psinex@yahoo.com Blood and Iron Chapter 10 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Everyone here is Marvel's, except for Buffy and Co., who're 20th Century Fox's, and Steve, who's mine. Please don't sue. -------------------------------------------------------- Mass. Acad. Medlab: 9/13/2003: 09:00 hrs: -------------------------------------------------------- "Oh for goodness' sake," Amanda Wagner muttered, eyeing Nate floating in his regen tank. "Moira, WEEKS ? You and your silly science ..." "NAE ! I'll nae be lettin' ye waggle yuir fingers an' castin' spells, Amanda. Th' bairn suffered a systemic shock an' psi-backlash when Apocalypse beat th' tar outta him," Moira frowned. "He needs a good long time t'fully heal, an' if that means he needs weeks in regeneration, t'will be weeks !" ~Maybe I shouldn't come out at all,~ Nate sent mournfully. Scott and Jean turned to the tank with horrified expressions and listened as Nate continued, ~I ... KILLED someone, Mom ... I didn't mean to do it, but it's too late -~ "Nate, you're not evil !" Jean insisted. "You shouldn't've gone up against Apocalypse alone, but he was a genocidal monster ! You were acting in self-defense." ~Maybe, Mom. Or maybe I just wanted an excuse to hurt someone like Steve'd been hurt,~ Nate replied, looking away from swollen eyelids. ~Like I'd been hurt when Steve was taken from us ...~ "So ? Blood vengeance," Alex called, entering with Lorna. "Trust me, kid, you stopped Apocalypse before he got a chance to really cut loose. We fought that animal when X-Factor was still semi-private - he's better off dead." "Your Uncle Alex is right, kiddo," Lorna smiled gently. "Whatever your motives, Apocalypse got what he deserved." "The important thing is that you don't want to kill again," Scott said, looking in Nate's eyes. The boy nodded vigorously and held his good hand to the wall of the tank, sending, ~I SWEAR, Dad, I hate killin'.~ "I believe you, Nate," Scott said. "I'm sorry you were hurt - I love you, pal. We have to go, though, OK ?" ~I'll be OK,~ Nate sent. Jean hugged the tank and sent, ~We'll be back soon - ever since we rejoined the X-Men, we've been busy. And we have to find the New Son ...~ -------------------------------------------------------- INTERLUDE: Black Forest, Germany: 19:00 hrs local: -------------------------------------------------------- She ran, the hounds - and the terrified villagers - at her heels. The red-haired woman stumbled, refusing to cry out, as she rolled down a hill, landing at the feet of an unlikely rescuer. "Who - ?" she asked in German, green eyes meeting blue. "A friend," the youth said, taking her hand. "Your sister Gloria works for me. She said you have talents which I might use ... ?" "Whatever," the woman shrugged. "At this rate, I'll take any job I can get - just not here." "Agreed," the youth replied. They began to turn to mist, vanishing by the time the hunters had arrived. #Amelia Voght, what have you gotten yourself into now ... ?# -------------------------------------------------------- Avengers Mansion: 09:05 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- "Yes - oh, my," Jarvis said, bowing nervously as the white-haired boy entered, followed by Luna, Tobias and Malachi. "They'll be back in a minute, Master ... ?" "Erik, please, Jarvis," Erik replied, looking around the hall. The kids found seats around the living room, and finally Luna coughed. "So ... do you remember anything ?" she asked Erik. The older boy shook his head and said, "It's all still a real jumble. Every time I try to remember being ... HIM, it goes to pieces. Except ..." He squinted, and said, "There's this red-haired woman. She ... looks like -" "Like me ?" Tobias and Malachi stood, smiling, and hugged the Scarlet Witch as she entered with a very nervous Quicksilver and a pensive Crystal. Luna jumped up and hugged her parents, whispering, "He's not gonna bite ..." "Uhm ... hi, Pietro, Wanda," Erik said, smiling and standing. Wanda hugged the boy and said, "Hi ... Erik. You don't mind if we call you that ... ?" "Trust me, Dad'd be too weird," Erik tried to joke. Pietro turned green, but sat when Crystal glared at him. Luna and the twins took seats around the table, and Erik looked down. Finally, he looked up and said, "So ... where do we begin ?" Pietro muttered something and said, "From what we can reconstruct - or remember - Magneto assembled a power base sometime after our births in the late '60s. This leaves a serious time gap between his, and possibly our mother's, escape from Auschwitz and our births." "Oh for heaven's sake, Pietro ..." Wanda frowned. She looked at Erik and said, "Magneto was ... forceful. In many ways, he was both cruel and kind - he saved us from vengeful villagers, but he expected total obedience." Erik looked fearful, but Wanda took his hand and smiled. "We know you're not Magneto, Erik. We want you to be able to come to us whenever you need us," she said. "Same here," Luna said. "Me too," Crystal added. "Count me in," Tobias smiled. "And me," Malachi winked. "It's kinda cool havin' a grandpa our age." "Thanks," Erik smiled weakly. His eyes met Pietro's, and the speedster finally snorted a laugh. "You know, this isn't the first time we met," Pietro said. "You were 4, and -" "My leukemia !" Erik gasped. "I KNEW I knew you from before - not when I was Magneto, but when I was a little kid, you and Wanda visited me in the hospital !" "Exactly," Pietro nodded. "I gave you some bone marrow." He smiled weakly and added, "Please don't feel indebted to me. I owe you ... well, my marriage." Erik's brows shot up, but Pietro held up a hand. "At the time when I learned who you were, I had been a fool and very nearly threw my marriage away because I thought Luna was human," Pietro continued. "But when I learned who you were - that helpless, 4-year-old boy who was dying - instead of the ... tyrant I'd remembered ... all I could see were Luna's eyes in your own," Pietro said, his voice thickening. "If I had a hope of forgiving you, I had to beg forgiveness from my own child - my wife." Crystal slipped a hand into Pietro's, and Luna smiled tearily at her parents. "You brought us together," Crystal said gratefully to Erik. "If there's anything we can do ..." "... there is," Erik said, finally nodding. "Who was Magda ?" Pietro and Wanda traded a nervous look, and Pietro finally sighed, "You'd better settle in. This will take a while ... "... she was your wife." -------------------------------------------------------- X-Mansion: 15:00 hrs: -------------------------------------------------------- "... no, ah nevah met ya b'fore th' school." Erik nodded as he and Rogue sat on the dock of the boathouse, dangling their bare feet in the water and watching Gambit fling charged gravel into the cove. "Thanks f'r ... y'know, letting me talk to you," Erik said, meeting Rogue's gaze. The young woman smiled and said, "Heck, sugah, we got a kid t'gether out there somewhere. We'd bettah talk." "Lord, don't remind me," Erik smirked. "And he's older than I am ... I hate temporal mechanics." He looked at Rogue and asked, "How're you taking all of this ? You lost 7 years to Proteus ..." "It's day by day," Rogue shrugged. "Ah lost Carol, Zaladane - th' ability t'bench-press 100 tons an' fly - but ah gotta live with th' mem'ries." She shivered and added, "Th' victims ... Kevin didn't hafta eat too often, but when he did, it was ..." She smiled unconvincingly and said, "A youngin' like ya shouldn't hafta hear this." "You're forgetting - my foster sister's a vampire hunter, and my foster brothers've been either beaten up, brainwashed, or both," Erik said with a wry smile. "And last night my other foster sister cooked an army of clone mutant fascists. AND there's the looks I get whenever I talk about the Holocaust ..." He shivered, sitting up, and said, "The dreams are bad sometimes. It's about all I remember ... from then. And there's this red-headed woman ..." Erik concentrated, creating a hologram of a beautiful woman in her mid-30's. "Magda, Pietro and Wanda said," he mumbled as Rogue examined the image. "My wife." "Damn," Rogue whistled. "She was a looker. Any idea what happ'ned ?" "Pietro said Bova told him that Magda didn't say too much the night she gave birth to the twins - just that she was running from her husband," Erik said, staring out into the cove. "God, was I that big a creep ... ?" "What matters is now, sugah," Rogue said, putting an arm carefully around Erik. "Ya got 'nothah chance, an' so do ah. We gotta use it right, an' quit angstin'." "I suppose I'd better listen - don't wanna end up like my foster dad," Erik chuckled. He looked at Rogue and manifested a magnetic force shield, kissing her cheek before standing to leave. "Thanks," he said. He blushed and added, "If I was a little older ..." "Y'r a charmer," Rogue grinned. "If ah catch that l'il brat o'ours, ah'll give ya a call. See ya." -------------------------------------------------------- Forest Hills, New York: 16:00 hrs: -------------------------------------------------------- "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED !?" Peter Parker ran a hand through his hair, rage and grief mingling in his heart. Gwen sat on the couch, tears rolling down her face, and clung to her mother. "Peter, SIT," Mary Jane Watson-Parker ordered. "Gwennie's been through enough already." "I'm not a baby, Mother !" Gwen demanded, sitting up. "I made a stupid mistake, and I need to figure out what to do about it. Normie and I WERE too young ... but it's too late to go back now ..." "Where IS Master Norman ?" Peter hissed. "A military school in Wyoming, I think," MJ said. "Liz said after Norman ... died, Normie became more and more reckless, unstable." "He was pretty coherent the night we - " Gwen blurted. The look in her father's eyes silenced her, but Peter took a deep breath and sat beside his daughter. "We'll get through this," he said, hugging her. "You know if they're boys, girls - ?" "A boy and a girl," Gwen said. "Dr. Cassidy says they're both healthy, and mutant - but there's no radical genetic shift." She giggled, her laugh breaking into a sob, and she added, "No six-armed babies here ..." She sobbed for a while, letting her parents hold her. -------------------------------------------------------- Mass. Acad. Medlab: 20:00 hrs: -------------------------------------------------------- ~Nate ... ?~ Nate opened his eyes, waving weakly as Steve sat at the base of his tank with a smile. "I just wanted to ... thank you," Steve said. "I know you're afraid you're a monster, but you're not. I ... know killing's wrong, but ... part of me ... I'm GLAD Apocalypse is dead. I don't want to kill either, but ..." ~It's 'cathartic,' Giles told me,~ Nate sent, smirking behind his breath mask. ~I guess all we can do is learn from it, huh ?~ "Yeah," Steve said. "You - ?" ~I'm wearin' a thong and a breath mask, floating in green goop and absorbing nutrients through my skin,~ Nate giggled mentally. ~What's scary is, the thong's gettin' comfy ...~ Steve exploded in laughter and rolled on the floor, while Nate shook with laughter of his own. Finally, the boys finished their laughter and touched hands to either side of Nate's tank. "You just remember - you're my hero, bro," Steve said. ~Crap, Stevie, you suffered more'n I did,~ Nate shrugged. "Yeah, but you look worse in the thong," Steve deadpanned, leaving with more giggles. ~Smartass,~ Nate grinned ... -------------------------------------------------------- NEXT: At last - Buffy solo ! -------------------------------------------------------- end _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com