Burning Brightly

Authors Note:

Still no reviews and only one rating...Hmm...Is it crap or have I knocked folks speechless?

Anyway, here goes Chapter Three. No real warnings except for a few swear words. "Quill" may also be known as "Kid Omega" in the movie credits. But, I really can't imagine calling him that to his face.

I've finished the rough draft of this piece and it comes out to twelve chapters. I will be posting a new chapter about one every three days as I do all my final editing.

Please rate and review. I value reader input. Constructive criticism is more than welcome since I have no Beta reader. Enjoy.

Chapter Three: Suspicion

I snapped the lighter closed and put it away. Magneto sighed heavily and sat down behind his desk.

“I am afraid Callisto has a point.”

“But, you just said…”

“Callisto is ambitious. She sees Mesmer as a rival.” He opened his laptop and tapped a few keys. “I will not feed that rivalry.”

“And?”

“And I myself am concerned about the girl’s loyalty. Mystique recruited her in my absence and I fear that her loyalty is to our lost comrade rather than our cause itself.” He paused a moment, looking at something on his screen. “But, her skills have been useful. And they will continue to be useful…too useful to discard on mere suspicion.”

“So, what do you want to do with her?”

“You have spent more time with her than I, what is your opinion?”

“I don’t know. We really don’t talk. Much.” I tried not to fidget. I wanted to reach for the lighter again. I didn’t want to tell him I’d gone out of my way to be an ass to her. That I’d acted like a child.

“Hmm…She doesn’t speak much at all, in my experience.”

“Why not just ask her?” It seemed logical to me. Then again all this political crap was new to me.

“Because I have seen what she can do when she feels threatened. I am not as confident in this...” He touched the helmet again. “As I led Callisto to believe. At least where Mesmer’s abilities are concerned.”

“Oh.” Now I did pull out my lighter. But, I just held it, running my fingers over the cool, slick surface. “So, what do we do?”

“I will do nothing. As for you, I would like you to get close to her.” He looked at me directly.

“How close?” I swallowed, not sure I was liking where this was going. I wasn’t Mystique either.

“As close as she will let you.”

“I um…What makes you think she’d let me get close? I mean, we haven’t really got along…”

“Observe.”

He turned his laptop toward me so that I could see the screen. He tapped a few keys and a video of one of our training sessions began to play. He tapped a few more keys and the image focused on a figure leaning against a tree, watching the action. There was a bright flash of orange as something exploded. Magneto froze the image and zeroed in on the figure’s face.

“She was watching us?”

She held her shades in one hand and her hood was thrown back. The firelight reflected from her eyes and her expression was…I’m not sure how to describe it. Fascinated and kind of hungry? Intense. Not something I ever would have expected from little miss mousy.

“Not us. You.” He sat back in his seat and held the shades between his fingers. “Make no mistake. Women are drawn to power like moths to a flame. And few burn as bright as you, my young friend.”

“Are you sure she wasn’t watching you?” I found myself shuffling my feet on the floor and slouching. Suddenly, I was the nervous kid sitting in Xavier’s office again. Not Pyro, right hand man to Magneto, a living weapon of mass destruction.

“You flatter me. I sincerely doubt the young lady is interested in this old carcass.” He shook his head. “I am old enough to be her grandfather.”

“Mystique was.” I couldn’t help it. I was still shocked that he could just abandon her like that.

“Mystique was unique. She too, had a taste for power…And we had known each other for many years. I genuinely regret her loss.”

“She loved you.”

“Perhaps.” He closed the laptop with an audible snap. “It does us no good to dwell on such things, my boy.”

He stood up again and walked around the desk, the sunglasses in one hand. He offered them to me.

“Get close to the girl, but do not become too attached. Keep her close to you in the next few weeks. I wish you to act as a buffer between Mesmer and the Omegas, we can’t afford infighting.”

“Yes, sir.” I took the glasses and tucked them in my shirt pocket. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to get close to her. Not as close as Magneto was suggesting.

Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. I hadn’t seen any action since before I left Xavier’s. And there hadn’t been much there. Too many chaperones. Girls were always afraid one of the telepaths might hear us.

I left him alone in his office and went looking for her. No point in wasting time. Good thing I did, because Quill and Arclight were waiting in the hall outside the conference room.

“What are you two up to?” They looked at each other for a moment. Then Quill answered me.

“Callisto sent us to take the new guy to his tent.”

“That’s it?” Another look passed between them.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll just wait here with you.” I leaned up against the wall and pulled out my lighter. I played with it while I waited. We didn’t have to wait long.

Mesmer stepped out of the room first, folder still in her hand. She glanced at the three of us, those silver eyes never quite resting on anything. Madrox stepped out just behind her, smiling.

“I’m happy I can be of service.” He smirked at her, resting one hand on the small of her back. She stepped forward a little, breaking the contact.

“The Brotherhood appreciates what you are doing for us.” She turned to him and flashed a smile. “You’ll be a hero to the cause.”

Madrox almost looked giddy and I started to wonder if her powers could actually kill brain cells or something. But, she did have a nice smile. It changed her whole face. Well, O.K., I was trying to psych myself up.

“Hey Madrox. You’re all set. Why don’t you go with Quill and Arclight here?” I nodded toward the Omegas. I didn’t really buy their story. And I wanted to get Mesmer alone.

“Great.” He glanced at them, and then looked back Mesmer. He rested a hand on her shoulder and nodded his head toward the others. “Want to come check it out with me?”

Jesus! Was he flirting with her? I cleared my throat. She must have really laid the whammy on him.

“Actually, I was waiting to talk to Mesmer. Why don’t you just go along without her?”

“I’m sorry, maybe some other time.” She sidestepped him and looked at me. Looking into her eyes was almost like getting punched in the stomach, only not as painful. She blinked and looked down.

“O.K. Some other time then.” Madrox sounded a little disappointed, but he was still smiling as he followed Quill and Arclight down the hall. We both watched them silently as they walked out of sight.

She turned to me and fixed her eyes somewhere near the middle of my chest. Trying not to look me in the eyes, I guess. I took a good look at her. Really looked, because I still wasn’t sure how far I wanted to go with this idea of Magneto’s.

She wasn’t bad looking. Not at all, really. Mostly it was that you never really got to see her eyes and that she always hung back in the background. I’ve been shot down by uglier girls. Her hair was actually a little redder than I’d thought. Her silver eyes gleamed through her eyelashes. She shifted her feet a little and cleared her throat. I could see a blush creeping up her cheeks. Now that was kind of cute.

“Something wrong, Pyro?”

“You sure did a number on that guy. You ever use that power of yours to um…?” I know what I would do with it. What any guy my age would do.

“I did what I was told.” She sounded defensive. Shit. I’m supposed to be making friends with her, not pissing her off.

“Never mind. Stupid question.” I flipped my lighter closed.

“You said you wanted to talk to me.”

“Yeah.” I pulled out her shades and handed them to her. She took them and slipped them on. “I…uh…” Should have thought about what I was going to say, huh? I stopped and took a moment to think. Now she was studying me from behind those shades.

“I know I’ve been kind of a jerk to you. I got no real excuse for it. I thought maybe we could…I don’t know. Maybe start over?”

“Start over?” She reached up to adjust her shades.

“Yeah. You know we’ve been working together all this time. Even kind of living together and we hardly even talk. So, yeah. Start over. Like this.” I stuck out my hand. “Hi. My name is John.”

She stared at my hand for a moment. Then she reached out slowly like she thought I was playing some sort of joke. Maybe she did.

“Martha.” She took my hand and shook it firmly. Then she started to let go. I held on.

“Martha?” I couldn’t hold back a smile, but I managed not to laugh. “Your name is Martha?”

“Yes. Martha.”

“I thought only old ladies were named Martha.”

“Well, I’m not an old lady.” She pulled her hand back.

“O.K. Sorry. Feel free to make a John joke, if you know any.”

“I’m fresh out of John jokes. So is that it?”

“Well, no. Not exactly. The boss wants me to stick close to you. He’s worried that some of the newer recruits might make trouble for you.”

“The Omegas.”

“Yeah. Them.”

“Oh.” She sounded a little disappointed, I thought.

“M…Martha. Since I’m supposed to stick close…Maybe we could go find something to eat?” I tried my best smile on her.

“Sure. Why not?” She shrugged. So I took her by the elbow and we headed for the mess hall.

“If we’re lucky, they’ll still have some pizza left. Otherwise I think it’s ‘mystery loaf’ again.” I glanced at her, hoping for some kind of reaction.

“Yeah.” Shit, this was gonna suck if I couldn’t get her to actually talk. I’d seen the reports she wrote up for Magneto, read some of them. She wasn’t stupid.

“Why don’t you fill me in on what’s been going on while we were gone?” We got a few looks as I guided her through the mess hall. I never let go of her elbow and she never actually pulled away either.

At least that started her talking, though it was all business. I finally let go of her elbow when we got our trays and we sat at an empty table. It was pretty boring stuff really, it was all business as usual. Good for the Brotherhood, but not exactly great conversation.

“Hey. Martha. Come on, I just want to talk a little. I don’t need a full report.” I touched her hand and she dropped her fork like I’d burnt her. Guess I made her nervous. Weird. I don’t think I’ve ever made anyone nervous without threatening them before.

“I’m sorry…John.” Those silver eyes flashed over the edges of her shades. She picked up her fork again. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just don’t feel like talking shop right now.” Pick something, stupid. Anything. “Were you close to Mystique?” Anything but that. Too obvious. And too late. I said it.

“I don’t think Mystique was close to anybody, except maybe Magneto.” Another flash of silver as she glanced at me. The shades were really starting to bug me. I like to see someone’s eyes when I talk to them.

“Magneto said she’s the one that recruited you. While he was in prison.” I took a long sip of my tea while I waited for her to answer.

“Yeah. She did.” I watched her pick at her food for a moment. Another flash of silver. “She probably saved my life. I’ve been with the Brotherhood ever since.”

“She did?” Now, maybe this would be interesting. “What happened?”

“I um…” She put her fork down. “You know what you asked me earlier. If I ever used my powers to, you know…Get a guy to go out with me?”

“Yeah.”

“Well I did. When my powers first showed up, I didn’t understand at first. Everyone was falling all over themselves to do anything I asked. At first it was fun. Then it was kind of creepy.” She stopped and took a sip of her drink. For a moment I was afraid she was going to clam up on me. But then she continued.

“Well, eventually I caught on, started to tone it down a little. But, there was this guy at school I liked. Really popular. Completely out of my league. Unless I used my power.”

“So you did.”

“Yeah. For a while it was great. He was spending all his time with me. People started to notice. He was skipping football practice and ditching all his friends to be with me. Then all that Mutant Registration Act stuff started up.”

“And they figured it out?”

“Yeah. I was involved in some protests, that’s how I figured out that part of my powers. I sent some letters to Senator Kelly. I had no idea that it was really Mystique.”

“So how did she save you?”

“Things got ugly at one of the protests. My…boyfriend showed up with his football buddies. He outed me right there. The crowd turned on me, too many people for me to handle.” She pushed some peas around with her fork for a moment.

“I don’t really control people, just influence them.” She touched her shades with one hand, like she was making sure they were still there. “If I make a habit of influencing people, they figure it out eventually.”

“And they get pissed.”

“Yeah. Usually. He sure did. I was running from that mob when a cop pulls up in an unmarked car. Middle aged black guy with a mustache and everything. He tells me to get into the car. Tells the mob I’m under arrest. They buy it and we drive off.”

“That was Mystique.”

“Yeah.” A group of Omegas walked by and she fell silent under their stares. No she wasn’t stupid. They continued to stare as they sat down. “You were right, back in the van. I shouldn’t have.”

She looked down at her tray and touched the edges nervously, like she was thinking of leaving. I reached out and touched her hand; I felt it tense under my fingers.

“Don’t worry about it. That’s why I’m here.” I leaned across the table a little. “Don’t let them rattle you. Magneto wants you right where you’re at. Callisto can’t do what you do, no matter what she thinks.”

I kept my fingers on her hand, wondering if she’d pull away. I knew the Omegas were watching. Knew what they were probably thinking. She reached up again to touch her shades with her other hand. Then she slowly pulled her hand away from me. I caught another glimmer of silver.

“I should go. I’ve got work to do.” She rose from her seat and started to pick up her tray. I stood up and took her elbow again. This time she stared directly at me over her shades.

“Just leave it.” I pulled her away from the table, kind of surprised she let me. “I’m coming with you.”

“Pyro…John…They’re going to think…”

“Do I look like I care what they think?” I didn’t let her go until we reached her office. She kept shooting me little glances from behind her shades.

“John…”

“I’ll be just across the hall. I don’t want you wandering around alone. I don’t trust some of those Omegas.”

“Is it really that serious?” She sounded nervous, maybe even a little scared. Maybe she was. Most of the Omegas were pretty rough types with physical powers. Hers wouldn’t be much use in a real fight.

“I’m that serious.” I stepped closer and put my hands on her shoulders. “Callisto’s got the Omegas. You got me.” I think I sounded pretty convincing. Hell, I almost convinced myself.

“O.K. John. I’ll um…call you if I need anything.” She backed away. Guess I was coming on too strong. Too touchy feely maybe.

“Good. See you later.”

So, that’s how it started.

Now, I don’t want you to think that’s all I did for the Brotherhood. Just hanging around playing bodyguard for Mesmer and trying to get past that wall-flower act. I was actually pretty busy.

Out of every dozen recruits, there was at least one guy who thought he could run the Brotherhood better. So I got to listen to their bullshit. Depending on how annoying they were, I either nodded my head like I was listening and thanked them, or I showed them a few fireworks to put them in their place. Every once in a while, one of them had something useful to say and I’d pass it on to Magneto.

The real trouble makers I dumped on Callisto. She had her Omegas well trained, so I figured she could handle it. I sure as hell didn’t want to be bothered. I had plenty on my plate.

I basically played interference for the boss. Lots of these idiots thought they needed Magneto’s personal O.K. for everything they did. Even if it was just trading tent mates or changing the damned mess hall menu. A lot of that shit should have gone through Callisto or somebody else, so I wasn’t shy about telling them that.

Sometimes all I wanted to do was just blow something up. That was my day, dealing with one moron after another. Every once in a while Callisto would come to me with something. Usually, she’d manage to work in some snide comment about Mesmer before she left. Sometimes it seemed like that was the only reason she came to talk to me.

I actually started to enjoy hanging out with Mesmer…Martha. She didn’t ask stupid questions or nag me about her pet projects. Whatever problems she might have had with Mystique’s agents, she must be handling them herself. She never came into my office with any of that bullshit. Though she did come in a few times when some of the Omegas started hanging around.

All in all, this wasn’t such a bad deal, after all.