Chapter 16

{Author's Note: First things first, thank you to everyone who has left a review! I can't even express how encouraging they are to read! Special thanks to yuki-no-hibi for the inspiring comment. I hope you continue to enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it. I am so excited for you all to read this next chapter. }

ALEX POV

Alex knew something was happening as soon as he woke up. He'd spent the past couple of hours waiting for his impending dose of 'treatment' or what might be more recognizable as torture, but the main doctor had been pulled away for some other pressing matter, so Alex had been left strapped down in an examination chair, on edge as he waited for what would eventually come.

The last few months or more—he wasn't exactly sure how long he'd been at the facility—had not been pleasant. He could tell he'd lost weight, and all of their examinations and testing had not been kind on his body. He knew he was thinner than he'd ever been, and his body constantly ached, but he was more worried about the kid.

Every time he'd seen the kid being dragged or carried pass his cell, he'd been thinner and thinner, and it wasn't hard to guess that their captors obviously weren't giving him enough sustenance to compete with the increased metabolism that must go hand in hand with his speed. Maybe they didn't realize that by feeding Pete the same diet as him or who knows how many prisoners they were slowly starving him to death. But more likely they did know, and they just didn't care.

Alex was also worried about Peter's state of mind. In the kid's first few weeks at the facility, whenever he'd been in his cell and lucid, he'd been quite talkative, going on and on about music, movies, and all the things most teenagers obsess about. It had actually been really nice to have someone to talk to, and he was pretty sure that his conversations with Peter were the only thing that came him sane in a place like this.

Yet, in recent weeks, he had noticed that Peter had become less and less talkative, and Alex had found himself filling the silence, trying to bring back the loquacious kid he first met. Alex's efforts didn't seem to be working though. In fact, he wasn't sure Peter had uttered a single word to him in the past couple of days. He didn't blame the kid. Alex was barely keeping it together himself, and with the way Pete had explained his power, Alex guessed that even though he'd arrived in the facility before the kid, from Peter's perspective their life of torture had been going on much longer than it had for Alex.

It was Alex's concern for Peter that prompted him to do something that he might regret. Throughout the duration of his imprisonment he'd been afraid to attempt an escape for fear that the psychos who held him hostage also had his little brother, but recently he'd come to the conclusion that more likely than not they were bluffing.

He'd seen no evidence that they had Scott in their custody. Surely, if they did, they would have shown him video of his little brother being tortured as a result of Alex's occasional insubordination. No, he was fairly certain that Scott was safe. He'd been living with their grandmother, since their dad went AWOL, but his grandma was a smart lady and when Alex stopped corresponding with her, she probably figured something was up and went into hiding.

That's why when Alex heard an alarm ringing out, he decided he wasn't going to remain compliant any longer.

Concentrating, Alex allowed plasma energy to burst from somewhere inside him, melting away the metal restraints around his arms. Sitting up, Alex very carefully shot a blast at the restraints around his legs, fortunately, he was successful and managed not to blow his feet off.

Thank God I've learned a little self-control.

Standing up and shaking off the slight dizziness he felt from being inactive for the past couple of hours and expending his power and just fatigue in general, he took aim at the door locking him in the exam room and blew a hole threw lock. Kicking open the door Alex glanced hesitantly out into the hall. The alarm was still blaring, but there was no one was around, so he took off at a slight jog back the way he believed led to his and Peter's cells. They always kept him at least slightly drugged when moving him from place to place to keep him unaware of the facilities layout, but more recently he had seemed more alert during transfers. He figured he must be building up a slight resistance to the drugs.

Turning down another hallway he saw a couple of guards at the end of the hall.

"FREEZE!" They shouted raising their guns "Return to your cell immediate—"

Alex couldn't tell if they were tranquilizer guns or the real deal, but at this point Alex didn't care either way, and before they could even finish the command Alex had shot a blast at them, knocking them out or killing them, Alex didn't stop to check. Instead, he just turned another corner, at which point he ran smack dab into one of the last people he expected to see.

"Erik?" he said at the same time Erik said, "Alex?"

"Never thought I'd be happy to see you again." said Alex regaining his balance from his collision with Erik. Under any other circumstances Alex would have had a few choice words for Erik, along with a good square shot to the jaw, but at the moment he was too concerned about getting Peter and getting out of this hell hole to think of much else besides being grateful for the fact that their heads hadn't collided because Erik, as usual, was wearing his ridiculous helmet, along with his cape.

I mean really? What self-righteous asshole wears a cape?

Alex also noticed that Erik wasn't alone. Hank was with him in full beast mode, along with a skinny teenage girl who was wearing an absurd silver jacket, and looked to be about Peter's age.

"Well, hey Hank! It's practically an X-men reunion." Hank gave him a grave smile in return and looked like he was about to speak, but the girl spoke up before he could.

"We're wasting time! Look, Alex? Or whatever your name is, based on the state you're in and the fact that they both know you, you're obviously a mutant, so just head back the way we came and you'll eventually find where we blasted our way in. We took out any guards we encountered so you should have no problem getting out. Now. Erik. Hank. Let's figure out which one of these hallways to take and get moving!"

"She's right." said Hank. "Get out of here Alex. Once you're top side, Charles will be able to contact you and instruct you from there—"

"I'm not leaving with out Peter." replied Alex, looking down the two remaining hallways in the 'crossroad' whose locations where unaccounted for. He knew one of them had to lead to his and Peter's cell, but before he could make a decision on which way to go, Erik grabbed the back of his shirt and pushed him against the nearest wall.

"Peter? Peter Maximoff? Where? WHERE IS HE?!" yelled Erik.

"Okay, anger issues, Erik. Yea Peter Maximoff. Kid's cell was right next to mine, as for where that is in relation to us that's what I'm trying to figure out before I ran into you. I think it's this way." said Alex pointing to his right, "but I'm not sure. Now, since we both obviously want to find the kid, could you let go of me?" Alex looked at Erik expectantly. He knew Erik took every attack against mutants as a personal offense, but his reaction to hearing the kid's name seemed extreme. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head.

"Sorry." Grunted Erik releasing his hold on Alex.

"Okay, so we have to split up. Erik, go check out this Alex's hunch and I'll go this way." said Hank tearing off down the other hall.

"I'm going with him. We shouldn't split up three to one." said Wanda taking off down the hall after Hank

"WANDA! Come back!" Erik called after her.

"Just go! We have a better chance of finding Pietro this way, and that Alex guy looks like he needs back up!" yelled Wanda over her should before disappearing out of sight.

"Come on, Erik. The girl's right. Let's go." said Alex watching Erik as he gave a reluctant look down the other hall before jogging off with Alex down the remaining corridor.

As they ran down the hall, passing what in Alex's mind looked like torture chambers, and some offices. Fortunately, after a bit, things began to feel familiar. "This way." Alex called to Erik, sliding abruptly to a stop in his bare feet and turning down another corner.

Occasionally the two encountered more guards, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. It seemed Wanda was right and they hadn't planned for Erik to ever come barging into the place, so they hadn't bother to invest in non-metal weapons.

Finally, just as Alex felt as if he was on the cusp of keeling over—running + starvation + torture is really not a good exercise regime—they made it to the beginning of the hallway where Alex and Peter resided for the majority of their stay in the facility.

"This is it." said Alex slowing to a walk, and finally taking the time to wonder why Erik was so invested in getting Peter out of here. He knew from past experience that Erik did not take well to mutant subjugation, but it seemed to Alex as though the man was on just as much of a personal vendetta as he was himself.

Moving past the door that led to Alex's cell, Alex simply pointed at the next door and Erik ripped it outward from its hinges. Next came the gated bars, which Erik tore apart as well. Then all that was left was one final door to the cell. The two couldn't see into the cell for the viewing window had had a steel covering come down over it. Presumably it had been activated when the alarm system went off.

Alex could tell Erik didn't pay much attention to this though as he tore open the last door with a look of determination then tore into the room himself with Alex right behind him, but both were jolted to a stop by a voice in the cell inside.

"Stop, or the boy dies."

Alex could feel his blood boiling, but he didn't see how he could act quickly enough to free Peter.

Major Stryker was holding the boy in a headlock from behind with his right arm, and in his left hand he held a syringe pointed dangerously close to the kid's neck. It was obvious Stryker had made an effort to remove all metal from his clothing, as he wore only a plain white t-shirt, pants with no belt, no watch, and shoes without any metal buckles.

It pained Alex to witness Pete, who was quite clearly in poor shape, being held an in uncomfortable upright position. The boy was severely malnourished, not Holocaust victim thin, but somewhere around starving castaway survivor thin, making it all the easier for Stryker to keep the kid on his feet, or on the tips of his toes that is. Stryker was a good deal taller than Peter, and didn't seem to notice or care that Peter was struggling to keep his feet on the ground, so he wouldn't be preemptively strangled to death. This was proving to be even more difficult for the kid because his left ankle looked severely swollen, purple, and out of alignment. The kid was also sporting a dark purple and gruesome looking black eye that looked to be the result of someone smacking him across the left side of his face. Despite all of this, the boy still made one weak effort to break free from the Major's vice-like grip, but it was clear the he didn't have the strength or energy to do so.

"Just let him go, and I won't make your death a slow and painful process." said Erik through his teeth, anger coursing through every inch of his body.

"I said stop, Magneto!" repeated Stryker, as Erik had taken a step forward. "You're not in any position to negotiate. Here's what's going to happen. You and Havoc over there are going to pick up those syringes filled with a tranquilizer," continued Stryker nodding to two syringes on the floor in the middle of the room, "and inject yourselves with them, and I won't inject the kid with this lethal dose of anesthetic. And trust me, it will be lethal, even with his increased metabolism. I made sure the dose is quite potent. So Erik, what's it going to be? Are you going to sacrifice your freedom or your son?"

Maybe I can blast him just right, and knock him out. Dammit, I can't risk hitting Peter though, wait SON?!

Stryker must've noticed the shock come across Alex's face because he started monologuing again, "Oh? Is your relation to the boy a secret, Magneto? I guess the cat's out of the bag. How does it feel having a little mutant offspring? Maybe you should let me kill him. I don't know what I'd do if my son were a mutant." Continued Stryker in disgust. "I'd be doing you a favor, really, killing the boy. There'd be nothing to hold you back, and more importantly there'd be one less mutant in the world."

Alex's mind was spinning out of control. Erik was Peter's dad?! How was that possible. The two seemed like polar opposites! And did Peter know Erik was his father? If not, this was really turning out to be a rough day for the kid.

"Dad…" Peter squeaked out in a pitiful plea.

Well that answers that question.

"Es ist in Ordnung, Pietro. Alles wird gut sein." 1 said Erik, his entire attention focused on the boy. "Don't hurt him. We'll do what you say." Continued Erik now addressing Stryker.

"Yea leave the kid alone." added Alex, moving slowly toward the syringes on the ground with Erik. Alex had no desire to be a prisoner again, but he wasn't going to let the kid die. They had to do what they could to survive now, and worry about escape later.

ERIK POV

Erik walked very methodically toward the middle of the room where the syringes lay, fear and anger consuming him, but as he was just about to bend down to grab the syringes, a tiny piece of metal called out to him. A piece of metal that fortunately whether out of sentimentality, devotion, or simple oversight, Stryker had neglected to remove from his body: His wedding ring.

Without a second thought Erik acted, flinging his arm forward out of habit and for better control. Erik latched onto the small circle of metal around Stryker's left ring finger, and commanded the metal to wrench the man's hand backward.

The effect was instantaneous. Stryker yelled out in pain and surprise as his arm, along with the syringe went flying backward and his grip on Pietro lessened dramatically. At the same time, Erik ran forward and landed a square punch to Stryker's temple, knocking him out cold.

Turning back to where Pietro had fallen, Erik dropped to his knees and gathered the boy in his arms.

"Pietro. Pietro!" Erik called out in a plea, for the boy had gone unresponsive and Erik wondered in fear if Stryker had someone managed to inject him with the anesthetic before it was pulled from his hand. "Pietro!" Erik called out again, his voice rising. "Kleinen Geparden. Öffnen Sie Ihre Augen. Öffnen Sie Ihre Augen.2"

Erik put his hand to the boy's forward, brushing his silver hair out of his eyes. Then he put two fingers to his son's neck, trying desperately to find a pulse, but he felt nothing… "No. No. No." Erik began to chant, tears forming in the corners of his eyes, until he realized that with Pietro's mutation, his pulse might always be too quick to be detectable. Hope rising, Erik bent forward, so that he was close to Pietro's face and turned his head listening for any signs of life, and when he did so he heard Pietro's quite but steady breathes, and felt relief like he'd never felt before.

Erik sat up again, and hugged the boy's limp but alive body close to his own.

Unfortunately, that was when Hank and Wanda came bursting into the room, and although Erik knew Pietro was alive and soon he would be safe, all Wanda saw was her father with a tear streaked face, and her brother's ragged and lifeless body in his arms.

"No." Wanda said, and even though her connection to her brother told her that Pietro had to be alive, her mind couldn't reconcile that with what she was seeing before her.

Erik tried to voice that Pietro was still alive, "Wan—" but he was cut off by Wanda's increased panic.

"No. No! NOOOOO!" she shouted growing louder and louder, and that's when everything went to hell.

As her shouts grew, so did the red energy around her hands. It streamed up around her body, and came to consume Erik and Pietro as well, acting with the force of what felt like a mini tornado, the energy which kept Wanda, Erik, and Pietro at the center, pushed Hank, Alex, and the unconscious Stryker to the edges of the room.

"WANDA! HE'S—" Erik attempted to say again, but it was too late. She'd lost control, so Erik did the only thing he could. He grabbed her hand and hugged Pietro tightly to himself, as the red energy consumed them, and he felt as if he was being torn from the universe, which unbeknownst to him, was exactly what was happening…

1: It's alright, Pietro. Everything is going to be alright.

2: Little cheetah. Open your eyes. open your eyes.