The dial tone barely had a moment to ring before the call was picked up. Allie physically shuddered as she cowered away in the shadowed depths of the living room, holding the phone with a desperate grip.
"Hello?" Peter answered.
"Peter," She whispered shakily, "Did you watch the news?"
"No…? You're freaking me out…"
"It's all over the place. They know about us, about mutants. They got it on footage. Erik and Hank and this girl I don't recognize, they were fighting and not hiding their powers over in France. I'm sure half the world has seen it by now."
"Shit," He huffed out.
"Yeah… What's going to happen to us?" She tried swallowing down the ball of anxiety in her throat to no avail.
"I don't know…" He said quietly, "... Did they say anything else about it on the news?"
In the background of his call, she could hear him flip on the television which immediately blared the evening news and the hot topic of the Paris Peace Summit's peculiar incident.
"They're waiting for the official's responses," She told him in a meek voice. He seemed to be taking a tense pause to watch the broadcast. After a moment or two, the line cut.
Allie peered down at the phone with a mixture of confusion and unease. "Peter?"
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The girl had to smother her own scream of fright when she saw Peter standing outside the living room window, tapping the murky glass pane with a serious look on his face. He pointed in the direction of the front door questioningly. She had to quickly get over her shock at his sudden appearance, carefully putting the phone back on its mount and kicking closed the White Pages that was lying on the floor beneath it. She strode up to the window and shook her head, pointing her own finger in the other direction.
'Bedroom window,' She mouthed dramatically, to which she received a flashing thumbs up and he was gone. Allie hurried her way out of the living room and received another jolt of surprise once she entered her bedroom, as Peter was there sitting on her bed patiently like he'd been waiting hours for her to return.
As soon as she closed the door behind her, she gave him a stern look. "Keep your voice down, 'kay?"
"Yes ma'am," He heeded her command. Then his face drooped while his eyes looked her up and down, "You look like you've been through hell and back."
She looked down at herself, seeing her frail body that had felt the starving effects of a fruit only diet for the past few days. The loose, stained slip she wore didn't exactly do her any justice either, which reminded her that she was dressed very inappropriately for the likes of Peter's presence.
Allie flung open her closet while hissing, "Don't look at me."
She heard her bed shift, and as she looked back to make sure he wasn't watching, she found Peter face down in her mountain of pillows. Quickly, she changed into a plain t-shirt and a pair of loose linen pants.
"Okay, you're good." He sat back up and returned his eyes to her, still evaluating her appearance with a gaze that made her feel squirmy.
"I don't think you have to worry this much, 'least you're not walking around looking like a bright blue ape," He said, alluding that her disheveled look was a result of the recent news. She just sighed at his harmless ignorance and crawled into her bed, occupying the corner furthest from him. There she pulled her knees to her chest and hunkered down like they were two refugees hiding from the outside dangers.
"Looking normal betters our odds, yeah, but what if they start screening people for mutations or something?" She theorized quickly, the girl having the knack for conjuring the worst possible scenarios. Peter just waved his hands dismissively.
"Clearly they've known about mutants. The Pentagon had Erik locked away and still they didn't go out on witch hunts for the rest of us," He countered with a look on his face that begged to instill some sort of calm within her. But she wasn't having it. She couldn't fathom anything good coming out of the mess.
"The public knowing about us changes everything. They're going to think we are threats. Governments are going to be pressured to take action, even if they've known about mutants all along. That's how it always goes with shit like this." Her voice was riddled with fear, making his features appear all the more distraught.
"You're a glass half empty kinda girl, aren't you?" He asked, breaking off from the tense subject. No matter how hard he tried, nothing could penetrate her anxieties.
"I'm being realistic," Was all she said, no hint of a smile for miles, so he leaned back and drowned hopelessly in the countless pillows behind him.
"So," He began as he threw his hands up, "The world's ending. What do we do now?"
"You're not helping."
"I don't think there's any helping you."
Allie thumped her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry. This has just been one hell of a week."
She could hear the shift of fabric, so she lifted her lids slightly, seeing his head craned to look at her, a few fuzzy pink pillows framing his face.
"You still keeping the 'bad news' to yourself?" He asked softly.
Allie exhaled through her nose before letting her eyes fall shut again. There wasn't really a reason as to why she had refrained from telling Peter earlier. She supposed she didn't want to trouble him with her problems. But now with him by her side, it felt tough to keep it all bottled up. Her and her mother hadn't even spoken about it. So really, Allie didn't have anyone other than him at that moment, as she didn't want to make things more worse for her mom than they already were.
In the midst of all those swirling emotions, Allie decided she'd allow herself to be vulnerable with him.
"My dad has been in Vietnam for the past year. While I was away on Saturday, they came by the house to let my mom know that he went missing about two weeks ago. I guess he was assigned to help POWs but they were caught. They searched but haven't found him." She explained all of it to him with her eyes shut tight, trying desperately to keep herself together because she knew that if she looked at him and saw the pity in his face, she'd probably succumb to a waterfall of tears. And she didn't want that. She was tired of crying.
But she also couldn't just sit there and not face him for the rest of their time spent together. So after the words hung in the air for a few seconds, Allie took a deep breath and settled her gaze where he had been sitting, finding that he was… Gone?
She blinked a few times before saying, "Peter?"
As soon as she did so, her window was opened and closed in a blur, Peter's figure obscuring it thereafter. In his hands was a basket full of packaged desserts and chocolate bars and bagged chips. Stuffed at the basket's center was a teddy bear holding a plushie heart. He flopped back down on the bed and set the basket between them, topping it off with his sincerest remark for the tragic news.
"I'm really sorry to hear that. Don't lose hope. There's a possibility that he is still out there," He said with a great deal of care. As much as she didn't want to, Allie couldn't help but to feel the hotness of tears flood across her waterline, making her eyes sparkle beneath the warm lamplight from her bedside table. Beating her at the game of anguish, Peter managed to bring a smile to her lips.
She looked at him pointedly and asked, "Did you rehearse that a million times on your way back here?"
He burst into subdued laughter as he looked away embarrassedly. "Yeah, maybe once or twice. But I mean every word of it, I hope you know."
Allie felt her lips quiver, prompting her to keep it together and avoid ugly crying in front of him as most boys weren't equipped with the right tools to deal with a girl's tears. But if any of them were, she figured Peter would definitely be one.
He pushed the basket toward her. "I got you some snacks because you look terrible."
"You're a real charmer," She told him, sniffing away tears and replacing them with laughter. Her hands found their way to the Hershey's bar and began to unwrap it, breaking off rectangles of sweetness while they enjoyed a moment of quiet.
After a while, she said, "Thank you for the basket. And the kind words."
He gave her a nonchalant look, "Of course. You're acting like I'm usually some kind of monster."
She shrugged, jutting her brows up at the possibility of that being true. He scoffed to himself but melted back into silence, till he zipped to the center of the room.
"I probably should go. I'm supposed to be on house arrest," He said.
"What'd you do?" She asked curiously, still nibbling at the chocolate.
"Broke into the Pentagon," He told her like it was obvious. Allie's face immediately scrunched together as she stared at him in disbelief.
"You told your mom about that?"
"Yeah, she asked where I got all the shit from."
"What shit?"
Again, he gave her the look of obviousness and began to count his fingers, "The personnel hat, the guard uniform, the prisoner uniform, the polymer gun and bullets-"
"My God, why would you do that?" She admonished him, sitting up in the bed, "What if she says something to someone and you get caught?"
"She'll hand me over to the police for petty shit, but not for that. And I didn't tell her about Erik, I just said I went there to steal some cool stuff, no mention of participating in a heist, as much as it pains me. I have ginormous bragging rights."
Allie facepalmed and dragged her hand down her cheeks, not believing her ears. This kid was something else, he really was. How had his mother put him with him for seventeen years?
"Please tell me there's only one Maximoff boy in the family," She said with an exhausted look.
"As far as I know," He assured her.
"Good, because I think the world would officially implode if there were more."
"I might be able to make that a one man job," He thought out loud, stroking his chin. Allie grabbed one of her pillows and threw it at him, being surprised when he didn't use his speed to snatch it from the air. Instead it smacked into his chest and anticlimactically landed on the floor.
"You got your hatred for me out of your system yet?" He asked amusedly. She shook her head.
"Just leave before your mom has to do any more worrying over you. I'm surprised she isn't as gray haired as you are."
He sauntered toward the window, pushing it open. "Maybe that's why she's at the hairdresser once a month."
"No doubt about it," She called, watching as he straddled the sill. "I'll uh… I'll see you later?"
He looked back at her with a sure nod. "I'll call soon."
Before they could officially say goodbye, Allie's bedroom suddenly opened. The girl's head whipped around to see her mom standing in the doorway.
"Are you talking to someone?" The woman asked confusedly. Allie glanced back at the window, thankfully discovering Peter was gone and he had closed it behind him. Trying to act casual, Allie peered back at her mother and shrugged.
"Nope."
"Oh," Her mother sighed, body deflating. Her eyes then honed in on the basket. "Who got that for you?"
"A friend," Allie said curtly.
"Was it that boy on the phone?"
"Uhm…"
"What's his name? Peter Maximoff?"
"Yeah," Allie confirmed awkwardly. Her mother shook her head.
"I feel like I've seen that name in the paper a time or two. You better not be getting close with unbecoming people, Allison. Boys like that are no good."
Allie tapped the edge of the gift basket, "He's alright, mom."
"Yeah, that's how they all are. They throw their money at you and next thing you know they put their giant baby in your belly. Just don't do anything stupid," Her mom uttered her final sour remark before closing the door, leaving Allie smiling to herself.
She grabbed the teddy bear from the basket and stared at it for a few seconds. Its black, plastic dots for eyes stared back, somewhat reminding her of Peter's. She cocked her head and laid him where Peter had sat earlier, before she curled back up into the blankets and slowly drifted off to sleep with the thought of that troublesome boy at the forefront of her mind.
The following day had promising beginnings. Allie awoke with balmy sunrays gleaming through her window and the birds were harmonizing angelically outside. Her belly was rumbling which luckily was quelled in a matter of seconds as she snatched a bag of chips from Peter's basket. While she enjoyed her not so healthy breakfast, Allie could help but feel surprised at how envigored her body felt. She was ready to take on the day.
Later on, however, all warm vibes were washed away when Allie plopped down onto the couch with just two towels wrapped around her body and wet hair. She looked at the television, wondering if she should torture herself by turning it on and view the inevitable updates to the mutant news. The more she sat there, the more unreasonable it became to act like none of it existed. She leant over and turned the tv on, watching as it came to life, still being on Channel 4 from the night before.
An unknown news anchor's face was in the center of the screen, the familiar white architecture of the White House being right behind him.
"Tomorrow, in front of the White House, the president will make his announcement. He'll be joined by Secretary of Defence Laird and has even sought the help of renowned scientist Bolivar Trask, his special advisor to combat this mutant issue. The White House has asked the American public to tune in to tomorrow's televised event to receive direct confirmation that they are facing the issue with tact and consideration over the safety of our proud nation. Thank you, back to you Clark-"
Allie shut off the television as soon as the report was concluded. The phrase 'mutant issue' echoed in her head. Issue? Her gut twisted as she over analyzed the wording to the point where she was making herself sick over the possibilities of what was to come.
Rather than face the matter alone, Allie stood and hopped over to the telephone, grabbing the White Pages book from the floor where she found the Maximoffs' phone number circled in the 'M' directory.
When she made it to the dial tone, Allie immediately knew Peter wasn't going to answer because it rang for too long. When the line picked up, a feminine voice drifted through the static, sounding like his mother.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is Peter there?"
"Is this a friend of his?"
"Yeah, I'm Allie Simmons- I- I Don't know if he's talked about me or not…" Allie awkwardly cringed to herself for her lack of charisma.
"Well I don't hear much from him other than 'hi' and 'bye', so I'm sorry to say I haven't heard of you. Do you want me to leave a message for him?"
"Uhm, yeah that's fine, just tell him to give me a ca-" She was interrupted by the front door opening and closing, which she just figured was her mom but upon a glance over her shoulder, she saw it was actually Peter casually strolling into her house like he owned the place.
"- I- Uh- Yeah, sorry- Bye!" She then slammed the phone on the mount and whipped around to face him, "What are you doing?! You can't just waltz in here, my mom's home!"
She was expecting a snarky remark to fall from his lips but instead he audibly gasped with his wide eyes snapping to the floor in an instant. That was when she remembered she was only clad in a bath towel, making a fountain of heat flush onto her cheek.
"She's not home, I checked-" He said hurriedly, "- I guess I should've also checked to make sure you were dressed."
Allie glanced out the window, indeed seeing that her mom's car was gone from the curb. She must've started back at work. Which thankfully meant that Allie could give him a piece of her mind.
"Are you kidding me?!" She shouted at him, shielding her hands over her chest, "There's this thing called a doorbell, ever heard of it? You don't just pull a peeping Tom to see if someone's home or not! UGH!"
Allie barreled off into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind, calling, "Wait right there until I'm done!"
When she emerged from the room minutes later, she was completely dressed, yet still seething at his lack of any form of etiquette. Peter narrowly glanced up at her, physically sinking in relief to see that she was covered up by a Jefferson Airplane tee and light wash jeans.
She stood in the center of the room with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. "I'm still pissed at you but we have bigger fish to fry. Did you see that there's gonna be an event at the White House tomorrow?"
He nodded, "Yeah and I heard that now we are an 'issue'."
"Mhm," She said smugly, "I told you."
Peter took the shot like a champ, saying, "Yeah, yeah, you were right. To some extent at least. Maybe they'll decide that we all get to live on our own little island together or something."
"Yeah, then they'll nuke the shit out of it."
"You're such a Debby downer."
"Whatever. I'm just worried…" Her mind drifted back to when Logan and the others first happened upon her doorstep. 'Mutants... are at risk. They'll be hunted, enslaved and killed in the future if we do not fix the past now. Which is why I am here. It's why we need you.' Is what he had said to her. She still really couldn't wrap her head around the claim and the supposed time travel element to his mission, but she could still feel that deep sense of dread within him. It was so potent that she knew he couldn't have been lying about the things he was cautioning her of.
"You know I'm not just pulling all of this speculation out of my ass, right?" She said seriously to him.
"Uh, care to explain?"
"When Logan and them came to recruit me, he said that he knew me in the future. And-"
Peter shot his hands up, forcing her to give him a moment to clarify that crazy statement. "Wait, wait, wait. He said that?"
She nodded earnestly. "Yes he did. And you know what else he told me? He said that mutants in his future were enslaved and killed, and that's why he is doing this whole mission- To try and change the course of history, basically."
Peter leaned in toward her, "And you're only telling me all of this now?! This is a giant piece of this whole fucking catastrophic puzzle! Why didn't you say something last night when we were talking about it?"
"Look," She sighed, "My mind hasn't exactly been in the right place, alright? With everything going on…"
He straightened, looking at her apologetically. "Sorry, yeah, I get it. But damn… Holy shit…"
"Only thing left to do is figure out what our plan is. If tomorrow goes sideways, I mean, we have to do something, right?" She presented the grim concept with an even more grim expression on her face, her stomach doing flips at the mere thought of what tomorrow's event could bring.
He mulled it over for a second or two. "D'you really think that they're going to try and hurt us? I mean we're just kids."
"Historically speaking, people who have been targeted by their own governments didn't exactly have stellar endings, no matter their demographic. I'm not saying all of this to waste my breath either…" She relieved a shaky exhale, beginning to work herself up with all the nerves, "... I'm scared, Peter. Right now the only other person in the same boat as me is you."
With a troubled sigh, Peter zipped to the couch and rubbed his eyes, thinking hard and long about what they were supposed to do. Allie joined him, choosing to sit on the coffee table so they could face each other. After a short while, he finally sat up, locking onto her gaze.
"We might be fucked," Was all he said. Her heart sank, because if Peter couldn't even find the brighter side of things, then that truly did spell out that they were screwed.
"Explain," She said, it being her turn to thrust her head into her hands.
"Hypothetically, if we prance off together and live out some secretive life in the woods or some shit, I have no doubt in my mind that they will still find a way to get to us. Hiding is almost always futile."
His explanation seemed as logical as they came. A tough pill to swallow, as they say. Allie pulled at the skin around her eyes, staring up at the ceiling as she digested the hard hitting truth of his words.
"What about running?" She asked. He slowly glanced up at her.
"What about it?"
"Hiding is almost always futile, but what about running?"
He chuckled at the idea. "Are you setting me up to feel all flattered or something?"
"No, I'm just saying. It may be our only option if the worst is to come."
"Well," Peter began, "Let's just hope that Logan can complete his mission and save us all from a future of mutant genocide."
Allie's eyes landed on his, her head shaking slightly. "Here's to hoping."
The next morning brought with it no such thing as sunshine and rainbows. Just the dark, despairing void of dread. Further hawking over the television throughout the previous day allowed for her to learn that the event was taking place at eleven o' clock, thus her morning was spent counting down the hours, then the minutes… then the seconds as she sat in the living room, eyes glued to the Channel 4 station.
By that point she had Peter's number memorized. She was ready to call him if necessary. But she prayed that it wouldn't come to that.
Her heart skipped a beat as a patriotic tune overtook the channel, the event reaching its start. President Nixon was announced up to the stage. His gait was strong, full of gallantry and he took to the podium with determination. The crowd cheered for him, the cheers that Allie frowned at, because they all didn't realize how petrified the mutants of the world were.
With the applause dying, President Nixon began his speech. "My fellow Americans, today… We face the gravest threat in our history: Mutants."
Allie felt her stomach lurch at the statement.
"We have prepared for this threat. In the immortal words of Robert Oppenheimer, 'Behold, the world will never be the same again'…"
As the quote slipped from his lips, Nixon dramatically turned and thrust his arm in the air. The gesture cued for the giant flag behind him to drop, revealing a spectacle unlike anything Allie had ever seen in her life. Behind the stage stood a dozen towering robotic figures. As the Star-Spangled Banner played like this was all just some sort of proud display of innocent innovation, she couldn't help but to start to feel sick at what she was watching. Many service members saluted, even those amongst the crowd.
They gave the viewers and the audience alike some moments to ogle at the robots, however halfway through the national anthem, the robots began to power on, and based upon the sudden shift in the stagemember's demeanors, it could be determined that that was not a part of the show. The vents on their metallic stomachs began pumping out gusts up air, that of which propelled them off the ground. They flew higher and higher into the air, earning plenty of applause for being the technology many had never known would be possible.
But then it happened. As the cameras were tilting upward to capture a good image of the machines, Allie watched the one robot lift its arm, pointing it at something down below. Not a moment later, its arm, which was suited in such a way that it could function like a machine gun, began to rain down bullets onto the crowd.
Allie gasped as she continued watching. All she could hear were screams of utter terror and other sounds of destruction and chaos. The cameras tipped forward, showing the viewers nothing but the grass below, completely cutting off any other information to be gathered aside from the continued audio loop of despair.
A few seconds passed. Allie was frozen, staring at the screen.
Just then a few cop cars raced down her street, their blaring sirens snapping her out of the trance of panic. She stood up and was about to run to the phone when the ground suddenly rumbled, like there was a small earthquake. Her eyes glanced back at the screen, still seeing nothing but grass. God, what was happening?
Allie finally made it to the phone, but like always, Peter had impeccable timing. Her front door slammed open, the door knob making a puncture in the wall. As she looked back, she saw him standing there frantically in the entrance, then he zipped over and was right beside her.
"Is your mom home?" He asked urgently. She shook her head, hardly being able to even think straight. He didn't even give her a chance to. "Alright, you're coming with me."
He snatched her up on the spot and tore out of the house. They traveled at great speeds for a second or two until the world was once again a discernible image for Allie. She found herself in Peter's living room, where she stood awkwardly for a couple moments in order to gather her bearings from the run.
"Mom, this is Allie," Peter said, zipping to the floor where he sat criss-crossed, staring intently at the television. Allie weakly turned to see his mother standing in the middle of the living room archway, staring at the girl.
"Hi," Was all the woman said, having a shell shocked look.
"Nice to… meet you…" Allie muttered, returning her focus to the television.
From some other room, the little princess, whom Allie had the pleasure of meeting only once before, came sprinting in with the same costume as before and plopped right down onto her brother's lap, exclaiming: "Cartoon time?! Cartoon time?!"
Peter wrapped his arms around her little tutu but shook his head, "Later Lorna, not right now."
Just then, the image on the screen shifted, lifting upward to center around a complete disaster where the stage had once been. A dilapidated, black box that housed various suited men sat ahead of Erik, who was clad in a striking uniform, one that looked rather serious as he twirled to address the officials.
"You built these weapons to destroy us. Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts? Because we are different. Humanity has always feared that which is different. Well, I'm here to tell you, to tell the world…" Erik swung around to face the cameras with an air of drama, "... You're right to fear us. We are the future. We are the ones who will inherit this earth. And anyone who stands in our way will suffer the same fate as these men you see before you. Today was meant to be a display of your power…"
Allie moved to sit down beside Peter, becoming invested in Erik's speech, feeling so many conflicting emotions storming through her.
"Instead I give you a glimpse of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours. Let this be a warning to the world. And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there, I say this: No more hiding. No more suffering. You have lived in the shadows and shame and fear for too long. Come out. Join me. Fight together in a brotherhood of our kind. A new tomorrow… That starts today."
Her and Peter looked at each other, both of their faces being unreadable. Their attentions were called back to the screen as a murmur of voices was picked up by the microphones. They both watched as Nixon clawed his way out of the black box despite the servicemen pleading for him not to.
As the President stalked his way forward, he jabbed a finger in Erik's direction. "You want to make a statement? Kill me. Fine. But spare everyone else."
Erik began walking toward him staunchly, like a lion toying with its prey. "Very heroic, Mr. President," He crooned, "But you had no intention of sparing any of us. The future of our species begins now."
She hadn't noticed them all until they drifted closer to the men, but a cloud of levitating guns were all pointed in the President's direction, no doubt being controlled by Erik. There was a brief moment of tension until Erik's head snapped to the side, the same time his arm reached out. From the side of the screen, a bunch of metal scraps slid across the grass. Her focus had been so trained upon the broken pieces scattering about that she hadn't noticed Nixon raised a gun and shot at Erik until the mutant was staggering to the ground.
Peter had done his brotherly duties and immediately shielded Lorna's eyes before she could witness the gruesome moment, whereas he, Allie and his mother stayed glued to the action, earning them the surprise of the ultimate plot twist. President Nixon morphed into the blue woman from the Peace Summit incident, shocking them all. The guns around Erik fell to the ground, considering the pain of the injury was overriding his concentration. The mysterious woman began limping toward his felled figure. She said something not captured by the cameras, then executed an impressive display of acrobatics in order to kick Erik in the face, ending the onslaught with a pistol whip too. He was knocked out cold.
Before they could all sigh in relief, the blue woman whipped on her heel and pointed the gun she wielded back toward the suited men. There seemed to be a period of contemplation taking over her senses, leaving them all on the edges of their seats over whether or not she would actually pull the trigger, possibly killing the President or any of his men.
She physically trembled beneath the weight of decision. Allie could see it clear as day, watching the gun jitter in her hand. So much for this random woman to consider. There had to be rage deep down, something that was keeping her finger over the trigger. Yet there was something just as important on the other side of the coin. One that was pulling her away from violence.
Suddenly, Allie had an epiphany.
This was the moment… Wasn't it? The moment that decided their fate. This would determine if there was hope on the horizon, or many, many years of death and despair.
It made watching the screen all the more emotional, as Allie found herself reaching for Peter's hand, gripping it tightly. They didn't so much as look at one another, but they both knew that this was it. They were watching the crossroad in real time. It was up to this single, mutant woman to make the right decision.
At the peak of the tension, Allie's eyes traced downward, watching the gun fall from the woman's hand. There was nothing more that she needed to watch. She turned to look at Peter, happy tears brimming her eyes.
They had done it.