Disclaimer: I own none of the characters within.
1. Author's Notes: Yes, I'm late. Yes, this is a comparatively short chapter. I'm still trying to kick this second part of the story into motion. Give me a few tries, we'll start up the engine eventually. ; )
~
Shock. Awe. Fear. Curiosity. Terror.
Far too many emotions chugged through Pietro's system all at once, and he fell to his knees as he was overrun.
Bayville was silent.
The cars posed in the street like a photo finish, the people posed on the sidewalk like a magazine. Mouths hung open soundless. Engines ran in deathly stillness. The hum and the buzz of the city had been reduced to the thundering of his own heart in his ears.
"Hello?" he whispered timidly.
No response. Obviously.
Encouraged, he sidled over and plucked a cell phone from a young man's hands. Dropped it in a trashcan. Ha ha ha. Liberated an expensive necklace from a woman's neck. Placed it on the woman who was talking with her.
Ha ha ha.
Suddenly everything seemed fun and free and he would never have to worry about anything again and he could just keep on playing tricks and causing chaos and wreaking havoc and it would never ever have to stop.
Click.
Sanity took hold once more, and he took up a keening wail that would have haunted any person's nightmares.
~
Far away, in the deepest parts of her mind, Wanda heard that scream.
~
-Charles!- Ororo called out mentally, desperately. -The children are on their way home! Christmas break!-
-Meet them at the door.- His voice responded calmly. -Tell them as little as possible, only that something has happened and they must not bother us in the sitting room.-
-I'll do my best.-
-Oh, and allow Scott, Jean, Rogue, and Evan to come in here. I think they ought to be a part of this.-
-Evan?- She was incredulous. -But he hates…- Then she realized. -Yes. I'll send them in.-
~
Chattering, vacation-thrilled students entering the X-Mansion came face to face with a very solemn looking weather mutant.
"Ms. Munroe?" Jamie inquired nervously. "Somethin' wrong?"
"Perhaps." She replied vaguely. "The Professor would prefer if you did not interrupt him; he's conducting some business in the sitting room. Please do not disturb him."
"Sure thing!" Bobby piped up. "I was heading for the entertainment room, anyway!"
"Dibs on the X-Box!" Sam cried.
The teens went pounding off to the left in a rush and amid shouts of "Dibs!". Ororo managed to snag Scott's elbow, and nailed the other three with a meaningful look.
"You four," she said quietly. "The Professor would like to see in the sitting room."
"What's the deal, Auntie O?" Evan was suspicious.
She gave him no response but a light nudge in the right direction, as she herself returned to the kitchen. The chosen few gave each other anxious looks.
"All right," Scott said. "What'd you guys do?"
"What'd we do?" Jean countered. "What'd you do?"
"Wasn't me." Rogue snapped defensively.
The three older teens all glared at their younger companion. Evan threw up his hands instinctively.
"Hey, don't look at me!"
"Look," Scott sighed. "We'd better go see what he wants."
"Good idea." Rogue shoved him towards the door. "You first."
~
The last thing Scott expected to see in the sitting room was the Brotherhood.
The last thing Lance expected to see in the doorway was the Geek Patrol.
Both leaders sprang towards each other and hovered a distance apart, ready to defend their companions should things get rough.
"Summers!"
"Alvers!"
In unison; "What are you doing here?"
"Don't you have school or something?"
"I think I have the more legitimate complaint; what are you doing in our house?"
"Guys!" Rogue didn't know whether to be happy about the sight of her former housemates or not. "What are you doing here?"
"Okay, Pietro, this little stunt has…" The threat died in Evan's mouth. "Hey, where is he?"
"All right everybody, let's just calm down!"
As usual, Jean was the voice of reason. Fred settled back to the floor with an angry look, while Evan rocked on the balls of his feet, ready for a fight. Rogue crossed her arms and tried to look neutral, while Wanda and Todd braced themselves for some kind of attack. Only two people ignored her.
"Lance, Scott, knock it off!"
The two ceased their murderous glaring at each other and looked at her impatiently.
"What?"
"Where's Pietro?" Evan tried again, half-expecting his rival to zip up behind him and give him a scare. "Is he lurking around here somewhere?"
"He just might be, Porcupine," They all jumped a mile and noticed Logan in the corner. "He might be right behind you."
Evan whipped around defensively and saw thin air.
"Is this some kind of a joke?" he demanded.
"Do you see anyone laughing?" Wanda spoke at last.
The four X-Men turned suspicious eyes on her. The last time they'd seen her, she'd been ripping up a mall or being targeted by a pyromaniac. She looked much less threatening now, in an oversized sweatshirt and with her hair sticking every which way after a sound night's sleep.
"No." Jean said softly. "No one's laughing. Something is wrong, isn't it?"
"That's a helluva understatement, yo." Todd snorted.
"Look, what's going on here?" Scott was frustrated by the lack of information. "Why are these guys in here, anyway?"
"We need help." Fred said grudgingly.
"Help?" Evan was skeptical. "You guys? Did Pietro set you up to this?"
"Yes." Wanda said, because he did, actually.
"I knew it." Evan snarled darkly.
"It's not quite like you think, Evan."
The Professor's voice brought comfort as he wheeled into the room with Hank behind him. He gave his students a stern look.
"Something has happened here that may or may not end up well. Will you all sit down?"
Lance retreated to the couch with his fellows. Scott, Jean, and Evan piled onto the opposite sofa. Hank claimed the only easy chair. Rogue glanced around and saw a vacancy. She sat down next to Lance, prompting both him and Professor X to raise their eyebrows in surprise.
"Now," the Professor continued. "Some of you may recall that a few months ago, Jean's powers underwent a bit of a change."
"Oh no," Jean inhaled sharply. "What happened?"
"Well," he continued. "As near as we can tell, our Mr. Maximoff seems to be undergoing the same kind of change."
"But… how?" Scott cocked his head. "He can't levitate things or anything…"
"He appears to be trapped in his own superspeed and unable to slow down."
"Whoa, man," Evan held up his hands. "Pietro's stuck on fast forward?"
"That seems to be the case at the moment."
"Why us?" Rogue said quietly. Everyone looked at her. "Professor, why us four?"
He smiled at her warmly.
"Scott and Jean, naturally because they are the oldest and more mature of the students. And you and Evan… let's just say you've had previous relations with this group."
Rogue darted a look at the people on the couch with her. She held the firm belief that by now they all hated her guts anyway. Lance, Wanda, and Fred were looking at the Professor. But Todd was looking back at her, and he gave her a tiny smile of reassurance. At least one of them still liked her.
"Hank is going to get to work on figuring this out." The Professor went on. "In the meantime, the Brotherhood will be staying here, so you'll all have to be gracious hosts."
"We don't need any charity." Lance stepped in hastily. "Don't do us any favors. Just get Pietro outta this."
Xavier nodded. "I understand."
He left the room with Hank, probably heading downstairs to the lab to get cracking. They heard Hank saying, "It's going to be difficult with so little information to work with…" Logan hovered silently in the corner to insure that they didn't attack each other.
A tense silence descended.
Todd leaned across Lance's lap and patted Rogue on the knee.
"It's good to see you," Then, as an afterthought, "I mean, seeing you without you smashing my face into something'.
"Yeah, Rogue, what's the deal?" Lance nudged her. "We know you fit in better with us any day."
"Hey, she fits in with us fine." Scott said promptly.
"Hey, guys," Rogue said wearily. "Let's not get started on that."
"Was it something we said?" Fred ignored her last request.
Rogue thought wearily back to many things. In rapid succession she remembered life with the boys; Fred ordering ten pizzas at a go, Todd practicing crawling on the ceiling and failing, Lance playing guitar, Pietro running laps around the living room until there was little path in the carpet.
Then she remembered Mystique.
"No," she sighed heavily. "It wasn't because of you boys."
As if summoned, Ororo appeared with a tray of Oreos and several glasses of milk.
"Anyone hungry?" she asked.
"And how!" Fred replied enthusiastically.
He turned himself around to be facing the coffee table she set the tray down on, and dug in. Rogue smiled; some things were always a constant, even in a state of crisis. Life, death, and Freddy's appetite.
Scott and Jean shared uneasy glances. Both had a feeling that their usual calm and collected demeanors were about to be stretched to the breaking point.
~