Wanda turned back to Magneto. "Father, this has gone far enough! It's bad
enough that you kidnapped this girl and changed her into this, that you've
convinced her that she's your daughter and you're having us lie to her
about who she is, now you're going to have her kill one of my friends!"
Livewire turned to Magneto. "Father, what is my sister saying? I do not understand,"
"Do not pay any attention to her, daughter. Your sister is just confused about what is happening, that is all," said Magneto. He walked up to Wanda. "Wanda, stop this, now!"
"No!" she yelled pulling away from him. If you won't stop this, I will!" Then she fired a hexbolt at Livewire.
Livewire shrieked as the bolt hit her, and the room filled up with an electronic whine that sounded like feedback. Her own energy bolt faded out and her body turned black. Toad collapsed to the floor. His chest was covered with burn marks and his arms and legs were twitching randomly.
"Wanda, stop!" shouted Magneto. "You don't know what you're doing!"
Pietro ran up to her and tried to grab her, but Wanda shoved him away and kept the hex on Livewire. The mutant began to fade out of sight.
"No!" Magneto yelled. He waved his hand, and with a loud metallic groan a steel girder tore itself loose from the ceiling and wrapped itself around Wanda. She lost her concentration and her hex on Livewire was broken. Livewire slowly began to recover.
Magneto walked over to where Livewire was kneeling. "Daughter, are you all right?" he asked her.
"Yes," she said, very faintly.
Magneto gestured to Mindbender. "Take my daughter to her chamber," he instructed. After Mindbender took Livewire out of the room, Magneto walked over to Wanda, who was still struggling unsuccessfully to get loose from the girder.
"You nearly ruined everything!" he yelled at her.
"Why have you done this?" Wanda asked angrily.
"I am sorry I have to tell you like this, Wanda," said Magneto. "I did this to protect myself. There is a very dangerous time coming for us. A very powerful mutant named Apocalypse is trying to break out of his imprisonment. If he does, he could threaten all of us and the entire world! Now do you understand?"
"You shouldn't have done this!" shouted Wanda. "You should have stood up to him!"
Magneto took a step back. "There IS no standing up to him! I am sorry Wanda, that you cannot see what I must do," He waved Colossus over. "Take Wanda to a cell. And that, too," he said, gesturing at Toad.
Colossus pulled Wanda out of the girder as Magneto released his control over it. He flung her over his shoulder and then walked over to Toad. He reached down, broke the shackle off of his leg and picked him up as well. Wanda was relieved to see that despite his wounds, he was still breathing.
X
Later, when they were locked up in adjoining cells, Wanda looked over at him through the bars.
"Toad, can you hear me?" she asked.
Toad coughed and tried to sit up. Wanda could see him grimace in pain.
"No, don't try and move. You've been hurt badly," she said.
"Don't you think I know it," Toad gasped. "And I thought it hurt when you zapped me,"
"I'm sorry about what happened to you," she said. "I didn't know they were going to hurt you,"
"Wanda," he said. "I don't feel too good. I don't think I'm gonna make it,"
"No, Toad! Don't say that!" she said. "Don't give up on me!"
"Sorry, sweetums," he said. "I don't know if I got anything left,"
"Toad, stop saying that!" she shouted at him. "Please, promise me you'll stay with me, for my sake, ok? I need you!"
"What did you say?" he asked.
"I said I need you. Please, don't die," she whispered. She felt a tear begin to trickle down her cheek.
"I knew it! I knew you cared about me!"
A few more tears rolled down Wanda's face. "Of course I care about you!" she said, laughing. "I know I may not show it, but I really do like you,"
"Thanks, Wanda," said Toad. "I appreciate that. Ok, I think I'll be able to make it, now that I know I got somethin' to look forward to,"
"Thank you, Toad," she said. Then she decided to reinforce his commitment. "And if you don't, I'll put a curse on your body and turn you into a walking zombie!"
Toad shrieked in mock fear. "Ok, ok, you win!" he said, laughing a little.
"I knew that'd get you," Wanda said, smiling. "Now if we could just get out of here, maybe we could help that mutant,"
"Babycakes, I think that one's beyond help," said Toad. "Now I know your daddy's done some weird experiments on mutants in the past, but this one takes the cake. She didn't even look human!"
"I know. I can't believe my father would do something like this," Wanda muttered.
"Believe it, Wanda. Your father is not a nice man," said Toad.
"But this doesn't make any sense! It's just not like him!" Wanda said. "I have so many memories of him when I was growing up, and how he seemed so nice! What could have happened to him?"
Toad sighed. This was not going to be easy for her to hear.
"Listen, Wanda, your father isn't the person you remember him being. Those memories you have, they're all fake,"
"What?" asked Wanda suspiciously.
"You never grew up in a happy home, Wanda. Your father had you locked away in an asylum because you couldn't control your powers. He thought you were too dangerous,"
"Toad, please, stop saying that!" said Wanda.
"Wanda, I know this sounds bad, but I promise you it's true," said Toad. "You remember that time we came home from that ski resort, and you couldn't figure out why you had written all those bad things about your father in your diary?"
"Yeah, but I threw that thing out," said Wanda.
"I dug it out of the trash. I can show it to you when we get out of here" said Toad. "Now look, the reason you couldn't understand it was because Mindbender altered your memories,"
"No, that can't be!" said Wanda adamantly.
Toad was starting to panic. There's gotta be some way I can jog her memory, he thought.
"You mean you don't remember him lockin' you away in that place? The bad food, the straightjackets?"
"Toad, I'm not listening to any more of this," Wanda said.
"Wait, just give me a sec to think of something you'll remember!" said Toad. "Ok, I got it! You remember when we broke into that news van a few months ago after that giant robot crashed and burned?"
"Yes," she said. "My father was there. There was some kind of accident,"
"Do you remember what we were looking for?" Toad asked eagerly.
"We were looking for, footage, I think. We were trying to see if he survived,"
"And do you remember what you saw when we zoomed in?"
"We saw, Pietro!" she said, suddenly remembering.
This could be it, Toad thought. "And do you remember what you said when you saw him save your father?"
Wanda tried to recall. She could sense some kind of block in her mind, covering up the image she was looking for.
"I'm trying, but I just can't see it,"
"Maybe this will jog your memory," said Toad. "You said, 'My brother seems to have performed a last-minute rescue',"
Wanda's eyes went wide as her repressed memories came rushing back. She picked up right where Toad had left off. "Which means that Magneto is still alive!" she roared furiously.
Yes! Toad thought, pumping his fist triumphantly.
Wanda screamed and clutched the sides of her head as the flood of memories came flowing back into her head. A moment later, she looked up, a vengeful look in her face.
"When we get out of here, I am going to kill Magneto!" she snarled.
"Now that's the Wanda I remember!" said Toad. "Glad to have you back, er, I think,"
X
Mesmero was jostled around in the cockpit as his plane touched down on the airstrip in Berlin. He guided the plane slowly down the runway, reducing its speed until it came to a halt. He shut down the engines, stood up, and opened the cockpit door. He made his way down the small ladder that was waiting for him.
He had finally arrived in Germany. Now he would be free to search for Magneto and his new mutant. But where to start looking? Apocalypse had told him that he would recognize the signs when he saw them. For now, though, everything looked normal. No matter, he thought. He was prepared to wait as long as he needed to. After all, his master had been waiting for far much longer. He settled down and waited for the answer to come to him.
X
On the other side of the airport, Simons and Jan stepped into the concourse. They had gotten special permission from the State department to come to Germany after analyzing all of Cerebro's information. They believed that they could work with the local authorities to track down Gambit and Sabertooth. Now they waited in the concourse of the airport for their German counterparts to arrive.
"I just hope we haven't come over here too late," Simons said. "It seems like the worst always happens whenever mutants are involved with things,"
Jan raised an eyebrow at this. She hadn't expected her boss to suddenly come around to her way of thinking. However, she did not let her surprise show.
"I'm sure we'll be able to hunt down these people soon enough," she said, trying to see just how far Simon's newfound sympathies extended. "With any luck, we should be able to find the girl before they do anything to her,"
She was pleased to see Simons shudder a bit at this notion and then nod his head. About time he came around, she thought.
X
Down in the dungeon, Pietro was standing guard over Wanda and Toad. He tried to ignore Toad's moans of pain as he talked with his sister.
Wanda tried to keep her wrath concealed. If Pietro caught on that she had recovered her memories, she might never get out here.
"Look, Wanda, you can relax. Dad's calmed down by now. I'm sure he'll let you out of here soon," said Pietro.
"Stow it, brother," she replied. "Hey, why don't you actually make yourself useful for once and try and find some medical supplies,"
"What for?" Pietro asked.
"What for?!" Wanda asked incredulously. "Have you taken a look at Toad lately? He's dying!"
Pietro took a brief look in Toad's cell. "Well, he does look a bit greener than normal," he said. "But you gotta understand, sis, he tried to sell us out to Xavier! You know father can't tolerate that!"
"But he doesn't have to just let him die!" said Wanda.
"I'm sorry, sis, I really am. But my hands are tied. There's nothing I can do about it," said Pietro.
Inside his cell, Toad wheezed for air. "Pietro, when I get out of here, I swear I am going to kill you!" he said. Then he broke into another coughing fit.
"Toad, buddy, look, I'm sorry things had to end up this way. Right now, just try and save your strength, ok? Don't make things any worse then they already are,"
"You heartless monster!" Wanda said. "There's no way I can be related to you!"
"That hurts, sis, that really does," said Pietro. "I'll be sure to tell father about how you feel,"
Wanda glared at him, but sat in sullen silence.
Pietro went back to standing around, and then perked up when he saw a shadow appear in the doorway.
"Halt! Who goes there?" Pietro shouted, trying and failing to sound authoritative with his high-pitched voice.
"Relax, Pietro, it's just me," said a Cajun voice, and Gambit walked through the doorway.
"Oh, Gambit. Hey," said Pietro.
"How are the prisoners doing?" Gambit asked.
"About as well as you'd expect,"
"Good. Keep your eyes open. We may have more intruders,"
"You serious?" Pietro asked.
"Yeah," Gambit replied. "Some of Xavier's people are here,"
"Oh, I hope Daniels is here," said Pietro, rubbing his hands together greedily. "Oh, wait, that's right, he's living in the sewers now. Just as well, the mud and slime will match his complexion. And blue boy got killed falling out that window. Well, then in that case, I hope it's Summers. I haven't kicked his butt in a good long time,"
"Actually, he's not the mutant you need to be worried about," Gambit said.
"Why's that?" Pietro asked.
Gambit said nothing, and then suddenly slugged Pietro hard on the chin. Pietro grunted and fell to his knees. He tried to stand up, but Gambit drove his knee into Pietro's head, and the mutant collapsed, unconscious.
"Because I am," Gambit said.
"Hey, what's goin' on out there?" Toad said, sitting up.
Gambit walked over to Wanda's cell.
"You alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, but what are you doing?" she asked him, unable to believe that Gambit was helping them break out.
"You'll see," he said with a grin. He took a step back and rolled up his sleeve.
Toad watched Gambit as he adjusted his watch, and then burst out laughing.
"That old trick again? You gotta be kidding me!" he laughed.
"Hey, it worked the last time," said Kurt, now standing in his true form. "Now let's get you out of here,"
He knelt down and retrieved the keys from Pietro's prone form. A moment later he had the doors unlocked and was helping Toad out of his cell.
"Can you walk?" asked Kurt.
"Yeah, I think so," said Toad.
"Great," said Kurt. "Let's get going then,"
"Hang on a sec," said Toad, as he saw Pietro began to regain his senses. "There's somethin' I wanna do first,"
He walked over to Pietro. "Pietro," he said. "This is from the bottom of my heart, for everything you've given me over the last three years," Then he pulled back his leg and kicked Pietro in the groin.
Pietro howled in agony as Toad walked past him. "Man, that felt good!" said Toad. The three mutants rolled Pietro into one of the cells and locked him in.
X
Livewire turned to Magneto. "Father, what is my sister saying? I do not understand,"
"Do not pay any attention to her, daughter. Your sister is just confused about what is happening, that is all," said Magneto. He walked up to Wanda. "Wanda, stop this, now!"
"No!" she yelled pulling away from him. If you won't stop this, I will!" Then she fired a hexbolt at Livewire.
Livewire shrieked as the bolt hit her, and the room filled up with an electronic whine that sounded like feedback. Her own energy bolt faded out and her body turned black. Toad collapsed to the floor. His chest was covered with burn marks and his arms and legs were twitching randomly.
"Wanda, stop!" shouted Magneto. "You don't know what you're doing!"
Pietro ran up to her and tried to grab her, but Wanda shoved him away and kept the hex on Livewire. The mutant began to fade out of sight.
"No!" Magneto yelled. He waved his hand, and with a loud metallic groan a steel girder tore itself loose from the ceiling and wrapped itself around Wanda. She lost her concentration and her hex on Livewire was broken. Livewire slowly began to recover.
Magneto walked over to where Livewire was kneeling. "Daughter, are you all right?" he asked her.
"Yes," she said, very faintly.
Magneto gestured to Mindbender. "Take my daughter to her chamber," he instructed. After Mindbender took Livewire out of the room, Magneto walked over to Wanda, who was still struggling unsuccessfully to get loose from the girder.
"You nearly ruined everything!" he yelled at her.
"Why have you done this?" Wanda asked angrily.
"I am sorry I have to tell you like this, Wanda," said Magneto. "I did this to protect myself. There is a very dangerous time coming for us. A very powerful mutant named Apocalypse is trying to break out of his imprisonment. If he does, he could threaten all of us and the entire world! Now do you understand?"
"You shouldn't have done this!" shouted Wanda. "You should have stood up to him!"
Magneto took a step back. "There IS no standing up to him! I am sorry Wanda, that you cannot see what I must do," He waved Colossus over. "Take Wanda to a cell. And that, too," he said, gesturing at Toad.
Colossus pulled Wanda out of the girder as Magneto released his control over it. He flung her over his shoulder and then walked over to Toad. He reached down, broke the shackle off of his leg and picked him up as well. Wanda was relieved to see that despite his wounds, he was still breathing.
X
Later, when they were locked up in adjoining cells, Wanda looked over at him through the bars.
"Toad, can you hear me?" she asked.
Toad coughed and tried to sit up. Wanda could see him grimace in pain.
"No, don't try and move. You've been hurt badly," she said.
"Don't you think I know it," Toad gasped. "And I thought it hurt when you zapped me,"
"I'm sorry about what happened to you," she said. "I didn't know they were going to hurt you,"
"Wanda," he said. "I don't feel too good. I don't think I'm gonna make it,"
"No, Toad! Don't say that!" she said. "Don't give up on me!"
"Sorry, sweetums," he said. "I don't know if I got anything left,"
"Toad, stop saying that!" she shouted at him. "Please, promise me you'll stay with me, for my sake, ok? I need you!"
"What did you say?" he asked.
"I said I need you. Please, don't die," she whispered. She felt a tear begin to trickle down her cheek.
"I knew it! I knew you cared about me!"
A few more tears rolled down Wanda's face. "Of course I care about you!" she said, laughing. "I know I may not show it, but I really do like you,"
"Thanks, Wanda," said Toad. "I appreciate that. Ok, I think I'll be able to make it, now that I know I got somethin' to look forward to,"
"Thank you, Toad," she said. Then she decided to reinforce his commitment. "And if you don't, I'll put a curse on your body and turn you into a walking zombie!"
Toad shrieked in mock fear. "Ok, ok, you win!" he said, laughing a little.
"I knew that'd get you," Wanda said, smiling. "Now if we could just get out of here, maybe we could help that mutant,"
"Babycakes, I think that one's beyond help," said Toad. "Now I know your daddy's done some weird experiments on mutants in the past, but this one takes the cake. She didn't even look human!"
"I know. I can't believe my father would do something like this," Wanda muttered.
"Believe it, Wanda. Your father is not a nice man," said Toad.
"But this doesn't make any sense! It's just not like him!" Wanda said. "I have so many memories of him when I was growing up, and how he seemed so nice! What could have happened to him?"
Toad sighed. This was not going to be easy for her to hear.
"Listen, Wanda, your father isn't the person you remember him being. Those memories you have, they're all fake,"
"What?" asked Wanda suspiciously.
"You never grew up in a happy home, Wanda. Your father had you locked away in an asylum because you couldn't control your powers. He thought you were too dangerous,"
"Toad, please, stop saying that!" said Wanda.
"Wanda, I know this sounds bad, but I promise you it's true," said Toad. "You remember that time we came home from that ski resort, and you couldn't figure out why you had written all those bad things about your father in your diary?"
"Yeah, but I threw that thing out," said Wanda.
"I dug it out of the trash. I can show it to you when we get out of here" said Toad. "Now look, the reason you couldn't understand it was because Mindbender altered your memories,"
"No, that can't be!" said Wanda adamantly.
Toad was starting to panic. There's gotta be some way I can jog her memory, he thought.
"You mean you don't remember him lockin' you away in that place? The bad food, the straightjackets?"
"Toad, I'm not listening to any more of this," Wanda said.
"Wait, just give me a sec to think of something you'll remember!" said Toad. "Ok, I got it! You remember when we broke into that news van a few months ago after that giant robot crashed and burned?"
"Yes," she said. "My father was there. There was some kind of accident,"
"Do you remember what we were looking for?" Toad asked eagerly.
"We were looking for, footage, I think. We were trying to see if he survived,"
"And do you remember what you saw when we zoomed in?"
"We saw, Pietro!" she said, suddenly remembering.
This could be it, Toad thought. "And do you remember what you said when you saw him save your father?"
Wanda tried to recall. She could sense some kind of block in her mind, covering up the image she was looking for.
"I'm trying, but I just can't see it,"
"Maybe this will jog your memory," said Toad. "You said, 'My brother seems to have performed a last-minute rescue',"
Wanda's eyes went wide as her repressed memories came rushing back. She picked up right where Toad had left off. "Which means that Magneto is still alive!" she roared furiously.
Yes! Toad thought, pumping his fist triumphantly.
Wanda screamed and clutched the sides of her head as the flood of memories came flowing back into her head. A moment later, she looked up, a vengeful look in her face.
"When we get out of here, I am going to kill Magneto!" she snarled.
"Now that's the Wanda I remember!" said Toad. "Glad to have you back, er, I think,"
X
Mesmero was jostled around in the cockpit as his plane touched down on the airstrip in Berlin. He guided the plane slowly down the runway, reducing its speed until it came to a halt. He shut down the engines, stood up, and opened the cockpit door. He made his way down the small ladder that was waiting for him.
He had finally arrived in Germany. Now he would be free to search for Magneto and his new mutant. But where to start looking? Apocalypse had told him that he would recognize the signs when he saw them. For now, though, everything looked normal. No matter, he thought. He was prepared to wait as long as he needed to. After all, his master had been waiting for far much longer. He settled down and waited for the answer to come to him.
X
On the other side of the airport, Simons and Jan stepped into the concourse. They had gotten special permission from the State department to come to Germany after analyzing all of Cerebro's information. They believed that they could work with the local authorities to track down Gambit and Sabertooth. Now they waited in the concourse of the airport for their German counterparts to arrive.
"I just hope we haven't come over here too late," Simons said. "It seems like the worst always happens whenever mutants are involved with things,"
Jan raised an eyebrow at this. She hadn't expected her boss to suddenly come around to her way of thinking. However, she did not let her surprise show.
"I'm sure we'll be able to hunt down these people soon enough," she said, trying to see just how far Simon's newfound sympathies extended. "With any luck, we should be able to find the girl before they do anything to her,"
She was pleased to see Simons shudder a bit at this notion and then nod his head. About time he came around, she thought.
X
Down in the dungeon, Pietro was standing guard over Wanda and Toad. He tried to ignore Toad's moans of pain as he talked with his sister.
Wanda tried to keep her wrath concealed. If Pietro caught on that she had recovered her memories, she might never get out here.
"Look, Wanda, you can relax. Dad's calmed down by now. I'm sure he'll let you out of here soon," said Pietro.
"Stow it, brother," she replied. "Hey, why don't you actually make yourself useful for once and try and find some medical supplies,"
"What for?" Pietro asked.
"What for?!" Wanda asked incredulously. "Have you taken a look at Toad lately? He's dying!"
Pietro took a brief look in Toad's cell. "Well, he does look a bit greener than normal," he said. "But you gotta understand, sis, he tried to sell us out to Xavier! You know father can't tolerate that!"
"But he doesn't have to just let him die!" said Wanda.
"I'm sorry, sis, I really am. But my hands are tied. There's nothing I can do about it," said Pietro.
Inside his cell, Toad wheezed for air. "Pietro, when I get out of here, I swear I am going to kill you!" he said. Then he broke into another coughing fit.
"Toad, buddy, look, I'm sorry things had to end up this way. Right now, just try and save your strength, ok? Don't make things any worse then they already are,"
"You heartless monster!" Wanda said. "There's no way I can be related to you!"
"That hurts, sis, that really does," said Pietro. "I'll be sure to tell father about how you feel,"
Wanda glared at him, but sat in sullen silence.
Pietro went back to standing around, and then perked up when he saw a shadow appear in the doorway.
"Halt! Who goes there?" Pietro shouted, trying and failing to sound authoritative with his high-pitched voice.
"Relax, Pietro, it's just me," said a Cajun voice, and Gambit walked through the doorway.
"Oh, Gambit. Hey," said Pietro.
"How are the prisoners doing?" Gambit asked.
"About as well as you'd expect,"
"Good. Keep your eyes open. We may have more intruders,"
"You serious?" Pietro asked.
"Yeah," Gambit replied. "Some of Xavier's people are here,"
"Oh, I hope Daniels is here," said Pietro, rubbing his hands together greedily. "Oh, wait, that's right, he's living in the sewers now. Just as well, the mud and slime will match his complexion. And blue boy got killed falling out that window. Well, then in that case, I hope it's Summers. I haven't kicked his butt in a good long time,"
"Actually, he's not the mutant you need to be worried about," Gambit said.
"Why's that?" Pietro asked.
Gambit said nothing, and then suddenly slugged Pietro hard on the chin. Pietro grunted and fell to his knees. He tried to stand up, but Gambit drove his knee into Pietro's head, and the mutant collapsed, unconscious.
"Because I am," Gambit said.
"Hey, what's goin' on out there?" Toad said, sitting up.
Gambit walked over to Wanda's cell.
"You alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, but what are you doing?" she asked him, unable to believe that Gambit was helping them break out.
"You'll see," he said with a grin. He took a step back and rolled up his sleeve.
Toad watched Gambit as he adjusted his watch, and then burst out laughing.
"That old trick again? You gotta be kidding me!" he laughed.
"Hey, it worked the last time," said Kurt, now standing in his true form. "Now let's get you out of here,"
He knelt down and retrieved the keys from Pietro's prone form. A moment later he had the doors unlocked and was helping Toad out of his cell.
"Can you walk?" asked Kurt.
"Yeah, I think so," said Toad.
"Great," said Kurt. "Let's get going then,"
"Hang on a sec," said Toad, as he saw Pietro began to regain his senses. "There's somethin' I wanna do first,"
He walked over to Pietro. "Pietro," he said. "This is from the bottom of my heart, for everything you've given me over the last three years," Then he pulled back his leg and kicked Pietro in the groin.
Pietro howled in agony as Toad walked past him. "Man, that felt good!" said Toad. The three mutants rolled Pietro into one of the cells and locked him in.
X