A/N: ::blinks:: Wow. Can we say overwhelmed? I never, ever expected that kind of response. Maybe I should write during Spanish more often. Actually, the first part of this section was written in Spanish class also…enough babbling. On to part two!
Disclaimer: Despite all efforts, I still do not own X-Men: Evolution. Can't blame me for trying, though.
Part Two: How far will you go?
For a long moment, the X-Men simply stared at the miserable-looking figure standing in their doorway. Then Logan, claws still unsheathed, moved forward to block the door – or perhaps to protect the teenagers gathered behind him. "What do you want?" he snarled.
Pietro gave him an ironic grin, which only added to his ghastly appearance. "I thought you were supposed to be the good guys. Aren't you obligated to help people in trouble and all that crap?"
"This isn't a movie, kid," yelled Logan. "And if I were you, I'd answer. Now!"
"Logan," Jean protested, "He's hurt! The Professor could…"
Logan silenced her with a growl. "I don't care if he's dying, he's not coming in until I know why he's here and what he's plotting."
Pietro straightened at this and glared at Logan. The look lost its effectiveness as he winced in pain. "Does it look like I'm in any condition to be plotting anything?" he snapped.
Jean could sense the weariness and pain in his voice, despite his attempts to mask it with bravado. It was torture for the telepath to see and feel Pietro's pain, even if he was their enemy. She started forward, only to be stopped again by Logan. Biting her lip, she strengthened her mental shields and tried to tough it out.
Pietro tried again. "Look, I wouldn't be here if I had any other choice. But there's nowhere else to go!"
Logan stared at him, unmoved. "Sounds like you wouldn't be grateful for our help. So just go without it!" He turned away. For a moment Pietro's mask slipped, and true fear and desperation shone from his face. He steeled himself.
"…please." The plea was almost a whisper. Logan stopped moving. Pietro licked his bruised lips and started again. "Mutant hunters found our house. I don't know how!" He stopped, trying to get his anger under control. "I need Professor Xavier's help."
"And what exactly did you want?"
Pietro glared at Logan's still-turned back. "I want to discuss it with the Professor. Everyone doesn't need to know my business!" There's no way I'm telling this X-freak about the others. I'm not giving any of them more of an advantage over me than they already have, Pietro thought angrily. The X-Men must not find out that the rest of his team was out of commission. Pietro had a sudden, chilling thought. What if they decided to kill him now and get it over with? Then the others would be taken care of by the humans without staining the X-Men's precious hands. Pietro silently cursed his stupidity, but gave no sign of his inner turbulence. He had dealt the cards; now he had to play his hand.
Logan turned with a snarl. In spite of himself, Pietro felt fear turn his bones to jelly as three metal claws stopped an inch away from his face. His eyes widened as he saw the satisfaction on Logan's face. He had given himself away. Now the X-Men knew just how drained his powers were – he should have been able to dodge the attack without a second thought.
"What makes you think we would help you? What if we decided to finish you right here?" Logan asked, echoing Pietro's earlier thoughts. Pietro somehow managed to meet the older mutant's eyes.
"You need me." He swallowed as Logan let out a bark of laughter. "I may not know who ordered the attack on us, but I could point them out. I can tell you what the hunters looked like, so you can protect yourselves while you're not safely holed up in this mansion." He noticed that the four younger X-Men, especially Kurt and Evan, had reacted to his last statement. He wondered why for a minute, than dismissed it. He had to argue his point. "The people who attacked us – they knew everything. They knew the layout of the house, they knew when Todd was coming home, and they knew when Mystique came to check on us. They knew all of our powers and planned around them. It must have taken weeks. If they knew all of this about us, without anyone realizing anything was up, who's to say they don't know about you?"
Pietro could tell by the look on their faces that he'd scored a major point. He decided to push it again. "Even if you don't want to help me, you need my information. You can't afford not to listen to me." He was starting to get dizzy from blood loss. He hoped he wouldn't have to stand up to Logan much longer.
A faraway look came into Logan's eyes. He nodded once and turned to Pietro. "All right," he growled. "I don't like it, but I'm taking you to see the Professor." Relief made Pietro's knees go weak. Logan, in a sudden burst of speed, lunged forward and stopped his claws millimeters before they slammed into the younger mutant's neck. "I don't think I'll need to tell you that I'll be watching you. Don't try anything," Logan said in a low, dangerous voice. Pietro considered responding with a snappy comeback but decided he had better not push his luck. Besides, he couldn't think of anything.
"Jean, lead him to the dining room. The Professor is in there. I'll follow you," said Logan, glaring at Pietro. The redhead stepped forward and nodded.
"Follow me," she said simply, and started walking. Pietro hurried to catch up. As he went past Kurt and Evan, something caught his bad arm. He stopped and swore as pain lanced through his arm like fire. For a moment he couldn't move – the agony stopped all thought. Just as suddenly, the pain stopped. Pietro's eyes flew open in surprise. He looked at Jean, who was concentrating hard on something.
"What did you do?" he asked.
"What?" Jean said, startled. Immediately after she looked away his arm started aching again, thought not nearly as badly as it had before.
"I said, what did you do?" Pietro indicated his arm. Jean looked at Logan apprehensively as she answered.
"I created a…a mental shield in your mind. It helped to block the pain from reaching the sensory cells in your brain."
Pietro blinked at her, surprised. Why would she do something like that? He hesitated a moment, feeling like he should say something but not knowing what. "Well, don't think I owe you or anything!" he snapped. After an awkward pause, Jean turned and started walking again. Pietro followed.
Jean stopped in front of an open door. She motioned for Pietro to go inside and closed the door after him. Pietro walked further into the room, looking around for the Professor. Over here, Pietro. The boy stopped and whirled around to face Professor Xavier. His head felt odd, though it could have been just the fact that he was trying hard not to pass out. But given the voice that he had just heard inside of his head, he had a pretty good idea of what it was.
"Hey, get out of my head!" he protested angrily. Charles Xavier looked at him, one eyebrow raised.
"That's hardly any way for a person who wants help to act," he said mildly.
"Yeah? Well, I'm sick of it. I don't want anyone else telling me how sickeningly grateful I ought to be. And I –" The Professor cut him off with a mental command.
Watch what you say, he cautioned. Logan is
listening to you outside the door. If you say anything disrespectful, he will
come in here. I will have very little control over the situation afterwards. I
want to listen to what you have to say, but I can't if Wolverine decides that
you are more trouble than you're worth.
Pietro thought furiously back at the Professor, knowing that
he would hear. Well, isn't that nice. Warn me before you send someone in to
kill me, as if that would make a difference. Does it satisfy your wonderful
morals to tell me that?
Xavier sighed. "I'm not sending anyone in to kill you, Pietro."
"No, you're going to get my information first, then kill me," Pietro said bitterly.
"Isn't that what you would do?" Xavier looked hard at Pietro. When he started to reply, the Professor continued, "Why did you come here if you believed that you would be killed?"
Pietro looked at him. "I didn't plan to come here. But I'd rather die by the hands of mutants rather than those – those-" Pietro's imagination gave out on him. He could not think of a word harsh enough to describe his attackers.
"Was it that bad?" the Professor asked softly.
"Damn right," Pietro answered. "Fred went down early, and they beat Lance so badly that…" He stopped in horror, realizing that the Professor had gotten out of him the very information he had tried to hide from Logan.
"Start from the beginning. It's important that I know exactly what happened."
"Why should I trust you? Why should I say anything except what I came here to ask?"
"You wouldn't have come here otherwise. You expected to die. There's nothing for you to lose. And I can't consider granting any request of yours until I know the details."
Pietro knew that he was making no sense. There was no point to coming at all if he didn't tell the Professor what had happened. Yet his mind was just now registering how much power the X-Men had over him, and his natural reaction was to pull back and hide as much as he could. The man may be an oblivious idealist, but he's right. I have nothing to lose. He took a deep breath and began.
"The hunters came around seven o'clock. That's the time Todd always shows up." His eyes dared the Professor to ask why. When he didn't, Pietro continued. "Mystique was supposed to be there, but she was late. We had no idea they were there until the house was surrounded.
"I never saw what happened to Todd. They must have gotten him on the street." Pietro broke off and grinned wryly – or at least showed his teeth. "I've never decided whether he's insanely brave or just insane. He throws himself into fights he has no chance of winning. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how they caught him.
"A group entered through the back door. Fred's room is back there. He must have heard them and started to come out, because when I saw him he was laying half in and half out of his doorway. They got him with a tranquilizer before he had a chance to fight. It was an accident that I saw them – they had a tranquilizer for me, too. I was coming downstairs to talk to Lance and I saw them.
"I called for Lance and he came running up. He hadn't gotten as far as the stairs when another group came in from the front and surrounded him. We barely lasted a minute. He managed to knock a few of them off their feet, and I tripped them up. But Lance couldn't get up any real power because there were too many people attacking him at once, and I…I'm not as skilled at offense." Pietro smiled bitterly. If only he had a useful power, one that could actually help his teammates, then maybe they could have won. He and Lance could have at least gotten away.
"Is that all?" The Professor's voice came as a shock. Pietro dragged his mind out of the painful memories and shook his head.
"Lance had managed to knock out most of the people between him and the door, and I ran outside. There were still enough people to slow me down, though. A few of them grabbed my arm, and I was going too fast to stop. That's how my arm got like this. Afterwards I hid nearby, watching the house. I hoped Mystique would show up, or that maybe Todd had gotten away. Right before they found me again, I saw Todd, Lance, and Fred tied up and beaten senseless. The humans carried them on their shoulders like some kind of sick trophy." Emotion made his voice thick and raw. " So I ran. That seems to be what I'm best at." Bitterness and anger coated his tongue as he finished.
"It must have been very hard for you to see your friends
hurt. I'm sorry." The Professor said that part aloud, then added mentally: There's
no shame in crying, Pietro. In many cases it relieves some of the pain.
Pietro blinked rapidly to clear his eyes and glared at him. Who does he think he is, rummaging around in my emotions? "Yeah, I'll bet you're really sorry," he sneered. Like I'd believe that he actually cared! "Are you sorry that the humans destroyed your little dream of humans accepting mutants, or sorry that they got to my friends before you did?"
"I'm sorry that anyone had to experience what you went through. It is especially horrible when something like this happens to young people."
Pietro stared at the Professor disbelievingly. Strange emotions flooded his battered body, and for a moment he fought tears again. This man, this man who was supposed to be his enemy, actually sounded like he cared.
The Professor waited patiently as Pietro regained control of
his emotions. I will not let him manipulate me, Pietro thought. I'm
not foolish enough to fall for his tricks!
"Pietro, what was it that you came here to ask?"
Pietro clenched his fists and looked at the floor. In a burst of conviction, he whipped his head up and stared Xavier straight in the eye as he said, "I want you to use Cerebro to find Mystique."
Well? Still want part three? Please review!