Love of a Family: Chapter 6

An X-Men Evolution fanfic

Lance woke to a knock on the door. It took a second to remember it wasn’t his door, but then he rolled over and decided to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately, neither of the twins got up to answer it, and the knocking started again.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he grumbled, shoving the blankets away. He glanced over at the couch. Kitty was still asleep, which was good. She probably needed it.

He opened the door, then immediately winced as the setting sun shone directly into his eyes. He slapped a hand over his eyes and tilted his head down. “What do you want?”

Now that the glare was gone, he could vaguely make out four figures on the steps, but he focused on the one in front, whose face was definitely blue. “If you’re here to see Kitty, you’ll have to come back later. She’s asleep.”

Kurt’s tail swished back and forth. “Um, actually we’re not here to see her. Well, we are, but that’s not the only–"

“We want to help,” a girl said, stepping forward and elbowing Kurt out of the way. Lance squinted to try and make out her face. It was that friend of Tabby’s. What was her name again?

Then her words caught up with him. His brain was still foggy from sleep, so maybe he misheard? “What?'

“We heard about Sinister and the Morlocks, and we want to help,” the girl, Amara, said.

Okay . . . there was something he was missing. There must be. The X-Men didn’t just help the Brotherhood. That wasn’t how it worked.

“Why?”

“People need to know you can’t just mess with the Morlocks,” the tall boy behind Amara said. “They’re our friends too.”

“And . . . we thought you might need more people,” Kurt said. “Since Kitty . . .”

Lance frowned. He didn’t like this, but Kurt was right. If they were going against those other mutants again, they would need more help.

“I don’t know.” He folded his arms. “Is Papa Wolverine gonna show up and yell at my team for dragging his precious kids into this?”

“No,” the tall guy assured him. He shifted, and Lance got a better glimpse of his hair and earrings. Ray. “We told him where we were going, and he said we’re old enough to decide for ourselves.”

“Well, most of us told him,” Amara said with a pointed look at the kid in the back. Lance’s stomach dropped. Surely they hadn’t actually let–

“I go out with you guys all the time!” Jamie insisted.

“Oh no,” Lance said. “Absolutely not. You are not coming with us to fight Sinister.”

“What, why? I’m seventeen!”

“Yeah, so not an adult.”

“I’m the same age as you when you started fighting!”

Oh. Oh that was a terrifying thought.

“I still said no.” Lance put his hand on his hips and shot the kid the look that always shut Pietro up when they argued. “I’m not going back to Wolverine and telling him I let his kid get hurt. The rest of you, it’s Evan’s decision, but I don’t know when he’s coming back. Pietro said he left to figure out where Sinister’s guys took that girl.”

“Lance, what’s going on?” Wanda asked behind him.

He turned around and stepped out of the door, jerking a thumb at the group. “They just showed up and said they want to help.”

Wanda blinked blearily, then her gaze locked on Kurt. “You want to help find–help fight Sinister?”

Kurt rubbed the back of his neck and his tail swished back and forth. Lance narrowed his eyes. Was he . . . blushing?. “Um, ja? If you, uh, want help that is.”

Wanda frowned at him, then shrugged slightly and turned around, leaving the door open.

“Uh . . .” Kurt looked over at Lance. “Does that mean we can come in, or . . .”

“That’s as close to an invitation as you’ll get in this house.” Kurt grinned and cheerfully led the others inside.

Lance shut the door and turned to Wanda. “Maybe we should get Pietro up and tell him–”

She waved her hand, then a thud and a yelp came from Pietro’s room. “He’s up.” Lance sighed. He probably should have just gotten him up himself.

“What was that for?” Pietro asked, running into the room. Then he noticed the others. “What are they doing here?”

Lance shrugged. “Helping apparently.” Pietro rolled his eyes and ran into the kitchen, grumbling about uninvited guests and nobody ever telling him anything.

“Ignore him,” Lance said.

Amara looked over at Kitty, still asleep on the couch. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. Just sleeping off the medication.”

Another knock sounded at the door, and Lance looked at Kurt and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? How many of you are coming?”

Kurt raised his hands defensively. “It’s not us.”

Lance frowned. The knocking grew more insistent, and he cracked the door open, then realized it was just Evan, and opened it further. He opened his mouth to ask why he wanted to beat the door down, but Evan stepped inside and interrupted.

“Caliban said they’ve moved her to the docks. We need to move now, or they could leave and we’ll never be able to rescue her!”

Lance turned around to make sure everyone heard, then he noticed how pale Wanda had grown. “Wanda?”

“We need to go,” she said, grabbing Kurt’s arm and practically hauling him out of the room. “Pietro!”

“I know, I know, I’m coming!” he shouted from the kitchen.

“We’re going too,” Amara told Evan.

“Good, we need more people.”

Lance crossed over to the couch, and knelt beside it. “Kitty, hey, Kitty.”

“Mmmph.”

“Kitty, wake up a second.”

“Why,” she groaned.

“We’re going after Sinister again. We can’t wait. Jamie’s staying here with you, so tell him if you need anything.”

“Hey!” Jamie protested.

Kitty’s face scrunched up. “Jamie? What’s he doing here?”

“He, Kurt, Amara, and Ray came to help out. The other three are coming with us. We’ll be back soon.”

He tried to stand up, but she grabbed his arm. “Wait. Be careful.”

“We will,” he promised, then kissed her forehead.

Jamie sat on the end of the couch and folded his arms, clearly sulking. Lance pretended not to notice. “Lock the door behind us.” Jamie nodded.

Lance joined everyone else outside and did a quick head count. “Okay, Kurt, can you teleport Pietro to the docks? I need you both to scout ahead and see what you can find. The rest of us will take the car.”

“It’ll take a couple trips,” Kurt said, “But I can do that.” He held out his hand, and Pietro reluctantly took it. The two vanished in a cloud of sulfurous smoke.

Lance pulled out his keys and started his car. Evan climbed into the passenger seat, and Amara, Ray, and Wanda piled into the back. “Wanda,” Lance said, “Call Tabby, Todd, and Fred and let them know where to meet us.”

When they reached the docks, Pietro zipped up to the car and Kurt appeared in a puff of smoke. “We didn’t see anyone here,” Pietro said, “So they must all be on the boat already.”

“But how do we know which one?” Ray asked.

Pietro pointed at one of the boats. “I saw one of the guys who attacked us boarding that one, but then they pulled up that thing you use to get up on the ship–”

“Gangplank,” Kurt said.

“Yeah, that. Anyway, we’re not going up the normal way.”

“Yay, boats,” Amara muttered. “My powers won’t work for long.

“Yeah,” Lance said. “Mine aren’t going to be any help.”

A car horn honked, and everyone jumped. Tabby’s car pulled up, and she leaned out the window. “Did someone call for a rescue team?”

“Just get out here,” Lance called. She grinned and parked, then she, Todd, and Fred climbed out. Lance scanned the group, thinking. “Kurt, can you get us up on the ship?”

“I can, but only a couple at a time.”

Lance nodded. “Take Pietro and Tabitha first. Tabby, you be as loud and distracting as you can without sinking the ship, got it? And Pietro, we need you to take out the weapons before anyone gets hurt.” No one else was getting shot on his watch. “Then take Wanda, Ray, Fred, and Todd. You guys will also be a distraction. Then Evan and I can go look for the girl.” He turned to Amara. “We need to make sure they can’t leave until we’re done. Can you–”

She grinned. “I got it.” She ran to the edge of the dock, raised her arms, and he watched as fire coated her body, turning her form into a dark silhouette. Lance looked back at the group and realized Pietro, Kurt, and Tabby were already gone. Kurt appeared again, and then Wanda and Ray vanished. A few seconds later, sounds of a fight broke out on the ship. Kurt appeared again and grabbed Fred and Todd.

Evan and Lance looked at each other. “You ready?” Lance asked. Evan nodded.

Kurt appeared between them, grabbed both their arms, and then the world vanished in a puff of smoke.

A fight materialized around them, involving the mutants they had seen back at the lab, and several guards. The guy with the pink hair who had stopped them before stumbled around, clawing at the slime that now covered his face. Lance was glad Todd had taken care of him so quick.

Lance and Evan pushed their way through the crowd and found a door with a ladder down into the ship. Evan climbed down first, then Lance. When he reached the floor, Lance glanced up to make sure no one was following them, then the two boys ran down the corridor of boxes.

No, not boxes. They were cages.

Every one of them was empty, so the boys kept running until the path split in two. “I’ll go left,” Lance said without slowing, and Evan ran right. The boxes turned the corner and ran back the other way, but all of them seemed to be empty.

No, wait. The one all the way at the end held a small figure. Lance slowed his pace. “Hey, kid, you okay?”

The figure looked up, and he realized she was much older than he had originally thought, just folded in on herself. She was probably fifteen, sixteen? Her face looked vaguely familiar, but he was fairly certain he had never met her before. Her hair was shaved, but he could still make out a rather distinctive shade of green that matched her eyebrows. He would definitely have remembered that.

“Who are you?”

He knelt down to try to look less intimidating. “I’m here to get you out. I’m, a, uh acquaintance of Evan’s.”

She perked up. “Evan’s here?”

“Yep.” He stood up and turned around. “Hey, Evan, I found her!” He turned back to the crate and scanned it, but he couldn’t find a door, lock, or set of hinges. “This is . . . weird.” The whole thing was wood. If he had a hammer, he could pull the nails out, but he had nothing.

Wait . . . those weren’t nails. They were pegs. Was this whole thing made of wood?

“You found her?” Evan turned the corner.

“Evan!” the girl called.

“Lorna!” Evan stopped a few feet away from the crate and held his arm out. “Get back.”

She huddled against the far end, and he shot several spikes into the wood until it splintered. Lance kicked it several times until he got a hole big enough for the girl to crawl out of.

She stood up and ran to Evan. She was a little taller than Evan, but when Lance realized just how skinny she was, he decided it might be worth it to go back up and join the fight if only to punch this Sinister guy in the face.

“Can you walk?” he asked.

She glared at him (why did that feel so familiar?) and lifted her chin. “Of course I can.” He felt bad she felt so insulted, but looking at her sunken cheeks and stick-thin legs, he thought it was a reasonable question.

“Okay, let’s go find Kurt.” Evan led the way back to the stairs and pretended not to let the girl lean on him. Lance followed.

He was halfway up the ladder when he heard Lorna scream above him. “No, Evan!” He reached the top and saw that Evan had been dragged into the fight with a man who seemed like he was half gorilla or something. Evan seemed to be holding his own just fine, so Lance grabbed Lorna’s arm and tried to lead her away to Kurt.

“No!”

“Evan’s fine,” he promised. “Come on, we need to get out of here. Evan will come too.”

“NO!”

The ship started to rock harder than it had before, and Lance knew this wasn’t natural. “Hey, hey, what are you doing?”

She screamed again, and suddenly all the broken guns Pietro had left on the floor began to float. The knives the guards were using wrenched themselves out of their hands. The floor of the ship began to twist under their feet.

“Wanda, stop, or you’re going to get us all killed!” Tabby shrieked.

“It’s not me!” Wanda said.

At that moment, Lance realized exactly why Lorna looked so familiar, and why Evan had gone to Wanda first when she disappeared. And he knew if he didn’t calm this girl down quick, things were about to get a whole lot worse.

He grabbed both her arms and turned her towards him. “Evan is fine. He’s fought much tougher people, and he’ll be okay, but if you don’t calm down and stop messing with this ship, he and all my friends are going to die, and we won’t be able to get you home. I need you to breathe and let go of the ship, okay? We’re going to get you and Evan out, but you’ve got to stop messing with he ship.”

She took a deep breath, then another. Slowly, slowly, the ground settled under their feet and the guns and knives fell.

“Kurt, get over here!” Lance shouted. Kurt appeared beside him. Lance shoved Lorna’s hand in his. “Get her to Amara, then come back for the rest of us.” He looked back at Lorna. “I’m going to help Evan now.”

She nodded slightly, then she and Kurt vanished. Lance picked up one of the knives on the ground, then ran for Evan–right as he slammed the gorilla guy into a wall and knocked him out.

Evan turned around, eyes growing wide as he scanned the crowd. “Lorna–”

“Kurt took her.”

He nodded, and Kurt appeared between them, grabbing their shoulders, and suddenly they were on solid ground once again. Kurt disappeared again, and Lance looked around for Amara.

She still stood on the edge of the water with Lorna beside her. A line of rock broke the surface of the water, just beyond the ship. As he watched, the wall grew up. “Amara!”

She turned, and he ran over to her. “Kurt’s getting everyone else out, so can you get rid of the wall now? We want them to leave.” She nodded, waved her hands, and a loud crack sounded in the air. The surface of the rock sank back under, and the water swirled over it.

Lance turned back, checked to make sure Kurt had gotten everyone back, then turned to Lorna. “Can you do one thing for me?” She nodded. “I want you to push them as far out as you can. Hopefully they’ll get the message and they won’t come back to Bayville.”

She turned to the water, held up both her hands, then screamed as she shoved her hands out. Suddenly the ship moved, faster than he thought possible, skimming through the water. Well, that was definitely a message.

Lorna swayed slightly, and Lance reached out and grabbed her just as she was about to fall. Wanda and Fred ran over. “Get her to the car,” Lance said, and Fred scooped her up and carried her to Tabby’s car. Wanda and Amara started to follow, but Lance grabbed Wanda’s arm to stop her.

“You knew,” he said. “You knew who she is.”

She glared. How did it take so long for him to figure it out? Sure the Maximoffs' complexions were several shades darker than Lorna’s and they all had very different colors of hair, but now that he was looking, all three of them shared the same nose, and that glare was identical.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“Wanda, I hope by now you’ve figured out you can trust me.”

Her frown deepened, but then she finally said, “I didn’t know until Evan told me. He was going to tell her first, but then she disappeared, and he thought I should know.”

“What about Pietro? Does he know?”

“Not yet. I haven’t told him.”

“It won’t take long for him to figure it out himself. You should tell him soon.”

She looked away and twisted one of her rings. “I know.”

Lance threw his arm over her shoulders and grinned. “Come on, let’s get home.”

They all went back to the Maximoff’s place, and when they got in, Kitty looked up from the card game she was playing with Jamie (and Jamie and Jamie) and said, “You’re home!” Lance smiled and dropped onto the couch beside her before anyone else could claim that spot.

“Oh, yeah,” Pietro said. “Now you’re just calling this place home. Just move in, why don’t you? Bad enough that you just drop in without letting us know.”

Kitty rolled her eyes. “Jamie, throw a pillow at him for me. The doctor said I’m not supposed to move too much.”

Jamie frowned and tilted his head. “But wouldn’t he just move out of the way?”

“Stop being so logical.” She turned to Lance. “So everything went alright?”

He gestured to Lorna walking in the room. “See for yourself.”

Kitty’s mouth fell open when she saw her. “Oh, wow.” Lorna frowned and shrank back, but then Kitty smiled. “Your hair is, like, gorgeous!”

Lorna shook her head. “It’s not. They cut it all off.”

“It’ll grow back, though. And it’s such a pretty color!” Lorna smiled slightly, but continued to stand by a wall.

Wanda walked over to her and pointed at a chair. “Sit.” Lorna blinked. “Sit,” Wanda said again. “I’m going to get you some food.” Slowly, Lorna obeyed, and Wanda headed into the kitchen.

“How old are you?” Kitty asked.

Lorna pulled her feet up into the chair and tilted her head down, speaking to her knees. “Eighteen.”

Blood rushed in Lance’s ears. Eighteen? He thought she couldn’t be more than sixteen.

“So you live with the Morlocks, right?” Kurt asked.

Lorna shrugged. “I didn’t have anywhere else.”

“I want you to live here,” Wanda said, coming back into the room with a sandwich, which she held out to Lorna. The room fell silent, and Pietro gaped at her.

Lorna lifted her head to peek over her knees. “Why?”

“I just do.” Wanda paused, then said “If you want.”

Lorna stared at her, then slowly took the sandwich. She took a bite and chewed it. When she swallowed, she said, “Maybe.”

“Do I get a say in this?” Pietro asked. Wanda grabbed his arm, then hauled him outside. Everyone stared awkwardly at the shut door.

“Why don’t we all play a game?” Ray asked, collecting the cards from all three Jamie’s and Kitty.

“Hey!” Jamie complained. “I was using those!”

“I like card games!” Fred said, sitting with them. Kurt, Amara, Todd, Evan, and Tabby joined them, and Lorna watched from her chair.

Kitty looked at Lance and patted the spot on the couch right beside her. “Come here.”

“Ugh, moving is too much work.”

She frowned. “You know I can’t move. Just get over here.” He grinned and slid over. He wrapped his arm around her, careful not to touch her bandages, then leaned his head on hers.

Pietro ran inside, stopped in front of Lorna’s chair, and said, “You’re staying.” He pointed at her, then dashed off to Wanda’s room.

Wanda followed him inside, shaking her head. She and Evan exchanged an annoyed but amused look. “Only if you want to,” Wanda said.

Kitty looked up curiously at Lance. He mouthed, I’ll tell you later.

She nodded and settled against him. “When are we going home?”

“I think it’s a little late to go now,” he said, “And besides, I’m too tired to drive, and you need to stay somewhere we can keep an eye on you.”

“So stay a few more days then?” she asked.

“Yeah. I’ll have to ask for time off work, though.” He frowned. That would be hard to explain.

“Just tell them there was a family emergency, and I’m sure they’ll understand,” she said. “That’s what I did.”

He watched his–their–family sitting in the middle of the living room, bickering over the rules to whatever card game they had decided on, and he smiled.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

The End