Chapter 8

"One, two, three!"

Tabitha sighed, shaking her head.

BAM

"Oooww."

"Okay, one, two three!"

BAM

"Oooww."

"One, two –."

Tabitha jumped up and ran between the door and the boys.

"Stop! I admire your spirit guys but it aint working."

For the last ten minutes, the Brotherhood boys had been running and banging into the locked that was keeping them captive.

They sighed in defeat as they sat down. Lounging against the bed they all agreed they

Had done their best when they had looked up from the boots to a very pissed off Logan.

Lance, like a true leader yelled,

"SCATTER!"

Pietro went in between Logans legs and out the door to the passageway. Toad spat slime at Logan who ducked, but when he looked up all he saw was Tabitha's foot disappearing around a corner. Grumbling, he ran after them but remembered who was in that direction he slowed to a slide and sauntered after them. He smiled as he heard shouts and curses of the Brotherhood and Xmen as they fought a surprisingly short battle.

He shook his head at some of the filtering dialogue.

"Ow! My tail!"

"Jean, watch were you point that thing!"

"Spike, that was like an expensive vase! Storm is so like gonna kill you!"

" Back off or I'll rock ya!"

Those puns we need to work on Rocky.

He jerked as he heard Tabitha, "Let go of me or I swear I'll rip your arms and shove them down that friggin' grin of yours and I'll enjoy it!"

After a few more grunts and moans and yelling, Logan ventured forth.

Logan turned the corner and gave an even wider grin.

Tabitha, Lance and Todd were hanging from the chandelier, courtesy of Kurt, Scott had his hand by his ruby glasses, ready to blast if the upside down mutants tried anything.

Scott immediately started talking when Logan walked in.

"The Brotherhood broke into the mansion, we saw them running, only Pietro's missing but we'll get him!"

Logan laughed, "half right Cyke; the Brotherhood didn't break in, they're our guests."

The X-men teens' eyes opened wide in astonishment. They turned to the dangling escapees for confirmation but were startled to see them half unconscious from the blood rushing to their heads. Jean levitated them to the carpeted floor and they slowly got control over their dull limbs.

"So why were they running?" asked Evan.

"'Cause they don't really want to be our guests." Replied Logan.

Everyone gave him a weird look.

"I'll explain later, deal with these three, you know which room, I'm gonna find Quickie."

Pietro crept along quietly; he wasn't sure were the others were, but he couldn't help any one of them if he was caught himself. He almost tiptoed through a tiled hallway; he could feel a slight breeze coming from somewhere nearby. He froze stock still as he heard someone gently humming. Carefully he peeped in the doorway of were the draft had been coming from. The sweet humming had stopped. He was now faced with over a hundred plants.

Good enough, plenty of cover at least, must be some kind of green house.

He stooped low, he paused and looked ahead; some sense of his told him something was wrong. It was incredibly quiet. The breeze seemed to be circling the room, it's source unknown. As he silently moved forward he felt something snag at his finger, his finger had been scratched by a thorn, it was bleeding a little bit, he brought his finger to his mouth and sucked at the annoying droplets of blood. There was complete silence as he noticed the breeze had disappeared. The hairs stood on the back of his neck as warm air brushed against his skin.

"How about we get a band-aid for that?" whispered a voice against his ear.

Pietro spun around, giving a yell and falling on his back.

Storm moved forward to help him to his feet, instead Pietro yelled again and scrambled further backwards.

"We haven't done anything to you or the X-geeks!"

Ororo was pained at what she saw before her, she was a Goddess who was constantly in tune with nature, and it was against everything she knew to see such unnatural fear before her.

She saw a scared, wild child.

Where is the proud and wholesome Pietro I once knew?

She moved slowly towards the trembling boy. Pietro's eyes flashed suspiciously. He gave a little growl, a small warning for her to back off. Storm complied and backed off. She stood a few feet away; she kept calm, hoping the child would sense the vibes and calm down. In a test of patience, she was always victor.

They both heard the echo of footsteps approaching the greenhouse, they both turned in time to see Rogue enter the room, it was clear she was looking for Storm but her gaze fell on Pietro who was still on the floor. Ignoring Storm who was shaking her head she walked slowly towards Pietro, pulling off a glove to expose her own equally pale hand.

"I'll handle this." She said as she neared, a hard, stone look upon her face.

Pietro stood up, a fresh wave of anger overcoming him. He grabbed her arms by the sleeves, surprising her by his strength. He edged his nose dangerously close to her own face.

"How dare you! You think the only way to stop somebody is to suck them like a leech, never mind what secrets you wrench from them, or memories or putting them at risk of a coma! Don't you get it? To have your secrets out? Nothing your own? No! You can steal others but can't part with your own; not much of a life you have if you have to leech it off others, is it?

Then he was gone, leaving a stunned Rogue behind.

After several seconds of zooming through each room to find a decent hiding place to get his thoughts together and clean the blood seeping through his shirt. The only place he reckoned no one would look was the bathroom.

He stood at the basin and lifted his shirt to try and wipe away some of the blood, after a few seconds he paused.

Wait, can't Wolvie smell or track or something weird like that? I need a plan fast.

As if in a horror movie, the door swung open, Pietro turned to see who the intruder was but came face to face with an open door and nothing else. He stayed like this for a few seconds. Reassured that it was nothing he turned back to the mirror. His eye immediately caught the reflection next to him. Pietro gave a strangled cry when he saw Logan only a meter away. Logan made a grab at him but Quicksilver darted out of reach and ran straight for the door. But as he passed the doorway, he was grabbed by Storm and Beast. They both grabbed one side of the struggling boy; they lifted his feet up so only his toes brushed against the floor. Pietro began to wildly kick his legs at such a rate a wind was picking up, Logan walked up and wrapped a hairy arm around the speed demons legs and they marched him like this down the corridor. Desperate, Pietro resorted to biting; the only one in reach was Beast. Pietro began biting into the blue fur, grinding his teeth into the rubbery flesh; Logan swatted him on the head with his free hand and in response Pietro tried nipping at his fingers.

Finally they arrived at the room the others were in, the Professor had built it especially for any mutant who might become violent with their mutation. All around behind the bricks, the room was covered in extra layers of fiberglass, metal and strong plastic. Storm waited outside as Beast and Logan took Pietro inside. As they put him in the room, they told him Logan would collect him for a medical examination.

This brought shouts and a closed fist from Lance but Beast just hurriedly shut the door and prayed that the reinforcements would hold against four desperate, powerful teenagers.