Danielle felt strange driving into Salem Center by herself with the children again, a few days after that night and taking Logan back into her bed. Taking the CRV and leaving Logan behind to mind the farmhouse and avoid arrest (if there was a warrant out there, she did not know), she drove onto the familiar roads that led to Teller's bar on the other side of town. While Michael and Riley hardly paid attention to where she was going, she almost felt like she was in Jay's position a little over fifteen years before, taking her to Teller's to do her homework while he worked at night. She remembered falling asleep in the back room too, aware of the excitement outside and how her brother would kill her if she ever left the room.

Eventually, I would too.

Thankfully, there had been some schoolwork for Michael and Riley to do anyway, just as she had years before. Avoiding it in the car, they excitedly chattered amongst each other when they saw where they were going. Although the streets had been quiet and nobody was around, a typical atmosphere of cautious reigned inside of their mother as she parked the car. Danielle stepped out of the car gingerly, testing the waters before allowing the children out and sensing it mostly safe. When they were out, she directed them to be bar, heads down and hidden, and quickly herded them inside.

Teller was cleaning counters and did not notice Danielle until she and the boys settled on the stools together. When he looked up and saw her, he handed back the bar coin from the last night she was there and folded her hand around it. Danielle said nothing, but pocketed the coin and ordered two sodas for Michael and Riley. She asked for nothing for herself, putting money on the counter to pay for the drinks, even though the bar was closed during the day and Teller accepted no orders.

"Soda's on me today," Teller said, handing the money back and pouring two frosted glasses from a mini freezer for Michael and Riley. Putting straws in each glass and watching the faces transform into something a little gleeful, he turned to Danielle. "What can I do for you?"

"A lot of things, but I have a request just for you personally," Danielle started professionally.

"Oh, brother," Teller moaned sarcastically, playfully even. He went back to Michael and Riley and leaned in just so, friendly-like and all. "See, you two? See how she pushes me?"

"That's Momma for you," Riley said, but Michael elbowed him to quiet him down, unsure of whether or not to trust Teller.

Danielle said nothing of the exchange, but eyed Teller viciously, protective of her sons. "Have that back room still open?"

"Oh, ho! So, you don't want your kids to hear stories of how you were one of the nastiest teenaged assassins out there and how you almost put a bullet in their father's head?"

"Teller –"

"I mean, you were one vindictive little bitch then. You still have that glare too, the one from when you saw your target and –"

"Teller!" Danielle yelled, interrupting him finally. "All I asked is for the back room. My kids have schoolwork to do and I have business with you. I can pay for someone to be at the door."

"No need." Teller motioned for Michael and Riley to follow Snake Eyes (who stood with Teller nearby, almost invisible until that moment, instead of Vinnie Paul) down the hallway to the left. Taking their glasses of soda and eying their mother with curiosity, Michael and Riley left slowly, disappearing into another room with their beverages and books.

"You know, you can leave the funny business from years past alone," Danielle said rudely, seeing the boys out of earshot.

"Sometimes, I can't help it." Teller shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, kids need a good story to cheer them up. I take it you never told them of what you've done?"

"And I will in my own time, Teller. It'll be soon, I promise you. I can't keep this from them forever. They've already seen the worst. What more can they not understand?"

"A fight to win freedom for all." Teller leaned on his counter again. "I can't understand you, Danielle. You're in and out, push and pull. I've seen you up and down so many times that I can't count anymore. You're back and you've got a fight on your hands. What are you going to do with it?"

"Ask you to come with us." Danielle took Teller's hands gently.

Teller was stunned into silence. When Danielle saw that there was no reply, she took her hands away, unsure of what to do next because she felt so lost, unsure of how to deal with Teller so personally like this. She looked into Teller's eyes, tracing her eyes on the diamond-shaped pieces on his face, and peered inside the outer shells of his mind, seeing nothing more than his thoughts. Teller thought that nothing good would come of it and, in the end, they would all die.

"Reading my mind already?" Teller asked finally, laughing nervously.

"If you weren't so obvious," Danielle replied, not embarrassed at being caught. "Listen, we need you more than you think and you need us. You live and work here. What happens when we're all gone and they come for you?"

"I fight back."

"You're alone, Phineas. You have no back up except for maybe Snake Eyes and Vinnie, Mr. Image Popper himself. And what help are they against an army of men who are able to control you?"

"And you? How do you need me?" Teller turned around, ignoring that Danielle was more personal than she ever had been, and took a glass into his hands, cleaning it with a cloth from his pocket with great care.

"How do you think?" Danielle stood up and pulled up her full height. "We need everyone on deck, ready for the battle. There's a chance in hell you won't be back and will have to travel from place to place like the rest of us to avoid capture. But what chance is there that we can free ourselves and you can have all this back, unmolested and without an annoying notice on your door, condemning your patrons?"

"You don't trust me." Teller made a drink for himself with his back turned on Danielle, gulping it down in one swallow. "You came to my home, asked for help, and got it. You don't need an old man with delusions and dreams, who already saw the end and grabbed the chance he had to survive."

Danielle saw through the words and put the puzzle together finally. "Yes, we do, Teller, more than you'll ever see. You didn't get your chance at revenge with Leon because someone got there first…because you were too chicken to get out of this bar and pull the trigger yourself and needed to keep the bar without more scandal. You sent a man out there to do the dirty work for you again, to be the scapegoat when all plans went wrong and he was caught and not you. But he wasn't captured by the humans except for one person…his daughter, who sensed him on the hill and knew that he was going to assassinate Leon. You and Chameleon conspired to kill Leon, didn't you?"

"So what if we did?" Teller made another drink and gulped it, facing Danielle again. "Leon Ellis had to go. He left us alone for a while, since the bomb went off, but when Xavier's school was invaded, he came back to this bar, military man again with guns and men and all, one night. He asked me, if I could find Chameleon, to have him come over to your home and to personally escort him myself. Apparently, Leon had plans to eliminate us both before his old cousin there made the notice to shut me down. He was going to have me and your father gunned down before your eyes, about the time of the rally.

"Well, it didn't work out that way. I went underground with Chameleon quickly, where Leon Ellis could not find us, and we talked, man to man. The only solution we had was to kill him. We weren't expected to be picked up until the rally was underway anyway, so we took positions. I was ready to be taken away, about to lie through my teeth and explain that Chameleon had again disappeared, but by the time the appointed hour came, nobody showed up here. I stuck my head outside and went through town. Word spread fast, since the rally was some miles from town and bullets can be heard sometimes, in the heart if not the ears. Leon Ellis was dead…and I was free from his hands, until that damned paperwork came in."

"And where is my father now?" Danielle asked, somehow mesmerized by the story.

"Someplace, I don't know where. Probably hell, ready to regroup." Teller waved his hand in dismissal, indifferent to the fate of his friend of many years. "The point is, I've done my part. I've stayed behind and am ready to do the same again."

"And not redeem yourself, like you said we should, as mutants and sinners?" Danielle asked him with a side grin. "Come on. Don't give me excuses anymore. Don't tell me stories. Just say if you'd join us and give us another edge, to get the forgiveness you deserve…or you can stay here, lying for others and being the weasel everyone thinks you are. You have two choices, Phineas. Pick cautiously."

Teller looked at Danielle carefully, like he was studying her for the first time. He did not realize how grown she was…how marriage and children made her protective, how her ambitious goals of yesteryear made her a leader amongst them and how cruel she felt the world was now, to her and her family and friends. Innocence and youth had excused Danielle of many things in the past, but now she was back, more threatening and more vindictive, and was demanding an answer when there could not be one. Teller knew that there was no black and white, like Danielle was seeing, but always a grey area, one in which he lived in for years…and one he would continue to. He could swing one way or the other or stay in his hole for the rest of his days.

"The choice has always been difficult in my life, Bitch," Teller finally said, second ticking behind him on a clock. "But I will promise nothing and say nothing. You see me, you see me. Count me in. If you don't, don't come running and crying to me. I don't accept whiners and cowards and I give no shelter when it's all lost."

Danielle smiled fully. It was the best answer she was going to get. It was noncommittal of course, but now Teller was thinking. He had two choices to make still. Whether or not he would join is another story, but Danielle felt certain he will and that he will fight…for them, their lives and for all of humanity and mutantkind as well.


Sorry for this late update, everyone! I do hope that everyone had a good holiday like I did and a Happy New Year as well. Good wishes and many thanks to you all, for reading and reviewing. And whoever Guest was...thank you. :D