August 19, 1992
The halls were twisted and confusing. David had to stop frequently to ask for directions from Rahne. She seemed to get confused several times herself, looking back and forth and sniffing deeply.
It seemed like it took ages, but they finally came across a door.
"Definitely behind here," Rahne said.
David still felt a little woozy from Rogue's touch, but he knew he could handle this. He put his hands out and the door shifted on its hinges. David flexed his fingers a little more and the door clattered to the ground.
He took a step inside. Kurt looked up in surprise. Mystique was there too, but David wasn't sure why that was. Either way he ran over to his brother's cell and smiled, knocking on the glass.
"Hey," he said, "we're here to rescue you."
His brother didn't say anything. David frowned and took a closer look at him. The expression on his face was slightly broken, his whole posture slumped. David gritted his teeth and turned to Mystique.
"What the hell did you do?" he asked.
Mystique met David's glare with a level gaze.
"I left him on your father's doorstep," she said.
David swore and turned back to the glass. He saw the combination pad next to Kurt's cell. He'd have to start working on that.
"Rahne, try to get her free," David said, "I'll concentrate on Kurt."
Rahne nodded and began to examine the keypad uncertainly. David looked at it, but he could see his brother was still staring at the ground. He began trying to break the combination.
"Kurt, it doesn't matter," David said, "She didn't...you know who your mother is, right? You know who your father is. I told you a long time ago. You're my brother and you're their son. Finding out that you've got someone else's DNA...well...that's not like it's anything new, right?"
Kurt just looked away. David growled at the keypad in frustration. He put his hand over it and it came out of the wall. The door slid open. He turned his hand to Mystique's keypad, and it came undone. She stepped out, but kept her distance.
David walked into Kurt's cell and held out his hand. He knew that the scar was showing prominently.
"Blood brothers, right?" he asked.
Kurt bowed his head, his body racked with dry sobs.
"Kurt, what's wrong?" David said.
"It's my fault," Kurt said.
David frowned and put his hands on his brother's shoulders.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"You had to kill those men that day to protect me," Kurt said.
David frowned, uncertain at the sudden direction that the conversation had taken.
"I was protecting myself too," David said.
"Not when you cut your hand open," Kurt said, "That was because of me, because your words weren't enough when they should've been..."
"Kurt, what are you talking about?" David asked.
Kurt grabbed David's hand. He almost shoved it in his face, and David stumbled back.
"I'm talking about this!" he yelled, "I'm talking about you sharing blood with me and getting poisoned! That's my fault!"
David's eyes widened, but he still had no idea what his brother was talking about. He took a faltering step back and looked at Mystique and Rahne. It was obvious that Mystique knew what Kurt was talking about, and it pissed him off that she knew and he didn't.
He looked back at Kurt.
"David...my blood...it does stuff to people's minds," Kurt said, "That's why they wanted me. They want to assert their control over people like Mrs. Summers. David, it makes people's minds weaker...it means that you weren't...it means you weren't able to fight them off..."
David stared at his brother, feeling the shock ripple through him.
Oh look, it was your freak brother's fault. Wonder how that feels?
"I'm sorry David," Kurt said, "I'm so sorry."
David struggled for words. He breathed in, trying to calm himself from the torrent of emotions that swirled in him.
"Kurt, that happened a long time ago," he said, "We...we didn't know."
"That's not an excuse," Kurt said.
He looked away and let go of David's hand. David knew that Kurt was right, and part of him wanted to be angry. He could've had a life free of the voices if he just hadn't done a childish thing to make his brother feel better.
"I'm not your brother," Kurt said, "The only thing that really made me feel like I was ended up poisoning you."
David wanted to scream. This was Kurt. David looked at his brother for another moment, the syllables struggling on his tongue.
"Kurt, I've lived with you for eighteen years, almost nineteen," David said, "In all that time I never really doubted you were my brother. I mean, just think about all of the things we did together."
Kurt didn't look at him.
"I mean, just think about it," David said, "We went to each other after nightmares, we trained together, I taught you how to fly your first kite. We got it stuck in a tree right afterwards. Don't you remember any of that?"
His brother still didn't look at him. David swallowed, the frustration mounting in him.
"Kurt, I don't care that your blood hurt me," he said.
Kurt didn't move. David sighed angrily. He made sure that his fist was securely wrapped up in the uniform's protective glove before he punched at the open glass door. It cracked, but it took a few more punches and a well timed kick to shatter.
Kurt turned to him then, looking shocked. David knelt down and picked up the largest shard of glass.
"Do we need to do it again?" he asked.
His brother's eyes widened.
"David, do-" he said.
"Let me put it this way," David said.
He tore off his other glove and held the piece of glass to his hand.
"The mistakes I've made in my life are my own," David said, "They've been bad, but they've been my mistakes. They weren't your fault or anyone else's. I've lived a very long time being bitter and angry. Right now I'm sick of it, and I refuse to let the same thing happen to you."
He positioned the glass, getting ready to cut his hand.
"Having those people in my head screaming at me is worth having you know that you're my brother," David said, "And if you need me to do this again to make you believe me, then it's a small price to pay."
Kurt bit his lip, tears welling in his eyes.
"So, do I need to do this?" David asked, his voice soft, "I'm asking you Kurt."
"You're willing...to...to..." Kurt mumbled.
"Of course," David said, "You're my brother."
Kurt knocked the piece of glass out of David's hand and pulled him into a hug. David hugged him back, feeling his own apprehension sinking back down.
"You really would have done it," Kurt said, pulling away.
"I told you I would've, didn't I?" David said, "I'm trying to be a man of my word."
He patted Kurt on the shoulder.
"Now come on," he said, "We have to rescue mom and dad. Then we have to go help Max and the rest."
He shrugged.
"I can only imagine what kind of trouble they're getting into right now."
Max punched Sinister the minute he was on the ground. He looked at his sister, wanting to tell her to run, but she had bitten into Sinister's hand. Sinister screamed and Luna scrambled away.
"That's my sister," Max said, feeling pride flowing through him.
He pulled back for another punch, but Sinister threw him off. Max scrambled to his feet as Rogue and Piotr came into the room. Rogue immediately pulled Luna behind her and Max moved his feet to solidify his position.
"Isn't this precious?" Sinister said, "You're all dressed-up as your father for Halloween Maximilian."
"Shut up," Max said.
He knew it was a bad comeback, but it was all he had.
"Rogue, Piotr, help them out," Max said, pointing to the other cells.
Sinister watched them move towards the glass doors and begin working on the control panels. Rogue immediately went to Logan's, and Piotr followed her. Max moved in front of them, making sure Sinister knew who he was up against if he wanted to stop them.
"Really?" Sinister said, "I know you have your father's brashness, but I thought your mother's genes might have mellowed you out."
"It's kind of hard to mellow me out right now," Max said.
Sinister cocked his head and gestured to the cell that held Alex and Magneto. They were both yelling things, but he couldn't hear either of them. He had the feeling that Sinister had muted their cell.
"How long were you listening in?" he asked.
Max gritted his teeth. His head was still spinning from that.
"Long enough to know that you've got more members of my family in here than I thought," Max said.
"Oh, I see," Sinister smirked, "And how does it feel to know you're related to that?"
He jerked his thumb at Magneto.
"It makes me feel that I'm gonna have to talk to my parents in great detail later," Max said, "But my first thought is that you've got four of my family members in here instead of three, and you had someone kill my aunt. So, overall, I'm pissed."
Sinister paused.
"You are a peculiar one," he said.
"You're one to talk!" Max shouted.
He put his hand out. A metal table flung itself across the room. Sinister dodged it and laughed.
"Your family must not have told you much about me," he said, "That's the only excuse that I can think of: you're ill-prepared. Otherwise you're just a pathetic fool wishing that things were different and whining about how they're not."
Max kicked him, but Sinister caught his foot and twisted. Mac twirled and fell to the ground, hitting his head. He pushed himself back up.
"You're boring me Maximilian," Sinister said.
Mac flexed his fingers and sent a wave of metal instruments flying at Sinister. He could feel the knife in his uniform vibrate. It wanted to join in.
"Unoriginal."
Sinister dodged the metal objects and walked towards Max. He picked him up and slammed him into the ground. Max tasted blood and Sinister kicked him in the ribs, sliding him across the floor.
"Max!" Rogue yelled.
"Keep at the doors!" Max managed.
Sinister kicked Max again, this time in the face. Max saw stars as Sinister approached him. At the last minute he side-stepped him and grabbed Rogue's arm. He tossed her to the ground. Piotr moved to help her, but Sinister pushed him to the ground too.
"You're all children, and you're in a battle you have no hope of winning," Sinister said, "If your parents and mentors can't win against me, you certainly can't. And if you can't win against me, how could you hope to win against my master?"
Max looked at Sinister. He remembered his mother talking to him, asking if he would be willing to kill one day. His eyes flickered around the room, searching for inspiration, to know if he could make that choice.
Sinister looked at him and grabbed Luna's arm. She kicked out at him but he pulled her into the air, keeping her at an arm's distance.
"Stupid, all of you," Sinister said.
Max looked at his sister, at the way that his father, uncle, and grandfather were looking at him. He got to his feet and pulled the knife out of his uniform. He tossed it, using his powers to guide it.
Sinister moved and the knife went into the wall behind him. He looked at it and laughed.
"Is that all you have?" he asked.
He turned back in time to see Max running at him. He'd pulled off one of his gloves with the momentary distraction afforded by the knife. With his bare hand he grabbed Sinister's face.
Sinister screamed as his face began to turn into metal. Max used his gloved hand to jerk Luna away from Sinister and put her behind his back. The metal coated Sinister and Max pulled away, panting.
"No," Max said.
He looked over at Luna and pulled her into a hug, careful not to touch her skin. Piotr was getting up, blinking wildly at Max. Rogue was on her feet too, her eyes on him. She didn't look disgusted though, just surprised. Max felt surprised too.
Piotr moved to the cell holding Max's father and grandfather. He snorted and turned to metal. He punched at the glass, shattering it. Alex rushed forward, enveloping the two of them in a hug.
"As mad as I am that you did this, I'm also very proud," he said.
"Thanks Dad," Max said.
He looked past his father at his grandfather. Max didn't know what to say to him, if he should even say anything to him. In the end he settled for a nod, which Magneto returned. They could talk more later.
