Disclaimer: I own nothing and if I did I wouldn't admit it.
Rating: PG-13-ish
Thank you so much to all my reviewers who I love more than life itself although probably not more than Shawn Ashmore, who along with a few other men is the closest thing to God, you know...apart from God.
As a quick point, one of my reviewers suggested that the 'other one' who was with Rogue and Jean might be the Phoenix. I must confess here that I do not know very much about the whole 'Phoenix' thing, only what I've learnt off the internet. If anyone wants to give me any clues as to the best way to write that I'm open to suggestions. Other wise I'm going to ignore it entirely and make up my own stuff.
The 'other one' is not the phoenix. Not necessarily bad you know.
She smiled in mild amusement as he gently toyed with her fingers. They were in one of the classrooms. They had been asked to stay behind by Ororo and were soon joined by the Professor, Scott and Logan.
For the last few days, Bobby had practically never stopped touching her. She had never even been out of his sight except trips to the bathroom, and even then he had followed her into the shower once. She blushed a little at the memory. Then tried to force herself to concentrate. What the Professor was saying was very important she told herself. Stop thinking about the shower and concentrate.
Logan was pacing, never a good sign, "How many? Do we know?"
The professor frowned, "Well, my sources tell me that he has already secured the support of several large groups. He has deliberately targeted them as the most time effective way of gaining backing. One of the things that confuses my though is that he has become allied with several groups who are well known for their peaceful co-existence with people. I can only assume that he has either coerced or tricked them into becoming his supporters."
"When you say groups, do you mean like other schools?" Bobby asked
"No. These groups are made up of mutants who all have similar mutations. They have banded together for protection and support. Magneto has approached a group of mutants who are capable of breathing fire, another group who are telekinetic, others who are telepathic. However those are the groups are committed to co-existing peacefully. The more dangerous groups...well, we have a small number of tele-porters, not unlike Kurt. We have a group of feral wolf-like mutants. And then there are also several individuals who I have been having more trouble running to ground."
Rogue gave an involuntary shudder, "I really don't like the sound of this. What has Magneto got on his side that's so powerful it can convince normally peaceful mutants to become violent?"
The Professor sighed and rubbed the skin between his eyes. Rogue realised for the first time in memory, that the Professor was not a young man. He had been fighting against prejudice all of his life. She realise dhow very tired he must be of the fight. "I wish that I knew, all I do know is that somehow he does. I have one theory however. If we assume that he is not threatening them into submission, and we must..."
"Why must we?" interrupted Logan, "Magneto is perfectly capable of threatening as many people as necessary..."
"I know that Logan. But if calculations are correct, we are assuming he must have over one hundred mutants under his control. No matter how strong he is, he is not a god. I doubt he could hold sway over that many. At least not with threats."
Logan thought for a moment, "Yeah I guess. I just don't want to put anything past him."
"I understand. But in fact I thought it may be something worse. If you think about it, what is most likely to make a normal rational person act out of character?"
He did not look at Bobby, but Bobby knew that he was thinking of his reaction when Pyro had injured Rogue, "He could threaten someone close to them."
The Professor met his eyes, "Exactly. Or make it look as though those who were not mutants were doing so."
Rogue gripped Bobby's hand reassuringly, "So what you're saying Professor is that Magneto could be trying to convince mutants that they re under attack from others."
"Exactly. Convincing them that there is no other way to keep themselves safe than to fight."
The room fell silent as they all absorbed the information. Knowing without even having to discuss it that this meant real trouble. The kind of trouble they had only just managed to avert the day they had gone to speak to the President. The kind of war that Magneto had always wanted. It looked as though he had finally found a way to get it.
If he couldn't get the human population to start the war on them, he would simply start the attack himself. And they all knew the truth of the situation. Whether he won or lost, the death toll would be catastrophic, on both sides.
Bobby sighed, "Well, just so long as there's nothing to worry about."
Everyone in the room laughed a little.
Magneto stood with his arms outstretched as the people, the mutants, those like him, cheered loudly. And cheer they did.
He was being careful. Very careful. There was nothing that he was saying that could be directly attributed to threatening humans. That would come later. When he was sure that they would tolerate it. He was being careful. His eyes sought out Pyro's in the crowd. He was stood next to the girl. The one whose father they had killed together.
A slight frown marred his forehead. It would not be good for Pyro to get too involved with her. Her's was one of the more...unpredictable groups. He wasn't exactly sure where they stood. They were definitely in favour of protecting themselves, but whether they would go any further when the time came to push them...he wasn't sure. And that time was going to be soon. They could not delay much longer. Soon.
"Okay, you're brooding."
Bobby looked up and met her eyes. "Sorry. I'm just worried."
Rogue moved over to him. He was lying on his back staring up at the ceiling. She lay next to him, abandoning her physics work and threaded her fingers through his. "I know. Me too." She sighed, "Do you think the Professor has a plan? One that he's not sharing yet?"
Bobby shrugged, "It's possible. But I don't think even he knows how to proceed on this one. I mean, I'm sure he's trying to come up with something but..." Bobby ran his free hand through his hair in frustration, "Oh I don't know. I've been lying here trying to think up something and I just...I'm drawing a blank."
Rogue turned over onto her side, "You're not giving up on me are you?"
He smiled at her, "No. Just a little down. I know that what Magneto and Pyro are doing is wrong. But at the same time I can see how to others, who've been hurt, it wouldn't seem that way."
"Yeah, I know."
He looked at her in surprise, "I was preparing to fight my corner there. Didn't picture you agreeing."
She lay her hand on his chest, "Good to know I can still surprise you. It's like you said, I know it's wrong. But to mutants who've been hurt...well, I know how I reacted when I thought that you'd been hurt. It didn't make it right, but it made it understandable."
Bobby touched his other hand to her cheek, "You know, sometimes without even trying..."
She frowned slightly, "What?"
"You remind me why I love you."
She giggled, "What can I say? I'm just good at it."
Pyro stood on the walkway. They were in a warehouse. A huge warehouse. A metal walkway ran around the interior about twenty feet up from the floor. It also crossed the warehouse, meeting in the middle at right angles, supported from the ceiling by thick chains.
Pyro liked it up here. It was quiet. He could see all the others beneath him, but he liked the feeling of detachment he got from being up here, away from it all. "Penny for your thoughts?"
Pyro almost fell backwards at the sound of her voice, "God, Athena you scared me."
She smiled, "Sorry, you seemed so...asleep."
He smiled back at her. "Probably am. Asleep to the world anyway. Just thinking." He looked at her, he couldn't help but notice how tired she looked, "Are you okay?"
She shrugged, "All things considered."
"You don't wanna talk about it?"
"It's not that. I just...I feel like I should be strong. I should try to be like..." her voice dropped to a whisper, "I should try to be as good as he was."
Pyro felt the guilt clench somewhere between his stomach and his throat. He was the reason she had to be strong. He knew Magneto was right. There would have been no other way to get them to join. They were peaceful. He understood their motivations. He wished that they could all be peaceful, but at the end of the day, he wasn't prepared to die for it.
He looked into Athena's face. She was beautiful. A little younger than him, not much but a little. Magneto had told him not to risk getting involved with any of the other mutants and he knew that it was probably a bad idea. He couldn't seem to help it though. Something about this girl touched him. She was...she was committed to doing the right thing, as were her group. He could tell, and Magneto had noticed, that they were one of the more...cautious groups.
Pyro knew that Magneto was worried he didn't want to risk losing them, they were valuable. "Hey, did I lose you there for a minute?"
The sound of her voice brought him back to reality, "Sorry. I was just thinking about what you said. I know what you mean. With Magneto...well, I feel like I have a lot to live up to."
She smiled and put her hand on his arm, "No matter how much you have to live up to, I think you can do it."
He smiled back at her. It had been a long time since someone had told him that they had faith in him without wanting anything in return. Even the X- men had wanted something. They'd wanted him to behave like a good little boy. For what? To protect humans? Humans weren't going to protect him and he knew it. What made them worth so much more? No. He was better off here.
"Thanks. It's nice to...well..."
"To have a friend?"
He nodded. He'd missed it, "Yeah."
She moved closer to him and Pyro knew that he should back away. This was a bad idea. It was going against exactly what Magneto had said. He shouldn't get involved.
But he couldn't make himself move. Even when he felt her hand touch his chest. She was going to kiss him. He knew it. And he should stop her. But he wasn't going to. But apparently something showed in his eyes. She paused, "Do you want me to stop?"
Yes, yes, yes, you should stop. This is a very bad idea. But for some reason his body was not obeying his brain. His arms went around her back, and pulled her to him. As his lips touched hers, all thoughts of it being wrong went out of his head. Her hands went to his shoulders, and he sighed. This felt good. And right.
Magneto sighed. He had warned Pyro. He knew that this was going to be difficult and now it seemed that it was going to get worse. He either had to assure himself of the groups support or give them the push. It was looking more and more like the push was going to be needed.
And he was sorry. He wanted it to be possible for Pyro to be happy. But that was the problem. It couldn't be the priority here.
Rating: PG-13-ish
Thank you so much to all my reviewers who I love more than life itself although probably not more than Shawn Ashmore, who along with a few other men is the closest thing to God, you know...apart from God.
As a quick point, one of my reviewers suggested that the 'other one' who was with Rogue and Jean might be the Phoenix. I must confess here that I do not know very much about the whole 'Phoenix' thing, only what I've learnt off the internet. If anyone wants to give me any clues as to the best way to write that I'm open to suggestions. Other wise I'm going to ignore it entirely and make up my own stuff.
The 'other one' is not the phoenix. Not necessarily bad you know.
She smiled in mild amusement as he gently toyed with her fingers. They were in one of the classrooms. They had been asked to stay behind by Ororo and were soon joined by the Professor, Scott and Logan.
For the last few days, Bobby had practically never stopped touching her. She had never even been out of his sight except trips to the bathroom, and even then he had followed her into the shower once. She blushed a little at the memory. Then tried to force herself to concentrate. What the Professor was saying was very important she told herself. Stop thinking about the shower and concentrate.
Logan was pacing, never a good sign, "How many? Do we know?"
The professor frowned, "Well, my sources tell me that he has already secured the support of several large groups. He has deliberately targeted them as the most time effective way of gaining backing. One of the things that confuses my though is that he has become allied with several groups who are well known for their peaceful co-existence with people. I can only assume that he has either coerced or tricked them into becoming his supporters."
"When you say groups, do you mean like other schools?" Bobby asked
"No. These groups are made up of mutants who all have similar mutations. They have banded together for protection and support. Magneto has approached a group of mutants who are capable of breathing fire, another group who are telekinetic, others who are telepathic. However those are the groups are committed to co-existing peacefully. The more dangerous groups...well, we have a small number of tele-porters, not unlike Kurt. We have a group of feral wolf-like mutants. And then there are also several individuals who I have been having more trouble running to ground."
Rogue gave an involuntary shudder, "I really don't like the sound of this. What has Magneto got on his side that's so powerful it can convince normally peaceful mutants to become violent?"
The Professor sighed and rubbed the skin between his eyes. Rogue realised for the first time in memory, that the Professor was not a young man. He had been fighting against prejudice all of his life. She realise dhow very tired he must be of the fight. "I wish that I knew, all I do know is that somehow he does. I have one theory however. If we assume that he is not threatening them into submission, and we must..."
"Why must we?" interrupted Logan, "Magneto is perfectly capable of threatening as many people as necessary..."
"I know that Logan. But if calculations are correct, we are assuming he must have over one hundred mutants under his control. No matter how strong he is, he is not a god. I doubt he could hold sway over that many. At least not with threats."
Logan thought for a moment, "Yeah I guess. I just don't want to put anything past him."
"I understand. But in fact I thought it may be something worse. If you think about it, what is most likely to make a normal rational person act out of character?"
He did not look at Bobby, but Bobby knew that he was thinking of his reaction when Pyro had injured Rogue, "He could threaten someone close to them."
The Professor met his eyes, "Exactly. Or make it look as though those who were not mutants were doing so."
Rogue gripped Bobby's hand reassuringly, "So what you're saying Professor is that Magneto could be trying to convince mutants that they re under attack from others."
"Exactly. Convincing them that there is no other way to keep themselves safe than to fight."
The room fell silent as they all absorbed the information. Knowing without even having to discuss it that this meant real trouble. The kind of trouble they had only just managed to avert the day they had gone to speak to the President. The kind of war that Magneto had always wanted. It looked as though he had finally found a way to get it.
If he couldn't get the human population to start the war on them, he would simply start the attack himself. And they all knew the truth of the situation. Whether he won or lost, the death toll would be catastrophic, on both sides.
Bobby sighed, "Well, just so long as there's nothing to worry about."
Everyone in the room laughed a little.
Magneto stood with his arms outstretched as the people, the mutants, those like him, cheered loudly. And cheer they did.
He was being careful. Very careful. There was nothing that he was saying that could be directly attributed to threatening humans. That would come later. When he was sure that they would tolerate it. He was being careful. His eyes sought out Pyro's in the crowd. He was stood next to the girl. The one whose father they had killed together.
A slight frown marred his forehead. It would not be good for Pyro to get too involved with her. Her's was one of the more...unpredictable groups. He wasn't exactly sure where they stood. They were definitely in favour of protecting themselves, but whether they would go any further when the time came to push them...he wasn't sure. And that time was going to be soon. They could not delay much longer. Soon.
"Okay, you're brooding."
Bobby looked up and met her eyes. "Sorry. I'm just worried."
Rogue moved over to him. He was lying on his back staring up at the ceiling. She lay next to him, abandoning her physics work and threaded her fingers through his. "I know. Me too." She sighed, "Do you think the Professor has a plan? One that he's not sharing yet?"
Bobby shrugged, "It's possible. But I don't think even he knows how to proceed on this one. I mean, I'm sure he's trying to come up with something but..." Bobby ran his free hand through his hair in frustration, "Oh I don't know. I've been lying here trying to think up something and I just...I'm drawing a blank."
Rogue turned over onto her side, "You're not giving up on me are you?"
He smiled at her, "No. Just a little down. I know that what Magneto and Pyro are doing is wrong. But at the same time I can see how to others, who've been hurt, it wouldn't seem that way."
"Yeah, I know."
He looked at her in surprise, "I was preparing to fight my corner there. Didn't picture you agreeing."
She lay her hand on his chest, "Good to know I can still surprise you. It's like you said, I know it's wrong. But to mutants who've been hurt...well, I know how I reacted when I thought that you'd been hurt. It didn't make it right, but it made it understandable."
Bobby touched his other hand to her cheek, "You know, sometimes without even trying..."
She frowned slightly, "What?"
"You remind me why I love you."
She giggled, "What can I say? I'm just good at it."
Pyro stood on the walkway. They were in a warehouse. A huge warehouse. A metal walkway ran around the interior about twenty feet up from the floor. It also crossed the warehouse, meeting in the middle at right angles, supported from the ceiling by thick chains.
Pyro liked it up here. It was quiet. He could see all the others beneath him, but he liked the feeling of detachment he got from being up here, away from it all. "Penny for your thoughts?"
Pyro almost fell backwards at the sound of her voice, "God, Athena you scared me."
She smiled, "Sorry, you seemed so...asleep."
He smiled back at her. "Probably am. Asleep to the world anyway. Just thinking." He looked at her, he couldn't help but notice how tired she looked, "Are you okay?"
She shrugged, "All things considered."
"You don't wanna talk about it?"
"It's not that. I just...I feel like I should be strong. I should try to be like..." her voice dropped to a whisper, "I should try to be as good as he was."
Pyro felt the guilt clench somewhere between his stomach and his throat. He was the reason she had to be strong. He knew Magneto was right. There would have been no other way to get them to join. They were peaceful. He understood their motivations. He wished that they could all be peaceful, but at the end of the day, he wasn't prepared to die for it.
He looked into Athena's face. She was beautiful. A little younger than him, not much but a little. Magneto had told him not to risk getting involved with any of the other mutants and he knew that it was probably a bad idea. He couldn't seem to help it though. Something about this girl touched him. She was...she was committed to doing the right thing, as were her group. He could tell, and Magneto had noticed, that they were one of the more...cautious groups.
Pyro knew that Magneto was worried he didn't want to risk losing them, they were valuable. "Hey, did I lose you there for a minute?"
The sound of her voice brought him back to reality, "Sorry. I was just thinking about what you said. I know what you mean. With Magneto...well, I feel like I have a lot to live up to."
She smiled and put her hand on his arm, "No matter how much you have to live up to, I think you can do it."
He smiled back at her. It had been a long time since someone had told him that they had faith in him without wanting anything in return. Even the X- men had wanted something. They'd wanted him to behave like a good little boy. For what? To protect humans? Humans weren't going to protect him and he knew it. What made them worth so much more? No. He was better off here.
"Thanks. It's nice to...well..."
"To have a friend?"
He nodded. He'd missed it, "Yeah."
She moved closer to him and Pyro knew that he should back away. This was a bad idea. It was going against exactly what Magneto had said. He shouldn't get involved.
But he couldn't make himself move. Even when he felt her hand touch his chest. She was going to kiss him. He knew it. And he should stop her. But he wasn't going to. But apparently something showed in his eyes. She paused, "Do you want me to stop?"
Yes, yes, yes, you should stop. This is a very bad idea. But for some reason his body was not obeying his brain. His arms went around her back, and pulled her to him. As his lips touched hers, all thoughts of it being wrong went out of his head. Her hands went to his shoulders, and he sighed. This felt good. And right.
Magneto sighed. He had warned Pyro. He knew that this was going to be difficult and now it seemed that it was going to get worse. He either had to assure himself of the groups support or give them the push. It was looking more and more like the push was going to be needed.
And he was sorry. He wanted it to be possible for Pyro to be happy. But that was the problem. It couldn't be the priority here.