Chapter 16

The Brotherhood House

The boys spent nearly two hours after school driving around town and looking for anything interesting to do before giving up and arriving home. Pietro was the first of the four to exit the jeep. With his backpack slung over one arm, he ran a hand through his light hair and walked into the house. Standing in the doorway, his eyes widened as soon as he noticed how clean and odor free the hallway was.

"Hey get outta the way!" Toad said as he jumped around Pietro. The freshly mopped floor did not accept his landing and Toad went sliding down the hallway before crashing into the wall.

"Whoa," Lance said as he stood next to Pietro. The boys stood, dumbfounded, and in the doorway until Fred pushed them out of the way.

"Do you guys smell that?" he asked, his nose turned up and sniffing the air excitedly. "That's food!"

"Leave it to Blob to notice the smell of food," Lance joked before nudging Pietro. Blob bounded into the kitchen and the other boys followed.

The four looked around the kitchen in awe, not only because of its cleanliness, but because of the four plates that were sitting on the table with steaming food piled on top of them. A squeal escaped Fred and Ellie turned around, catching Pietro's eye. She had been standing in front of the sink, rinsing fruit in a white colander before noticing that she had company. Pietro swallowed as he noticed the sun was streaming in from the window behind her, illuminating Ellie in a gold outline as she stared at the group of boys. He looked away from her when Fred spoke.

"Did you make all of this?" he asked her after picking a plate up with his massive hands.

"Yeah," she replied with a nod. "It might be a little cold though; I wasn't sure when you'd all get home."

"Well, if we knew you were gonna cook for us we woulda come straight home," Lance explained, rubbing the back of his neck in a guilty manner.

"No, Lance, it's fine, really. I just figured you guys would be hungry so I whipped a few things up." She set the colander on the counter before tightening her ponytail.

"Aren't you eating?" Fred asked as he counted the four plates. Pietro looked to Ellie for an answer, curious of what it could be.

"No," she told him. "Actually, I'm going to leave in a few minutes." Pietro felt his heart jump in his chest.

"Why?" Toad asked. Ellie gave him a small smile.

"You guys let me crash here last night and I appreciate that. But this was only a temporary set up. I'm going to get out of your hair and find somewhere else to go. I'm just going to gather my things and then I'll leave."

"But Ellie-," Fred was cut off mid-sentence by Pietro holding his hand up and shaking his head. Ellie ignored her large friend's plea and walked out of the kitchen.

The boys looked at their plates a little less excited now. Fred was the one that was taking this news the hardest and even frowned at his plate full of food. Pietro looked around at the faces of his housemates and couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them.

"Aw man," Toad said, catching everyone's attention. "She even put flies on top of my baked potato." The green boy slumped down in his chair.

"C'mon guys, snap out of it!" Pietro demanded. "There's nothing to be upset about. All that girl did was clean our house and make us dinner, it's not like she's our friend or anything."

"Speak for yourself," Fred added, resting his fist against his chubby cheek, pouting. Pietro rolled his eyes and made his way over to the sink to wash his hands.

Instead, he folded his arms over his chest, angry that nobody was listening to him. These boys were being stupid they all knew Ellie wasn't going to live with them forever. They should have all realized that to begin with. Pietro turned his head and lifted his eyebrow when he noticed the fruit in the colander, green apples.

He left the room quickly and found Ellie in the living room. Her backpack was strapped over her arms and she was ready to leave. Pietro approached her, stopping a few inches away from her body. Ellie pulled her neck back a bit, uncomfortable with his closeness.

"Did something happen today?" he asked her in a hushed tone.

"No why?" Ellie lied expertly.

"Well, because a green apple, just like the ones in the colander in the kitchen, miraculously fell out of the sky and probably brain damaged Toad."

"I'm sure Toad's brain is fine." Before she knew it, Pietro's hand was clasped around her small wrist, and he ran them through the house and into his bedroom. Ellie folded her arms over her chest as Pietro shut the door.

"What happened today?" he asked her.

"Nothing," Ellie answered. "Now get out of my way so I can leave."

"You can leave after you tell me what happened to you today that has you so freaked out that you're about to go on the run again."

"I'm not freaked out."

"You're lying." The two stared one another down in silence.

"You want to know what happened to me today. Fine, I'll tell you what happened. Some creep at the grocery store tried to make me get into his car. He was following me the entire time I was shopping too. I panicked and flew home. Satisfied?"

"What did he look like?" Pietro asked with anger clear in his tone.

"He looked old. He had a big nose and white hair."

"Do you think he's gonna come look for you or something?"

"I don't know, maybe." Ellie stared down at her dirty sneakers while Pietro looked her over.

Whether Pietro liked Ellie or not he did not want some guy prowling on her. He tried to think of a way to calm her nerves but he was having trouble keeping his own nerves settled. He had lived in this house with these boys for a while now and it was hard to remember that girls had to deal with problems like this. He took a deep breath before speaking once more.

"You know we wouldn't let anyone bother you," he told her.

"Oh yeah?" Ellie asked skeptically. "You don't even like me."

"That doesn't mean I want to find out that some creep has snatched you up. You're going to stay here until I decide it is safe for you to leave."

"You don't get to decide that."

"Yeah, I do. If someone is looking for you then you're safer here than out on the streets. If you try and leave, I'll follow you, and you know that I can keep up."

Ellie studied his face and his serious expression did not waiver in the slightest. Whether she wanted to be there or not, it seemed that she was going to be staying with the Brotherhood for a few more days. Unhappy that she was giving in, and that she was giving Pietro his way, Ellie nodded in agreement.

"Then I guess I'm staying," Ellie said. Pietro smirked back at her.

"I knew you were going to say that," he said cockily.

"How?"

"When you told me what happened earlier, you said you flew home."

"Shut up Pietro." Ellie let herself out of his bedroom and made her way downstairs.

Pietro smirked to himself. He did not have any blackmail that was going to force Ellie to stay with his team, but thanks to an unfortunate incident at the grocery store, he now had a motive to keep her where she was. He nodded to himself before returning to the kitchen where his housemates, and Ellie, were sitting around the dining room table. Lance gave Pietro a curious look as he took a seat next to him at the table.

"So you're gonna stay then?" Fred asked excitedly. Ellie nodded.

"Seems like someone had a change of heart," Pietro smugly added. Ellie ignored him.

"Hey, how'd you get these flies?" Toad asked as he pointed to his baked potato.

"I got them off a piece of fly paper. I caught a ton while I was cleaning and saved them for you. Sorry if they taste like glue," Ellie answered.

"Just be sure to keep them out of everyone else's food," Pietro warned, taking a bite of his now luke-warm green beans.

"What, you don't like flies? Shoot, I probably shouldn't have put them in your green beans then," Ellie said in a convincing voice. Pietro spit out his green beans and everyone laughed.

The silver-haired teen glared at his friends before taking a drink of his water. His eyes landed on Ellie and she was laughing at him as well. Seeing her so relaxed did something to Pietro that he didn't quite understand, but he felt the corners of his mouth tug upward and soon enough he was laughing with them.

The X-Mansion

"Hydro get down!" Cyclops screamed as he touched his fingers to his visor. Eli quickly threw himself to the ground of the Danger Room as Scott shot a red beam from his visor.

Above him, the beam hit a large boulder, shattering the rock over Eli's body. He covered his head with his large arms before looking up to see Jean Gray. Her red hair flipped around her as she floated around the rocks that scattered into the air. With the swipe of her hand, Eli's body was lifted into the air.

"Nice reaction time," she told him with a smile. Eli smiled back to her.

"Thanks," he replied. Jean released him from her telekinetic hold and Eli landed on his feet.

He took off running through the Danger Room, dodging saws that jutted out of the walls and leaping over craters where the floor would split open. With a wide grin on his face, he ran through a yellow piece of tape and doubled over, panting hard. He lifted his head at the sound of the other new recruits making it past the finish line after him.

"Well, looks like Waterboy here finished the obstacle course before the rest of you," Wolverine said as he approached the students. "You did good kid."

"Good job Eli!" Kitty said as she phased through the wall next to him, making him jump.

"I'm never gonna get used to that," he told her with a small laugh. Tabitha grabbed onto his arm and tapped her finger against his chin.

"Great run back there handsome," she told him. He laughed nervously before pulling his arm away from her.

"Thanks Boom-Boom."

"He's not that great," Bobby said as he cocked his head to the side. "I liked his sister better." Kurt teleported to his side now.

"I think you just liked his sister," the blue boy mentioned. Bobby went to swat at him but Kurt had teleported next to Eli now.

"Well, we're done trainin' for the day," Wolverine told the group. "Now go do your homework." The new recruits and the X-Men all left the room, many of them patting Eli on the back or the shoulder as they passed.

When he was finally away from everyone he stopped smiling. He went to the room he was staying in, changed, and left the X Mansion. His hands rested in his sweatshirt pockets and the cool air hit the top of his chest that was exposed under his zip-up. His black boots pounded against the concrete as he walked into the front yard of the mansion.

No matter how well he was doing in his training sessions, and no matter how well he got along with his new friends, Eli missed his sister. With Ellie essentially missing, he was unable to feel at ease. His heart felt like there was a heavy weight on it and guilt plagued him the worst it ever had in his life. Maybe he should have left with her when she asked him to. Or maybe he should have tried harder to make her stay. Eli stopped behind the front gate, his eyebrows pushing together as he noticed a black car parked outside.

He looked around but nobody else was outside with him that he could tell. He lifted his head a bit when the car door opened slightly. A white envelope fell onto the dark road and the car door slammed shut. Eli tried to see who was inside the car, but the windows were tinted too dark for him to see in. The car sped off down the road and Eli pushed the gate open. He carefully picked up the envelope, and flipped it in his hand, inspecting it. Without any further hesitation he opened it and removed its contents.

His eyes widened as he stared down at a photograph of Ellie. She was in a grocery store with a box of cereal in her hand, looking over her shoulder with an angry expression on her face. His heart sped up as he flipped through the pictures. They were all photographs of Ellie grocery shopping, but the last picture he looked at was a picture of her looking right at the camera with multiple bags in her arms. Without thinking, Eli dropped the pictures and ran into the road. His heartbeat filled his ears as he ran down the road, trying to catch up with the black car that was already long gone.