Chapter Six
Xavier quickly spoke to his co-workers telepathically.
Pietro seems hurt, we need to end this quickly.
Notice the positions their in. Toad is the weakest fighter; he must be back up protection for Pietro. Lance and Tabitha seem to be the main line of defense.
Storm:
I will take Tabitha.
Beast:
I shall verse Lance.
Wolverine:
I'll get the other two.
The X-men leapt forward, Lance instantly reacted by shooting out a shockwave in their direction. Beast lost his balance and stumbled forward but regained his balance and continued onwards. Wolverine dodged the tremor attack and jumped towards Pietro, but Toad jumped in his path and spat his slimy green goo in his face. As Wolverine tried to clear the mess from hid eyes, he noticed Toad putting Quicksilver on his back and try to hop up the stairs. Logan bound up the stairs three at a time and tackled the amphibian mutant to the ground.
There were small bangs and waves of heat as Boom Boom unleashed a fury of bombs at Wolverine. Storm drew up a powerful wind and sent Tabitha soaring through the air and over the banister to the wooden floor below.
Toad spat out his tongue and caught her by her midriff in midair. Momentarily distracted Logan took the opportunity to grab Quicksilver, he tucked the pale teen under his arm and dashed down the stairs. He deposited him next to the Professor and turned to survey the others. Beast had Lance pinned with his tremendous weight, as much as Lance struggled, he had to concentrate on breathing under the fur instead of a tremor.
Hank looks like he's managing.
Storm on the other hand was trying to dodge bombs and narrowly missing a whipping from a 12 foot slimy tongue.
Once again Logan ran forth and tackled Toad to the ground, leaving Storm to deal with Boom Boom. Wolverine carefully placed two fingers on a part of the young boys neck, as he applied pressure he knew it would render the struggling teen unconscious without long term affects.
"Logan, look out!"
Logan turned but it was too late. Using his super speed, Quicksilver grabbed a lamp and promptly smashed it over the feral mutants head. In a blur he ran at Storm and sent her tumbling.
Toad hopped over to Beast and wrapped his tongue around his neck. Beast released Lance to try loosen the strangling hold.
In a white flash, Pietro appeared at the bottom of the stairway were only a few feet away, Storm rubbed her head, trying to regain her sense of surroundings. Quicksilver stood for a moment but then began to sway and slid to the floor in a heap. Fresh blood pumped through the cuts, giving the normally ghostly white boy a tinged complexion of bronze.
Lance ran over and helped Pietro to his feet, even he could see that the blood loss had made him weak. Lance half dragged him to the kitchen.
"Toad, Boom Boom!"
Todd and Tabitha turned to their leader at the sound of their codenames and quickly assessed the situation. They all ran to the kitchen while Avalanche sent a tremor to the X-men staff. Boom Boom blasted the door and ran over to Toad and helped him drag Quicksilver out. As the dust billowed out, four shadows emerged. Toad and Tabitha desperately trying to get to the wooded area behind their boarding home with a dazed Pietro between them. A few feet behind appeared Lance. Checking around for any sense of pursuers. As he ran forward he fell to his knees with a small yell. The three teens turned to see who had caused their leaders fall and noticed noone. Then they noticed Lance gripping his head in pain, his knuckles almost white and his face in an agonizing grimace.
"Not now," whispered Tabitha.
Toad and Pietro turned to the blond but she instead fell face forward into the dusty soil. Tabitha had collapsed. Her eyes looked in their direction but they were glassy. Flittering her eyelashes her eyes closed and her breathing became haggard. She rolled over on her side and was lost to the world.
Pietro stared at the debris in horror.
Lance was on the ground, writhing on the ground in pain.
Tabitha was on the ground, too weak to even stand up.
Toad looked around with huge, yellow eyes. Pain and confusion over fear clouded his normally gentle face.
Pietro could stand it no longer.
"FATHER!"
He rose to his feet, adrenaline pumping through every vein of his body. He blindly ran forward, two single tears trailed down his smooth cheeks, disappearing under his pointed chin. With pale blue eyes he stared to the silver moon.
"As your son if not anything else; please help us!"
In the silence that followed a voice whispered in the wind.
Run then, run.
He looked back at his fallen comrades.
"What about the others?"
The wind answered.
Leave Them.
Pietro hesitated. He wanted to do what he did best.
Run,Run,Run,Run.
Lance, gripping his head in pain, trying to stifle his grunts. His best friend. He'd never had one of those before.
Run,Run,Run,Run,Run.
Tabitha, sprawled on the ground, defenseless. He knew the devil she loved to be and was. Yet as the moon shone gentle on her skin, she looked like an angel, so pure and fragile.
Run,run,run,run,run,run,run.
Toad looking at him with pleading eyes that asked, would he abandon him like so many before? No-one had looked up at him before. Wait, yes, one other person. It was too painful too remember right now.
Run,run,run,run,run,run.
Three shadows approached.
Run,run,run,run,run,run.
"NO!"
Three shadows drew closer.
"Come on Todd!"
The terrified boys grabbed Tabitha and Lance and ran through leafy branches and upturned roots and fell through some thicket into a clearing.
There was not a lot of time. All they could see was Lances jeep and the X-van. There was not a lot of time. Pietro knew that Lance hid his jeep keys ever since Tabby had started 'borrowing' it. Using super speed he could just see the outline of the keys in the ignition in the windscreen. Zipping back, he motioned to Todd.
They lifted the two teens into the back of the X-van and Toad hopped in after them. Quicksilver slammed the doors shut. He ran to the drivers side and yanked at the door. It wouldn't budge.
"Crap!"
He ran to the other side and to his relief was able to open the passenger door with ease. He quickly jumped in and shut it. He leaned back and took a deep breath to try steady his nerves.
Then he froze.
Even though it was dark and no light shone through the tinted windows, there was still the unmistakable form of some one sitting behind the steering wheel.
"Aaghh!" yelled a petrified Pietro.
Pietro tried desperately to open the door but it wouldn't.
"Kiddy locks," said a gruff voice, then chuckled. "Thought Chuck was crazy to have these things put in, but they came in handy huh?"
The figure lit a cigar and in the light of the tiny flame, the memorable face of Logan gave a small smile.
He leaned towards Pietro who gave a small shriek and raised his hands to protect himself from punches that never came. Instead Logan pulled the frightened teens seatbelt across and clicked it in place. He gave the boy what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
"Don't want you to get hurt now, do we?"
Though Wolverine's intentions were good, Pietro was now ready to use his head as a hammer to break through the glass. Fear reeked out of every pore. In other words, he was scared shitless.
What are they going to do to us? How can I save the others, god, what will father do. We're helpless! Have to think of something, a plan, plan, plan…………
As Logan began driving he pressed a communicator on his wrist.
"Worked Charles, yeah. One's right next to me."
"……"
"Yeah, ten minutes, you get everything ready, bye."
Logan disconnected and glanced at Pietro, trying to analyze as much as possible from one look.
Kid looks awful, scared brainless too.
"…."
"What's going on?"
"…."
"You don't trust us much huh?"
There was more silence.
"Should I feel insulted?"
Now Pietro glared at him.
"Don't flatter yourself! We trust no one except each other!"
Logan sniffed, "Tabs used to be O.K., what happened to her?"
"Not my business to tell!"
"Ye look tired, why don't you rest abit?"
"No way! Who knows what you might try! Do you think I'm totally thick? Why I…"
Pietro began mumbling to himself at hyper speed so the car was filled with a steady hum.
Logan turned into the mansion drive a few minutes later and parked at the back, by the garage.
Logan got out and walked to the passenger side. Sensing a possible escape, Pietro focused on breathing slowly, feigning sleep.
He allowed Logan to pick him up, he had such a loose hold on him, and at the right moment Pietro snapped his eyes open and punched as hard as he could. Unfortunately because he was so weak it was a feeble attempt but it succeeded in Logan dropping him. He sprinted super fast into a solid mass of blue muscle.
Slightly dazed, Pietro looked at the towering figure of Beast.
He felt as if every available option was turning to dust. Like if a snowball went to hell.
A massive blue hand wrapped itself around his frail body and lifted him into the waiting arms of Wolverine. This time Wolverine kept a firm grip on him as he was carried into the mansion.
The bright light was in such contrast to the pitch black night outside. Pietro screwed up his eyes against the harsh light, his vision began to blur as they approached a doorway. Fear mounted as they neared their destination. As the fear reached its climax he passed out.
The last thing he heard as he was swept into a cold darkness was Toads voice, screaming, but it sounded like an echo. All he heard was 'Pietroo..' then the screaming was silenced by the loud bang of the door slamming shut.
As the door slammed shut, hope was lost.
Father.