Chapter 18

The Brotherhood House

"Toad!" Pietro screamed. "Would you keep up and dry those plates already?"

"Man, why don't you do it?" Toad replied. "You're the fast guy around here and not to mention that it's all your fault we're stuck doin' this."

"He's got a point," Lance pointed out as he placed two now clean glasses in the cabinet.

"Well I didn't see either of you jumping in to help me when she went all psychopath on me!" Pietro pointed out angrily.

"Are we done yet?" Fred groaned, growing tired of the arguing. "It's Friday night ya know."

"What, you got a hot date or somethin'?" Toad joked. Lance and Pietro chuckled at this, making Fred angry.

"I'm outta here, forget you guys!" The large boy threw his dishtowel to the floor and stormed out of the room.

"So touchy," Pietro said as he drained the dirty water out of the sink.

"Ah, you can't help but feel bad for the guy," Lance said. "I mean he's got it bad for Ellie, but she's way out of his league." Pietro stiffened slightly.

"Blob likes Ellie?" he asked, a bit skeptical that this was true. Lance gave him a confused look.

"Are you kidding me? You really haven't noticed it?"

"Yeah man, even I can see it!" Toad interjected. "Big guy's got it bad." Pietro felt his nose crinkle and quickly tried to harden his expression.

"Blob's really stupid when it comes to girls isn't he?" Pietro asked casually. "I mean, remember the whole Jean Grey thing? He didn't shut up about that for weeks."

"You think it's stupid that he has a crush on Ellie?" Lance asked curiously.

"Well yeah. Like you said, she's way out of his league. I mean this is Blob we are talking about." Pietro rubbed his wet hands over his jeans.

"What about you then? Do you think she's out of your league?" Lance took a few plates from Toad and put them away as Pietro folded his arms over his chest.

"Yeah right! Nobody is out of my league, Alvers. If anything I'm out of her league."

"I dunno about that yo," Toad added.

"Why are you asking me anyway?" Pietro snapped at Lance. "I'm not the sap that likes the stupid girl." Lance smirked to himself as he closed the cabinet door.

"Right, never mind. Forget I even mentioned it," he replied. A long silence fell upon the boys until Toad spoke up.

"Well she's definitely not outta my league," he boasted. "I'm beautiful!"

"Shut up Toad!" Pietro yelled. Toad folded his arms over his chest and pouted.

"Well, dishes are done," he pointed out. "Can we get outta here now?" Lance nodded and the two left the room, leaving a brooding Pietro behind.

"Stupid Lance. Stupid Toad," he thought. "I'm totally out of Ellie's league."

Ellie stood in the poorly lit bathroom of the Brotherhood House staring at her reflection in the cracked mirror above the sink. She pushed her hair behind her ear and cringed as she noticed her skin was red around her cartilage piercing. She removed her ear cuff and examined the damage, wincing a bit after touching her irritated skin. She cursed Duncan Matthews under her breath for knocking her into that locker a few days ago.

The sound of someone walking up the stairs caught her attention and she turned toward the open door. A few seconds later Fred marched past, his face red, and muttering to himself. Ellie walked to the doorway and peered out after him.

"Hey Fred," she called. "You okay?" The large boy stopped and turned over his shoulder.

"I'm fine!" he snapped at her, causing her to lift a brow in confusion. "Leave me alone, will ya?" Fred continued on down the hallway and into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

Ellie went back into the bathroom and looked into the mirror again, confusion all over her face. She had not been expecting Fred to be so short with her, especially because he was the only boy in this house that she figured she was somewhat friends with. Ellie caught a hint of doubt in her eyes with this thought. Maybe this was her problem. She was seeing Fred as a friend rather than a stranger, which he technically was. Her expression hardened.

"What am I doing?" she thought to herself. "What am I doing here with these boys? I don't know them, and I can't trust them. Pietro tried to blackmail me for goodness sake!" Her fingers gripped the edges of the sink and her muscles in her body tensed with anger. "I swear I'm starting to act like my brother!"

She released the sink when she felt a pain in her side. Ellie lifted her shirt and ran her hand over her still bandaged mid section. She pulled on the bottom of the bandage and began ripping the thin material off her skin, throwing it to the floor after it was completely unwound. Her bruises had disappeared except for a few spots of yellow around her ribs. Her fight with the boys from school replayed in her mind now.

That was what people in Bayville were capable of. Although Duncan had apologized to her and they had an understanding, his friends had not, showing that they had no remorse for what happened. The X-Men were no different from what she saw. They trained for combat every day, and oftentimes people got hurt, but for what purpose? If Bayville was such a nice place, why were they training for battle?

"I should just burn this whole city down," Ellie thought to herself as she lifted her hand in front of her face. She felt her hand start to itch under the skin just as her fingertips started to turn orange.

As she spread her fingers apart flames covered them. The itching under her skin turned to a stabbing feeling, but she ignored it and focused on the flames with anger in her eyes. The boys in this house didn't want to be her friend, they only wanted her to stay with them so the X-Men couldn't have her. She was being reduced from a person to an object, just like she was at HYDRA. Ellie's palm and wrist turned into flames now and the stabbing feeling worsened.

Her angry eyes widened as she caught her reflection in the mirror. She quickly extinguished her arm and her skin returned to normal, although an uncomfortable tingling lingered in place of the flames. Her teeth clenched down on her lower lip as she shook her head.

"What am I doing? I can't keep using my powers like this! What if HYDRA just located me? Or what if they locate me, but figure out where Eli is and go after him and I'm not around to protect him?" All of her thoughts began to swirl together, giving her a headache.

"I need to get out of this house," Ellie said before leaving the bathroom and heading downstairs. She passed the living room where Pietro was watching T.V. and left the house. It was only a few seconds before the front door opened behind her.

"Hey!" Pietro yelled after her. "Where do you think you're going?" Ellie ignored him and kept walking into the street.

Pietro wrinkled his nose as he watched her walk away from the house and ignore him. He grabbed a zip-up sweatshirt and pulled it on before zooming out of the house. Pietro was walking at a normal pace next to Ellie in no time, but she continued to ignore his presence. He shoved his hands in his sweatshirt pockets and followed alongside her, waiting for any sort of acknowledgement.

"I don't remember asking for company when I left," Ellie said sharply as she continued walking.

"Like I want to be roaming the streets with you on a Friday night," Pietro shot back.

"Then go home."

Pietro turned his head in Ellie's direction now. Her eyebrows were pushed together and a faint crease stretched along her forehead now. He wasn't sure what she was so mad about, but his curiosity had gotten the best of him.

"You go home," he told her. His eyes shifted to a blinking streetlight as the two passed under it.

"I don't have a home," Ellie shot back, finally turning her head to face him. Pietro's eyes were cold and he showed no intention of turning around.

"Oh boo-hoo. Still playing the little orphan girl sob story I see. I'm pretty sure we agreed that you're staying at the Brotherhood House."

"Why is it that you want me to stay there so bad Pietro? I don't like you and you don't like me. So spare me the whole story about how you want to protect me from some scary guy from the grocery store who probably isn't even looking for me."

Pietro stopped walking and Ellie did the same. He tried to figure out where she was going with this little speech but he couldn't come to a conclusion. Her eyes narrowed at him and he raised an eyebrow at her. What the heck did he do to deserve this much attitude from her? Weren't they just eating dinner together and everything was fine? Pietro rolled his eyes.

"You know, you're being really annoying right now," he told her as he crossed his arms. "Stop being so paranoid and just go back to the house."

"Why don't you just say what you want to say?" she asked. "Just come out with it already. The only reason you want me to stay with you and the guys is so I don't go back to the X-Men. That's what you've wanted since Eli and I got here, right? You wanted to steal one of us away from the X-Men so you could feel like you've won at something."

"If that was true I would have fought harder for your brother. Then I wouldn't have to put up with a whiney girl every other day!"

Ellie stopped arguing with Pietro. She turned away from him and crossed the street, wandering into a park as she walked. The wind started pushing her hair into her face so she quickly pulled it up before taking a seat on a swing. The metal links of the swing next to her creaked as the wind blew it forward and then back again. Looking up Ellie noticed that the moon was in a crescent shape tonight, surrounded by a dark grey and navy sky. The swing next to her creaked as Pietro took a seat on it.

"Can't you just leave me alone already?" she asked with a sigh.

"Blob's got a crush on you, you know," Pietro said calmly, his eyes focused on the night sky above. Ellie straightened up a bit.

"What?"

"Blob likes you. That's why he's always so nice to you and blushes when you talk to him and all that."

"Why are you even telling me this right now?"

"Toad likes you too. Then again, Toad likes pretty much any girl he sees." Ellie was confused by this random talk, but Pietro continued.

"I don't really know what Lance thinks of you, but I don't really care. My teammates seem to get along well enough with you, which is surprising. They aren't really the most welcoming group of people in the world."

"What does any of this have to do with anything Pietro?" Ellie finally managed to say. He swayed his swing in her direction now, digging the heel of his shoe into the dirt to keep himself positioned there.

"Having you around is good for my team. I don't really get why, but it's true. That's why I want you to stay." Ellie didn't respond.

"You know what?" he continued, "Stop throwing the whole I don't like you thing in my face too. I'm pretty sure when you got in that fight I was the one who cleaned you up. When I found out you had a brother, I fought harder for you than I did for him, too. I mean, I got detention just to try and talk to you."

"Why would you do all of that?" Ellie asked.

"Maybe because I sort of like you too!" Pietro clenched his jaw after realizing what he had just said. He looked to Ellie to see her reaction. She was just staring at him.

Pietro tightened his grip on the chains of the swing. He wanted her to say something to him. Shoot, he would have been fine if she yelled at him right now, anything was better than this silence. When Ellie failed to respond, Pietro left his seat on the swing and started walking away from her.

"Where are you going?" Ellie called after him. Pietro didn't stop walking.

"I'm going home," he answered. "Do whatever you want. I don't care anymore." Ellie watched with wide eyes as Pietro walked away from her.