Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.
~~ Pietro and Kurt ~~
"So, what now?" Kurt asked the wind.
"We can join the circus." Pietro snapped back. Kurt only gave him an amused glance. They were plodding along the road, trying to decide what their next move was going to be. Well, that's what they had been doing for the last three hours. Then they just argued and after that they each refused to speak to the other.
"Why did I let you talk me into this madness?" Pietro grumbled.
"It wasn't me. But I see where you're coming from. I'm beginning to think that Evan tricked me into this. How did we end up wandering on the side of the road again?"
"Dunno. I think you 'ported us in someone's house and we just ran like idiots and once I slowed down and started looking for you, you had already found the damn road and were convinced that someone would pick us up." Pietro gave an exaggerated sigh.
"Do you know how to read these interstate signs?"
"That's a speed limit."
"Oh."
"And no. I don't."
"What are we gonna do?"
"You can start by shutting up."
"Hey, let's ask him." Kurt pointed across the empty road. Pietro followed his finger, and sure enough there was a guy, around their age, trudging just as wearily in the opposite direction.
"I don't kno-" Pietro stopped. Kurt was already halfway across the road. Narrowing his eyes, he followed.
"Hi, I'm Kurt. Where are you going?"
"Haiden. 'M looking for someone."
Pietro caught Kurt's eye and tried to get him to leave the stranger alone, but Kurt just wasn't listening.
"Is your name Haiden Malcolm? I've heard you mentioned before. Who are you looking for?"
"Yes, I am Haiden Malcolm. I'm looking for my little sister."
He kept walking, oblivious to the looks that the two mutants were throwing each other.
"What's her name?"
"Evelyn. She probably doesn't operate under that name though. The last I heard, she was calling herself Phoenix." He gave a short laugh at that, and noticing Pietro's look, he explained.
"It doesn't matter anymore. I don't care who knows. I am the last of a very illegal and very controversial experiment. The idea was to take a normal human and change them into a mutant. The scientist who came up with the idea thought if you can make a human into a mutant then you can make a mutant into a human. They killed him. Or maybe I did. I forget now."
"You know about genes, right? Recessive and dominant? Well the mutant gene is in everyone, but its recessive. For some reason you need at least three pairs of it to even have the slightest mutant power. Basically, if you have three sets of the mutant gene, you test positive for a mutant test. Four means you can do stuff, walk through walls or whatever it is that mutants do all day. Five of 'em, and you're born different. If you have five mutant gene pairs then you don't look like a human. You don't have to reach your limit to use mutant powers like everyone else."
"What they did to me was change my genetic makeup so that I had three pairs. You know, those mutant tests aren't accurate at all. There's an 80% chance that it'll miss a mutant. And it did. When I was tested, I came out clean. But I already knew I was a mutant. I didn't say anything though. I'm not stupid. I was a four. And then they changed my DNA. Ha, I became a seven. To keep it simple, that was supposed to be an impossibility. There are only five pairs of genes that affect whether a person is a mutant or not. So I split into two bodies."
"Ever wonder what happens to dead people? Nothing. They go to whatchamacallit… parallel universe I think its called. It's just like this one, only they aren't dead in it. Same old same old. Except for me. I can go back and forth between them. Stuff happened, to keep it simple, I found my sister. She wanted to live again, so I gave her the extra body. She ran off for a year or two. I got over it, settled in a nice family, and then she showed up again. She was mad because she thought I forgot about her. So she started playing mind games with me. Killing strays and blowing up buildings. Crazy shit. I got blamed for it. No one believed I was innocent, except this one cop. She killed him and made it look like suicide. And then she took my name. Phoenix Haiden Malcolm. I always thought it was a mouthful. Never liked it either. Always wrote Haiden on my papers and things." He shook his head as if to clear the thoughts from his mind.
"I have to stop her. I've been following her for the longest now. She's waiting for me. Once I get my body back… we'll see what happens. I might just destroy it. That will take care of things nicely. I can start over."
"Great story, can you explain it to my dad, 'cause I'm kinda on his hit list thanks to your sister."
Haiden's eyes glazed over for a second. "'Fraid not. Well, not yet at any rate. We'll have to rescue them first."
"Rescue?"
"She's doing it again. She's playing god."
~~ Pietro and Kurt ~~
"So, what now?" Kurt asked the wind.
"We can join the circus." Pietro snapped back. Kurt only gave him an amused glance. They were plodding along the road, trying to decide what their next move was going to be. Well, that's what they had been doing for the last three hours. Then they just argued and after that they each refused to speak to the other.
"Why did I let you talk me into this madness?" Pietro grumbled.
"It wasn't me. But I see where you're coming from. I'm beginning to think that Evan tricked me into this. How did we end up wandering on the side of the road again?"
"Dunno. I think you 'ported us in someone's house and we just ran like idiots and once I slowed down and started looking for you, you had already found the damn road and were convinced that someone would pick us up." Pietro gave an exaggerated sigh.
"Do you know how to read these interstate signs?"
"That's a speed limit."
"Oh."
"And no. I don't."
"What are we gonna do?"
"You can start by shutting up."
"Hey, let's ask him." Kurt pointed across the empty road. Pietro followed his finger, and sure enough there was a guy, around their age, trudging just as wearily in the opposite direction.
"I don't kno-" Pietro stopped. Kurt was already halfway across the road. Narrowing his eyes, he followed.
"Hi, I'm Kurt. Where are you going?"
"Haiden. 'M looking for someone."
Pietro caught Kurt's eye and tried to get him to leave the stranger alone, but Kurt just wasn't listening.
"Is your name Haiden Malcolm? I've heard you mentioned before. Who are you looking for?"
"Yes, I am Haiden Malcolm. I'm looking for my little sister."
He kept walking, oblivious to the looks that the two mutants were throwing each other.
"What's her name?"
"Evelyn. She probably doesn't operate under that name though. The last I heard, she was calling herself Phoenix." He gave a short laugh at that, and noticing Pietro's look, he explained.
"It doesn't matter anymore. I don't care who knows. I am the last of a very illegal and very controversial experiment. The idea was to take a normal human and change them into a mutant. The scientist who came up with the idea thought if you can make a human into a mutant then you can make a mutant into a human. They killed him. Or maybe I did. I forget now."
"You know about genes, right? Recessive and dominant? Well the mutant gene is in everyone, but its recessive. For some reason you need at least three pairs of it to even have the slightest mutant power. Basically, if you have three sets of the mutant gene, you test positive for a mutant test. Four means you can do stuff, walk through walls or whatever it is that mutants do all day. Five of 'em, and you're born different. If you have five mutant gene pairs then you don't look like a human. You don't have to reach your limit to use mutant powers like everyone else."
"What they did to me was change my genetic makeup so that I had three pairs. You know, those mutant tests aren't accurate at all. There's an 80% chance that it'll miss a mutant. And it did. When I was tested, I came out clean. But I already knew I was a mutant. I didn't say anything though. I'm not stupid. I was a four. And then they changed my DNA. Ha, I became a seven. To keep it simple, that was supposed to be an impossibility. There are only five pairs of genes that affect whether a person is a mutant or not. So I split into two bodies."
"Ever wonder what happens to dead people? Nothing. They go to whatchamacallit… parallel universe I think its called. It's just like this one, only they aren't dead in it. Same old same old. Except for me. I can go back and forth between them. Stuff happened, to keep it simple, I found my sister. She wanted to live again, so I gave her the extra body. She ran off for a year or two. I got over it, settled in a nice family, and then she showed up again. She was mad because she thought I forgot about her. So she started playing mind games with me. Killing strays and blowing up buildings. Crazy shit. I got blamed for it. No one believed I was innocent, except this one cop. She killed him and made it look like suicide. And then she took my name. Phoenix Haiden Malcolm. I always thought it was a mouthful. Never liked it either. Always wrote Haiden on my papers and things." He shook his head as if to clear the thoughts from his mind.
"I have to stop her. I've been following her for the longest now. She's waiting for me. Once I get my body back… we'll see what happens. I might just destroy it. That will take care of things nicely. I can start over."
"Great story, can you explain it to my dad, 'cause I'm kinda on his hit list thanks to your sister."
Haiden's eyes glazed over for a second. "'Fraid not. Well, not yet at any rate. We'll have to rescue them first."
"Rescue?"
"She's doing it again. She's playing god."