Burning Brightly

Author's Note:

John works at reconciling with Martha, continuing to deal with the demands of the Brotherhood, and has a chat with Magneto.

Warnings: Sex. A little profanity.

Please rate and review. I make every attempt to proof my work, but I don't have a beta reader. Constructive criticism is welcome.


Chapter Seven: Conversations

My room was dark and empty when I got there. I knew I’d missed dinner, but I wasn’t hungry anyway. I was covered in soot and ash and I’m sure I stank. So I climbed in the shower. I turned the heat up as hot as I could take, letting it pound over my head and back and wash the black grit away.

I tried to imagine that all the gloomy thoughts I was having washed away with the ashes. The Professor was gone. Yeah, I said he lied to us. Failed us. But, he tried. He died trying I’ll bet.

I tried not to think about it. It was too late for second thoughts. I’d already killed for Magneto. Killed for the cause. You can’t take that back.

Chances were I’d kill again. This was a war. People die.

Shit. The water was getting cold and I wasn’t getting any cleaner. I shut it off and grabbed a towel. I dried off, trying not to shiver. Yeah, Magneto had created this place to withstand almost anything. But, it was all metal. And fucking cold.

I hate the cold. I wrapped a towel around my waist and grabbed another to scrub my hair dry and started looking for some clean clothes.

There was a knock at the door. I jumped a little, feeling kind of stupid. It was probably Martha. Hopefully it was her. So I opened the door a crack to check.

“John?” I caught her mid-knock. “You said you wanted me to come by.”

“Yeah. Come in. I just got out of the shower.” I opened the door just wide enough to let her in then shut it against the draft in the hallway.

“I didn’t see you at dinner. Is everything O.K.?” She stood in the middle of the room as if she couldn’t decide where to sit. On the bed, or on one of the chairs.

“I don’t know. Is it?” I sat down on the bed and wrapped the extra towel around my neck.

“You asked me to come here. I don’t want to play twenty questions.” She sounded more tired than angry.

“I know. I’m just having a shitty day.” I scrubbed at my hair with the towel. I could feel an icy trickle of water making its way down my spine. “I’m not good at this…” I held my hand out toward her. “Relationship stuff. Never have been.”

“So…This is a relationship?” She was still standing in the middle of the room. Her hands were buried in the pockets of her jeans and her eyes hidden behind her shades. She swayed a little bit, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

“Yeah. I guess. At least I’d like it to be.” I stopped messing with my hair. She was quiet. Thinking about it I guess. So was I.

After a moment she sighed and reached up to pull off the shades. She walked over and put them on my nightstand and sat down beside me. She didn’t look at me. Instead she leaned over a little bit and rubbed the palms of her hands over her eyes.

“I’m not real good at this either. My last boyfriend tried to get me lynched.” She ran her fingers through her hair, letting it fall over her face. “My only boyfriend actually.”

“Until now.” I reached over and pushed her hair back so I could see her face. Her eyes were a little red like she’d been crying again. “You’re mine. I don’t care who knows or what they think.”

“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?” She sat up a little bit and turned to look at me. “You know, Madrox offered to let me stay in his tent.”

“So why aren’t you there?”

“He’s not my type.” She shrugged. “And he’s kind of old for me don’t you think?”

“So…Am I your type?” I meant it as a joke. But, she answered me anyway.

“You…You’re all the things I wish I was.” She was studying me with those silver eyes. “You don’t care what people think about you. You just say what’s on your mind. You don’t sit around thinking and rethinking things like I do. You just do it.”

“Sometimes saying what’s on my mind causes more trouble than it’s worth. You say something stupid and there’s no taking it back.” I’d certainly cut loose with a few big ones today.

“You talking about what you said about me? Or to Magneto?”

“You heard about that?” Great. Was the whole camp gossiping about my screw ups now?

“Part of my job. Keeping an ear out for gossip and such. But you didn’t answer me.”

“Both.”

“O.K. Well, forget about me. Was the boss really pissed?”

“Not pissed. Disappointed. In me. I think he’s actually more upset about the Professor than Mystique.”

“What about you? Wasn’t he your teacher? Would you really have killed him, John?”

“I…I have killed somebody. You know that right? The guard that hit Mystique was going to pull another weapon and I torched him.”

“That was different.”

“How would you know?” She sort of flinched. “Have you ever killed somebody?” I didn’t mean to sound so pissed.

“Not yet. But how many of them up there…” She pointed to the ceiling, meaning the mutants camped above. “Would have gone home, maybe even taken the Cure if I hadn’t amped the boss’s speeches? How many of them would leave if I stopped? I don’t know. Sometimes I can’t sleep at night because I keep trying to figure it out.”

“They aren’t dead.”

“They’re going to die John. Some of them. Maybe all of them. This mission I’ve conned Madrox into might just get him killed. Or Cured. And I’ve got one or two agents MIA. I don’t know if they’re just late or they’ve gone AWOL. Now that the word is out that Mystique’s gone, some of them don’t trust me.”

“You’re right. You do think too much.” I tossed the towel in my hand onto a chair and put my arm around her. “I was just blowing smoke. I’m not sure I could have killed the Professor. Not in cold blood.”

“That’s what I thought.” She leaned into me with a little sigh.

“So. Are you staying?”

“Are you asking?” Her voice was quiet.

“Yeah. I am.”

“I’m staying. Beats sleeping under my desk.” She turned to look at me with a little smile. Then she gave a surprised little squeak as I pulled her tight and kissed her hard.

She hesitated for just a second before she started to kiss me back. I started pulling off her clothes and she giggled. Then she was helping me, fingers moving just ahead of mine. So instead I concentrated on touching and kissing each new patch of skin that appeared as she undressed.

When she was naked, I pressed her back against the sheets. I kissed her deeply, sucking on her tongue and pressing my own as far into her mouth as I could. She writhed against me, hands tugging away the damp towel and dropping it on the floor. Then she was touching me all over, stroking my back, caressing my ribs, kneading my ass.

I moved my mouth from her lips to her neck and bit down. She gave a little shout and clutched at me, digging her nails into my back. I reached down to cup her tits and pinch her nipples and she shivered. Then I pressed my dick against her thigh so she could feel how hard it was. I wanted her to feel how much I wanted her. She pressed back against it moving her thigh a little to rub it slowly.

“I want to fuck you so bad.” I whispered in her ear as I reached down and started rubbing between her legs. I found her clit and gave it a little squeeze. Her hips jerked and she whimpered.

“Yes...Fuck me.” She whispered.

I slid my hand a little lower and slipped two fingers inside her. She was already slick and wet. I began to pump my fingers in and out and started kissing her again. I rested my weight on her pinning her in place. Her breath was coming in little heaving sobs and I was enjoying feeling her body pressed against mine.

She whimpered again and wriggled a little, trying to buck against my hand. My other hand was pinching her nipples and she squealed and moaned into my mouth. Suddenly she stiffened under me and groaned. I felt her muscles clenching around my fingers and she got even wetter.

Then I pulled away from her long enough to dig out a condom and slip it on. I kissed her again.

“On your hands and knees, baby.” I whispered in her ear, hoping she’d go for it. She giggled and rolled over. She even wiggled her ass at me a little. So I slapped it.

“Oooohhh!” She gave a startled little yelp.

I moved up behind her and positioned the head of my dick at her entrance. She arched her back a little and pressed against me. I grabbed her hips and held her still.

“Tell me what you want, baby.”

“I want you to fuck me. Don’t tease me.” She was pushing against me. I laughed.

Then I thrust hard into her warmth, dragging her hips towards me. She cried out and grabbed at the pillows, as I thrust hard and fast. She was grunting with each thrust and after a few moments, I could feel her shaking a little.

“You like it like this, don’t you?” I gasped, a little surprised.

“Shit…Yes…Don’t stop.” She gave a long whimpering moan and stiffened as she came again. Then she went limp for a moment, panting. I didn’t stop; I could feel the tension mounting.

“God...Baby you feel so fucking good.” I was panting, driving as hard and as fast as I could. She was grunting and moaning into the pillows. I felt her clench around me again and that was it. I buried my dick deep inside her and groaned, coming hard. Flashes of light seemed to sparkle behind my eyelids as my dick twitched and jerked inside her. She continued to move against me just a little. I held her still until the last little tremors passed.

Then I pulled away and got rid of the condom. I flipped out the lights before flopping down on the bed beside her. She had rolled over onto her back and lay panting. When she felt me beside her she snuggled up to me. I kissed her again, not so hard this time.

“Sleepy now, baby?” I whispered.

“Yeah.” She yawned. “Good night.”

“Good night.” I kissed her forehead and pulled the sheets over us. I think she fell asleep almost instantly and I lay awake a little longer. I was just about to fall asleep when a funny though occurred to me. I’ve had one or two girls actually get pissed when I asked them to let me do them doggy style. I think I knew why she got off so much on what we’d just done.

If I can’t see her eyes, she can’t lay the whammy on me…Callisto had no idea what the hell she was talking about. If Martha wanted a fuck puppet, she could have had anyone in the camp.

Instead she wanted me. Me. John. Not Pyro. She never called me Pyro unless someone was listening. Somewhere along the line I’d started doing the same thing.

I don’t think anyone’s ever wanted me before. Not even Magneto. He just wanted my power. And he was willing to put up with a snot-nosed pain in the ass like me to get it.

She wanted me so bad; she was scared to death that I was just playing with her. I wasn’t sure that that’s what I was doing anymore. That I could do it.

“Get close to her. But don’t get too attached.” Was he just a cold, bitter old man? Or was there something else to it?

When did I get so fucking sappy? Maybe she was influencing me whether she meant to or not. But, it was nice to feel her there, warm and soft. To smell the flowery scent of her shampoo. It felt good to be wanted. And the sex wasn’t half bad either.

Fuck. Go to sleep. Worry about it in the morning.


I’m not sure what time we fell asleep, but it was past ten when someone knocked on my door. Martha was snuggled up against my back and her arm was around my waist. I carefully eased out of bed and grabbed a pair of sweats from the floor. The knock came again before I could get to the door and Martha muttered something and shifted position.

“What is it?” I opened the door up just a crack. Crap. It was Quill. Can’t seem to get away from these damned Omegas.

“Magneto wants you.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

“Give me a couple of minutes.” I closed the door again and started digging for something clean enough to wear. Laundry was pretty hit or miss in the camp lately.

I dressed in a hurry, my back to the door.

“Where you going?” She mumbled sleepily and leaned up on an elbow. This sent the sheets southward and she didn’t seem to notice. I smiled a little, looking at her half naked and hair all out of place.

“Magneto wants me. I overslept. Go back to sleep baby.” I stopped to lean over her and gave her a kiss. If I had morning breath, it didn’t seem to bother her.

“Anything important?” She mumbled again, not quite awake.

“I don’t know. Tell you later.” I pushed her hair out of her face and she lay back down, pulling the covers over her shoulders and closing her eyes.

When I stood up and turned to the door, I could see it hadn’t latched like I thought. It stood a little ajar and I could see Quill grinning at me through it. Asshole.

I left the room and pulled the door shut behind me, glaring at him.

“What the fuck are you looking at?”

“So you are doing her. She any good?”

“None of your god-damned business! I thought Callisto said you guys were going to lay off.”

“You left the door open. Not my fault I got an eyeful.”

We stopped in front of Magneto’s office. I ran my fingers through my hair, realizing I hadn’t even looked in a mirror this morning. I probably looked like shit.

“Stay away from her. She’s mine.” He was still smirking at me.

“Sure thing, boss.” He turned and started to walk away. “It’s always the quiet ones.”

I didn’t get the chance to say anything else, because that’s when Magneto opened the door.

“Come in. Come in, my boy. I have something to discuss with you.”

He was alone this time. And I was almost sorry Callisto wasn’t there. So sorry that I almost asked where she was. Almost.

“So. What’s up?” I sat down on a chair and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and clasping my hands to keep from fidgeting with my lighter. Was he still upset over what I said yesterday? Or was it something else?

“It occurred to me that perhaps you were feeling that I’ve been neglecting you. That you might feel that I value you and your very special gift somewhat less these days.” He sat on the edge of his desk and smiled that fatherly smile at me. The tired old man from yesterday was gone.

“No. I don’t.” I lied. That’s exactly how I felt. I felt almost like I did at Xavier’s, always in Bobby’s shadow. Only now that shadow belonged to Callisto. And maybe Jean, too.

“I hope that is true.” He clasped his hands together in front of himself, echoing my pose. Maybe I’ve been hanging out with Mystique and Martha too long, because I was starting recognize manipulation when I saw it. “It may seem that I am favoring Callisto, giving her all the ‘exciting’ assignments. Trusting her to lead her Omegas with a relatively free hand.”

“I’m sure you’ve got a reason.”

“I do.” He paused a moment. “As I have said before, Callisto is ambitious. She is also rather impetuous. But, her power and her Omegas are absolutely necessary to fulfilling our objectives. I prefer to keep her under my own watchful eye.”

“What about Jean? I think Callisto is right about her being too dangerous.”

Now he sighed heavily and I saw the old man return as his shoulders slumped a little.

“This is a task, which once begun, cannot be set aside easily. That creature you saw is not the Dr. Grey you knew. She is a marvelous, powerful, but very dangerous miracle of evolution. She cannot be controlled, only influenced. In some ways, she is still the angry, arrogant little girl that Charles and I first met so many years ago. Rejecting her now might have disastrous consequences.”

“You think she’d go back to the XMen.”

“No. I think she’d kill us all. XMen and Brotherhood alike. With no more remorse than you or I might have in stepping on an ant. But, that little girl is still there. Lonely and in need of guidance. Now that Charles and her beloved Scott are gone, I am her lone source of emotional support.”

“Does she even have emotions anymore? She’s downright creepy.”

“Yes, indeed she does. Be certain that you do nothing to provoke her. All of the blocks that Charles placed between her power and her emotions appear to have been swept away. Whatever she desires comes to be with just a thought.”

“You’re afraid of her.”

“Only a fool would not be.” Now he moved around his desk to sit behind it. “I expect things to begin moving quickly. We have plans to make, you and I…”

We talked for maybe an hour, making plans for our next move, speculating on how long it would take for the authorities to move against us (not long). Whether or not Mystique would roll over on us (almost definitely) and how much she would give them (pretty much everything.) She wasn’t known for being forgiving.

Magneto preferred to choose his own battles and fight them on his own schedule. We’d spend the next few days planning our route to Alcatraz Island and sending advance parties to scout out the route between here and there. We’d have to get there on foot. We didn’t have enough vehicles to take even a small portion of our army and their tracks would make it too easy to find us.

Once the preparations were made, we’d make a move. Force them to act openly against us. Send a message to the humans and the mutants that were sitting on the fence. Unless they acted first and forced our hand, I’d be the one to deliver the message. Exactly how, we still had to decide.

“Am I correct in assuming Mesmer is staying with you?” He stopped me as I was about to leave.

“Yeah.” Was he going to lecture me again about not getting too involved? “I gave Psylocke an inch and she took a mile. Mesmer didn’t volunteer, no matter what she said.”

“I thought as much. I hope it is not too much of an inconvenience for you.”

“No. Maybe it’ll work out better this way.”

“Indeed. Please ask the young lady to come see me after lunch. I have need of her services.”

“For what?”

“I am hoping that she will have some further information that will help us in selecting a target. I also wish to discuss my speaking schedule with her.”

“Oh. She didn’t have any headaches or nosebleeds while you were gone.”

“Excellent. Please be sure she gets some sleep. I am afraid I will be using her services heavily in the next few days.”

“Sure. No problem.”