Summary: Magneto couldn't get his hands on the Senator so he got another subject. He got more then even he wanted or ever handle.
Okay folks, we're getting towards the end of the story. Just a little bit more.
Reviews: Sure go ahead!
Genre: General/Romance/Humor
Rating: PG13 for language
CHAPTER 27: NIGHT RAIDS & PIZZA PIES
The Walker brothers were stopped dead in their tracks as they gaped at the woman standing in front of them.
"Stop starin' at my fiancé, James." Victor said after getting his voice back.
"Okay." Logan said weakly and kept on staring. "God, she just takes the breath away." The girls giggled.
"Mission accomplished, Bell. It seems to be working on the male members of the mutant species. Ya know, I think it would like work on the regular male of the human species too." Jubilee said. "I know, lets see if it does the same thing to the younger male members. I'll go get Bobby, and Peter and see if it works on them too." Jubilee trotted off to get said young males.
"Do you think that Sabretooth would faint dead away if he saw me, Victor?" Bell cooed as she walked slowly over to Victor. She stopped only inches away from him and he rumbled deeply, Kitty heard that and was somewhat confused. It sounded just like a lion talking to a female of his kind. Bell answered back making the same sound.
"Like when did it become the Discovery Channel around here?" Kitty said to no one in particular. She looked at the brothers they were engrossed with Bell. She knew that Bell was very attractive, but she didn't know that Bell was that attractive. Maybe you had to be a male to see it. Obviously that those two males did see it, Kitty mused. Jubilee came back with both Bobby and John in tow. The boys came to a sudden stop when they saw Bell.
"Woah!" Said John quietly.
"Oh my god!" Whispered Bobby. Bell's rumbling became somewhat audible and both of the young males found that they could feel the vibrations as well.
"I'd say the experiment was like a rousing success. Jubilee said cheerfully.
"Like totally!" Kitty giggled and agreed. "I see that you couldn't find Peter." Kitty said.
"He was like totally helping one of the younger boys with his homework." Jubilee said, shrugging.
"Yeah, I bet it would just kill Peter to look at Bell. You know how shy he is." Kitty said grinning. It was becoming evident that the Walkers and John and Bobby had forgotten everything except Bell.
Bell herself seemed to be engulfed in Victor's eyes. It was a rather startling sight to see. Jubilee and Kitty hadn't seen anything like it…..ever.
"Yeah, I think that Sabretooth would like faint dead away, or at least he'd be doin' what that Victor dude like is doin'. Kitty said, and Jubilee nodded in agreement. "Yo, Bobby, like clean up the drool." Kitty said snickering. Bobby turned to Kitty and gaped.
"Huh?" He said somewhat unintelligently. The girls merely laughed at him. John wasn't in any better shape then his friend.
"Yep, the outfit is a total success, Bell. They're like incapacitated, like really well." Jubilee said.
"Just as I had planned," cooed Bell, rumbling like a lioness to Victor. Victor couldn't move, nor could Logan. Their eyes were both glued to the golden woman. Bell purred into Victor's ear. "Victor, babe, I need you to snap out of it and go to the roof. Erick and his companions are almost here."
"What did you say?" Victor almost gasped the words.
"The roof, dear, you need to get to the roof to greet Mortimer." Bell said smiling. On hearing Toad's real name he came out of it.
"Oh, right…the roof. I'll just greet Mort on the roof then." Victor pried himself away from her. It wasn't easy, but he needed to be ready for them. He owed Erick soooo much. He particularly roared in anger. "I'm on my way!" Then quietly he said. "And you look, delish." Victor said smiling. He leaned forward and rumbled in her ear. "Good enough to eat!" He said only loud enough for those with enhanced hearing to make out. Bell actually blushed.
Logan snapped out of it and chuckled heartily, "And as for you, bub!" Bell said turning to Logan. "You get to go down stairs and check on Rogue and Remy." The Walker brothers left to go their separate ways; Victor to the roof and Logan to the basement.
Bell clapped her hands together sharply. That got the attention of the two young males. "Bobby, John, I need you to go to the boys dorm and look out for the younger boys. Jubes, you and Kitty you look after the girls. Listen, Erick going to send in a very speedy guy and all I want you to do is act normal. You know read, talk and do what you normally do. If you hear or see anything out of the ordinary…." Bell rolled her eyes. Here, anything out of the ordinary…. is saying a lot. The girls snickered. They thought the same thing. "Just stay put for now, and if I need you…I'll just give you a head buzz." Bell grinned.
"Alright everyone, places all…company is comin'!" Everyone heard in their heads as Bell alerted everyone to the 'guests' arrival.
JUST OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOL'S BOUNDARIES:
A rather large group was standing around awaiting orders from their leader. He was an older regal looking fellow wearing dark clothes and a cape and a funny looking helmet. He turned to the silver haired young man and said, "Pietro, I want you to take a run inside the mansion. Do not let yourself be seen. Don't alert them to your presence and report back here on what they are doing and where they are." He said, looking sternly at him.
"Sure thing pops." Pietro said and dashed off.
"And don't call me pops." He said to the empty air irritably. A young woman dressed in scarlet snickered. He turned to glare at her. She ignored the stare and smiled sweetly at him. He knew that to be a false smile. Toad sighed and rolled his eyes at the byplay. This was getting on his nerves. They've been going at it with each other for hours now. And he was getting really tired of it.
Pietro was dashing threw the mansion like a fast breeze. No one noticed him at all. The only thing that Pietro could tell is that the mansion was quiet. Most everyone was either in their rooms or the TV room watching TV reading and talking. He caught the conversation of two of the children talking about what they wanted on their pizzas, but nothing out of the ordinary. The teachers were grading papers. Nothing, dullsville, he thought. He raced back to the group to report to his father.
"Hey, pops. Nothing is going on at the school. Everything is so boringly quiet and still. Nothing out of the ordinary at all, that's my report." Pietro said quickly.
"Don't call me pops." Erick said sternly. Pietro just ignore him.
"Sure thing pops." Pietro quipped. Erick just sighed. It was a losing battle with someone who lives at the speed that Pietro does.
"Toad, enter the mansion by the roof; see if you can find the girl." Erick instructed.
"I don't know what see looks like, Erick." Toad said.
"That's easy; she's the one with the southern accent." Erick grinned.
"So I got to hang around and wait for all the older girls at the school start to talk." Toad said irritably.
"When do you have to wait to hear teenage girls talk? They talk all the time." Lance said with some rancor. "Talk, talk, talk. Ya just can't get them to shut up. I know, I've tried." Lance gripped.
The group shared a derisive laugh. Toad gave a mighty sigh and hopped away to the mansion to his goal, the roof.
"Alright everyone let's go and try not to alert them to our presence before we've had a chance to get there. They strode off, all but Fred. Lance noticed that Fred wasn't following them.
"Hey big guy, you gonna stand there all night, come on!" Lance called to Fred.
"I can't move my feet. They are stuck to the ground." Fred said. It looked as if he was straining hard to lift his feet, but he wasn't moving them. The group turned and walked back to where Fred was standing.
"You joking, you can't move your feet, really?" Lance said.
"Bummer." Pietro simply said.
"Avalanche moved the ground so Fred can move his feet." Magneto said.
"Sure thing, boss." Lance looked as if he was getting a headache as he stretched out his arm and spread his fingers. Before he knew it; he was sprawled out on the ground. "What?!!" Lance said intelligently.
"Good question, Lance. What is going on?" Magneto asked. He knew that none of the present company could answer that question. Lance crawled over to the ground in front of Fred and placed his hand on the grass. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the spot under his hand. A bolt of electricity shot up out of the ground and zapped him and he went flying and landed on his backside, hard…..again.
"AUGGHHH!!! That hurt!" Lance exclaimed. Some of the electricity still crackled and hissed on his hand as he shook it off. "Man, it's like a trap especially made that I can't open! Sorry Fred." Lance said.
"So much for them not knowing that we're coming, huh?" Pietro said with some sarcasm.
"Charles," Magneto said with venom. "I suppose stealth is no longer required; they know we are here." He turned to look at Fred. "You'll have to wait here, I'll see to it that you're freed by the on who trapped you that. We'll be back shortly." With that, he gathered up his forces in his magnetic field and levitated them towards the mansion.
Erick stopped just outside the mansion and lowered the group to the ground and turned off his field. Wanda caused the doors to open and everyone dashed inside expecting to be met by an opposing force. There was no one waiting for them. It was deadly quiet.
"I don't like this," said Lance in a sing-song voice.
"Be silent! I need to think! What are you up to Charles?" He scanned the room. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. No one to greet them, where was Toad, he should have gotten inside by now? He did not like this, Lance was right…something was not right about all of this.
MEANWHILE ON THE ROOF:
Toad went crashing into the chimney on the roof. "Bloody hell! Why did you go and do that for, Vic mate?" Toad said after shaking his head and looking up at Victor.
"One: you weren't paying attention to your environment. And two: I wanted too." Victor chuckled.
"Crickey! Its beat the hell out of Toad month is it? Mags think you're selling him out. When did you get here, huh? About time you joined the group. How did you know we were gonna be here, anyway?"
"One: Its always beat the hell out of Toad month. Two: I am. Three: I got here early this afternoon. Three: I am quitting the group. Four: This is where the girl is." Vic answered Toad's questions in order. Toad's mouth was agape. Vic merely smiled at him.
"Mags is gonna turn you into a bleedin' pretzel." Toad said. But Toad was surprised that Victor only grinned at him.
"He can try." Victor simply said. Toad began to suspect that something was up. Toad had to get to Mags and warn him, but first he had to get by Sabretooth. Even Toad would have a problem with that. He saw that Vic's eyes narrowed. Uh oh, he caught that scent. Toad tried to get by him, but Vic headed him off and sent him flying again. Vic was on him before he could take another breath. For a large guy he was as quick as a pouncing cat on a mouse.
"Let's talk it out before you do anything else, alright?" Vic said getting into Toad face. "Listen Mortimer, there's more to this then you have been told by Erick. Ya willing to listen or ya want me to send you back to the island base without a chopper?" Toad gulped. He nodded vigorously. Listening to Vic talk to him instead of beating the shit out of him was a no-brainer.
Victor indicated that Toad should take a seat. Toad sat down, minding his thoughts, he knew that Vic could sense in change in his scent…so he watched what he was thinking.
Mortimer, we've been had. Erick has lied and betrayed us all." Mortimer's eyes widen. He never expected Vic to say something like that. "He lied about the girl, at any rate." Vic took a deep breath. "He sent me after her, knowing, knowing that he was sending me after my own daughter." Toad's mouth dropped open.
"Bloody hell, I didn't know you even had a daughter!" Toad exclaimed.
"Neither did I." Victor said sadly. Toad's green face paled to the color of sea foam green. Toad instantly knew what the problem was. Vic was one of the best henchmen in the world, but he would never have allowed family to get caught up in any of his activities.
"I didn't know, mate." Toad gasped fearfully.
"Yeah, I know you didn't…that's why you've not been gutted." Victor grinned. "Look, you've got three options. One: You leave. Two: You wait here on the roof until it's all over and have pizza with us, or Three: You try to warn Erick that I know what he did to me, and I kill ya. It's your choice, Mortimer. Make it a good one; it's your life, not his." Mortimer just stared at him for a while. A moth, attracted by the light on the roof came fluttering by and Mortimer's tongue snapped it up in a heartbeat.
"So, you want caterpillars on your pizza or what?" Victor grinned at him.
"You're not gonna be able to defeat Mags, your skeleton is metal ya know, and he's the way he is." Toad said.
"I'm not worried. I have a very powerful card up my sleeve." Toad thought, it must be for Vic not to be the least concerned. Vic walked away. "A very powerful card indeed." Toad watched Vic walk away and he sat there waiting.
INSIDE THE MANSION:
Magneto sent the boys looking for the girl, and he sent Wanda to where he knew the girls' dorm was. She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She was going to get her father for this, one of these days. Magneto went thru the first floor of the mansion searching the place, himself. There wasn't any one waiting for him. Suddenly he felt the sing of a special metal speak to him. Adamantium! Sabretooth was here! Magneto narrowed his eyes in anger. Something had kept Victor from following his orders, and he was going to find out what. He found the Adamantium, but it wasn't Sabretooth.
"Well, if it isn't little Erick Magnus Lehnsherr. Long time no see." Logan said smiling.
"Major Walker. What are you doing here?" Magneto asked.
"Visiting some relatives; and yourself?" Logan said grinning and raising an eyebrow. He looked at Magneto's face and he stopped smiling. "You can't have her, Erick. Leave now, while you still have a chance."
"I see Stryker had enough Adamantium for two." Magneto said conversationally.
LOWER LEVELS OF THE MANSION:
Pietro streaked thru the mansion without a care… nobody could see him or stop him. He reached the lower levels. He was certain if the girl was here, she'd be hidden away in one of the many rooms. He was about to enter one of them when he ran into a wall that was not there before. He hit the floor hard and was out for the count. Actually he didn't hit a wall, but Bell. She had placed herself in between the room Pietro even faster then he could move, so he didn't see her. She crouched down and put her hands over him and a blur of color escaped him and entered her hands. She chuckled and went upstairs, knowing that Magneto had sought out the Adamantium skeletons of one of the Walker brothers. Of course… she knew by the time she got there, Magneto would have both brothers pinned to the wall like refrigerator magnets.
Sure enough she had been right; they were both hanging on the walls like paintings. When she walked quietly up behind, she saw Erick straighten up. He had felt her coming.
"Another one?" Magneto said with surprise. He turned around to face the other source of Adamantium and was stunned. It was a very tall woman dressed all in gold. She glowed with a bright light; the air circulated around her in a breeze playing with her robe and hair. He noticed that her eyes glowed bright red and she had a smile on her face that frightened him. Erick was a bit stunned at her appearance.
"Well, it seems that I'll have a nice collection." He said, starting to recover from his surprise. He stretched out a hand and lifted her up off the floor. She hovered for a little bit and a bright white light flashed about her body. She lowered herself slowly, gracefully back onto the floor. She nodded to Vic and Logan and they too glowed white and they dropped to the floor.
"Now boys, did I not tell you that I would handle Erick." She said sternly to the Walkers.
"Yeah, you did, but he found us first." Logan said, somewhat chastened.
"I guess Erick couldn't ignore the sing of the Adamantium could he." The woman said. She cocked her head at Erick. Erick was confused. Why she was not pinned to the wall like Sabretooth and Major Walker? How was she able to break his connection to the metal on her bones? How was she able to get them down from the wall? Who was she?
"Who are you?" Erick asked quietly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. We were never really formally introduced. We have met though." She said purring. Wanda picked just then to join in the fun.
"I need a map to find my way around this place." Wanda pouted and lamented. "I couldn't find anything, or anyone of your description." She stopped and stared at the group.
"Attack her!" Erick said pointing at the gold woman. Wanda only blinked at her father.
"You're kidding. Why would you want me to attack her? She's not doing anything." Wanda yawned. She was bored and tired and really wanted no part of this project of her father's.
"Do it!" He ordered.
"No. Do it yourself." She huffed.
"She's ruining everything!" Erick shouted.
"Good for her." Wanda said and applauded her quietly. Erick's face turned the color of Wanda's overcoat. Scarlet!
"Fine! I'll do it myself!" He concentrated very hard and suddenly found himself flung against the wall. He slid down the wall and ended up sitting on the floor looking up at the gold woman. The look on his face was precious, and it delighted his daughter no end.
"Wow! Did you do that to my father?!" Wanda said, turning to the tall woman.
"No, actually he did that to himself." She told Wanda, who laughed delighted.
"Outstanding!" She exclaimed and clapped long and hard. Her father had such a look of surprise on his face it was thrilling. Finally he had met his match. Wanda was tickled, and she was no longer bored. "So, how did, daddy dearest do that to himself?" She asked gleefully. She was curious.
"Well, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." The woman smiled. "Opposite poles attract and same poles repel…. simple science." The woman gold explained.
"You beat daddy with simple science? How cool is that?!" She threw back her head and laughed and laughed. "So how did you, really defeat him?"
"You know that old song…Anything you can do; I can do better than you?" The woman asked.
"Yeah, I do." Wanda said. It only took a moment more for Wanda to get the implications.
"Believe it or not, I owe it all to him." The woman in gold said, pointing at Erick. Wanda looked at her father. He looked at her a bit confused. He had no idea what she was talking about. "I did say we hadn't been formally introduced." She shifted into Erick. "Your people are afraid of my kind." Then she shifted again into another woman. "If you mean, mad scientist. Hey, you get my vote for being scary." She glared at Erick and walked over to him changing back into her tall golden self. She crouched down beside him and held out her hands like she did over Pietro. Erick gasped and groaned. His eyes filled with fear and pain.
"Wha-wha-what did you do to me???!!!" Erick gasped painfully.
"You turned me into a mutant….I just returned the favor….you're a regular human with no special powers at all. I took them from you." The fear and pain in his eyes were tremendous. "Tit for tat, if you must know." She said firmly. Erick stretched out his arm and looked like he was trying hard. "The only way you can move metal, even a paperclip, is picking it up with your hand." She gave him a very hard look. "And I am not giving you your powers back until you get some therapy. You got some serious anger issues."
"Oh, I haven't introduced myself to you yet. My name is Belinda James….Bell to my friends." She turned to Wanda. "So are you staying for pizza….and if you're waiting for Lance, Erick he's a bit up in the air." She chuckled. "Pietro is taking a nap downstairs. He hit a hard object going too fast. He and Lance too will be normal humans for a while."
"Are you going to take my powers from me, too?" Wanda asked.
"No, do I have too?" Bell asked Wanda.
"No, and I really would like some pizza. I'm starved." Wanda said.
"Well, the pizza should be here shortly. Hey, James, you need to go downstairs and get Marie and her friend…and see if Pietro is awake yet. If he is having trouble waking, you might want have Jean look at him." Bell said.
"Sure, no problem Bell. Hey Vic, you want come down with me?" He asked Victor. Victor was glaring at Erick, growling.
"I know what you did to me and my family….your ass is mine." Victor growl and advanced on Erick.
"Victor, dear, don't." Bell said quietly.
"But he…!" Victor growled loudly.
"Yes, I know….but you don't need to punish him….I did that already." Bell smiled at Victor and he found himself calming down. She was right of course; losing his power was a harsh punishment indeed. "Well, I'll be going. I have to tell Mortimer that the excitement is over and get Fred. Ta!" Bell said, lifting off the floor and she flew out the window.
"You know for someone who was afraid to fly, she doesn't seem to have any trouble now." Victor said smiling. Just then Professor Xavier came rolling down the hallway.
"We'll just leave Erick in your care then Wheels." Said Logan as the professor came to a stop in front of the; then he and Victor left to go get Marie and Remy and check on Pietro.
"Erick. You know, most of movies that consist of plots of mad scientists… find that their creations tend to turn against their creators. It appears that you are no exception." Professor Xavier said almost kindly to Erick. Erick heaved a huge sigh, slumped to the floor into a tight ball and began to sob. Wanda left the two old friends to themselves.
ON THE ROOF:
Toad sat and listened. He didn't hear the sounds of fighting, breaking, or whole scale chaos. It was almost too quiet. A bright light advanced on him and he was ready to fight or flee. He looked at the light. It was a very tall woman dressed all in gold and she hovered a bit before landing on the roof in front of him.
"Bloody hell!" Toad was at a lost for more words as he gaped at the woman.
"Hello Mortimer. Are you ready for some pizza? The whole school is having a pizza party, and if you behave yourself, you're invited." She said in a lilting and sexy voice. Toad thought back to what Vic had told him about the powerful card up his sleeve. It would not surprise him if she was that powerful card. A golden queen card! She smiled at him. "The good guys won. Your team lost. But we'll be good winners by asking you to join us in our victory party."
"Who the hell are you?!" Toad asked.
"Me? Why I'm a Yankee bird with no couth." She said smiling. Toad's mouth dropped open.
"You?! You're supposed to be dead!!!" Toad exclaimed, shocked.
"Yeah, I know. I got better." She laughed. "Look, just go inside, I have to get Fred, poor guy, I really don't want him to miss all the fun. See ya, Mortimer!" She said flying off towards the wooded area.
"Blimey!" Toad gasped. He climbed down the roof and clambered down the side of the mansion and entered it thru one of the doors. His mind was racing, if that woman is a sample of what the machine does, maybe it's not such a good idea to use it anymore.
Bell flew to the spot where she had trapped Fred. He was still there standing patiently. She landed out of his sight and decided it would be best just to walk up to him.
"Hello Fred." Bell said walking up to the large young man. He stared at her unabashedly with mouth open
"Uh, hi Bell, what are you don't here?" Fred asked softly. 'Wow does she look beautiful!' Bell heard him exclaim in his head.
"I'm here to get you out of the trap." Bell said smiling.
"You are?! What happened? Did I miss all the excitement?" Fred asked.
"Yes, I'm afraid you did. The excitement is quite over, and I'm afraid, you side lost. Sorry."
"Oh." Fred was at a loss for words.
"But hey, it's not the end of the world!" Bell grinned. "There's going to be pizza and sodas and other stuff. Want to join in the party?" Bell asked nicely.
"Yeah, I'd like that. So how come you're going to get me out of the trap?" Fred asked.
"I'm sorry Fred; I'm the one that set it for you." Fred's mouth dropped open a little more. 'I though she liked me." Fred thought. Well, Bell didn't want him to think that she didn't so she started to explain.
"I didn't want for you to get hurt. I knew that you might if you came inside. So I made sure that you didn't." Bell said patting his arm gently. A sudden burst of recognition of her words sparked inside him. She was protecting him from getting hurt! She smiled at him and he grinned back. She held out a hand and the ground glowed white and then faded back to being just the ground again.
"It's alright now Fred. You can move your feet again. You're free." Bell said. He took her for her word and picked up his feet one by one and they no longer were stuck to the ground. He beamed at her.
"Uh, hey thanks." Fred said chuckling.
"So you want to come to the school and share some pizza with us. Listen, Lance turned over some stuff when he did his localized earthshakes, you wouldn't mind helping picking up stuff, would you, until they arrive?"
"For pizza, I'd move the whole school for ya." Fred said smiling broadly.
"Well, that won't be necessary Fred, but thanks. Come on, let's go." They headed towards the school. Fred wasn't such a bad guy. He really needed to hang around a better class of people. Bell smiled, if any indication of the future, she personally will see to it that he does. She slowly walked her old friend back to the school.