Chapter Nine: Mastermind
Scott made sure to keep a good pace between his and Pietro's cars. He had to admit, he overestimated Pietro. He thought for sure that he would notice him following behind, even if he was a good ways behind, but luckily Pietro was either to stupid or to distracted to notice. Scott guessed it was the former.
Pietro led him to a dirt road just barely outside of Bayville. As Pietro pulled onto the road he suddenly sped up, way above the speed limit and disappeared down the road. Scott didn't need to follow to figure out that the road led straight to Magneto's base. Scott grinned as he turned his car around and headed back to the institute. Tonight the X-Men were going to get Rogue back.
A raven sitting on a roadside post watched as the two vehicles went separate directions. It spread it's wings and right before it took off, it's eyes glowed yellow.
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Pietro sped as fast as he could without getting a speeding ticket to the Acolyte's base. It had been a long day at school. He didn't know a person could keep an evil glare on their face for such a long a time. For awhile there he was afraid that Scott was going to shove him into a locker just like Lance had done. Luckily the X-Men leader had more restraint than the brotherhood leader.
When he turned into the dirt road that led to the acolyte base he immediately pressed down on the gas and went speeding over a hundred miles per hour. "Man this would be so much faster if I could have just run," he murmured to himself.
"Hello?" Pietro called out, once inside the base. After being greeted by an unnatural silence he asked the air, "Where is everybody?"
Pietro wandered down the halls of the base towards Rogue's cell. He could see that the door was wide open, and he could hear a quiet conversation going on. He walked in to see Rogue sitting on her cot with Gambit beside her, his arm wrapped around her shoulder. Colossus and Pyro were sitting on chairs they had pulled up close to the cot. Rogue had a sad expression on her face.
"Hey Roguey," Pietro said walking in. "Whats going on?" He eyed Gambit who still had his arm around Rogue.
Rogue looked up at Pietro and managed a small smile. "Nothing . . . Ah . . ."
"The Sheila's so called friends were talking about her behind her back!" John interrupted. "Can you believe that?"
"What?" Pietro asked surprised. "How do you know that?" He crossed the room and sat down on the other side of Rogue.
"Ah tried to escape," Rogue said. "When Ah got into Bayville Ah saw Kitty and Kurt . . ." Her voice trailed off.
"Y'know chere, dey aint yor friends if dey gonna talk about y' like dat," Gambit said.
Pietro couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was no way that Kitty and Kurt would talk about Rogue, nothing mean anyway. They were her friends, and they had only been giving him death glares all day. "Did they even notice Ah was gone?" Rogue asked.
Pietro didn't like seeing Rogue sad like this, but there was no way he was going to tell her about school. The more she felt the X-Men didn't want her, the better. "Um . . . they didn't seem any different." Guilt threatened to swallow Pietro as he watched Rogue's expression go from sad to even sadder.
"Hey," he took her chin and turned her face towards him. "you don't need them anyway."
"Dat's right chere," Gambit said, trying to hide his jealousy that Pietro was touching Rogue. "Y' got us."
Rogue managed a small smile. Hearing Kitty and Kurt talk about her like that had been a knife in the heart. She hadn't realized how much they meant to her, not until she heard them in the alley that is. It made her sad to think she would never talk with them again, because the next time she saw them, she would be fighting them. They would be her enemies.
"Ah don't know if Ah can do this," Rogue said quietly. "Ah know Ah can't go back to them, but Ah don't know if Ah can fight them."
"In a few minutes you will no longer have that doubt my dear." Everyone's heads snapped toward the door where Magneto was standing. Magneto stepped into the room and behind him was the mutant known as Mastermind.
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"I know where she is." At the institute the x-men had gathered around Scott the minute he got back. Kitty and Kurt were among the first to greet him. They had been full of questions asking him if he found her, or if he had spotted her. "The base is just outside of Bayville. It should take us no time to get there."
"Very good Scott," the professor said, not bothering to hide his relief. "X-Men get ready. Wolverine, prepare the x-jet. We're going to rescue Rogue."
"Bout time," Logan growled. Wolverine wasted no time getting the jet started up. He would never admit this to anyone, but a lot of the kids at the institute had grown on him, especially Rogue. The kid was alright. Just imagining what Magneto might be doing to her pissed him off. As soon as Rogue was safe he was going to kick some serious ass.
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The front door to the brotherhood boarding house slammed open, and a very pissed off looking Mystique walked in. She took in the sight of the messy house with a disgusted look on her face. It had been bad when she was there but now it was worse. Mystique stormed into the living room where a very shocked Toad and Blob had been watching TV until she came in.
"M-mystique?" Toad asked. "Where have you been yo?"
Mystique walked over to where Toad was sitting on the couch and grabbed him by his hair. "Get off your lazy ass you disgusting Toad! We have work to do!"
"Ow! O w! Ow!" Toad whined pulling from Mystique's grasp. "What are you talking about yo? You just got back? What work? I'm confused."
"Well isn't that a first," she snarled sarcastically. "Blob where's Avalanche and the Scarlet Witch?"
Blob stared at her blankly. "Uh . . ."
"Mystique?" A voice from behind her asked. Mystique turned to see Avalanche staring at her with disbelief. Mystique smiled. He was the leader of the brotherhood, her little helper, and usually loyal to her. When she gave orders he was the one who usually followed them right away, like a good little puppy.
"Avalanche. I need you and the rest of the brotherhood to get ready." She said.
"Get ready for what?" He asked.
"We're going to take down Magneto and his acolytes. Now where is the Scarlet Witch?"
"Whoa you aint gonna want Wanda to help take down Magneto yo," Toad said, jumping up from the floor. "Magneto did this mind thing on her, and now she don't hate him."
Mystique raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What?"
"It's true," Toad confirmed. "She's a lot easier to along with now."
"Where is she right now?" Mystique asked.
"She's at the mall yo," he told her. "She left a little bit ago."
"Good," Mystique said. "If Magneto did something to her mind then she can no longer be trusted. But can I trust the rest of you?" Her eyes went from Lance, to Toad, and then to Blob. "Or have your loyalties to me fallen?"
"No way!" Lance said stepping up. "We'd follow you over Magneto any day!"
"Good," a wicked smile formed on Mystique's face. "Then get ready. We're going to pay Magneto and his acolytes a visit."
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Rogue's eyes went from Magneto to Mastermind. With all the stuff about Kitty and Kurt she had forgotten about Magneto's plans for her.
Both Remy and Pietro jumped up from their place on the cot. "Y' can't do dis to her Magneto." Remy said standing in front of Rogue. "The chere already decided to join on her own while y' were gone."
"You don't need Mastermind for this father," Pietro said, risking his father's anger. He didn't usually disagree with Magneto, he had more reason to fear him than anyone else, but for some reason he was willing to do it for Rogue.
Magneto's eyebrows lifted in surprise of Pietro's defense of Rogue. "You didn't seem to mind to much when I used this method on your sister, Pietro." Pietro stayed silent, Magneto got him with that one.
Remy was about to protest again, but Rogue interrupted him. "No, it's okay, Ah wanna do this." Pietro and the rest of the acolytes stared at Rogue in confusion.
"Whatareyousayingrogue?" Pietro asked, his speedy words sluring together making him hard to understand.
Rogue looked up at him with defeated eyes. "When ya'll first brought meh here Ah thought there was nothing ya could do to make meh join ya. But what you and Pyro said about meh not really fitting in with the x-men, and then seeing Kitty and Kurt, hearing them confirm it by talking about meh like that. Ya'll were right."
"Okay, so we were right, but that's no reason to let my father do this to you!" Pietro eyed his father nervously after he said that. If Magneto was angry he didn't show it.
"Ah know that Pietro," Rogue said. "But even though the x-men don't think of meh as family, ah still think of them as mahne. Ah can't fight them, not as long as Ah care about them so much." She motioned over to mastermind. "He can make meh forget. Ah don't want to have to fight mah family, and he can make meh forget that they were once mah family. He can make me see them as enemies. That's the only way this is going to work."
"I like your reasoning Rogue," Magneto smiled. "Very similar to my own, which is why I brought Mastermind here in the first place." He looked over to a very upset looking Pietro and Gambit, and then to the other two acolytes. "All of you leave."
For a minute there it looked like Pietro was going to defy his father big time. He glared at him for a minute and then walked out the door, not daring to look at Rogue afraid that he might change his mind. Gambit looked angry as well. It took Pyro and Colossus to get him to leave. As they led him out of the cell Remy muttered, "It shouldn't have to be dis way."
"We know mate," Pyro assured him, closing the door, leaving Magneto and Mastermind alone with Rogue.
"You do not know how glad it makes me that you've decided to let this happen, and to not fight us," Magneto said, smiling down at Rogue.
Rogue looked up at him, and then looked at Mastermind. "Will it hurt?"
Magneto chuckled. "No my dear, only if you fight it, which shouldn't be a problem for you."
He stepped aside for Mastermind. The mutant walked over to Rogue and pulled a chair up to the cot and began his work.
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"I tell y' speedy dat some dad y' got dere." Gambit had been pacing back and forth outside Rogue's cell door. He really didn't like the idea of Mastermind messing with Rogue's head. Pietro was on the same boat.
"Don't I know it," Pietro said miserably. Rogue had looked so weak in there, so defeated. He couldn't remember a time when Rogue had been like that. Not at the brotherhood, not after, not ever.
"That's it," St. John said, heading towards the kitchen. "I need some beer."
"I should go . . ." Piotr said. "I never approved of taking the girl in the first place. "I will be in my room if I'm needed." Then he also took off down the hall.
Pietro and Remy were left alone in the hall. "So what's Wanda like?" Remy asked breaking the silence.
Pietro shrugged and stared at the floor. "She's still Wanda, only she doesn't hate our father anymore. Other than that she's the same person Mystique brought home from the mental institution."
"So she'll still be the same person den?" Remy asked.
Pietro looked up at Remy. "I guess so, why do you care so much?"
Remy was surprised by the question. "Why do you?" The two glared at each other for a couple of seconds before Pyro came running down the hall.
"Oy! We got problems!" He proclaimed slightly out of breath.
"What is it?" Pietro asked.
"The X-Men are here."
A/N: Okay so sorry about not writing for awhile, but I've been finding it hard to write lately. I've had this all planned out in my head but didn't know how to write it down, so it's probably not so good cuz I wrote it in my uninspired phase, because my muses decided to take a vacation. But anyway hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully Chapter ten wont take as long to write.