"I asked ya a question!" Logan said, bringing his claws close to the runner's face. Jean stepped in, concentrated, and commanded his brain to tell them what he knew.
"I was sent here to make sure everything was going as planned, that the explosives were ready to go, and as many Morlocks stayed trapped in here as possible," the guy said.
"When is it going to blow up?" Jean asked.
"Last time I looked, it said ten minutes, but it's probably down to half that now," he spoke as if he were in trance. This man wasn't very bright, Jean thought. He was still hanging out here minutes before the explosion was set to go, and he nearly trapped himself with the rest of them. "I really hope that similarly bright people were in charge of the new sentinels," she thought.
Morlocks started to panic. This was a big place with lots of of dead ends. And even when they turned the lights on, there were still some corridors left in complete darkness. And if they really had just five minutes left, they'd be cutting it close. Everybody took off running. Ororo grabbed the running man, and ran after the others. Callisto was the only one who stayed still. "How did I not notice him?" she asked herself. She felt like she let her people down. And now, they weren't even her people. They had a new queen. "Come on, we gotta go!" Jean took her arm, and ran.
There was mass confusion going on in the tunnels. People tripping, and bumping into each other. "Ya people are useless!" Logan called it as he saw it.
After what seemed like forever, they finally reached the exit. They walked out of the tunnels right as the sun was coming out.
"Jeannie, where are ya?" Logan called for her. She was right next to him but he must have lost her in one of the dark corridors where people tripped over each other.
"Jeannie?" he called again, worried.
"Right here!" she yelled, running towards him.
"Oh, thank God!" Logan sighed relieved as he took her in his arms.
"Everybody okay?" Ororo asked.
"Yeah. That was amazing, by the way!" Jean said, talking about her dominant performance against Callisto.
"Yeah, not bad at all," Logan was more impressed than he let her know.
"Oh no!" Callisto said. In all the chaos, she forgot that Ape, Annalee, and Masque were still in the headquarters with no way of knowing what was about to happen. "I left three people behind!" she said, horrified.
"I'll go find them," Pietro volunteered.
"Are you crazy? You don't even know where it is!" Eric said, worried.
"I'll find them, I can search very quickly," Pietro said. He was about to go, but Eric held onto his arm.
"You probably have less than a minute left!" Eric nearly begged him not to go.
"Plenty of time," Pietro smiled, and just like that, he was gone.
"Don't worry, he's got it," Ororo told Eric.
"Who is trying to kills us?" Callisto asked.
"A man named Henry Gyrich," Jean said.
"I don't even know who he is. Why would he do that?"
"It's not really you he's after. He was going to use the Morlock massacre as a reason to go after us. He was going to persuade the public that we did this to you to start the "cleansing process". And if we do this to you, we do this to humans," Jean said.
"Well, he just gave me an excuse to kill him," Callisto said, furious.
"I would not recommend it," Eric said. "Not that I don't want to kill him myself, but my friend nearly did something similar in the past." Or was it the future past? "It almost started an all out war on mutants," he finished.
"Then I'll kill this one!" Callisto said, looking at the scared runner.
"Pissin' ya pants yet?" Logan smirked at him.
"No, we can't kill humans if we want them to like us, can we?" Ororo said. "Besides, maybe he can be useful to us."
"Well, new queen, what would you like us to do now?" Callisto asked Ororo.
"I'd like you to listen to us next time," Ororo scolded. "And maybe take better care of yourselves in the future."
"I know, I totally failed," Callisto's voice faded.
"You'll get a chance to fix it. I'm giving you your leadership back."
Callisto looked at her, surprised.
"I got these to take care of," Ororo pointed at her friends, smiling. "I trust that you will do a better job in the future."
Callisto nodded, silently.
Meanwhile, Pietro was flying through the tunnels, looking for the headquarters. There were so many passages, it would have taken hours to go through them all in a normal speed. Then he found it, the actual bomb shelter. It was much larger than he imagined. This could have made a great underground base for them. Shame that it was about to blow up. He took the remaining Morlocks out of there, one by one, and placed them outside next to Callisto. Time seemed to slow down more and more the faster he went, just like Einstein thought it would.
"That should be all of them," he said, right before the shelter blew up behind them.
Callisto felt sadness fill her heart. Her home was gone. But she was very happy to see her three friends were okay. Nobody got hurt, that was important. They would get by like they always did. "Thank you so much," she told Pietro.
"No problem," Pietro said.
"Are you alright?" Eric asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he nodded.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't get torn to pieces."
The way Eric said it, Pietro could feel he truly meant what he said. He was happy to see him back, unharmed. Could he tell him now? Even after what Eric said in the tunnels?
"What you said in the tunnels...about not wanting a family, did you mean it?" Pietro asked, his voice very unsure and quiet.
"Oh my God," Jean whispered, taking Logan's hand. "He's gonna tell him."
"Why do you ask?" Eric frowned, surprised by the question.
It was now or never for Pietro. He took a deep breath. "I ask because...because you still have a family. I am your son," he finally let out.
Eric was stunned. His mouth was wide open, his expression a picture perfect definition of surprise. He recovered a little, and took a good look at Pietro's face.
"Magda..." he said the name of Pietro's mother.
Pietro nodded, not being able to speak anymore. Eric now knew for sure he never meant anything he said in the tunnels. Logan was right. It was the loved ones who made this hell worth it. Now he would try even more to secure a safe future for the mutants, he would do his best for his son.
Eric placed his hands on Pietro's shoulders. He just risked his life, and not only saved the Morlocks, he also saved their public image. There were no casualties thanks to this brave man, and it was his son. His own blood.
"I...I have never been so proud..." Eric said, choked up.
Pietro embraced him, tears shamelessly falling down his face. He felt as if the weight of the world has been lifted off his shoulders, and Eric felt his heart open up again.
Ororo and Jean teared up as they watched this touching, new found father/son union. Even Logan was moved, although he tried to play it cool. But Jean knew him too well.
"What?" Logan asked as Jean gave him the all knowing look.
Jean smiled, "Come here, you tough guy!" she said, and gave him a big hug.
"I don't mean to ruin the moment, but I think we should go. You know, school, sentinels..." Ororo said.
"Right," Eric said, regaining his composure.
"Guys, look!" Pietro pointed at the camera crew running towards them.
"Oh, great," Logan sighed. "Get us out of here, Quicksilver."
"No, wait!" Jean said as she eyed the scared man next to Ororo. "I have an idea," a devilish smile appeared on Jean's face.
"What ya thinkin', Red?" Logan asked.
"I think I know how to make this one useful," she said.
Jean manipulated the guy's brain into telling the cameras everything about the cold, calculated plan of Henry Gyrich. She made him talk about the secret factions in the government the poor guy didn't even know about. The whole world would know what happened before the truth could be twisted.
"You truly are a clever one," Eric told Jean, this time really meaning it.
"Jeannie, you're a genius!" Logan said, impressed. "Now get us out of here!" he told Pietro.
The group appeared in front of the X Mansion, and found the rest of the X-Men already standing there, all dressed in their uniforms.
"What is going on?" Eric asked.
"Look!" Raven pointed at the flying objects in the distance.
"I looked out the window a while ago, and saw strange, flying objects in the distance," Hank said. "They seem to be heading over here."
"They're starting early," Jean sighed.
Logan looked up, and perfectly summed up their situation, "Well, shit..."