Chapter 3- Silent Savior



Hundreds of people stormed through the terminal of JFK International as they journeyed to their respective destinations. Amid the crowds of people, Pietro Maximoff pushed his way towards the to the edge of the walkway. When he finally reached the edge, he propped his back against the wall and stared at many of the moving mass of people marching in front of him. Occasionally, Pietro found himself dipping his hands into the pockets and purses of the people passing him. He moved so quickly, that none of them ever felt his lightning fast hands remove their belongings.

After about a dozen acquisitions, Pietro found he was getting bored. He stared at the flight schedule and saw that the plane from Kiev had just landed twenty minutes ago. Pietro looked at the moving masses more carefully, but still couldn’t find who he was looking for. Pietro clenched his fists as the frustration began to grow in his bowels.

Then, Pietro felt a small, gentle hand touch his shoulder. "Pietro?" said a soft accented voice from behind. Pietro turned to find a young, exotic girl with long locks of auburn hair and green eyes. The young teenage girl was wearing a black leather skirt and a black leather vest. Underneath the vest, she wore a red blouse, and wrapped around her neck was a red, lace scarf. She also wore a pair of long black, heeled boots, and had a single, red band at the top of her hair.

"Wanda!" cried Pietro as he wrapped his arms around the young girl. "It’s been so long. How have you been, Sis?"

Wanda wrapped her arms around her brother as she squeezed him as tightly as she could. "Pietro, it feels like it has been an eternity. I’m so glad to see you again!"

Pietro loosened his grip and stared into his sister’s eyes. "You’re right, it has been a long time. Too long," he said. He reached down and grabbed her bags. As he lifted her bags, he looked at her arms and chuckled. "I see you’re still obsessed with bracelets."

Both of Wanda’s forearms were covered with all sorts of bracelets. She smiled shook her arms briefly, so that the bracelets jingled. Pietro let out a small laugh and shook his head. Then, he raised his arm in the direction of the exit, and the Maximoff siblings began to make their way through the crowd to the exit.


"Am I going to have to carry you through this whole simulation, Guthrie?" asked Scott as he fired an optic blast and obliterated a large saw-blade soaring through the air towards them.

"Take a seat, Summers and let me show you how its really done!" cried Paige. She dug her nails into her skin, and ripped the skin off. Underneath her flesh, Scott saw that the skin underneath appeared to be made of stone. Paige rushed past Scott and engaged the next obstacle. A pair of large boulders, suspended by chains were swinging from the ceiling and blocking the path to the goal.

Paige ran right into the path of the boulder. As the boulder swung back towards Paige, she pulled her fist back. Then, Paige put all of her muscle into the punch against the boulder. The huge boulder shattered into thousands of tiny pebbles as they scattered about the floor. Then, Paige did the same against the second boulder. "You call this a work-out?" she said to Scott.

"No, I call those, a work-out!" said Scott. He barely had time to move as a volley of laser beams danced past his head. Scott dove through the air and lined up his target before firing an optic blast and disabling the gun that had targeted him. Paige scoffed as Scott got to his feet. "Look out!"

Paige turned around to find a huge belly collide with her face. At first she felt her body become absorbed inside of the large flesh. Then, she could feel her body being expelled from the flesh into the opposite direction. Paige hit the wall, and slid to the floor. "What on Earth, is that?!" she exclaimed.

"That’s the Blob," explained Cyclops. "He’s a member of the Brotherhood."

"Brotherhood?" Paige asked.

"Yeah, and there’s the rest of the crew: Toad, Avalanche and Quicksilver," said Scott, as they both gazed across the room to find the rest of the Brotherhood gathering next to Blob.

The Toad leaped into the air and unleashed his tongue in Paige’s direction. She grabbed his tongue and pulled very hard. Toad’s body came towards her with great speed. Paige reached back, and then smashed her stone fist into Toad’s face. The high-jumping mutant fell to the ground. Scott smiled and nodded approvingly.

Quicksilver began to race across the ground in Scott’s direction. Scott fired a bunch of optic blasts at the moving blur, but was unsuccessful. Then, Scott felt the ground begin to move at his feet. He looked over to see Avalanche using his powers to manipulate the ground. Scott fired an optic blast in his direction, and for a moment the tremors ceased. Then, Scott turned his attention back to Quicksilver, only to find the speedster landing a blow across his cheek. Scott went down and, and began massaging his jaw with his hand. He looked across the room to find Paige was laughing at his mishap.

Suddenly, Paige found herself being tossed into the air, as the ground beneath her feet lifted her up. She landed on her bottom to find that Avalanche was manipulating the ground in front of her. Paige dug her nails into her skin and stone began to flake away. Underneath the stone layer was a dull, black substance.

Paige started to race towards Avalanche, but the Blob moved into her path once she was only a few feet away. Paige stopped just in front of the huge mutant, and simply stared into his eyes. Blob reached back and prepared to smash his fist into Paige’s face. When the Blob’s punch connected, his fist bounced against the black material lacing her skin. The impact of the bounce forced the Blob’s hand to travel behind him and hit Avalanche in the face, sending him soaring against the wall. He slid to the floor and remained motionless.

Scott seeing his opportunity fired a pair of optic blasts to the back of Blob’s knees. The oversized mutant sank to his knees, and was then just about level with Paige. She pulled the black, rubbery skin off of her right arm to reveal a shiny metallic fist. She swung the punch with all her might at the Blob’s face. It appeared to be just enough to send him crashing to the floor.

"Good going, Paige," said Scott as he nodded.

"Whoa!" shouted Paige as she felt herself being shoved forward. She managed to catch her balance and realized they had forgot about Quicksilver. She looked into Scott’s direction to see his optic blasts were chasing a moving blur. "He’s too fast! You’ll never hit him like that!"

"You’re right!" said Scott sounding annoyed. Then, he seemed to come up with an idea. "Can you do diamond?"

"What?!" asked Paige, confused by his question.

"Your flesh, can you turn it into diamond?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, why?" said Paige as she felt herself being pushed again.

"Just do it, and duck!" yelled Scott as he continued firing after Quicksilver. Paige dug her nails into her skin once again to reveal a crystal-like body. Once she had pulled all the other material off of her, she crouched down and tucked her head in. Scott, seeing that she was ready fired and optic blast at her backside. When the optic blast connected with the diamond skin, the single blast ricocheted in several different directions as several smaller beams.

"Ahhh!" called Quicksilver as the moving blur came to a halt. Scott aimed carefully, and fired an optic blast strong enough to level Quicksilver. Scott turned to check on Paige, who was getting to her feet rubbing her back.

"Good idea," she said, "but how did you…."

"I knew the diamond would refract the light into smaller beams," began Scott. "That way, I could fire several beams in different directions, and have a better chance of making a hit."

"Well, maybe you’re not completely useless," teased Paige. As she started to turn and leave, she grabbed her back and cried out in pain. Then, she felt herself drop to her knee.

"Are you okay?" asked Scott. He was down on the floor with her, offering her support, so that she could get back to her feet. "Here, I’ll help you to the infirmary." AS the two teens started walking, Paige felt her legs give way, and Scott’s grip on her tightened. "The blast must have been too much. I’ll carry you."

"No, I’m fine," protested Paige. Then, her eyelids started to close and she fainted in his arms. Scott lifted Paige into his arms, and wrapped her arms around his neck so that he could support her weight with more ease.

"Computer, end simulation," said Scott. The image and bodies around them faded. The Danger Room was now completely empty. As Scott walked across the Danger Room, he noticed that Paige’s head was now resting against his chest. Scott continued to carry Paige out of the Danger Room and to the infirmary.

Meanwhile, up in the control booth, Jean Grey felt an unusual feeling grow in the pit of her stomach. However, when Scott had lifted Paige into his arms, Jean felt her stomach clench so tightly that it was painful. She slammed her hand against the control panel and left the control booth. Even though she knew that Scott’s actions were innocent, and that she understood the situation, she couldn’t help but feel… jealous.

Jean got up from her chair and walked towards the doorway. She sighed and placed her hand on her forehead. "This is ridiculous," Jean told herself. "I’m over-reacting here. There’s no way I should be concerned." Then, Jean replayed the images of Scott and Paige during the simulation. "They’re a perfect match. Scott hasn’t worked that well with anyone before. It’s like they’re were in perfect synch with each other’s moves." Jean tried to push the thoughts away as she left the control booth.


Pietro and Wanda stepped out of silver Corvette convertible. He grabbed his sister’s bags and began walking towards the safe-house Mystique had left them. It was a nice place, isolated and pretty luxurious. However, Mystique hadn’t been seen in weeks, ever since their last meeting with Magneto. She had just up and disappeared without a trace, and hadn’t tried to contact them at all. Magneto had done the same as well.

"Are you sure everyone will be okay with this?" asked Wanda.

Pietro came to a halt and looked at his sister. "Listen, you’ll be fine. The guys already agreed to it, and Mystique will be thrilled you’re with us. Especially, with her record of failures piling up," Pietro assured her. "Come on."

Pietro and Wanda continued to walk towards the house, when one of the glass windows exploded and Todd Tolansky came flying through it. The moment he hit the ground, he looked over and saw the siblings staring at him. Todd leaped in the air, and landed on Pietro knocking him to the ground.

"Man, we gotta get outta here!" cried Todd frantically. "That thing got all of ‘em! It’s coming! It’s coming after me! What are we going to do!"

"What are you talking about?!" said Pietro. "Get off of me!" Pietro shoved Todd off of him and stood up. "Calm down and tell me what’s going on. You said something got the others. What was it?"

"That!" cried Todd. Pietro and Wanda turned around to see a large humanoid type figure emerging from the shattered window. He appeared to be made from a gold and black metallic alloy, and simply stared at the three teens. Then, they creature raised its hand and a golden black tendril emerged from its arm and approached the teens. Pietro took his sister’s hand and sped out of the path of the tendril. Todd leapt away from the oncoming tendril as well.

"Todd, get my sister out of here!" said Pietro. "I’ll keep you guys covered and catch up!" Pietro looked at his sister and saw the fear in her eyes. "I’ll be okay, just get out of here." Then, he bent down and kissed his sister on the cheek before speeding off in the direction of the creature.

"Pietro, wait!" cried Wanda. She tried to run after him, but felt a thin pair of arms wrap around her waist. Then, she felt herself being hoisted into the air. Todd had grabbed her and was doing as he was instructed. Todd halted as they landed on top of a thick brick wall surrounding the grounds. "We have to go back!"

"No we don’t!" cried Todd. "That thing is dangerous! Someone could killed, like me!"

Todd and Wanda sat on the wall and watched Pietro continue to race around the creature as several tendrils continued to chase after him. "Come on, pal. There’s no way you’re catching this mutant. So cough up my friends, before I make you regret it," said Pietro.

Then, the creature opened his mouth, but what came out was completely unexpected. A loud screeching scream emerged from the creature’s mouth. The scream was so loud that the sound waves knocked Pietro off his feet. He lay on the ground clutching his ears tightly trying to block out the screams. Then, the golden black tendrils wrapped around his body as he continued to roll around the ground in pain. The tendrils began to pull him closer, until he was engulfed in the creature completely.

The creature remained still for a moment as he allowed his body to accept its recent acquisition. Then, he turned and faced the brick wall on which Wanda and Todd were sitting. Then, he raced across the lawn in a blur just like Pietro had and came to a halt only a few yards from the wall.

"Do you really think you can escape Harvest?" asked the creature. He looked up into Wanda’s eyes. "You’re brother is safe, Wanda. All you have to do is join with me, and you two will be together once again."

"How do you know my name? And how do you know what I am thinking?" asked Wanda.

"I know all," said Harvest. Then he held out his hand, as if offering it to her. "Join with me, Wanda."

"No!" cried Wanda. Then, she raised her hands above her head and they began to grow. "Winds of fate, change!" Then, a nearby tree began to creak. Harvest turned his attention towards the tree and found it was crashing down in his direction. He raised his hands as if to block the tree, but his attempt was futile. He disappeared under the leaves and branches of the tree.

"Wow, you did it!" cried Todd. He was now on the other side of the brick wall. He leaped back up and saw that Harvest had been crushed and buried under the tree. Then, both of the teens felt something grab them around their waist. They looked down to find Harvest’s tendrils were around their waist, and he was standing behind them.

"Fools! When will you learn that you have no choice. You will be absorbed, and the Phalanx Empire will conquer Earth," shouted Harvest as he pulled the mutants closer.

"NO! HELP! Somebody HELP!" cried Todd.

Just as Harvest’s body was about to engulf Wanda and Todd, the tendrils that was wrapped around their waist was cut. Both of the teens fell to the ground and quickly crawled away. They looked up to see how they had been freed. They saw standing before them, was what appeared to be a young girl. However, here skin appeared to be red, and made of some sort of crystal. She was crouched on the ground like wild cat ready to strike. Harvest stared at the girl in awe. Then, he fired some tendrils in her direction. She leaped out of the way of the attack and sliced her fingers at the tendrils. The tendrils felt to the ground again, separated from Harvest. Then, the girl leaped towards Harvest and raked her fingers across Harvest’s chest. The creature stumbled backwards and grasped his chest as if in pain.

"This is impossible!" protested Harvest. "I must analyze this recent turn of events and adapt accordingly." Then, in a blur, Harvest disappeared as he raced away in the opposite direction.

Wanda and Todd looked at the red girl with the crystal skin. She looked at them as if she were a timid creature. Then, they noticed her long fingers, and saw why she had been able to slice through the tendrils. They were all long, like individual red blades. Wanda and Todd stood on their feet and started to approach the girl. She took a few steps back as the got closer, apparently she seemed to be afraid of them.

"It’s okay, we won’t hurt you," explained Wanda in her gentle voice. "We only want to say thank you. What’s your name?" The girl remained silent, and simply stared at Wanda. Wanda held out her hand for a moment, offering it to the girl. After a few moments, the girl approached Wanda’s hand and looked at it. Then, the red-crystal girl gently raised her long fingers and placed them in Wanda’s hand. Wanda, then used her other hand and rubbed it gently across the young girl’s crystal-like hand. "You can’t speak, can you?"

"This is all very touching, but what do we do now?" asked Todd.

Wanda looked at Todd, and the smile that had appeared on her face disappeared as the past events came flooding back to her. "We will get my brother back!" Wanda declared. "We have been separated for too long. I will not lose him again. Not like this!"

"Well, if you really want to get him back, you’re going to need some help," said Todd. "And I know just the people who’re stupid enough…" began Todd. Then, he looked into Wanda’s eyes and saw that the word stupid had only angered her more. "I mean kind enough to help you do it."

"Who?" asked Wanda.

Todd looked at Wanda, and saw the determination in his eyes. Whatever chances he may have had of fleeing and staying out of danger, were now gone. There was no way he could change her mind now. Todd sighed, and reluctantly he answered, "The X-Men."