Obligatory warnings and disclaimers:
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If reading this is in any way illegal where you are or at your age, or you don't want to read about male/male relationships, go away. You shouldn't be here.
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The X-Men and any related characters are property of Marvel Comics, trademarked and registered and copyrighted and all that. I'm using them without permission.
For those who read the comics and worry about such things, this story takes place in the (much simpler and easier to follow) Ultimate X-Men universe, and starts right around issue 54. If you don't want to dig out your copy, the team at that time is Jean Grey, Cyclops, Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Angel, and Dazzler.
Comments can be sent to "dustyh75@hotmail.com"
Thanks.
"Are you ready?" Peter asked.
Peter and Seth were sitting on a side street in a rental car, staring at a driveway. Behind them, the lawyer hired by Professor Xavier was waiting in his own car, along with a notary to witness their signatures. Ahead of them, beyond a wall of hedges, was the house Seth's parents had purchased. They couldn't see it from the road, but there was an open space just past the mailbox, as if waiting for them. Peter sat patiently in the driver's seat, glancing at the clock on the dashboard, knowing that they should get this over with but not wanting to push Seth before he was ready. Seth stared at the hedges from the passenger seat, as if he could see the people beyond them.
"I don't know," he answered finally.
"The sooner we get out of the car, the sooner this is over with and done," Peter pointed out.
Peter had picked the rental car up at the airport, checked them into the hotel the Professor had reserved, and then they had met the lawyer and the notary in the hotel restaurant for dinner. He seemed like a nice enough man as he outlined the paperwork Seth would have to sign, and the notary witnessed Seth's signatures right then. The lawyer suggested doing it that way so that they would have to spend less time with the Rands, and Seth glumly agreed that it was probably best. Peter billed dinner to their room, as the Professor was paying for every aspect of the trip, and Seth was starting to feel guilty for questioning him earlier in the day. The man was putting himself out there for Seth, and all he had done in return was yell and scream like a spoiled child.
He sighed and pushed the car door open.
"We might as well do this," he said, climbing out of the car as Peter climbed out of the other side. Behind them Seth heard the lawyer and the notary getting out, too. Peter had warned them over dinner, while Seth was in the restroom, that this could be a little emotional for him, and they had said they understood. For the money they were getting, they would probably be extremely understanding of lots of things.
"They cannot hurt you again," Peter repeated, the same thing he had said earlier. "They have already done this to you. We will go in, get what we need, and walk away. You will be fine."
"Right," Seth agreed halfheartedly, nodding. His heart was pounding in his chest. What were they going to say to him? What was he going to say? He felt like getting back in the car, but Peter was already at the break in the hedges, following the sidewalk. He jerked to a stop, and Seth almost collided with him. "Peter?"
"Wait," Peter said, nodding toward the house. His whole body was tense suddenly, and Seth felt acid churn in his stomach. Something was wrong. Peter might have seen it first, but Seth could sense it, too.
The house looked like any other on the street, a nice suburban house with a porch and flowers in the front, the kind of place you saw television families living in. There was a walkway leading from the street sidewalk up to the front steps, but the little path lights along the sides were turned off. The lights in the house were off, too, all of them, and the front door stood open, framing a rectangle of darkness. The lawyer and the notary walked up behind them.
"Are they not home?" the lawyer began, but Peter held up a hand.
"Leave," he said sharply.
"Mr. Rasputin," the lawyer began, but Peter repeated himself without turning around, his eyes darting back and forth of the dark, blank windows in front of them.
"Leave now. Something is wrong," he said, his voice like ice.
"I'm sure it's," the lawyer began, but his voice dropped as Peter turned to organic steel in front of them. There wasn't a sound, or even any sort of effect that Seth caught. One second Peter was just a big guy in jeans and a t-shit, and now he looked like a tank. The lawyer and the notary scuttled back toward their car. "We'll call the hotel later."
"Seth, get back in the car," Peter said, still watching the house.
"I'm not leaving," Seth said, even though he felt like bolting. He glanced around the yard, taking in the rosebushes and the birdbath and what seemed to suddenly be thousands of shadows where anything could be watching them.
"Then wait here, right here, until I tell you," Peter said, not arguing. He had sensed before that Seth had some toughness in him somewhere, an inner strength, and now he could hear it. Seth might be afraid, but he wasn't giving up. Peter began to walk toward the front of the house, approaching the open door warily.
"Peter?" Seth asked, his voice dropping.
"Stay there," Peter repeated, not turning back.
Seth stayed right where he was, watching as Peter waked up the front steps, crossed the porch, and paused in the doorway. He couldn't see anything beyond Peter, and wondered if being out here in the yard by himself really was the safest thing, but before he could say anything Peter stepped inside and was gone.
"Shit," Seth hissed, watching the house. Why wasn't Peter turning any lights on? What was going on in there? He strained to hear, but there was nothing. It was as if Peter had stepped into another world. "Shit shit shit."
A rustle in the bushes to his left caught his attention, but he couldn't see anything. The hedges kept most of the light from the street and from the neighbors' houses from penetrating the yard, and he wondered if he should head back out onto the sidewalk where there was more visibility. At the same time, he didn't want to leave Peter alone, but really, if there was anything Peter couldn't handle what good would he be? Peter could pick that house up and toss it across the street if he needed to. He hardly needed backup from Seth. The bushes rustled again, and Seth started to step toward them, knowing it was a stupid idea and that if he saw it on television or in a movie he'd be shaking his head and yelling at the screen, but then he heard Peter loudly say something in Russian inside the house.
"Get in the car!" Peter yelled, stumbling into the doorway.
"What's wrong?" Seth asked, turning toward him.
"Get in the car now!" Peter yelled again. Before Seth could move, something whipped out of the rosebushes, something long and thick and dark, and it wrapped around his ankles. "Seth!"
"The hell?" Seth asked, looking down. Something dark and shiny was wrapped around his ankles like a rope, but before he could even think about what it was it flexed like a snake and jerked him off his feet. He got a hand up in time to keep his teeth from smashing on the walkway but still crashed painfully to the walkway as he heard Peter yelling.
"Seth!" Peter yelled again, lunging toward him. Seth glanced up just in time to see a large blur come flying out of the house, knocking Peter down from behind. In his steel form, he hit the sidewalk hard enough to throw up sparks, and there was a loud crack as the stone beneath him gave way. Seth had a second to realize that the blur sitting on Peter's back, punching him and pressing his head into the sidewalk was a large, dirty looking man, but before he could really think about the fangs he saw or the strange necklace (Are those ears? People's ears?) he felt the thing around his ankles flex tightly, and he began to slide across the lawn toward the bushes.
"Jesus Christ!" Seth yelped, turning. The thing around his ankles, a dark, shiny cord like a hose or snake or God only knew what led to a grinning gargoyle hiding in the bushes. His skin was green, and this close Seth could both hear him chuckling and smell him, a rancid, sewer smell, like something rotten. Seth felt his gorge rise as he realized that the snake actually came from this creature's mouth. Oh my God, that was his tongue?
"Heh heh heh," the creature cackled, pulling him in closer. Behind them, Seth heard dull clangs as blows rained down on Colossus, and there was a loud crash, a wooden splintering sound mixed with broken glass and a grunt that definitely wasn't Peter. Wriggling his feet, Seth leaned down and clawed at the tongue, trying to get a grip with his gloves before this thing pulled him into its mouth and eat him. When he couldn't pry it off, he pinched as hard as he could and was rewarded with a cry of pain as the tongue slithered away from him. The little troll man hissed at him, baring a mouthful of yellowed, crooked teeth. "Not cool."
Seth knew from years of comic books and superhero cartoons that he should say something really witty right now, but he was too busy trying not to piss his pants and skittering backwards across the lawn to think of witty banter.
The smelly little gargoyle man leaped, blindingly fast, and crashed down onto Seth's chest, knocking the wind out of him. As Seth struggled just to breathe, feeling like he was going to black out, the little man grinned above him, flashing those disgusting snaggleteeth again. He started to reach for something inside his jacket.
"You're going to come with us now, boy," the little green man hissed, metal flashing in his hand.
"Fuck you," Seth wheezed, bringing his knee up.
What do you know? The little man had balls, however bruised they might now be. He reared back and Seth kicked again, rolling out from under him as his foot connected solidly. Behind them, Seth could hear the sounds of Peter still fighting, but he couldn't think about that right now. Glancing around, he was glad for once that his mother filled the yard with crap no matter where she lived, since there was a heavy stone kitty cat in easy reach by a flower bed. Swinging it as hard as he could, still panting from the blow to his chest, he brought it down on the green man's back just as he started to rise, driving him back down into the lawn. Deciding that he looked down for the count, Seth turned just in time to see a blur of animal fury leaping toward him, flashing fingernail claws reaching for him.
Before Seth could even think, Peter punched the animal man out of the air, sending him flying into the splintered remains of the front of the Rands' house. He crashed through into the darkness inside, and everything was quiet for a second. Seth blinked at Peter, who was still all armored up. His shirt was hanging in shreds from one shoulder, his pants ripped, and they were both panting. Seth's wrist was throbbing where he'd smacked into the ground earlier (Minutes ago? Seconds?), and he still couldn't catch his breath all the way, but at least they were on their feet.
"Get in the car," Peter panted, waving an arm toward it.
"What the hell is going on?" Seth asked. The front of the yard and the corner of the house where Peter had been fighting looked like a battle zone.
The lawn was torn up, there were holes in the front of the house, and in the distance they could hear sirens. He pulled a glove off, figuring that he might need his power, especially if Jean was right and he was unconsciously using it for defense.
"We have to get out of here," Peter said, stepping toward him. His voice had a flat, almost mechanical quality when he was armored up, and Seth had a sudden urge to knock on the hard black lump that Peter's hair had become. "Sabertooth and Toad-"
"Are taking you with them!" Toad cackled, jumping onto Seth's back. Seth staggered but managed not to fall down as Toad wrapped his legs and an arm around him. Raising the other arm high, he stabbed Seth in the shoulder with the metal syringe he'd been pulling out of his jacket before, and Seth yelped in pain.
"GET OFF OF HIM!" Peter thundered, his face a mask of fury. He grabbed Toad's arm so hard Seth heard the bones crack in Peter's viselike grip, and then Peter flung him away, not even looking as Toad sailed over several houses into the night. Seth's knees buckled as black flowers danced at the edge of his vision, and Peter caught him. "Seth?"
"Dizzy," Seth mumbled, feeling himself go limp. Peter jerked the syringe out of his shoulder.
"We're taking the boy," Sabertooth said conversationally from behind them, climbing slowly out of the house. The wood had ripped up his clothes, but his skin underneath was already healed.
Peter let Seth slide onto the grass and stepped forward, putting himself between Seth and Sabertooth. Seth blinked, trying to stay awake, fighting against whatever Toad had injected him with.
"You will have to go through me," Peter said menacingly, and Sabertooth smiled, his fangs flashing.
"I'd love to," he laughed, holding up his hands. Four spiked claws, long and narrow and wickedly sharp looking, shot out of each wrist, glinting in the moonlight, but Peter stood his ground. Roaring like an animal, Sabertooth leaped, crashing into Peter's chest. Somehow they managed to fall over Seth without falling on him, and Seth turned his head groggily as Peter grunted. Sabertooth's claws sliced through Peter's bicep, leaving deep furrows in the metal, and Sabertooth grinned even as Peter punched him away. "How about them apples, meat? I guess there's something that can hurt you after all."
"No," Seth moaned, reaching out with his ungloved hand.
"Don't!" Peter yelled, looking down in horror. Sabertooth would rip Seth apart in the blink of an eye.
Ignoring Peter, Seth grabbed Sabertooth's calf, feeling his skin make contact with Sabertooth's through one of the rips in his jeans. He couldn't let Peter get hurt defending him, and he couldn't stop to think about how scary these guys were. He was about to pass out, giving in to the sedative coursing through him, but he had enough energy for one last push. For an instant he was filled with berserk, animal rage, a bloodthirsty urge to cut and bite and stab and claw, and knew that it was coming to him through Sabertooth, that this was what the inside of his mind was like, but he couldn't think about that.
Something inside his head opened, like a gate swinging open or a door slamming in the wind, and he shoved, focusing his thoughts for just long enough to send Sabertooth into an even more vicious rage, pushing him past conscious thought into a blood tinged jungle of emotion. He roared again, lurching away from Peter and Seth, spittle flying from his fangs, and then leaped into the darkness as Seth smiled. For just a second, he had filled Sabertooth with tremendous pain and terror and outrage, and he had convinced him it was because of Toad, implanting the idea as easily as sliding a letter into an envelope. He didn't know how long it would last, but until Sabertooth calmed down and started to think again he only had one target, and he was going to find him and rip him to shreds.
Peter scooped Seth up, cradling him in his cold metal arms as black curtains fell through his mind, and Seth's last thought was that maybe he really was an X-Man after all. Peter began running, the two of them disappearing into the night as police cars finally turned into the end of the street.
"Seth?" Peter said softly, rubbing Seth's shoulder. Seth blinked, startled a little by Peter's metal form, and Peter attempted to soothe him, sitting him up and rubbing his back. "Are you all right? I think the drug is wearing off."
Seth looked around, still feeling a little dizzy. His brain felt kind of fogged, like his head was filled with cotton balls, and his clothes were a little damp and wrinkly. At least he still had clothes on, though. Peter had lost his shirt entirely somewhere, and his jeans, a little tattered, were barely covering the rest of him. Seth glanced around, seeing that it was still night and that they were sitting in the woods somewhere. There was light coming from the left, the source indistinct, and he could hear cars driving slowly somewhere nearby.
"My head feels funny," Seth said, shaking it as if to clear it. "Where are we?"
"Somewhere in North Carolina," Peter answered. His metal hand on the back of Seth's shirt felt strange, and Seth wondered why he was still armored up.
"Wait, what?" Seth asked as Peter's answer sunk in. "That's like two states away. How did we get here?"
"I jumped," Peter answered, shrugging. Seth felt his eyebrows shoot up, and Peter smiled, revealing a mouthful of shining white metal teeth. "Super strength can cover a lot of distance if you jump as far as you can for a couple hours, but it was hard in the river."
"Hours?" Seth asked. He felt like things weren't fitting together in his head. None of these answers made sense. At least now he knew why he was damp. "What were we doing in the river?"
"How much do you remember?" Peter asked. While he was awake, Seth definitely seemed groggy. Whatever sedative Toad had injected him with might still be in his system. Peter figured the best thing to do was to keep him talking, and hope being awake worked it out of his system.
"We were in a fight," Seth answered, rubbing his forehead. His eyes snapped open as he bolted upright, looking around again to scan the forest. "Are we safe?"
"Yes, shhhhh," Peter whispered, still rubbing Seth's back. "After you defeated Sabertooth-"
"I didn't defeat Sabertooth," Seth said, turning to Peter. He'd heard about Sabertooth, and there was no way in hell he'd defeated Sabertooth. "I chased him away. That can't possibly count as a defeat."
"We got in a fight with Sabertooth, and he ran away from you. He ran away, from you," Peter said firmly, his face serious. Seth let out a low whistle.
"I defeated Sabertooth," he said, leaning back on his hands. He felt leaves under his fingers, and realized his gloves were gone. He remembered taking them off during the fight, but what else had happened?
"I'll get Kitty to make you a t-shirt," Peter said dryly. His snickering echoed hollowly through his steel form. "What did you do to him?"
"I used my power on him," Seth answered, shrugging. "I made him think that Toad was hurting him."
"That was very smart," Peter said, impressed. "For someone with no practice or combat training, you did extremely well."
Seth blushed, beaming inside under Peter's praise.
"After Sabertooth fled, I carried you to the river," Peter continued, watching Seth to make sure he was coming out of the drug haze ok. "My steel form has no scent, but I was afraid that Sabertooth would be able to track you by smell, so I took you to the river because the water would mask you. I called the Professor quickly to explain what happened, and he told me to find someplace for us to hide while he sends help."
"He's not coming to get us?" Seth demanded. "We get attacked and he doesn't even send the plane?"
"Dazzler, Angel, and Nightcrawler took the plane to Genosha," Peter answered, shaking his head.
"Oh, shit," Seth said. They were going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble when they got home, since the Professor had handpicked the team and ordered everyone else to stay home.
"Oh shit for them and for us," Peter agreed, nodding. "Since the Brotherhood already knew that we were in Savannah, and I don't know how they are tracking us, I took money out of an ATM, and then I carried you into the river."
"Through two states?" Seth asked, stunned.
"Well, the river does not go that far," Peter answered. He had run and leaped, powered by his enhanced strength to cover hundreds of miles, for hours, cradling Seth's sleeping form against his chest. "I wanted to make sure that we would be out of Sabertooth's range before he recovered from whatever you had done to him, but I got tired. I am sorry we could not make it home, but I believe we are safe here."
"You're sorry you couldn't run from Georgia to New York in one night?" Seth asked, his voice dropping. "You better not be serious."
"I'm not," Peter grinned, flashing those bizarre steel teeth again.
"Wait a second," Seth said, starting to feel like his brain was finally starting to fire on all cylinders again. "If Ali and Kurt and Warren took the plane to Genosha, who is the Professor going to send to help us? The entire team is tied up now except us."
"He did not say," Peter answered. "But we have many allies. Elizabeth Braddock, although I believe she is in England, or possibly Nick Fury. There is also Emma Frost's academy, although I believe the Professor would rather swallow his own tongue than ask her for help."
"I don't know who any of those people are," Seth admitted. "I need to read some briefings or something."
"They are people that we have worked with and helped in the past," Peter explained. "On the other hand, Elizabeth is now in a new body because of what we did, and I believe the Professor and Mr. Fury had a falling out. Perhaps he will not be calling any of those people."
"Why are you still armored up?" Seth asked suddenly, wondering why Peter hadn't changed back yet.
"My arm," Peter answered, turning his shoulder toward Seth.
"Crap," Seth blurted, remembering the rest of the fight. Four deep gouges ran down Peter's arm from his shoulder through his bicep and down to his elbow, like rungs on a ladder. There was more metal beneath them, but they still looked painful. Seth started to reach toward them, but pulled his hand back, remembering that he didn't have on gloves. "Does it hurt?"
"No," Peter answered, shaking his head. "But they will not heal as long as I remain in this form, and when I change back they are going to bleed."
"But you have to change back," Seth said. "We can't get home with you armored up like that. You're too conspicuous."
"I know," Peter agreed, nodding. "I have a plan, though, which is why I have been waiting for you to wake up."
"I'm part of your plan?" Seth asked, smirking. "It sounds so mysterious, like I'm a secret agent or something."
"I am afraid it will be much more mundane than that," Peter laughed. "It will not involve secret agency. Instead I need you to go shopping."
"Huh?" Seth asked. "What the hell kind of plan is that?"
Peter arched a brow at him, and Seth blushed.
"OK, that didn't come out right," Seth admitted. "I'm sorry. You're hurt and you just carried me across three states, and you're field trained and I'm not and you probably have this really good plan while I've only been awake for about three minutes, so I should probably just do what you say, right?"
Peter smiled.
"You left out the part where you defeated Sabertooth," he said finally, and Seth grinned.
"I figured that was just a given," Seth said, feigning modesty. "I think I might even use that as my codename. Seth Rand, Sabertooth-Buster."
They both chuckled, even though the joke wasn't that funny, and then Peter reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wad of wrinkled, damp bills. He smiled at Seth, holding out the money.
"Since I have come to America, I have learned a fact that is both terrible and wonderful," he began, waving his hand at the light source off to their side. "Wherever you are here, there is a twenty four hour Wal-Mart just around the corner. Now, listen closely and I will tell you what to buy."
Seth took the money and leaned in, understanding that this was now serious.
To be continued.