Mortimer watched with mild interest as Mystique had the Brotherhood sit down on the old couch in the living room. After Mortimer had brought them all back into the house, Mystique had told them to go upstairs and take care of the bruses and cuts that had resulted from the fight. They had all given Mystique a look that told her that they all fully expected her to stab them in the backs as soon as they started to head upstairs. It took a few minutes of urging on Wanda's part to get them to actually go upstairs. When they came down, they had all changed out of their uniforms and looked a little more relaxed. Mystique had indicated the sofa to them and they dutifully went and sat down there with the exeption of Todd, who decided to perch on the end table, and Wanda, who sat herself down on the fireplace hearth. Mystique walked in front of the teens and regarded them quietly for a minute, her eyes resting on each one for a few seconds before moving onto the next one. Todd and Freddy squirmed nervously under her gaze, Lance looked defiantly at the blue mutant, Pietro attempted to look indifferent, and Wanda had what almost looked like curiosity in her eyes.
Finally seating herself into an old easy chair, Mystique smiled at the teens. Mortimer noticed that she was using her least preditory smile, She had shifted so that she was now dressed in a black suit in an attempt to put the boys a little more at ease. As for himself, he perched himself on the fireplace's mantle, drawing his legs up so that he was as inconspicuous as possible. The floor was Mystique's now, he didn't need to draw any of the teens' attention.
"Let's have a little talk now, shall we?" Mystique smiled. "Like I said before, I have a proposition for you all." She paused a moment, eyes closed in thought, before she continued. "As you know, you are mutants. You have an amazing amount of potential. From everything I've witnessed, your 'leadership' has done nothing with that potential other than squander it, resulting in you being beaten time after time."
All of the boys shifted uncomfrotably. Mortimer felt a bit sorry for them. There was no way that being reminded of their losses could be fun for them.
"What I am offering you is a chance to be made into a truely formitable force. We can give you the proper training and instruction that you have not recieved from her."
"So what makes you different?" Lance challenged. "You gonna train us up? Or are you just another mutant with their own master plan?"
Mystique leaned back in the chair. "Of course I have a master plan. It would be foolish not to have one. If you do not have a plan of your own then by default you are part of someone else's."
Leaning forward a little, Wanda had a questioning look on her face. "So? What makes your plan any better than the other Mystique's? Better than Magneto's? Better than Xaviers? Doesn't it all just come down to how each of you would use us?"
"Questioning minds." Mystique nodded, her voice thoughtful. "It's good to see that you don't blindly follow just anyone. But as to why the opportunity I offer you is any better than anyone else's, consider this: Mystique has obviously taught you nothing. She gives you orders and expects them to be carried out, but she never gave you the tools or skills to do so. Magneto is a powermonger. He hides behind a veil of pro-mutant action, but is only interested in his own personal agenda. He would simply use you until he felt your usefulness had been exhausted. And as for Xavier," Mystique just shook her head, "Xavier lives in a fantasy world if he thinks that mutants and humans will be able to co-exist peacefully. Humans fear those that are different, especially if they are innately more powerful than they are. What I propose to you is a chance to be a part of a team," she emphasized the word, "that works towards the advancement of mutant rights." She looked up at the teens. "This would not involve just skirmishing with the X-Men or Magneto. Neither would it even mean that you would go head to head against human forces. What I am talking about would be stratigic strikes at specific targets that are deemed dangerous to mutants. I'm talking about labs that are involved in genetic testing on mutants, organizations that advocate anti-mutant policy, or perhaps it would involve taking a proactive role in eleminating these sorts of things before they became a danger. I am offering you a chance to take a proactive role in the course of human/mutant events. You would not be expected to just follow orders. You would each have a say in what was done."
The Brotherhood was quiet. This was something altogether new to what they had ever been offered before. What Mystique was saying was right; up until that moment in time they had been just brute force. They had been told to jump and they would simply ask how high. To actualy have someone offer them a chance to be part of something bigger in a way that they would actually make a difference, well, that was different to say the least. Pietro shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He was unused to hearing people talk about his father that way, but at the same time, something about what Mystique was talking about was actually making sense in a way that he really couldn't ignore. Lately, Magneto had been going more and more on some personal agenda, favoring the Acolytes over the members of the Brotherhood who were supposed to be his next generation of recruits.
"So if we do take you up on this," Pietro asked, taking the time to talk at a normal rate of speed which was unusual for him, "what do you want out of it? What do we do for you?"
"Mortimer and I train you and set you up as a unit. In return, you help us in our fight." Mystique answered. "I don't expect an answer right away. What I'm asking is a big decision, not one to be made lightly. Think it over and if the answer is no, we will leave and let your fearless leader out of the closet."
"The closet?!" the Brotherhood exclaimed in unison, with the exception of Wanda who simply supressed a laugh.
"You should have seen it." Wanda grinned, "Darkholme did this flying kick, and Mystique here just opened the closet door and locked her in. I'll bet she's nice and steamed by now."
"Oh man, we're so gonna be dead, yo." Todd groaned.
Lance jumped to his feet, "Damnit, that's it!"
Everyone else in the room looked at Lance with either shock or bewilderment. He looked at everyone for a moment and then addressed the rest of the Brotherhood.
"That's it, guys. This lady's right, we're so whipped right now we're more scared of what one person locked in a closet is going to do to us than anything else." He clenched his fist for a moment before continuing. "We've been here for how long? A year. And in that time, what good have we actually done for anyone? All we've managed to do is to convince Magneto and the X-Men that we're the biggest joke in the mutant world. Mystique used Freddy, Todd and me to get at the X-Men. Magneto used Pietro to get at us. Then both Magneto and Mystique tried to use Wanda at each other and the X-Men. I'm sick of being used." He turned to look at Mystique. "You say you'll give us a shot at actually making something of ourselves?" Mystique nodded. "I can't speak for the rest of the Brotherhood, but you have me on board."
The room was quiet for a minute. "You're sure about this Lance?" Freddy asked.
"I'm sick of being a laughingstock, Freddy." Lance answered quietly.
Freddy and Todd looked at each other for a moment, and then back to Lance. "You ain't never steered us wrong, yo." Todd ventured, "And we've always stuck together before. If you're gonna do this, then me and Freddy are gonna stick with ya. Ain't that right, Freddy?"
"Definitely." Freddy nodded. "What about you, Pietro?"
The speedster bit his lip and slumped back on the couch, a troubled look on his face. After a moment he leaned forward and looked at his sister. "What do you think, Wanda?"
Wanda shot him a surprised look. "Since when have you cared what I thought, Pietro? Why's this even an issue for you? Shouldn't you be speeding off to Father to let him know about this?"
"You'd sure think so, wouldn't you?" Pietro gave a weak laugh.
"It would be my first thought." Wanda replied. "You've always been his golden boy."
"Who he doesn't trust with any job more important than hanging around here until the mood strikes him to find out what's going on." Pietro said ruefully. "You're the powerful one out of the two of us, Wanda. You're the one he'd want on his side if you didn't hate his guts."
Wanda looked down at the floor for a minute and sighed. Pietro was fustrated, she could feel it. She knew he still desperately wanted to make their father, Magneto, proud but at the same time felt that Magneto himself was preventing him from doing that by not allowing him to take part in any of the work that the Acolytes did. "Pietro," Wanda ventured quietly, moving over to her brother and resting a hand on his knee in a sign of sisterly affection that none of the Brotherhood had ever seen her do, "I think we ought to do this. Mystique is right. Magneto isn't fighting for all mutants anymore. He's fighting for himself."
"You can always leave later." Mystique's voice broke the silence. "We're not going to force anyone to stay."
Pietro looked up at Wanda. "Lady, I think you have yourself a Brotherhood."
"That's what I was hoping you would say." Mystique smiled. "Now," she stood up and paced up and down the room casually, "I think it's only fair, given the new nature of our arrangement, that the five of you be given a chance to ask me any questions that you might have. Please feel free to ask anything you want to know, I'll do my best to answer."
Lance sat back down on the couch. "Okay, I have a question. How can there be two Mystiques?"
"Ahh, yes. That's the intersting bit of this whole thing." Mystique mused. "And I don't think I can give you a total answer simply because I don't have one for myself. The best I can tell you is that there was an occurance, the only thing I can think of being a dimentional rift, and the two of us were pulled through. The last thing we remember before winding up here is being in our base and then we found ourselves at the Xavier Institute, and that's where we watched the 'incidents' of this morning."
"So," Pietro leaned forward, "you're saying that you are basically Mystique from another dimention?"
"Basically, yes. In our dimention Mortimer and I are both members of the Brotherhood of Mutants. We were led by Magneto, and the other members were Pyro and Sabertooth. I can tell you that Magneto in our dimention is very little like this dimention's Magneto. From what I've been able to learn, about the only thing they actually have in common is their mutant ability."
"So what's the deal with Jackie Chan over there?" Todd asked, gesturing at Mortimer, who was still sitting up on the mantle.
"Mortimer," Mystique sent a sly smile over to the crouched figure, "why don't you show them what it is you do?"
"Sure thing, luv." Mortimer grinned. He gathered his legs underneath him, suddenly springing forward and landing on a far wall, his body sideways. Shooting his tongue across the room, he wrapped his tongue around the leg of a coffee table that rested in front of the couch. Lifting it off the ground, he manuvered it around Mystique, who was between him and the table and set it down. With one small hop, Mortimer pushed himself off the wall and landed squarely on the table. He let a sastisfied grin creep across his face as he observed the stupified looks of the Brotherhood.
"Holy crap..." Lance finally muttered.
"Man! That's just like me, yo!" Todd exclaimed, hopping over to the coffee table. Mortimer laughed softly, slightly amused at the younger mutant's boyant mood.
"Almost, mate. Except I'm British." He ruffed up Todd's hair a bit. "But we all can't be perfect, now can we?" he grinned.
"Just a minute," Pietro looked skeptical, "are you telling us that this guy, who single handedly kicked our collective asses, is Toad?"
"Well, the evidence does tend to lean in that direction." Mystique replied, sitting back down in the chair. "If my observations are worth anything, then I would have to say that all the evidence points towards dimentional counterparts usually being different from one another."
"Speaking of which, luv, what do you want me to do with our friend in the closet." Mortimer asked.
Mystique just smiled. "She's going to be going on a little trip." Looking over at the Brotherhood, she asked, "How do you think she would like Tijajuana?"
"Man, Mystique is gonna be pissed when she wakes up in Mexico." Freddy said, laughing as the Brotherhood relaxed in the living room.
Todd, perching on the back of the sofa, snickered, "I can't believe we actually did it!"
"Someone's gonna owe me big." Wanda grumbled, "It took most of my makeup to cover her skin."
"Wonder what's going to happen now?" Lance thought out loud.
"What you mean?" Todd asked, his head cocking to the side slightly. "We finally got Mystique off our backs for good, You oughta take a little time to kick back, yo."
Lance sighed and leaned forward. "Yeah, I know. I wanna, really I do. But I can't until I'm sure we're really, you know, really gonna be in charge of ourselves."
"Well, I hope to ease that fear, Lance." The Brotherhood turned to the door to the living room to see Mystique standing there. It was kind of odd to hear Mystique using their actual first names, the 'old' Mystique had never been that familar with them. "Are you all ready for another talk?" The teens nodded and made their way back to the seats they had been seated in earlier.
"Where's Big Toad?" Freddy asked, noticing Mortimer's absence.
"He's still at the airport, just to make sure that our friend makes her flight alright." Mystique smiled, "Oh, and it would probably be better to call him Mortimer or Mort. Toad might be too confusing as there are two. We'll figure something out when it comes down to work in the field."
"Speaking of which, mind filling us in on a little more specific information about what exactly you're gonna want us to be doing?" Pietro asked.
Wanda looked over at her bother to see a look of honest interest on his face. His expression was open and easily readable. It was rather remarkable. Just an hour ago he had severed his philisophical ties to Magneto, and in that time it was almost like he was another person. He was still arrogant and something of a jerk, but it seemed as if he was relieved of a huge weight now that he no longer had the responsibility of playing the part of a spy.
Mystique resumed her seat in the easy chair. "The first thing that I propose is actually not to take any action for now. No skirmishing with the X-Men, Acolytes or humans. I know that sounds contrary to what I was talking about earlier, but I assure you that there are good reasons."
"Which are?" Lance asked. He wasn't sure he could last long without getting into some sort of scuffle with Scott Summers or Duncan Mathews.
"First off, your lack of training. For the next couple of months, at least, Mortimer and I are going to be training you. You will learn combat skills, teambuilding exercises, and perhaps later specialized training for each of you based on your strengths. Second, we're going to do something about this house." She gestured to the surrounding room. "Frankly it's in a horrible state of disrepair and the lot of you deserve to live in something better. Third, we're going to do something about these 'uniforms'." Mystique held up a bag that held the uniforms of each of the Brotherhood save Freddy who never really wore one anyway. "No team that I have anything to do with is going to look like fugitives from a comic convention. Not to mention that for the work we will eventually be doing, brightly colored uniforms are not going to be your friends. And finally," she paused, "the five of you are going to be going back to school come September."
"Aw man, I finally thought that torture was gonna be over." Todd groaned as he flopped down on the couch next to Freddy.
Lance nodded. "Yeah, plus, we're all kind of expelled thanks to Principal Kelly."
"Oh don't let Kelly worry you." Mystique smiled wickedly. "He's a sick man with delusions of being persecuted by non-existant mutants. It would hardly be fair of the school bord to keep you out of school when it comes to light that Kelly expelled you just because you were mutants."
"Uh, but we were expelled for using powers at school against the X-Men." Freddy pointed out. "Kelly set us up."
"Like I said, don't worry about him. By the time I've finished, Kelly will look like nothing more than a hatemongering gene racist. The school board will be begging you to come back lest they risk being accused of gene racism as well." Mystique assured the Brotherhood. "Besides, I need the lot of you in school. Not only do you need the education, but you need to be aware of the X-Men. While we're not going to concern ourselves with actively engaging them, it is always important to know what the other sides are up to."
"Explain again why Wanda and Mystique aren't coming with us." Lance asked from the driver's seat of his old Jeep.
"They ain't coming for the simple fact that Mystique is the planner and she's decided that Wanda shows the most talent as a tactician." Mortiemr replied. "So she's going to be working with her on that. You lads on the other hand are going to be learning something different."
"Like what?" Pietro asked, leaning up over the backseat.
"Well, first thing is I'm gonna teach you all how to do some basic construction work. That's why we're going to the hardware store. We're gonna fix up that shithole that Mystique left you in. Secondly we're going to find you all some clothes that will actually do you some good when you finally start doing fieldwork again."
"What was wrong with our old uniforms?" Todd asked, poking his head up alongside Pietro's.
"Nothing, if your object is to be a moving target." Mortimer replied. "But think it through, boys. Bright green, blue? You're asking to be seen. Lance, your uniform was fine color wise, but it didn't offer you the protection for your head that you really need with a power that can literally bring down the house. As it stands, the only one of you boys that had any practical fashion sense was ol' Freddy back there."
Pietro snorted and flopped back down into his seat. As Lance turned onto the next street, Mortimer pulled his hood up and directed Lance to pull into the parking lot of a shopping center. "Hey ain't you hot, yo?" Todd asked Mortimer asked as they all piled out of the Jeep. "I mean, it's gotta be close to eighty-five degrees out. Even for me it's warm."
"Ah, but you're not green and ochre." Mortimer pointed out as he pulled his goggles down to cover his eyes.
After spending a good fourty-five minutes in the hardware store, the five mutants headed over to a nearby Gut Bomb to grab some lunch. Mortimer quickly got the teens through the line and directed them to a booth in the back corner of the restaraunt. As he nursed a soda and a serving of fries, he wrinkled his nose at the smell of the deep fried food. "'Cor, tell me you lads don't eat this stuff on a regular basis."
"Sure do." Pietro grinned, "Lots of quick energy."
"Give me a bird any day."
"They've got chicken burgers." Freddy offered.
Mortimer shook his head. "Fresh is so much nicer." he added with a grin.
"Don'twannaknow, don'twannaknow, don'twannaknow." Pietro interjected quickly. The others laughed at the image that was obviously running through his mind.
"Don't knock it 'till you've tried it, mate."
"I'msonotlistening..." Pietro ran his words together, causing the others to laugh more.
Mortimer leaned back into his seat, relaxing as the teens sat and talked, all eager to discuss the plans for the Brotherhood's house. They had been sitting there fore a good fifteen minutes when Lance suddenly cast his eyes over to the door of the Gut Bomb. "Guys, X-Geeks at twelve o' clock." The table fell silent as the others saw Logan, Scott, Kitty, Evan and Rogue.
"Well, this day was goin' good." Todd scowled in the general direction of the X-Men.
"Easy there, lads." Mortimer urged quietly, invisible to the X-Men from his spot behind Freddy. "Remember, we're not here for any trouble and we've got as much right to be here as they do."
"They've got Daniels with them." Pietro groaned, "There's no way we're gonna get out of here clean."
"Hey, Pietro!"
"Crap..." Pietro muttered as Evan caught sight of the Brotherhood.
"What are you guys doing here?" Scott asked as the X-Men made their way over to the booth where the Brotherhood sat.
Lance glared at Scott. "We're eating luch, Summers. What does it look like?"
"What it usually looks like with you guys; trouble waiting to happen."
"Easy, Slim." came a low voice from behind Scott. "We don't need any trouble."
"Good thought, so maybe you lot ought to sod off before there is any."
Logan turned to where the voice had come from. Moving around the table, he saw a thin figure in a sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, leaning back in the booth with arms crossed over his chest. Arching his eyebrow, Logan looked at Mortimer. "Excuse me, you want to repeat that?"
"You heard me, you bloody git." Mortimer smiled under his hood. "These lads are just here for lunch and don't need the likes of you messin' with them." This was too fun.
"And just who are you?" Logan asked, crossing his arms over his chest and snarling slightly.
Mortimer reached over and pulled Todd over in a brotherly hug. "Why I'm just Todd's cousin here on holiday. And believe you me, there ain't any way I'm letting me mates here get into trouble today. They still have over half of Bayville to show me."
"Toad's cousin?" Evan sniffed the air, "Well, they've got the same rotten smell."
Mortimer snorted, "And you smell like a bucket of shit, but at least I'm polite enough to keep that to myself."
"Hey!" Even exlaimed, a spike growing out through his sleeve. Rouge saw it and quickly moved between Evan and the rest of the diners.
"Lance!" Kittly looked over to her one-time beau, but was dismayed to see him leaning up against Pietro in order to keep from falling over with laughter. "Lance, do something!"
Lance managed to catch his breath for a second. "H... hey, what do you want me to do? Procupine there started it."
"And I'm finishing it." Logan cut in. "Get in line kids, we'll grab our order to go. As for you," Logan leaned over the table and squinted his eyes as if he were trying to see the face that was under Mortimer's hood, "I'll be keeping an eye on you."
Mortimer leaned forward to meet Logan's gaze, letting his hood fall back to show his green hair and ocher skin. Lifting up his goggles to reveal yellow eyes with teardropped-shaped bue irises, he gave Logan a nasty grin. "I knew you X-Men used that Cerebro for something other than finding mutants, you randy little pervert." As a growl rumbled in Logan's throat, the Brotherhood burst into howls of laughter. Getting a drop on Evan was one thing, the Wolverine was another altogether. After the X-Men had left the Gut Bomb, Mortimer stood up and gestured to the door. "Well lads, our work here is done. That was fun, but now we've got some work to do."
Wanda rubbed some sleep from her eyes as she made her way down the stairs of the Brotherhood's home. With a yawn, she looked into the living room and was rather puzzled at the lack of noise. Normally by this time of day Todd was playing video games, Freddy was messing around in the kitchen, and Lance and Pietro would be arguing about something or other. Her stomach growled and Wanda decided that breakfast was in order. Rather absent mindedly she wondered what could possibly be left in the cabnets if the boys were already up and off to do who-knows-what. Food never lasted long in the Brotherhood's house. Between Freddy, his love of food legendary, and Pietro, whose super-fast metabolism gave him the same ravenous appitite as a ferret, there was precious little left for the rest.
To her surprise, when Wanda entered the kitchen she found the table and counters hidden under bags of groceries. A flash of blue caught her eye and she saw Mystique, her dark color nearly hiding her in the unlit corner of the kitchen, putting groceries away in the referigerator that Mortimer had managed to somehow revive the night before. She had reverted to the original blue form that Wanda had seen her in the day before, no clothes, just covered in scales. Wanda assumed that this was her basic form and shrugged it off. Unlike the boys she really didn't have any sort of hang up about Mystique's attitude about clothes. After all, it wasn't as if the blue mutant had anything that she didn't.
Another growl from her stomach caught Mystique's attention, and the shapeshifter looked over at Wanda with a smile. "Hungry?" Wanda nodded, embarrassed at the loudness of the growl. "Help yourself to whatever's here."
"Where are the guys?" Wanda asked, finding a box of blueberry Mini-Muffins and pulling out a pack as she made herself a seat on the counter.
Closing the referigerator door, Mystique folded a bag and tossed it on a pile. "They went into town to pick up a few things for the house. Make it a little more like a home and a little less like a pig stye."
"Good luck." Wanda laughed. "It's been tried before and it always looks like a mess in less time than it takes to clean it."
Having finished putting away the perishables, Mystique cleared off a chair and took a seat. "You know, I think you just might be surprised at what those boys are really capable of with the right... incentives." she mused.
"Like what? Food and video games?"
"Like proper leadership that helps to reenforce a sense of self-worth." Mystique replied. "People who are constantly told that they are nothing come to believe it. Think about it, Wanda. Look at the difference between Mortimer and Todd. What has Todd's life been like? At school he was constantly bullied, he was constantly belittled by Mystique and Magneto, and everyone who gets a chance to make a joke about his appearance will do so, even amoung close friends."
"And Mortimer?"
Mystique leaned back in her chair. "Early life was rather similar. Mortimer was left in an orphanage as a child, and was treated horribly from all accounts. He escaped as soon as he was able and Magneto brought him into the Brotherhood. Erik was something of a father-figure to Mortimer, I'm sure. Gave him gentle praise and the skills to take care of himself. As a result, Erik has Mortimer's unwavering loyalty and is the best in the Brotherhood at what he does."
"And what's that?" Wanda asked, mildly curious at the fact that Toad could be the best at anything other than being a pain in the rear end.
"Well, Mortimer is technically brilliant with mechanical technology. Not so good with computers, but with things that have moving parts you'd be hard pressed to find anyone better. He's also an excellent kick-boxer. If it weren't for the fact that his mutation probably makes him ineligable for competition, he'd easily be a world class fighter.
"He's that good?"
"Better." Mystique one upped her estimate. "He's second only to me when it comes to infiltration. Do you know he managed to crawl across the ceiling of Madison Square Station during rush hour without being seen? Well..." she paused for a moment before grinning, "at least he was unseen until he grabbed Cyclops' visor off his head with his tongue. Now the station has a new skylight and Mortimer has plans on starting a visor collection."
Wanda couldn't help but giggle a little at the thought of Summers blasting a hole in a ceiling somewhere. "I didn't realize that Toad could do so much. I mean, Todd spends most of his time bugging the hell out of me."
"True, you wouldn't think that he would be all that versitile. But when you just take a moment to think about it. I mean, just that tongue of his could be used in several non-work related instances."
"Like what?" Wanda asked.
Mystique arched an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you've lived in a house full of boys for five months and never even thought about it."
Wanda's eyes got big and she started to caugh as she choked on one of the Mini-Muffins. "Oh, gawd... UGH! No!" She shook her head violently. "No, Todd does not do stuff like that. He doesn't even think about that sort of thing!"
Laughing, Mystique smiled slyly at Wanda. "Come now, even Todd is just a teenage boy. Of course he thinks of that sort of thing. Just consider the possibilities, dear. That tongue of his, and if he's anything like Mortimer he's probably got great legs under those jeans of his."
"Don't tell me the two of you..?" Wanda almost looked physically ill.
Mystique shook her head no. "Not for lack of trying, but the poor dear really doesn't know what to do if a woman gets close to him." She sighed with a look of fustration crossing her face.
"Hey,we'reback. YoujustgottahearwhathappeneddownattheGutBomb..." Pietro suddenly appeared out of nowhere with the rest of the guys following him in the door a few seconds later and heading into the living room. When she saw Todd, Wanda jumped down off the counter and followed them. Lance had started playing video games while Todd had pearched on the back of the sofa and Mortimer stood beside him, both Toads watching the screen. Coming up behind Todd, Wanda grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him so that he was about three inches away from her face.
"Listen and listen good. You are asexual. You do not even think about sex, got that? Or else you're going to end up a mutant enuch!" Letting go of his shirt, Wanda spun around on her heel and stormed up the stairs. The three guys watched in a stuned silence for a moment, then Todd whimpered, "Man, I didn't even do anything this time, yo!"
"Special bird, you've got there, mate." Mortimer arched an eyebrow as Wanda dissapeared up the stairs. "We've got a way to describe girls like that where I'm from."
"What's that?" Lance asked.
"A complete nutter!" Mortimer said, calling up the stairs. The lights dimmed for a moment and Mortimer just shook his head and laughed.
"A Ms. Marali Pearce to see you sir." Lewis Samson looked up from paperwork that was covering his desk to see his secretary standing at his door. The president of the Bayville School Board sighed and indicated to his secretary to let his two o' clock appointment in. He wasn't exactly sure what this Ms. Pearce wanted to talk about, she hadn't said much over the phone. All she had said was that she wanted to discuss the recent expulsion of a few students from Bayville High. He really didn't have time for this. There had been a flury of paperwork with the impending start of the school year and his own vacation had made the work pile up.
"Mr. Samson, thank you for taking the time to see me."
Samson looked up to see a rather striking African-American woman, about forty years of age who had just a tinge of white starting to show in her hair. She was dressed in a conservitive black skirt and jacket with her brown eyes framed by a pair of sophisticated glasses. "Ms. Pearce, I presume?" he asked, extending a hand, which Ms. Pearce grasped firmly as she shook it. "It's always a pleasure to talk to a woman who takes an active role in the welfare of our city's children."
Ms. Pearce nodded as she took a seat in the chair that Samson gestured to. "I'll get right to the point, Mr. Samson, I'm here to talk about some students thta were expelled from Bayville High School at the end of the last school year."
"Yes, I remember you told me about that on the phone. Which students are you representing, Ms. Pearce?"
"Lance Alvers, Fred Dukes - both were juniors, Pietro Maximoff - he held sophmore status, and Todd Tolensky who was a freshman. They've recently been placed into my care since their previous gardian has seen fit to abandon them."
Samson's expression grew concerned. "Those students were expelled because of reckless and dangerous behavior, Ms. Pearce. You were informed of their, er, 'records' when you agreed to take them into your care, were you not?"
"I was quite aware of their circumstances." Ms. Pearce replied, a hard edge creeping into her voice. "I am also aware that they had been exposed to some extreme pressures and hardships that children of their age should not have been exposed to. Their caretaker left them to fend for themselves for extended periods of time, were living in abysmal conditions, and we won't even get into the fact that the school did nothing to help them." Samson started to look rather uncomfortable as the edge in Ms. Pearce's voice grew harder. "That situation would have been hard enough on normal children, but when the children in question are mutants, they have the added difficulty of dealing with classmates that do not even consider them to be people. If you want my opinion, it took a great deal of restraint on their part not to lash out at those people who were tormenting them in a way that caused perminant harm. Besides," her voice took on a lower tone, one that was almost more dangerous, "I don't think it would look very good in the paper to have it come out that the Bayville Schools are descriminating against students who just happen to have an X-gene."
Samson frowned. "What exactly are you implying, Ms. Pearce? It's the school board's policy not to discriminate on any basis, mutations included."
"Oh, I hardly think that it's a system problem, Mr. Samson." Ms. Pearce leaned back in her chair and pressed her fingers together. "If that were true then the students who reside at the Xavier Institute would not have been allowed to remain at Bayville. But I have reliable information that Edward Kelly created a situation where he knew the results would be, well, explosive."
"The students from Xavier's didn't start terrorizing the student body." Samson pointed out.
"But the students from Xavier's are all fairly well-adjusted teenagers. They don't have a history of abuse and neglect. Of course my charges reacted the way they did. For the first time in their lives, they didn't feel like they had to be afraid."
Sighing, Samson took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. This was difficult. On the one had, it was no secret the Kelly was almost fanatically anti-mutant, and it was also common knowledge that the boys that Ms. Pearce was now in charge of were all from troubled backgrounds.
"If," he eventually ventured, "I convince the rest of the board to re-admit these boys to Bayville High, would I have your personal guarentee that they would cause no disciplinary problems?"
The faintest trace of a smile crept onto Ms. Pearce's face. "I would give you not only my complete assurances, but my word that the first time any of them stepped out of line I would personally see to it that they would not step foot onto school grounds again."
"They would have to be put on a probationary period, of course." Samson added quickly.
"Of course." Ms. Pearce nodded. "I would expect nothing less."
Well then," Samson stood up and reached across the desk to shake Ms. Pearce's hand, "I'll be at Bayville High personally to welcome them back on the first day of classes."
Shaking Samson's hand, Ms. Pearce smiled and stood up. "I'm glad to hear that. Oh, before I go, there is one other matter to take care of. Recently Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff's twin sister arrived in Bayville. She will also be attending Bayville High in the fall."
"Very well. If you leave her paperwork then I can get her registered when I take care of the boys." Samson replied as he escorted Ms. Pearce to the door. "And I'll speak to Mr. Kelly and let him know about our new arrangement."
"Thank you, Mr. Samson."
Leaving the office, Ms. Pearce quickly walked out of the building. Outside she saw Lance in his old Jeep and waved. He returned the wave and pulled along the sidewalk so she could climb into the passenger seat. "Well? How did it go?"
"You're all back in." Ms. Pearce replied, quickly scanning the road. Seeing no pedestrians, she quickly shifted back to her own shape. "But you'll have to spend a while under a probationary period."
"Probation?" Lance arched an eyebrow.
"I think he wants to be sure you five aren't going to level the school." Mystique replied.
Lance grinned. "Hey, I only did that once, and it wasn't even in Bayville." Mystique laughed as the Jeep sped down the road towards the Brotherhood's house. "Almost took out two X-geeks, too."