A/N: Really short chapter… I'm sorry! I've been away at camp for three weeks and I'm trying to decide between two directions I want this story to take… Pure and simple Pietro torture with mild plot; Magneato a butt hole. Or… humans buttholes, heavy on the plot and light Pietro torture? Oh, it's so hard to choose! Gomen for lateness and other ickiness experienced!

Jamie, a.k.a. Multiple, looked up when a faint breeze ruffled his hair. His lunch – a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk – lay in front of him, and just beyond it sat one of his doubles. The double was dutifully slaving away at Jamie's schoolwork. Jamie had to relieve him every few moments, replacing the one that disappeared.

  "Hey, Pietro!" Jamie waved enthusiastically. Pietro remembered what Lance had said about Jamie – good kid, but clingy as the day is long. Well, Pietro could handle clingy. He had lived with Todd for quite some time now.

  "Hey, Jamie, watcha doing?" Pietro asked as he raced around the kitchen, joining Jamie with a replica of the younger mutant's lunch, only with a slew of cookies on the side.

  "You can reach the cookies! Thank goodness, someone who can reach the cookies!"

  "What, can't the others?"

  Jamie frowned and made a face. "They won't ever get me any down. I tried standing on my doubles once, but they kept disappearing. I tried to climb, too, but I couldn't get up there!" Jamie pouted on the disadvantages of being short. Pietro handed him a cookie. Jamie grinned. "I'll show you where Scott hides his keys tonight."

  "Kid, I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"

***

  Later that afternoon, Jamie and Pietro were playing hide-and-seek on the outer reaches of the school's property. Jamie, Pietro thought, was clever. He knew that he had no chance of running from Quicksilver, so he decided to outsmart him. So, he ran straight into a tree. Pietro, being Pietro, was too delighted with the army of Jamie clones to notice which Jamie was the real thing.

  "Ok, Pietro, count to three thousand!" Pietro closed his eyes and counted at super speed as the multitude of Jamies ran around, scrambling for a place to hide. The real Jamie simply climbed the tree that was base.

  "Alright, you little runt, there's no way to hide from the mighty Quicksilver! I will get you! You are the weakest link! Hello!" He tagged a Jamie just as it disappeared. "Hey, that's not fair!"

  "Yes it is!" Five Jamies shouted at him all at once.

  "Ok, I've got you this time!" His hand passed through another one. He was running in circles, trying to find the real Jamie when he looked up and Jamie was touching base.

  "Ha! Some high-and-might Quicksilver you are, Pie-Throw!"

  "Hey! Don't call me that! I hate that! Stupid name…" Pietro mumbled angrily. Suddenly, he heard a grunt behind him and turned.

  "Maximoff. I don't think it's the brightest idea in th' world fer you kids to be playin' outside. Magneato was in th' house s'morning." Logan stood, squinting against the sun. Pietro shrugged.

  "Yeah, I know. What's it to ya?" The lanky teen leaned against a tree, annoying Logan with his nonchalant attitude.

  "I've been conned in'ta watchin' ya, and I don't wan a' be chasin' Mags off in'ta the wild blue yonder."

  "Ah, so you have to watch me…" Peitro looked thoughtful, and then sly.

  "I don't like that look, kid."

  "So if I screw up, you're in trouble …"

  "It doesn't work –" Logan realized that he was talking to air. Jamie raised an eyebrow.

  "Mr. Logan, I think you're in trouble."

  Logan glared at him. "Ya don't think, eh?"

***

  Soon, the mansion was in a state of disaster. Paintings were upside down, things were rearranged, every room was trashed. Statues were broken, papers were scattered in disarray, and one very satisfied Pietro was channel surfing at super speed.

  "Hey! Slow down! Those are my soaps," Hank tried to snatch the remote in vain.

  "Aw, man, that's boring. Hey, let's find something good … oh! NASCAR!"

  "Not fer you, you lil' runt," Logan panted, finally catching up to the silver-haired speedster, who'd only left him a few minutes ago.

  "Hey, man, what are you waiting for? You've got to clean up this place! It's a mess, chop chop!"

  "Nuh-uh. This is your mess, and you're going to …" For the second time in half and hour, Logan was talking to nothingness.

  The house quickly straitened itself and all was in ship-shape order.

  "Cleaning is one of hobbies," He explained as he plopped on the couch. He sneered at Hank's soaps.

  "C'mon, how can you watch this stuff? You're as bad as Fred!" Pietro snatched the remote and changed it to NASCAR.

  "SOAPS!"

  "NASCAR!"  

  "SOAPS!"

  "Would you two stop it?" Jamie asked calmly from the floor. Hank and Pietro looked up to discover Justice League flashing across the screen and the remote in Jamie's hand.

  "This'll work."

  "Yup."

***

  Charles Xavier was quietly scanning the mansion for activity. Jamie, Hank, Logan, and Pietro were in the rec. room, watching TV, Ororo was in the Piano room, practicing and there … there was someone else here. Xavier zoomed in on the intruder, who was hiding in a shrub outside the rec. room window. He was watching the group argue over TV channels, Xavier realized.

  He was … Charles's eyes narrowed; one of the Acolytes. Gambit, or Remy LeBou to be precise.