The room was silent, save for the chanting that Wanda did as she sat crisscrossed in a circle of candles, the only source of light in the room. The daughter of Magneto has come far since leaving the asylum, but one thing still hasn't changed.
Her never-ending hatred of her father.
Still obsessed with revenge, she had tried every way imaginable to find him but was met with dead ends after dead ends. As her frustration continued to build with the lack of information about Magneto's whereabouts, she was suddenly hit with a bright idea. In the books that she had managed to acquire, she had come upon a special ritual.
This ceremony, if done correctly, would allow one to communicate with the dead and allow them to impart their knowledge. Thinking that she could use this to pinpoint Magneto, she made sure everything was perfect and that nothing could go wrong.
"Spirits." She called. "I come for guidance. Answer my call." Calling upon them, she waited for one or more—she didn't know how many would arrive—to come and reply to her summons.
Silence was all she got, as no spirit or anything bothered to reply. Getting impatient, she uttered the chant again and waited. Still, nothing responded to her. A third time produced no results either.
"Is anyone there?" Wanda asked in frustration, wondering if she had just wasted her time.
"Speaking."
Wanda almost cursed out loud as her heart raced. Just when she was about to give up, something answered.
"Who are you?" She asked hesitantly. That voice. It sounded so evil. Perhaps she made a huge mistake by doing this.
"You called upon me." The spirit, or whatever this thing was, answered. "I think you should already know. The real question is, who are you?"
"Wanda Maximoff." Instantly, she regretted telling her name, which was a stupid idea, but her returning rage at Magneto clouded her better judgment.
For a moment, there was a long, drawn-out pause before the spirit finally replied.
"Can't say that I've heard of you." The spirit said, but Wanda had the sneaking suspicion that it was lying. "Now, why have you called me?"
"I need help to find my father." Wanda stated, steeling her nerves. "Magneto."
"Magneto." Here, the spirit's voice took on the tone of someone recalling an old memory.
"You know him?" Wanda pressed as she thought of the possibilities of how this spirit knew her father. For all she knows, her father could've been the one to end this one's life.
"Know him?" Wanda felt that the spirit was resisting the urge to snort at the very idea. "That's a bit much. More like he was just another sack of flesh that thought he could defeat me."
This piqued her interest. If this ghost had fought her father, then how did he lose, or did he lose at all? "You fought him? I think I would hear about something like that."
At this, the air became dense as Wanda felt that she had angered her guest. There was a growl, then an uncomfortable silence, before finally the ghost spoke again.
"Let's just say that history is long gone, thanks to a certain blast from the past." The spirit all but snarled. "Now, why do you want to find Magneto?"
"None of your business." Wanda refused to give something that personal away to someone she didn't even know.
"Ah, ah, ah." The spirit mocked. "You got to give something to get something. You want information; you give me information. Why do you want Magneto's location?"
Wanda decided to hell with it as she admitted her troubled past with Magneto. "He abandoned me in a mental institution! He has to pay!"
"Revenge." The ghost now spoke in a tone of understanding. "Should've seen that coming; after all, it's not like that son of a bitch had anyone that cared for him. Tell you what, kid. Since I'm currently preoccupied and rather bored, I'll tell you someone I know who can lead you in the right direction. I once coerced him to locate some people for me."
"Who?" Wanda was calm on the outside, but on the inside, she was excited. Finally, she had a lead.
"Caliban is his name." The spirit revealed. "A mutant with the power to locate other mutants. You find him; you find Magneto. And I think I can guess how a meeting between you two would go down." The spirit then chuckled. "A pity I won't be able to see it. Where I am, I don't have much to entertain myself, but if I can lead you to Magneto's demise, then why not?"
"Thanks." Although she meant it, there was a part of Wanda that felt that this spirit didn't deserve any thanks at all, only all of her hatred. She didn't understand why, but there was a primal urge inside her that knew that they were in the presence of a massive predator, something even more dangerous than Magneto.
The spirit let out another dark chuckle. "No, thank you."
She could feel the presence leave the room. Now alone, Wanda blew out all the candles. Putting on some warm clothes, she opened the window and climbed out onto the roof. Lowering herself down, she walked across the lawn, using her powers to make sure none of the motion detectors knew about her leaving.
Once she passed the gate, she moved on deep into downtown Bayville. Most people walking down this part of town would've been intimidated by the sirens of police cars in the distance or the menacing looks that people hanging out on the streets would give, but not her. She was indifferent to it all.
So set on her mission that she didn't notice three guys grinning at her as she passed them.
"Hey, girl, there's a toll for coming down our street." The leader of the trio said. "Toss us some coin, and we'll let you pass. Diss us like you're doing and you got problems."
Not having time for this, Wanda waved her hand, making two nearby sewer gates burst open, startling the men. They then saw the lamppost above them shine rapidly before the bulb exploded, and then it started to move like it was made of rubber as it reached for them like a snake. They tried to run away, only to run into another moving lamppost.
The danger got worse as two cars shined their headlights on the gang and started driving, forcing the three to give chase. Wanda didn't pay them any more mind as she turned down an alleyway. Staring into the darkness, she couldn't find any trace of this supposed "Caliban." The sudden noise of a cat made her look away for a moment, and when she turned around, she was greeted by the sight of another person.
This man looked depressed, and that was putting it lightly. His whole demeanor came off as that of someone who had just given up on experiencing any joy in life. He wore a ragged brown shirt with a dark brown sash, along with brown pants and socks.
"Caliban?" She asked, thinking that she maybe had the wrong guy.
"Yes." He answered in a dull voice that made it feel like he was bored or tired of everything.
"I was told you have the power to find other mutants." Wanda told him.
"Who are you searching for?" Caliban inquired.
"My father, Magneto."
Caliban shook his head. "No. I cannot help you." He turned away, making Wanda narrow her eyes. She wasn't giving up that easily.
"Do not turn your back on me." Raising her hands, the dumpsters in the alleyway shifted over, blocking Caliban's path. They then shook, spitting out garbage around the poor mutant.
However, Caliban didn't seem to be intimidated by Wanda at all. He merely sighed. "I cannot locate Magneto because he cannot be located." He said, showing a bit of irritation as he spoke.
"Why not?"
"He is too far advanced." Caliban explained simply. "I am sorry. If you had asked for someone else..." He was about to go on his way when Wanda had another idea. She couldn't find Magneto, but she knew someone who could finally lead her right to him.
"There is someone else." Wanda said. "My brother, Pietro."
The next morning, Kurt and Evan were walking down the halls on their way to school.
"Home, sweet home." Kurt said, wishing that he wouldn't have to leave this safe haven for Bayville High.
"I know what you mean, man." Evan said in understanding. "I wish we could be homeschooled like Wanda is. I'm telling you, I'm this close to bagging the whole Bayville High thing. None of my buddies stood by me."
"Then they probably weren't real friends to begin with." Kurt told him. "You'll find new ones."
"You should talk. You still wear your image inducer." Evan pointed out before touching Kurt's inducer, changing him back to his true form. "Check for friends when you walk the halls all blue and fuzzy."
"You're right." Kurt admitted, feeling saddened over what life was now like. "Nobody will come near me." He then teleported away, making Evan feel guilty over what he had just done.
"Kurt, wait!" Evan cried, but it was too late. Scolding himself for his words, Evan continued walking.
Meanwhile, Beast was performing some scans on Danny and Rogue down below in the underground area. Their lawyer had requested some medical records to prove that they were mutants and, therefore, out of the GiW's reach.
Beast was looking them over, as he thought everything looked normal. Both of them showed that they had the X-gene. Now he just had to send it over.
"Alright, everything's in order." He told the two who wanted to get out of there, especially Danny. The hybrid was trying not to show any nervousness on his face. Unknown to anyone, Danny had tampered with Beast's machine last night and made sure that the scan would show him with an X-gene.
He knew that he shouldn't be keeping up this lie, and Danny would tell the truth, but not right now. After the trial was when he would do it. Only when he and Rogue would be safe from the Guys in White would Danny finally confess what he was hiding. Until then, he was just another mutant.
"Come on, Danny, let's get to school." Rogue said, shaking him out of his thoughts.
The two, along with Beast, made their way up to the institute, and as they were walking the halls, Scott passed by them.
"Anybody who needs a ride to school, I'm taking off." He called as Jean walked past them, brushing her hair, almost making Beast drop the scans. Kitty, who was brushing her teeth at the last minute, would've crashed into Beast if she hadn't phased through him. She then noticed her toothbrush was missing and realized that she had accidentally phased it into Beast.
"I got it, Kitty." Danny waved her off as she left. The hybrid then pulled the toothbrush out, making Beast let out a minty fresh burp. "I know how you feel, Beast." He said, noticing the teacher's disgusted look. "I once accidentally swallowed my spork." He then shivered as he also recalled the time that Dan phased one of Clockwork's medallions into him.
Toad admired his new "uniform" in the mirror of Pietro's bedroom. Since the speedster's betrayal, the Brotherhood had seen no trace of their former member, which gave Toad the perfect excuse to go through his stuff. After trying on one of his costumes, Toad found that he actually liked it.
"Ooh, look at me." He said. "I'm Pietro. Look at me."
Behind him, Lance and Blob were giving him weird looks.
"I'm Pietro. I'm Pietro." Toad then hopped on the bed. "Hang on. I gotta go to the moon." He made a mock running pose. "Okay, I'm back."
"Take that off." Lance demanded, knowing that if Toad kept wearing it, he would become unbearable. Well, more unbearable than usual.
Hopping out of the way, the smelly Brotherhood member landed on the dresser. "I can't believe the guy had four uniforms. What a clothes hog." Not like him, who had one pair of clothes that he wore all the time.
"Would you stop goofing off?" Lance tried to swipe at Toad, but the scrawny boy evaded him again, landing on a painting on the wall.
"Maybe when you stop bossing us around." The amphibian boy retorted.
"Yeah." Blob said. "Who put you in charge?"
"He's in charge of party pooping." Toad stated before the painting he was hanging on fell.
"If Mystique shows up and finds her house looking like this, we'll be partying it out on the street." Lance reminded them as he tried to get the outfit off Toad, who hopped this time on Blob's shoulders.
"Aw, well, this stinks." Toad complained. "Why are we cleaning Pietro's room anyway?"
Blob agreed. "Good point. What did that traitor ever do for us? I say, dump it all."
"Fine. Consider it dumped." Lance then made the room shake as Toad jumped up to the light on the ceiling, leaving Blob alone as all the stuff in the room headed towards him, knocking him out the window.
The ceiling light then fell, with Toad crashing onto the floor at Lance's feet.
"I don't ever want to see that suit again." Lance made one more attempt to remove the suit, but Toad leaped out of the room.
"Tough. I like it. It makes me feel fast." Toad then ended up tripping on his new outfit, causing him to crash into the door of a spare room.
Taking advantage of this, Lance ripped off the costume, leaving Toad in his underwear. "Oh, man." He looked away in disgust. "Go put something else on."
After finding out about Pietro's whereabouts, Wanda headed back to the institute before she could get caught. After saying goodbye to Danny and Rogue as they went to school, she then attended her lessons with Xavier. Fortunately for her, the professor had to end them early as he had some business to deal with.
With the professor preoccupied, Wanda left the institute again and took a bus that was heading to where Pietro was. She was lucky that his location wasn't that far from Bayville, so she would have enough time to interrogate Magneto's location out of her brother and be back at the institute before anyone knew she was gone.
As soon as the bus stopped, she stepped off and started exploring. Walking next to a diner, she looked in, and right there, she saw her brother at the bar. Eating some food while reading the paper.
Her anger at him ended up causing her powers to go out of control for a brief moment, making the bowl next to Pietro shake, signaling that he had been found out.
"Uh-oh." He whispered in fear as Wanda stormed into the diner.
"Pietro, where is he?"
"Wanda, whoa. Hey, wait." The speedster started to back up as he was confronted with his very angry sister. "Listen, um..." Deciding that he couldn't talk his way out of this, he instead tried to book it. "Bye."
Sadly, he only got a couple feet away, as Wanda used her powers to keep his feet from moving. She then glared at the staff and customers.
"Leave. Now." No one argued as they all complied with her demand, leaving the two siblings alone.
"Wanda, I have no idea where he is." Pietro said honestly, infuriating his sister as she made the tableware move around the room, startling one staff member who had just walked out of the freezer.
"I don't believe you. Take me to him."
"I can't." Pietro was trying to dodge the dishes that was thrown at him. "Listen to me. It's the truth. I don't go to him. He comes to me."
"Then I'll make him come to you." Wanda decided as she heard sirens in the distance. "And I'll be waiting for him." She used her powers to throw him into a cabinet, place the cabinet into the freezer, and yank the freezer out of the diner, where it landed in the middle of the street. A patrol car ended up swerving out of the way so they wouldn't crash into it, only to crash into a lamppost.
The officers were thankfully uninjured as they approached the ice box.
"Hey. Let me out of here." Pietro stated to bang on his prison. "Help! Hello! Let me out of here!"
The police pulled out their handcuffs.
"I don't know how I can make this any clearer, Mr. Alvers." Kelly said as he glared at the mutant that was in his office. "You and your fellow mutant thugs are expelled. Do not show up on campus again."
"But you're the one who invited us back." Lance told him. "Now you're just punting us?"
"That's exactly what I'm doing." Kelly said as he went to a filing cabinet.
Lance was confused, remembering how Kelly personally came to their doors to welcome them back to school. "I don't get you, man. It's like you wanted us here just to mess with the Xavier kids." His eyes then widened. "Wait, that's it, isn't it?"
"This meeting is over. You can leave by yourself or with security." Kelly threatened.
"Really, I thought Danny said that you promised to treat every mutant fairly." Lance said.
At this, Kelly closed the cabinet as his eyes were filled with fear at the mention of Danny. "What?"
Lance then smirked. "Yeah, he told me just in case you pull something on the Brotherhood. He also told me that if you tried to give us trouble, I should remind you about the green octopus." He then rubbed his neck, realizing what he said was really weird. "He said you'd know what that means."
Peering out the window, Kelly looked to the bushes, where he could see the ghostly fiend poke its head out, its eyes glinting mischievously.
Kelly let out an "eep" of fear before turning back to Lance. "Alright! You can stay! Just don't cause any scenes!" He then pointed to the door. "Now get out of here!"
Lance did just that. He had wanted to go to school so he would get a break from the numbskulls that were his two teammates, but after seeing all the dirty looks he was being given by the other students, he decided to just ditch the place.
Walking out of Bayville High, he ended up spotting a very familiar face. It was one of Magneto's acolytes. The one with the bo staff and the cards.
Gambit smirked as he saw that Lance had spotted him. "Bonjour."
"Perfect." Lance said as he went up to the acolyte. "I was so looking for a fight."
"If you think you can take me." Gambit joked before Lance grabbed him by his coat.
"Let's see how well you do without Magneto watching your back."
The Cajun just smiled as he took a leaf off the tree he was standing under and charged it with his energy. "You round up those jokes you call friends and meet me at your place."
"Why?"
"Now that you're out of school, you'll be taking a real test." Gambit blew the ashes of the burning leaf into Lance's face.
"Forget it. We're sick of being used." Lance said as he headed back home.
Elsewhere near the school, Danny and Rogue were sitting on a bench.
"Can I see, please?" Danny asked, wanting to see what Rogue was drawing.
Rogue tried keeping her sketchbook out of Danny's sights. "It's not that good."
"I'll be the judge of that." Danny snatched it from her as Rogue tried to take it back.
"Hey! Give that back!"
"Now, let's see what you got." Danny looked at the page and was impressed. His fellow hybrid had drawn what seemed to be a portrait of herself, but she was much older. The Rogue in the drawing was in ghost form. The costume was changed as well; instead of being a one-piece jump suit, it was a two-piece, with the upper half showing off a bit of her stomach. Not only that, but she sported a cape, and her ears had tips, which made him raise an eyebrow.
"What gave you the inspiration for this?" Danny asked.
Rogue looked away as she took the notebook back. "I don't know. I saw it in a dream once." The figure had appeared in Rogue's dreams for the last couple of weeks, and today she just felt the urge to draw it out.
"I like it." Danny said as he admired the artwork.
"I agree." Vampira stated. "Here's hoping that's what we look like in a couple of years."
"Though I'm curious as to why you made the ears like that." Danny pointed to that part. "It makes you look a bit like Kurt."
"Maybe that bit of Kurt I absorbed seeped into my dreams." Rogue guessed.
"Possibly." Before they could discuss further, they heard Evan in the distance.
"Step off. I'm warning you."
The two half-ghosts looked over to see that Evan was dealing with a pair of bullies.
"You mutants think we should all be afraid of you." One of them said as they pushed Evan. "Don't you?"
"Hey, I say we pluck the spikes out of him one at a time." The other cruelly suggested. "And then we'll see who's scared."
"Trust me." Rogue pushed them away from her friend. "It won't be us."
"Time to show who's in charge."
"Who invited you, skunk head?" One of the thugs tried to push Rogue back, but found that she was too strong. Rogue then grabbed his hand and squeezed it, making the boy drop to his knees.
"Please, let me go!" The bully begged.
Rogue did just that before flashing her eyes, making them glow.
"Leave!" She cried, making the boys trip over themselves as they escaped from the scary girl.
Danny shook his head as he watched them scamper off. "Looks like I'll have to talk to Kelly about implementing an anti-bullying policy."
Rogue looked over at Evan and saw that, in his anger, spikes were sticking out of his body. "It's over, Evan. Retract those things."
"I..." Evan felt his spikes refuse to obey. "I can't. What's happening to me?"
"Easy, easy." Danny said as he saw the boy starting to panic. "Just take a couple breaths and focus."
Taking his advice, Evan concentrated, and slowly the spikes retracted. "Thanks."
Danny patted him on the back. "Just take it easy, okay?"
"Yeah." Evan said as he saw Danny and Rogue leave, thinking about how weird it was that he had trouble with his powers.
Meanwhile, the two boys that were harassing Evan earlier were still running when Gambit blocked their path. Looking over the two punks, Gambit saw a pencil sticking out of one of the pockets on their jacket.
Gambit took it and charged it with his energy. "Consider this free advice." He threw the pencil into a nearby tree, where it exploded. "Don't mess with the mutants."
"Uh, no problem." One of them said as the two continued running.
Turning away from those two, Gambit saw that Rogue was behind him.
"What are you doing here?" She demanded.
"Ah, che..." He was about to try and flirt with Rogue when he saw Danny come up beside her. Remembering how tough that mutant was and how it would be suicidal to hit on his girl, Gambit let out a nervous cough. "Bonjour, lovebirds. Just passing by. Nice day." He then left the two to carry on with his business.
Danny narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "He's up to something."
"What was your first clue?" Rogue replied. "Let's follow him."
Lance hurriedly parked his Jeep in front of the Brotherhood house as Toad and Blob were cleaning up. Well, cleaning up if it consisted of shoving all the junk into a nearby closet, that is.
As he was trying to pile it all into one room, Toad hopped down the stairs, still wearing Pietro's costume. "Yo, tell me the truth. How do I look?"
"Like a silver toad." Blob retorted before he came up with a nickname. "Quickwart." He then laughed before making sure the closet was locked up. "There. This hole's finally starting to look decent, ain't it?"
The ground then shook, indicating Lance's arrival, as the front door was forced open, letting him in. Unfortunately, this caused the closet to burst, causing all the junk to fall out, with a pair of underwear falling on Blob's head.
"Aw, man." He complained.
"We got trouble." Lance told them worriedly. "One of Magneto's stooges is heading our way."
"Which one?" Toad asked before a charged-up card landed at their feet.
"Oh, ha, that one."
The three ran into the living room to take cover as Gambit swooped in through the window, taking one of their curtains.
"Did you get my calling card?"
Lance glared at the intruder. "We did. Now let us throw you out on the welcome mat." He made the ground shake again, but Gambit used the curtain to lass the ceiling fan and off his feet as he was swung around. He aimed a kick at the boys, but they moved out of the way.
"You're on our turf now." Blob charged him, but Gambit noticed an empty pizza box on the floor and kicked it toward the large mutant, making him trip over it.
"This is a job for Quickwart." Toad was about to attack Gambit when the clearly stronger mutant wrapped him up in the curtain.
When Gambit saw Lance move over, he charged the curtain that was on Toad. "Back off." He warned. "I let go, and you'll be repainting this room. So let's talk."
"Talking's good, great." Toad said nervously, not wanting to die. "We hate painting."
"Alright." Lance relented. "It's your show."
Gambit disagreed. "No. It's Magneto's show."
"Hey. Do you think you could? You know, let me..." Toad tried to talk Gambit out of blowing him up, but the Cajun ignored him.
"He's giving you a chance to prove yourselves." He told the Brotherhood. "And trust me. You do not want to turn the man down."
"Okay. What does he want us to do?" Blob asked.
"Piece of cake, really. Just bust loose a captured mutant."
"Great. Oh, and, uh, by the way, could you..." Toad was spun out of the curtain as he fell on Blob.
"So who's Magneto got in mind?" Lance asked their new employer.
"Your old friend, Pietro."
The three boys had looks of shock on their faces at the reveal of their new mission.
Danny and Rogue hid out of the Brotherhood's sight as they saw Lance's Jeep pull out of the yard and speed off.
"By my guess, Mr. Trenchcoat has got the Brotherhood on an assignment." Danny said as he and Rogue turned ghost and followed them in the air while invisible.
The two hybrids continued to follow the trio until they finally parked their Jeep and got into position; they were above the road that the convoy containing Pietro would arrive at.
"Lighten up, will you?" Blob said as he saw Lance's angry face. "There's a real upside to this."
"Yeah." Toad joined in. "Once we bag this job, we'll be joining Magneto's new team."
"Who cares about Magneto?" Lance glared as the convoy got close. "I just want to get my hands on Pietro." He then saw that Toad was still wearing Pietro's costume. "And why are you still wearing that thing?"
"Hey, this job requires Quickwart." Toad said as he admired himself.
As the three continued to bicker, they were unaware that Danny and Rogue were behind them while being invisible. Danny was about to reveal himself when he felt Rogue grab his head and turn it upwards, where he spotted Wanda above them, watching the convoy.
The daughter of Magneto was looking for any trace of her father or one of his lackies when she spotted the Brotherhood. Thinking they were contacted by her dad to break Pietro out, she was going to interrogate them when she heard a voice behind her.
"Isn't it past your curfew, Wanda?"
Turning around, she was confronted with both Danny and Rogue, with their arms crossed and glaring at her.
"Danny? Rogue?" She saw the convoy and looked back at her friends as she realized how bad this looked. "Uh, I can..." She stumbled for an excuse. "I can explain."
Vampira tutted at Wanda's actions. "Busted."
Rogue looked at the upcoming convoy and back at Wanda. "Let me guess, you're here to bust out Pietro to lead you to Magneto?"
"Well, actually, I was the one who had him arrested so I could use him as bait to lure out Magneto and..." She stopped as she saw them continue to glare at her. "And I can see that isn't helping my case."
"What are you doing, Wanda?" Danny wasn't mad with Wanda, mostly. He was mad at himself, as he thought he had managed to work with Wanda past her feelings of revenge. But seeing her still trying to find the mutant villain only showed that he needed to try harder to deter her from that path.
"Getting revenge." Wanda snarled as she felt angry that they were judging her. "He's my only link to getting my hands on my father. I have to-"
"No, you're not." Danny was about to take her hand, but Wanda slapped it away.
"You don't understand!" As Wanda was about to argue with her friends, the three felt the earth shake as rocks started tumbling down the mountain.
The soldiers in the convoy got out of the way as their jeeps ended up falling off the road. This created two explosions, and as the soldiers observed the damage, one of them saw Lance.
"Mutants." The soldier and his comrades dove behind one of their intact vehicles. "Fan out. Tasers ready." He ordered his troops before pulling out a walkie-talkie. "This is Major Kyle requesting support."
Toad hopped down and avoided their shots before using his tongue to steal Major Kyle's walkie-talkie.
"Sorry, but you're outside of your calling area." Toad continued to dodge the soldier's fire as Blob busted through their vehicles, forcing the soldiers to retreat.
Up above, the three saw the Brotherhood fighting the soldiers. "I don't understand?" Danny said to Wanda in an angry voice as he pointed down. "Look what you've caused!"
Wanda immediately realized that she had placed the soldiers at risk due to her stunt.
Danny, not wanting anyone to get hurt, flew down in front of Major Kyle. "Stand down, soldier, we got this."
Major Kyle was confused by Danny siding with them. "Aren't you with them?"
"Hell, no." Danny said, disgusted at the very idea. He shot out a massive ecto-blast at Blob, knocking him out, as Toad appeared in front of Danny.
"You are no match for the new and improved Quickwart." Toad bragged before being hit by an ecto-blast sent by Rogue, who landed next to her boyfriend.
"Quickwart?" Rogue shook her head at the name. "That's so stupid."
The two hybrids turned to the remaining Brotherhood member, Lance, who made the ground shake, accidentally causing the transport unit that Pietro was locked in to start edging towards a cliff.
"Oh, no!" Major Kyle saw Pietro was about to fall and raced over to get the boy to safety. He was about to unlock the door when the vehicle finally lost balance and fell, dragging him as well.
The two would've fallen to their deaths if Wanda hadn't let out a stream of energy from her hands that grabbed both of them and brought them up.
Pietro was wide-eyed at what Wanda just did. "Wanda, you saved me."
"I..." Wanda shared an awkward look with her brother. "I..." Just as he was about to say something, she hit him with a hex bolt, knocking him out.
Major Kyle gave Wanda and the two ghosts a look of respect. "Thank you, all of you." He then saw his fellow men aim their guns at the soldiers. "Stand down, men." The men obeyed, leaving the three confused.
"Uh, thanks, but why?" Wanda asked.
"Not everyone hates mutants, miss." Major Kyle responded. "We're just peacekeepers like you."
Wanda looked down, wondering if Major Kyle would still feel that if he knew that she was responsible for almost getting him killed. "Some peacekeeper I am." She muttered quietly.
"I'd offer you three a lift, but, uh..." The major looked at the damage that the Brotherhood had caused. He also noticed that the three had escaped. "Well, we're kind of stranded ourselves until another unit arrives."
"Don't worry, I think we can give you a lift." Danny offered.
With Danny's assistance, the soldiers were able to find transport for themselves and the captured Pietro. After bidding goodbye to Major Kyle, the three were flying home with Danny carrying Wanda.
"Our cover story when we get home is that you were kidnapped by a ghost, and Rogue and I rescued you." Danny stated to her as they were approaching Bayville.
"Thanks." Wanda said awkwardly. The entire flight, Danny or Rogue did not speak a word to her.
"It's not for you." Danny stated. "We had to ditch school to bail you out."
Wanda looked down. "I'm sorry. It was wrong what I did, and I see it now. I'll never do it again, I promise."
Danny looked her in the eye. "How much is getting revenge on your father worth, Wanda? Is it throwing away everything you have right now, sabotaging your life?"
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it, but I can't just leave this alone." Wanda was starting to feel the anger toward her father rise. "Magneto ruined my childhood."
"You're right." Danny said, feeling guilty over getting angry with Wanda. He had never gone through the things she did, so what right did he have to tell her how to deal with them? "And I'm sorry that I got mad at you. I shouldn't have done that. After all, what do I know about your pain?"
"I..." Wanda stopped, not knowing what to say; she felt bad that she dragged Danny and Rogue into this. Maybe she shouldn't have gone looking for Magneto at all.
Two days had passed since the incident. Though Danny was able to forgive her, he and Rogue were still a bit irked at being dragged into Wanda's mess.
This had hurt Wanda, as she had grown to care for Rogue, not to mention the secret feelings she had for Danny, and so she wanted to make things right. So here she was in the living room with her and Danny. "Guys, I know I messed up, but please, I want to make it up to you."
The two gave the daughter of Magneto a curious look, wondering what she was planning.
"I'll take you and Danny to the mall; pay for anything you want. And I'll..." She tried to think of anything to get things back to normal. "I'll take you to the movies after. My treat."
The couple were silent, trading looks with each other as they used their psychic bond to communicate.
'Should we let up on her?' Danny spoke to her telepathically.
"I'd say no." Vampira said, giving her two cents.
'Vampira, the adults are talking.' Rogue said to her other half before replying to Danny's question. 'Actually, I was thinking of milking it to see how far it goes.'
'Rogue.' Danny scolded, making her roll her eyes.
'I was just joking.'
"Please, guys." Wanda begged. "At least speak to me."
Rogue tilted her head. "Well, it's a start."
Danny gave her a look. "Rogue."
"Alright, you're forgiven." Rogue said, as Wanda let out a huge smile, happy that it was all water under the bridge.
"Thank you. Now let's go." She grabbed their hands and led them out to head to the mall.
Gambit walked into the Brotherhood house as if he owned it and saw the Brotherhood in the living room. Lance was strumming his guitar, Toad was drawing something with his feet, and Blob was reading a comic book.
"What's up, guys?" Gambit greeted. "Tell me, why are you such losers?"
"Because the X-Men are winners." Toad explained. "It all balances out."
"So do we get to join Magneto's new team?" Blob asked hopefully.
"Please." Gambit replied. "No wonder you flunkies got beaten. That was a disaster."
"Not our fault." Lance argued.
"Easy. Easy." Gambit held his hands up to calm them down as he saw them get up. "You'll have other chances. But you guys need serious leadership. That's why Magneto has sent someone to whip you into shape."
"Let me guess." Lance pointed at Gambit. "You?"
"No. Him." Gambit gestured to the door, where Pietro stepped in with a cocky smile.
"Aren't you gonna welcome me back?" He said arrogantly. The three tried to tackle Pietro, but the speedster zipped out of the way. "Mess with me; you mess with my father. Capisce?"
Lance gritted his teeth. "How did you even get back?"
"Magneto decided to send someone competent to do what you couldn't." Gambit explained as he pointed to himself.
"Now, things are gonna change around here. Because from this day forward, nobody rests until we take down the X-Men." Pietro vowed. "Permanently. But the first order of business, let's get this house cleaned up." He then looked at Toad, who was still wearing his Quickwart outfit.
"You're not getting this back." Toad stated, making Pietro have a look of disgust on his face.
"Keep it."