jud' explodes like dis. Goes a liddle nudz." He moved one hand as if to gesture, 'What are you gonna do?'
"A little nuts? He tried to fffricking kill us!" Lance responded. He had trouble pronouncing "F's". Pyro's kick had split his lips and blood ran down his chin.
"D'ink I don' know dat? He brode my node!" Remy responded.
Lance wiped his hand across his mouth to stop the blood from dripping to the floor. "Well how do we fffix him?"
"Godda led him burn sduff." Remy answered.
"What?! There's no way I'm effen(1) letting him near a fffire right now. He's too dangerous!" Lance retorted, accidentally spitting blood into the air. "V's" were currently impossible. Wanda grimaced and stepped out of the room.
Remy's eyes were puffy, and he began having trouble seeing. Numerous red tissues littered the floor where he dropped them. "Blob, ged me a idepack." Fred nodded and quickly left to go find the requested item. "Id's de obly way!" He answered Lance. "Pud hib in de Dabger Roob. Id'll help."
"Doesn't he haff any medicine or something?" Lance asked, again wiping his mouth.
"Ya, bud I don know where id is." Remy answered. "I godda ged sobe ide. Have Blob helb you." Remy walked out the door, discarding several more tissues as he went. Lance shook his head, trying to decide what to do. He leaned out the door and motioned for Wanda to come in before walking down to Pyro.
The Australian was sobbing miserably, trying to slip out of his bonds. "I hate you all so much," he said through a running nose. "GOD! I just want everyone to DIE!"
Lance crouched and put an arm on Pyro's shoulder, but it was immediately bucked off.
"DON"T TOUCH ME!"
Wanda knelt down beside the rock tumbler and looked at Pyro, who refused to so much as face them. Lance wiped his chin again and spit blood onto the floor.
"We'll take him to the Danger Room. See ifff Remy's right and ifff a fffire will calm him down. 'Bout all we can do right now."
Fred returned shortly and picked up John, who screamed and sobbed and fought every second of the trip to the training room. Once Fred laid him down he exited the room along with Wanda and Lance and went up to the control center. Lance activated several flamethrowers and Pyro immediately stopped crying and screaming upon seeing the flame. After a brief moment he made the flames burn the leather belts holding his ankles and wrists back, but then just sat quietly and watched the fire spew forth.
"I haff to get some ice too. You two both watch him and make sure he doesn't do anything crazy. I'll be back in a bit." Lance stated as he exited the room.
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(1)effen - even
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A/N: Ah. This is a risky chapter since I have zero experience with pyromaniacs. I did as much research as I could on the subject, but there isn't much online and even less at my local library. I do however, have some firsthand experience with people suffering from anti-social personality disorders and mood/personality disorders. In the cases I saw, nobody acted quite as violent as Pyro did here, but I imagine that they easily could have, especially if someone fought to restrain them, like happened here. Now, from what I understand about Pyromania, it's normally accompanied by anti-social personality disorder as well any number of other things, such as bipolar disorder, possible schizophrenia, dementia etc... This makes me think that Pyro, who would have had poor treatment in the first place, as well as having been encouraged to start fires in order to relieve his tension rather than learning to deal with it in an acceptable way, would not be the happy person as is commonly seen in other fics. I have never met person with a mental disorder that was happy , so I really didn't want to take that route, especially since I feel that Pyro would not be very happy. It isn't a good feeling to be consumed by an obsession, and I can only imagine that his feelings swing every which way in the environment he is in.
Anyways, thanks for reading and I would desperately like some feedback on this chapter. It's a shot in the dark for me, and I can only hope that I did it well. Anybody that has first hand experience with Pyromania and other mental disorders, I welcome any advice you can give. Thanks for reading, and I always appreciate reviews and constructive criticism. Any continuity, spelling, and grammar errors I would also appreciate to be pointed out. (Exceptions for characters speech aside )