Thanx to DemonRogue13 and enfant-terrible for reviewing!
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. Nor do I own Tony's Pizza. It was on the box Blob slipped on in 'The Stuff of Villains'. I wish I did own pizza. Mmmmmm… Pizza…
When the phone rang in the Brotherhood house, Pietro was the first to answer it. He'd told Wanda about the previous night and although she hadn't said, "I told you so", he could tell she'd been thinking it. What she had said was that the X-Men were sure to want serious words with him, not so much about the relationship but about the serum. She'd seemed quite smug about the whole thing, although if the X-Men did show up, she'd be the one to start a fight with them.
"Hello?" he said down the phone, hoping it was Rogue and vaguely worried it was Logan.
"Pietro?"
"Kitty?"
"Is Lance there?"
"Uh, yeah. Look, about last night…"
"Like, as if I care what you and Rogue get up to! Just let me talk to Lance!"
"OK, OK. Touchy!" Pietro went to the foot of the stairs and shouted, "Hey Lance! Kitty-cat's on the phone!"
Lances bedroom door flew open and he raced down the stairs, snatching the phone out of Pietros hand. "Uh, hey Kitty. What's up?"
Pietro rolled his eyes and went back into the living room. He could hear Lance talking to Kitty, but didn't bother to listen in.
"Hey, you comin with us Pietro?" asked Fred, lumbering in from the kitchen.
"Where you goin?"
"I told you last night!" Fred waved a letter in his face. "I won a free meal at Tony's Pizza! For six!"
"And you're takin us?"
"I don't wanna look greedy."
"Sorry Blob, not in the mood."
Wanda came down the stairs and into the room, over hearing the last remark. "He's pissed because the X-Men found out about his romance with Rogue."
Todd tried to look sympathetic. "That's too bad. I can see the headlines now; 'missing teen found torn limb from limb'."
"Shut up Toad!" Pietro threw a magazine at the younger boys head, which missed.
"You up for free pizza?" Fred asked as Lance walked into the room, the phone still in his hand and a frown on his face.
"Nah, I've gotta meet Kitty in ten minutes."
Fred and Todd grinned at each other. "Here Kitty-Kitty!"
"Heeeere Kitty-Kitty-Kitty!"
"Knock it off!" Lance looked over at Pietro. "You saw Kitty last night, didn't you?"
"For fucks sake Wanda, didja tell EVERYONE?" yelled Pietro.
"I didn't tell Father yet," replied Wanda sweetly.
"And you'd better not!"
"ANYWAY,"
continued Lance. "Did she seem upset to you?"
"Yeah, she looked upset. She
was chasin us through an arcade!"
"No, I don't – what do you mean, she was chasin you through an arcade?"
"Long story." Pietro shot a poisonous look at his sister. Trust her to let him put his foot in it. "She looked the same way as she always does when she sees me. Pissed off."
"Is something wrong?" asked Wanda.
Lance shrugged. "Dunno. She didn't say. Just wants to meet me. But she sounded freaked."
"If you're goin to the park, you can give us a ride yo!" said Todd.
"OK, let's go." Lance went out of the door, followed by the others.
"Last chance Pietro!" yelled Fred.
"Not interested!" Pietro shouted back, wondering how Wanda would cope with what Toad was no doubt already calling 'their first dinner date' and referring to Fred as 'the chaperone'.
He sat back in the chair and thought about Rogue. The fact that no X-Men had been over yet or phoned or sent a telepathic summons was comforting, but Rogue still hadn't been to the house and that was less reassuring. Maybe they were still yelling at her before they decided to yell at him. Maybe he ought to …
"Hello Pietro."
"GAAAAAH!" Pietro fell off the chair in shock and turned his head to see Magneto standing in the doorway, eyes glowing behind his helmet.
"Uh, h-hello sir," said Pietro shakily, getting to his feet and thinking, shitbustedshitbustedshitbusted…
Magneto was silent for a moment and Pietro used the time to regain his composure, reminding himself he was Quicksilver, he wasn't intimidated by anyone, not even Magneto.
Some things were hard to remember when he stood in front of his father.
"Pietro," said Magneto sternly. "The time has come for you to do the job I sent you back to Bayville for."
"What?" But Pietro had the sinking feeling that he already knew.
"Don't play
games with me." Magnetos eyes glinted. "You're going to dispose of the X-Men.
Permanently."
"You mean, maim them a little,
get them to retire to a house in the country?"
"No Pietro." Magnetos voice was cold. "I want you to kill them."
"We've never even been able to stop them before. It can't be done!" Pietros mind was racing faster than usual. Shit, this couldn't have happened a few months ago, before he had Rogue to worry about?
"It can be done. Quite easily in fact." Magneto indicated towards the kitchen. "I've left everything you need in there."
Pietro folded his arms. "What's this great plan? What's the stuff you've left?"
"It's simple. You go into the Institute and place the devices I've left at various locations. Then you leave."
"Bombs?" Pietro almost laughed. "Yeah. That'll work."
"Not bombs. It's a hallucinogenic nerve gas. It causes feelings of intense paranoia and those exposed to it tend to become violent."
"You're gonna get 'em to kill each other? I'm impressed."
"I'm glad. Go now."
"WHAT?"
"The time is now. This minute."
"But…but, uh…" Pietro couldn't think straight. Magneto was giving him a direct order. But Pietro had never even considered committing murder before. He had no problem with causing injury or property damage, had lied and stolen without a qualm. But the idea of causing death, even to the hated X-Men, made him feel cold and ill.
Magnetos eyes bored into him. "Are you defying me?"
"APOCOLYPSE!" shouted Pietro in relief. "You're both fighting him! You need the X-Men to help you!"
"I need no one to help me. I can take care of that problem myself."
"But you said – "
"Things have changed."
"I – " Pietro was out of arguments. He was going to have to kill the X-Men.
He knew he couldn't.
Only a small part of his inability to act was due to Rogue, although he knew he could never put any of that nerve gas near her, not in a million years. He'd never thought of himself as a good guy, but he wasn't evil enough to do this either. He'd betrayed his only friends and his twin sister for Magneto and suddenly he was sick of it. No word from him for months and then he turned up again with some sick plot…
Pietro thought of Rogue – she was tough, she took zero shit from anyone – and said, "I won't do it."
Magneto was silent and Pietro wished he could see past the helmet. He couldn't remember ever saying no to Magneto. Wanda had been the ultimate lesson – defy Daddy and get sent away, dragged screaming into the asylum with no place to run to. But now he'd done it, he wasn't really afraid. He was almost exhilarated.
"I see," commented Magneto. "Unfortunate. I was hoping it would not come to this."
Pietro tensed, ready to dodge an attack. Instead, Magneto threw two small objects at him and the teen used his lightning-quick reflexes to catch them. I didn't even see him holding them, he thought. If it's a bribe, he can just forget it!
Looking at the objects in his hand, Pietro went cold. For the first time in his life, time slowed down and he thought he might throw up. He was holding two rings, one a thumb ring, the other smaller. He recognised them immediately.
They were Rogues.
"She was totally helpless without her powers," Magneto told him, just a hint of malice in his voice. "Just one more display of why Homo Superior is the future. Oh, and Pietro? Those devices have already been set to go off. You have seven minutes."
Pietros brain jammed up. He couldn't think, could hardly breathe –
Shit, I shouldn't have to make these decisions; everyone knows Lance is the one who makes the decisions –
He did the only thing he could think of. Ran into the kitchen, grabbed the bag Magneto had left and ran towards the Institute, faster than he'd ever gone before.