Chapter 28

Roadside

Ellie strapped her backpack on her back and looked in the direction Pietro had gone. She was going to move on from the Brotherhood house earlier this same day, but now she was stuck. Pietro had basically asked her to stay away from the house, then said she should go back all at the same time. If she went back then he would think that he had something to do with it.

There was always the option to return to the X-Mansion. That is, if the X-Men didn't completely hate her after what happened to Rogue in the Danger Room. They helped her out earlier, but they also just left without saying a word. Ellie ran her hand through her wet hair and sighed. The red X on her communicator started blinking and she pressed it.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Eli replied.

"Where'd you run off to?"

"Sorry I didn't say goodbye or anything. It's just that the Professor wants us to keep a low profile in public. Nobody knows about us so we had to run out of there."

Ellie stiffened. The conversation she had with the white haired man in the grocery store came back to haunt her. That man knew about Wolverine. He said that the X-Men were television popular. If none of that was true, then how did he know so much?

"Eli, are the X-Men ever on television?" she asked quickly.

"Probably every now and then. But Professor X does some mind wipe thing so nobody realizes they were there to help or whatever. Why?"

"Eli, I think we're in trouble."

Scott was passing through the foyer of the X-Mansion when a tapping on the glass door caught his attention. His expression hardened as he approached the door and cracked it open. Ellie gave him an unimpressed look that he returned.

"Uh…hey," Scott said, uneasy.

"Yeah, hey," Ellie replied as she crossed her arms.

"I suppose you're here to see Eli."

"Yeah."

"Well, come in then." Scott opened the door and Ellie walked in without questioning him.

Ellie looked around at the decorative statues and ferns in the room. She almost forgot how nice the mansion was. Scott put his hands in his khaki pockets and cleared his throat.

"So, that was pretty crazy today," he said. "Didn't expect to see you out there on the front line."

"Yeah well that makes two of us," Ellie replied.

"So why'd you do it then? You could have just ignored the whole thing."

"That must be the trend of the night."

"What?"

"People asking me why I do things. I don't know why I did it, alright? I just did. It's done and it's over so let's just forget about it."

"Hey message received, loud and clear. I just think it was a pretty heroic thing to do."

Ellie looked over her shoulder at Scott now. He was hard to read with his sunglasses on, but the small smile on his face made her assume he was being genuine. Ellie gripped her backpack straps tightly.

"In case you were wondering," Scott added. "That's a compliment."

"Ah, Miss Dingo," Charles said happily as he rolled into the foyer. "I'm glad to see you found your way here."

"Yeah well, the rain didn't really help with that," Ellie admitted.

"A fault on my part," Storm admitted as she joined the conversation. "It's good to see you Ellie."

"Hey you're here," Eli said in a serious tone as he made his way down the stairs.

"Do you guys all just know when someone comes over?" Ellie asked, eying the four people in the room.

"Hey, it's that twin connection," Eli replied. "I dunno about these other guys but that's my excuse."

"Ellie, your brother has informed us that you think you are in danger," Charles explained. "Would you care to discuss this with us?"

"Danger?" Scott asked.

"I'll tell you everything," Ellie said. "But only in private." She looked to Scott. "No offense."

Scott watched as the twins, the Professor and Storm left the room. He hadn't noticed Jean was standing next to him until she spoke.

"What's going on there?" she asked.

"Not sure," Scott answered. "But we should find out."

The Brotherhood House

"Lookin' for something?" Lance asked as he noticed Pietro's face was glued to the living room window.

"Leave me alone," Pietro said with the wave of his hand. Lance rolled his eyes and made his way up the stairs.

"She should have been back here by now," Pietro muttered to himself.

"Who?" Toad asked loudly as he entered the room. He pressed his greasy face against the glass of the window and Pietro raised an eyebrow at him.

"The mother ship," Pietro sarcastically replied. "The aliens are coming to take you back to your real home."

Toad pulled his face from the glass and rolled his eyes at his housemate. He watched Pietro step back and fold his arms over his chest. His hardened expression showed how frustrated he was at the moment. Toad smirked.

"You meant Ellie," Toad pointed out smugly.

"Gee, nothing gets by you, does it Toad?" Pietro shouted. Lance let out a frustrated groan as he entered the room once more.

"Then why don't you go get her?" he asked, causing both Pietro and Toad to look at him. "I mean she's gotta be out there somewhere, right? Stop pouting by the window and go find her."

"Yeah, pouty-Pietro!" Toad mocked. "Go get your girl!"

"How many times do I have to tell you that she's not my girl!?" Pietro screamed while he pushed Toad angrily. "Besides, if she doesn't want to be here I'm not gonna drag her back."

"Really?" Lance said with a scoff. "Sure seems like that's what you've been doing." Pietro narrowed his eyes at Lance as he approached him.

"Listen here Alvers," Pietro began as he pressed the tip of his finger into Lance's chest. "You don't have any authority over anyone in this house. So stop trying to tell everyone what to do." Lance swatted Pietro's hand away.

"Says the guy who decided to bring some girl into our house just to spite the X-Men."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you were suddenly a fan of the X-Men just because you're drooling over one of them!"

"Shut up Pietro."

"Well it's true, isn't it? You've got it bad for that little brunette valley girl and apparently it's started to cloud your head. We are the Brotherhood. We're the enemies of the X-Men. Got it?"

"Stop talking to me like I'm stupid!"

"Then stop being stupid!"

Lance went to punch Pietro, but thanks to his super speed he avoided the blow. Lance balled his fists at his sides and the floor started to tremble. Toad leaped for the archway of the room.

"I'm gettin' outta here yo!" he exclaimed. "Whenever someone fights I always get thrown around!"

"What?" Pietro taunted. "You gonna turn our house into a pile of bricks because you're mad? Seriously Alvers, get a grip."

The ground stopped shaking when Lance started laughing. Pietro raised an eyebrow at him, confused. Lance ran a hand through the front of his hair coolly before speaking.

"Whatever man," he started. "At least I can admit how I feel about someone. I don't need to create some little scheme to hide behind." Lance left the room, slamming the front door of the house seconds after.

Pietro watched out the window as Lance crossed the front yard and climbed into his Jeep. When the car sped off down the road Pietro returned to his original position next to the window.

"He's delusional," Pietro said with a scoff. "Now where is that stupid girl?"

The X-Mansion

"Is this going to hurt?" Ellie asked as she sat on the edge of the red sofa in Charles office. Eli, Storm and Wolverine, who recently joined everyone, were standing nearby as the Professor rolled up in front of her.

"No," Charles answered. "I'm just going to access your memories of the man that is causing you distress. You may feel like you have some pressure in your skull, but as long as you concentrate you shouldn't feel a thing."

"Yeah Ellie," Eli said with a smile. "Just focus and you'll be fine." Ellie pursed her lips together and looked to Charles.

"Fine," she said. "But only the memories of the man."

"Of course," he agreed.

Ellie took a deep breath and closed her eyes as Charles placed his hands around her head. Ellie struggled to pull the correct memory of the man to the front of her mind, but eventually the picture was clear. The scene at the grocery store played like a movie in her mind. However, the struggle began once more as the memory of what happened at the park with Pietro surfaced, then the memory of Rogue in the Danger Room, and then some from HYDRA.

Charles pulled away from Ellie violently and released his mental connection to her. Ellie fell back into the couch and grabbed her head. The room was spinning and her stomach felt like it was tumbling around inside of her. Eli was on the couch next to her within seconds. Storm knelt down next to Charles.

"Charles?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm fine Ororo," he assured her. "Eli, please take Ellie to her room for the night. She needs to recuperate and I need to speak with Storm and Wolverine."

"Is everything okay Professor?" Eli asked.

"He's fine," Logan interrupted. "Now take Blondie and get going. We'll talk later."

Eli nodded and picked his sister up in his arms. Storm opened the door for them and shut it once they had left. Charles took a deep breath.

"Logan, Ororo, we have a problem," he explained.

"What's the damage Chuck?" Logan asked.

"Someone is indeed stalking the Dingo twins. Someone we all know too well. The same person I believe to have caused the accident in town today. Magneto."

"Magneto? What's he doin' following kids around?"

"The twins aren't just mutants like the other students, Logan. We know that and I'm assuming Magneto knows that as well."

"But Charles, how could he?" Ororo asked. "Does Magneto even have connections with HYDRA?"

"I don't know," Charles admitted. "It's not going to be easy for me to figure out without talking with Magneto."

"So that's our problem. Magneto?" Logan asked, unimpressed. "We've handled him plenty of times."

"Unfortunately that's only one of our problems Logan. Ellie gave me access to a few other memories without meaning to. It seems that she and Pietro Maximoff are developing some sort of relationship."

"Relationship? Quicksilver and that girl? I doubt it Charles. Both are too egotistical to put up with one another."

"Well that may be true, but I clearly saw them…ahem, kissing."

"Kissing?" Ororo said, surprised. Logan groaned and shook his head.

"I'm gettin' too old for this," Logan mentioned.

"It could have been completely out of context," Charles explained. "I only got a glimpse of that memory. It could have been nothing."

"If it was something though," Ororo said. "Then Ellie is in a terrible position. Does she know about Pietro?"

"It doesn't seem that she does. I fear for the boy when she does discover the truth, however. Not just because she will be angry, but because once again Pietro will be targeted because of who his father is."

"What are we gonna do about this?" Logan asked.

"We're going to keep an eye on both Ellie and Eli. We can't smother them, but we also can't allow them to be harmed."

"Nobody's gonna touch either one of those kids."

"Right. This needs to stay between the three of us for now. When the time presents itself, we'll talk to them."

As the adults agreed, Scott and Jean stood with their ears pressed against the office door. Jean made sure to keep their thoughts quiet so the Professor would not detect them, but she was unsure about eavesdropping. Both pulled away from the door when it was clear that there was no more information to learn.

"Pietro and Ellie, huh?" Scott whispered, disgusted. Jean tilted her head.

"Scott, you shouldn't judge," she said.

"Yeah well it's kind of hard not to. I mean, it's Quicksilver." Scott folded his arms over his chest when he noticed Bobby Drake entering the hallway. He smirked to himself.

"Hey, Bobby," Scott said, waving him over.

"Scott what are you doing?" Jean asked quietly.

"Taking Pietro out of the equation." Bobby stopped by the two and Scott smiled.