Chapter 4
"Saint John Allerdyce! You are not well enough to be out of bed young man." Dr. McCoy scolded. He'd arrived down in the infirmary to find his patient gracelessly roll himself off the bed and start off across the room.
The boy chuckled and continued on his path, slowly plodding along. "You've been reading a personnel file or something, haven't you?"
"Your medical records still here at the school. They have your actual given name."
"It's actually pronounced sinjin, not Saint John."
"Sinjin?" The pronunciation had rolled beautifully off Pyro's tongue but seemed a little foreign coming from Hank.
"Yeah, sinjin, I know, it sucks." He rolled his eyes. "What the hell were my parents thinking? That's why I'm John"
"It's a fine name. But John, you need to lie back down. You're in no shape to be walking around."
"I'm a man on a mission Doc… McCoy, right?"
"Very good, I'm surprised you remember. You were not at your best when we first met."
"Yeah, sorry about the less than spectacular first impression" John had reached his destination, the half bath across the room. Hank realized he hadn't gotten around to catheterizing the boy.
When John was done and beginning his trek back to the bed Hank put his hand under the boy's elbow to help support him. The quick excursion had wiped out the boy's energy. He'd initially flinched, almost undetectably, at the touch but kept the reaction covered. Hank felt it though, and he was pretty sure he knew where it had come from. He had read St. John Allerdyce's medical records, all of them.
John had been a mess when he came to Xavier's. He was a runaway, had been on his own for a little more than a year. A boy could go through a lot living on the streets that long. At 5' 9'' he only weighed 120 pounds, dangerously underweight. He'd been keeping himself alive visiting soup kitchens or pulling a dine and dash every few days. His hair was long and dirty, eyes darkly shadowed by exhaustion, and bruises colored his pale skin. He'd run away from a foster home and had been quite adamant about not going back there. He never said what went on there, but Both Dr. Grey and Dr. McCoy had suspicions. The notes Dr. Grey had made compared him to a skittish puppy.
He knew the professor was in a difficult place. He needed to know what Magneto was planning, if it was dangerous, which it almost certainly was. But in his place, the Beast wouldn't be able to hold this young man, do anything to make him talk. Enemy or not, he'd already been through too much. The professor of course wouldn't have to resort to barbaric methods. He was the world's most powerful telepath after all. He could simply look inside the boy's mind and know anything the Brotherhood member did. It was likely possible to do it without Pyro ever being aware it happened.
Bobby was John's first official visitor. He'd raced through another bowl of Corn Flakes and had been at the infirmary by 8am. Hank noted this as he glanced at his watch. He'd really expected John to get a little more rest than this. "I'll tell him you're here."
"Thanks Dr. McCoy" Hank turned towards the bed where John had managed to regain enough strength to prop himself up on his elbows.
"It's not that big a place, I can see he's here all by myself Doc."
"Uh, hey John"
"Hey, come to gloat about me getting taken out?"
"Nah, you win some lose some." Since John had left a year and a half ago they'd faced him on the field of battle 21 times. Bobby kept a running tally, after the battle the day before Pyro had 12 wins, 7 losses and 2 escapes. Sometimes in the heat of battle Iceman lost track of Pyro and didn't know how the pyrokinetic fared.
"Oh come admit it, a little gloat is going on, you're not that much of a goody-goody. I did handcuff you to a building." Bobby smiled sadly.
"Nah, no gloat, cause dude, you like death warmed over." He was seriously pale from the blood loss, McCoy had dressed him in the usual washed out green paper robe and these contrasted heavily with John's dark brown hair and eyes.
"Like you are a judge of warmed things" An awkward silence developed. Hating those passionately Pyro spoke up again. "They're making a new Batman; you'll never guess who the studio wants to play Batman!"
"Uhm, Noah Wylie"
"We've established, Noah, good Bruce Wayne, bad Batman."
"Well, it's a hard balance to achieve."
"No, this guy they want will be a crummy Bruce Wayne and a crummy Batman. Balance thrown completely out the window"
"Who is it?"
"Ashton Kutcher"
"No! 'Dude Where's my Car' Ashton Kutcher?"
"'Just Married', 'That 70's Show', MTV loves me, Ashton Kutcher!"
"This is a crime!"
"Against all things holy, by which I mean comic books."
"Who could be worse that Kelso?"
"Carrot Top, only one"
"Luckily he's occupied with the phone commercials or they might make him Robin"
After Bobby left John drifted off to sleep. Hank was glad to see it, the young man needed to build his strength back up. Orono Monroe regally stepped through the threshold not long after he dropped off. She had a tray with a sandwich, milk, and a pack of Twinkies. "Salutations Storm" greeted Dr. McCoy.
"Hi Hank, I just wanted to look in on Pyro, and make sure you got some lunch."
"He's a former student of yours?"
"He wasn't a big fan of history". She looked down at him. She'd never noticed before but John had classic villain features. He was dark around the eyes and his features were strong. She'd always thought of them as having a Slavic influence, probably from his mother, now they looked evil. He was a villain now, one of the mutant terrorists under Magneto. She sighed.
"Are you having remorse about the situation?" Beast asked around Twinkie bites.
"No, it's not like that. He's a part of the other side now, it's to be expected eventually one of us would hurt him. It's just odd to have him here, our prisoner."
"He's more of a patient than a prisoner. He lost a great deal of blood and required extensive medical care."
"Just because he's your patient, and young, doesn't mean he's not dangerous Hank. He's a member of the Brotherhood."
"I'll make sure he doesn't strangle me with the IV line." Storm smiled. Hank had a kind heart and nothing she'd say to make him see John as a threat would work. She knew that.
"Good, keep an eye on the saline bag, he might try to drown you."
"Thanks for the warning." Smiling, Storm swept out of the room as gracefully as she'd entered it.
Pyro stayed asleep for about an hour before the arrival of Professor X woke him. "I'd like to see Mr. Pyro." Hank glanced back at his patient. "He's already awake" Charles smiled. It was good to be a telepath sometimes.
"Well I don't see a problem then."
Charles wheeled to the young man's bedside. "Good morning Pyro." Xavier had debated what to call the boy. If he called him John, associated him with the young man they'd taken of the streets a few years ago, it would be too hard to continue this conversation. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah, thanks Professor, I appreciate you not letting me die and all." Pyro was avoiding eye contact. Xavier could feel his apprehension.
"Of course" there was another awkward silence. John fidgeted. Xavier looked at him sadly. Realizing what he was thinking, John laughed.
"You still think that Magneto coerced me away, prayed upon my youth and innocence and that's why I left. You're wrong professor. All he said to me was 'Are these human's really worth saving?' and you know what, I don't think they are." Charles could see the angry fire that had always been a blinding aura around Pyro at the school was just a tiny spark behind his eyes now. He'd matured since the last time Xavier had spoken to him.
"So you engage in terrorist attacks to make your point, does that solve anything?"
"We've done some good."
"Good?
"You are so bent on protecting these humans. But what are they doing to us mutants?" He thought about his teammates. Mystique "They make us live in fear" Toad "abuse us" Remy "experiment on us" Natalya "and lock us away like animals".
"They don't all do that John. Those people are just scared and don't understand."
"They should be scared. We're not going to let these monsters continue to exploit mutants. We're stronger, better, and we'll win."
"Peace, we can all live together peacefully if we try."
Pyro snorted, "Yeah, sure, they'll just stop.
Xavier wheeled himself around the office. It was a difficult decision. It was completely wrong, against all of his ethical beliefs to do what he was considering doing. He was considering entering Pyro's mind without consent and finding out what the young man knew. Of course Magneto could be preparing to wipe out all of humanity. It wouldn't be the first time Erik had tried that. The Brotherhood was a dangerous organization.
Pyro would know what was going on. Charles had seen the fatherly affection Erik had for the boy. Mystique had jokingly referred to him as the 'heir apparent' once. He could understand the reference though. Pyro had the passion; it was obvious, especially after their last conversation. Xavier sighed. What was right, against the consequences of inaction, this was the battle that raged in the professor's mind. Would he be able to forgive himself for invading Pyro's mind? What if there was no plan? What if Pyro wasn't in on the plan? Would he forgive himself for not using this opportunity when Magneto was destroying humanity?
It was the old the good of the many out weighs the good of the few that finally pushed Xavier's hand. It would infuriate Pyro if he knew the professor had entered his mind. It was unlikely Xavier would ever get near the young man again. It might be possible to do the deed as the boy slept, and he might not ever realize what had occurred. If Pyro knew or didn't know the act would still torment Charles. This was his most basic ethical belief he was violating. The other side of the card was all of humanity. It was likely that whatever Magneto was planning, it was bad. It would just bring about a war between humans and mutants. The effects of such a war were unthinkable. War was a brutal, horrible thing, regardless of the combatants. Xavier had pledged his life to spreading understanding and peace, to preventing such a war. Xavier swallowed "Hank" he called mentally "Sedate Mr. Pyro." and he headed off to the infirmary, determined and cold.
