Conflicted Loyalties
Disclaimer: Premise and characters are the property of Marvel, I'm just borrowing them for a bit of non-profit fun.
As always, feedback is much appricated and keeps me writing. Thanks: xfearddarknessx, Dusty, raniatlw, T. Riddle, animeluvr1, SkyDancerHawk, MiracleChick, Rex
Rex, best of luck in dealing with your virus.
SkyDancerHawk, the last chapter was as explicit as this fic will get.
Rogue wandered the Institute's predominately empty corridors. "Where is everyone!" she exclaimed.
Rahne stuck her head out of their room. "Scott and Jean went on a date. Most everyone else decided to tag-along and harass them."
"What is this? Grade school?" Rogue demanded irritably.
"It's not like there's anything else to do around here, plus Jean swore up and down that it wasn't a date," Rahne explained. "I would have gone, but well, I… um… Todd didn't go of course, Fred doesn't like him out where he might get hurt you know, Todd's all he's got left, and… um… well… I thought we could do something… but I haven't thought of anything yet… or how to ask him, I mean them…"
"Oh, thanks Rahne," Rogue said sounding surprised, but still in a rush as she broke away from the younger girl.
"Ah've got to break down a wall or stop a truck," she muttered under her breath. "And Rahne's the only one home…" Rogue trailed off. "Oh no, I'm not thinking this."
Rogue spent several more minutes searching for someone with powers she could use before finding herself standing outside the infirmary.
Glancing up and down the hall she darted inside. "Hi Moira," she said, hiding a bare hand in her pocket as she went to stand beside Lance's bed. The doctor barely glanced up from the journal she was reading to wave Rogue inside.
To herself she thought, "I'm sorry Lance, I hope to Gawd this doesn't hurt you, but most everyone talks about yah like yah're already dead and Ah'm not losing Pietro."
Biting her lip to make sure she didn't make any noise that would draw Moira's attention, Rogue reached out and touched the back of Lance's hand. To her surprise there was no flood of memories and thoughts, no resistance from another personality fighting to maintain control, only an easy flow as his powers were transferred to her like water being poured into a glass.
Kurt appeared in a poof of smoke along with Kitty at the Institute's front gate. "You're certain you vant to come home already?" he asked. "I though ve vere having fun?"
"Embarrassing Scott and Jean? Oh yeah, that's a real blast," Kitty said. "I never should have come, this was stupid."
Kurt sighed, "You never want to go out anymore."
"And do what? Get stared at by people who think we're freaks? Get called names? That's ton's of fun isn't it?" Kitty said sarcastically.
"All right Kitty," Kurt said sadly. "Goodnight."
Kitty took the elevator downstairs and started toward the infirmary only to duck into a closet as she saw Todd and Fred leaving their room wearing their battle gear.
"They're going to rescue my brother," Wanda said, and Kitty jumped at the realization that the closet she'd phased into wasn't empty. "Do you want to tag along?"
"Oh yeah," Kitty replied darkly, not even caring what Pietro might need rescuing from.
They watched as Rogue joined the two boys and the three of them piled into Lance's jeep. Wanda looked around the Institute's garage then snapped her fingers. Wolverine's motorcycle came to her like a dog coming to heel.
Kitty hesitated for a moment at the idea of 'borrowing' Logan's bike.
"Having second thoughts?" Wanda demanded.
"No," Kitty said climbing on behind the other girl. "Let's go."
"So where do we go," Fred asked sullenly.
"The road south, that's where they'd be if Wanda was telling the truth. If she was lying a night in jail won't kill him," Rogue said.
"If they do come how are we supposed to stop a convoy anyway?" Fred asked.
"Let me take care of that," Rogue said as he pulled the jeep off the road and the trio climbed up the hill to a ledge over looking the narrow road.
Wanda parked the motorcycle several yards back from where Lance's jeep had been left behind. She and Kitty stealthily crept closer to the other three's position
Not long after Rogue, Toad and Blob began their vigil several motorcycles, escorting a military prison transport roared along the winding road.
"Be ready," Rogue warned clenching her fists.
As the ground started shaking Kitty jumped up, "Rogue, what did you do?" she demanded running toward her friend.
In the prisoner transport Pietro ricocheted from one wall to another in excitement. "Lance!-You're-not-dead!-I-knew-it!"
Toad and Blob scrambled further up the hill as cracks radiated out from where Rogue knelt and the face of the hill became a mass of landslides.
"Make it stop!" Rogue screamed.
The ground beneath the truck where Pietro was trapped began to crumble. "Lance-cut-it-out!" Pietro yelled.
As the quake worsened the soldiers charged with transporting Pietro broke ranks and ran.
Kitty hesitated seeing the truck starting to slide into a newly formed crevasse that stretched across the road.
"Get me out of here!" Pietro yelled.
"I can't control it," Rogue screamed pressing her hands to her head.
Kitty took a running leap, diving through the side of the truck.
"If it were just about you, I'd let you die," Kitty said grabbing Pietro's hand and phasing them back through the side of the truck to jump safely to as the truck fell into the abyss. "But Rogue would blame herself."
"Why isn't Lance stopping?" Pietro asked as another tremor sent them to their knees.
Kitty punched him. "It's not Lance you bastard, it's Rogue."
Pietro scrambled to his feet and started toward the source of the earthquake.
Up above Wanda jumped a fissure, working her way closer to Rogue. She used a hex bolt to cut off Rogue's borrowed powers. Rogue slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"Take her, go home," Wanda ordered Fred and Todd.
"Rogue!" Pietro exclaimed dashing to her side.
Fred picked her up and stepped back glaring at Pietro. "You're not wanted here," he told the silver haired boy.
Pietro flinched, "Guys?" he asked.
"I didn't want you to get hurt," Todd said quietly. "But you can take care of yourself now."
"Right," Kitty said joining them. "Go back to Magneto, it's where you chose to be." She started walking back towards the jeep; Fred and Todd followed her, leaving Pietro standing in the middle of the road staring after them with hurt eyes.
"Well brother," Wanda said perching on an outcropping of rock. "You betrayed your friends to save Magneto and it's still them who come to your rescue, not him. How does that make you feel?"
"You said I killed Lance," Pietro's voice caught, begging her to tell him she'd lied.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Wanda asked. "Your little girlfriend's display was a big clue. I'm sure you knew Avalanche wasn't supposed to use his powers, but because of you his friends were taken captive, and unlike you Avalanche is loyal to the people he cares about. He helped save them and now he's in a coma. They're all just waiting for him to die, because of what you did, all for Father. You know he doesn't care about you. You know what he is. I staged this little event to open your damn, self-deluded eyes, Pietro!"
"What do you mean?"
"Magneto doesn't deserve your loyalty. I want you to prove yourself. He's going to die, you don't have to." With a flick of her wrist Wanda called a piece of the wreckage from the prisoner transport that had almost become Pietro's coffin. It hung between the twins, under the prompting of Wanda's power the metal reshaped itself into a wicked-looking dagger. "I care about you Pietro, brother, but I can't trust you, not until you prove yourself. Magneto would never even realize what was happening until he was already dead."
Pietro stepped back putting his hands behind his back. "I don't want to kill my dad."
"Don't you want revenge for Lance?" Wanda asked. "You betrayed them but Magneto could have taken your information and simply hidden himself. That was all you wanted wasn't it, to warn him against me. You didn't tell him to turn your information against your friends. And Father has so much power. He could have saved them. It didn't have to be Lance. But he didn't care did he? Not that they were mutants, not even that they were your friends. Lance wouldn't have had to die, if Father loved you."
"Lance isn't dead!" Pietro exclaimed. "You said he's not."
"He's as good as dead!" Wanda pushed. "Their doctor just sits there and waits, because she can't help him."
"That-witch!" Pietro ran to Wanda, his voice excited. "Your-friend-she-could-heal-Lance, like-she-healed-my-ribs!"
"Maybe," Wanda said. "I'll ask her to try… when I hear Magneto is dead."
"Hey Todd," Fred said.
"Yo," Todd said quietly.
"You're talking again, I just wanted to check," Fred said.
"Yeah," Todd replied. "Pretending everything was gonna be fine wasn't worth watching Pietro get hurt."
"Ohhhh., what happened?" Rogue groaned regaining consciousness.
"Lance's powers, ring a bell?" Kitty asked harshly.
"Oh yeah," Rogue said guiltily. "I couldn't find anyone else."
Rogue found herself on the receiving end of three angry glares. After a few minutes Kitty sighed. "What went wrong?" she asked.
"Ah don't rightly know," Rogue said. "Ah mean once Ah got used to mah powers Ah haven't had any trouble dealing with the powers Ah borrow, but Ah wasn't in control. This was different, Lance's power was there all right but Ah didn't have a clue as to how to use it. Oh, mah head…"
Kitty sighed, "We're going to tell Dr. MacTaggart."
"Why?" Rogue asked. "We'll just get in trouble."
"Because you used Lance's powers," Todd said sadly. "They might have hurt you too."
"S' how was your date?" Gambit started to ask as he walked into Pietro's quarters then broke off.
Pietro sat on the edge of his bed, staring blankly at the opposite wall, rocking back and forth, a dagger clasped loosely between his hands.
Hoping the teen was as out of it as he looked Gambit ghosted across the room and with the skill of a consummate pickpocket he tried to liberate the dagger. Against anyone else it would have worked, but as Pietro felt the knife slipping out of his hand his fingers clenched on it with a speed Gambit couldn't match. He clung to it with a desperate strength as if it were his sole lifeline, cringing away from Gambit.
The thief immediately backed off. "Easy Silver-kid, easy. I don' mean no harm. What 'xactly be goin' through your head?"
"It's like being trapped between a hurricane and a granite wall," Pietro said, his eyes wild. "They're not people, they're forces of nature. She says kill Dad, like it's nothing, I can't. It's not even that I don't want to, I would, for Lance I would. I have to after what I did. I can't, he's Magneto, doesn't she understand that? Well why would she? She's just like him. I'm not. My power isn't like theirs, I'm not like them." Pietro paused looking down at the floor. "It's not just power, even if they weren't mutants Magneto would still be totally unyielding, Wanda would still be rage incarnate and I'd still just be me."
"Silver-kid, lets jus' slow down a bit… and go somewhere not here for dis petite talk." Gambit said urging Pietro to follow him. He led the younger mutant to a quiet spot outside of the base and away from prying eyes. " 'Kay, now tell me why yo' got to kill your Daddy?" he asked.
Pietro took a deep breath, "Because-I-got-Lance-hurt-everyone-hates-me-and-Wanda-won't-help-him-'less-I-do."
"A'right, lets t'ink dis through, Silver," Gambit said. "Wanda, she's your sister, non? Mais de only reason yo're t'inkin' 'bout doin' what she wants is to make amends with your friends?"
"She's-right-I-shouldn't-care-about-Dad, he's-a-jerk," Pietro said.
"He's still your pere," Gambit said with a shrug dismissing Pietro's feelings for his father as something that went without saying. "Could someone else help your friend?"
"I don't know how to get in contact with a real witch," Pietro exclaimed impatiently. "Doing what Wanda wants is the only way to fix things!"
"What do yo' want wit' a witch?" Gambit asked.
"Well-the-doctor-can't-fix-Lance-and-Agnes-healed-me-just-like-that-so-I-thought-maybe-she-could-help," Pietro explained in a burst, then repeated himself more slowly so Gambit could understand.
"Yo're really not t'inkin' at all Silver-kid," Gambit said shaking his head. "Yo' got no promise dis woman can help or dat she will even if she's asked. Yo' haven't even t'ought dere might be a way 'round your sister, I t'ink yo' be gettin' way 'head of yourself here mon ami."
"Well if you're so smart, tell me what to do!" Pietro demanded.
"Mon Tante is a Traiteur, a mystical healer," Gambit said. "Yo' don' try to kill Magneto an' I call her. I nevah seen nothin' she can't heal if she can't help it tain't likely your sister's witch would be able to do more."
"Why would you?" Pietro asked.
"Mais I don' want yo' tryin' to kill Magneto and mebbe I like yo'. It don' hurt me none to help," Gambit said. " 'Sides I don' mind havin' 'xcuses to talk to Tante Mattie 'gain."
Moira frowned at the latest set of readings she'd taken from Rogue.
"Is something wrong?" Xavier asked. "I thought Rogue's body was naturally relieving the build up of fluids as Avalanche's powers wore off?"
"It was," Moira replied handing him the printouts. "Are you sure the information on Rogue's powers is correct?"
"Quiet certain. Why?" Xavier asked.
"The calculations never worked out and Rogue stopped improving altogether after the last of Lance's power were out of her system," Moira explained.
"Then perhaps our initial premise was flawed," McCoy said. "Perhaps it was an aspect of Lance's powers that caused the improvements."
"No, that doesna make sense. Lance's body didna heal itself," Moira disagreed.
McCoy raised an eyebrow. "According to your predictions it should have taken a week for Rogue to return to normal, we've speculated that the severity of the earthquake created is proportional to the amount of fluid built up…"
"It seems logical, if the severity of hydrocephalus we saw in Rogue was normal after only an hour, Lance would have died within the first month of his power's immergence," Moira said.
"Exactly, but irregardless of the size of the seismic disturbance…"
"The earthquake report!" Moira exclaimed, as illumination struck her. "Lance used his powers on a daily basis, he never gave himself a chance to recover. He overwhelmed his body's natural mechanisms for coping with his powers."
"Could it really have been that simple?" Xavier asked, speaking to himself. "Could all this tragedy have been avoided if we'd tried to help Lance before his initial collapse?"
Hank sighed, "Charles, Lance never asked for help with his powers, never told you they caused him physical injury."
"No, but if he'd been here… Kitty and his friends were apparently all concerned by his consumption of painkillers well before he reached the break point. And he did try to join us, to be with Kitty yes, but if I'd handled that better, if he'd stayed long enough for one of us to ascertain the problem…"
"Bemoaning what should've been done is of no use now," Moira said tersely.
"Ding-Dong." All over the Institute people stopped what they were doing and looked up in disbelief at the sound of the doorbell.
"Ten to one they're going to run away," Evan said.
The doorbell rang again.
"So should ve answer it?" Kurt wondered.
"If they're ringing the bell it can't be too bad," Jean said going the elevator.
"Bonjour petite," an old, dark-skinned woman said smiling calmly. "I be Mattie Baptiste."
"Um hello Ms. Baptiste," Jean stammered.
"Call me Tante Mattie, everyone else does chile."
"Is there someone you wanted to see?" Jean asked, bewildered.
"Mon Remy asked me to look in on a Lance Alvers," Mattie said drawing shocked stares. "I've a gift of healing, he thought it might prove helpful."
"But we don't know any Remy," Jean said frowning in confusion.
"How do you know about Lance?" Kitty demanded.
"Could you really help?" Todd asked.
"Remy did mention dat he'd not be able to warn yo' of m' coming," Mattie said. "Mais he trusted I could make m' own introductions. Be there someone I ought to talk wit'?"
"I'll get the Professor," Jean volunteered.
"And us," Fred declared including Todd and Kitty in his statement with a glance.
A short while later the three of them, along with Professor Xavier and Dr. MacTaggart were settled around the kitchen table to hear Mattie Baptiste's story.
"Are you aware that you are a mutant?" Xavier asked the woman.
Mattie laughed, "Heard 'bout such t'ings on de news, mais no one evah accused me of such foolishness 'fore now. De good Lord and de Spirits gifted me wit' de ability to heal, dat be all."
"How do you know about Lance?" Kitty reiterated fiercely.
"Mon cher Remy," Mattie replied. "Alt'ough yo' may know him bettah as Gambit."
"Ain't that one of Magneto's new guys?" Fred asked recalling a name shouted in during the battle the preceded the Sentinel attack.
Mattie made a distasteful face, "Oui, dat boy has an unmatched talent for findin' trouble. Mais he seemed more hisself when he called dan he's been since Etienne, his cousin, was murdered, s' mebbe dis Magneto ain't all bad. Remy be worried dat his mon ami, what's de name… 'Silver? Be worked up into quite de state. From what dis 'Silver says yo've all done give up hope for Lance, thus it'll do no harm to 'llow me to try m' gifts."
"You'll excuse me if I'm a bit skeptical," Xavier said. "You came all this way as a favor to a friend of a friend of a friend, it seems rather extraordinary."
Mattie sighed. "I all but raised Remy and dis is de first time in near four years he's shown de slightest sign of concern or carin' for another. I'd happily go to much greater lengths dan dis to see Remy come back to his true self."
"Silver? She means Quickie!" Todd exclaimed. "I knew he didn't really turn on us."
"Professor?" Kitty asked uncertainly. He looked to Moira.
"She's right in thinking there isna a thing I can do," Moira sighed. "Kitty, you walk through walls unhindered, I can barely even define Wanda's powers perhaps she can help where my science has failed."