Chapter 9
= telepathy
Pyro grimaced, "You're not thinking about who I think you are thinking about, right, please tell me we are not going to him to beg for hel...."
Gambit broke in before Pyro could finish the thought, "Pyro, we may be able to do some serious damage before we were ever taken down, (thanks to Ahra for the great line!) but who is the only person who has ever been able to seriously hold his own, or even fight against, Magneto? Xavier is the only one who Magneto even remotely respects, this really is the only place where they would be safe."
Mystique nodded, agreeing with Gambit's statement, "The other two have to get out of there as well, you two do not know their history but trust me they did not have nice childhoods; this was one of the reasons I was able to convince them to join Magneto." She sneered the last part of the sentence, some guilt appearing on her face about her part in bringing the three teenagers to Magneto.
Suddenly a thought occurred to Gambit, "You don't suppose the other two are going through the same thing do you? Would he sink that low?"
Pyro shook his head, "Nah, though I wouldn't doubt he's kicked them around a time or two, I think those two are more of bargaining chips, those three seem to be the only family any of them has ever had. Hey, Mystique, how did those three grow up, it certainly would help us understand some of this hell that seems to be happening."
Mystique shook her head and held up a hand before Pyro could interrupt her, "I only want to explain this once, so you will hear it at the same time Xavier does; after all if he really can help them, all three of them, he will need to know everything."
Squaring her shoulders she sighed and climbed out of the car heading for the front gate, Gambit and Pyro followed her flanking either side in a standard back up position.
Glancing at them she reached out with her mind Xavier, Charles Xavier
A few moments later there was a reply to all three of their minds, a voice tinged with surprise and suspicion Mystique, Gambit, Pyro? What are you three doing here, and what does Erik want?"
Not surprised that Xavier thought that was why they were there Mystique replied, We wish to speak with you, not concerning Magneto Even in her mind she was sure that Xavier heard the disgust that was now attached to that name I will open my mind to look for deceit, but I ask that you go no further then that, I will reveal everything. Feel free to bring as many of the adults with you but do not tell the students, this is not for any of their ears.
Mystique could feel Xavier touch her mind doing a scan to see if what she had said was the truth, he was however respecting her request about not probing her memories.
As she felt him leave her mind the gates in front of her swung open, Meet me in my office, someone will meet you at the door
She looked over at Pyro and Gambit who had not heard the last bit, "Apparently someone will be greeting us at the door." Sneering at the statement she started up the walk, to angry to climb back in the car; the other two were feeling much the same way and they stalked right behind her to the front door.
Leaning against the doorjamb studying his claws was Logan; he looked at the three mutants in front of him, glaring in a very unsubtle threat, "What in hell's creation could you three possible want here?"
Before Gambit or Pyro could bite off a reply a large blue furry hand clapped down on Logan's shoulder, "Logan, my friend, I believe we are supposed to escort them to the office, not interrogate them at the front door, we will most likely be getting answers soon."
Mystique glanced at the two behind her to make sure they weren't going to be their normal smartass selves yet, turning back she spoke, "Yes, now if you will show us to Xavier we have a discussion to hold."
Growling Logan turned and jerked his head, indicating them to follow, walking behind him and Beast they cam to a large double set of doors set in the middle of the mansion. Mystique being Mystique didn't wait for the two in front of her and regally swung through the doors sitting herself in a chair across from Xavier, who was already waiting along with Storm for their arrival.
He nodded to each of them, interlacing his fingers as he began to speak, "So Mystique what has brought you here? You would never willingly seek out our assistance."
Mystique took a breath wrapping her aura around herself like a protective cloak, "This is not about me, this about one of my boys, actually all of them, they need your help."
Logan gave a short harsh bark of laughter, "Those three? Why would they possibly want our help, their just screw-ups working for Magneto."
Mystique silenced Pyro and Gambit before they began glaring at Wolverine, "No they do not, Todd and Lance work for me, and Pietro doesn't have much choice in the matter now does he? Secondly, they are not screw ups, they are survivors."
She spat this out viciously at him before turning back to the Professor and talking in normal tones, "You don't know the past of those three before they met up with you, I am going to tell a little story but please don't interrupt."
Logan growled but Xavier looked at him and he complied, "What does this have to do with the situation Mystique, why are you asking for our help?"
Mystique sighed, not sounding at all like the confident assassin they thought her to be, "You will understand but to do that you need to hear my story, understood?"
Receiving nods from the four X-men and the two Acolytes, Mystique began, "Obviously Todd is the youngest brotherhood member but he has been with me the longest, he lived in Brooklyn and various parts of New York all his life. He was born with certain aspects of his mutation at birth, the long tongue and the strong legs mainly; his mother was/is a prostitute and his father was just a various john, so we really have no idea if he is a first or second-generation mutant. Because of his mutation at birth there is the probability that he a second generation. When he was five his mother sold him to a stable, in other words a whorehouse for men whose tastes ran to young boys. She apparently got a reasonably high price for him, as you can imagine his tongue would be considered quite the bonus in a career track like that."
She sneered at the thought of any parent selling off their child like that, even she was not that cold hearted; "He was trained for two years before he was sold to his first john; he was then sold continuously for the next 4 years. Saying no was not an option, and thinking for yourself on anything was out of the question; he was told when to sleep, eat, dress, even when to go to the bathroom. Any order not obeyed to the letter, or any action of his own will was punished. At 11 he managed to escape and ended up on the street, still occasionally prostituting when the pockets he picked were empty or low on cash. His life is one of the reasons he seems to have such a hatred of personal hygiene, and not really give a damn about what he wears. At the stable the 'managers' always made sure he was dressed 'appropriately' and was clean and bathed. I met Todd when he was 13, he was fairly hardened, and broken."
The others noticed her voice echo with a few cracks and faint tremors, of what appeared to be emotion, "He traveled with me for a short time, I managed to rebuild some of himself but he will always have problems standing up to anyone stronger then him. That night I sent him here I deeply regret, though I wish you had simply taken him, instead you nearly broke him again, and then I had to act the hard ass to him because I knew Magneto was watching."
Mystiques voice broke fully as she narrated this part, she still felt guilt for the somewhat rebuilt teen who had been again thrust into hell. Pausing for a moment she managed to regain her composure before continuing, "He is actually a very intelligent and well spoken young man but you have to get past the façade to find it, which is hard to do, and even now if someone more authoritative gives him an order he will in all likelihood hop to do it. The only way he would not is if he is on orders, which is the few times you see him; he was never allowed to think for himself, so orders are what he is used to and what he expects. There has been a few times I have had my suspicions that certain people we needed to influence were 'coaxed along' by Todd's 'talents' on Magneto's orders, though I hope this not to be the case."
After the narrative Mystique glanced at those around her, she had revealed more about her own feelings then she had meant to, but the looks of shock, horror, and shame on the part of the X-men was worth it. When she glanced over she noticed that the two Acolytes were in a similar state of shock.
Sighing she sat up a little straighter and began again, "Okay, moving on to Pietro, as we all know Pietro is Magneto's son and Wanda's twin. However both Pietro and Wanda were tossed in a foster home as soon as their mother was out of the picture, the next time they saw their father was when he came and threw Wanda into the institution; Xavier you know all of this from your contact with Wanda, however there are several things to this story that you do not know. Wanda being put into the institution was probably the best thing she could have hoped for; after she was left, Pietro was not immediately returned to his foster home, he traveled with Magneto for awhile, seeing things no child should ever see."
Glancing at Xavier Mystique could see he knew what kind of things she was referring to, things that made even her shudder, she continued on, "Kindness was punished harshly and weakness was not to be tolerated at all. He came back very different and was put into a new foster home where he made the first friend he has ever had, the kid across the street, Evan Daniels. Yes, they may seem like enemies but at one time Evan was the only person in Pietro's life who was not in it directly for their own gain. His foster parents took up where Magneto left off, except their favorite method of punishment was starvation. Even now we sometimes have to force Pietro to eat, and he never does enough, with his mutation his metabolism is nearly 10 to 20 times that of a normal human, however, on a good day we are lucky to get him to eat as much as a regular person. This is the reason for his nearly skeletal appearance, which he hides rather well."
The Acolytes had even appeared slightly shocked at the treatment that he had received at the hands of those who were supposed to care about them.
Mystique ignored their reaction, getting lost in the story she was telling, "Evan and he had a fight right before he left that was never resolved and still remains the reason for their animosity, when Pietro was recruited by Magneto he really had no choice in the matter, after all, Magneto is not only his father but one of the most powerful mutants in the world. It would not surprise me if Magneto has forced Pietro to 'take care of' certain mutants who oppose him. Sadly, I would say that Pietro had perhaps the best childhood out of the three"
After this monologue, Logan interrupted her with a gruff question, "What does all this crap have to do with why you're here?"
Holding up a hand to stop the two Acolytes from jumping into the fray she held onto her own temper while giving the feral mutant a look, "I said you would understand when I was done, but for now this is background information, crap that neither of them has worked through. I know Todd still wakes up screaming many nights from nightmares, still remembers every man he took to his bed and just what he did for them. Just as I know that Pietro is nearing a psychotic break if he keeps bottling his emotions, and a physical collapse he, most likely, would not recover from if his near anorexia progresses any further."
Settling back down from her near confrontation Mystique looked at the assembled party, "Finally the person who precipitated the three of us stepping into enemy territory; Lance Alvers. While I know Xavier knows the basics of Lance's life, he knows nothing about the life of Lance Williams, the person who Lance was before the age of 13. When he was 4 both of Lance's parents died in a car crash, from all accounts they were loving people who genuinely cared for Lance. Lance and his younger brother Lane, who was 1 at the time were both in the car at the time of the crash; Lance got to watch first his mother then his father die from blood loss his mother died screaming, and his father died trying to comfort the boys. He sat in the car with them for 2 hours before he was pulled out of the wreck, this where Lance lost what little childhood he was allowed."
A delicate shudder ran through Storm at the thought of sitting in a car with two corpses especially for a young child, Mystique caught it and gave a soft smile to her, throwing everyone in the room off. "Lance and Lane were both put into an orphanage since they had no relatives, Lance was the only one who could take care of Lane, the people in charge couldn't give a damn. He was a four-year-child acting like a father and mother to his one- year-old brother; they were both cute kids and they were taken in by a family. However this is not a happy ending, from all indications if Lane was still alive he would be able to control Water much like Lance can control Earth, basic elementals."
Beast interrupted Mystique's story at this point, "If he were still alive?"
Mystique smiled bitterly as she continued, "I was getting to that....."
"Both Lance and Lane had their powers manifest early on, though Lane's was more obvious then Lance's; let's just say that the family they were living with were a little strict. Lance has no less then 60 different medical charts, AT DIFFERENT HOSPITALS, for things like broken collarbones, jaws, legs, and as many as 200 stitches in the three years that they lived there. Lane had around 15, mostly from Lance protecting him against the abuse, they were generally for more mild cuts and bumps then Lance's. He has had basically every rib broken at least once; along with a multitude of other bones."
Mystique ignored the waiting looks as she took a deep breath and forced herself to continue, "When Lance was seven he watched his foster parents throw his brother into a wall to try and get him to stop crying. This was the first time that he ever called the police or anyone, but when they got there, they found Lance with a punctured lung, a broken ankle, two black eyes, and a cacophony of other bruises. His brother wasn't so lucky, Lance was rocking his body, when he had connected with the wall his neck had been broken, he was dead upon arrival at the hospital. Lance was immediately thrown back into the system from the hospital; luckily Lane was buried with their parents, Lance still makes a trip at least once a year to visit. Once Lance was thrown back in the system he immediately ran away onto the streets."
Here she stopped for a moment considering what to abridge and what not to, "He created a sort of surrogate family of runaways, though he was the youngest so he was often the one who contributed the most to their little money pit. He stayed on the streets for about 6 years, it is amazing that he survived that long, and in those six years he gained a reputation. When he was thirteen he got a nickname that you still hear about in the inner city ghettoes, he was Shaker, and he ran with a group that had changed over the years but some of the same kids were around, the older ones had managed to get jobs and they scraped by. His connection with the earth makes him sturdy and solid muscle, so though he may be skinny never get into a fist fight with him, his skills are still well known. His powers were just starting to manifest so small occurrences of ground shaking when he fought got him his nickname. His group, because it cannot really be called a gang, were the Downtrods."
Logan's mouth gaped as he sought out the couch plopping down on it; "You're tellin' me that Lance Alvers, aka, Avalanche was Shaker? At 13?!"
The Professor, Beast, and Storm looked at Logan as he obviously recognized the name Logan replied to their questioning gazes, "Shaker is a name that you don't badmouth, unless a course ya wanna end up face down in the gutter. Respected for actually having morals, feared for kickin' the ass of any of those who wronged them, very protective of any younger kid on the street. They were squatin' in an abandoned building when it went up in flames from a forgotten fire; he apparently made sure every one of his got out, no one knows what happened ta him after that."
Mystique smirked, she had hoped one of them would recognize the name, her smirk disappeared as she realized how much harder this could make the rest of the story, "Well, after that he was picked up by Social Services again, he was burned very badly and was in the hospital for a few months. After he got out he was shipped off to the place where you found him, his name was changed to Lance Alvers by his foster parents. When his powers fully emerged, it was not a pretty experience, it was perhaps the most painful thing that anyone could imagine, even more painful then Evan' spikes. His foster family basically told him he was on his own, they left him. This was when he first tried to commit suicide, though it really was just an attempt, his gloves hide the scars admirably well. From then to when he encountered you he lived on his own in that little hell hole of a town, he lived mainly through petty thievery, he would of starved rather then resort to more base forms of getting money. He watched to many go down that road on the streets, to die from either a pissed john or an STD."
Exhausted Mystique collapsed down into the chair relaying her desire to the two Acolytes, they noticed and sat up a little straighter realizing she obviously wanted them to bring the others fully up to date.
Gambit began speaking, knowing Pyro might get annoyed and set something on fire; "Y'all are probably still wonderin' what this has got ta do with ya; I'll explain. This may be hard for ya ta believe but the three of us really don't care what ta hell Magneto's philosophy is, all he does is spout a bunch of bullshit off as the truth and then force people to follow him. Both John an' I were picked off the streets by Mags, so we are a lot like the Lance, Pietro, and Todd; just with more training and experience. Once those three get those things, and trust me they will if they stay where they are, they will be truly dangerous. Pietro and Todd's powers are growing and soon they will evolve to be very powerful, in what ways we don't know yet. We don't know how but Lance's powers have evolved. From what we piece together these are not natural evolutions, Magneto has manipulated them through some genetic experimentation combining different strings of X-genes together to force increased powers or multitudes of powers. Lance was forbidden to use them on our last mission, the one that spurred us to come here..."
Xavier interrupted Gambit while he was talking, looking shocked that Magneto would do experiments on his own son, "Mission? What was this mission?"
Pyro, aka John, broke in, "A purposeful attempt to make us fail, there was no point, what we were supposed to do was break up a small gathering of Friends of Humanity and maybe scare the hell out of a coupla them."
Gambit glared at John as he continued, they really didn't need to know that part, "What it turned out to be was a suicide mission, suffice to say that we are lucky to have gotten out as unscathed as this, though we're not fully sure just where Todd and Pietro ran off to, probably to escape Magneto's wrath and 'comfort' eachother." John chuckled as Mystique glared at him.
"Was that really necessary Mr. St. John, that is not information that should be given lightly, it's not like they don't have enough crap going on already in their lives, are you just trying to further complicate matters by revealing personal information?"
Pyro sunk down in the chair when assaulted by the double glares of both Gambit and Mystique, both scarier then hell when they were angry. Storm looked slightly puzzled at the interplay and finally threw in a question, "What personal information? I'm afraid I'm lost."
Mystique sighed muttering under her breath about stupid flamethrowers who couldn't keep their mouths shut, "Before I tell you anything more, I have to hear you swear that nothing goes beyond this room, especially if my boys come here."
Xavier raised her eyebrows at the term "my boys" but nodded in acquiescence, "As of right now nothing you have told us or will tell us goes beyond this room."
Mystique sank back down in the chair, "Todd and Pietro are both gay, there is only four people who know this, myself, Gambit, Pyro, and Lance. They are also together; Todd is one of only two people who can get Pietro to eat, and Pietro is only one of two people who can comfort Todd when he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, I'm sure you can guess who the other one is?"
Storm nodded looking at the other X-men who didn't seem sure of the answer, "Lance, I assume?"
Mystique nodded, "Correct, without Lance the other two would probably be dead, either killed by Magneto, or killed through their own self destructive ways."
Gambit drew the attention of the room back to him, "Anyway, back to why we are here, once we realized that whatever Magneto had in mind when he sent us on this little field trip was obviously impossible, and dangerous to our health, Mystique ordered us out of there. Lance wouldn't come, he was going to stay there and die, he refused to escape. John and I had to grab him and drag him out of there and back here. Once we arrived back Todd and Pietro bolted, and the rest of us hung around until Mags ripped us a new one over a projector for failing. The three of us and Sabertooth were supposed to go back to headquarters and wait for him there, Lance was to report back to the boarding house, alone, immediately. We decided to follow him and sent the kittykat on his way without us. We followed him back to the boarding house and saw something....."
Gambit gulped trying to get it out, angrily he slammed a fist on the desk, "I can't even tell you what we saw! Magneto is a sick bastard who I would personally would enjoy killing but I never though he would stoop as low as to rape a teenager!"
Pyro piped up again, any teasing in his voice completely gone, "Remy it was worse then that, you saw his reactions,..... it's worse then rape, it's brainwashing, the kind both Todd and Pietro went through. Lance was the only one left unbroken, Magneto just sought to fix that."
Xavier managed to pull himself together enough to ask, "What exactly did you see?"
Mystique herself couldn't quite describe it, "Perhaps it would be better if you looked for yourself, I am sure you can relay it to the other three, I give you free permission to my memories of this, but only of this, clear?"
Xavier nodded, connecting the four X-men together so they could all see what had happened through Mystique's eyes. Mystique opened her mind to Xavier and allowed the whole scene to play out.
Storm, Xavier, Beast, and Logan all turned various shades of white, gray, lighter blue, and green as they watched the memory from beginning to end. As it ended Mystique fell back in the chair, her skin a lighter shade of blue then normal. Watching it all again was worse then the first time she was forced to observe.
Shuddering as the memory ended Mystique looked at the four X-men with bruised eyes and questioned in a flat, exhausted voice, "Will you help them?"
= telepathy
Pyro grimaced, "You're not thinking about who I think you are thinking about, right, please tell me we are not going to him to beg for hel...."
Gambit broke in before Pyro could finish the thought, "Pyro, we may be able to do some serious damage before we were ever taken down, (thanks to Ahra for the great line!) but who is the only person who has ever been able to seriously hold his own, or even fight against, Magneto? Xavier is the only one who Magneto even remotely respects, this really is the only place where they would be safe."
Mystique nodded, agreeing with Gambit's statement, "The other two have to get out of there as well, you two do not know their history but trust me they did not have nice childhoods; this was one of the reasons I was able to convince them to join Magneto." She sneered the last part of the sentence, some guilt appearing on her face about her part in bringing the three teenagers to Magneto.
Suddenly a thought occurred to Gambit, "You don't suppose the other two are going through the same thing do you? Would he sink that low?"
Pyro shook his head, "Nah, though I wouldn't doubt he's kicked them around a time or two, I think those two are more of bargaining chips, those three seem to be the only family any of them has ever had. Hey, Mystique, how did those three grow up, it certainly would help us understand some of this hell that seems to be happening."
Mystique shook her head and held up a hand before Pyro could interrupt her, "I only want to explain this once, so you will hear it at the same time Xavier does; after all if he really can help them, all three of them, he will need to know everything."
Squaring her shoulders she sighed and climbed out of the car heading for the front gate, Gambit and Pyro followed her flanking either side in a standard back up position.
Glancing at them she reached out with her mind Xavier, Charles Xavier
A few moments later there was a reply to all three of their minds, a voice tinged with surprise and suspicion Mystique, Gambit, Pyro? What are you three doing here, and what does Erik want?"
Not surprised that Xavier thought that was why they were there Mystique replied, We wish to speak with you, not concerning Magneto Even in her mind she was sure that Xavier heard the disgust that was now attached to that name I will open my mind to look for deceit, but I ask that you go no further then that, I will reveal everything. Feel free to bring as many of the adults with you but do not tell the students, this is not for any of their ears.
Mystique could feel Xavier touch her mind doing a scan to see if what she had said was the truth, he was however respecting her request about not probing her memories.
As she felt him leave her mind the gates in front of her swung open, Meet me in my office, someone will meet you at the door
She looked over at Pyro and Gambit who had not heard the last bit, "Apparently someone will be greeting us at the door." Sneering at the statement she started up the walk, to angry to climb back in the car; the other two were feeling much the same way and they stalked right behind her to the front door.
Leaning against the doorjamb studying his claws was Logan; he looked at the three mutants in front of him, glaring in a very unsubtle threat, "What in hell's creation could you three possible want here?"
Before Gambit or Pyro could bite off a reply a large blue furry hand clapped down on Logan's shoulder, "Logan, my friend, I believe we are supposed to escort them to the office, not interrogate them at the front door, we will most likely be getting answers soon."
Mystique glanced at the two behind her to make sure they weren't going to be their normal smartass selves yet, turning back she spoke, "Yes, now if you will show us to Xavier we have a discussion to hold."
Growling Logan turned and jerked his head, indicating them to follow, walking behind him and Beast they cam to a large double set of doors set in the middle of the mansion. Mystique being Mystique didn't wait for the two in front of her and regally swung through the doors sitting herself in a chair across from Xavier, who was already waiting along with Storm for their arrival.
He nodded to each of them, interlacing his fingers as he began to speak, "So Mystique what has brought you here? You would never willingly seek out our assistance."
Mystique took a breath wrapping her aura around herself like a protective cloak, "This is not about me, this about one of my boys, actually all of them, they need your help."
Logan gave a short harsh bark of laughter, "Those three? Why would they possibly want our help, their just screw-ups working for Magneto."
Mystique silenced Pyro and Gambit before they began glaring at Wolverine, "No they do not, Todd and Lance work for me, and Pietro doesn't have much choice in the matter now does he? Secondly, they are not screw ups, they are survivors."
She spat this out viciously at him before turning back to the Professor and talking in normal tones, "You don't know the past of those three before they met up with you, I am going to tell a little story but please don't interrupt."
Logan growled but Xavier looked at him and he complied, "What does this have to do with the situation Mystique, why are you asking for our help?"
Mystique sighed, not sounding at all like the confident assassin they thought her to be, "You will understand but to do that you need to hear my story, understood?"
Receiving nods from the four X-men and the two Acolytes, Mystique began, "Obviously Todd is the youngest brotherhood member but he has been with me the longest, he lived in Brooklyn and various parts of New York all his life. He was born with certain aspects of his mutation at birth, the long tongue and the strong legs mainly; his mother was/is a prostitute and his father was just a various john, so we really have no idea if he is a first or second-generation mutant. Because of his mutation at birth there is the probability that he a second generation. When he was five his mother sold him to a stable, in other words a whorehouse for men whose tastes ran to young boys. She apparently got a reasonably high price for him, as you can imagine his tongue would be considered quite the bonus in a career track like that."
She sneered at the thought of any parent selling off their child like that, even she was not that cold hearted; "He was trained for two years before he was sold to his first john; he was then sold continuously for the next 4 years. Saying no was not an option, and thinking for yourself on anything was out of the question; he was told when to sleep, eat, dress, even when to go to the bathroom. Any order not obeyed to the letter, or any action of his own will was punished. At 11 he managed to escape and ended up on the street, still occasionally prostituting when the pockets he picked were empty or low on cash. His life is one of the reasons he seems to have such a hatred of personal hygiene, and not really give a damn about what he wears. At the stable the 'managers' always made sure he was dressed 'appropriately' and was clean and bathed. I met Todd when he was 13, he was fairly hardened, and broken."
The others noticed her voice echo with a few cracks and faint tremors, of what appeared to be emotion, "He traveled with me for a short time, I managed to rebuild some of himself but he will always have problems standing up to anyone stronger then him. That night I sent him here I deeply regret, though I wish you had simply taken him, instead you nearly broke him again, and then I had to act the hard ass to him because I knew Magneto was watching."
Mystiques voice broke fully as she narrated this part, she still felt guilt for the somewhat rebuilt teen who had been again thrust into hell. Pausing for a moment she managed to regain her composure before continuing, "He is actually a very intelligent and well spoken young man but you have to get past the façade to find it, which is hard to do, and even now if someone more authoritative gives him an order he will in all likelihood hop to do it. The only way he would not is if he is on orders, which is the few times you see him; he was never allowed to think for himself, so orders are what he is used to and what he expects. There has been a few times I have had my suspicions that certain people we needed to influence were 'coaxed along' by Todd's 'talents' on Magneto's orders, though I hope this not to be the case."
After the narrative Mystique glanced at those around her, she had revealed more about her own feelings then she had meant to, but the looks of shock, horror, and shame on the part of the X-men was worth it. When she glanced over she noticed that the two Acolytes were in a similar state of shock.
Sighing she sat up a little straighter and began again, "Okay, moving on to Pietro, as we all know Pietro is Magneto's son and Wanda's twin. However both Pietro and Wanda were tossed in a foster home as soon as their mother was out of the picture, the next time they saw their father was when he came and threw Wanda into the institution; Xavier you know all of this from your contact with Wanda, however there are several things to this story that you do not know. Wanda being put into the institution was probably the best thing she could have hoped for; after she was left, Pietro was not immediately returned to his foster home, he traveled with Magneto for awhile, seeing things no child should ever see."
Glancing at Xavier Mystique could see he knew what kind of things she was referring to, things that made even her shudder, she continued on, "Kindness was punished harshly and weakness was not to be tolerated at all. He came back very different and was put into a new foster home where he made the first friend he has ever had, the kid across the street, Evan Daniels. Yes, they may seem like enemies but at one time Evan was the only person in Pietro's life who was not in it directly for their own gain. His foster parents took up where Magneto left off, except their favorite method of punishment was starvation. Even now we sometimes have to force Pietro to eat, and he never does enough, with his mutation his metabolism is nearly 10 to 20 times that of a normal human, however, on a good day we are lucky to get him to eat as much as a regular person. This is the reason for his nearly skeletal appearance, which he hides rather well."
The Acolytes had even appeared slightly shocked at the treatment that he had received at the hands of those who were supposed to care about them.
Mystique ignored their reaction, getting lost in the story she was telling, "Evan and he had a fight right before he left that was never resolved and still remains the reason for their animosity, when Pietro was recruited by Magneto he really had no choice in the matter, after all, Magneto is not only his father but one of the most powerful mutants in the world. It would not surprise me if Magneto has forced Pietro to 'take care of' certain mutants who oppose him. Sadly, I would say that Pietro had perhaps the best childhood out of the three"
After this monologue, Logan interrupted her with a gruff question, "What does all this crap have to do with why you're here?"
Holding up a hand to stop the two Acolytes from jumping into the fray she held onto her own temper while giving the feral mutant a look, "I said you would understand when I was done, but for now this is background information, crap that neither of them has worked through. I know Todd still wakes up screaming many nights from nightmares, still remembers every man he took to his bed and just what he did for them. Just as I know that Pietro is nearing a psychotic break if he keeps bottling his emotions, and a physical collapse he, most likely, would not recover from if his near anorexia progresses any further."
Settling back down from her near confrontation Mystique looked at the assembled party, "Finally the person who precipitated the three of us stepping into enemy territory; Lance Alvers. While I know Xavier knows the basics of Lance's life, he knows nothing about the life of Lance Williams, the person who Lance was before the age of 13. When he was 4 both of Lance's parents died in a car crash, from all accounts they were loving people who genuinely cared for Lance. Lance and his younger brother Lane, who was 1 at the time were both in the car at the time of the crash; Lance got to watch first his mother then his father die from blood loss his mother died screaming, and his father died trying to comfort the boys. He sat in the car with them for 2 hours before he was pulled out of the wreck, this where Lance lost what little childhood he was allowed."
A delicate shudder ran through Storm at the thought of sitting in a car with two corpses especially for a young child, Mystique caught it and gave a soft smile to her, throwing everyone in the room off. "Lance and Lane were both put into an orphanage since they had no relatives, Lance was the only one who could take care of Lane, the people in charge couldn't give a damn. He was a four-year-child acting like a father and mother to his one- year-old brother; they were both cute kids and they were taken in by a family. However this is not a happy ending, from all indications if Lane was still alive he would be able to control Water much like Lance can control Earth, basic elementals."
Beast interrupted Mystique's story at this point, "If he were still alive?"
Mystique smiled bitterly as she continued, "I was getting to that....."
"Both Lance and Lane had their powers manifest early on, though Lane's was more obvious then Lance's; let's just say that the family they were living with were a little strict. Lance has no less then 60 different medical charts, AT DIFFERENT HOSPITALS, for things like broken collarbones, jaws, legs, and as many as 200 stitches in the three years that they lived there. Lane had around 15, mostly from Lance protecting him against the abuse, they were generally for more mild cuts and bumps then Lance's. He has had basically every rib broken at least once; along with a multitude of other bones."
Mystique ignored the waiting looks as she took a deep breath and forced herself to continue, "When Lance was seven he watched his foster parents throw his brother into a wall to try and get him to stop crying. This was the first time that he ever called the police or anyone, but when they got there, they found Lance with a punctured lung, a broken ankle, two black eyes, and a cacophony of other bruises. His brother wasn't so lucky, Lance was rocking his body, when he had connected with the wall his neck had been broken, he was dead upon arrival at the hospital. Lance was immediately thrown back into the system from the hospital; luckily Lane was buried with their parents, Lance still makes a trip at least once a year to visit. Once Lance was thrown back in the system he immediately ran away onto the streets."
Here she stopped for a moment considering what to abridge and what not to, "He created a sort of surrogate family of runaways, though he was the youngest so he was often the one who contributed the most to their little money pit. He stayed on the streets for about 6 years, it is amazing that he survived that long, and in those six years he gained a reputation. When he was thirteen he got a nickname that you still hear about in the inner city ghettoes, he was Shaker, and he ran with a group that had changed over the years but some of the same kids were around, the older ones had managed to get jobs and they scraped by. His connection with the earth makes him sturdy and solid muscle, so though he may be skinny never get into a fist fight with him, his skills are still well known. His powers were just starting to manifest so small occurrences of ground shaking when he fought got him his nickname. His group, because it cannot really be called a gang, were the Downtrods."
Logan's mouth gaped as he sought out the couch plopping down on it; "You're tellin' me that Lance Alvers, aka, Avalanche was Shaker? At 13?!"
The Professor, Beast, and Storm looked at Logan as he obviously recognized the name Logan replied to their questioning gazes, "Shaker is a name that you don't badmouth, unless a course ya wanna end up face down in the gutter. Respected for actually having morals, feared for kickin' the ass of any of those who wronged them, very protective of any younger kid on the street. They were squatin' in an abandoned building when it went up in flames from a forgotten fire; he apparently made sure every one of his got out, no one knows what happened ta him after that."
Mystique smirked, she had hoped one of them would recognize the name, her smirk disappeared as she realized how much harder this could make the rest of the story, "Well, after that he was picked up by Social Services again, he was burned very badly and was in the hospital for a few months. After he got out he was shipped off to the place where you found him, his name was changed to Lance Alvers by his foster parents. When his powers fully emerged, it was not a pretty experience, it was perhaps the most painful thing that anyone could imagine, even more painful then Evan' spikes. His foster family basically told him he was on his own, they left him. This was when he first tried to commit suicide, though it really was just an attempt, his gloves hide the scars admirably well. From then to when he encountered you he lived on his own in that little hell hole of a town, he lived mainly through petty thievery, he would of starved rather then resort to more base forms of getting money. He watched to many go down that road on the streets, to die from either a pissed john or an STD."
Exhausted Mystique collapsed down into the chair relaying her desire to the two Acolytes, they noticed and sat up a little straighter realizing she obviously wanted them to bring the others fully up to date.
Gambit began speaking, knowing Pyro might get annoyed and set something on fire; "Y'all are probably still wonderin' what this has got ta do with ya; I'll explain. This may be hard for ya ta believe but the three of us really don't care what ta hell Magneto's philosophy is, all he does is spout a bunch of bullshit off as the truth and then force people to follow him. Both John an' I were picked off the streets by Mags, so we are a lot like the Lance, Pietro, and Todd; just with more training and experience. Once those three get those things, and trust me they will if they stay where they are, they will be truly dangerous. Pietro and Todd's powers are growing and soon they will evolve to be very powerful, in what ways we don't know yet. We don't know how but Lance's powers have evolved. From what we piece together these are not natural evolutions, Magneto has manipulated them through some genetic experimentation combining different strings of X-genes together to force increased powers or multitudes of powers. Lance was forbidden to use them on our last mission, the one that spurred us to come here..."
Xavier interrupted Gambit while he was talking, looking shocked that Magneto would do experiments on his own son, "Mission? What was this mission?"
Pyro, aka John, broke in, "A purposeful attempt to make us fail, there was no point, what we were supposed to do was break up a small gathering of Friends of Humanity and maybe scare the hell out of a coupla them."
Gambit glared at John as he continued, they really didn't need to know that part, "What it turned out to be was a suicide mission, suffice to say that we are lucky to have gotten out as unscathed as this, though we're not fully sure just where Todd and Pietro ran off to, probably to escape Magneto's wrath and 'comfort' eachother." John chuckled as Mystique glared at him.
"Was that really necessary Mr. St. John, that is not information that should be given lightly, it's not like they don't have enough crap going on already in their lives, are you just trying to further complicate matters by revealing personal information?"
Pyro sunk down in the chair when assaulted by the double glares of both Gambit and Mystique, both scarier then hell when they were angry. Storm looked slightly puzzled at the interplay and finally threw in a question, "What personal information? I'm afraid I'm lost."
Mystique sighed muttering under her breath about stupid flamethrowers who couldn't keep their mouths shut, "Before I tell you anything more, I have to hear you swear that nothing goes beyond this room, especially if my boys come here."
Xavier raised her eyebrows at the term "my boys" but nodded in acquiescence, "As of right now nothing you have told us or will tell us goes beyond this room."
Mystique sank back down in the chair, "Todd and Pietro are both gay, there is only four people who know this, myself, Gambit, Pyro, and Lance. They are also together; Todd is one of only two people who can get Pietro to eat, and Pietro is only one of two people who can comfort Todd when he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, I'm sure you can guess who the other one is?"
Storm nodded looking at the other X-men who didn't seem sure of the answer, "Lance, I assume?"
Mystique nodded, "Correct, without Lance the other two would probably be dead, either killed by Magneto, or killed through their own self destructive ways."
Gambit drew the attention of the room back to him, "Anyway, back to why we are here, once we realized that whatever Magneto had in mind when he sent us on this little field trip was obviously impossible, and dangerous to our health, Mystique ordered us out of there. Lance wouldn't come, he was going to stay there and die, he refused to escape. John and I had to grab him and drag him out of there and back here. Once we arrived back Todd and Pietro bolted, and the rest of us hung around until Mags ripped us a new one over a projector for failing. The three of us and Sabertooth were supposed to go back to headquarters and wait for him there, Lance was to report back to the boarding house, alone, immediately. We decided to follow him and sent the kittykat on his way without us. We followed him back to the boarding house and saw something....."
Gambit gulped trying to get it out, angrily he slammed a fist on the desk, "I can't even tell you what we saw! Magneto is a sick bastard who I would personally would enjoy killing but I never though he would stoop as low as to rape a teenager!"
Pyro piped up again, any teasing in his voice completely gone, "Remy it was worse then that, you saw his reactions,..... it's worse then rape, it's brainwashing, the kind both Todd and Pietro went through. Lance was the only one left unbroken, Magneto just sought to fix that."
Xavier managed to pull himself together enough to ask, "What exactly did you see?"
Mystique herself couldn't quite describe it, "Perhaps it would be better if you looked for yourself, I am sure you can relay it to the other three, I give you free permission to my memories of this, but only of this, clear?"
Xavier nodded, connecting the four X-men together so they could all see what had happened through Mystique's eyes. Mystique opened her mind to Xavier and allowed the whole scene to play out.
Storm, Xavier, Beast, and Logan all turned various shades of white, gray, lighter blue, and green as they watched the memory from beginning to end. As it ended Mystique fell back in the chair, her skin a lighter shade of blue then normal. Watching it all again was worse then the first time she was forced to observe.
Shuddering as the memory ended Mystique looked at the four X-men with bruised eyes and questioned in a flat, exhausted voice, "Will you help them?"