Chapter 2
The ground hit hard. Beast rolled with the impact several times and then onto his feet. Magneto was nowhere in sight. He looked around again, this time for his friends, and the locations of their enemies. Wolverine was running towards the hill. Beast could just make out Mystique and Rogue over there. Bobby was missing, Pyro was missing, Cyclops had a grip on Toad's hair, and Toad had just gotten a hold of a 2x4 with his tongue. Beast jumped over to the moving plank and tried to wrestle it away from the sticky tongue. The Force knocked Toad off balance and Scott took advantage. He threw himself onto the smaller man, using his palm to press Toad's lower jaw up, keeping his mouth closed and his slime useless. Toad yowled at biting down on his own tongue. He wriggled and kicked madly until he caught Cyclops' middle with a kick by the left leg. Toad had very strong legs and Cyclops flew back a good 6 feet. Of course now that he was farther away Cyclops let loose an optic blast. Toad jumped back, dodging the red energy.
Mortimer was getting tired. This fight with the X-men was going on far too long. He knew that he couldn't keep up all this jumping dodging and fighting. He needed to come up with a way to end this quickly. He turned and ran. Cyclops and Beast were right behind him. He ran back to the Blackbird and with a flying leap landed on the wing. Looking down from his new perch he saw his pursuers. Cyclops wouldn't shoot him up here, too much of a risk damaging the plane. But Beast apparently wasn't content to let Toad hang out up there, he began climbing. So, Toad backed up a few paces, got a running start and jumped from the wing onto the partially completed house.
In a steady run Logan charged the hill, crashing into Mystique's back and the 3 mutants slid into a jumbled mass just before they went over the edge. Wolverine was up first, but it was less than a second before Mystique was up poised for a fight.
"You really want to taste the claws again girly?"
"You know I do big boy." The scuffle began. Both were excellent fighters and at first few punches or kicks found their marks. Mystique kicked high. Wolverine grabbed her ankle and twisted. But Mystique stabilized with her hands and used the other leg to catch Wolverine in the face. He growled and swung again.
Mystique grabbed at the clawed hand of Wolverine who swung left fast to try and break her grip. The blue woman held strong and followed the movement around until she was behind him. She drew her leg up for a strong kick and they both went over the edge. Rogue screamed and took off as fast as she could down the side of the hill.
The feeling of falling stopping in mid air is an unusual sensation. But, that's what happened. Logan felt himself falling, felt Mystique crash into him, felt them both falling, then felt Magneto's familiar hold. Mystique held him firmly around the shoulders until they were a safe distance from the ground and she could hop off. Wolverine hated the loss of control that Magneto could enact. The stupid adamantium in his bones was perfect for the villain.
Oddly enough it was suddenly raining Toads. Toad had jumped from the house frame onto the ground and landed at the base of the hill. "Nice you could join us Toad." Mystique commented.
"Yeah well, the bloody Fearless Leader and Shaggy Dog haven't left me much time for visitin'" As if on cue Cyclops and Beast rounded the house's corner and joined the assembled group. Cyclops made a grab for the smaller Englishman. Mystique morphed into a huge ape like creature and captured Beast in a bear hug. Still using her own feminine voice she added, "Let him go One Eye".
Rogue skidded down the hill, glove off, ready to help. "All right, Break it up!" she yelled. Everyone turned to look at her, but it was Magneto who actually spoke.
"We appear a little deadlocked." He glanced at his teammates.
"I think you look a little out numbered" pointed out Rogue.
"Not quite child. It appears it is time to use our last chip." There was the usual hum associated with Magneto's powers and from around the hill Bobby came stumbling forward, led by the handcuffs and therefore walking backwards. "We give you our hostage, you let us go." Scott only considered for a moment.
"Fine, you give Iceman to us, you get out of here."
"We just need to collect Pyro and we'll be on our way."
"Fine." Everyone released their enemy and started moving. The X-men headed to their plane, most of the Brotherhood sulked off to the helicopter. Magneto had seen the fallen young man in the dirt and strolled in his regal manner to retrieve him.
It was not the walk of a defeated man. There had been an injury on his side. But the main objective had been achieved. This had been a diversion. With him a part of it, Xavier was forced to take action and send his people to investigate. But this had just been a smoke screen. By the time they returned to the compound Team B will have returned and the next stage of his plan could be initiated. He spotted the blood stained dirt surrounding his boy. Things may have been more serious than he had thought.
Pyro was left on the ground, a red froth dribbling from the corner of his mouth and over gray lips. His eyes were rolled back in his head and he had the insane desire to burst into laughter. Breathing was incredibly hard, it was like a weight on his chest kept him from filling his lungs. Magneto came into view over him. "Ah, Pyro" he sighed, bending to scoop up their fallen comrade. Mystique was suddenly behind him, hand on his shoulder.
"We don't have the resources to treat him Erik." The older man paused, stopping him his action. "He'll die." Pyro continued to look up at his teammates. They were talking about him. He was dying? Sure felt like he was. "The X-men will take him in, they've got the facilities, and maybe they can save him." Magneto looked at Mystique in silence for a moment, pondering her argument. She had a point, they lived in a compound, they had a couple of research labs, but no infirmary, no doctor. Pyro would die in the helicopter, maybe if he was lucky in one of the labs under the care of a biology researcher.
"You are right as always my dear." Magneto glanced around for Pyro's beloved lighter and found it a short distance away. He plucked it from the dirt and pressed it into the young man's hand. Then he clapped a hand to John's uninjured shoulder. "Good Luck my boy." Then Magneto turned and Mystique followed. As they walked, both spared a look back when they thought no one was looking.
The X-men strode back to the Blackbird. The fight had pretty much been a draw so it wasn't exactly a victory march. They'd taken down one, Pyro, but that was hardly a victory. They'd wanted information, not to wipe out the Brotherhood. So, it really was a draw. Those injured were hurt in just a stupid skirmish.
Suddenly Wolverine stopped dead in his tracks. He heard the Brotherhood talking. "What is it Wolverine?"
"Quiet Cyke" Wolverine listened and tuned back to the battlefield. They were leaving Pyro. Logan watched them board their helicopter, the propeller turning. "John, he's hurt and they're leaving him to us." Wolverine explained, taking long, purposeful strides to where the fallen pyrokinetic lay.
Bobby was mere centimeters from Logan's back as they hurried to John, Iceman keeping up without a problem. Beast was a bit farther back, having paused to grab the Blackbird's first aid kit. Rogue and Cyclops were back on the Blackbird, prepping for takeoff and the oncoming casualty. In the final few feet Bobby rushed ahead of the others and dropped to the dirt next to his former friend.
Bobby looked down, it was Johnny. Johnny was bleeding pretty heavily from a chest wound. He looked closer. Johnny was bleeding heavily from a claw wound. It had been Wolverine that had done this. Wolverine had clawed Johnny. Of course, Johnny was the enemy now. Bobby's head was spinning as he picked up John's right hand. He nearly dropped it as soon as it was in his own because John's hand was ice cold. Pyro was sweating profusely and his skin was like ice. Just that was disturbing, in all the time he had known John Allerdyce he could not remember him sweating more than once or twice, and his body temperature had always been a toasty above average. Bobby was vaguely aware that Hank and Logan were behind him but he was mostly just lost in his own thoughts. He'd never been this close to someone dying, and this was someone he knew, someone he had called a friend.
Hank McCoy knelt down next to the sweaty, trembling young man. Bobby scooted back until he hit Logan. Wolverine attempted a reassuring smile, but it was more of a sneer. Dr. McCoy reached for Pyro's wrist with one hand and used the other to push back damp stringy hair and reveal a pale forehead. The skin beneath his fingers was cold; the pulse was slow and weak. The patient was well into shock. Hank turned his head to question the dazed Bobby. "You know him?"
"Yeah, it's Johnny, Uhm, John Allerdyce, Pyro"
"You awake John?" Hank asked the boy in his arms. John moaned and slowly rolled his head in the direction of Hank's voice. It took only a moment to slice off the remains of the T-shirt and inspect the damage more carefully. Claws had punctured and clearly collapsed the left lung. The right was keeping him breathing, but he was bleeding heavily and dropping farther into shock.
Dr. McCoy pressed a large paw against the bleeding wound, concentrating on stopping the blood flow. He wanted him as stable as possible when they moved him back to the mansion. It was clear surgery was needed though. "Logan, on the Blackbird, find something we can use to move him."
"Sure Doc" Logan turned and headed back to the plane.
The Beast turned back to his patient. "Can you open your eyes John?" John let them drift open. "Good, now cough John" John looked weakly up at the blue fuzzy man. He had no idea who this guy was. But he hurt far too much to be worried about that. "Cough" the man ordered again. John did, pain exploding in his chest and nearly driving him unconscious. "You have to cough, keep your lungs clear, prevent pneumonia." John nodded weakly. He couldn't keep focused, the pain was too much and his body barely responded to his orders.
Hank checked the pulse again on the boy's wrist. It was only a light flutter now; he'd lost probably almost half his normal volume of blood. John's head dropped against his shoulder, he'd finally succumb to unconsciousness. Accepting keeping the kid awake would have been nearly impossible Hank hoped at least it spared him from the pain. Beast took out an emergency blanket from the first aid kit and covered John to try and preserve some body heat. He was about to question where the hell Logan had gotten to when the Canadian appeared with Cyclops and what looked like the bench from the plane.
They gently rolled the injured mutant onto the bench and strapped him on using Wolverine and Bobby's seat belts. "Sorry kid, you'll have to squish in with Rogue." Bobby had only nodded mutely at the announcement.
Carrying him to the Blackbird wasn't hard, Pyro wasn't especially big. Walking alongside with Dr. McCoy Bobby still couldn't sort out his feelings on the situation. John was the enemy. A member of the Brotherhood, but looking down he still just saw Johnny, his friend and roommate. When Bobby had first come to the Institute John had befriended him, they'd stayed up late nights talking about being mutants and their problems, and also just stupid teenage things.
He thought about some of those conversations as they made their way back to the plane. Xavier had put them together while they'd learned to control their powers because they could cancel each other out. Bobby had come to Xavier's with powers that exploded out of control. John was lucky he was in control of his power, not a servant to it like Bobby sometimes felt. Bobby had woken up with a start only to find he had frozen every surface in their room on several occasions. It was so embarrassing, he was the Iceman, sitting shivering in his bed. Thank God Pyro would just roll over, oblivious. That's when he'd discovered John's body was always toasty warm.
But the room arrangement had turned out good because John and Bobby were fast friends. Bobby had come to the Institute without anyone knowing the truth. Even his family had no idea what he really was. He'd hidden it when he'd started involuntarily freezing things. Then Dr. Grey and Mr. Summers had shown up at his door offering him a scholarship to a special prep school. He'd gotten out, gotten help with nobody the wiser. But, it was like living a lie, it was his huge dark secret that he had to live with. John had always been able to make him feel better. He didn't talk about his own past too much, just a snippet here and there.
John was actually a decent student; positively amazing in English, his writing was fantastic. He did his trouble making rebel thing, but always pulled off what he needed to for school. He and Bobby used to talk about the heavy stuff and then follow it up with serious discussions on who should play Batman next, as a situation like George Clooney should never be repeated. But now John was dying; stabbed because now he was the enemy. Looking down at him it was really hard to see the peaceful, bloodstained young man under the emergency blanket as the enemy.
