Well, here it is. The final chapter. And its been a long time in coming.
Thanks to Spiffythefaery for all the lovely beta work. And for putting up with me – which is no easy feat.
Monday
9:45 am
"Where is he?" Wanda demanded.
Charles Xavier rubbed his nose gently. "We both knew that the probability of us finding your father with Cerebro was remote at best."
"I didn't ask for your explanations. I want to know where he's taken John."
"Wanda, if I knew where your father had run off to then I would tell you. At this point at in time, I do not have that knowledge."
"So you're telling me you have no idea where they are?"
Xavier grinned. "On the contrary, I have a very good idea where they are."
Wanda stared. "You just said you didn't know."
"I don't know. But I have an idea."
"Stupid semantics," Wanda muttered under her breath.
It was dark, pitch black. He couldn't see anything and his head hurt. Really hurt.
John groaned. He tried to bring his hand up to his head, but found that he was unable to do so.
"What's going on?" John cried out. "Why can't I see anything? I've gone blind! Blind! Oh, cruel Fate – striking me with such a spiteful blow! Why? Why must you torture me?"
"It's just a bag!" The aforementioned object was ripped off and John blinked rapidly to adjust to the harsh light.
"Boss? What's going on?"
"Don't you recall anything from yesterday?"
John rolled his eyes upward – trying to recall the events of the previous day. "I remember a big explosion."
Magneto sighed. "Great. Short term memory loss."
"Why am I tied up to a chair?"
Magneto glanced at the boy irritably. "You really have no idea what's going on? Are you that thick?"
"I resent that. I'm all skin and bones."
Magneto was barely able to resist the urge to smack himself in the head. One must always maintain dignity in front of captives.
But John wasn't making it easy on him.
"These ropes are starting to chafe. Would you mind loosening them for me?"
"What?"
"And I'm hungry. Can we get some food?"
"N-no. I'm not getting you food. You are – stop trying to eat the ropes!" Magneto slapped at John.
"But it hurts!" he whined.
"It's supposed to be uncomfortable. I kidnapped you!"
"You did?"
"Of course! Why else did you think you were tied to a chair?"
John shrugged as best as he could. "Surprise party?"
"You must have been hit harder in that explosion than I thought."
"Oh, oh! I know. We're going camping!"
"We are not going camping! I kidnapped you to prevent you from going out with Wanda!"
"Now, why would you do something like that? That's just mean."
Magneto glared.
"Where am I?"
"Oh come now John, I thought you would have recognized this place," Magneto said with a grandiose wave.
John looked around. He had been strapped into a chair with his arms and legs bound with metal. A large computer and video screen filled the cavernous chamber behind him.
"Ain't this the old hideout at Mount Araose?"
"Most observant. No one will be able to find us here."
"It's a big metal ball in the middle of ski resort. It's not that hard to find."
"Well – of course it was easy for you to find, you already knew where it was."
"Didn't Toad and Kurt find it?"
Magneto shut his mouth, swallowing his retort. "Alright, so it's not as secret as I thought. That is of no consequence. I assure you that no one will find you here."
"Let him go Magneto."
Magneto turned around, his cape flailing in the air. "Oh come on. This is ridiculous."
John looked around Magneto to see the assembled forces of the X-Men.
"Let him go," Scott repeated.
"And if I don't?"
"Then we're taking him out of here."
Magneto crossed his arms definitely. "And just how do you think you'll be able to manage that?"
There was a loud BAMF followed by a stench of sulfur. Magneto whirled around to look at John. Kurt was standing beside the captive and wore a wolfish grin.
"Catch us if you can!" The two boys vanished in a cloud of sulfur. Magneto clenched his teeth in anger. He turned around to face the rest of the X-Men, only to see that the entire team had left, save for Logan. The gruff mutant was biting off the top of a cigar.
"Where did they go?" Magneto demanded.
"They're gonna bring him back to the mansion."
"And they left you to stop me?"
"Stop you? If it weren't for these damn mental blocks I'd be helping you. I'm not dumb enough to jump in that plane with you right behind."
Magneto frowned as he hovered just above the X-Jet. He had pulled the plane from the air and had – none too gently – set it down on the ground. It had been too easy.
That's what was bothering him. He knew that if Charles had really anticipated him following after John, the X-Men would have used their accursed plastic helicopter.
There was a plot afoot. Something was amiss.
Reaching out with his powers, he forced the door to the plane open and flew inside. He was not surprised to see that the interior was almost devoid of life. Almost.
Hank McCoy sat in the pilot's seat, facing Magneto.
"That was rather rude of you."
"Where is he?" Magneto growled.
"It's too late. You'll never catch up. He'll be back at the mansion with Wanda by the time you get there."
Magneto narrowed his eyes. "I'm going to catch them. And you're going to tell me where they are."
"And just what makes you think that I'll cooperate?"
Magneto said nothing and produced a small package from his belt. Hank's eyes lit up when he saw what Magneto was holding.
"Twinkies! Give them here," he said, holding out his hand.
"Where are they?"
Hank tried to resist the temptation. It was a brief but fierce battle. He sighed. "Give me the Twinkies and I'll tell you everything you want to know."
Magneto grinned.
"Logan ain't gonna be happy when he finds out you trashed his bike," Rogue drawled.
"I am not afraid of a man with metal bones. Now tell me where they took John," Magneto retorted.
"Now why would we tell you that?" Kitty asked with raised eyebrow. Magneto turned to face her.
"Would you like your boyfriend to remain whole? I can modify him if not."
"Modify?"
"Oh yes. Some perforations. Or perhaps I'll simply crush him underneath a piece of heavy machinery."
Kitty whimpered and looked at Rogue.
"He ain't my boyfriend. So what's in it for me?"
Magneto scowled. "I will make sure that a certain Cajun is paid a visit from a shape-shifting assassin that I know."
Rogue thrust her finger out and pointed to the right. "They went that way."
"They thought you were going to stop me?"
Bobby chuckled. "That's what I kept telling them."
"Where did they go?"
"That way."
"This is turning into a perverted scavenger hunt."
"Perhaps you should just give up on trying to find out where John is," Jean said.
"Perhaps you should stop being such a…"
"Please do not finish dat sentence," Piotr pleaded.
Magneto glared at the two. "I'm going to make this simple. Tell me where John is. Or else."
"Or else what?"
"Or else something bad will happen."
"Like what?"
"I can see you've been around John recently." Magneto waved his hand as a car headed straight towards Piotr. He transformed effortlessly into his steel form as the car harmlessly collided into him.
The giant shrugged. "Is dat all you can do?"
"No." Magneto flicked his wrist and Piotr was hurled into the air and out of sight.
"Now, Jean, where is John?"
The redhead shook her head. "I can't tell you that."
Magneto sighed sadly. "Jean, Jean, Jean. I don't think you understand. Do you have any idea just how miserable I can make your life?"
"Miserable?"
"Oh yes. For instance, I could dye your hair. Give you a nose job. Set you up with Fred. I don't know. I haven't had anytime to plan it. Would you like me to?"
"Don't touch my hair."
"Then tell me where he is!"
Jean lifted a finger and pointed.
Magneto surveyed the scene before him. He had been hot on John's tail when he was suddenly confronted by about twenty robed figures.
These shadowy shapes had emerged from nowhere – materializing before his very eyes. They were swathed from head to toe in long black robes, their faces obscured by hoods. They had Magneto completely surrounded before one of them spoke.
"Halt Magneto! You go no farther."
Magneto's eyebrow rose. "Who is going to stop me?"
"We will," the reply sounded from all of the hooded figures.
Magneto snorted. "And who are you?'
"We are FAPWAM!"
"FAPWAM? Why does that sound familiar? Do I owe you money?"
"No! But you should know us, for we have all had dealings with you!"
The hoods were thrown off to reveal the faces underneath. Magneto should have recoiled in shock, not from the interesting tableau in front of him, but from the fact that Bobby had been right.
Staring at Magneto were the faces of all of Wanda's exes.
"I guess I owe Bobby a coke."
"Your reign of terror ends here Magneto," Scott said through clenched teeth.
"Reign of terror? I think you're exaggerating."
"Nah, yo. You tried to kill several of us off. We barely survived," Todd spat. Magneto waved the comment away.
"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead."
"Ya threw a car at me, ya old coot," Lucas glared.
"Me too," Roberto chimed in.
"I got tarred and feathered."
"You blew up my surfboard!"
"So you got hurt. Love can do that to a person."
"It wasn't love, it was you!"
Magneto waved this comment away and attempted to change the topic. "Weren't you called FABAM before? Why the name change? I mean, FAPWAM just sounds stupid – not that FABAM is much better."
"Political correctness," Scott said between clenched teeth.
"So what, it stands for Former Abused Partners of Wanda Against Magneto?"
"Actually, yeah. It does."
Magneto turned to look through the crowd. "It's her fault isn't it?"
"Watch it, old man!" Tabitha snapped.
"Frankly Tabitha, I'm surprised that you bothered to mingle with these buffoons."
"Yeah? Why's that?"
"Wanda always said how you were better than these idiots."
"Well, its true."
"'Ey! Wanda always said I was the best of this lot!"
"I'm the best!" several said at once.
The bickering began to grow louder by the moment. Magneto wasn't sure who was responsible, but something exploded – more explosions followed. Screams and curses followed along with, of course, more explosions.
Magneto lifted himself into the air, above the tumult, with a grin. He hovered above the chaos for a moment.
"Idiots."
The iron gates groaned in protest as they were twisted out of shape and bent over backward to allow the passage of the Master of Magnetism. Cape flapping around him, Magneto lowered himself to the ground – paying no attention to the wreckage he had just caused. Instead his focus was riveted upon the only person who had seen his entrance – Charles Xavier.
Magneto gently landed in front of his old friend. "Where is he?"
Xavier grinned. "Oh, John is quite safe."
"You put him in that damn Danger Room of yours."
"How did you know that?"
"Every time something goes wrong you head down to that place. Now out of my way."
"What did you do to my X-Men?"
"I didn't touch them."
"Then what were all those explosions I heard?"
"I didn't cause a single explosion. Even though I really wanted to. Now out of my way!"
"Erik, I can not let you pass."
"You're going to stop me? Ha."
"I am the final guardian – the last person between you and John."
"I'm sorry Charles, but I don't play Dungeons and Dragons."
Xavier mumbled in anger for a few moments. "You shall not pass!"
"Alright, this has gone on long enough," Magneto said with a point of his finger. The wheelchair began to roll forward of its own accord.
"Hey! Stop that! Erik – stop it! Come on! Please! This isn't fair!"
"My head hurts," John moaned.
"Ah, poor baby," Wanda replied as she kissed his forehead. "Feel better?"
"I think so. I can't seem to stand straight."
"That's not you – the floor is shaking."
"Did Lance find out that I photocopied his love letters to Kitty and sold them on E-Bay?"
"I don't think that Lance is doing this," Wanda replied with a frown. She clenched her fists.
The door to the Danger Room burst open and Magneto stalked in. Some metal shrapnel shot into the air and twisted around Wanda's hands.
"What are you doing?" Wanda screeched.
"Stay out of this," Magneto replied with a cold tone that left no doubt that he would not tolerate an argument. Wanda, however, had the same stubborn streak. Another piece of debris wrapped around her mouth to prevent her from saying anything else. As John watched Magneto hunched over his daughter, something snapped inside him.
"You will stay quiet," Magneto hissed at his daughter. He rose to his full height and turned to face John.
"As for you…"
John was waiting for Magneto, a scowl on his face.
"You know what Mags – you're a real jackass."
John threw a punch. His fist connected with Magneto's face and the blow knocked the older man backwards. He stumbled on his cape and fell to the floor.
Magneto was lying on the floor, stunned. His hand caressed his cheek, which was red from the impact. John stood over him, his eyes ablaze with anger, his teeth clenched, and his fists balled up.
"Come on. Get up!"
"You'd really fight me for her?"
"Always."
Magneto, never once looking away from John, slowly rose to his feet. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but shut it quickly. Turning on his heel, he strode out of the Danger Room, releasing Wanda's shackles.
"What's going on?" Wanda asked. John shook his head.
"Don't know."
Tuesday
7:00 pm
"Dad, what's going on?" Wanda asked.
It had been a day since the confrontation in the Danger Room – a day since anyone had last seen Magneto. He had turned up a few moments ago, demanding to see his daughter and John.
Magneto looked at Wanda. Although his left cheek had swollen up and he had a black eye, he still managed to look regal. His visible eye sparked with pride as he looked at her. He turned to look at John, who took a step back at the glance. Then to John's surprise, Magneto thrust out his hand. John peered at the hand suspiciously for a moment before shaking it.
"John, I realize that I was a bit – uh – harsh with you. But I was wrong. I'm not happy about Wanda dating, but if has to happen – then I'm glad it's you."
"Thanks Mags. I love you too."
"Say that again and I might just have to rip your tongue out."
"Okeedokee."
Magneto rolled his eyes and looked to his daughter. "Take care of yourself Wanda. And him," Magneto said, nodding his head in John's direction. "And your brother when he turns up."
"Where are you going?"
"I need a vacation. It's been far too stressful these last few months." Magneto placed his helmet on his head. "I'll be back. Don't worry."
Magneto turned around to see Pietro standing in the doorway with his arm around a striking blonde.
"Dad! Wanda! You're both here! Great!"
"Pietro, what's going on?"
"I wanted to tell you the good news. I'm just so happy."
"What good news?"
"Wanda, Dad – this is Crystal Amaquelin. Crystal, my twin Wanda and my father Magneto."
"My name is Erik. Excuse me Crystal – Pietro, what the hell is going on?"
Pietro's fingers were interlocked with Crystal – and the girl was wearing a very gaudy, very brilliant, and very large ring on her finger.
"Here it is: Dad – Crystal and I are getting married!"
"WHAT!"
