Author's Note: I'm showing the Brotherhood in a more...familial light in this fic. And yes, before anyone says it, I know Sinister isn't a member of the Brotherhood, and I know he isn't a quiet short little dude. I'm taking creative license here, having fun with how Sinister might've been if he hadn't gone all bonkers.

Chapter Three

Wanda wandered through the lair sporadically. Her father saw her once in the morning to eat breakfast, and then she was set loose for the day.

Wanda found that she had an excellent sense of direction, and despite the labyrinthine build of the Brotherhood compound, she was always able to find where she needed to go.

She occasionally bumped in to the others, the people who worked for her father. Acolytes, he called them. Brothers.

So far, she had been acquainted with Mystique, she and the shape shifter occasionally spoke, but they were often just able to sit in comfortable silence. Neither one of them were big talkers.

Sabretooth, who despite her father's warnings of an explosive temper, treated her with the respect of a colleague and kept a careful eye on her- lest she get on the wrong side of one of the more volatile residents of the Island. She thought of him as more of an older brother than the overeager Pietro.

Freddy Dukes, a shy teenager with an enormous girth and height, and the demeanor of a puppy. He was a nice boy, she realized, and always gave him a smile whenever they met.

A small, pale Englishman she knew only as Sinister seemed to live in the underground labs. He was quirky and spoke like a man of the past, and had the immaculate manners of one as well. She often watched him as he worked in the lab, and he welcomed her company- though he spoke little. But that suited the both of them fine.

He was currently re-engineering the genetics of dinosaurs he had found in, of all places, Antarctica.

Pietro, her twin, followed her as if they had been joined by the hip. He didn't seem to grasp the concept that she needed her space, and she sometimes went out of her way to avoid him.

Pyro. Ah, Pyro…he had recently burst in to puberty, and didn't let her forget it for a moment. He was a constant flirt, and a hassle to be around, so she found herself avoiding him too.

Gambit was just as much of a flirt, but she found him a little easier on the nerves. He was more charming than the younger man, and besides…his accent was so…cute. Sometimes she had no idea to what he was saying, but it didn't really matter anyway.

The four she had neglected to meet, she was told, were reclusive by nature, and usually only out and about at night, or when called by Magneto.

She remembered the pilot on the day of her rescue, and asked about him a few days later over breakfast. Sabretooth raised an eyebrow at her inquiry.

"His name's T--," he remembered his earlier conversation with the amphibianoid. He was crushing on Wanda pretty bad—no need to make it harder on him by telling her his less-than-intimidating nickname. "—Mort. He's a shy guy, almost as bad as Mastermind."

"Oh. So, what does he look like, in case I run in to him?" Sabretooth looked blank for a minute as he thought. Best to tell her now, he supposed. Although Wanda was far from bigoted, Toad's appearance was always a bit of a shocker.

"He's a few inches shorter than you, pretty well build…green," he added as casually as possible.

"Green? Tinted green, or—?"

" Just green," he clarified.

"Oh," she said.

"He doesn't like people much,' he admitted. "But he's a nice enough guy," he added the defense quickly. Victor and Mort fought and teased more often than not, but anyone could see they were close, close as kin.

"What about the others? Mastermind, Archangel, Avalanche?"

"Mastermind's bitter and a bit…" he twirled his finger next to his left temple. "Archangel had a bad run-in with Apocalypse a few years back. He got turned blue, and now he's all angsty and shit," Vic had never been fond of the former X-Man. Sure, Pyro had been with the Xies, but only as a student. Angel had been a full-fledged Goody-Goody for some years.

And sure, he claimed loyalty to Magneto—but how could anyone be positive? Whenever they fought the X-Men, Angel found some excuse to get out of it, or only fought for minimal injury. Suspicious.

"Vic?" Wanda's voice broke him from his reverie. "I asked you about Avalanche…"

"Oh," said Sabretooth with a shrug. "Normal teenage angst. He took a leaf outta Mortimer's book and started working on mechanics. Hasn't left his room in ages,"

"Mort's a mechanic?" Wanda inquired.

"Yeah, he built almost everything electrical you see around here…security, appliances, AC and heating, weaponry, computers, transport…"

"Wow," said Wanda, impressed. Sabretooth grinned. Now he had information to barter with the younger, green mutant. He would kill to give information that Wanda had mentioned him in casual conversation. Toad would also, he figured with some satisfaction, tune up his bike for the info.