"Why are we doing this again, yo?" Todd asked as they walked towards the Bayville mansion. It had only been three days since their first run in with Rob. Now they were trying again? It wasn't making any sense. But nothing ever made any sense. Mystique never really gave any details of what they were supposed to be doing. She just told them to do something, and they did it. They didn't want to get kicked out of their house. It might be slightly beat-up, but it was home.
"Causethebossladytoldusto." Pietro said, as fast as usual. He was periodically running in front of the group as far as he could get and then running back. Todd thought that it looked like he might be on something. He was more jittery then normal.
"Don't worry about it." Lance said. "We'll just go in, talk to Rob, and get out. They can't deny us that. I mean, he hasn't joined either side…has he?"
"I don't know." Todd said. Fred continued to walk without saying anything. "I mean, we shouldn't try to force him. He makes his own decisions. None of us were forced onto the Brotherhood."
"Doesn't matter. Mystique told us to do this and I don't want to be the one responsible for paying all our bills when she gets mad. Let's just do it and get it over with. No more arguing." The rest of the trip was silent. About twenty minutes later, they got to the Institute. They all ducked behind one of the big bushes in front of it and looked at the stairs they would have to climb in a few minutes.
Suddenly, the door opened and a boy came walking down the stairs. He was carrying a rather large duffel bag and looking around him like something bad was going to happen. He ran down the stairs and straight towards the Brotherhood with an extremely guilty look on his face.
"Going somewhere?" Lance said to him. The boy turned around. It was Rob. They weren't going to have to go into the mansion to find him, he'd come to them.
"Yeah, I'm getting out of here. Now, if you don't mind…" he tried to push his way past Lance. Lance laughed.
"You aren't actually leaving are you? You should join us. We offer freedom. We do what we want. All we're required to do is to go on little missions for Mystique every once in awhile." Lance tried to make it all sound great, but Todd was shaking his head. If they were actually going to recruit Rob, they were going to have to try harder then that.
"Listen, Lance," Rob began, stressing Lance's name in a weird way. "I don't want to join your Brotherhood. I want to be left alone. I want to fend for myself. I want to have no dependents. Why do you think I left that place? Get out of my way." He tried once again to walk around Lance, but he stepped in front of Rob.
"Give it a try." Lance urged.
"Get out of my way." Rob took off one glove. The Brotherhood stepped away from him almost immediately. Rob started to walk away, not noticing that Lance's foot had hit the ground a rather large tremor was coming straight at him. He lost his balance almost immediately. His glove fell out of his hand and to the ground. Rob quickly got back up.
"Don't try it, Lance," he said again. He ran straight towards Lance and latched onto his arm. Or at least he tried. The next thing he knew, a large fist was being swung at his face. He fell over backwards at the impact. Then everything was black.
"Fred, you're such a fuck up. What are we supposed to do with him now?" Lance cried. Fred winced at the insults and covered his face. He then pointed towards the bushes. Pietro and Todd each grabbed one of Rob's arms and dragged him over to where they had been hiding earlier. They dumped him in. Then they all bolted, leaving Rob unconscious in the bushes. The rain began five minutes later.
