AN: Oh, Pietro. I shake my head at him, but what can you do? In this Chapter, Pietro takes his sister out on a little trip to the horse park. You see, he's about to test his theory that having a hex witch for a sister may just be a bit more profitable than anyone suspected.

Thanks for reading!

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Chapter 15

"Pietro, what are we doing here?"

Pietro took a deep breath and looked over at Wanda, his eyes deceptively wide. "Just thought you might want to do something fun, you know. Get out of the house." He waved his hand negligently. "Be outside."

She quirked a brow at him in a manner that reminded him scarily of their father. "Oh, really? The race track?" She looked around dubiously at the mostly-empty section they were seated in, obviously confused. There were very few people in the stands; mostly old people and a few shifty looking individuals drinking beer out of plastic cups.

Pietro smiled innocently. "Sure. Come on. You like horses, don't you?" Did she? Was that one of the things their father had Mastermind implant in her head, a love of horses? He couldn't keep it straight anymore.

"Not really," Wanda said, shrugging, but she looked around curiously. "This is a weird sort of idea for brother-sister-bonding, Pietro," she said, concerned. "Or do you just want to hang out here because they'll serve you beer?"

"Kind of, but that's not the point." He threw her an easy smile and winked. "Just…you know. Didn't think we'd run in to anyone annoying here." He picked up the schedule of races, his eyes scanning the horses. He found what he wanted and hid a smile. If the clock was correct, he had a good ten minutes before the next race started.

Plenty of time.

"You want a pretzel or something? I'm going to go get a drink. A pop," he said, holding his hands up at her look. "No beer. Promise."

"Just a Diet Coke. And maybe a pretzel," she said begrudgingly, a small smile on her face. He grinned at her and dashed off, making his way to the interior where they sold the snacks.

More importantly, it was also where they took the bets.

He sauntered up to the window, money in hand, and pushed it over to the bored-looking man behind the counter. "Fifty bucks on Chase the Money to win," Pietro said confidently.

"Son, those are 30-to-one odds," a man behind him said. "You sure you wanna waste fifty bucks?"

Pietro grinned. "I'm feeling lucky." He took his ticket and sauntered off to the concession stands, fishing ten dollars out of his pocket to buy snacks. He really hoped this worked; that was all the money he had left.

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo

He handed Wanda her pretzel and Diet Coke, then sat beside her and waited for the race to start. Pietro took a deep breath, his eyes on the gates. He had to time this just right, or else it wouldn't work.

"Oh, look! Here they come." Wanda leaned forward in her seat, watching as the horses paraded by with their jockeys on top, bedecked in brightly colored uniforms. "What happens next?"

"They run," Pietro said, leaning back in his chair, watching Wanda carefully. "You have a favorite?"

"Yeah," she said, picking up her copy of the racing schedule. "Red River." She grinned. "Red, you know. What about you?"

"Oh. Dunno. Maybe…" he perused the names as if he hadn't looked at them before. "Valiant?"

"How noble of you," she said, laughing a little, and part of him was glad to hear her laughing and the other part of him felt a little…

No. Not guilty. This has to be done…we need the money, and she'd never agree to do it if I told her about it first.

The announcer came on over the PA system, and Pietro turned his attention to his sister. "So…your friend Rogue. Think she'd sleep with me?"

Startled, Wanda turned to him. "What? Um…no." She rolled her eyes and turned back towards the racetrack.

"Really? I mean, she's cute. I bet she'd like it, don't you think? I mean, you'd figure any guy who'd at least try…"

"Pietro, would you shut up? I'm trying to watch the race. Isn't this why you brought me here?" She scowled at him and he felt air around them shift, just a little. Pietro knew about air and currents, could sense when they were altered even in the slightest, so he knew exactly what that meant.

The tracks swung open and the horses began to run. Chase the Money was already in trouble, in dead last, after they'd barely cleared the gates.

The race would be about two minutes long, which given his sister's temper, was long enough. "Say, sis. Speaking of dating, you gonna go out with anyone, ever?"

"Can you be quiet? I'm trying to watch."

He sucked in a breath, feeling the slight flare of her powers affecting the air between them. "Hey! I got it. You're dating Rogue, aren't you?"

"Pietro, that's ridiculous. She's my friend, not my girlfriend. I'm not Tabby."

Damn it. She sounded more amused than angry.

"Oh. I just figured…Dad thinks maybe you like girls," he said wildly, searching for something. "He…he told me. That, um…if you were, he'd be pissed."

"Father told you he'd be pissed if I was a lesbian?" She turned a dark glare on him. "Why? That's asinine."

"Yeah, well. He said that maybe you should stop shopping at Hot Topic and maybe guys would like you. He kinda has a point, sis. You know, you do scare off just about every guy that even might be interested…"

The announcer's voice boomed, sharp and excited. "And…I can't believe it! From the back—who would have thought it--Chase the Money is making a comeback!"

Pietro hid a triumphant smile, looking over at his obviously-furious sister. The air was fairly sparking with power as her anger grew, but the race was almost over…

"So we kinda thought maybe you were sleeping with Stripes. Which is going to break Toad's heart, but that's okay. It's not like you really care about him."

"What? I—Pietro, why are you being such an ass?" She was breathing very quickly, her fingers clenched into fists as he continued.

"Well, because. I mean, maybe you need to face up to the truth, sis. Maybe the shaved hair and the weird eye-makeup is just a ploy for attention." He was really reaching now, and he knew it. "Father thinks you're just going through some adolescent rebellious stage."

"Oh, does he?" She stood up, glaring at him, and he could feel her power stirring the fine fair hairs on his arm.

"I don't believe it!" the announcer yelled. "Chase the Money has moved into the lead as the horses come around the turn…" he fell silent as the horses approached the grandstand for the final stretch.

"Yeah. He thinks you do a lot of stuff for attention. Sometimes he calls me and tells me about it, but he tells me not to say anything to you so you don't go all psycho like you did at the mall."

Wanda made a choked sound that was very reminiscent of a sob; Pietro ignored her and watched in glee as his horse beat the 30-to-1 odds to finish first. The payoff board blinked and Pietro sprang to his feet, ignoring Wanda's harsh breathing.

"Wait here a sec," he said, dashing off to reclaim his winnings.

The man behind the counter gave a low whistle. "What were the odds of that happening?" he asked, shaking his head as he counted out Pietro's money.

"Better than you'd think," Pietro said smugly, then pocketed his winnings and made his way back to where his sister sat, furious and shaking, in the seats where he'd left her. "Here," he said, shoving the money at her. "Take it."

"What the hell is this? Did you just rob someone?" She stared at the money and then him with an expression caught between confusion and anger. There was hurt, as well, but Pietro tried not to notice that.

"It's money. For the bills. I bet on the horse that won, fifty bucks. So we won like fifteen hundred. Don't know, didn't count it, but it's enough for bills isn't it?"

Wanda stared at him. "You bet fifty dollars on the longshot? Wasn't that stupid? I mean, if he'd have lost?"

"I wouldn't have lost, sis." He raked a hand through his hair, suddenly very tired.

"How do you know? I mean, the odds of that—" her eyes widened as comprehension dawned. "You did it on purpose. Angered me, so my powers would flare up. So that I'd alter the probability without even realizing it. So you could fix the race."

He nodded. "Yeah. Dad didn't say any of that stuff, and I don't think you like girls."

She was staring at him as if she'd never seen him before. "Pietro…I have no idea what to say to you."

"How about, thanks for the pretzel? I could have bet more, but I spent ten bucks on snacks."

Wanda didn't say anything to that, just counted the money and then put it in her purse. "It's enough to pay for bills this month, and maybe go grocery shopping." Her hands appeared to be shaking.

"Yeah. I figured." He looked around, bored. "Let's go. Unless you want to go double or nothing?"

Her glare was all the answer he needed. He knew she was unhappy; he could tell by the set of her shoulders as they walked back to the Jeep. Pietro wisely remained silent as they drove home. Wanda didn't look at him; he had no idea what she was thinking, and figured it was safest not to ask.

He pulled the Jeep into the driveway, hoping Lance was still busy with Kitty and wouldn't notice that he'd taken it. He switched the ignition off, but before he could climb out, his sister's hand wrapped vise-like around his wrist.

"Pietro."

"Yeah?" he looked at her, somewhat apprehensive.

"I…that was really sort of smart," she said at length, as if she'd really rather not. "I hate to say it, but…I'm sort of proud of you for coming up with that plan."

He grinned, pleased. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. But if you ever do it again…" her fingers tightened, and the look on her face was fierce. "I'll kill you, do you hear me? No one uses me. Not father, not you. Not anyone." Her breathing was shallow, and her face was flushed. "You'll regret it. You will."

He believed her. "I know," he said, his voice curiously soft. "I know, sis. I won't."

They stared at each other for a long time, and then she let go of him and went into the house. Pietro stayed outside a few more minutes, trying to figure out what he was feeling. Good, of course, that he'd found a way to find some money, but…

He believed his sister. Which meant that wasn't going to work again, and that he'd have to come up with something else. All this was, of course, was a temporary solution to a much greater problem.

Setting his jaw, Pietro went inside. He had to find a way to keep them financially stable. If he didn't, he knew what would happen. They'd end up living at Xavier's with their father, and two telepaths. Eventually, either Xavier or his equally sanctimonious little cult member, Jean Grey, would tell Wanda what Magneto had done.

Pietro absolutely could not let that happen, no matter what. Things could not go back to how they used to be.

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo

Later that night, he found Lance sitting downstairs on the sofa, staring absently at the television. There was some stupid horror movie on Channel 11, something about stupid kids camping and being chased by a knife-wielding maniac.

"Is this one of those movies where everyone who has sex dies?"

"Yeah," Lance muttered, looking bored.

"Trying to convince yourself not to do something, Alvers?" Pietro's voice was sly. He really couldn't help it; Alvers just made it so easy to annoy him.

To his surprise, Lance laughed. "No, dude. It's not the knife-wielding maniacs. It's the babies and the shit job for the rest of my life that keeps me on the straight and narrow." He winced. "Mostly. Sometimes…"

"Dude, there are ways around the babies," Pietro said, shrugging. "You could always sleep with Blob."

Lance threw a pillow at him without evening looking. "Shut up. You wanna watch this?"

"Nah." Pietro leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "You talk to my sister?"

Lance looked up at that, his eyes speculative. "Yeah. How'd you come up with all that money so fast?"

"Because I said I would," Pietro said with a smirk. At Lance's continual expression of disbelief, he rolled his eyes. "I took Wanda to the horse track. I bet on a long shot and pissed her off."

"This was your grand scheme?" Lance snorted. "Dude."

"Hey, shut up. It worked! I got us fifteen hundred bucks or something, Wanda said. All I had to do was fix the odds, and hello…hex witch for a sister." Pietro grinned. "Come on, praise my genius, Alvers. You know you want to."

"You can bet I don't," Lance said, but he smiled. "Okay, fine. That was pretty smart, punk ass that you are."

"See? Was that so hard?"

"Sort of, and what are we going to do next month? Scarlett sure as hell ain't gonna go for that one again." Lance's smile was sly. "Though it'd be funny to see what she'd do to you if you tried."

"Ha, ha." Pietro found himself horribly bored with his roommate's sudden display of responsibility. "Look, I'll think of something else. I fixed it all up just like I said, didn't I?"

"Well, technically it was Wanda--"

Pietro waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, yes. But it was my idea." He looked expectantly at Lance, who remained silent. Pietro's eyes narrowed. "It was. You know it was. Why can't you just admit I did what I said I'd do and got us the money?"

The air between them shifted subtly; Pietro could tell Lance was annoyed with him. Why was everyone always so annoyed with him?

"Yes, Mr. Approval-whore, it was your idea. What the hell good is that going to do us next month? You're just going to use someone else's powers next time, is that it?" Lance stood up, clicking off the television.

"Maybe," Pietro snapped, angry. Why did no one give him any respect around here? "At least I'm doing something. Something besides making out with that goody-goody Pryde and taking cold showers."

"Whatever, dude," Lance said, obviously exasperated. He pushed past Pietro and left the room; Pietro thought for a moment to follow him, but in the end, he didn't do it.

Instead, he sat down on the couch and stared at his reflection in the slick glass. It was a school night, and he needed to go to bed, but he had a feeling it was going to be a long time before he could fall asleep.

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Miss Information: Well, Charles is totally pimpish in Ultimate, don't you think? Hee! And I'm reading AoA while in Mexico this summer on my week's tropical beach vacation to write my Ideology sequel, which is an XMMF (though AU after this Friday, of course, as Ideology was written before X3)/AOA crossover, because clearly I am crazy. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you like this one! We're getting to a point where things will go a bit wacko, and oh, Pietro is going to have a few things to worry about in the future. Ha! Thanks for reading as always!

Nercia Genesis: Next chapter there's some Rogue and Magneto, promise! It's with the beta so it should be up soon. I do hope you like Pietro being ridiculous in this chapter in the meantime :)