Still Holding Out For You
By Lady Trunks
Part 27
Okay, a quick annoucement. Go read December by Rogue LeBeau. It is my favoritest fic EVER!! You'll love it!
All I have to say is that I could never be a mastermind (not the mutant, though I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen too). I had a heck of a time coming up with a plan and it's dubious at best. But I figure your all here for the romance anyway. We all want to see the two finally get together, right? And I made it extra long to make up for not getting them together last chapter.
Christina- Glad to be added as one of your favs. ^_^
Ellen- Tag is one of my favorite fics. MBLite is a wonderful writer. I wish she would continue Couples Therapy. And Magneto is definitly his dad. It's to bad it didn't show the BoM finding out. I was thinking about your idea and writing this and I started getting this really weird idea for a fic. Like what if Rogue absorbed Pietro, only his psyche didn't fade like they usually do, and she would like talk to him and stuff (maybe why she sleeps…) and starts to fall in love with the mind Pietro. The catch is that the real Pietro and her don't get along at all, and fight all the time. But then she can't restrain herself and one day she kisses the real Pietro, and he flips out and the mind-Pietro gets jealous and tries warning her away from real Pietro. Confusing, right? I think maybe I was on a sugar induced high.
mori- Hey, it works. I meant to update sooner, but it's a conspiracy against me. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
HoneyBug16- I hope I don't lose the seriousness in my humor. I can't help it, I love messing with Pietro. And I'll go read what you wrote at the forum.
Lunacat-I like to mess with Kitty. I'm glad you liked that. And I hope this is soon enough for you. ^^
Lucky439- And thanks to Spring Break I really loved my sister... Now I want her gone!!
Eve- A plan for Pietro. He needed one to save her. ^^
X-DarkHorizon-X- One of there best. And 3 years is still a lot. I have gotten sooo much older in three years, I used to be so stupid.
Icy Flame- I'm addictive!! Yay! Like drugs!! Glad you like it.
DragonBlond- In Kansas (which is where I live, obviously) you can get a learners permit at 14 (at least I did) with Driver's Ed and you can the liscense at 16. And as for the minds he meets, just about everyone, and one small twist that I think everyone should enjoy.
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Pietro recalled Rogue once telling him that after she absorbed someone she locked their psyches away to help her maintain her sanity when their voices tended to get to loud. It was the main focal point of his plan. So maybe it wasn't a totally genius plan, but he had faith that it would work. After all, what better way to fight a psyche than with other psyches? And not just any, but those of their teammates that Rogue had absorbed.
Now he just had to find the place. Thinking over what he had seen on his earlier excursion through her mind, he thought that he might know where the place would be located. With a last look at the fight before him, he reluctantly left to find it.
He soon arrived at the place where he thought it was probably located, what appeared to be a huge structure built out of the same bricks as her shield. Not that it would have been hard to locate, it was one of the few things in all the emptiness that was in her mind. He put his hand against the building, to see if it would react similar to the shield, and luckily it did. With a sigh of relief, he stepped through the wall.
Pietro hadn't really taken the time to think about what the inside would be like, but to his surprise it was carefully structured and the inside had the look of a building, full of rooms. He wondered down the 'halls' searching for the psyches. Now that he was actually there, he needed to find a way to locate the ones belonging to their team, without freeing the enemies that she had absorbed.
He finally came upon 'rooms' and luckily they were all labeled. 'Wow. Besides the whole emptiness, her mind is very well structured.' he thought to himself, wondering if normally the rest of it was like this. It would make sense, considering her mutation she would need a carefully controlled mind. The first 'room' he came to just happened to belong to Scott. As with the outer wall, he put his hand against this one and easily passed through.
Scott's psyche was sitting in a chair reading what appeared to be an instruction manual on car repair. He glanced up in surprise at the intrusion (not accustomed to visitors), and quickly rose to his feet. He looked almost exactly the same as in real life only not as substantial (you could kind of see through him, as if he wasn't completely solid) and slightly faded. "Pietro! What are you doing here?!" His voice was slightly hostile, and Pietro realized that Rogue must have absorbed him before they had joined with the X-Men, and therefore Scott still thought of them as enemies.
"I'm trying to help Rogue. And I need your help." It really galled him to have to say it, but these were desperate times.
Scott immediately changed his attitude to one of concern for his teammate. "What's wrong with her?"
Pietro immediately briefed him on the situation, having to go back and repeat what he had said a few times as his words picked up speed. When he was completed, Scott voiced his approval at the plan. "It just might work. But there's one small problem." He gestured to the wall in front of him. "We can't exactly come and go as we like."
Pietro froze, having not thought of that. How was he going to get them out? "What I wouldn't give for a door!" He mumbled. To his surprise at the words a door appeared before him. "Well, that's convenient!" He said going to the door and holding it open to allow Scott to leave through it.
As he passed him, Scott gave him a considering look. "She must really trust you to give you that much power of her mind. Pietro blinked rapidly in response, considering his words. Of course she trusted him, they were best friends. But that really was an extraordinary amount of trust to give anyone control over your mind. He just shrugged in response, and continued on their way.
They continued going from room to room, gathering up other people. Jean, Kitty, Ororo, and Lance had joined them after the situation had been explained to them, when they came upon a room that caused Pietro to stop in his tracks. 'Hmm' he thought to himself. 'I had almost forgot about that. This is going to be rather strange.' The room was labeled the same as the others, and it was that label that had caused him to stop in shock. The label on the door read Pietro. There was also something different about this room as well, that added to his shock. Unlike the other rooms, this one already had a door on it.
He opened the door and walked in. The real Pietro gazed into the identical eyes of the Psyche Pietro and couldn't help but feel like he was in an episode of The Twilight Zone. The Psyche Pietro was slightly different from the others in that he appeared slightly more solid and wasn't faded. "Whoa, another one?" Psyche Pietro gaped in shock.
"The Original. I'm here to help Rogue."
At his words the Psyche Pietro jumped to his feet beginning to panic. "What's-wrong-with-Rogue? Is-that-why-she-hasn't-been-here-to-visit? Is-she-alright?"
Pietro explained everything to the Psyche Pietro, who immediately joined them. Everyone continued down the hall, with the two walking side by side taking surreptitious glances every once in a while at their copy. "So," the real Pietro said, "why did you have a door while the others didn't?"
"Roguey lets me come and go, as long as I don't cause any trouble. I think she felt guilty about absorbing us."
The original Pietro shrugged, "It was an accident. No big deal."
"That's what I keep telling her. But you know Rogue." The Psyche Pietro said.
"She talks to you?" They came to another door and Pietro let Scott do the talking, while he continued his talk with the Psyche Pietro.
"When she can, usually when she not with you."
"So," The original Pietro grinned slyly, "anything I should know?"
The Psyche Pietro wore a matching grin, "Oh, she totally digs us. But don't tell her I said so. I got in enough trouble for looking at some things I wasn't supposed to."
Pietro made a mental note to ask him about those things, but first things first. "So, she likes us?"
"I think like maybe a little weak for what she feels for us. I'd say definitely head over heals. But can you blame her? We are exceptionally attractive." the Psyche Pietro answered with a smirk.
"I hate to interrupt the vanity fair," Scott said sarcastically to the two Pietros having overheard the last remark, "but I think we're done here."
Pietro took stock of the mutant psyches before him. Altogether now, they had the two Pietros, Scott, Jean, Kitty, Kurt, Ororo, Lance, Todd, and Freddy. Hopefully it would be enough. Pietro led them to the wall where they had entered, and changed it so there was a door as well. They all exited the structure.
The Psyche Pietro stopped in shock as he gazed around him. "What happened?"
"It's not normally like this?" The original Pietro asked, having nothing to compare it with.
"No it's normally… well, filled."
"This Linda person you told us about must have affected her mindscape. We better hurry, if she has that kind of control over her mind, the sooner she's gone the better." Jean said, having some experience because of her psychic powers.
At her words they took of towards where Pietro had seen them fighting. Both of the Pietros' kept glancing back at the others impatiently. "So," the Psyche Pietro asked, "what's the plan?" The original Pietro just glanced at him. "Of course you don't have a plan. We never have a plan. You know, maybe someday we should start thinking about things before we do them. That is how I got here in the first place."
"Hey, how could we have known that she would have gotten undressed that fast. And I still think the whole slapping was a little extreme." The original Pietro said, rubbing his cheek in memory.
"We're just lucky that she didn't kill us." The Psyche Pietro responded. "But it was worth it!" He added with a grin.
"Totally." Pietro replied, grinning in memory. "I don't even mind being knocked out for an hour."
Pietro (the real one) glanced around, realizing that they were almost to where they were going. "So, maybe we should come up with that plan."
"Well, we could probably fight her until she's weak enough that we can restrain her long enough for Rogue to lock her away like the other psyches." was the Psyche Pietro's suggestion.
The other nodded in agreement. "It's simple, but it could work."
The rest of the mutant psyche squad caught up, and the Pietros informed them of their plan. "We'll need to sneak up on her so she can't hide. Kitty, you and Kurt can take care of that. Scott and Jean, you can attack her from a distance. Then the rest can attack."
Everyone nodded in agreement to show they understood the plan, and then they went into action. Kitty dropped through the 'floor' and Kurt got ready to teleport when the time came. Kitty snuck up behind where Linda and Rogue were still exchanging blows. When Scott and Jean saw that she was in place, Scott let out a blast that shot through the air and struck the woman in the chest, knocking her backward. Jean telepathically struck her from behind. The woman turned towards them but before she could do anything, Kitty popped up in front of her, punched her in the face and sank back through the ground. The woman was then almost knocked to the ground by a huge wind coming from Ororo who floated in front of her. She then completely lost her footing as Lance shot a tremor through the ground. Kurt used the distraction to teleport in just then with Freddy and Todd who began to attack in earnest.
The Pietros exchanged a glance of silent communication, before the Psyche Pietro raced off to begin attacking Linda as well. The real Pietro raced over to where the exhausted Rogue was gaping in surprised relief at the unexpected support. She saw him, and a look of dawning realization crossed her weary face as she smiled into his eyes. "I knew you would help me."
His only reply was to pull her into his arms.
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