Only three reviews? Slightly disappointing but thanks to those who did
review! This is by far my longest chapter yet . . . I hope you enjoy it!
^_^ Now . . . John meets his older self! Please review!
* * *
Bobby looked thoughtfully at his former best friend. "An older John Allerdyce? Wonder what he . . . you . . . are going to be like."
John shrugged. Personally, he didn't want to know, considering this Pyro had killed future Iceman.
Blaze's chocolate brown eyes searched John's face and she asked with concern in her voice. "Are you okay?"
John glanced at his fellow firestarter and nodded. "I'm fine."
Blaze did not look convinced, but she let it go. "Marie? Are you okay with this?"
Marie also nodded in the same silent way John had. "I can do this, Liz. Don't worry about me." She smiled slightly.
"Okay . . ." Blaze still looked worried as she glanced from John to Bobby to Marie to Rogue. Rogue put a gloved hand on her shoulder and said, "It's fine. We've dealt with worse things."
"I just feel so awkward," Blaze said to Rouge privately, "this is sort of personal for you guys and I feel like I'm intruding or something."
"Well, the future Bobby said you play an important part in this, so relax." Rogue smiled reassuringly at the pyro, "Besides, it helps to have some more firepower around . . . ignore the pun. Plus . . ." Rogue hesitated. "we still don't know if we can completely trust John, if you know what I mean."
Blaze winced and seemed taken aback, but she understood the grounds for Rogue's suspicion.
So they got back into the car and drove to the headquarters of the Brotherhood.
"So how come nobody attacks the Brotherhood's base?" Bobby asked.
"Because it's like our base," Marie explained, "On the outside it's a boarding house, but underground . . . it's a whole different story."
Soon they arrived at the Brotherhood Boarding House.
"So what do we do?" John asked. "Just ring the doorbell and walk in?"
"That's the idea." Marie replied distractedly.
Feeling nervous, John took out his Zippo lighter and started flicking it open and closed. Click. Click.
Marie ringed the doorbell and they waited for a moment before the door was opened. A man with ruby red eyes opened the door. He observed Marie up and down before speaking.
"Ah, it's Mademoiselle Marie, eh? So what brings you to this side of town?" His red eyes sparkled. He was apparently a Southern man, due to his accent.
"Don't try it, Remy." Marie warned. "We need to see Pyro."
Remy's eyebrows shot up. "Pyro? You want to see the boss after . . . you know."
"Wait, you're on first name terms with the bad guy?" Bobby asked.
Remy leaned closer to the group, his eyes looking around, searching for any eavesdroppers. "Remy's gonna tell you a secret, okay? Remy was sort of . . . forced to be in the Brotherhood. Pyro can be very persuasive when he wants to be. Remy actually doesn't like it here. I knew Marie and Bobby Drake from when they helped me out of a few scrapes, and well . . . we have a mutual friendship."
"Remy provides us with some intel." Marie added.
Remy's eyes flashed from Rogue to Marie, just noticing Rogue. "Marie never told Gambit about her having a daughter! Or twin sister or whatever the heck you are. Mighty pretty thing, though."
Rogue blushed, and Bobby just huffed.
"She's not my daughter." Marie informed Remy. "She's . . . me, from the past. All three of them are, minus Blaze-you've met her before, right?-, from the past."
Remy's eyes widened as he examined the trio.
"You," he said, pointing to Bobby, "look like the late Iceman." Bobby put his hand out for a handshake. Remy shook his hand, and Bobby froze it.
"You ARE Iceman!" Remy said, amazed. He turned to Rogue. "So you're Marie, eh? You always were a pretty bell, Marie." He turned to John, who just stared back at him stonily. "You're . . . Pyro, aren't you?" He said softly. He glanced down at the Zippo lighter John was still flicking on and off. "He got rid of that thing long ago, traded it in for ultimate power, for the ability like Miss Blaze here, to not only be able to manipulate the fire, but to create it. But in this devil's bargain, it made his power ten times stronger, but Blaze'll get there . . . her powers are still advancing. After he made that bargain . . . I hear he was different. Power hungry, more than just the innocent teenage longing for someone who cared."
"John? Innocent?" Bobby laughed, despite himself.
John clicked his lighter faster now, at an angry pace. He was really starting to dislike this Gambit. He was talking about John like he wasn't even there. Plus, he analyzed him . . . it was sort of creepy. It especially bothered John since he knew part of it was true.
"Well," John said quickly to distract everyone from the Southerner's observation, "if you don't like it here, why don't you just, you know, leave?"
Remy opened his mouth to respond, but Rogue got there first.
"What, you mean like you did, John?" Rouge said, her voice suddenly icy cold.
John winced at her comment. Suddenly, rage took over and he yelled, "Didn't it ever occur to you that if I hadn't gone with Magneto that I'd have drowned in Alkali Lake?"
"Yeah, but you still could have come back afterwards!" Rogue argued angrily.
"I have to agree with her," Bobby added. "John, you were my best friend, and then you suddenly join the bad guys and fight us! How did you THINK we'd react?"
Blaze looked at the trio uncomfortably, and tried to think of any way to stop their arguing. Nothing came to mind. Maybe it would be good for them to get their feelings out anyway. She looked at Remy and Marie, who seemed to be listening to every word with interest.
"I didn't really think you'd care!" John fumed.
"How could we NOT care?" Rogue asked.
"What? You think I never noticed the times when you obviously didn't want me there? When you wished I never existed?"
"John, you annoy people sometimes, but never wished you never existed!" Bobby was getting tired of this stupid excuse, "God, you know, not everything is about you-"
"I know that!" John yelled at Bobby. He had a sudden urge to hit Bobby with a stream of flames. "Xavier's place had nothing for me! Australia had nothing for me! Nothing except a father who hated me because I was a mutant! Xavier's place had nothing but a bunch of so-called friends who were snuggling with each other when I needed them the most!"
Rogue and Bobby's mouths opened wide, but then closed shut.
"Oh my god, John . . . I'm . . . we're . . . sorry." Marie looked shocked.
"You never said anything about your dad. But don't you think I'd understand?" Bobby said, his voice not loud anymore.
John could have hit himself. Stupid temper. He never intended to mention his father to anyone. He didn't need, or want, anyone's sympathy. He left behind all his helplessness and pain behind in Australia . . . or so he thought. At least he's not helpless; he could just burn through anyone in his way . . .
"Just shut up, forget it, and let's just get this stupid Time Machine thing." John muttered as he pushed past Gambit. Everyone else hesitated, not sure what to do about this. Blaze, however, did not hesitate and followed John into the mansion. She caught up with him quickly and grabbed his hand to get him to stop. She whispered into his ear, "Sorry about your dad, but did you really have to yell at them?"
John yanked his hand out of her grasp and addressed her harshly. "I don't need anyone's sympathy, especially not yours."
"Just to let you know, my dad hates me, not like the way Bobby's family does, because they don't hate him. They got into contact with him a few years after he revealed to them that he was a mutant. My dad really hates me. He disowned me, threw me out onto the street, and he even denounces me in public, saying how he can relate to the public because his own flesh and blood is one of those filthy mutants and all the regular anti-mutant crap. So don't say you don't want my sympathy, because it's not what you're getting. What you're getting from me is relating, cause I know what you went through. I'm going through it." Blaze stopped as she heard the footsteps of the rest of the group coming their way.
John was silent and didn't talk to anyone all the way to seeing future Pyro. He was partly sulking and partly thinking over what Blaze had said. When he thought about it, he wondered if he was a bit too harsh on them, especially Blaze. Bobby and Rogue HAD been good friends for the most part . . . maybe it's just a third wheel thing . . . John's head hurt thinking about all these conflicting emotions.
But they just didn't understand. The temptations . . . Bobby and Rogue were pretty much part of the good boys and good girls group. John, on the other hand . . . did not see things as clearly as they did. There were shades of grey. People you trusted could turn on you in an instant. Blaze, on the other hand . . . she seemed to get John. Maybe it was because of living in this future time you're forced to see the grey.
John thought back to the day when he turned his back on the X-Men and joined Magneto . . .
~*Flashback*~
John stood in the snow, looking at the helicopter with the two "bad guys" inside. Maybe they knew where the X-Men were, because frankly, John was lost.
Magneto spoke to Mystique for a moment before stepping out of the helicopter.
"Pyro." Magneto said, making his way towards John. "What brings you here?"
"I was looking for the X-Men." John replied curtly.
"Ah." Magneto studied John's young face wisely, "You were tired of being treated as if you were a little child? I understand. Well, Pyro, this dam is about to 'blow' as you youngsters put it. You'll never make it back to either the X-Men or the X-Jet in time. Come with us, unless you want to drown here."
"Is that a threat?" John said suspiciously. "Besides, how will Bobby and Rogue get out of here?"
"Oh, they're smart, they can handle themselves." Magneto smiled, "And this is not a threat, Pyro, this is an opportunity. An opportunity to save your skin. And," Magneto lowered his voice, as if someone was listening, "You have a powerful power, despite the limitation of only being able to manipulate the fire. But I can teach you things Charles never could. Maybe together we could break the barrier of your mutation and you can summon fire without the use of your lighter."
As John looked into Magneto's face, he could tell that this man was telling the truth. Besides, he didn't want to drown. If he didn't like it wherever Magneto took him, he could always go back to the X-Mansion.
"Okay. I'll go with you." John agreed.
~*End of Flashback*~
When Magneto took him to one of his bases, John decided not to return to Xavier's school, though he was tempted to many times. He had missed Bobby and Rogue. But at Magneto's place . . . he had ultimate freedom, as long as he didn't piss Magneto off. Bobby and Rogue wouldn't understand his need for freedom. They were perfectly fine in their little world of theirs. But Magneto had seen the real picture, what the reality of the mutant's situation was. And this future just proved that Magneto was right.
Remy suddenly stopped. "This is the door to Pyro's room. Do you want me to come in with you?" Remy's question was directed to Marie.
Marie smiled. "It's alright, Remy, I think I can handle him."
Remy stuck his head into the door and then turned back to the group. "Wait here."
They waited outside in an uncomfortable silence. John went back to clicking his lighter, which seriously irritated Marie, who was no longer used to John doing this.
"Would you cut that out?!" Marie snapped irritably.
Click. "What? I don't like uncomfortable silences, okay?" John defended himself.
Rogue and Bobby rolled their eyes.
Gambit poked his head through the door. "He's ready to see you." He hesitated. "The three of you had better be prepared for a different Pyro." Remy turned to Marie, "He's full of it, so be careful where you tread."
Full of it? John was confused. What did that mean?
Gambit opened the door for them and they filed in.
Rogue gasped.
Bobby stared.
John just stood there, feeling numb.
Future Pyro had beer stains running down his shirt, and though he was sitting down, his eyes looked unfocused. But the thing that had caught all their eyes immediately was the evil and menace in Pyro's eyes. They were completely different than John's eyes, which, if you looked hard enough, just seemed lonely.
All the times when John had set something on fire-the boy at the museum, Bobby's front lawn-it just all seemed like John was having fun. But this Pyro didn't do anything, but you could feel the cold around him, despite his power.
Future Pyro's eyes widened as he stared at John, Bobby, and Rogue.
"Wh-what?"
"Pyro." Marie cleared her throat. But Pyro paid no attention. He just continued to stare at the three.
"Pyro!" Marie yelled. But being so full of beer, he seemed to not be able to hear her.
Blaze, who had been here before with Jubilee once before, was now just as shocked as the trio to see what Pyro looked like. She wouldn't have been surprised by it before, and she really did not like Pyro from all the stories she was told. But then she met John, and she saw something else, something different. The John that Bobby and Marie had been friends with. And now, having have been with John for a while, it was a surprise to see an older copy of him like this.
Blaze sighed and nudged Marie. "Should I?"
Marie nodded. "It'll probably be the only way to get his attention,"
Blaze put both her hands palm up towards Future Pyro. Then, a ball of fire formed from the air between her hands. She shot a streamer of flame towards Pyro, hitting him off balance and taking away some of the slugginess from him. (A/N: I don't think slugginess is a word, but for this story it is.)
Pyro jumped suddenly, and his eyes flashed and they locked on Blaze. He seemed really pissed. He copied Blaze's movements, but Blaze's eyes widened as he created a stream of fire ten times larger than Blaze's.
Blaze pushed Marie out of the way, but did not move herself.
"No!" John ran to Blaze and put his body in front of her out of instinct.
"John!" Blaze protested. But the rest of her complaint was muffled by the fire hitting them.
Blaze pushed him, just to prove her point. "I'm a firestarter, John, remember?" Blaze gestured to her body, which had experienced no burning, no pain, "You don't need to worry. I can handle myself. This is why I come along on these trips, because not only can I create fire, I am immune to its downsides."
John blushed, embarrassed. He had not been hurt either.
"John? But that is my name!" Pyro said.
Blaze scoffed. "Duh."
"Marie . . . I haven't had a visit from you in years."
Marie's eyes were cold. "And don't be expecting any more, okay? This is not a social call."
"Why do you have a younger me, you, and . . . Bobby?" Pyro asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Marie winced at Bobby's name. "You have no right to speak of him!"
"I can speak about him whenever the hell I want!" Pyro yelled.
John winced as well, and was terribly embarrassed. God, this Pyro is making me look really bad, John thought.
"Just . . . tell us where the Time Machine Bobby gave you is!" Marie urged. "Let's get this over with!"
"You never answered my question Rogue . . . who are these people?!"
"They're our past selves, okay? That's why we need the machine now, so we can send them home!" Marie explained angrily.
"Oh . . . and I suppose this past version of myself . . ." He glanced at John, who was looking at him in disgust, "will change the future, huh? And never allow me to have this much power? Not a chance, Marie. He's me, he will face the same choice I did, alone as I did, and make the same choice. There's no stopping destiny, Marie . . . poor Bobby's gonna die, no matter what you do to try and change it." He smiled at Marie evilly. Blaze wondered how this . . . this creature could ever have been John. John was never evil.
Rogue and Bobby were thinking along the same lines. They looked at each other with extreme worry. This is John? This is their former friend?
"Well, then, follow Gambit . . . he will show you the way." He called to Remy over a small microphone in his leather jacket.
"Follow Remy." He said curtly to them. Rogue realized that he had to be straightforward and not too warm with them, otherwise Pyro would suspect that he was Marie's friend.
They followed him down an elevator for what seemed like forever. Marie seemed shaken up, and she kept on glancing at John. Everyone else seemed to be sneaking glances at John as well.
"Okay, everyone stop looking at me!" John finally shouted, irritated.
"Who the hell was that back there?" Bobby said finally, "Cause it sure wasn't John."
"It's him all right," Marie said.
Blaze put a hand on John's shoulder as a small gesture of comfort. John smiled at her, appreciating the gesture.
They arrived in the lowest level, and they were very very . . . unimpressed. There was nothing there except for a small brown box.
"That's the machine that's gonna take us home?" Bobby asked skeptically.
"It's a portable. Easy to move around." Marie took the box. "Let's go back upstairs."
They made their ascent back upstairs. Remy waved good-bye to them at the door, but then he suddenly fell to the floor, three darts in his neck.
"Remy!" Marie shrieked.
"Not again!" Rogue gasped.
Policemen had surrounded the place, and they could see Pyro talking to the police, his head nodding and pointing at the five and the stunned Remy.
The Chief of Police nodded his head and spoke into his loudspeaker. "All right, you mutants! You are under arrest for being mutants, along with the accusation of the fact you broke into this man's house and stole something of his! The stunned man on the door is under arrest for association of mutants, as well as aiding them in this burglary!"
"What?" Blaze shouted. "That's crazy! This is ours!"
"Blaze . . ." Marie put a hand on her shoulder, silencing the firestarter.
"All right, officer," Marie said, putting her hands up in the air, but giving Blaze the Time Machine, "I surrender. I blackmailed these guys to help me. Take me, but not them."
"She's lying!" Pyro protested angrily. Marie ran towards Pyro and then slapped him. She proceeded to kick him in the stomach. Due to her new strength thanks to Miss Marvel, it hurt ten times more than it would have before.
"I have waited years to do that!" Marie exclaimed.
"What is she doing?" Blaze murmured.
Pyro got angry and engulfed Marie in flames!
"Marie!" Everyone cried in unison.
"G-GO!" Marie shouted at them as she cried out in agony of the burning.
"Hey! That guy's a mutant! Arrest him! The kids too!"
"What do we do?" Rogue asked no one in particular.
"We run!" Blaze shouted.
"What about Marie?" Bobby asked.
"We-we can't do anything about that! Run!" Blaze said, her voice cracking.
But then, some hidden police officers jumped out of nowhere and knocked them all out cold.
* * *
Bobby looked thoughtfully at his former best friend. "An older John Allerdyce? Wonder what he . . . you . . . are going to be like."
John shrugged. Personally, he didn't want to know, considering this Pyro had killed future Iceman.
Blaze's chocolate brown eyes searched John's face and she asked with concern in her voice. "Are you okay?"
John glanced at his fellow firestarter and nodded. "I'm fine."
Blaze did not look convinced, but she let it go. "Marie? Are you okay with this?"
Marie also nodded in the same silent way John had. "I can do this, Liz. Don't worry about me." She smiled slightly.
"Okay . . ." Blaze still looked worried as she glanced from John to Bobby to Marie to Rogue. Rogue put a gloved hand on her shoulder and said, "It's fine. We've dealt with worse things."
"I just feel so awkward," Blaze said to Rouge privately, "this is sort of personal for you guys and I feel like I'm intruding or something."
"Well, the future Bobby said you play an important part in this, so relax." Rogue smiled reassuringly at the pyro, "Besides, it helps to have some more firepower around . . . ignore the pun. Plus . . ." Rogue hesitated. "we still don't know if we can completely trust John, if you know what I mean."
Blaze winced and seemed taken aback, but she understood the grounds for Rogue's suspicion.
So they got back into the car and drove to the headquarters of the Brotherhood.
"So how come nobody attacks the Brotherhood's base?" Bobby asked.
"Because it's like our base," Marie explained, "On the outside it's a boarding house, but underground . . . it's a whole different story."
Soon they arrived at the Brotherhood Boarding House.
"So what do we do?" John asked. "Just ring the doorbell and walk in?"
"That's the idea." Marie replied distractedly.
Feeling nervous, John took out his Zippo lighter and started flicking it open and closed. Click. Click.
Marie ringed the doorbell and they waited for a moment before the door was opened. A man with ruby red eyes opened the door. He observed Marie up and down before speaking.
"Ah, it's Mademoiselle Marie, eh? So what brings you to this side of town?" His red eyes sparkled. He was apparently a Southern man, due to his accent.
"Don't try it, Remy." Marie warned. "We need to see Pyro."
Remy's eyebrows shot up. "Pyro? You want to see the boss after . . . you know."
"Wait, you're on first name terms with the bad guy?" Bobby asked.
Remy leaned closer to the group, his eyes looking around, searching for any eavesdroppers. "Remy's gonna tell you a secret, okay? Remy was sort of . . . forced to be in the Brotherhood. Pyro can be very persuasive when he wants to be. Remy actually doesn't like it here. I knew Marie and Bobby Drake from when they helped me out of a few scrapes, and well . . . we have a mutual friendship."
"Remy provides us with some intel." Marie added.
Remy's eyes flashed from Rogue to Marie, just noticing Rogue. "Marie never told Gambit about her having a daughter! Or twin sister or whatever the heck you are. Mighty pretty thing, though."
Rogue blushed, and Bobby just huffed.
"She's not my daughter." Marie informed Remy. "She's . . . me, from the past. All three of them are, minus Blaze-you've met her before, right?-, from the past."
Remy's eyes widened as he examined the trio.
"You," he said, pointing to Bobby, "look like the late Iceman." Bobby put his hand out for a handshake. Remy shook his hand, and Bobby froze it.
"You ARE Iceman!" Remy said, amazed. He turned to Rogue. "So you're Marie, eh? You always were a pretty bell, Marie." He turned to John, who just stared back at him stonily. "You're . . . Pyro, aren't you?" He said softly. He glanced down at the Zippo lighter John was still flicking on and off. "He got rid of that thing long ago, traded it in for ultimate power, for the ability like Miss Blaze here, to not only be able to manipulate the fire, but to create it. But in this devil's bargain, it made his power ten times stronger, but Blaze'll get there . . . her powers are still advancing. After he made that bargain . . . I hear he was different. Power hungry, more than just the innocent teenage longing for someone who cared."
"John? Innocent?" Bobby laughed, despite himself.
John clicked his lighter faster now, at an angry pace. He was really starting to dislike this Gambit. He was talking about John like he wasn't even there. Plus, he analyzed him . . . it was sort of creepy. It especially bothered John since he knew part of it was true.
"Well," John said quickly to distract everyone from the Southerner's observation, "if you don't like it here, why don't you just, you know, leave?"
Remy opened his mouth to respond, but Rogue got there first.
"What, you mean like you did, John?" Rouge said, her voice suddenly icy cold.
John winced at her comment. Suddenly, rage took over and he yelled, "Didn't it ever occur to you that if I hadn't gone with Magneto that I'd have drowned in Alkali Lake?"
"Yeah, but you still could have come back afterwards!" Rogue argued angrily.
"I have to agree with her," Bobby added. "John, you were my best friend, and then you suddenly join the bad guys and fight us! How did you THINK we'd react?"
Blaze looked at the trio uncomfortably, and tried to think of any way to stop their arguing. Nothing came to mind. Maybe it would be good for them to get their feelings out anyway. She looked at Remy and Marie, who seemed to be listening to every word with interest.
"I didn't really think you'd care!" John fumed.
"How could we NOT care?" Rogue asked.
"What? You think I never noticed the times when you obviously didn't want me there? When you wished I never existed?"
"John, you annoy people sometimes, but never wished you never existed!" Bobby was getting tired of this stupid excuse, "God, you know, not everything is about you-"
"I know that!" John yelled at Bobby. He had a sudden urge to hit Bobby with a stream of flames. "Xavier's place had nothing for me! Australia had nothing for me! Nothing except a father who hated me because I was a mutant! Xavier's place had nothing but a bunch of so-called friends who were snuggling with each other when I needed them the most!"
Rogue and Bobby's mouths opened wide, but then closed shut.
"Oh my god, John . . . I'm . . . we're . . . sorry." Marie looked shocked.
"You never said anything about your dad. But don't you think I'd understand?" Bobby said, his voice not loud anymore.
John could have hit himself. Stupid temper. He never intended to mention his father to anyone. He didn't need, or want, anyone's sympathy. He left behind all his helplessness and pain behind in Australia . . . or so he thought. At least he's not helpless; he could just burn through anyone in his way . . .
"Just shut up, forget it, and let's just get this stupid Time Machine thing." John muttered as he pushed past Gambit. Everyone else hesitated, not sure what to do about this. Blaze, however, did not hesitate and followed John into the mansion. She caught up with him quickly and grabbed his hand to get him to stop. She whispered into his ear, "Sorry about your dad, but did you really have to yell at them?"
John yanked his hand out of her grasp and addressed her harshly. "I don't need anyone's sympathy, especially not yours."
"Just to let you know, my dad hates me, not like the way Bobby's family does, because they don't hate him. They got into contact with him a few years after he revealed to them that he was a mutant. My dad really hates me. He disowned me, threw me out onto the street, and he even denounces me in public, saying how he can relate to the public because his own flesh and blood is one of those filthy mutants and all the regular anti-mutant crap. So don't say you don't want my sympathy, because it's not what you're getting. What you're getting from me is relating, cause I know what you went through. I'm going through it." Blaze stopped as she heard the footsteps of the rest of the group coming their way.
John was silent and didn't talk to anyone all the way to seeing future Pyro. He was partly sulking and partly thinking over what Blaze had said. When he thought about it, he wondered if he was a bit too harsh on them, especially Blaze. Bobby and Rogue HAD been good friends for the most part . . . maybe it's just a third wheel thing . . . John's head hurt thinking about all these conflicting emotions.
But they just didn't understand. The temptations . . . Bobby and Rogue were pretty much part of the good boys and good girls group. John, on the other hand . . . did not see things as clearly as they did. There were shades of grey. People you trusted could turn on you in an instant. Blaze, on the other hand . . . she seemed to get John. Maybe it was because of living in this future time you're forced to see the grey.
John thought back to the day when he turned his back on the X-Men and joined Magneto . . .
~*Flashback*~
John stood in the snow, looking at the helicopter with the two "bad guys" inside. Maybe they knew where the X-Men were, because frankly, John was lost.
Magneto spoke to Mystique for a moment before stepping out of the helicopter.
"Pyro." Magneto said, making his way towards John. "What brings you here?"
"I was looking for the X-Men." John replied curtly.
"Ah." Magneto studied John's young face wisely, "You were tired of being treated as if you were a little child? I understand. Well, Pyro, this dam is about to 'blow' as you youngsters put it. You'll never make it back to either the X-Men or the X-Jet in time. Come with us, unless you want to drown here."
"Is that a threat?" John said suspiciously. "Besides, how will Bobby and Rogue get out of here?"
"Oh, they're smart, they can handle themselves." Magneto smiled, "And this is not a threat, Pyro, this is an opportunity. An opportunity to save your skin. And," Magneto lowered his voice, as if someone was listening, "You have a powerful power, despite the limitation of only being able to manipulate the fire. But I can teach you things Charles never could. Maybe together we could break the barrier of your mutation and you can summon fire without the use of your lighter."
As John looked into Magneto's face, he could tell that this man was telling the truth. Besides, he didn't want to drown. If he didn't like it wherever Magneto took him, he could always go back to the X-Mansion.
"Okay. I'll go with you." John agreed.
~*End of Flashback*~
When Magneto took him to one of his bases, John decided not to return to Xavier's school, though he was tempted to many times. He had missed Bobby and Rogue. But at Magneto's place . . . he had ultimate freedom, as long as he didn't piss Magneto off. Bobby and Rogue wouldn't understand his need for freedom. They were perfectly fine in their little world of theirs. But Magneto had seen the real picture, what the reality of the mutant's situation was. And this future just proved that Magneto was right.
Remy suddenly stopped. "This is the door to Pyro's room. Do you want me to come in with you?" Remy's question was directed to Marie.
Marie smiled. "It's alright, Remy, I think I can handle him."
Remy stuck his head into the door and then turned back to the group. "Wait here."
They waited outside in an uncomfortable silence. John went back to clicking his lighter, which seriously irritated Marie, who was no longer used to John doing this.
"Would you cut that out?!" Marie snapped irritably.
Click. "What? I don't like uncomfortable silences, okay?" John defended himself.
Rogue and Bobby rolled their eyes.
Gambit poked his head through the door. "He's ready to see you." He hesitated. "The three of you had better be prepared for a different Pyro." Remy turned to Marie, "He's full of it, so be careful where you tread."
Full of it? John was confused. What did that mean?
Gambit opened the door for them and they filed in.
Rogue gasped.
Bobby stared.
John just stood there, feeling numb.
Future Pyro had beer stains running down his shirt, and though he was sitting down, his eyes looked unfocused. But the thing that had caught all their eyes immediately was the evil and menace in Pyro's eyes. They were completely different than John's eyes, which, if you looked hard enough, just seemed lonely.
All the times when John had set something on fire-the boy at the museum, Bobby's front lawn-it just all seemed like John was having fun. But this Pyro didn't do anything, but you could feel the cold around him, despite his power.
Future Pyro's eyes widened as he stared at John, Bobby, and Rogue.
"Wh-what?"
"Pyro." Marie cleared her throat. But Pyro paid no attention. He just continued to stare at the three.
"Pyro!" Marie yelled. But being so full of beer, he seemed to not be able to hear her.
Blaze, who had been here before with Jubilee once before, was now just as shocked as the trio to see what Pyro looked like. She wouldn't have been surprised by it before, and she really did not like Pyro from all the stories she was told. But then she met John, and she saw something else, something different. The John that Bobby and Marie had been friends with. And now, having have been with John for a while, it was a surprise to see an older copy of him like this.
Blaze sighed and nudged Marie. "Should I?"
Marie nodded. "It'll probably be the only way to get his attention,"
Blaze put both her hands palm up towards Future Pyro. Then, a ball of fire formed from the air between her hands. She shot a streamer of flame towards Pyro, hitting him off balance and taking away some of the slugginess from him. (A/N: I don't think slugginess is a word, but for this story it is.)
Pyro jumped suddenly, and his eyes flashed and they locked on Blaze. He seemed really pissed. He copied Blaze's movements, but Blaze's eyes widened as he created a stream of fire ten times larger than Blaze's.
Blaze pushed Marie out of the way, but did not move herself.
"No!" John ran to Blaze and put his body in front of her out of instinct.
"John!" Blaze protested. But the rest of her complaint was muffled by the fire hitting them.
Blaze pushed him, just to prove her point. "I'm a firestarter, John, remember?" Blaze gestured to her body, which had experienced no burning, no pain, "You don't need to worry. I can handle myself. This is why I come along on these trips, because not only can I create fire, I am immune to its downsides."
John blushed, embarrassed. He had not been hurt either.
"John? But that is my name!" Pyro said.
Blaze scoffed. "Duh."
"Marie . . . I haven't had a visit from you in years."
Marie's eyes were cold. "And don't be expecting any more, okay? This is not a social call."
"Why do you have a younger me, you, and . . . Bobby?" Pyro asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Marie winced at Bobby's name. "You have no right to speak of him!"
"I can speak about him whenever the hell I want!" Pyro yelled.
John winced as well, and was terribly embarrassed. God, this Pyro is making me look really bad, John thought.
"Just . . . tell us where the Time Machine Bobby gave you is!" Marie urged. "Let's get this over with!"
"You never answered my question Rogue . . . who are these people?!"
"They're our past selves, okay? That's why we need the machine now, so we can send them home!" Marie explained angrily.
"Oh . . . and I suppose this past version of myself . . ." He glanced at John, who was looking at him in disgust, "will change the future, huh? And never allow me to have this much power? Not a chance, Marie. He's me, he will face the same choice I did, alone as I did, and make the same choice. There's no stopping destiny, Marie . . . poor Bobby's gonna die, no matter what you do to try and change it." He smiled at Marie evilly. Blaze wondered how this . . . this creature could ever have been John. John was never evil.
Rogue and Bobby were thinking along the same lines. They looked at each other with extreme worry. This is John? This is their former friend?
"Well, then, follow Gambit . . . he will show you the way." He called to Remy over a small microphone in his leather jacket.
"Follow Remy." He said curtly to them. Rogue realized that he had to be straightforward and not too warm with them, otherwise Pyro would suspect that he was Marie's friend.
They followed him down an elevator for what seemed like forever. Marie seemed shaken up, and she kept on glancing at John. Everyone else seemed to be sneaking glances at John as well.
"Okay, everyone stop looking at me!" John finally shouted, irritated.
"Who the hell was that back there?" Bobby said finally, "Cause it sure wasn't John."
"It's him all right," Marie said.
Blaze put a hand on John's shoulder as a small gesture of comfort. John smiled at her, appreciating the gesture.
They arrived in the lowest level, and they were very very . . . unimpressed. There was nothing there except for a small brown box.
"That's the machine that's gonna take us home?" Bobby asked skeptically.
"It's a portable. Easy to move around." Marie took the box. "Let's go back upstairs."
They made their ascent back upstairs. Remy waved good-bye to them at the door, but then he suddenly fell to the floor, three darts in his neck.
"Remy!" Marie shrieked.
"Not again!" Rogue gasped.
Policemen had surrounded the place, and they could see Pyro talking to the police, his head nodding and pointing at the five and the stunned Remy.
The Chief of Police nodded his head and spoke into his loudspeaker. "All right, you mutants! You are under arrest for being mutants, along with the accusation of the fact you broke into this man's house and stole something of his! The stunned man on the door is under arrest for association of mutants, as well as aiding them in this burglary!"
"What?" Blaze shouted. "That's crazy! This is ours!"
"Blaze . . ." Marie put a hand on her shoulder, silencing the firestarter.
"All right, officer," Marie said, putting her hands up in the air, but giving Blaze the Time Machine, "I surrender. I blackmailed these guys to help me. Take me, but not them."
"She's lying!" Pyro protested angrily. Marie ran towards Pyro and then slapped him. She proceeded to kick him in the stomach. Due to her new strength thanks to Miss Marvel, it hurt ten times more than it would have before.
"I have waited years to do that!" Marie exclaimed.
"What is she doing?" Blaze murmured.
Pyro got angry and engulfed Marie in flames!
"Marie!" Everyone cried in unison.
"G-GO!" Marie shouted at them as she cried out in agony of the burning.
"Hey! That guy's a mutant! Arrest him! The kids too!"
"What do we do?" Rogue asked no one in particular.
"We run!" Blaze shouted.
"What about Marie?" Bobby asked.
"We-we can't do anything about that! Run!" Blaze said, her voice cracking.
But then, some hidden police officers jumped out of nowhere and knocked them all out cold.
