Lines in the Sand: Chapter 9

An X-Men Evolution Fanfic

“Scott!” The scream came from the living room.

Scott had lived in the mansion long enough to know when someone yelled like that, you dropped whatever you were doing to help, so he turned off the stove, pulled his pan away from the hot eye, then took off running.

He didn’t see anything when he reached the living room. No assassins, burglars, fighting teenagers, nothing. Nothing strange at all except Amara’s horrified expression as she stared at the tv.

“Amara, what’s wrong?”

With difficulty, she dragged her gaze from the screen. “I didn’t know. I promise I didn’t know.”

Scott stepped toward her and bent down a bit to look her in the eyes better. “You didn’t know what?”

“I–Tabby called me yesterday and told me they were leaving and she asked me not to tell anyone, but I didn’t know she meant–she meant . . . I would have told you if I knew–”

He put his hands on her shoulders. “Amara, what are you talking about?”

Before she could answer, a reporter on the tv spoke. “They’ve been positively identified as students attending Bayville High School–”

Scott whirled around and stared at the tv. The camera was focused on the ruins of a collapsed building. Around it, people were running. Only the reporter’s voice was audible, but Scott was sure they were screaming.

Then he caught sight of some familiar figures running in the crowd. What had the Brotherhood done this time?

Professor, he thought, hoping he would hear from wherever he was. Scott didn’t have time to search the whole mansion.

I see it, came the reply. Logan is preparing the jet. I need you to assemble the team.

Understood.

Pietro was off as soon as Lance gave him the signal. He had a clear, straight shot to the building Todd had pointed out.

He found Wanda exactly where Todd had said, staring over the edge of the roof to watch Lance’s handiwork and the people running away.

“Wanda!” She turned around, and her eyebrows shot up.

“Pietro? Why are you up here? Shouldn’t you be down there, helping?”

Honestly. As if he was the one acting strange.

“Me? What are you doing?”

Wanda sighed. “Father didn’t tell you, did he?”

Of course not. Why would his father tell him anything? He shook his head.

“We’re fixing things,” she said. “Making the world better for people like us. Aren’t you tired of hiding?”

Yes. He was so tired. But that didn’t explain anything. “But why are you here? Why are you helping him?”

“Because he’s right!" She shook her head. “I may not agree with everything he does–” Now that was the understatement of the year. “–but this can’t go on, Pietro. We can’t keep hiding who we are just because we’re different. And you and I are some of the lucky ones. At least we can blend in if we try.”

Ha. The irony of her saying that now, when he had been trying so hard for the past few days to make her blend in. But . . . what she was saying made sense.

When Pietro had first explained what had happened to him and Wanda, Lance had suggested maybe she had been hypnotized. He said that had happened to Kitty, and it made her do things she wouldn’t normally do. Todd had thought she’d been blackmailed, at least, until Tabby asked him what someone could blackmail her with that she couldn’t just magic away. Fred had suggested she had been threatened, which was met with similar derision from Tabby.

But if Pietro was very, very honest with himself, he hoped that his father had just told the truth. That he had spoken to Wanda, explained himself, and apologized. That they had found some common ground and learned to be a family again.

“Clearly father didn’t trust you with his plans for today,” she continued, “but I do. I want you to be a part of this with us.”

Was it possible that everything he had hoped for had finally, finally happened?

The wind picked up, growing faster and faster. Wanda looked up, and a smile lit up her face. “It’s time!”

Pietro tilted his face up. A dark shape hovered in front of them. He blinked a couple of times and covered the sun with his arm. It wasn’t the wind, he realized, but a helicopter. Wanda reached out a caught the helicopter in a red haze.

“What–what are you doing?”

“I told you,” she said. “Showing everyone what we can do.” She strained as she moved one hand, and the helicopter rotated to face the factory.

The factory Lance had just demolished.

“No.” His voice came out as a whisper, so he tried again. “No, no, Wanda, you can’t! Not like this!”

Because this wasn’t the school. Teenagers had been destroying school property since high school was invented, and he and the rest of the Brotherhood hadn’t hurt anyone. But this? His father–his father–was exposing mutants and branding them criminals in the same breath. He had wondered why none of his father’s cronies had been sent with them. Now he knew.

“Wanda, please! You have to stop this! They’ll lock you up again. Please!”

She looked over her shoulder at him, and her eyebrows drew together. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re scaring them–they’ll put you in that place again–just like father–you won’t be able to escape this time–” He wasn’t sure if he was making sense. He just needed to say something, anything to make her leave with him. Whatever he said must have worked, though, because she frowned and took a step towards him.

“What place?” she asked.

Was he falling?

He must have been falling with the way his stomach seemed to plummet like that. Because she hadn’t been hypnotized, blackmailed, or threatened. This was so much worse.

A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he looked over to see one of the helicopter’s occupants pointing a camera at Wanda through the window. With him distracting her, it seemed they were able to pull out of her reach.

At his gasp, she whirled around and reached for it again. “Wanda, no!” But she didn’t listen as she caught the helicopter and yanked it back around. He could do nothing but watch as he realized he was too late.

It was overwhelming.

The professor had warned Jean that her powers would grow stronger as she got older, but she still felt unprepared most of the time. Lately, they’d been working on how to block out other’s thoughts and feelings, but it only helped some.

While she had been able to shut out everyone’s churning emotions most of the flight, as soon as they landed, the fear of the crowd pushed in around her, threatening to tip her over the edge.

“What is that?" Kurt shouted.

Jean didn’t know and didn’t care. She crushed her hands over her ears and tried to take a few deep breaths. “Block it out, block it out, block it out,” she muttered. She could barely hear her own voice.

Someone grabbed her wrists. She jumped. People usually couldn’t sneak up on her. “Jean!” Scott’s voice was gentle, but frantic. She tried to focus on it. “We’ll take care of . . . whatever this robot is,” he assured her. “Can you handle that?” She forced herself to look where he was pointing.

Several helicopters circled the roof of a narrow office building. As she watched, a couple nearly crashed into each other before suddenly swerving away. It almost looked like the pilots were drunk.

Away. Away from all the crowds of people screaming in her mind. She could do it. She gave a small nod, and he took off, trusting her to do her job while he did his.

She stood up. The voices pressed in around her. Too much, too much, she had to get away–

“Jean!” She hovered several feet off the ground now, but stopped at Kitty’s cry.

“The helicopters!” Kitty shouted. “It’s Wanda! It’s Wanda, but she doesn’t know what she’s doing! Don’t hurt her, please!” Jean didn’t see how kitty could possibly know any of that, but . . . it felt like the truth. Well, it felt like Kitty believed it, anyway.

“I’ll take care of it.”

She flew to the roof. It took some maneuvering to weave through the circling helicopters. When she finally made it through their ring, she found two figures already standing there. The first was Pietro, who, last she heard, had left town. He was shouting something at the girl, whose similar features seemed to suggest she was, in fact, his sister. How had Kitty known?

“Let those people go,” Jean said as she landed on the roof.

Wanda, who had been concentrating on the helicopters, grimaced and thrust her hand toward Jean. A wave of force crashed into her, pushing her off the side of the building. Jean didn’t bother to fight it. She just hovered in the air where it had left her. Wanda’s eyes widened.

Jean raised her hands. “I said, let go!"

Pietro appeared in front of Wanda, hands outstretched in a placating gesture. “Wait! Don’t hurt her!” Jean hesitated, but didn’t drop her hands. It wasn’t like Pietro to avoid a fight like this. Was there some sort of trick?

One of the helicopters dipped toward them. So Wanda didn’t have a good hold on them. With a grunt, she whirled around and focused back on them. Pietro glanced back at her over his shoulder, then up at the helicopters.

He swallowed, then turned back to Jean. Those ice-blue eyes pierced into hers like he was trying to communicate something. Without thinking, she opened her mind, just a bit.

Please. The thought came rushing in. There’s something wrong with her. She–she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Help her, please!

She had never heard him beg before. And he said the same thing Kitty had. Something was going on that she didn’t understand. She nodded.

She had just a second to see the relief in his eyes before she closed hers and reached out toward Wanda’s mind. At first, everything seemed normal.

Memories, those closest to the surface, flooded her, as well as Wanda’s worry and eagerness to make her father proud. There was no trace of someone else’s manipulation.

The memories, though, were a little . . . strange. They felt random. Most of the time, the memories at the forefront of someone’s mind were recent, or they had something to do with their feelings or desires. These memories were disjointed and completely unconnected except for one thing: each one featured Wanda and her father spending time together.

But . . . she trusted Kitty, and surely Pietro knew his sister well enough to see that something was wrong. So she pushed further–

–and came up hard against a wall.

Scott wasn’t expecting the robot.

“Where did it even come from?” Evan shouted.

Scott wanted to know the same thing, but that wasn’t important right now. “We have to get everyone to safety.”

“Gott hilf uns,” Kurt muttered before grabbing Kitty’s hand and transporting them away. Rogue ran into the crowd, shouting and directing them to wider streets.

“Look who finally showed up,” Tabby called. She threw something at the robot’s knee.

Boom! It barely left a scratch.

“We’ll chat later, kid,” Logan said. “For now, focus on our new friend here.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Fred ran past them, charging for the robot’s legs.

“No, wait!” Scott shouted. If he ran fast enough, Fred might knock it over, but it could destroy some of the buildings around them.

But Fred never made it close enough. The robot turned at his battle cry, aimed an arm at him, and some sort of green goo shot out and coated Fred completely. Within seconds, he was frozen inside it.

“Fred!” Tabby screamed. She threw several more bombs at the robot. Evan added his spikes, and Scott his laser. The robot moved its hand.

“Tabby, look out!” Lance shouted, running toward them. Scott knew he’d never make it in time. Logan leapt forward and knocked her to the ground, but the robot was too fast, and the green goo still caught them both.

“NO!” The ground shook. Cracks split the asphalt beneath their feet.

“Evan,” Scott yelled, and the two of them ran. Lance joined them a second later.

“What do you think you’re doing?" Scott asked when they got far enough away to catch their breath.

“Hey, how was I supposed to know there was a giant robot in that factory, huh?”

Factory? “Then what exactly were you trying to do?”

“Just following orders,” Lance spat. “You know all about that, don’t you?”

“I thought you were done with that.”

“I didn’t have a choice–”

“You always have a choice!”

Lance clenched his fist, and Scott was sure he was going to punch him.

“Guys! We kinda have bigger problems here!” Evan shouted.

“What about Alex?” Lance asked.

Scott blinked and stepped back. “What?”

“Alex. If he were in trouble, what would you do?”

Scott grabbed Lance’s shoulders and shoved him against the wall. “Is that a threat?”

Lance shoved him off. “What would you do?”

“Anything.”

Lance just nodded, like he had known the answer all along. “Think you’re the only one?” Scott remembered the ground cracking when Tabby was trapped.

“Guys!” Evan said. “We all have people we’re worried about. Can we just handle this robot and fight later?”

Scott set his jaw, but nodded. “Alright. Let’s take care of it.”

Once, shortly after Jean moved into the mansion, Scott had told her there was a lot he didn’t remember about his childhood. The professor had called it the brain’s way of protecting itself, of hiding memories that were too traumatic to handle.

Jean had been in Scott’s mind enough times to know what that felt like. It reminded her of the bars of a birdcage. Open enough so you always remember to be wary, but closed enough so it can’t reach you, and you can’t reach it.

Wanda’s wall felt like concrete bricks and barbed wire with a sign that says “keep out”. It was like nothing she’s felt before.

She pushed and pushed and pushed. It was exhausting, but eventually she felt the wall give, just a little. Wanda must have reacted, because Pietro said her name. At the sound of his voice, the wall gave a little more.

Jean concentrated as hard as she could, and sent every bit of force she could reach to that weak spot. The wall crumbled.

Wanda screamed and thrust Jean out of her mind with so much force it sent her physically stumbling back. Wanda fell to her knees with her hands clamped over her ears. She didn’t stop screaming, even as Pietro ran to her side and started speaking.

The helicopters, suddenly released, went wild. Jean reached for them with her powers, and managed to steady two of them until they could take over flying once more, but she was too distracted and exhausted from her work in Wanda’s mind, and she couldn’t reach the third. As she watched, it flew straight into the head of a giant robot. She saw a puff of smoke just before the collision and hoped Kurt had gotten the pilot out in time.

Boom

Wanda’s screaming cut off abruptly, and Jean whirled around. The girl seemed to be unconscious, collapsed against her brother.

“Is—is she—“ Pietro cut off and looked up at Jean.

“I gave her her memories back,” Jean began, “But I didn’t know—Her mind is very damaged. There’s no way to know if . . . if . . .”

Pietro gave a small nod. He shifted his arms under Wanda’s knees and around her back, then he stood up. He opened his mouth, then hesitated as if unsure what to say. Finally, he managed, “Thank you.”

Then they were gone.

Everything was going according to plan.

Within a few hours, the entire world would know of mutants, and after seeing the Sentinels, Charles would be forced to see they had to take action. And with Erik’s Brotherhood, and Charles’s X-Men, he believed they would be able to make real change.

“Hello, Erik.”

He hadn’t heard her come up the stairs. “Mystique, now is not the time—“

Her foot came up between his shoulder blades and sent him crashing to the ground. “You ruined all my plans,” Mystique said, leering over him. “Do you really think I’ll spare yours?” She kicked his helmet, sending his ears ringing.

He reached for any scraps of metal he could find on the rooftop. They flew at Mystique, slicing and piercing at her skin.

Boom

The explosion, far too close for comfort, rattled the building beneath them. They both looked up just in time to see the Sentinel, with its head and shoulder smoking, fall towards them.

It took Kitty a minute to realize the robot was falling.

She had just freed a couple from their crushed car, when one of the metal feet landed a few yards away from her. Strangely, even when the foot had settled on the road, the leg kept moving.

Someone screamed. She looked up, and saw the giant knee coming closer and closer. She took off running.

“Come on, come on!” A familiar voice shouted.

“I’m going—as fast—as I can!”

She shot a glance over her shoulder and saw Todd hopping to catch up with her, while Lance was falling behind.

They weren’t going to make it.

She ran back to them and tackled them both. She caught hold of their arms and dragged them through the wall of the shop beside them, right before the leg of the robot crushed it. As soon as they were free of the wall, Kitty let go of the boys. She landed in a roll the way Logan had taught her. Lance and Todd, who hadn’t shared her training, hit the opposite wall.

“Everyone okay?” Kitty asked.

“Uhhh, ask me tomorrow,” Todd groaned. Kitty winced in sympathy.

Lance sat up and stared at the robot’s leg, now taking place of the shop’s wall. “Is that it? Is it over now?”

Kitty cocked her head and stared at it, then kicked it hard. “Well, it doesn’t seem to be moving.”

Lance stood and dusted off his helmet. “Good. Now let’s go find our friends.”

“Uh, guys? I don’t think’s gonna be so easy.” Lance and Kitty turned back to Todd, who was staring out the window. They joined him and peeked out.

Three large, black vans were parked near the X-Jet. Several people wearing tactical gear, masks, and carrying guns had swarmed the jet and were searching it. Several more were loading the green masses trapping their friends into the vans.

“No, Rogue,” Kitty whispered as she watched the van’s doors slam in front of her friend’s frozen, green-tinted face.

One of the . . . guards? soldiers? agents? turned and spotted them in the window. They heard a shout, and he pointed toward them.

“We gotta go,” Lance said, taking Kitty’s hand. “Now.”

“But Freddie, Tabby . . .” Todd began.

Kitty wiped the tears off her cheeks. “Lance is right. We can’t help them on our own. We have to leave.” She held her shaking hand out to him.

Todd shot one last glance out the window, then took it. “Let’s get outta here.”

Evan could hear people talking. The voices didn’t sound familiar, and they were far too calm to be civilians. Whoever it was, he didn’t want them to find him.

He tried to keep his breathing shallow and not to panic. He wasn’t injured (yet), which meant he was fine. So long as someone he knew found him first, he would be okay. Sure his chest hurt a* lot,* but he would make it. Just as soon as someone came to help him.

He stared up at the car the robot had tossed aside. Such a careless motion to have almost killed him. Thankfully, his mutation had kicked in instinctually, and several spikes had grown from his chest and stomach to catch the car before it crushed him.

The problem now was that the car was balanced rather precariously, and any movement from him could cause the spikes to crack and drop all 3,000 pounds right on top of him. Which meant he couldn’t get away from whoever those people were, who he could hear coming closer.

He gagged as the wind shoved the smell of sulfur into his face. He tried breathing through his mouth in hopes of not moving too much.

Wait. Sulfur.

“Kurt?” He whispered.

“Evan? Oh, Gott sei Dank. Where are you?”

“Over here. I need your help.”

A minute later, Kurt came into view. His eyes widened as he took in the scene. “How did—“ He shook his head. “Never mind. You haven’t seen anyone else?”

Evan raised his eyebrows. “Obviously not.”

“Right, right, sorry.” Kurt grabbed his shoulder, and in a puff of smoke, they were across the street from the X-Jet.

“What the . . .” Evan asked as he looked around. The street was flooded with people, but none of the ones they were looking for. “Where is everyone?” Kurt shook his head, staring mutely in horror.

“There are more of them!” Someone shouted. Several more turned around.

Evan grabbed Kurt’s arm. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

Smoke filled his vision and everything around them disappeared.

Jean scanned the busy streets from the air. The robot was gone, along with most of the civilians. Instead nondescript vans and uniformed people scurried around like ants around an anthill.

She kept going. She could feel him close by.

She floated over the building where she could feel him hiding, then slowly lowered herself to the ground. Scott looked up when she came into view and relaxed.

“Oh good,” he said. “I couldn’t find anyone. The X-Jet’s been taken. We need to find the others and find some other way to get back—“

“Scott,” she said sadly. “Everyone else is gone.”

“Wh—what?”

“They’ve all disappeared. I hope that means they’ve all escaped, but there’s no one else here.”

He stared at her, and for a moment he looked entirely lost. “Oh.”

He said nothing else. There was no one else close to them, so she stayed silent, letting him think. He was usually so good at making plans, at adapting to anything life threw at them, but now their entire world had been turned on its head, and they had no clue what to do.

“We can’t go back, can we?” He said finally. She shook her head. Tears clogged her throat at the thought of never returning home, and she couldn’t speak.

“We should go. Get far away from here. We can make a plan then.”

She wanted to ask him what plan they could possibly make when they had* nothing.* Not even normal clothes. But she said nothing, and was glad *she* was the mind reader and not him.

She wrapped her arms around him, and he hugged her tight. Then she lifted them off the ground and they floated away.

Agent Hill stared up at the screens. When the director had called her, she hadn’t been sure what to expect, but it wasn’t to see Trask’s new pet project terrorizing a city in an attempt to kill a group of teenagers.

“Hill, you’re coming with me,” Director Fury said.

“Yes, sir.” She followed him to the door, then glanced back over her shoulder.

Those poor kids had no idea what was coming.

The End

Part 2