- TWO -

Megalomaniac, martyr, or just plain misunderstood—whatever else Magneto may have been, the man had one thing that Remy could understand and respect: timing.

He'd come along a little after Remy walked out on his father and the Guild, with a new resolve to make himself useful on his own terms. Encountering Magneto gave him the opportunity to do just that. Of all places, it was in Rhode Island in the middle of a heist when Magneto first approached him, offered Remy the chance to be more than a thief. Blatantly patronizing, sure—enough to make him bristle at the time—but Remy could tell subtlety really wasn't the old man's strong point. Fairly easy to see from that angle how the old man wasn't actually making an offer so much as a veiled threat to join his club.

So Remy brushed aside pride in favor of wisdom.

If his nonchalant acceptance seemed to surprise Magneto and put him on guard, there was also a sense of relief from him at the end of the encounter that was a little bit like gratitude. Finding out later that Colossus had been blackmailed, and both Pyro and Sabretooth coerced into submission, it was easier to understand why Magneto seemed to favor him (the last of the recruits) with more competence than the others.

Just a matter of logic. He'd had nowhere else to go. No one he could call friend. Not that 'friend' was a word he would've associated with Magneto or any of the other Acolytes, but in the course of his time with them, Remy liked to think that he'd found a place for himself in a team with the supposed goal of bettering life for mutantkind.

Never mind that Magneto's methods lacked a certain amount of polish and, well, proper thinking; never mind that the others resented their leader and his right-hand man and carried out orders efficiently without any kind of true loyalty to the team; never mind that Remy was really only a half-hearted mutant activist at best.

Last time he'd actually helped fellow mutants on its own merit was that day at the high school, spying on the two X-Men during their encounter with the local yokels.

Maybe that day was the start of it for Remy. He'd gone back to the Acolytes' Manhattan base completely unimpressed by the X-Men and Brotherhood both, one team ineffective against the pressures of the real world, the other just glaringly incompetent. Magneto meanwhile had gathered grown men—dangerous men—to fight by his side. Remy was one of them.

And instead of the usual reassurance, he'd felt only vague discomfort at the thought.

After that, he took to leaving the base every free moment he had. Not that anyone complained. He knew Colossus at least noticed the change, which only seemed to make the stoic Russian more vocal than usual in his criticism of their leader. Sabretooth was too often gone to care; Pyro too caught up in his own antics to understand. Remy couldn't close his eyes to it anymore—even Magneto himself couldn't keep the team cohesive, despite his threats and tantrums. Or maybe because of them.

By the time Mesmero happened along, Remy's unsettled mind was more than willing to let hypnosis claim it. By the time the Acolytes walked into the London museum, they were all more than itching for a chance to vent their frustrations in a shaky confrontation with the X-Men. By the time Xavier gleaned information on the spider that was actually their best hope of saving the world, Magneto was well beyond being dissuaded from his crusade to remain the world's most powerful mutant. By the time Rogue snuck into their compound, all the supposedly grown and dangerous men on the team were more than ripe for a total, humiliating defeat at the hands of one sullen slip of a girl.

When Apocalypse walked out of his chambers, Remy was more than expecting to fall. When the Acolytes were left behind in Egypt, Remy complained even though his gut seemed to relax, finally—more than relieved to see Magneto go.

And when the news showed their leader disintegrating at a mere flick of Apocalypse's wrist, it was in exactly the same moment that each and every one of the Acolytes parted ways without a single look back.

Timing, really. It was all about the timing.

"You!"

"If you're looking for a fight, yo, I gotta tell ya we got someone now who could really kick your ass."

"Uh, Toad? Wanda went out."

"Shut up, Blob!"

The boy Avalanche clutched a butter knife in his hands. "Don't have quite the right effect when it's got mustard smears," Remy said. "Unless you're just tryin' to make me laugh." Batting it away with a casual finger, he strolled past the trio at the door and took a few sniffs of air in the hall. "Damn. A skunk die in here?"

"Nah," the frog boy said. "That's Freddie's lunch. What's left of it, anyway."

Right on cue, the fat boy burped.

Remy caught the glare Avalanche gave his friends and wondered, not for the first time, how the house still stood. He'd caught the news about the Brotherhood's short-lived career as town do-gooders, remembered that one of the benefits had been a total remodeling of the house. But he couldn't see any difference from his last visit. The same fissures still ran along the walls, ceiling, and floor; the same tattered remains of a few frames still barely clung to their nails. He figured civil war continued to break out daily here.

"Get out of our house!"

"Easy now." Avalanche was speaking through gritted teeth—Remy expected any moment now to feel the ground shaking and see the walls sporting another couple of cracks. "I'm just looking for someone."

"Here?" Blob scratched his head. "Who?"

"Pyro."

"The one in orange with the creepy laugh?" Toad said.

"One and only. Hasn't been by, has he?"

"Why would he come here?"

Desperation. "He might've mentioned something once," Remy said lightly, making his way into the kitchen with the others trailing like uncertain pups. "Probably thought you'd fancy some extra firepower against your buddies over at Xavier's."

"He's wrong," Avalanche said. "We don't need anyone."

"'Course not. Clearly you and your friends got a handle on things here." He stepped over broken eggshells and flour stains on the sticky kitchen floor, reached the grimy stove to inspect what was there. The lone pot was warm and still strongly smelled of dead rodent. "Like feeding yourselves some foul lunches."

"That's Freddie," Toad said. "He'll eat anything."

"I don't eat flies," Freddie muttered.

"What's it to you, anyway?" Avalanche said. "We already told you, Pyro isn't here. When you find him, tell him he's not welcome here either. Neither are you. Or any of Magneto's other goons, got it? We get enough trouble from the X-geeks."

Remy was on the point of shrugging his shoulders and leaving when Toad said, "Ain't that being a little unfair, Lance?"

"What?"

"Maybe that Pyro guy's got the right idea. I think we should let him crash here if he wants to."

"Todd, he tried to roast us that time!"

"Au contraire," Remy said. "Magneto's orders were to keep you all busy. No killing. Would've been a shame, otherwise—many fine ladies to meet that day. Maybe that's why you always lose? You pups get distracted, non?"

"No, we lose because the X-Men got better powers," Freddie said. "Look at Rogue. She took on all of us just by herself and won. Didn't even get a scratch on her, I bet."

"Man, that wasn't a fair fight," Todd whined. "We were ambushed in the comfort and safety of our own casa!"

"I'm just saying, none of us could do the same to the X-Men."

"And it took her longer to catch me, anyway. At least compared to you—you just sat there!"

"You wore my cereal bowl on your head! Could've moved a little faster to help when she attacked me!"

"Shut your pieholes, huh?" said Lance. "What difference does it make? Rogue wasn't even really Rogue that day."

"Yeah," Todd said, still glaring at Freddie. "And anyhow, let's not forget that she was a Brotherhood chick first. Fact, she was the first Brotherhood chick. Aside from Mystique."

"What the hell does that matter?"

"I don't know. Just makes me feel better thinking a high-and-mighty X-Man was one of us once."

"What, you miss her? Because I sure as hell don't. And you got Wanda to harass now anyway."

"Man, what'chu on? Me and Wanda—we got a mutual attraction thing going, okay?" Turning to Freddie again, Todd said, "And I bet she could take on all the X-Men. With both eyes closed."

"Will you quit it with that?"

"What, Lance?" said Freddie. "Don't like us talking about your former teammates?"

"If you two don't shut up—"

"Former teammates?" Remy interrupted, earning blinks in response. The boys looked startled by the question—they seemed to have forgotten about Remy while he leaned against the counter, observing their dynamics. He couldn't imagine Colossus, Sabretooth, and Pyro arguing this long without a few bruises and burns to show for it.

"Didn't know that, didja?" said Freddie. "Lance likes to pretend it never happened, but yup—he was an X-Man. For a week. Then they kicked him out."

"I told you—I left." Lance was scowling and, surprisingly, not causing an earthquake. "Summers was more annoying than all of you put together, so I left."

"See, that's what I was saying before," said Todd. "We let you come back after you bounced on us, so why can't we let Pyro join? So what if he was an Acolyte? Least he was never an X-Man. Like some people."

"Yeah," Freddie piped in.

"Whatever," Lance said, pushing past them. As he did so a slight tremor shook the ground under their feet. Just before stalking out completely, he turned back to point a hostile finger at Remy. "You—you started all this. I'm gonna go upstairs and punch something else besides your face and Toad's and Blob's, just because I'm feeling generous today. Then I'm gonna go take a leak. You better be gone by the time I'm done."

"So speaketh our great leader, yo," said Todd, but only after Lance had left. "Don't know why Baldy let him stay at the Institute for even one day when he knew he was just gonna have to kick him out sooner or later. Who else but us would put up with him, you know?"

"He said he left," Remy reminded him.

"That's just talk," Freddie said, scoffing.

"You don't think Xavier really wanted to help?"

Freddie shrugged, saying, "Even if he did, Scuggers sure as hell didn't and probably changed Baldy's mind about helping—because whatever Cyclops wants, Cyclops gets."

There was a notable difference in the way the boy started and ended that sentence. The scowl, the shoulder slump—he looked both depressed and pissed, and to divert him from possibly channeling his aggravation towards the houseguest who hadn't actually been invited, Remy chose that moment to say, "The phone, s'il te plait."

"Why?" Todd said, reaching anyway for the cordless near him.

"I'd like you to use it."

"What for?"

"For its common purpose, oui? You're gonna make a call. Dial the number to a pizzeria."

"Who you think you are, telling me what—"

"Todd!" shouted Freddie.

"What?"

"He said to call for pizza!"

"Oh." So Todd did, and, waiting on the line, asked, "Who's paying for this, yo?"

"Looks like I picked the right time to visit, non? Else lunch would've been a real sad matter."

"I don't think Lance is gonna want you staying for pizza, man."

"Je sais. I won't be staying." Remy walked out of the kitchen, passing by the now eager-looking Freddie as the boy whispered toppings for Todd to include. "Thanks for your help, monsieurs."

"Hey!" Todd called. "Where's the money?"

"Your friend's pocket. Left side."

"Oh, wow, lookit that!" Remy heard Freddie say. "You'd think I'd remember having this much. How'd he know?"

"He put that there, genius. You get really dumb after you hear the word 'pizza,' know that?"

Remy closed the door behind him and walked to his bike, whistling. Looking to Pyro for help in freeing his father had been a long shot anyway. In Egypt, just before the Acolytes disbanded, Pyro had mentioned going back to idle around the base in New York, so that had been Remy's first stop once he arrived. But he'd found it empty. Pyro had a tendency of getting side-tracked, and it was probably better that he had, because now Remy realized there were other sources of help that wouldn't require the extravagant payment Pyro would've expected. If Remy pitched this right, he wouldn't have to pay at all. So free help and the possibility of a few new clients.

He had a real plan now, thanks to the Brotherhood. A lucky thing that Pietro and Wanda hadn't been there to possibly spoil the visit, and that Lance had indulged his generous mood.

Always about the timing, and turning into the road just in time to catch the green light, Remy thanked whatever superior forces above had blessed him with a sense of that to rival Magneto's.