Lance vs Pietro (Fight for Brotherhood leadership, Todd influences outcome) – Requested by Amicitia

Magneto turned as the door slid open to the enormous, metal-lined room, carefully disguising the surprise on his features. Not that he was surprised about the door itself opening; he'd been expecting the arrival of visitors. No, the surprise had been the way that the visitors in question had asked – demanded – an audience. He'd allowed this more out of curiosity than anything else.
His curiosity only grew as the Brotherhood, with a plainly furious Avalanche at their head, advanced on him and stopped a short distance in front of him.
"Is there a problem?" The master of magnetism enquired.
"Damn right there is," Lance growled. He jerked his thumb sideways at Pietro. "Exactly why is he in charge of us now?"
Pietro rolled his eyes but didn't change facial expression from his trademark smirk; evidently he wasn't going to say anything. Magneto frowned.
"I was led to believe this had been explained to you."
"Quickie's been going on about how he's in charge now. But since this isn't the first time he's come up with some dumbass story like this, I want to hear it from you."
"What difference would that make?"
Lance snorted. "It's not like he's prime leadership material. Everyone in the Hood, he's stabbed in the back at some point. All I want is a decent reason why you'd put him in charge."
Magneto raised an eyebrow. "As has been explained to you, I feel that the Brotherhood may yet be of some use. Quicksilver has been selected as the most responsible of you to further your training, so you can realise your potential as elite soldiers for the cause."
"Quickie's the most responsible?" Lance shook his head in disbelief. "The closest he comes to responsibility is knowing who he can lay the blame on when things fuck up!"
Magneto's eyes roved over the rest of the Brotherhood. "You all agree with what Avalanche is saying?"
Pietro held up his hands. "Hey, the guy wouldn't listen to me. I told him to accept the judgement you passed down, but he insisted…"
Wanda nodded. "We tried to tell him."
For his part, Fred looked torn. Finally, he cleared his throat. "Uh, well, y'know… we was wonderin' how come Pietro was made leader when, uh, Lance's sorta been a leader to us from the start… y'know? So we figured, you could maybe tell us?"
His eyes settling on Todd, Magneto regarded the lanky teen for a long moment before clearing his throat. "And you, Toad? Are you at all displeased with the… decisions… I've made?"
Todd's yellow eyes didn't waver. "Ain't my place to question decisions, boss-man. Even if I don't agree wit' 'em. I just try to fix somethin' if it seems wrong."
"Indeed?"
His upper lip curled for a brief moment; then, his eyes flickering toward Wanda, he nodded. "Yeah."
Lance, meanwhile, shook his head angrily. "We just want to know why."

Nodding, Magneto settled his gaze on Pietro. "I chose Quicksilver for this task because I was under the impression that he would be accepted as leader, and that it would benefit the Brotherhood as a whole."
Pietro's smirk grew in direct proportion to Lance's scowl; Magneto continued regardless.
"Though it would appear that I may have been mistaken."
Everyone blinked.
"What?" Pietro managed after a moment.
"Evidently you have not been accepted as leader in the way I had hoped," Magneto said simply. "And perhaps the situation needs to be rectified. Avalanche?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you feel you would make a better leader than Quicksilver?"
For a long moment, Lance locked eyes with Magneto; then his eyes cut to Quicksilver. "I don't know," he said at last. "You never put anyone 'officially' in charge except Mystique, and she was never there. I don't know if I could do better than Pietro, but I got us this far." His eyes were level. "I wouldn't be any worse."
"And the rest of you?" Magneto turned to them. "I suppose you feel you'd make equal or better leaders than Quicksilver? Or that you'd prefer Avalanche was placed in a position of command against my decision?"
Pietro's grin was wavering. "You… you're kidding, right?"
Magneto shot a dark look at him. "I placed you in a position of command and your troops are already in revolt. Is this supposed to impress me, Quicksilver? Because it sadly has not."
As Pietro wilted, Fred looked troubled. "Uh…" he started. "I… I don't reckon I'd be a good leader. An' prob'ly nobody else'd be as good as Quickie or Mudslide. But… well… we was just wonderin' was all…"
"We discussed it, father," Wanda cut in. "We agreed that if we spoke to you and told you what we thought, we'd accept whatever judgement you handed down after that."
Todd remained silent throughout this exchange, his yellow eyes never leaving Magneto's face. Every aspect of his body language screamed his mistrust of the tall man before him – but he remained quiet, watching. Magneto only regarded him for a moment before turning his back on them in thought.

After a few seconds he spoke again, not turning to face the Brotherhood.
"Very well. Since Avalanche and Quicksilver are the two 'prime candidates' for leadership – and since I have your word that you will accept my decision once it has been made – I will give this matter some thought. Quicksilver, Avalanche, you are to remain here. The rest of you may wait elsewhere; you will be called when the matter is settled."
Wanda instantly headed for the door, Fred trailing uncertainly after her; Todd stayed where he was a moment longer. "An' how you gonna settle this 'matter', yo?"
Everyone looked at Magneto. He frowned.
"This matter shall be settled in a gentlemanly fashion, Toad. Since I have my doubts that you could understand such a sentiment, I'll thank you to obey my orders and follow your companions."
Todd glared at Magneto a moment longer before turning silently and following Fred and Wanda toward the door. Lance and Pietro, on the other hand, looked at Magneto expectantly.

"Well," the master of magnetism began with a humourless smile. "Alone at last."
Pietro had somehow gone paler than usual. "You… you aren't seriously considering changing your mind… are you?"
Magneto's face was impassive. "I placed you in a position of command and leadership. And quite obviously, you have failed to repay that promotion by upholding the position I gave to you. It would appear that you were not as worthy a leader as I had believed."
Lance smirked; even as he did so, Magneto turned on him.
"And you, Avalanche. Had it occurred to you that I know full well of your supposed 'leadership' capabilities? I considered them before promoting Quicksilver. You were talking about betrayal, but to the best of my recollection he never attempted to join the X-Men at any point, unlike yourself. You truly think that I would make such a decision lightly? Yet you seem to doubt my ability to make decisions."
Cowed, Lance lowered his head and said nothing.
"I am disappointed in the both of you," Magneto went on. "Neither of you is capable of following orders, which leads me to wonder if you are at all capable of delivering them. However, since one of you must assume this position, I feel it most prudent that your punishment for failure should also resolve this problem."
Lance and Pietro exchanged a confused look before the latter turned back to his father. "What do you…"
"I said that you would settle this matter in a gentlemanly fashion. And so you will – a duel is in order."
"A duel?" Lance asked incredulously. "You want us to fight?"
Magneto nodded. "I do. And the victor will assume leadership of the Brotherhood. Fight as much as you feel to be necessary, but remember that – if you win, you lead."
Both boys looked uncertain; Pietro cleared his throat. "Are you sure? I mean… well, Lance and I might argue once in a while, but you're talking about -"
"I know full well what I am talking about, Quicksilver. And frankly I don't care if you feel uncomfortable fighting one another. A leader must occasionally perform a task he finds distasteful – much like I am doing now. It gives me no great pleasure to give you this ultimatum, but you've left me with little choice."
"You're serious," Lance stated flatly. Magneto's humourless smile returned slightly.
"I am, Avalanche. Or are you disobeying another order? I suppose I could always place one of the other Acolytes in the position of leadership… I doubt that they would have such qualms as the two of you…"
The two boys exchanged another look, then turned back to Magneto. "We do this…" Pietro said falteringly, "…and that's it?"
"The winner of your duel will be assigned leader of the Brotherhood. I doubt I can make it clearer than that."
There was a long moment of silence before Lance and Pietro looked at each other and shrugged.
"If you insist," said Lance.

----

Floating near the roof of the large room, Magneto looked down at the two boys as they faced off. After a moment they glanced up at him; he raised his hands coolly.
"Begin."
There was a second of mutual hesitation; and then they did.

Pietro, of course, moved first; in a blur of silvery-white he shot across the room, cannoning into Lance with enough force to send the larger boy tumbling across the room. Pressing has advantage, Pietro kept at him, his hands literally forming a whirlwind of lightning-fast punches into Lance's chest, sending the rock tumbler even further backwards.
More through chance than skill, Lance managed to close one hand around Pietro's left wrist; swiftly, holding the speedster firmly, he yanked Pietro's wrist down at the same time as he swung his helmet-clad skull in for a vicious headbutt. The impact jolted Pietro back as Lance's other hand swung up, fist clenched tightly, to send a powerful blow into the pale youth's temple. Twisting free, Pietro stumbled away.
Both boys were bleeding now, and prior reservations were giving way to anger, enough to make the fight real. Lance thundered forward, hands clenched into big bony hammers; Pietro sprang nimbly back and swiftly melted into a silver blur once more as he raced in a tight circle around Lance. For an instant the rising wind pressed into Lance; then dozens of rapid-fire impacts struck him from all angles as Pietro landed blow after blow. Staggering back, the older boy nearly fell over before his eyes narrowed and the floor began to shake. A cry came from the blurring whirlwind around him as Pietro lost his balance, tripped, and sprawled on the far side of the room from lost momentum.
Before he could get up, Lance was moving toward him rapidly; tremors moved through the floor in time with Lance's steps, keeping Pietro off-balance and unable to get to his feet. In seconds, Lance reached him, yanked the speedster up, and brought one fist crashing into Pietro's chest, crumpling the pale boy to the ground again. Lance advanced once more; Pietro, however, recovered quicker than expected. Before Lance could trigger his powers again the speedster was back on his feet and moving. One swift punch knocked Lance to the floor before Pietro moved away, having realised the futility of trying to go blow-for-blow with the much stronger boy.
Shaking his head, Lance regained his feet once more and shot one hand toward Pietro in an angry motion; in response the floor seemed to ripple like water, moving rapidly toward the speedster with almost enough power to shatter the skinny boy's ankles. In response Pietro moved – not across the unstable floor, but zipping toward the wall and literally running along the vertical surface, racing toward Lance almost faster than the eye could see. Even as the wave of seismic energy was striking the far wall, Pietro's arm came up to form a horizontal hook-shape; at blinding speed he swept past Lance, his arm striking the older boy under the chin with almost enough force to snap his neck. This didn't happen, but the impact was enough to send Lance flying backwards to land flat on the floor, looking up at the roof.

Sensing victory now, Pietro swooped in on the prone Lance, prepared to end the fight; too late he saw that Lance was less stunned than he appeared. The instant the speedster was in range Lance's hand came up to grab him, tripping Pietro as he backpedalled to get away. The elder boy rose to his hands and knees as Pietro sprawled nearby, then dove forward, tackling the pale youth bodily, sending them rolling across the floor. Not releasing his grip, Lance drew back one hand and smashed it furiously into Pietro's face, bloodying the speedster's nose; Pietro jolted at the impact before bringing one knee into Lance's stomach at high speed. Lance grunted as the air was knocked out of him, but didn't release his grip. Instead he headbutted Pietro again and threw his weight sideways, sending them rolling across the floor once more.

----

Watching the two boys grapple far below him, Magneto frowned. It was becoming clear that Lance had the upper hand in close combat, and Pietro didn't look like breaking free before he was beaten into submission. Which was, of course, not what Magneto had intended.
While it was true that he'd meant for the fight to be fair, he'd also meant for Pietro to win easily. Instead it appeared that they had both underestimated Lance's skill in combat, and now his son was in danger of losing the position Magneto had so carefully cultivated for him.
Pietro, Pietro, Pietro… must I solve all of your problems for you?
It was unfortunate, was all. This would only serve to alienate Avalanche further from him; but then, the boy did need punishing for failing to accept a direct command. Pietro's punishment could come later. Right now, the situation had to be dealt with.
His cape fluttered a tiny bit as a thin sliver of metal slid out from underneath it and hovered in the air next to him. Patiently, the master of magnetism watched the brawling teens below him, waiting for his moment – which came momentarily, the deadly sliver of metal shooting downwards. It wasn't enough to do any serious damage to Avalanche, just a flesh wound to the shoulder, but it would serve to give Quicksilver the upper hand in the battle and reinstate him as unquestioned leader of the Brotherhood –
Completely unexpectedly, something large and heavy crashed into him. His concentration gone, he plummeted downwards, the heavy weight clinging to him for an instant before pushing him away with incredible force, sending him crashing into the wall and landing in an undignified heap on the floor. Across the room he heard the shard of metal clatter uselessly to the floor; then he staggered to his feet, half in shock that someone, anyone, would dare to attack him like this.
Raising his head, he stared halfway across the room into the coldly furious eyes of the Toad.

----

On the other side of the room, Lance swore as the shard of metal rang off the floor a mere three inches from his arm. Evidently he wasn't intended to win this fight by any means – even when he had the upper hand, Magneto seemed to have no intention of letting Lance be the official leader of the Brotherhood. The best he could hope for now was to put up a decent fight before father and son overwhelmed him.
His thoughts trailed off as he glanced up to see Todd landing in a graceful crouch as Magneto collapsed in a heap against one wall, courtesy of a powerful kick delivered mid-air. For a second he was confused, until he grasped the significance of Magneto's attack missing him – Todd had interrupted the master of magnetism's attack, preventing the fight from being fixed as Magneto had obviously intended…
Abruptly a sharp blow to the head brought his thoughts back to the here and now. Underneath him Pietro had managed to get one arm free; now he punched Lance square in the face, stunning the older boy and giving Pietro all the distraction he needed to break free completely. The speedster's eyes were bright with anger, ready to attack relentlessly if needs be, and he regained his feet in a blur. Lance was slower, and the instant he was standing again Pietro moved forward, kicking the rock tumbler's feet out from under him and delivering another three punches before Lance had even hit the floor.

----

"Toad!" Magneto bellowed. "Are you out of your mind?"
"Bach atcha," Todd called belligerently. "Thought this was gonna be a gen'leman's fight, yo. Not some one-sided schtick you were gonna set up so's Pie-Pie can't lose."
Rage nearly overwhelmed him. "My decisions are my own to make-"
"Not when you gonnna stab my buddies in the back, yo. I ain't got nuthin' against Quickie, but if this is gonna settle the issue then just let it go! Let 'em duke it out!"
Magneto shook his head. "You have no idea what you're talking about. I understand my actions and their consequences, unlike you-"
Todd grinned nastily, displaying teeth as yellow as his eyes. "I know exactly what I'm doin' boss-man. Obeyin' an order to let those two fight it out an' decide the leader of the 'Hood that way."
Rising a full foot off the floor, Magneto shook his head, unable to believe Todd's arrogance. "I ordered you to leave the room! What I do is of no concern to you unless I wish it, and I will not let my own flesh and blood to come to harm while I…"
"Like you did Wanda?" Todd called. Shocked anger silenced the master of magnetism long enough for Todd to continue: "You were helping yo' own flesh an' blood when you mindfucked her, huh? 'Cause it looked to me like you were bein' a manipulative prick than a good dad-"
That was as far as he got. With an inarticulate cry of rage, Magneto's hand shot out, and in response a trio of blades whipped out from where they were secured on his person and hurtled toward Todd.

Instantly Todd bounded into the air, tongue shooting out and wrapping around the first blade, sending it off-course to smash into a wall. As the second and third blades buzzed past him, one long arm grabbed the wall and pulled the lanky youth in close before he kicked off it, sailing right across the room to ricochet off the adjacent wall in a spectacular somersault. Magneto's weapons turned in midair to follow him, the master of magnetism turning to see where Todd was now – just as the Toad crashed bodily into him like a cannonball and sent them both tumbling across the floor.
Moving rapidly, Todd pinned Magneto's arms with his powerful legs and swung his fists. Two punches landed on Magneto's jaw in quick succession; then with a snarl the older mutant moved. His legs came up from behind, striking Todd in the back of the head as his weapons returned, cutting laterally through the air toward the youth.
Releasing Magneto, Todd leaped backwards into a spectacular backwards somersault, neatly avoiding all three blades; instantly, however, Magneto levitated back to a standing position and flew forward rapidly. Even as Todd landed he crashed into the boy, one iron-clad hand gripping Todd's throat as he lifted the two of them high above the floor.
Struggling wildly, Todd brought one powerful leg crashing up into Magneto's knee, a blow that almost broke the bone. Though he cried out at the impact, Magneto didn't release his grip, instead joining it with his other hand and strangling Todd with all his strength. His face twisting, Todd's mouth worked, and suddenly a gob of green slime spat out and splattered against Magneto's breastplate. A moment later it began to sizzle; apparently the goo was highly acidic.
Letting out a roar of frustration, Magneto hurled the choking boy against the nearby wall, where Todd fell down to the floor; ignoring him for the moment, Magneto unclasped his armour before the acid ate through it. Freed from it confines and now relying on the rest of his armour to keep him levitating, he looked down just in time to see the Toad leaping upwards once more, tongue lashing out to wrap around his ankle and drag him downwards through the air.

----

Lance rolled to one side as Pietro kicked him, feeling the impact bruise his ribs. Desperately he lashed out with one foot, hoping to knock Pietro's feet out from under him; the speedster jumped the blow with contemptuous ease, sneering down at him. A wicked grin breaking across his face, Pietro stepped back and resumed his whirlwind-fast circling of Lance.
For a moment Lance looked up at him, confused, before getting to his feet. Glancing over at the where Todd and Magneto were fighting across the room, he felt a sickening feeling in his chest; there was no way Todd could hope to beat Magneto in a fight. All he could do was buy Lance time, and there was no point in that if he couldn't even beat Pietro –
Abruptly he lost his balance. It wasn't from a physical blow; the wind raised by Pietro's rapid circling was making him unsteady on his feet, which was strange because now Pietro was going even faster, much faster than he had before.
With a cry Pietro increased his speed further, feeling the wind burning his face and bringing tears to his eyes. Muscles straining, he kept up the pace – and then a cry from Lance made it all worthwhile as the tightly-packed air in middle of his miniature cyclone formed a real vortex, and Lance was jerked off his feet and high into the air by a miniature but growing tornado.
Rocketing upwards, Lance's mind raced – all Pietro had to do now was stop and he'd plummet back to the floor. If the impact didn't knock him out cold, Pietro would do it a moment later, and that'd end the fight. To say nothing of what Pietro and Magneto together would do to Todd, he thought darkly. That sealed it. Gritting his teeth, Lance concentrated. If he distracted Pietro he'd still fall, but maybe he could get some advantage out of it.
As the floor of the entire room shook, Pietro stumbled and tripped once more; his balance lost, he staggered out of control, colliding headfirst with the wall before him and falling back onto the floor, dazed. Above him Lance felt the wind die down in an instant before gravity caught up to him, halting his ascension before he dropped like a stone, bracing himself for the impact with the floor –

----

Yanked down by the simultaneously rising Todd, Magneto grunted as they collided in the air and fell downwards, Todd's long limbs wrapping around him. Twisting in the air, Todd managed to get atop Magneto before they hit the floor, using the older man to cushion his impact; though his remaining armour prevented serious damage, without his breastplate Magneto felt the air crushed out of him by the impact.
Straddling Magneto, Todd sneered down at him for an instant before drawing back one fist and smacking the older man in the face. While the master of magnetism was recovering from the punch, Todd bounded to his feet, yanked Magneto up, and kicked him in the back – a blow that sent Magneto literally flying into the wall to collapse in an untidy sprawl, panting.
Knocking the older man away, however, was a mistake – an instant later one of Magneto's three blades spun by, carving a shallow wound in Todd's arm. Ducking the next, Todd howled as the final blade embedded itself in his leg. Distracted by the pain, he looked away from Magneto; when he looked back, Magneto was moving.
Charging forward, his speed augmented by magnetic force pulling his armour. Magneto led the charge with one fist extended, plowing right into the defenceless Todd and knocking the lanky boy down with a savage blow to the head. Even as Todd was falling Magneto dropped to his own knees, pinning the boy's chest down. With a flicker of his fingers, all three of his blades whirled in and poised themselves at Todd's throat, ready to kill the boy in an instant.
Satisfied that the Toad was at least momentarily subdued, Magneto looked up to see Avalanche holding another blade – the one he'd originally thrown at Avalanche – to his son's throat.

"Let him go," Lance called. He was panting, his head was ringing, and he was bleeding from several places. He also suspected he had at least one broken rib. The landing had hurt him, but the impact with the wall had hurt Pietro more; the pale boy was still dazed and wasn't even struggling against Lance's grip.
"Let him go," he repeated. "Let him go or I'll kill Pietro."
Magneto regarded him cooly, despite his now-bedraggled appearance. "I think you're bluffing, Avalanche. I don't think you'd really kill your friend, would you?"
"That's what you think? Well, I think you'll kill Todd if I let you. And then you'll kill me. So I don't have a lot to lose, which means I'm sure as fuck not bluffing."
Magneto paused, then looked down at the defenceless Todd, who glared up at him, not speaking. He could, of course, pull the blade from Avalanche's hand; but he was a little worn out himself after subduing the Toad. Focusing his attention on Avalanche would mean removing his attention from the Toad, which would probably allow the young man to break free again, which would make the situation drastically worse.
"And supposing I do let him up?" Magneto asked, buying time. "What then?"
"I let Pietro go and we forget the whole thing."
"Hmm. Avalanche, I must say… after all this, I'm not sure I trust any of the Brotherhood, least of all yourself or the Toad. Why would I risk it?"
Lance regarded him evenly for a long moment, then nodded. "A compromise."
"What?" Magneto raised an eyebrow.
"You let Todd go, I let Pietro go. Then it's all over. No more leadership trouble."
Magneto laughed. "You expect me to believe you'd just let it go?"
"You were talking about leadership," Lance shot back. "Well, here's a sacrifice. I won this fight fair and square, and we both know it. Even with you trying to help Pietro I won. By all rights I'm the new leader. But I'll make you a deal – you let us go and we forget this whole thing ever happened. Pietro's back in charge of the Brotherhood and it's like we never even came here today."
"Interesting…" Magneto considered. "And how can I trust you?"
Lance laughed bitterly. "Easy," he said. "You'd kill me if I lied."
For another long moment, Magneto did not move. Then, at last, he nodded. The blades at Todd's throat clattered to the floor and he rose fluidly, leaving the boy to get up on his own.
"Deal."
Sighing, Lance dropped his own blade and helped Pietro to his feet.

----

Fred and Wanda looked up as the door slid open to admit three sorry figures; Pietro, Todd and Lance, in varying degrees of physical suffering, came into the room and stood there, the latter two supporting Pietro between them.
"What the fuck happened?" Wanda demanded. "First Lance is firing off earthquakes Toadboy storms off in a huff, then there's all that noise… what happened to you three?"
Todd and Lance exchanged a look; silent agreement passed between them.
"Issue's solved, yo," Todd said quietly. "Pie-Pie's back in charge."
"But…" Fred looked confused. "What happened in there? What's goin' on?"
"Don't worry about it, big guy," Lance cut him off. "Mags got angry is all. It's over now. We're going home."
"But…"
"No."
The sorry trio made their way toward the exit; Fred and Wanda exchanged a confused look and followed them. As they neared the door, Pietro rolled his head back and pawed at Lance's shoulders.
"Lance…" he croaked.
The rock tumbler looked down at him. "Yeah?"
"I'm sorry… I couldn't have stopped him… I was just trying to end it so I could call him off…"
For an instant, Lance's face softened. Then he shook his head. "No need for an apology, Quickie. Let's just go home."
The door slid open in front of them, and they left in silence.

In another part of the facility, Magneto looked at a large screen, watching the Brotherhood's sorry exodus from his headquarters. His head was still ringing from his tangle with the Toad; likewise his dignity was still smarting from Avalanche's defeat of his son and subsequent control of the situation. Clearly he had underestimated the Brotherhood…
Then, strangely, he smiled and turned away from the screen.
"The potential of the Brotherhod," he said softly. "A force of elite soldiers, indeed…"
Walking away from the bright screen, he began to chuckle softly to himself.