Pietro's Story: Part 2
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The scenery blurs as I speed through the landscape. How I manage to dodge all these trees I don't know, but I do. I've never pushed myself this hard and I run until I can run no longer and collapse in an exhausted heap on the ground. My head is pounding and my muscles feel like they're on fire. I can feel my body twitching and yet I also feel apart from it, my breathing now quick gasps. "What's happening to me? I feel." A sharp pain to my chest stops me mid sentence. My body, it feels like it's breaking apart. As I lie in agony, other memories, suppressed most probably by THAT MAN, come flooding back to me.
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"Father! FATHER"
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"Mama, what's wrong?" Wanda's childish voice permeates my sleep. The images become clearer. The night we left.
"We have to leave this place" Memory me sits up and groggily watches Mama yank a jumper on over Wanda's head, and pulls her jeans on for her, since her hands were wrapped up in bandages and she couldn't dress herself.
"Why Mama?" I ask, stumbling over to my sister's bed and sitting next to her. A large purple mark, shaped like a hand marks Mama's wrist and her eyes are red rimmed.
"You father, well, he." I decide to help her.
"He's insane" Mama stares at me in shock, before nodding and grabbing the nearest clothing item of mine, my black trousers, and handed them to me, to pull on over my 'The Flash' Pajama jumpsuit. Then she opened a backpack I hadn't noticed she was carrying and crammed as many items of clothing of mine and Wanda's in as she could.
"You're only just figuring this out now?" I ask, buttoning up one of my shirts.
"Is this because of my accident?" Wanda asked softly looking down at the white bandage lumps on her hands. Mama stops packing and hugs Wanda.
"Yes, but that was not your fault, do you understand?" Wanda nodded, though unconvinced, "My sweet, it wasn't your fault, your father did something to you that caused it to happen, if you have to blame someone, blame him okay?" Wanda thinks for a moment before smiling at Mama and nodding.
*******
"Mama, I wish you were here now, you never would have let any of this happen," I can feel a tear roll down my face as the pain increases, "You always knew what to do,"
*******
"Mama, what are we going to do now?" Wanda asked finally. After traveling by night for a long time, by train, truck and boat, stowing away on all, our small group had arrived in the USA. I couldn't care less at that point. I felt horrible, and just wanted to lie down in a nice warm bed.
"We're going to a friend of mine's house, so we can wait till Pietro's better." I open my eyes from my perch on Mama's back to see Wanda looking at me with a worried expression. I smile at her and she smiles back.
We come to a large wall and a brick gate. Mama 'spirits' us through the gate and up to the front door. She places me on the ground and Wanda grabs onto me, inadvertently holding me up. We hide behind Mama's legs as she knocks on the door. It's very late into the night so it is some time before the door is answered.
"Magda?"
"Hello Charles, may we come in?" He frowns for a moment before noticing Wanda and I, I don't think we hid that well. His frown turns into a smile and he moves aside to let us in.
"Of course," We all enter the house and Mama picks me up again. I rest my head on her shoulder, and attempt to sleep.
"I'm so sorry to barge in on you like this Charles but we had no where else to go, and we can't keep going on with Pietro sick." Charles nods his head.
"Why don't you put them in the downstairs spare bedroom, and we can have a little talk in private"
Even though I can't see him, from the way he said 'talk' I know he probably wants to know why we're here and not at home with daddy. After a bit of walking Mama puts me down, takes off my shoes and tucks me into a huge bed. She kisses Wanda and me on the forehead and leaves the room.
I wriggle further down into the nice warm bed and watch Wanda attempt to remove her shoes. She still hasn't mastered the art of undoing shoes before attempting to remove them so she basically just tugged at them until each one came off, the second one came off with a force so big she went tumbling off the bed. I would have laughed had my throat not hurt so much. Wanda scrambled back onto the bed and crawled in next to me.
*******
"Charles? Professor something.Xavier, I'd even settle for him right now, even though he did put us in the room of death. He was so nice." The world is becoming dark, and I'm glad, an escape from the pain. I have the faint sensation of soaring through the air at a high speed, then I pass out, the memories still playing.
*******
"Ah Pietro, It's good to see you up and about again, do you want some breakfast?" I nod sleepily and climb up onto one of the chairs surrounding a long table.
There are several other people besides Mama, the professor and Wanda. There are some teenagers fighting over who will get the last sausage, before a pretty dark-skinned lady enters the room with a whole tray more. An angry looking man beats them all to the tray by stabbing the contents with his claws. I like his claws better than Sabertooth's these look more professional and a lot cleaner, like an eating fork.
"Oh Sausages" *SLAP* "Ow whaddya do that for Mama?" Mama stares at me like I know the answer already. I don't so I just sit there rubbing my hand in mock pain, hoping she let me have them out of sympathy.
She doesn't.
"Ok, I'll just have some bacon then," *SLAP* "Eggs?" Pause, Pause, Pause *SLAP* "Toast?" she nods.
It's not fair Wanda gets to eat whatever she wants why can't I?
"Mama it's not fair, Wanda gets to eat whatever she wants why can't I?" She rolls her eyes.
"Pie honey, you know with your metabolism if you eat fatty foods like that you'll end up dying of a heart attack before you're 17" Oh, she's going on about that again!
"Maggie, you have to go easier on the boy, I know you want to protect him, but scaring him won't help, he'll just try and prove you wrong" Mama seems to be considering it, but then shakes her head. Charles nods in understanding.
"I understand and I. hey what's that over there?" He said pointing, she looks and suddenly there's a sausage on my plate. I stuff the whole thing in my mouth just as Mama turns around.
"I didn't see any. Pietro, what do you have in your mouth?" She glares at me suspiciously.
"Nowwing"
She looks at me for a second before turning to Charles and.*SLAP*
"Hey, that's not fair, you did look away, that sausage could have gotten on to his plate any number of ways," Wanda and I nod. Mama rolls her eyes at the three of us and leaves the dining room. Charles winks at us.
*******
I can feel consciousness returning to me, and it's not so bad, I'm still in pain, But the cool metal beneath me help a bit. I lie still and think of how great it is to be free of.. wait a minute, cold metal?
"YOU EVIL, LYING CHEATING JERK! LET ME GO!" I pound uselessly on the walls of the room once dubbed the 'hissy fit' room.
"When I get out of here, I'm gunna save Wanda and she's going to kill you for what you've done, and I'm not going to do a god dammed thing about it."
"You're deluding yourself, I am all powerful, and none can beat me." Magneto's voice enters the chamber from a source unknown.
"You're wrong, she can beat you, that's why you had her locked away, because she wouldn't submit to you."
"You're wrong, she was out of control, and she was a danger to herself. " Magneto was beginning to get angry; he knows I'm right.
"Ha, that's a dead give away, you've never cared whether we lived or died before, so why should you care if she harms herself. You got scared, so you locked her up, hoping she'd die of a broken heart. You can't keep her locked up forever, one of these days she's going to get out and come after you for all you've done to her and I'm just going to laugh, because you brought this on yourself."
"No you're not, ready the machine"
"What machine?"
Ruckus enters the room and grabs me whilst I was still off in panic land, and hurries down the hall to Magneto's lab, "Where are you taking me? What's tha.."
The last thing Pietro experienced before he blacked out was a flash of red light, and a surge of searing pain.
"Open the hatch" Smoke poured from the now open door, as a small figure resembling pietro emerged. Vertigo gasped in shock. The expression on his normally animated face was blank, his eyes dull. Magneto only smiled.
"Pietro," the boy turned his head towards his father, "retrieve me that plank of wood"
Pietro brisquly walked to the plank, picked it up and began carrying it back, hands slightly shaking. When he reached Magneto his hands were shaking so much that he dropped the wood. Magneto critically studied his son.
"You dropped the wood even though I told you to bring it to me." Pietro looked like his world was crashing down around him, Magneto observed Pietro's shaking hands, "You're shaking, why?"
"I am scared of what you are going to do with this plank of wood" Magneto frowned and Vertigo saw him write on a sheet of paper, emotions interfere with mind control, eliminate. He turned back to the boy.
"You may go now Pietro."
"Yes sir" he muttered leaving the room. Vertigo watched him leave with mixed fear and anger. She turned to Magneto.
"You're controlling peoples minds now are you? When will it stop?" She seethed, fighting to keep her full anger in check, lest she face Magneto's wrath. He turned to her, with an expression that gave the impression he hadn't heard her tone.
"Never" Vertigo stared at his calm face in shock, before storming out of the testing room.
*******
*******
The scenery blurs as I speed through the landscape. How I manage to dodge all these trees I don't know, but I do. I've never pushed myself this hard and I run until I can run no longer and collapse in an exhausted heap on the ground. My head is pounding and my muscles feel like they're on fire. I can feel my body twitching and yet I also feel apart from it, my breathing now quick gasps. "What's happening to me? I feel." A sharp pain to my chest stops me mid sentence. My body, it feels like it's breaking apart. As I lie in agony, other memories, suppressed most probably by THAT MAN, come flooding back to me.
*******
"Father! FATHER"
*******
"Mama, what's wrong?" Wanda's childish voice permeates my sleep. The images become clearer. The night we left.
"We have to leave this place" Memory me sits up and groggily watches Mama yank a jumper on over Wanda's head, and pulls her jeans on for her, since her hands were wrapped up in bandages and she couldn't dress herself.
"Why Mama?" I ask, stumbling over to my sister's bed and sitting next to her. A large purple mark, shaped like a hand marks Mama's wrist and her eyes are red rimmed.
"You father, well, he." I decide to help her.
"He's insane" Mama stares at me in shock, before nodding and grabbing the nearest clothing item of mine, my black trousers, and handed them to me, to pull on over my 'The Flash' Pajama jumpsuit. Then she opened a backpack I hadn't noticed she was carrying and crammed as many items of clothing of mine and Wanda's in as she could.
"You're only just figuring this out now?" I ask, buttoning up one of my shirts.
"Is this because of my accident?" Wanda asked softly looking down at the white bandage lumps on her hands. Mama stops packing and hugs Wanda.
"Yes, but that was not your fault, do you understand?" Wanda nodded, though unconvinced, "My sweet, it wasn't your fault, your father did something to you that caused it to happen, if you have to blame someone, blame him okay?" Wanda thinks for a moment before smiling at Mama and nodding.
*******
"Mama, I wish you were here now, you never would have let any of this happen," I can feel a tear roll down my face as the pain increases, "You always knew what to do,"
*******
"Mama, what are we going to do now?" Wanda asked finally. After traveling by night for a long time, by train, truck and boat, stowing away on all, our small group had arrived in the USA. I couldn't care less at that point. I felt horrible, and just wanted to lie down in a nice warm bed.
"We're going to a friend of mine's house, so we can wait till Pietro's better." I open my eyes from my perch on Mama's back to see Wanda looking at me with a worried expression. I smile at her and she smiles back.
We come to a large wall and a brick gate. Mama 'spirits' us through the gate and up to the front door. She places me on the ground and Wanda grabs onto me, inadvertently holding me up. We hide behind Mama's legs as she knocks on the door. It's very late into the night so it is some time before the door is answered.
"Magda?"
"Hello Charles, may we come in?" He frowns for a moment before noticing Wanda and I, I don't think we hid that well. His frown turns into a smile and he moves aside to let us in.
"Of course," We all enter the house and Mama picks me up again. I rest my head on her shoulder, and attempt to sleep.
"I'm so sorry to barge in on you like this Charles but we had no where else to go, and we can't keep going on with Pietro sick." Charles nods his head.
"Why don't you put them in the downstairs spare bedroom, and we can have a little talk in private"
Even though I can't see him, from the way he said 'talk' I know he probably wants to know why we're here and not at home with daddy. After a bit of walking Mama puts me down, takes off my shoes and tucks me into a huge bed. She kisses Wanda and me on the forehead and leaves the room.
I wriggle further down into the nice warm bed and watch Wanda attempt to remove her shoes. She still hasn't mastered the art of undoing shoes before attempting to remove them so she basically just tugged at them until each one came off, the second one came off with a force so big she went tumbling off the bed. I would have laughed had my throat not hurt so much. Wanda scrambled back onto the bed and crawled in next to me.
*******
"Charles? Professor something.Xavier, I'd even settle for him right now, even though he did put us in the room of death. He was so nice." The world is becoming dark, and I'm glad, an escape from the pain. I have the faint sensation of soaring through the air at a high speed, then I pass out, the memories still playing.
*******
"Ah Pietro, It's good to see you up and about again, do you want some breakfast?" I nod sleepily and climb up onto one of the chairs surrounding a long table.
There are several other people besides Mama, the professor and Wanda. There are some teenagers fighting over who will get the last sausage, before a pretty dark-skinned lady enters the room with a whole tray more. An angry looking man beats them all to the tray by stabbing the contents with his claws. I like his claws better than Sabertooth's these look more professional and a lot cleaner, like an eating fork.
"Oh Sausages" *SLAP* "Ow whaddya do that for Mama?" Mama stares at me like I know the answer already. I don't so I just sit there rubbing my hand in mock pain, hoping she let me have them out of sympathy.
She doesn't.
"Ok, I'll just have some bacon then," *SLAP* "Eggs?" Pause, Pause, Pause *SLAP* "Toast?" she nods.
It's not fair Wanda gets to eat whatever she wants why can't I?
"Mama it's not fair, Wanda gets to eat whatever she wants why can't I?" She rolls her eyes.
"Pie honey, you know with your metabolism if you eat fatty foods like that you'll end up dying of a heart attack before you're 17" Oh, she's going on about that again!
"Maggie, you have to go easier on the boy, I know you want to protect him, but scaring him won't help, he'll just try and prove you wrong" Mama seems to be considering it, but then shakes her head. Charles nods in understanding.
"I understand and I. hey what's that over there?" He said pointing, she looks and suddenly there's a sausage on my plate. I stuff the whole thing in my mouth just as Mama turns around.
"I didn't see any. Pietro, what do you have in your mouth?" She glares at me suspiciously.
"Nowwing"
She looks at me for a second before turning to Charles and.*SLAP*
"Hey, that's not fair, you did look away, that sausage could have gotten on to his plate any number of ways," Wanda and I nod. Mama rolls her eyes at the three of us and leaves the dining room. Charles winks at us.
*******
I can feel consciousness returning to me, and it's not so bad, I'm still in pain, But the cool metal beneath me help a bit. I lie still and think of how great it is to be free of.. wait a minute, cold metal?
"YOU EVIL, LYING CHEATING JERK! LET ME GO!" I pound uselessly on the walls of the room once dubbed the 'hissy fit' room.
"When I get out of here, I'm gunna save Wanda and she's going to kill you for what you've done, and I'm not going to do a god dammed thing about it."
"You're deluding yourself, I am all powerful, and none can beat me." Magneto's voice enters the chamber from a source unknown.
"You're wrong, she can beat you, that's why you had her locked away, because she wouldn't submit to you."
"You're wrong, she was out of control, and she was a danger to herself. " Magneto was beginning to get angry; he knows I'm right.
"Ha, that's a dead give away, you've never cared whether we lived or died before, so why should you care if she harms herself. You got scared, so you locked her up, hoping she'd die of a broken heart. You can't keep her locked up forever, one of these days she's going to get out and come after you for all you've done to her and I'm just going to laugh, because you brought this on yourself."
"No you're not, ready the machine"
"What machine?"
Ruckus enters the room and grabs me whilst I was still off in panic land, and hurries down the hall to Magneto's lab, "Where are you taking me? What's tha.."
The last thing Pietro experienced before he blacked out was a flash of red light, and a surge of searing pain.
"Open the hatch" Smoke poured from the now open door, as a small figure resembling pietro emerged. Vertigo gasped in shock. The expression on his normally animated face was blank, his eyes dull. Magneto only smiled.
"Pietro," the boy turned his head towards his father, "retrieve me that plank of wood"
Pietro brisquly walked to the plank, picked it up and began carrying it back, hands slightly shaking. When he reached Magneto his hands were shaking so much that he dropped the wood. Magneto critically studied his son.
"You dropped the wood even though I told you to bring it to me." Pietro looked like his world was crashing down around him, Magneto observed Pietro's shaking hands, "You're shaking, why?"
"I am scared of what you are going to do with this plank of wood" Magneto frowned and Vertigo saw him write on a sheet of paper, emotions interfere with mind control, eliminate. He turned back to the boy.
"You may go now Pietro."
"Yes sir" he muttered leaving the room. Vertigo watched him leave with mixed fear and anger. She turned to Magneto.
"You're controlling peoples minds now are you? When will it stop?" She seethed, fighting to keep her full anger in check, lest she face Magneto's wrath. He turned to her, with an expression that gave the impression he hadn't heard her tone.
"Never" Vertigo stared at his calm face in shock, before storming out of the testing room.
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