Pietro was finding it difficult to sleep. New York was so different from
what he was used to. Here he found buildings that touched the sky instead
of grassy fields; streets clogged with traffic rather than simple dirt
roads and trails through the forests near his house in Romania.
America, he found, was a busy place.
Not a bad thing when one such as he was constantly looking for some form of entertainment.
However, entertainment was NOT the reason that he and Wanda had gone there. They had come to America after learning of their father's escape from a government compound. This led them to believe that he was in terrible danger, he might need help; the twins concern was heightened when they could not reach him on the telephone.
The last time they saw him, he had given them a number to call if they ever needed anything- he had always answered within two rings.
They were a family, dammit, no matter how broken or dysfunctional.
Pietro felt that as a son, he had a bloodline obligation to help his father. Not that it was by any means an obligation; he would have gone to America by himself just for the adventure aspect of the whole ordeal.
He thought that he would find Magneto trapped by some mad military scientist, or some other clichéd nonsense, but instead they found him alive, well, and complete with a new addition.
Pietro dug through the fridge, looking for a midnight snack. He had a tendency to eat junk when he was bothered by something.
Just who was this John guy?
"Trouble sleeping?" Pietro turned to see Wanda wander into the kitchen wearing the new pajamas they had bought today.
"How could you guess?" he asked in Romanian. They were almost equally comfortable in English, but usually reserved it for when necessary. He brought out some ice cream and gestured it to her.
She nodded and took a seat at the table, "Woman's intuition."
Pietro studied her for a moment. Yes, she was a woman. They were growing up.
He sat down across from her and handed her a spoon. "Wanda, what do you know about John?"
She took a bite. "Nothing really, but I don't think he likes you very much."
Pietro rolled his eyes, "If he's still mad about my attack, he can only blame himself. He had no right to spy on us, we hadn't seen father for four years! What gave him the idea that he could intrude on our reunion?"
Wanda nodded, and took another spoonful of the ice cream. Chocolate was her favorite; she was a girl after all. "Well, maybe he felt entitled." She suggested.
"What do you mean?"
Pietro watched as his sister's dark eyes focused, she was squinting in concentration. "Pietro, how many times have we seen father in our lives?"
"Two weeks every three years." He said automatically; the amount of visitation granted to Eric was a miniscule, but treasured time.
Wanda nodded, "Yes, and so many things could've happened in the years between his visits."
Pietro's thoughts connected within a split second. "No way! It can't be, you've got to be way off base with this!" he cried.
Wanda held up her hand, trying to calm him, sway him to her reasoning. "Just think about it for a second, will you? We've only seen him a few times in our whole lives, Pietro. We didn't even know that he was in jail, or why, until three days ago. It wouldn't be that much harder for him to keep this a secret from us."
"You've got to be wrong about this." Pietro growled.
Wanda's eyes flashed as the conclusion began to make more and more sense to her. "Well, Mystique was with him four years ago, when we last saw him, who knows how long she's been in his company before that? John's not that much younger than us, Pietro."
"Oh, come on! You think he had a son with her and wouldn't even tell us about it? Don't you think Mystique would've mentioned it?"
"Let's ask John!" Wanda said after she finished her bowl.
"Way ahead of you." Pietro said as he ran out of the kitchen.
A split second later, he returned, with John.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"What the Hell are you doing?!" John yelled.
Wanda tried not to laugh. John was shrieking like a cat in cold water. However, she couldn't really blame him; one minute he was sound asleep and the next he was hauled up and into the kitchen.
She watched as John's angry hazel eyes fixed themselves on Pietro and he gave her brother a hard shove. Pietro's amusement quickly flared into stupid testosterone driven anger, and shoved back.
Uh, oh. This could be trouble. John didn't like Pietro already, and Pietro wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea that he might have a half-brother.
Wanda concentrated and made a discreet gesture at the wrestling boys, and they flew apart, yanked into separation by an unseen force.
"Pietro, do not lose sight of the reason you brought him down here." She told him.
"Why did you bring me down here? What do you want?" John demanded sharply.
"Just to talk." She answered. "We have questions we need you to answer. The first one is: who are your parents?"
John looked at her as if she had gone crazy. "Why?"
"Because we want to know." Pietro said.
"Why should I tell you?" John asked.
"Because we want to know, and we'll attack you if you don't tell us." Pietro growled.
"John, please?" Wanda asked.
He rolled his eyes. "Mary and Jake Allerdyce."
"Not father and Mystique?" Pietro asked.
"What? No, who told you that?"
"Wanda did."
"I only suggested it. It was a rational assumption since he's living here."
Pietro sighed, relieved that he and John weren't related. "Well, now that we know what you are, who are you?"
John rolled his eyes. "I'm John Allerdyce, and I'm not Magneto's son. As far as I know, you're the only one with that title."
Wanda asked him, "Then what are you to our father?"
John shrugged. He'd been asking himself that a lot lately.
Pietro's patience was running out. "How did you meet him? Why do you live here?"
John took a seat at the table. "You want the long or short of it?"
Wanda sat down across from him, followed by Pietro. "Just explain."
John took a deep breath; it was too early in the morning to deal with this. "I.ok, you know Magneto was in jail and all that, right?"
"Yes, that's why we came here." Pietro said.
"Right, well, he escaped, and it was this lucky coincidence that he found us. I was in a jet that was cashing with my old school friends. He used his power to catch the jet; he saved all of our lives. I don't know what he and my teachers had talked about that night, but the next morning, we were flying to this lake. Anyway, I left the jet to help them fight these military guys, but I got lost. I found Magneto and Mystique in this helicopter and he waved me aboard. The dam was about to collapse and going with him seemed like smarter than drowning."
Pietro sat back, listening to John's story. He wasn't surprised that this John guy had gotten lost, or that his father had saved him. Magneto had gotten Pietro out of a few jams himself. "What else?" he asked.
John gestured to the house. "Well, after we landed in some nowhere town on the border of the two countries, they brought me here to live with them. It's been about six months."
Wanda brushed a dark lock out of her eyes. "They care for you?"
"Um, yeah, I guess."
"You have been like a family?"
"I don't know, kind of. Mystique teaches me to fight, he helps me with my powers sometimes, and they give me assignments. It's been okay so far."
"Powers?" Pietro asked, suddenly interested.
"Yeah, I have powers."
Wanda leaned forward, "What kind? Psychic? Elemental? Or just physical?" she asked, studying his face for any sign of mutation.
John smiled flirtingly at her interest. "Well, since you asked." He said, bringing out his lighter.
"What are you three still doing up?"
All three of the teenagers turned to see Mystique in the doorway.
"Oh, we were just talking." Wanda said.
Mystique's yellow eyes betrayed no emotion, she only said, "I'm glad to see you bonding. But for now, you three need to go to bed, it's almost two in the morning."
John went upstairs with the twins, whose bedrooms were on the same floor.
He hadn't gotten the chance to show off his power over fire, and he still didn't know very much about the twins' power, but he'd know soon enough.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
John didn't feel so threatened by the twins anymore. He understood that they were Magneto's kids, and while John didn't share the bloodline, he could still be a part of their weird little family. Over the next few days, he found that they weren't so bad. At least Wanda wasn't; Pietro was still a little too much for John. He didn't want to admit it, but their personalities were very similar, which was the true reason they clashed so often.
If Xavier knew any of this, he would not have went to the measures he had.
"Yeah, I saw him at the mall, and he saw me."
"How did he react, Bobby?"
"I'm not sure, he just kind of stood there. He was surprised, I mean who wouldn't be? Then some woman called him and he followed her like he was afraid of what would happen if he didn't. The woman was with Magneto, I don't think they noticed that he saw me."
"Hmmm. How did he look?" Charles asked from behind his desk.
Bobby had just informed him of what went on at the shopping center. His intentions were to have Bobby convince John to leave with him, but Bobby's attempt was thwarted by Mystique.
Bobby's voice took on a worried tone. "He had a black eye, and his face was a little cut up."
Bobby was worried for his friend. What had Magneto or Mystique done to him? Did they beat him? Was that why John didn't say anything, because he didn't want Magneto to hurt Bobby?
He felt bad that he couldn't help John, yet. The Professor had an idea of how they could get John to come back. Bobby wanted him to come back to school, for his friend to return to him, and fill the aching void that had been left empty since John left the jet.
Charles felt the same way. Eric had kidnapped a student of his and was now hurting him, John had to be saved, and before anymore harm came to him.
"Don't worry, Bobby. We'll get him back."
America, he found, was a busy place.
Not a bad thing when one such as he was constantly looking for some form of entertainment.
However, entertainment was NOT the reason that he and Wanda had gone there. They had come to America after learning of their father's escape from a government compound. This led them to believe that he was in terrible danger, he might need help; the twins concern was heightened when they could not reach him on the telephone.
The last time they saw him, he had given them a number to call if they ever needed anything- he had always answered within two rings.
They were a family, dammit, no matter how broken or dysfunctional.
Pietro felt that as a son, he had a bloodline obligation to help his father. Not that it was by any means an obligation; he would have gone to America by himself just for the adventure aspect of the whole ordeal.
He thought that he would find Magneto trapped by some mad military scientist, or some other clichéd nonsense, but instead they found him alive, well, and complete with a new addition.
Pietro dug through the fridge, looking for a midnight snack. He had a tendency to eat junk when he was bothered by something.
Just who was this John guy?
"Trouble sleeping?" Pietro turned to see Wanda wander into the kitchen wearing the new pajamas they had bought today.
"How could you guess?" he asked in Romanian. They were almost equally comfortable in English, but usually reserved it for when necessary. He brought out some ice cream and gestured it to her.
She nodded and took a seat at the table, "Woman's intuition."
Pietro studied her for a moment. Yes, she was a woman. They were growing up.
He sat down across from her and handed her a spoon. "Wanda, what do you know about John?"
She took a bite. "Nothing really, but I don't think he likes you very much."
Pietro rolled his eyes, "If he's still mad about my attack, he can only blame himself. He had no right to spy on us, we hadn't seen father for four years! What gave him the idea that he could intrude on our reunion?"
Wanda nodded, and took another spoonful of the ice cream. Chocolate was her favorite; she was a girl after all. "Well, maybe he felt entitled." She suggested.
"What do you mean?"
Pietro watched as his sister's dark eyes focused, she was squinting in concentration. "Pietro, how many times have we seen father in our lives?"
"Two weeks every three years." He said automatically; the amount of visitation granted to Eric was a miniscule, but treasured time.
Wanda nodded, "Yes, and so many things could've happened in the years between his visits."
Pietro's thoughts connected within a split second. "No way! It can't be, you've got to be way off base with this!" he cried.
Wanda held up her hand, trying to calm him, sway him to her reasoning. "Just think about it for a second, will you? We've only seen him a few times in our whole lives, Pietro. We didn't even know that he was in jail, or why, until three days ago. It wouldn't be that much harder for him to keep this a secret from us."
"You've got to be wrong about this." Pietro growled.
Wanda's eyes flashed as the conclusion began to make more and more sense to her. "Well, Mystique was with him four years ago, when we last saw him, who knows how long she's been in his company before that? John's not that much younger than us, Pietro."
"Oh, come on! You think he had a son with her and wouldn't even tell us about it? Don't you think Mystique would've mentioned it?"
"Let's ask John!" Wanda said after she finished her bowl.
"Way ahead of you." Pietro said as he ran out of the kitchen.
A split second later, he returned, with John.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"What the Hell are you doing?!" John yelled.
Wanda tried not to laugh. John was shrieking like a cat in cold water. However, she couldn't really blame him; one minute he was sound asleep and the next he was hauled up and into the kitchen.
She watched as John's angry hazel eyes fixed themselves on Pietro and he gave her brother a hard shove. Pietro's amusement quickly flared into stupid testosterone driven anger, and shoved back.
Uh, oh. This could be trouble. John didn't like Pietro already, and Pietro wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea that he might have a half-brother.
Wanda concentrated and made a discreet gesture at the wrestling boys, and they flew apart, yanked into separation by an unseen force.
"Pietro, do not lose sight of the reason you brought him down here." She told him.
"Why did you bring me down here? What do you want?" John demanded sharply.
"Just to talk." She answered. "We have questions we need you to answer. The first one is: who are your parents?"
John looked at her as if she had gone crazy. "Why?"
"Because we want to know." Pietro said.
"Why should I tell you?" John asked.
"Because we want to know, and we'll attack you if you don't tell us." Pietro growled.
"John, please?" Wanda asked.
He rolled his eyes. "Mary and Jake Allerdyce."
"Not father and Mystique?" Pietro asked.
"What? No, who told you that?"
"Wanda did."
"I only suggested it. It was a rational assumption since he's living here."
Pietro sighed, relieved that he and John weren't related. "Well, now that we know what you are, who are you?"
John rolled his eyes. "I'm John Allerdyce, and I'm not Magneto's son. As far as I know, you're the only one with that title."
Wanda asked him, "Then what are you to our father?"
John shrugged. He'd been asking himself that a lot lately.
Pietro's patience was running out. "How did you meet him? Why do you live here?"
John took a seat at the table. "You want the long or short of it?"
Wanda sat down across from him, followed by Pietro. "Just explain."
John took a deep breath; it was too early in the morning to deal with this. "I.ok, you know Magneto was in jail and all that, right?"
"Yes, that's why we came here." Pietro said.
"Right, well, he escaped, and it was this lucky coincidence that he found us. I was in a jet that was cashing with my old school friends. He used his power to catch the jet; he saved all of our lives. I don't know what he and my teachers had talked about that night, but the next morning, we were flying to this lake. Anyway, I left the jet to help them fight these military guys, but I got lost. I found Magneto and Mystique in this helicopter and he waved me aboard. The dam was about to collapse and going with him seemed like smarter than drowning."
Pietro sat back, listening to John's story. He wasn't surprised that this John guy had gotten lost, or that his father had saved him. Magneto had gotten Pietro out of a few jams himself. "What else?" he asked.
John gestured to the house. "Well, after we landed in some nowhere town on the border of the two countries, they brought me here to live with them. It's been about six months."
Wanda brushed a dark lock out of her eyes. "They care for you?"
"Um, yeah, I guess."
"You have been like a family?"
"I don't know, kind of. Mystique teaches me to fight, he helps me with my powers sometimes, and they give me assignments. It's been okay so far."
"Powers?" Pietro asked, suddenly interested.
"Yeah, I have powers."
Wanda leaned forward, "What kind? Psychic? Elemental? Or just physical?" she asked, studying his face for any sign of mutation.
John smiled flirtingly at her interest. "Well, since you asked." He said, bringing out his lighter.
"What are you three still doing up?"
All three of the teenagers turned to see Mystique in the doorway.
"Oh, we were just talking." Wanda said.
Mystique's yellow eyes betrayed no emotion, she only said, "I'm glad to see you bonding. But for now, you three need to go to bed, it's almost two in the morning."
John went upstairs with the twins, whose bedrooms were on the same floor.
He hadn't gotten the chance to show off his power over fire, and he still didn't know very much about the twins' power, but he'd know soon enough.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
John didn't feel so threatened by the twins anymore. He understood that they were Magneto's kids, and while John didn't share the bloodline, he could still be a part of their weird little family. Over the next few days, he found that they weren't so bad. At least Wanda wasn't; Pietro was still a little too much for John. He didn't want to admit it, but their personalities were very similar, which was the true reason they clashed so often.
If Xavier knew any of this, he would not have went to the measures he had.
"Yeah, I saw him at the mall, and he saw me."
"How did he react, Bobby?"
"I'm not sure, he just kind of stood there. He was surprised, I mean who wouldn't be? Then some woman called him and he followed her like he was afraid of what would happen if he didn't. The woman was with Magneto, I don't think they noticed that he saw me."
"Hmmm. How did he look?" Charles asked from behind his desk.
Bobby had just informed him of what went on at the shopping center. His intentions were to have Bobby convince John to leave with him, but Bobby's attempt was thwarted by Mystique.
Bobby's voice took on a worried tone. "He had a black eye, and his face was a little cut up."
Bobby was worried for his friend. What had Magneto or Mystique done to him? Did they beat him? Was that why John didn't say anything, because he didn't want Magneto to hurt Bobby?
He felt bad that he couldn't help John, yet. The Professor had an idea of how they could get John to come back. Bobby wanted him to come back to school, for his friend to return to him, and fill the aching void that had been left empty since John left the jet.
Charles felt the same way. Eric had kidnapped a student of his and was now hurting him, John had to be saved, and before anymore harm came to him.
"Don't worry, Bobby. We'll get him back."