AN: Not so much violence, but language, references to sex, and stirrings of things to come. I may rename and resoundtrack this chapter if I find a better song, but for the moment, I'm more interested in getting it up and online. Eternal thanks as always to those who read and/or review. I'm trying to bring more of the rest of the Brotherhood into this fic, especially Wanda and Todd. I have a tough time writing Freddy though, since it seems like all he cares about is food. I'll work something out. Anyway, here's number 18.
It's time to kill the king: it's written in the scripture.
See what tomorrow brings, got to get a bigger picture.
So forgive me, forgive me, for I am born to be what I must be… and I must be…
-Tom McRae, "The Boy with the Bubblegun"
Please don't let Magneto wake up, please don't let Magneto wake up, please don't let Magneto wake up, I wonder how many times they've done it already? It's been like forty minutes, argh, bad thoughts, scary thoughts, nightmare thoughts. Please don't let Magneto wake up, I don't think I can handle this.
"Hey. Rocky. You look all queasy-like," Todd said, breaking Lance's very unpleasant train of thought.
"Um. I had some bad bologna for lunch."
"Where the hell are Rogue and fearless leader, man?" Fred grumbled. "Shouldn't Pietro be yelping orders?"
Lance sighed, and told them for the fifth time since they'd gotten back almost an hour ago.
"I told you, they were just really, really sleepy."
He got a skeptical look from Freddy, Todd, Pyro and Colossus, who were sitting on the couch. Sabertooth didn't like being indoors and told them to call him when something was happening, then stalked off, and Gambit had taken one look in the fridge, snorted, and said that he was going out, and that he'd be back with alcohol and possibly some food if he got around to it. Sitting in the big easy-chair, his chin on his chest, was a still unconscious Magneto.
"I hope Wanda's okay," Todd said, glancing up the stairs.
"What is his problem?" Fred said, staring at Magneto. "You'd think he'd've come to by now, it's been hours!"
"Enh, Rogue's touch can lay a man flat for a while, yo. I just can't get over how much he looks like my drunk Uncle Chip did in his Santa costume back at my foster parents house."
The coffee table with its broken two-by four leg started to shudder.
"Um… Lance? You wanna cut that out?" Todd said nervously.
"Not me," Lance replied. The screws holding the table together ripped out and began orbiting Magneto.
"Crap damn…" Todd quavered. "I think his highness is waking up."
Magneto's head jerked up like a puppet's, and the screws fell to the ground.
"Where are we?" Magneto growled.
"Back in Bayville, but don't worry, we kept your helmet on an' all…" Todd stammered. "Um…sir."
"The mission?" he rumbled.
"It was successful, Magneto. We rescued all the captives, the offending leader has been killed, and the Sibyl destroyed, along with the facilities," Colossus reported.
"Marvelous. So where the hell is everyone, and what caused me to lose consciousness?"
"We found you like that, sir," Colossus said. "You would not wake up, so Rogue made use of your powers to get us back to the warehouse."
"And the transports?"
"Rogue destroyed them."
"You fools are not as useless as I thought. Where is Rogue, and for that matter, everyone else?"
At that moment, Gambit stepped through the door with a shopping bag full of liquor bottles and another full of food.
"Okay, I got enough bourbon here to kill a rhi- oh. Bon soir?"
Magneto rolled his eyes.
"Another fool accounted for. I assume Sabertooth got restless, what about Quicksilver?"
"Rogue and Pietro got sleepy," Lance replied automatically.
"Ma cheri, all tuckered out, perhaps I should go keep her company," Gambit said, setting down his bags and looking up the stairs.
"You don't wanna do that man," Lance replied. Gambit raised an eyebrow.
"Gambit's certain that he does, mon ami. I bet I can perk her back up."
"She's fucking my son, you half-wit," Magneto replied with no little disgust. A look of horror and perhaps a little heartbreak passed over Gambit's face.
"I see," he said quietly, then reached into the bag and pulled out one of his bottles of rhinoceros-killing bourbon.
"Lastly, where is Scarlet Witch?" Magneto said. Lance thought he caught a trace of apprehension in his voice.
The house started to rumble from the roof down.
"I think she just woke up," Todd said, gold eyes looking uneasily up towards the second floor.
Rogue and Pietro had actually worn themselves out a while ago, and were in the act of unabashed snuggling.
"…king…..half-wit," they heard from downstairs. Displeasure marred Pietro's features.
"Fabulous. Daddy's home," he muttered. He and Rogue got up and quickly started dressing, until the dresser they'd placed in front of the door began to move on its own, shuddering across the vibrating floor.
"Fuck me. So is Wanda," Pietro said. He had only managed to get jeans on, Rogue had only managed underwear, gloves and a shirt, but they barreled against the dresser and ran out the door to the bedroom at lightning speed and burst through Wanda's door, pouncing on her, tackling her to the bed, and each holding down one hand.
"Let go of me!" Wanda growled. "Let me go you fucking traitor, you power-stealing bitch!"
"Wanda, keep it down," Rogue hissed.
"We want him dead too," Pietro said. "He screwed with your memories, and yeah, we know you want to kill him, but he's got about five different species of back-up downstairs, and I don't think you can take them all."
"I could if you helped," Wanda replied, her gaze piercing first Pietro, then Rogue.
"And we will," Rogue said. "But now ain't the time."
"She's right," Pietro agreed. "If we try to bring him down now, he'll make sure he takes us all with him, and I'm not ready to swap my life for his."
"You blew my first shot, and she blew my second!" Wanda snapped.
"Third times a charm," Pietro said. "We'll wait till he's off guard, and we'll take him apart. It'll happen, he's not perfect."
Wanda relaxed in their grip.
"That's for fucking sure," she growled, but her face softened a little. "It feels like it was real, but what Wraith showed me, that felt… realer. That person in my head… carousels and cotton candy and picnics, that never happened, right?"
Pietro eased his grip on her arm and squeezed her hand in his.
"I really wish it had, but Marya and Django were the only real parents we ever had, firefly."
She turned to look at Rogue.
"And you want to help us? For real? You're not going to pull some X-Men bullshit about how killing is bad and everyone can see the light?"
"I'm not."
"Do you really love my brother?" Wanda asked, narrowing her eyes.
"'Fraid so," Rogue said with a shrug.
"You swear?" Wanda said, more desperate than skeptical. Rogue let her arm go and held up her hands.
"I swear, Wanda. Blow up my head if you don't believe me."
Wanda sat up in bed and did the thing they least expected. She pulled Pietro to her with one arm, and Rogue to her with another.
"I want a family again," she said quietly, and Rogue felt Wanda's tears soaking through the back of her shirt.
"Well you have a mediocre brother but I'm working on it," Pietro said.
"And as stupid as this might sound, you've got an almost-sister, or cousin, or whatever."
Wanda actually laughed a little at that and released her brother and her almost-sister. Pietro looked at her and squeezed her hand again.
"But now comes the hard part. The worst person in the world is sitting in our chair downstairs, and you have to pretend to be glad to see him. If he asks you why you're upset, you make something up. Can you manage that?"
A moment later, Pietro walked down the stairs flanked by Rogue and Wanda.
"It's about damn time," Magneto growled, standing up. "How kind of you two to pry yourselves apart long enough to grace us with your presence. And Scarlet Witch. Are you all right?"
"Yes, father," Wanda said as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
"The house was shaking just now."
"I fell asleep, and I was having a nightmare about Wraith."
Magneto smiled.
"Well there's no need to worry about Wraith any more my dear, he's quite dead."
Wanda blinked at him.
"I know. Pietro shot him."
It was Magneto's turn to blink.
"You killed Wraith?" Magneto exclaimed, staring at his son. Pietro rolled his eyes.
"Okay, if there's one thing I'm sick of talking about today, it's that asshole," Pietro replied snidely, sprawling on the couch. Wanda and Rogue sat on either side of him, and for some reason, their presence actually made his leadership seem fully credible.
"You killed him, yes or no," Magneto snarled.
"Pietro shot Wraith six times in the head. He didn't get up," Rogue answered.
"Fair enough. That takes care of Wraith. Gambit tells me there was a girl in the Sibyl. What happened to her?"
"I dropped her off at the Four Seasons," Colossus replied quietly. Magneto whirled on him.
"You let her go?"
"She wanted to go home," Colossus shrugged.
"Did you at least find out her name?"
"Emma Frost," Pietro said.
"Of the Boston Frosts," Rogue added.
"Fine, I can work with that," Magneto said, gritting his teeth. "At least you destroyed what you were supposed to destroy without getting killed. For that, I suppose you are to be commended. Stay here until I call you. Gambit, Colossus, Pyro, you three disperse."
Having said this, Magneto turned to go, but stopped as a small voice spoke up from the couch.
"Father? Do you have to go so soon?"
Magneto turned back to see Wanda looking small and afraid and full of need. His son now had his girlfriend, but his daughter, she still had no one. No one but him. He walked back over and touched her face with a gloved hand.
"We'll all be together again soon, Wanda," he said. "But there's plans that need to be made. This young psychic could be very dangerous to us, she must be found and persuaded to join us, or we must take measures to ensure that she does not compromise us."
Magneto turned and walked out, Pyro and Colossus close behind. Gambit swept up his bottle of bourbon and his trench coat, and with a melancholy, longing leer at Rogue, walked out the door.
Lance, Todd and Freddy looked startled as Rogue and Pietro burst into smiles.
"That was amazing!" Pietro cried out.
"Seriously girl, where'd you learn to act?" Rogue added.
"Hey, whoa whoa whoa," Todd said. "I gotta 'ave missed something."
"Gentlemen," Pietro said. "What's the coolest thing we've got going for us right now?"
Lance rolled his eyes.
"Working for Magneto, unfortunately."
"Bingo," Rogue said. "What would be just about the coolest thing in the world?"
"Normal life, requited love, beer, financial stability-" Todd started.
"Better stocked fridge, walk-in freezer-" Freddy added.
"Not having to think about people judging us all the time," Lance finished, but he might as well have said 'Kitty Pryde, the way things used to be.'
"Close, but not quite," Wanda said. "The coolest thing in the world would be not working for anyone at all, including Magneto."
"No way that's happening," Freddy said.
"Yeah, Magneto don't seem like the type to let go-a his recruits unless they're dead, yo," Todd said. Wanda broke into a chilling smile.
"Or unless he is."