Making Friends Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

It wasn't long before Todd, Xi and Althea came back inside for lunch. "Now remember Pietro," Lance warned. "Be nice."

"I'm always nice," Pietro sniffed haughtily. He zipped up to Xi. "So Xi what's shaking? I'll bet you're just dying to know all about me!"

"Actually I think I know quite a bit about you," Xi said in an even tone.

"Yeah but we don't know anything about you," Pietro pointed out. "Well other than the fact that you aren't really a guy. Or a girl. How does something like that happen?"

"You'd be surprised at what science can do," Xi told him.

"Hey let's have some lunch first!" Todd hopped over to the table. He grabbed a sandwich. Pietro swiped it away from him. "Hey!"

"Thanks for the snack Toad," Pietro scoffed it down with a laugh.

That was when Xi grabbed him and slammed him into the wall. "Hey!" Pietro tried to get away.

"Xi knock it off!" Todd grabbed him and tried to pry him away from Pietro. "It was only a sandwich yo!"

"Xi let go!" Roadblock ran over and with the help of Lance and Todd pried him off Pietro.

"Man and I thought I took lunch seriously," Fred gulped.

"What is wrong with you?" Pietro snapped.

"You will not hurt him again," Xi snarled.

"What?" Pietro asked.

"I know what you did to Todd," Xi growled. "You abandoned him and mistreated him! I will not allow you to do that again!" Xi leapt at Pietro who barely managed to get out of the way.

"You're crazy!" Pietro snapped. "You're completely psycho!" He charged at Xi. He gave him a few quick punches before Xi managed to grab him. "Hey! How did you do…uh oh! Guys! Help!"

"Oh for crying out loud!" Shipwreck shouted as he and Roadblock pried them apart. "You guys should save it for training!"

Lance and Fred tried to approach Xi but were stopped by Xi's snarling. "Hey!" Lance protested. Wanda watched from the back, actually amused at the scene.

"I'll take him outside!" Althea pushed Xi away. "Todd you handle them!"

"That freak's totally nuts!" Pietro snapped. "I can't believe I tried to be nice to him!"

"Pietro calm down!" Todd said. "He doesn't understand!"

"He doesn't understand?" Lance asked. "Toad he went totally postal on us for no reason!"

"Actually he did have a reason," Shipwreck sighed.

"Guys listen," Todd said. "Xi was created by Cobra to be an assassin with a whole bunch of others. When they decided they didn't want to do that, Cobra killed them all. Xi was the only one who made it. He was alone for a long time. You gotta give him a little time okay? He ain't used to you yet."

"I'm not so sure I want to be used to him," Pietro grumbled.

"Pietro he's just looking out for me," Todd said. "In his own way. Althea and I became the only family he's ever really known since…Look I'll talk to him. He just doesn't know you yet. What I did tell him about you…well it wasn't exactly showing you guys in the best light if you know what I mean. I mean I was still angry with you guys all that time so naturally…"

"Naturally he'd hate our guts too," Lance finished the sentence.

"Oh wonderful," Fred grumbled. "No wonder he went ballistic!"

"Yeah I'd have probably done the same thing myself," Lance admitted.

"He doesn't realize what was going on," Todd said. "Magneto was to blame for what happened. I know that now. I didn't then. Let me talk to him. Explain the situation. Please guys give him another chance. For me."

"You really care about this guy, don't you Toad?" Wanda asked.

"He's my friend," Todd explained. "And he saved my life." Todd went outside.

"Yeah well that guy is seriously dangerous!" Pietro spat.

"So are all of you," Shipwreck said. "Psyche! We got a problem here!"

"What happened?" Psyche Out walked into the room.

"There was a little incident," Roadblock sighed.

"That's putting it mildly," Pietro snapped.

************************************************************************

"I can't understand it!" Xi paced back and forth. "How can you forgive them after they betrayed you?"

"It was Magneto and Mystique that really did the betraying," Todd told him. "Xi calm down!"

"You can't just attack people because they did something to Todd," Althea said.

"Why not? You do," Xi said.

"You have a point," Althea sighed.

"Xi I forgave them," Todd told him. "Magneto was to blame for a lot of it anyway. He twisted all of us. Everybody who comes into contact with that guy ends up messed up. He's bad news."

"I know this isn't easy for you," Althea said. "But for our sake please try to get along. I was mad at them too you know and I forgave them. They're not that bad. Well maybe Pietro is a pain but…"

"Look I know it's hard to understand," Todd said. "But they were victims of Magneto too. Just like I was. Only they couldn't get out until now."

Xi seemed to calm down. "So I can't kill them?"

"NO!" They both said.

"Or hurt them," Althea told him. "Got it?"

"If that is what you wish," Xi sighed. He brushed a hand against Althea's cheek. "But if they hurt either of you, I will not be held responsible."

"Oh goody," Todd sighed. "Well let's try this again." They went back inside.

The other mutants looked at Xi warily. "Come back for a rematch?" Pietro hissed.

"That's not helping Pietro!" Lance snapped.

"Yeah give it a rest will ya?" Fred said.

"You only got lucky!" Pietro stormed up to Xi. "I'm not scared of a little…EEEP!" He squealed when Xi grabbed his shirt and lifted him off the floor with his hand.

"I will tolerate you because Todd and Althea wish it," Xi hissed. "But if you ever hurt them in any way. I will hurt you."

"XI!" Todd groaned. "That's not what I meant! Put him down!"

Xi reluctantly obeyed. "I apologize," Xi said.

Pietro ran to the other side of the room. "Just stay away from me will ya?"

"Don't be too sorry," Wanda smirked. "Anybody who can scare my brother like that has got to have some redeeming qualities."

"Hey!" Pietro snapped.

"Xi I told you that they ain't gonna hurt me any more," Todd said. "You gotta trust me on this!"

"I trust you," Xi told him.

"Look I got a pretty good idea of what Toad must have told you," Lance sighed. "But we never meant for him to get hurt. Maybe we should have tried to protect him better but you don't know Magneto. He's crazy!"

"Lance is right," Wanda said. "Magneto…my father….is a madman. He did horrible things to us. Forced us to work for him. I'm not saying that what we let him do to Toad was right, but at the time we had no choice. We were trapped."

Xi looked at her. "I can…understand that feeling," He admitted.

"Look," Roadblock said. "I know you're all a little stressed, so why don't we get some rest? Have something to eat. And then with Psyche-Out you'll all meet."

The kids reluctantly went to the table and started eating. No one said anything at the table. "Oh well this is fun," Shipwreck grumbled. He, Roadblock and Psyche-Out were off to the side. "Great. Just great. Another kid who starts fights and trouble around here."

"How are we gonna keep them from killing each other?" Roadblock grumbled. "It was hard enough before, but with Xi here now there's gonna be trouble more!"

"Apparently spending months with an ex-Cobra ninja didn't improve the kid's disposition any," Shipwreck sighed. "And Pietro's not exactly the easiest kid in the world to get along with."

"Trust takes time," Psyche-Out said. "They just need a period of adjustment. Not to mention a few anger management sessions."