Okay. I won't tease you any longer; here we have it, the answer to the question of Mattie's parenthood
Full Circle
Mattie's heart sank as Magneto entered the room. This was it. This was when she found out if she was related to this monster. On the other hand it might be the moment when he decided to kill her. Either way, it didn't look good.
Quicksilver zipped into the room and lapped her chair, laughing at her.
"What're you so please about?" Mattie muttered.
Quicksilver just kept laughing.
Mattie turned her attention to Magneto instead. He didn't say anything.
I'm his. Shit. So not only was she some freak of a mutant, she was some freak of a mutant with a father who openly advocated genocide. That should go down well. On the other hand… He doesn't look like he just found his long lost daughter. Maybe she was just a mutant freak. Yeah, a mutant freak with a life expectance of naught point zero. Rock. Hard place. Tough choice.
"So?" She finally asked. Sharper than she'd meant to. Hell, she hadn't even meant to ask.
It didn't matter what it said. She knew who her real father was. The man who had raised her and given her all his love for seventeen years. That was a father, not just what some test said.
Magneto watched her steadily for a moment then looked away. "You are not my daughter."
Mattie let out a breath that she hadn't known she'd been holding. Her dad had never been as precious to her as he was that second. She'd come to close to loosing a part of herself. It felt good to know who she was again.
Quicksilver flashed her an evil grin. He was still number one. The next in line to the Magneto throne. He could have it; Mattie wanted no part of it.
"However." Magneto continued. "I will offer you a position on the side of the Gods. You may still join my Acolytes."
Mattie shook her head, to stunned to speak. First he wanted her to be the First Daughter, now he wanted her to be a foot solider in his little world domination bid.
"No. I…"
A party of guards entering the room saved her from answering him. "Lord Magneto. A jet just landed and-"
"Charles." Magneto snarled. He glanced briefly at Mattie. "Take her down to the cells. And keep an eye on the other one."
Mattie's head shot up. "Other one? Bobby! He's here? Where is he?"
Magneto waved his hand and the metal at the wrists and ankles opened. The guards hauled her out of the chair and marched her out the room.
X
Wolverine glared all around him, then looked back as the remaining X-students came down the ramp to join him.
"Alright. We're going to do this in three teams. Cyclops, you take Multiple and cover the east side."
"Check." Cyclops replied. Multiple nodded.
"Stripes."
Rouge looked up at him expectantly.
"You take Wolfbane and cover the west."
Rouge nodded.
"We got it." Wolfbane told him.
"Elf, you're with me."
Nightcrawler bit his lip thoughtfully between one of his fangs. "We are going in?"
"We're going in." Wolverine confirmed.
The other two teams nodded once more then made their way towards the building.
"You sure that the Professor is right about this?" Nightcrawler asked. "I mean, we are going to teleport into a room and not, say, a wall?"
Wolverine grunted. "You got a better idea?"
Nightcrawler grinned and placed a hand on Wolverine's shoulder. "All aboard the Nightcrawler Express."
And in a cloud of sulpha they vanished.
X
The guards marched Mattie down a corridor with doors either side. Cells. Was Bobby down here? Mattie felt her heart clench, what if he was hurt?
"Bobby!" She yelled.
There was no reply.
"Shut you're mouth." One of the guards growled, giving her a shake.
Mattie ignored him. Finding Bobby was more important. "Bobby!"
"I said shut it." The guard told her cuffing her across the back of her head. Mattie stumbled under the blow and the two men roughly pulled her back to her feet.
"In here." The other guard said, throwing open a door and dragging Mattie inside. They forced her hands into the chains and left her attached to the wall.
"Stay." One of them told her as they left. They were both laughing as they locked the door.
Mattie glared after them; obviously the accommodation went downhill when you were no longer in line for the throne.
"Bobby!" She tried again.
There was no reply
X
Bobby struggled at his restraints. He'd heard her. He could have sworn that he'd heard her. Mattie was here. She was okay. Or at the very least she was well enough to shout. That had to be a good thing.
"Mattie!"
No matter how he strained his ears he couldn't hear a reply. He saved his strength for fighting with the chains that kept him bound to the wall. He was going to get free, he was going to get Mattie and then they were going to get the hell out of here.
X
Wolverine waved a hand in front of his face, trying to clear the smoke that always accompanied Nightcrawlers trips. All he could smell was sulpha, and right now he needed all his senses to be working double time. They were right in hostile waters and he needed to find the kids and get out.
"Which way?" Nightcrawler asked him.
Wolverine took in a deep breath. Nothing. A faint trace of Mattie, she'd been here. But right now he couldn't find either of them. But if you wanted to protect two minds from the greatest telepath on the planet… You'd protect the building and then you'd dig deep.
"There'll be a downstairs." He told Nightcrawler.
X
Mattie looked up as the door to her cell was flung open.
"Hello pretty face."
A chill swept through Mattie as five men entered the room. She straightened against the wall wishing that she had Kitty's powers.
"Well now." One of the men said advancing towards her. "You're a pretty little thing aren't you?"
Mattie shook her head, trying to back up through a solid wall. The man just grinned at her, he dripped of malice. She knew. Knew without him taking a step closer, why he was here. Why they were all here.
"Oh come, come now." He chastised her. "Such false modesty?" Reaching out he took hold of a lock of her hair. Mattie found herself flung back to the night she had discovered she was a mutant. Trapped in an ally way with the school football team. Trapped with rape and murder as the only way out.
"No!" She reared her head back jerking her hair out of his grasp.
"No?" The man glared at her, his hand shoot out and grabbed hold of her neck. "Don't play games with me pretty face."
"I'm not. I…" Mattie gasped out. She couldn't breath and he was stronger than she was. She was trapped and there was no escape. Panic threatened to consume her. Tears stung her eyes as she squirmed attempting to escape his grip. All her hours in the Danger Room. All her training. And she still couldn't defend herself. It was happening again and she couldn't stop it.
"Hey… Rex." One of the other men said. "Are you sure about this? Magneto. He'd kill us if he found out."
Rex twisted to glare at him, his grasp never slacking from Mattie's neck. "He's too busy fighting those kids to notice."
Mattie gasped. They knew where they were. The others. The others were here and they were going to get them out. A wave of strength washed over her.
"And this won't take long." Rex said turning back to leer at Mattie. "Will it, pretty face?" With that he crushed his lips against her, his hands groped all over her body. Mattie tried to shout and his tongue forced its way inside her mouth.
Fighting her panic Mattie used it to feed her slow burning fire of anger. She was not going to let this happen to her. It was going to stop. Right now. She snapped her teeth down on his tongue.
X
Bobby shuddered against his restraints as the man landed another solid punch in his gut.
"Think you're better than us do you?" The man grinned at him. "Mutant shit."
"You better than us now?" The other asked slamming Bobby again.
Bobby struggled to get his breath back. Magneto hired humans, making no secret of his dislike of them, and the humans took it out of Bobby. Twisted. If he could get his breath back for long enough he'd explain that to them. Or, if he had his way, he'd beat them to a bloody pulp.
The cell door swung open with a crash. Bobby felt his spirits sink, more of them.
"Who're you?" He heard one of the guards ask.
He risked raising his head and saw one of the most welcome sights he'd ever seen.
"Not important." Wolverine told them from where he stood framed in the doorway. "Now, you're going to let the boy go and then you're going to apologise to him."
The men exchanged glances and then sniggered.
"Or." Wolverine grinned and popped his claws. "You can deal with me."
X
Rex leapt back with a yell. He cupped a hand to his mouth, when he pulled it away there was blood smeared on it.
"Bitch!"
He brought his hand crashing across her cheek. Mattie's head snapped to the side and the whole right side of her face erupted into pain. Her lip was cut and she could already feel her face swelling. She closed her eyes for a second the raised her head to glare at him. She spat the blood out of her mouth.
"You don't taste very good."
Rex let out a scream of fury and threw a punch at her. Mattie jerked her head to the side a second before he would have hit her. Her neck screamed in protest at the speed and the stretch. But she was rewarded with hearing Rex's fist connect with the wall behind her head.
He cradled his fist screaming curses. Then he rounded on her, his eyes blazing with mad fury. "You're dead." He told her. The others closed in behind him.
She believed him.
X
Bobby ran along the corridor, Nightcrawler helping to support some of his weight. He felt like the two guards had turned his midsection into porridge. But there were more important things right now. Mattie was down here somewhere. He had to find her. He had to know she was safe.
They could hear the sound of shouting ahead. Wolverine increased his pace and Bobby matched him.
With a cry Wolverine kicked open the cell door. The five men inside whirled in surprise and froze for an instant.
Behind them, bound to the wall was Mattie; an ugly red mark was clear against her white cheek.
Bobby let out a cry of unarticulated fury and leapt at the first man he could lay his hands on. It was like the starters gun at a race. The men unfroze and turned to face Bobby. Wolverine followed him into the fight.
"Elf! Get Chase!"
Nightcrawler teleported over the Mattie. "Let's get you out of these." He said taking hold of her arm, and teleporting her out of her restraints. Mattie threw her arms around him.
"Thank you."
Nightcrawler gave her a squeeze. "Anything for a damsel in distress."
Over his shoulder Mattie saw Bobby; he was going toe to toe with Rex. Letting go of Kurt she put on a burst of speed to arrive at Bobby's side.
Both Bobby and Rex turned to face her as she appeared.
"This is my fight."
Bobby took one look at her grim face and nodded.
"Bring it on pretty face." Rex told her.
"Shut the fuck up!" Bobby started towards him.
Mattie put out an arm to stop him in his tracks.
"My fight." She repeated to Bobby.
Rex grinned. "Watch me teach your girl some manners." He taunted Bobby.
Mattie stepped forward and took hold of his chin. She swung his head round so that their eyes locked. "Eyes on me." Then she let him go and stepped back so that his swing went wide.
"Whatever you say pretty face."
Mattie smiled sweetly at him then faded into a blur. Rex twisted and turned as he spun in a circle trying to keep an eye on Mattie.
Mattie raced round and round and round. She could see Rex desperately trying to keep up with her. He might as well have raced a train. She stopped abruptly in her tracks and landed a solid punch on his jaw.
Rex staggered back. "Fucking mutie."
"I'll take that as a compliment." Mattie told him, punching him again. She side stepped his swing. "After all." She landed a punch in his stomach, then stepped back to avoid his throw at her. "Why would I want to be human?" She twirled and kicked him. "When humans are like you." She swept his legs out from under him and looked down at his prone form. "You're pathetic."
Rex got unsteadily to his feet and squared up to her again. He whipped his hand across him mouth and grinned at her. It was worse than anything he could have said. Mattie's eyes narrowed. She spun and planted her foot in his chest. Rex flew backwards through the air and hit the wall. He didn't get up.
"Mats?" Bobby put a hand on her shoulder. Mattie whirled to face him and for a second her eyes blazed, then she blinked and her eyes filled with tears.
"Bobby."
He pulled her against him and let her cling to him. Her body shook as she struggled not to cry. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He had thought he'd lost her.
"Let's get out of this place while we can." Wolverine muttered.
X
"Alright." Rouge yelled and she ducked the latest barrage of missiles and rolled for cover. "Enough is enough."
Wolfbane growled her agreement.
Pulling a length of wire from her suit Rouge looped one end through the fence behind them and tied the other end to her belt. She looked out through the bushes that they were currently taking cover in. Then stood up and hurled the weighted end as far as she could. She turned to Wolfbane and grinned. "Fetch."
Wolfbane glared at her for a second then took off after the wire. Rouge watched her vanish into the area across from them. The wire pulling taunt told her that Wolfbane had found it. Now she just had to wait.
And not for long. Quicksilver raced past her and tripped on the wire. Rouge and Wolfbane were on him in a second.
Rouge pulled off a glove and touched her fingers to the struggling boy's face. "Say night night." Quicksilver struggled then went limp.
Retrieving her belt Rouge looked up at the group of men approaching. She grinned at Wolfbane. "You want to run?"
X
Professor Xavier watched as his students fought back against Magneto's forces. Magneto himself was floating above, watching it all. His gaze kept flickering to where Xavier sat in the jet.
It should not be this way Charles. His voice floated into Xavier's brain. Xavier knew that Magneto would not hear any reply that he might give. He was protected from Xavier's powers. The fact that he was out there was a flaunting of this fact.
Instead he focused his talents on the men attacking his students and strove to strengthen their fear or pain so that many of them left off from the fight and turned tail and ran.
I've got them. Logan's curt thoughts entered his head.
Fall back. Xavier commanded the others.
On our way, Professor. Cyclops told him.
Be right there. Rouge told him, and he felt a rush of air and found her standing behind him.
"Had a run in with Quicksilver?" He asked.
Wolfbane lopped up the ramp panting. "Yes she did. And that was cheating."
"There they are." Xavier pointed to a familiar cloud that dissipated to reveal Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Mattie and Bobby.
Magneto also spotted them. His eyebrows rose as he saw the marks on Mattie's face and the way that Nightcrawler supported Bobby.
"Insolent creatures!" He roared. In one swift movement he descended among the ranks of his guards. "You would so mistreat you superiors!"
"That's what you get for using hired help." Bobby muttered as he and Nightcrawler made in up the ramp.
Wolverine followed, keeping a supporting arm of Mattie. Cyclops and Multiple brought up the rear and Xavier started the jet.
Logan slipped into his pilot's seat and the jet soared away leaving Magneto still screaming in anger.