Chapter 29
The X-Mansion
After Eli had put his sister to bed in the room she shared with Tabitha and Amara, he made his way down the hall. Initially he planned to grab Ellie's backpack out of the Professor's office, but Bobby stopped him halfway down the hall.
"Hey, how's she doing?" Bobby asked. Eli shrugged.
"She's pretty tired," he replied. "I'm just glad she's here."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's a big weight off your shoulders."
The boys stopped talking as Kitty, Evan and Rogue ran past them in full uniform. Bobby and Eli exchanged confused looks.
"What's going on?" Bobby yelled. Kitty stopped briefly.
"Someone's trying to break in!" she yelled back. "The front yard alarms are going off!" Kitty continued down the hall.
"We better join them," Eli said. Bobby nodded and the two boys took off down the hall in pursuit of their friends.
By the time they had made it down the hall the entire X-Men team had assembled at the top of the staircase. The group of teens made their way outside where Wolverine was already standing guard. Eli and Bobby stayed behind their teammates as they all stopped in front of the threat.
"Somethin' we can do for ya, Bub?" Wolverine asked.
"Yeah," Lance Alvers replied. "I came to join the X-Men." The stunned look on the faces of the X-Men weren't at all surprising.
"Hey fly girl, wake up!" Tabitha said as she jumped onto Ellie's mattress.
"What?" Ellie asked, sitting up slowly. "What's going on? Wait, where am I?"
"The X-Mansion, duh. You passed out so that hunk of a brother you've got put you to bed."
"Oh, right."
"You better get up though, you missed a ton of action!"
"Fine by me. I'm a bit burnt out on action."
"Well an old housemate of yours just dropped by. Turns out he's gonna try being an X-Man."
Ellie stiffened. Her first thought was that Pietro came to get her. Pietro would never abandon the Brotherhood, though. Toad enjoyed his freedom and flies too much. It was possible that Fred had come after her, seeing as how the other boys got under his skin so much.
"Helloooo!" Tabitha said. "Earth to Ellie. Did you hear me?"
"Yeah," Ellie replied. "Who is it?"
"It's Lance."
"Lance?"
"Yeah, I know right? So crazy. Especially because he and Scott are like mortal enemies."
Ellie climbed out of her bed and tied her hair into a ponytail. She tugged her red shirt down and slipped on her sneakers that sat next to the closed bedroom door. Tabitha stood up and put her hands on her hips.
"Where are you going?" Tabitha asked.
Ellie ignored her and left the room. After shutting the door she turned around quickly, smacking into Bobby Drake.
"Whoa," he chuckled. "Hey there."
"Sorry," Ellie said quickly before walking past him. Bobby followed her.
"You looking for Eli?"
"No."
"Who're you looking for?"
"Where's Lance?" Bobby stopped and Ellie turned to look at him.
"He's staying in one of the guest rooms. I see Boom-Boom told you the news."
"Thanks." Ellie started down the hallway again. Bobby hesitated but quickly went after her.
"Ellie, wait a sec," he said, lightly grabbing her arm. Ellie pulled out of his grasp but turned toward him again.
"What?" she asked, irritated that he kept stopping her.
"I just…I'm really glad that you're back."
"Okay."
"I mean, after that argument we had at the Brotherhood house, I dunno. I just felt bad. I'm sorry for that by the way."
"Bobby, is that all? I really need to get going."
"Do you want to go do something? Together, I mean?"
"We're talking to each other right now."
"No, no. I mean like, go to get food or something."
"I'm sure I'll see you at breakfast if that's what you mean."
"Okay, you're not getting this. After school Monday, will you go do something with me?"
"I suppose. Can I go now?"
"Really? Oh, yeah sure. See you around!" Bobby gave Ellie a big grin and she scrunched her nose.
"Boys are so strange," she thought before continuing down the hall.
The Brotherhood House
Pietro had began pacing the kitchen floor, biting his thumbnail. He checked out the dark window every few minutes and checked the telephone to make sure it was still working. Toad sat at the kitchen table, watching him closely.
"Man, you're makin' me dizzy," Toad said as he grabbed his head, his eyes rolling around.
"Why aren't they back yet?" Pietro snapped back. "It's night time for crying out loud!"
"Who're you? The curfew police?"
"Shut up. Why aren't either of them home?"
"Maybe they went out for dinner. I know I'm starving."
"So go eat a lightning bug and leave me alone!"
"Nah, too spicy. Why are you so freaked out? Lance and Ellie can definitely handle themselves."
Pietro kept thinking of his father and Sabretooth watching the town earlier. What if they attacked either of his housemates? What if Magneto was expecting instant results and Pietro hadn't delivered them? The stress proved to be too much for him and he ran out of the house without a second thought.
The X-Mansion
Ellie knocked on every guest bedroom door without getting an answer. She took a deep breath before knocking on the last door. A rustling inside of the room gave her hope, and when the door opened she sighed.
"Ellie?" Lance asked, confused. Ellie made her way into the room.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I got tired of living in that house. I needed a change."
"But you're part of the Brotherhood."
"Says the girl who can't pick a side."
"Okay, fine. But you hate the X-Men."
"Yeah well, not all of them are that bad."
"Wait. Is this about Kitty?" Lance shrugged in response.
Ellie studied his face as he kept trying to avoid her gaze. Ellie didn't understand the boys in Bayville. They either wanted to eat with her, phase her out of situations, or be jerks to her.
"What did Pietro say about this?" Ellie asked. Lance's expression changed.
"What, you think I gotta consult with him before I do anything?" Lance shot back. "He doesn't own me ya know."
"Yeah, I get it. So what's going to happen when he finds out?"
"He doesn't care where I am. All he cares about now is you and your brother."
"What?"
"Yeah, you knew that though. He told you that. He's still trying to figure out how to get you to stay with the Brotherhood. He was waiting for you to show up at the house all night."
"I need some air." Ellie pushed open the balcony doors in the guest bedroom and stepped outside.
Lance left her alone. Ellie made her way to the side of the stone balcony and climbed onto the railing. The area was just wide enough for her feet, but one wrong move and she would topple over the edge. Not that that mattered to her. Ellie narrowed her eyes as she started to walk along the railing.
"Stupid Pietro," she thought as her teeth started grinding against one another.
Ellie's hands had started to warm up and the feeling of small needles poking her skin became noticeable. She tried to calm herself down, but the more she thought of Pietro, the worse the pain got. She tried to put him out of her mind by thinking about something else, but she could only think of her encounter with Bobby. Ellie stopped walking the railing and stared up at the crescent moon, trying to clear her mind.
A few yards away from the mansion, outside of the now broken gate thanks to Lance's entrance, Pietro stood in the shadows. He watched silently as Ellie stood perched on one of the many balconies that the mansion had. Pietro scowled at her from afar. He noticed Lance's green Jeep was parked on the side of the road when he had arrived to the mansion a few moments ago.
"Stupid X-Men," he thought to himself. "Always taking what doesn't belong to them."
A/N: For those of you wondering, this chapter refers to Season 2, Episode 9 "Joyride" of the X-Men Evolution series. I included some events from that episode to compliment my story line. I don't own any rights to the original plot line of "Joyride". I know according to the series, Tabitha would have been living with the Brotherhood by now, but I decided to change that. Not saying she won't ever live with them, just not right now.
