AN: Did anyone else have trouble getting this site to work yesterday? Enh, whatever. Another short chapter, in which, yeah, for real this time, the core nature of Pietro's plan is revealed. More soon, much love, -me.
So maybe I wasn't
that good a friend
but you were one of us
and I will wonder
just like anyone
if there was something
else I could've done
-Aimee Mann, "Just Like Anyone"
"You all don't have to come with me, you know. I mean, if you don't want to," Rogue said as the other members of the Brotherhood helped her pile Logan into the Jeep.
"Please. If nothing else, this proves that they are actively not taking this well," Pietro replied, glaring at Logan. "Metal skeleton, he'd sink real quick, and I don't think his healing factor would apply to a couple lungs full of water. You sure we can't just dump him in the bay?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Rogue replied. Pietro kept looking at the holes in her bloodstained shirt and wanting to argue.
"Are you gonna have enough room for your stuff?" Wanda said as they all piled into the car, Lance driving, Wanda between him and Logan, who was in the front passengers seat, Todd, Rogue and Pietro in the back. Freddy decided to remain behind both because he'd rather not be cramped, and someone had to mind the fort in case Logan had just been a diversion.
"Yeah, I've only got about a box worth."
"Mansion go boom," Pietro reminded his sister as Lance started the engine. They drove over, fairly quickly, lest Logan wake up on the way. They rode in silence, and it only took a few minutes to reach the mansion. Even from the gates outside, they could see the lights were on; people were up. They got out of the Jeep, Rogue supporting Wolverine under one arm, Lance under the other. She leaned in close to the gate, crossing her fingers that they hadn't changed the security codes yet as a beam of light passed over her eye.
"Clearance granted, welcome Rogue," a mechanical voice said as the gates opened. The five mutants and their unconscious cargo made their way towards the door. It opened before they hit the doorstep, as Rogue and Lance were setting Logan carefully down. Rogue looked up to see her reflection in red, as Lance stepped back, her friends ready to step in at any minute if things got ugly.
"Is he okay?" Scott asked, leaning down to check Logan's pulse.
"Wrong question, Summers," Lance muttered. Scott caught sight of the holes in Rogue's shirt, though the red of his glasses made him uncertain what caused the stains around them.
"Is that blood?" he asked.
"Yeah," Rogue replied.
"Whose?" he asked.
"Mine," she answered. Scott picked up Logan's hand and indeed saw a sticky, dark liquid congealing around the sheaths. "Did you send him?" Rogue asked.
"How can you ask me that?" Scott gasped, straightening up.
"If the answer's no, just say so," she said back.
"You know Logan, Rogue, he does what he wants. The answer's no," Scott said.
"Can I go in and pick up my clothes?" she asked him. Scott looked at her, then at the other four members of the Brotherhood who stood defensively behind her.
"If they wait outside."
"Oh, yeah, sure Captain Myopia, we'll just hang out here on the porch while you take Rogue back inside and wait for Xavier to release the dogs, or the bees, or the dogs with bees in their mouths," Pietro rattled off.
"One of them," Rogue said. "I think the entire X mansion could probably take care of themselves, don't you?"
"Deal," Scott said, picking up Logan in a fireman's carry.
Pietro followed her in without thinking, smiling at his sister and Lance.
"If we're not out in ten minutes, Avalanche, shake this place back to rubble, got it?"
"Loud and clear, fearless leader," Lance replied with a withering glare at Scott. As Scott shut the door, he could still feel the eyes of Scarlet Witch, Avalanche, and Toad burning into his back.
"Will you be okay if I go and take Logan to the Infirmary?" Scott asked, readjusting Logan's heavy metal lined frame over his shoulder. Rogue nodded, and Scott wasn't sure what to feel as she reached out for Pietro's hand, and she led him to the staircase which went down to the rooms in the basement.
She's going down, Professor, Scott thought. You'd better alert Jean in case… I don't know. In case.
I understand, Scott.
Jean got the message and stepped out of her room just as Rogue and Pietro hit the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey," she said, regulating her tone so that she didn't sound overly excited, nor did she sound cold or angry.
"Hey," Rogue said back. Pietro froze in his tracks.
"I have to leave," he said.
"What?" Rogue said, turning to look at him. His face held a stricken expression, and he backed away from Jean towards the stairs.
"I forgot something."
Jean's jaw dropped.
"Are you insane?" she shouted. "You can't do that!"
Rogue looked back and forth between the two of them.
"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked.
"Shut up, Grey," Pietro growled, backing up further, only to collide with the invisible wall Jean had erected at the base of the stairs.
"He'll kill you! There's no way you'll be able to do it! And how can you even think that, he's your father for god's sake!"
"I said shut up!" Pietro screamed at her. Rogue stepped between them, taking hold of Pietro's chin.
"Sugar, tell me, what's the matter?" Rogue said gently.
He's going to kill Magneto, Jean's voice spoke in her head.
Pietro looked ill as the image in Rogue's eyes changed from concern to shock.
"Oh my god…" she whispered.
"We can't stay here, the others are waiting," Pietro said, eyes darting all over the place, giving her a pleading look. Rogue swallowed hard and nodded slightly, then turned around and walked down the hall towards her room. As he walked past, Pietro swung his head to cast a look of pure hate at Jean.
I will get you for this, you bitch, he thought hard at her. She flinched a little, but her resolve was not so shaken that she didn't immediately relay what she'd seen to Xavier.
The other students started to emerge to see what all the noise was about, but froze in their doorways as they saw Rogue and Pietro's retreating backs.
Kitty sat quietly on her bed as Rogue gathered her meager possessions- a small pile of clothes, her photo from the dance, and her journal. Everything else had been lost in the explosion. She tried to catch Kitty's eye as she and Pietro left the room, give her a reassuring smile, maybe receive one back, but Kitty wouldn't look up.
The hallway back up the stairs had become a silent gauntlet for Rogue. All the other young mutants had emerged from their rooms to stare as Rogue left with Magneto's son. They looked at her intently until she tried to make eye contact- then they resorted to foot shuffling and coughing and staring at their shoes.
Jean shot Quicksilver a warning look, silently trying to discourage his absurd aspirations of patricide, but the glance she got in return was killing frost, an assurance that if she ruined this plan for him, he would find a way to ruin her life. So far she'd only told Xavier, and the look on Pietro's face was making her regret even that. He slipped his free arm around Rogue's waist and turned away, looking up the stairs.
Rogue wasn't really surprised that no one would look her in the face. After a while, she just kept her eyes ahead, on the staircase. The Brotherhood was waiting outside, and then she could ask Pietro about what Jean had pushed in her head, when they were alone, together, away from everyone's eyes.
His arm was tense around her waist as they reached the top of the stairs, slowly coming into view of Xavier, Scott, and Dr. McCoy.
"Quicksilver-" Xavier started.
"Save it, Mister Clean," Pietro snapped. "Whatever Red told you, keep it to yourself, if you start with the meddling save me from myself shtick, you're gonna save myself from reaching legal adulthood, get me?"
"This plan of yours-"
"A da da da da da!" Pietro replied, holding up a hand. "Zip it, not up for discussion, the floor is closed, this meeting is adjourned, no questions from the press, I have no comment at this time other than keep your mouth, and your brain, shut. You stand to benefit from this almost as much as I do, so just keep out of the way, your hands stay clean, and mine get delightfully dirty. You start blathering about it, you get me killed. I don't give a damn about your conscience, and I sure as hell don't need you to give a damn about mine."
"Rogue, are you sure this is what you want?" Xavier said as the two opened the front door.
"Even if I wasn't, I'd still go," she said over her shoulder. "And this time, you might wanna change the locks. Thanks for all your help, but I don't need it anymore."
The door shut.