Lance closed the door to his car and moved over to where the police had marked out the area of Rhane Sinclair's death, Forge and Sam just behind him, and wondered whether it had really been Pietro that could have killed her. Lance had only met Rhane once before, and he'd only spoken about half a dozen words to her, but she had seemed a nice enough person and very eager to get into the field, and now she was dead. Briefly Lance wondered about the tactical sense of sending a rookie agent on this mission, but then, he thought, who could have realised it would turn out like this. Even Lance couldn't be certain that he would have been able to survive if Pietro tried to kill him.
Forge whistled softly as he read the medical report that had been handed to him by the police officer who was standing guard at the crime scene. "Brutal killing," he said, handing the file over to Lance. "Poor girl never had a chance. Definitely a professional job, could well have been Pietro. Although he would have to have got a weapon from somewhere."
"What?" Lance looked up from the report.
"Says that Sinclair was killed by a stab wound - Pietro didn't come into Excalibur HQ with a weapon, we scanned him for one before we let him in. So he must have found a weapon somewhere along the way."
"Could he have done that?" Sam asked, his eyes flickering over the nearby buildings as if he expected Pietro to burst out of one at any time.
"It's certainly possible," Forge said, and Lance nodded. "But it would have been difficult to do so in such a short time."
"But that doesn't rule him out," Lance reminded them, despite how much he hated to do it. He handed the report back to the policeman and turned to the others. "We need to look for any clue as to where Pietro might have gone. Forge, you stay here are check the crime scene, Sam and I will go and see if we can pick up Pietro's trail." Lance led Sam further into the docks, his hand hovering over his pistol and his eyes constantly scanning for any sign of movement.
The two Pietro's stood facing each other across the roof for only about ten seconds, but that time seemed to stretch for an eternity. At this height, Pietro felt much more nervous than he had done on the ground. Now there really wasn't anywhere to run - it was do or die on the top of this tower. The other Pietro advanced upon him, his movements measured and dangerous. Pietro moved forwards, away from the edge of the roof, and took up a martial arts stance.
This time the first move was made by Pietro, who lunged forwards with his fist, before bringing his leg around in a roundhouse kick. The other Pietro, having easily dodged the first blow was taken off guard by the kick and it caught him square in the chest. Pietro followed it up with a rain of blows aimed at his foe's face and neck. The other Pietro managed to block and dodge some of the blows, but inch by inch he was forced back, until he was almost at the edge of the roof. Then, as Pietro lashed out with his left fist, his opponent caught his fist in his hand and wrenched it sharply. Pietro cried out as an audible crack echoed in the silence on the rooftop, and fell to his knees clutching his broken wrist.
Grinning maliciously, the other Pietro kicked Pietro hard in the gut, sending him sprawling on the floor and gasping for breath after being winded. Seizing the opportunity to cause his opponent pain, the doppelganger Pietro landed several hard stomps on Pietro's gut before he could roll out of the way and get unsteadily to his feet.
As soon as he did so, he was on the defensive. After blocking for almost a minute, his guard was broken by a blow that almost sent him over the building edge. His opponent stood over him in triumph and at the moment Pietro found himself overcome with rage. He had not got back to England just so that he could get killed by a maniac that looked identical to him! As his double slammed his heel down at Pietro's fingers, intending to break them, Pietro leapt to his feet and hit his double in his unprotected crotch.
Taken off guard, his double clutched his crotch and staggered backwards, allowing Pietro to launch a powerful offensive, throwing a flurry of blows that forced his opponent backwards across the roof, until they were almost at the opposite side. Sensing the kill, Pietro intensified his attack, until his opponent was teetering on the edge of the rooftop.
Kitty sighed softly as she closed the lid on another packing case. She had cleaned out most of Pietro's clothes and personal effects from their bedroom, and now it seemed incredibly empty. Picking up the case, she placed it by the wall with the other two - she would decide what to do with them after she had finished.
Looking around, a flood of memory came rushing back to her - Pietro proposing to her, their first anniversary, the first time they ever met, Pietro telling her that he would never leave her. She'd always known that he could be snatched away from her at any time, but she hadn't been ready for it - the pain was just too intense for her to be able to get over him. Pietro really had been the one for her, the one that she had known she had wanted to spend all her life with, ever since they first met. How she could go on without him, she didn't know.
Lance and Sam, moved slowly through the buildings on the dockside, Sam's sniper rifle in his hand, Lance's hand inches away from his pistol. As they walked on, Sam suddenly noticed something at the top of a half-built tower and pointed this out to Lance. They could just barely make out two figures, moving at fast speeds, at the top of the tower and suddenly one of them disappeared from the roof.
Sam trained his sniper rifle on the roof, and nodded to Lance. "It's Pietro, alright. What do we do now?"
"What's he doing?"
Sam narrowed his eye as he looked down the scope before saying, "seems like he's coming down the building."
Lance pulled out his mobile and punched a number into it. "Forge, it's Lance. I need you to get over here now." He turned to Sam again. "I need to go and speak to Xavier again. I want you and Forge to take Pietro to Kitty Pryde's apartment. Forge knows where it is."
Sam nodded and Lance ran off, Forge arriving some seconds later. Pietro had descended from the tower by now, and limped over to them, his face and clothes covered in blood. This was Sam's first face-to-face meeting with Pietro, and as he looked him up and down he was impressed, despite the fact that he seemed to cradle hisleft hand to his chest.
"Pietro," Forge said in a neutral voice, his hand hovering over his gun.
"Hello Forge," Pietro smiled slightly. "It's good to see you again."
"You too," Forge said unconvincingly. "You want to explain what's just been going on?"
"I was walking home, when I came here. I was attacked by someone who looked like my identical double, but I managed to kill him up there," Pietro nodded back at the tower.
"So you don't know anything about the murder of Rahne Sinclair?" Pietro shook his head blankly.
"We've been told to take him back to Kitty Pryde's apartment." Sam said to Forge, who nodded.
"Guess we'd better get going then." Forge led Pietro off to the car, Sam following Pietro, pistol in hand. There was something unsettling about Pietro, like he didn't really have complete control over himself. And it was quite a coincidence that he had been attacked by his 'double', because now he had a perfect alibi.
It took them almost twenty-five minutes to drive over to Kitty's apartment and the car was silent as they drove, every man within it engrossed deeply in their own thoughts. As they stopped and Pietro got out, Forge spoke up.
"Do you want us to go in with you?"
"Thanks, but no. I think this is something I need to do on my own." Pietro smiled slightly again, and a brief shiver ran up Sam's spine at the sight of that smile.
"Well, good luck. And Pietro, welcome back." Forge shook Pietro's hand before the door was closed and the car pulled out into the traffic. After several minutes, Sam voiced his thoughts. "Is it just me, or did Pietro seem a bit weird to you?"
"Not really, it's probably just the fact that he's just got back from some highly traumatic events. He's a really good guy once you get to know him." Sam nodded and sat back. He'd just have to take Forge's word for it.
Pietro stood outside the door to his old apartment and took a deep breath. He raised his right hand to knock, but before he could the door was opened by a Kitty. She stopped suddenly, then stared at his face, the bag in her hand falling to the floor. They stared at each other for a long time, before Kitty suddenly swept Pietro up in a huge embrace.
Author's Note: I am so sorry for the HUGE delay, I've just been inundated with work. I promise that it will not happen again! Thank you so much for your reviews karakin and DaemonRogue 13, I really don't deserve such loyal fans. I promise that the next chapter will be updated a lot sooner!