"I was nine," Erik said stiffly.
Peter quickly turned the subject around. "Really? I was twelve when my powers emerged. There was this guy at my school who wanted to nail me, but I dodged him using my super speed and punched his face three times." Here, Peter laughed. "I think he looks like Frankenstein now." At least the support beams had stopped bending. "My mom actually wasn't that surprised when she found out that I was a mutant. She had a thing with this mutant guy, see, and she'd expected I'd always turn out like him. A mutant."
"Mmm."
Peter rushed away again, returning with another bag of chips. "Sure you don't want any chips?" Peter asked, holding out the bag to him.
Erik gave him a sideways glance. "Do you ever eat anything substantial?"
Peter shook his head. "Not really."
"Then how do you run on only sweets and chips?" Erik asked.
Peter frowned a bit. Erik accused him of only eating snacks. Well, he'd show him wrong. Zipping away, Peter made himself three hamburgers and returned to Erik's side, holding them up so Erik could see before devouring them and turning back to his stash of chips that he still held in his other hand. "See, I eat normal food, Magnet." He held out the bag of chips to Erik again. "Sure you don't want one?"
Sighing, Erik took a single chip and ate it. "Your name's Peter, right?"
"Yup, that's my name, all right."
"It should be Crazy."
Peter grinned. "Nice nickname, Magnet. I'll consider it." They continued walking, but Peter, desperate to keep the conversation going, asked another question. "So . . . what'd you do for college?"
Erik glanced at him. "Why are you asking me so many questions?"
Peter swallowed, then blinked. "You're the first new mutant here in the last several weeks. We're all just curious, that's all."
"Then where are the rest of your teammates? Raven, Hank, and everyone else?"
Peter worked a fingernail in-between his teeth before pulling his hands away. "They're, uh, eating. I eat much faster than they do. In fact, I should probably go check to see what they're doing. We're supposed to train again in a few minutes. Later." Instantly, Peter was gone. Man, that had been close. Erik had almost cornered him into a conversation where Peter would've been forced to admit why he was asking so many questions. He might be able to blame it on the fact that he was Quicksilver, but still . . .
Now back in front of the danger room, Peter saw that none of his team were present. Next, he
checked the kitchen. Nothing. Then the dining room. Score. He sat down on the couch next to Raven, and she gasped and looked over at him before groaning and falling back into the couch.
"You guys still aren't used to my speed?" Peter asked.
"We never will be," Ororo said, her eyes returning to normal after they flashed white in panic.
"Did you vind out anyving new?" Kurt asked.
"Not really," Peter raced to the kitchen's cupboard, got a pack of gum, and returned to the living room in a blink, chewing on a single stick and throwing the wrapper down in disappointment. "I think he almost caught me. I guess I asked too many questions."
"Hopefully he'll be here long enough for you to tell him the truth," Raven said.
"But he kinda has the habit of not staying in the same place for very long," Peter said, shrugging.
"Kind of like someone else we know," Hank said, glancing over at Peter.
"Yeah, now we know where you get it from," Scott said.
Peter ran across the Atlantic Ocean to China, picked up some Chinese food, and returned in a blink. "What are you talking about?" he asked, digging into the food with chopsticks.
Everyone laughed.
"Yeah, the only time Erik slows down is when he's playing chess," Raven said.
Peter actually paused in the middle of eating and glanced up at this new information. "He plays chess?"
"Oh, yeah," Raven said. "Him and Charles love playing; it's the only thing they do."
Hank nodded. "I don't like chess, so I'm no match for Charles. But Erik, he loves it."
"They're probably playing right now," Raven said.
Peter blinked in thoughtfulness as he finished his Chinese food. So, Erik liked chess. Peter made a mental note of that and moved on. "You think so?"
"I know so," Raven said, sitting back and folding her arms. "I'll bet my mutant powers on it that they're playing chess right now."
Peter raised an eyebrow. He found it hard to believe that Erik and Charles were already playing a friendly game of chess when they seemed to have starkly opposing viewpoints. "I'll take that bet," Peter said, and now everyone was leaning forward. "If I win, you have remain in the form of a toddler for the next twenty-four hours."
"And if I'm right, you can't use any super speed for a full day," Raven said.
"You've got it," Peter said, sealing the deal with a handshake.
"Hope you don't mind living life at the speed of all of us," Raven said.
"I hope you can walk in toddler form," Peter said. In an instant, Peter was off through the mansion to prove Raven wrong and claim his victory. How hilarious would it be for Raven to be stuck in the form of a toddler?
"Your move, Charles."
"Check."
"Are you going easy on me?"
"I never would, old friend."
Peter's stomach dropped as he stopped in the library and found both Erik and Charles immersed in a game of, well . . . dang it!
"Do you need something, Peter?" Charles asked.
Peter frowned. "No," he muttered. "But you two just had to play chess right now, didn't you?" He raced away, sulking a bit, the continuation of their conversation catching up with him a second or two later.
"What was that about?"
"I have no idea. Your move, Erik."
"Fine," Peter said, zipping back into the living room and setting his watch. "No super speed for the next twenty-four hours."
Raven nodded and raised her hand in victory, and the rest of the team cheered. "Actually, make it twelve hours," Raven said, changing her terms. "It wasn't really fair. I've been with Erik much longer than you have. Besides, I think twenty-four hours of no speeding would kill you."
"No, it'd just kill the rest of you," Peter said, grinning. "All right, twelve hours it is." Then he blinked. Raven had been around his father for quite some time; maybe she could clue him into things about his father that he didn't know. "So, Blue, you've hung out with Magnet? How long was that, anyway? How long, huh?"
"About a year," Raven said brusquely.
"A whole year?" Peter asked, already getting excited. "What'd you find out? Anything important?"
Raven shrugged. "Not really. Just . . . yeah, no. Nothing."
Peter's excitement fell. "You were with him a whole year and you didn't find out anything? What were you guys even doing?"
At this comment, Raven seemed to blush slightly. "I was working under him. It's not like we sat down, had coffee, and told each other about ourselves."
"Yeah, I think they did more than that," Scott muttered to Kurt, nudging him. Kurt frowned, not understanding, and Hank looked slightly miffed by this. Peter, however, caught Scott's eye and grinned, but Raven gave them both a look which silenced them instantly.
"Vat are you going to do vith the next twelf hours?" Kurt asked.
"Don't know. Probably just survive," Peter said, and everyone laughed.
"You don't think it'll actually . . . do anything to you, right?" Scott asked.
"You mean like make me flip out?" Peter asked. "Is that what you mean?"
"Yeah. Like more than you already are," Scott said, grinning.
"Never gone more than a few minutes without using my powers," Peter said, shrugging. "But don't worry, Shades. If I start to go crazy, I'll make sure to let you know."
"Just great," Scott said.
"If it causes any harm to your body, you can start using your powers early," Raven said. "But"—she pointed at Peter—"you have to prove it to us first. No getting off easily."
"I got it, Blue; got it," Peter said, putting up his hands.
"So, have you talked to Erik about . . . anything important yet?" Ororo asked.
"Nope," Peter said, getting up and slowly walking over to the kitchen to make himself a few hot dogs. "Man, how do you guys do this? Seriously!" he said as, two whole minutes later, he sat down with a dozen hot dogs and began eating. "Living like this is so slow! How can you stand it?"
"Maybe this way you won't freak anyone out," Raven said.
"This is going to be a long half a day," Peter said, taking another bite of a hot dog.
"You were the one who thought you knew Erik better than I did," Raven said, shrugging.
"And I take it Charles is the one who knows Erik the best?"
Everyone nodded. "Definitely," Hank said. "They've been friends for years."
"Yeah," Peter said, starting on his next hot dog. Sheesh, it took forever to eat like a normal person! By the time he finished eating, he'd starve! "They're friends, but they seem to have a really . . . complicated friendship."
"That's what you get when two different viewpoints clash," Raven said. "But they'd still do anything for each other."
"If they didn't kill each other first," Hank muttered.
"They've tried to kill each other?" Peter asked.
"No," Hank said. "But it sometimes seems like they will."
"Same with me and Shades," Peter said, shrugging. "Right, Shades?"
"Shut up," Scott said.
"That's like telling the sun to not rise," Peter said, eating another hot dog. "You only said that my body couldn't move at super speed; you didn't say anything about my mouth."
"Maybe I should've told him that he couldn't talk for the next twelve hours," Raven said.
"Too late! The time's set," Peter said, pointing to his wristwatch.
"Feeling anything yet?" Raven asked.
"I think he's starting to die," Scott said, reaching over to punch Peter on the shoulder. "What do you think, Pete?"
"The only thing I could die from is starvation," Peter said, eating two more hot dogs. "How do you guys eat fast enough to keep up with your metabolism?"
"Our metabolism doesn't allow us to run at a million miles an hour," Jean said.
"Eighty-six," Peter said, eating another hot dog.
"Huh?" Jean asked.
"If I could only run at a million miles an hour, you guys would've died in the mansion's explosion," Peter said, getting up again to get more food. "I run eighty-six million miles an hour."
"Now you haf to run four," Kurt said, grinning and showing a row of pointy teeth.
Peter threw a dirty look back at Kurt as he reached into the freezer for a popsicle. Peter was just closing the freezer when Erik and Charles entered the room with their dinners. Peter, acting quickly, raced over to the couch as fast as his normal-speed state would allow and pushed Scott off the couch to make room for Erik. "Sit somewhere else, Shades," Peter hissed.
Scott made a face before sitting next to Jean on the other couch, and Erik sat next to Peter, not seeming to notice, or just not caring, about the small scuffle that just occurred. Charles placed his wheelchair beside Erik and began eating.
"So," Peter said, "who won the chess game?"
Erik looked up from his plate then turned back to his food, saying nothing.
"I think that answers your question," Charles said.
"Guess you shouldn't play chess with a mind reader, huh, Erik?" Hank asked.
"It does put me at a disadvantage," Erik said blandly.
"I don't read your mind, Erik," Charles said. "I've told you that time and time again."
"Of course you don't," Erik said, rolling his eyes a bit. "And I don't use my powers to stop bullets."
"Just like the bullet you curved into Kennedy," Peter said, finishing his popsicle. "So, Magnet, what was it like killing the President? Did all the secret service guys attack you?"
"I didn't intentionally murder him. I was trying to save him," Erik said. "It just didn't turn out that way."
Peter blinked. So his father was innocent! He hadn't killed Kennedy! "So they imprisoned and framed you," Peter continued.
"It's a fact that humans are untrustworthy," Erik said.
"Erik," Charles said, "you know that's not true."
"Stop putting words in my mouth, Charles," Erik said.
Peter glanced at Erik and Charles, seeing that Charles fork was starting to bend a bit. "I can agree with that, Magnet," Peter interrupted, stopping the imminent argument as he got up to get another popsicle. "About humans being a bit stupid, I guess. The same thing happened to me when my powers emerged. The school board didn't believe that I hadn't been carrying a weapon when I took down five bullies. I got expelled." Peter sat back down, and he noticed that Charles seemed to be looking sideways at him.
"What was that for?" Charles asked as he continued eating.
"What was what for?" Peter asked.
Charles pointed to the kitchen. "I haven't ever seen you move that slowly. The only time you ever stopped running at super speed was when Apocalypse broke your leg."
Peter gave a halfhearted glare over at Raven. "Me and Blue made a bet." Here, Peter thought he heard Erik laugh a bit. "What's so funny, Magnet?"
"Now you know better," Erik said, glancing over at Raven. "Mystique has tricked me a few times, and now I know better as well. She's brilliant."
Peter thought he saw Raven's blue face turning a bit red at this, but she just coughed and turned away. "So, are you just crashing here for the night?" Peter asked. "Or are you staying for a bit longer? If so, how long? How long, huh? Like a week? A month? A year or longer? Or just a day?"
"I haven't decided," Erik said, "but I might leave now if you don't stop asking me questions."
"Aw, come on, Magnet," Peter said, clapping Erik on the shoulder. "Don't be boring like Baldy. I broke you out of prison, remember?"
"How could I forget?" Erik asked, jolting slightly from the blow to his shoulder. "That was quite an entrance you made."
"You offend me, Peter," Charles said. "I have been called many things growing up, but boring was never one of them."
"Though he's not wrong," Erik muttered, and it took everything within Peter not to burst out laughing.
"For real, though," Peter said after he'd recovered. "How long are you staying? A long time? Not really? How long?"
"Why do you care?" Erik asked.
Peter swallowed, then glanced over at the rest of the team. They all shrugged, not knowing how to answer Erik's question any better.
"Because tomorrow, all my students are having a go in the danger room," Charles answered. "Would you like to join them?"
Peter let out a small sigh, glad that Charles had answered the question for him.
Erik rolled his eyes. "No thanks, Charles."
"You'll find it much more difficult than you think," Charles said. "I'm quite interested to see how you would perform."
"Child's play is not something I'm interested in."
Instantly, a dark aura fell over Peter and the rest of his team.
"You think the danger room is child's play?" Scott asked. "I almost died in there last week!"
"I could break your neck in a heartbeat if I wanted to," Peter said. "Is that child's play?"
"I placed metal inside the Sentinels' bodies," Erik said, sighing. "It would take me only a second to disable them."
"Hank and I removed that metal in case you decided to return," Charles said, and Erik glanced over at him in surprise. "I'd like to see how you fare with them when no metal is present."
Erik looked sideways at Charles. "You're not letting me get out of this, are you, Charles?"
"You know me too well, Erik."
Erik returned to his plate as he finished eating. After a moment, he spoke again. "When is this training session?"
"Eight in the evening," Raven answered instantly.
Erik nodded. "All right." He took his last bite of food before continuing. "Has Charles been slacking off, or have you seven actually gotten any stronger since I left a month ago?"
"Erik, what do you take me for?" Charles asked.
"You can read my mind," Erik said. "Find out for yourself."
Peter's excitement peaked at the thought of Erik participating in their training session. He'd have to go all out to make sure his father didn't think him childish or weak.
"They've gotten stronger, Erik. I promise you that," Charles said. "You'd be surprised."
"And hopefully not bored," Erik said.
"I think we'll impress you," Peter said, grinning without showing his teeth.
"If you're lucky, I'll stay awake," Erik said.
"Don't worry; we've got a few four leafers on our side," Peter said.
"And several horseshoes," Hank added.
Kurt blinked. "Vat do leaves and horseshoes haf to do vith luck?"
"They're symbols, Kurt," Jean said.
"Like va tattoos on vy skin?" Kurt asked.
Here, everyone laughed. It wasn't that kind of symbol, but they had to admit, Kurt did have a point.
