Pyromane

(French for pyromaniac)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own X-Men: Evolution, especially John, Piotr, or Remy.

AN: Shortest interval between chapters, huh? And thanks for all the reviews on chapter 4. I've got 41 reviews, and it brings such a swell of joy to my heart… Expect part six in a couple days.

AN 2: As of part 4, Pyromane is officially my longest story ever posted. In terms of chapters at least…

Remy observes one of his fellow teammates

Chapter 5

The Fight

I look around quickly. I knew this day would come, I'd slip. Why did it have to be now?

"You… You read…" John is livid. His voice is a growl coming from clenched teeth. "You bloody traitor…"

A small part of my brain was expecting this, but the rest of me was honestly surprised.

He launched himself at me.

In one quick blur of orange, he tackles me. I've been knocked back, bashing the back of my head hard against the handle of the refrigerator door before his weight sent me completely to the floor. My vision is getting blurry, making it even harder to get him off of me. I'm normally good at blocking, but I can't even see the fist coming at my face. His first hit contacts hard with my jaw. That alone is painful, but I just know that because of it my lips crushed again my front teeth. I can taste a lot of blood in my mouth.

He rears his fist back again, so I reach out quickly to try and stop his arm. Apparently I'm seeing double too. I miss by four inches, and there's a second crash to my left eye. He hits hard…

After a third quick hit to my cheek, he grabs me by the collar of my shirt and hoists me o a standing position again the fridge. He pins me to it, his left arm across my chest. The handle is crushing into my back.

"YOU READ MY STUFF!" He screams at me. His face is inches from mine. I'm getting scared that I can hardly distinguish his facial features. He pulls me forward and slams me into the fridge. The handle lays across my spine this time. It's too much, I let out a cry of pain. I decide that, despite the fact he has the right to beat the crap out of me, I'm going to fight back. I slam my fist hard enough into the side of his face that he goes stumbling back.

Given the moment, I squeeze my eyes shut for the second I'm sure it will take him to recover in hopes my vision will come back. It's then that I realize how much of a headache I already have.

I open my eyes to find my vision only slightly better. It's less blurry, but it's darker. The darkness I write off to having squeezed my eyes shut so hard. At least, that's what I hope. I blink rapidly again. There's something running into my left eye. I reach a gloved hand up to get rid of it, and see my fingers come back down bloody. My brow is split.

I concentrate ahead of me. A great shape has appeared between me and John. The shape is reflecting the overhead lights blindingly. I look past the reflection on Piotr's right arm. I can se John glaring at him. John moved forward quickly and tried to hit him. There's a sound like a gong and John swore louder than I've ever heard him. Piotr's yelling at him. Neither of us can understand him—he's slipped into Russian. John managed to dodge around him while he yelled. John was on me again, and he had momentum on his side. For the countless time, I'm slammed into the fridge. He sends his fist into my head again. I prepare myself to blow another blow to the head. As I block, he kicks me hard in the leg. I sink toward the floor again, off balance. He takes the opportunity to knee me in the chest. I yelp in pain, the wind knocked out of me. At about the same moment, Piotr yanks John away from me.

I watch John as I struggle to catch my breath. Metal or no, Piotr seems to be having a difficult time restraining him. Piotr turned himself and John around, putting himself between me and the pyromane. I don't think Piotr's trying to get any more physical than he has to, but when I caught sight of John again he was on the floor. While John is down, Piotr reaches back and pushes the table against the far wall, cutting off the route John used before to cut around him. Piotr shouted over John's protests ('Let me at him!' or 'I'm gonna kill him!'). This time, Piotr made sure to speak in English.

"What is going on?!" Piotr shouted. He was more confused than angry, but seeing as how he's usually silent and still intimidating, a bellowing Piotr was scary. I'm scared for John's safety, even if I do know that Piotr would never do anything to truly hurt him.

Past Piotr, John still is glaring at me. Even against Piotr in metal form, he's still defiant, after my head.

But John gave in. He knew he had no hope of beating Piotr.

"He read my work," John growled.

"What are you talking about?"

"I write!" John pushed himself of the floor as he spoke. "It's a hobby, and it was a SECRET! But thanks to that swamp rat…" He shot his finger toward me. "Now everybody has to know!"

I'm still doubled over on the linoleum floor, struggling to breath.

"I'm…" I got out one word before I burst into coughing. "I'm sorry…"

"SORRY?!" Apparently all I've done is refresh his anger. He's running toward me again, but Piotr is still in between us. "You're SORRY?! That was private stuff! You had NO RIGHT! No RIGHT!"

I want to say I know I had no right. I knew all along that I shouldn't have done it. I remain silent. No matter what I say, it would only piss him off more.

He's still looking at me with an expression of complete contempt. He backs away from Piotr, toward the hall on the other side. He turns and bursts down, out of sight. He's admitted defeat for now.

Piotr didn't try to follow him. He turned to me, his physique now smaller and flesh-toned. He looks at me—hunched over on the floor, bleeding from the eyebrow and mouth—and says nothing. The look he's giving me makes me feel terrible. His expression is on the verge of disgust. I feel like less of a person than I have in as long as I can remember. All he does is shake his head at me before hoisting me up and helping me hobble down to the med. ward.

To be continued…

Piotr's opinion on the situation between Remy and John, and the extent of Remy's injuries.

Special thanks to:

Link and Luigi- ooh. Glowy.

hihi528

Dark-English-Rose

Akai Kah'ghe- John left his lighter on the table while he was sweeping… I forgot to mention that. Hm.

Nari

X-Girl- Blasphemy! I love the acolytes, why would I kill them? Also, thanks for the Attack of the Sugarcrazed Fasttalker review too.

Dark Angel- Thank you! I really had no idea when it would come back. I mean, hiatus over in May? HAH!

Scholar-

Dragon Master Lytore- A little violent, no?

Cat- Really? What have I inspired? I must know…

Faith- it will keep going until I can think of no more. There may be waits in between (like between part 3 and 4…writers block), but new inspiration comes daily. Oh, I hope you liked this chapter then…