In this chapter, I'll be introducing my third and final OC, Maxis. Maxis is differs from both Raze and Morgan, partly because of his mutation, and partly because of his choice of allegiances.

Also, I'm going to be playing Pietro in much the same way that my friend Nick did in the RP.

Chapter 3: Maxis

"HurryuporIllkickyououtyoullthankmelater!"

This nigh-unintelligible gibberish was actually English, but spouted at such a speed that it all came out as one really long word. Of course, if you lived at the Brotherhood house, you would have learned to decipher it by now.

The word, and the term is used lightly, was spewed from the mouth of what looked like a silver streak which was currently darting around the house, waking up the other residents. "Pietro. Get. Out," growled the low voice from the owner of the room that this silver streak was currently moving through. "Ifyouwantmeoutyoullhavetocatch-URK!" With a swift motion, a scaly hand shot out, and grabbed the speedster by the throat. "Good catch," Pietro choked out, struggling against the iron grip around his windpipe. A loud thud could be heard through the house. This was the sound of Pietro being forcibly ejected from the room, and straight into a wall. A slam followed the thud. This was the sound of the room's door being forcefully closed.

With Pietro out of the way, Maxis went back about his business, digging through his dresser for a suitable outfit for the day. He settled on a hooded sweatshirt, one of the only clean things in his room. Slipping it on, he made sure that both arms were suitably covered. After the last time, he didn't want to take any chances.

As you may have guessed, Maxis was a mutant as well. But unlike Raze or Morgan, his "power" was not easily concealable through a pair of gloves or through training. Maxis was one of those people with a full-body mutation, much like Hank McCoy, though not as extreme. Covering most of his body was tough black scales, like a reptile's, and there were only a few parts of his body that wasn't covered in them. His stomach was exposed, as was the inside area of his arms. But the scales weren't the only part of his mutation. His eyes were gold in color with the pupils were slitted like a reptile's, his teeth were slightly fanged, and his hands resembled claws. He was also stronger, faster, healed better, and had better senses than most people. Looking freakish was not without its advantages.

Rather than join up with Xavier or live on his own, Maxis had joined up with the Brotherhood. He preferred the freedom here, and he seemed to fit in rather well with the rest of the patchwork family here. Each of them had taken special names for themselves to suit their unique abilities. Pietro was Quicksilver, Freddy was The Blob, Todd was Toad, Lance was Avalanche, and Maxis was Komodo. Maxis's name came about when he wanted something that wouldn't conjure memories of Mortal Kombat. So, while looking through a book for biology class, he settled on the name Komodo, after the large Indonesian reptile.

"Breakfast?" he growled questioningly, as he headed down the stairs and into the kitchen of the Brotherhood house. It was just a filthy as the rest of the house, with dirty dishes laying everywhere, the wallpaper peeling, the wooden furniture beginning to rot, and the floors stained with god-knows-what. The optimist would call the Brotherhood house was a "fixer-upper". The realist would call it a "put-it-downer". But despite its flaws, it kept the rain off their heads (most of the time), and was a (relatively) safe place to sleep.

Toad was the first to respond to the question. "Sorry, bro. We got nothin'," he replied, turning a cereal box upside down and shaking it to signify that it was empty. A single fly buzzed out of the boy, and was immediately snapped up by Toad. "What?"

Maxis rolled his eyes, and strode out the door. "Hey, where're you going?" Lance called after him. "Breakfast," Maxis replied, digging his claws into a tree, and pulling himself into the higher branches. A lone bird sat on a branch, chirping merrily. Then, before it had a chance to react, a scaly hand shot out, grabbed it, and shoved it into the waiting mouth of Maxis. It chirped once in shock, before it found itself as a morning meal. You see, Maxis and Toad had a bit in common: they could both catch their own food. A perk of Maxis's mutation was that his digestive tract was capable of handling extremely fresh (i.e.; still living) food.

He hopped down from the tree, removing a few feathers from around his mouth. A few of the other Brotherhood members, save Toad, were looking rather disgusted. "That ain't right," Pietro remarked, wrinkling his nose. "Ugh, you right about that," Lance agreed. "Ewwww..." Freddy added.

"That was hella tight, yo," Toad said, admiring how easily Maxis had found breakfast.

Now with a full stomach, Maxis grabbed his school bag, and set off towards school, leaving Pietro, Lance, Freddy, and Todd behind.

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His day at school was different than either Morgan or Raze's. He skipped just enough classes to be just shy of getting suspended, and attended only the ones that interested him, like Biology. He spent his lunch with the rest of the Brotherhood members, laughing about the teachers, or making fun of the Xavier kids.

"Fight after school. That Raze kid wants to take down Matthews," Maxis said, overhearing the short conversation.

"The loner? Matthews'll tear him apart," Lance remarked.

"Naw, the Raze kid has style. Not as much as me, mind you, but enough. He'll be fine," Pietro said.

"I'm just glad it ain't me, ya know?" Todd chimed in.

"Yeah, you'd probably end up in biology class as a dissection subject for Maxis," Pietro responded, giving Todd a shove.

"Yo, man, that ain't cool," came the reply.

Lunch progressed much in the same way as this, with several more mean comments being aimed at Todd. The poor kid suffered a lot of abuse at the hands of his "friends", but he stuck with them, because they were all the family he had. Maxis was less cruel than the others, probably because of the nature of his own mutation.

By the end of the day, all five members of the Brotherhood were gathered with the rest of the crowd to watch the fight. Pietro was holding a bag of popcorn and a soda. No one really knew where he got them, and no one really wanted to know. They just figured that there was a very confused movie-goer sitting in a theatre somewhere, and wondering where his snacks went. Todd was cheering for Raze, who seemed to be the underdog at the beginning of the match. Because he was shorter than most, he ended up sitting on Freddy's shoulders to watch the fight. Lance cursed everytime one of Duncan's punches missed, but cheered when Raze finally went skidding across the pavement. Pietro was multitasking as always, between eating his popcorn, flirting with a cheerleader, watching the fight, flirting with another cheerleader, and laughing everytime Lance swore. When Duncan finally went down, he cheered, and slapped Lance on the back. "Ha! I told you that the loner would win! Cough it up, loser!" Grumbling, Lance fished a fistful of twenty dollar bills out of his pocket, and grudgingly handing them to Pietro. The speedster promptly returned to the two cheerleaders waiting for him and walked off, his arms around both of their waists.

Maxis had been intently watching the fight, and had noticed the brief flicker of flame in Raze's hand. "Hmmm... Probably imagining things," he said, and walked off with the rest of the Brotherhood members.

Aright what do you guys think of Maxis? And next chapter, we'll probably have a bit of plotline. Keep in mind that not all of my characters will be in every chapter. Some of them will center on Xavier's, some of them around the Brotherhood, and some of them around Raze's interactions with both of them. Also, while I've been updating rather quickly, don't expect an update every day. Sometimes it may take me more than a month to get around to writing. Just so you know.

Anyways, keep up the reviews!

Until next time,

Stay Snazzy!