Chapter 11

Ellie ran her finger tips over her eyebrow as she watched the clock on the wall slowly change. Pietro was still shaking his legs under his desk next to her and Mrs. Graines was sitting behind her desk quietly. Her graying hair was pulled into a tight bun on top of her head and the red pen in her hand scratched across the numerous papers in front of her.

"Miss Dingo," Mrs. Graines said calmly. Ellie raised her eyebrows.

"Yes ma'am?" she asked. Mrs. Graines removed her round eyeglasses and looked to her.

"Would you come up here please?" Ellie glanced at Pietro, who was eyeing her with one eyebrow raised, before she approached her teacher.

"Yes?" she asked again. Mrs. Graines slid a paper near Ellie.

"I have just finished reading your poem from yesterday," Mrs. Graines started. "I will admit that this is the best original work that I have read out of the lot thus far. I feel that it is important for me to give you credit so you may try and turn that attitude of yours around." Pietro chuckled from across the room and the women looked to him.

"Sorry," he said. "Bad cough." He proceeded to fake cough and the women returned to the matter at hand.

"I'm glad you like my work," Ellie replied. "I'm sorry for my actions. I hope that I haven't branded myself as a delinquent." Ellie shot a quick look at Pietro with the last word.

"Everyone is capable of redemption, Miss Dingo," Mrs. Graines replied with a small smile. "The two of you are free to go. I will see you tomorrow."

Ellie smiled to herself as she walked back to her desk to grab her backpack. Her nose crinkled as Pietro held it out to her. She quickly snatched it away from him and threw it over her shoulders.

"You're welcome," Pietro said as he walked across the room and into the hallway. Ellie rolled her eyes as she made her way into the hall as well. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw Fred standing in the hall as well.

"Fred?" she asked as she approached him. The large boy smiled.

"Hey Ellie!" he said happily with a small wave. Pietro stopped and listened to the two.

"What are you doing here?" Ellie asked.

"Well, Pietro told me that you had detention after school," Fred started. "I just...well, you know. I wanted to check on ya' I guess." Ellie gave him a kind smile and Pietro grimaced.

"That was sweet of you Fred. I'm doing a lot better today."

"That's good."

"It is. Thank you, by the way. For helping me out the other day. I really appreciate it."

"Sure. I mean I wasn't just gonna let someone mess with ya' or nothin'."

"Oh please!" Pietro groaned as he stepped between the two. "This public display of heartfelt friendship is going to make me puke. Let's go Blob!" Pietro headed for the main entrance of the school.

"I'll see ya' around or something'," Fred told Ellie before following after his friend.

"Yeah, for sure," she replied as she watched them walk away. Once the two boys had left the school Ellie ran her hand over her forehead, pinching the bridge of her nose as she did so.

As much as she hated to admit it, she really did owe the Brotherhood. It was even a possibility that some of them actually helped her just to be kind. Well, not Pietro of course, but Fred certainly had. Ellie dropped her hand as the red X on her communicator started to glow. She pressed it and lifted her wrist to her lips.

"Yes?" she asked quietly.

"Cool it worked!" Eli screamed making Ellie drop her arm to her side and jump back.

"You don't have to yell!" she yelled back.

"Oh, my bad. Are you going to be okay walking home?" Ellie glared down at her communicator as if she were looking at her brother instead.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Ellie, you know I didn't mean anything by that."

"Yes you did. Look, I don't need everyone worrying about me, especially you got it?"

"I'll always worry about you. It kinda comes with the whole twin brother thing. I can meet you halfway if you want."

"Goodbye Eli." Ellie pushed her communicator and ended the transmission. The X lit up once more but she ignored it and headed for the entrance of Bayville High.

The Brotherhood House

Pietro made his way to his bedroom the minute he entered the Brotherhood house after school. He shut himself inside and took a seat at his desk, Ellie's book open in front of him. He flipped to the very first written on page and started to read silently to himself.

"I'm not sure what day it is. I'm not even sure what month it is. It feels like Eli and I have been in the laboratory for years, I just don't know how many. One of the scientists gave me this journal to write my feelings in. I'm ready to go home but I know that's not going to happen. Mom told us that we were going on vacation so long ago but it has become pretty obvious that she lied." Pietro's head shot up from the book when his door opened.

"Whoa, are you studying?" Toad asked as he leaned against the door. Pietro scowled at him.

"None of your business, now get out," he replied, pointing to the hallway. Toad smirked before leaning over the desk a bit.

"Wait a minute, is that a diary?" Toad asked as he saw the writing. Pietro closed the book and swatted at Toad who moved back at the right moment to avoid contact.

"Get outta here Toad!" With his super speed Pietro pushed him into the hall, slammed his door closed and locked it.

"Man! Did you guys know Pietro has a diary!?" Toad laughed as he jumped down the hall. Pietro sat back down and opened the book again.

"Lately they have been separating Eli and myself. When I asked the scientist why I can't stay with him she told me that it was due to a conflict of interest. I'm not even sure what that really means. This room is a lot worse without him here. It's nice to not have to share the pillow and blanket but there is nobody to talk to." Pietro sat back and tapped his fingers on his chin.

"Well this makes no sense," he said to himself with an aggravated sigh. He went back to reading and skipped ahead to something that caught his attention.

"I hate HYDRA. I hate everyone that works here. I hate mom and I hate dad. They finally let me see Eli today. He's not the same as he used to be. He's much taller than he was when we first got here and he's got muscles now. He was always a tiny, scrawny boy, but not anymore. Eli had bandages covering his arms and neck, so naturally I asked what had happened to him. He told me that the scientists have been experimenting on him to make him better."

Pietro took a second and thought to himself. He pictured Eli being the same height and with the same muscle tone that Ellie had. The image of the twins actually resembling one another more made him smirk. Suddenly Eli did not seem so intimidating. Even with this image in his mind the fact that HYDRA was mentioned in this journal concerned him. He continued to read.

"Those monsters gave him a power. He told me that they filled him with needles and tubes and that it hurt like hell. As if this wasn't enough to make me angry, he told me that mom and dad supervised the process and gave the other scientists orders on what to do to him next. Now Eli can turn his body into water the same way that he can control plants."

"Jackpot!" Pietro yelled to himself happily. He had finally found some blackmail for Eli.

Pietro knew he could use this against Eli and could potentially force him to join the Brotherhood. However, he wondered if there was anything in the journal that could be used against Ellie as well. That way, if he found dirt on the both of them, they would both have to join the Brotherhood and the X-Men would be down two recruits instead of one. He smiled at his brilliance and continued to flip through the pages of the journal.

The X Mansion

"I will admit that I was concerned when your brother informed me of your detention," Charles Xavier told Ellie as she sat in his office.

After Ellie had arrived at the mansion she was immediately greeted by the Professor. Everyone else was in the middle of a training session in the danger room and he asked to speak with her in private after she changed into her new recruit suit. Initially she was a bit nervous that he had discovered her secret, but the feeling quickly disappeared as he started talking about detention.

"It was a stupid thing to do on my part," Ellie admitted. "I apologized, she accepted it, so that's the end of that."

"Yes well, maybe for Mrs. Graines it is but not for me," Charles replied. "Ellie, I want you to attend a few sessions with Storm after school for a few weeks."

"What kind of sessions?"

"Sessions where you tell Storm your feelings about your life in Bayville and how you are adjusting."

"So she's going to be my shrink then?" Ellie crossed her legs and sat back into the couch a bit.

"Consider her as your mentor. Nobody is trying to make you talk about anything that you don't want to Ellie." She sat quiet for a moment.

"Okay. I'll do it." Charles smiled.

"I'm happy to hear it. Now, go ahead and join the rest of the students in the danger room." Ellie nodded and left the office.

"Maybe I made a mistake coming here. They are so intense about everything," Ellie thought to herself as she tugged at the neck of her new recruit suit.

She entered the danger room and raised an eyebrow at what she saw. There were no flying metal balls with spikes sticking out of them, or any saws coming out of the walls the way Eli had told her there were when he trained. This room was completely bare except for Rogue standing in the middle of the room. Ellie looked to the right to see all of the new recruit team sitting near the wall and all of the X-Men standing behind them.

"Imp, get on over here!" Scott yelled. Ellie walked over to the group and Eli grabbed onto her shoulder quickly.

The two locked eyes and Ellie knew that something was wrong. She lifted her eyebrow at him and Eli nodded in the direction of Rogue. Ellie examined her closely for a second, her eyes widening as she noticed Rogue wasn't wearing her gloves. Her eyes darted back to her brother's.

"Alright, since everyone is here I'll explain the rules of this exercise," Logan said as he walked into the room.

"You need to be prepared for anything to happen when you're in battle," he explained. "Rogue is going to take your power and you are going to see how well you can react to your own power being used against you. Do I have any volunteers to go first?"

Ellie could feel her heart racing and her breathing become shallow. All of the new recruits sat silent with nervous looks on their faces. It was clear to Ellie that she had made the wrong choice for herself and her brother by coming here and joining this team.

"Water boy, get up here," Logan yelled, volunteering Eli to go first. Ellie's eyes widened as he released her shoulder and started walking toward Rogue.

"Wait!" Ellie yelled causing everyone to turn toward her.

"There a problem blondie?" Logan asked. Eli shook his head at her.

"I'll go first," she said as she walked out toward Rogue. The twins locked eyes for a brief moment but Ellie continued forward.

"You sure you're ready for this?" Rogue asked. Ellie narrowed her eyes.

"Bring it," she shot back. Rogue quickly lunged for her, but Ellie flew above her.

"Hey!" Rogue yelled up at her. "I need your power!" Ellie smirked.

"You want my power? Then you're gonna have to fight me for it!" Suddenly the room turned into a battleground.

Ellie looked around as walls shot up from the ground and other obstacles appeared. She landed on top of a wall and looked around. Rogue had disappeared into the fake forest now, making Ellie uneasy. She squinted to try and find her opponent, making her unaware of the metal ball zooming toward her back.

Ellie had only had a few days of training when she was at HYDRA, so she was still very naive when it came to battle. The metal sphere hit her square in the back, knocking her off the wall. She groaned as she pulled herself off the ground slowly. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of Rogue running toward her.

"I gotcha!" Rogue yelled as she jumped toward the young girl. Ellie jumped to the side, rolling a few feet away from the dangerous girl.

Before she had time to respond, Rogue jumped on top of her. Ellie grabbed her covered wrists and forced them away from her body. Rogue pushed her weight down on Ellie, pinning her to the ground as she fought to touch her face. Ellie pushed against her, but she was much smaller than Rogue. Rogue's bare fingers stretched toward Ellie's face and Ellie tried to turn away from them.

Eli stood with one hand tangled in his blond hair as he watched. He should have volunteered and made Ellie sit back and watch him instead. Eli wanted nothing more than to run out there and throw Rogue off of his sister. His stomach clenched when Ellie screamed and Rogue's hand landed on her face.

Rogue yelled a bit as well before grabbing her forehead. She sat back on top of Ellie's legs and looked at her arms, confused. Ellie stared up at the girl in horror.

"My arm's hurt," Rogue said with her brow furrowed. Ellie was starting to feel dizzy.

Rogue pushed her body up and hovered in the air a few inches above Ellie's body. Rogue screamed as her arms were quickly covered in flames. Everyone instantly started to react. Logan ran toward the two and the other X-Men headed toward the battlefield. Rogue stopped screaming as the flames disappeared and sat back on top of Ellie's legs. The X-Men and Wolverine surrounded them.

"What was that?!" Rogue asked, fear clear in her tone.

"Looks like blondie's got a few secrets we didn't know about," Logan said angrily, his claws shooting out of his hands.

Ellie looked around at all of the shocked and angry faces before pulling her right leg free and kicking Rogue in the stomach. She sent the girl back a few feet and shot herself into the air. Her body trembled uncontrollably as she flew out of the danger room at lightning speed.

"Ellie wait!" Eli screamed as he ran to the now open door. By the time he reached it she was nowhere in sight.

A/N: So sorry for the delay. I'm actually returning to college for my junior year and I literally have no down time lately. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter. I'll post the next soon!