Burning Brightly

Author's Note:

It's time for Magneto to make his move. The Brotherhood makes it's way to Alcatraz where Pyro and Iceman finally face off.

I have just about worn out my DVD Drive making sure I have all the action sequences straight. I have tried to faithfully reproduce those scenes which appeared in the movie .

Warnings: Violence, though my descriptions are not as graphic as the actual footage from the movie.

Please Rate and Review. Constructive criticism is much desired. Thanks.

Chapter Nine: War

The next morning was barely controlled chaos. We expected the authorities to make a move at any moment, so we’d be heading out sometime in the afternoon. The whole camp was a flurry of packing and excited speculation. Martha was busy scanning the news and checking for last minute reports from her agents.

There was one important piece of news. Mystique, or rather, Raven, had been spotted with several Homeland Security bigwigs, so we had to believe she was busy spilling her guts right about now. This was it.

Magneto set Callisto and me to rounding up everybody except the perimeter guards for another speech. He stayed to man the communications stuff himself while Martha hunted down Madrox for one last “pep talk.” Each time she hit him with her power, he’d get more and more touchy-feely with her. I could tell it creeped her out and I didn’t much like it myself. But, after today we wouldn’t have to put up with the smug bastard anymore. He’d be staying behind to play decoy.

I didn’t get a chance to speak with Martha before the speech, but she was there in the crowd. I didn’t know until later that there was someone else in the crowd. Logan heard the whole thing, hiding somewhere in that sea of faces. By the end of the speech, the crowd was cheering and even I was starting to feel that maybe this would all work out.

I hardly noticed when Jean wandered off. That was nothing unusual for her. Sometimes it seemed like it was an effort for her to even remember we were there. Magneto did notice and followed her, leaving Callisto and me to wrap things up and get people moving.

Magneto and Jean didn’t return until we were ready to leave. Callisto had just found that several of her Omegas had been taken down and was about to send out more people to hunt down whoever was responsible.

“That won’t be necessary.” She turned as Magneto walked up, Jean following behind him.

“What are you talking about? We’ve got somebody out there killing my people!”

“I have already taken care of our unwelcome visitor. I expect the Wolverine will limp back home to his friends soon enough.”

“Logan was here?” I looked around anxiously. “Was he alone?”

“Yes. And alone, the Wolverine is no threat to me or to the Brotherhood.”

“He will bring them to Alcatraz.” Jean spoke quietly.

“Then by all means, let us go. We wouldn’t want to disappoint them.” Magneto gestured to the assembled group and stepped onto the steel barge that was piled with supplies.

Martha already sat half-hidden by stacks of bottled water and rolled up tents, fiddling with her communications gear. Jean followed Magneto and I followed her. Callisto would stay on the ground with her Omegas. The barge began to move slowly and the Brotherhood began to file in behind us for the long walk.

“Any news?” Magneto interrupted Martha.

“We’ve got reports that the government is beefing up security at Alcatraz Island, but nothing specific. There’s been a lot of VIP’s coming and going at the Whitehouse, but nobody’s been able to get close enough to get anything useful. Do you have any orders?”

“No. The time for playing cloak and dagger has passed, my dear. They are to hold position until further notice.”

“Yes, sir.” Martha pulled her laptop into her lap and began typing.

“So, this is it.” I looked behind us at the mob Magneto called his “army.” I think more than half of them were Omegas, and that made me nervous. Callisto was definitely pissed about losing her men and not getting a chance to do anything about it.

“Yes it is. This is a day that will go down in history, my boy.”

He rested his hand on my shoulder for a moment. Then he dropped his hand and turned to face the front of the barge. The steel beneath our feet rose slowly and began to move. It would be a long trip and after a few minutes, I sat down beside Martha.

“How’s your head?” I asked.

“Bad.” She pulled off her shades and rubbed her eyes.

“It’s mostly over. After tomorrow, you should be able to take a good long break.”

“If we survive.” I almost didn’t catch what she said. I did catch the glance she threw at Jean. Jean caught it too and Martha shivered beside me.

“If she’s as powerful as she’s supposed to be, this should be easy.” I rubbed her shoulder and tried to convince myself that what I was saying was true. “Anyway, Magneto and I are a pretty tough team, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” She was looking at her laptop again, watching what looked like a news clip with the sound turned down.

“It’s too late for second thoughts, Martha.” I whispered in her ear. She turned and stared at me, those silver eyes catching me by surprise with that punch to the gut effect. That hadn’t happened for a while. I must have looked like fish out of water, mouth gaping.

“Who said I was having second thoughts?” She whispered, eyes flickering from me to Jean and Magneto. They dimmed a little as she got control back. I was starting to figure out how that worked, she wouldn’t have lost control if I hadn’t hit a nerve.

“I do.” I whispered. “Aren’t you?” I don’t know why I can’t just leave shit alone. I never have been able to just let things drop.

“Using the Cure on us isn’t the same thing as killing us. We’re going to kill them. Some of them at least. And that little boy.” She was leaning close to me, lips almost against my ear.

“You aren’t going to be killing anybody. You’re going to be watching our backs and doing crowd control.” That came out a little harsher than I meant it and she drew back a little.

“I’m part of this as much as anybody. I joined the Brotherhood to stop Mutant Registration, not to kill people.” Her eyes flashed again and her voice rose a little. I think that was the first time I ever saw her angry. “And I know it’s too late to back out. Magneto would kill me.”

I swallowed hard, shaking off the power of those eyes. I reached out and put a finger on her lips to silence her.

“Shh…You’re right. It is too late. And he would.” I leaned close and whispered to her, trying to make it look as if I was going to kiss her and praying that Jean wasn’t snooping or didn’t care. No, Martha wasn’t stupid at all. She knew the score.

I kissed her then, pushing her laptop aside, trying to make her forget. I was sorry I’d even brought it up, because now it was eating at me too. I had a sinking feeling that Bobby would be there. I was almost certain of it. And this time, there’d be no walking away.

I sat with her for a long time, not talking. There didn’t seem to be anything to say really. I wanted to make her promises. That we’d be O.K. That we’d both make it. That if we did, I’d find someway to make it up to her. That Magneto wouldn’t kill her.

Too many doubts. Too much thinking. There was only one thing I could do. Keep going. Not worry about Bobby or Rogue or any of them. Not think of the people I would kill. Or of getting killed myself.

People used to tell me all the time that I didn’t think. That not thinking was why I was always causing trouble. Now, I couldn’t seem to stop.

So I did what I always did when I wanted to stop thinking. I pulled out my lighter and started playing with it. Martha was leaning against me and yawned sleepily. It was getting dark now and the flickering light played across her face and reflected in her eyes.

“Why don’t you take a little nap?” I whispered. She’d shut down the laptop a long time ago to save power. I was pretty amazed at Magneto’s stamina. He still stood stiff and straight, unmoving. Jean stood almost as still, occasionally looking around. Martha shifted to curl up beside me, her head on my knee, face turned so she could watch the flickering flame.

“Aren’t you tired?”

“No. Not really.” I was too keyed up and nervous to sleep. The barge was slowing as it was harder for Magneto to pick his way through the trees, but it didn’t look like we were stopping anytime soon. Flashlights and other, less “normal” types of lights began to play through the forest.

I continued to play with the lighter, falling into that familiar hypnotic rhythm.

Flick…snap…flick…snap.

Soon Martha was sleeping and eventually I put the lighter away and looked up at the stars between the trees. I don’t remember falling asleep, but I must have. The next thing I was aware of was the sudden thump of the steel beneath me contacting the ground.

“Pyro…Wake up my boy. Time to make camp.” Magneto sounded tired and I squinted up at him in the darkness. I could hear the others around us among the trees. There were a few tents set up around a fire pit already. I shook Martha to wake her up while Magneto led Jean away.

“Wake up, Baby. Let’s go stake out a tent.” She mumbled sleepily as I helped her gather up her equipment and dig out a flashlight. Fortunately, there was already a tent set up for us. Just a small one, big enough for two.

“At least we don’t have to share.” She yawned again as she carefully arranged her stuff along one side of the tent.

“I should hope not.” I dumped my knapsack next to hers. There wasn’t much in it. Magneto had said to travel light.

Then we went outside to sit by the campfire and eat. Magneto and Jean were nowhere to be seen and everyone was pretty quiet. Tired I guess. We didn’t stay long.

Inside the tent we pulled the sleeping bags together and rearranged them to make a single bed. Then we curled up together and just lay there awhile without talking. Neither one of us was in the mood for anything more than that. It was too weird, listening to the others around us and watching the shadows play across the tent.

I heard Callisto’s voice a few times, and Magneto’s. Didn’t sound like anything important. I knew it was late and we’d probably be starting out again early in the morning. We had to keep moving or someone would find us. Whether it would be the XMen or the government or both, I didn’t know.

“I’m glad you’re here with me.” I thought she was asleep, until she spoke.

“I’m glad you’re here, too.” I kissed her forehead. “You should sleep. We ought to get there sometime tomorrow afternoon, I think.”

“I know.” Then she snuggled a little closer and after a while her breathing changed and I knew she was asleep. I don’t think it was long after that that I fell asleep.

In the morning, Martha lit up her equipment just long enough to check on the news and for any new reports. Looked like we moved just in time, there was a raid on the Camp and we had to assume Madrox had been caught. We also had to assume that the military was on our trail, so we scrambled to get everyone up and moving.

This time, Callisto rode on the barge with us. During the first leg of our trip, she was busy handing out bottled water and other supplies from the back of the barge. She hardly spoke to me and completely ignored Martha. This time Jean walked ahead of us and the forest seemed to part in front of her all on its own.

Now it was a sort of race, to get us all to Alcatraz before they figured out exactly where we were. Instead of heading straight there, we were heading toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Magneto had a plan that should keep them guessing until the last minute.

As the day went on, the barge got lighter and lighter. Eventually, Callisto hopped off and rejoined her Omegas. Martha and I didn’t talk much. There wasn’t much to say and not a whole lot of privacy anyway. Every once in a while she would power up her gear and check for any news, but there wasn’t much to report.

By late afternoon, our advance scouts had come in sight of the bridge and we stopped to eat a meal. Afterwards, Magneto held another of his speeches, speaking from the barge as it hovered in the air over their heads. The crowd reacted enthusiastically and I found myself cheering with them, though I couldn’t tell you exactly what he said.

Then we were on the move again, faster this time. When we came within sight of the bridge, we abandoned the barge and everything that wasn’t absolutely necessary. It was late afternoon and the traffic was slow, nearly bumper to bumper. Magneto led us out onto the pavement after simply stopping traffic and sweeping the cars aside like they were toys.

We met no resistance at all. People either stayed locked in their cars or scrambled to get out of them and run away. We must have been a sight, walking shoulder to shoulder onto the bridge. I was up front with Magneto. So were Jean and Callisto and the other major players. Martha was somewhere near the rear, concentrating on “keeping up morale” with her power.

Once we were far enough onto the bridge, Magneto stopped us. The bridge shivered and rumbled under our feet as he lifted it from its footings into the air. I’ve seen some serious shit, but nothing compared to this. The humans trapped on the bridge with us screamed and panicked. The bridge moved slowly through the air until it landed neatly on Alcatraz’s shore.

I knew what was coming next. We’d been over this again and again. Callisto had no trouble locating the boy and as soon as she was sure of the location, we sent in the “pawns” as Magneto called them.

“Let’s take it down!” I shouted and was answered by a cheer and they rushed all around me to attack. Magneto held back that idiot Juggernaut from charging in. Then the humans started firing on them.

The humans threw us a little curve ball with their plastic guns. They almost got us with their launchers, spraying Cure needles everywhere, but Magneto protected us. But, of course, we had our own special weapon, Arclight with her shockwaves. She got most of their guns with just a couple claps of her hands.

Then we sent in our second rank. Our “knights” I suppose if I remember my chess pieces right. The ones that had some real power, brains, or both. We could hear the scream of a jet’s engines and a familiar shape landed on top of the prison. The XMen had arrived.

There were only six of them and the humans against our army. It seemed ridiculous.

“Finish them!” Magneto commanded and our forces attacked. Then it was chaos.

Storm flew around throwing bolts of lightning. Bobby blasted people with ice and threw up solid sheets of the stuff. Wolverine slashed wildly with his claws. The blue guy I had never met while I was there but I recognized him. He fought like a fiend roaring and leaping around. Piotr was there like some metal statue come to life and throwing his weight around. Then there was little Kitty, playing cat and mouse with that funky power of hers. They must really have been hurting for power if they tapped her. She should have been doing her homework, not fighting with the big boys!

Our chosen assassins, Quill, Arclight, and Psylocke slipped off to do their job, using the charge as a diversion. They were going to take out Worthington and that lady doctor of his. Callisto vanished in a blur, only to reappear leaping from the top of the building to drag Storm out of the air. They hit the ground hard.

I was all ready to jump in and take out Bobby, but Magneto stopped me.

“Not yet.”

We watched the fight continue. Storm and Callisto were going at it hard and people were staying out of their way. Then Magneto turned to Juggernaut.

“Go inside, get the boy and kill him.”

“With pleasure.”

Then the big guy trotted off, the ground shaking beneath his feet. He plowed right through the soldiers and leaped through the outer walls. I couldn’t believe it when I saw little Kitty take off after him. That was going to be a massacre.

I almost missed the kid with the wings swooping in to save that Worthington guy. Shit. Callisto’s people had failed. She wasn’t doing much better. Storm threw her into a fence and fried her ass. I could almost feel sorry for her. Almost.

“It’s time to end this war.” Magneto spoke again. Behind us, cars rose into the air. I knew what I had to do.

I ignited my wrist throwers and began setting the cars on fire as they passed, turning them into giant balls of flaming steel. Magneto slung them into our opponents, sending them running for cover. I could feel the fire burning in my blood. The heat rose in me and everything became flame. I was Pyro and I would burn.

I could hardly hear the screaming over the roar of the fire in my ears. The flames would drive the poison from this place. Purify it. Consume it. We would punish them for daring to challenge us. How dare they try to take our godhood from us!

It was all glorious fire, burning bigger and brighter than ever before. Then Bobby came out of nowhere and began icing our missiles. Putting out my fire. My blood was boiling.

“Go ahead.” Then Magneto cut me loose. It was time. Bobby couldn’t run from this fight. I couldn’t either. But, I didn’t want to. I wanted this to end.

Bobby waited patiently for me, peeling off his gloves and throwing them aside. I lit my wrist lighter. Then it was a duel. Fire against ice. I hardly even noticed the rising fog. If I’d thought about it, I would have known it was Storm. But I could think of nothing but the fire and taking Bobby down. This fight was a long time coming.

I pressed my attack and Bobby fell to his knees. The flames surrounded him, but he was somehow still holding it back.

“You’re in over your head, Bobby.” Go down. Stay down. You can’t possibly win. There’s no need to die for a lost cause. The boy is probably already dead. “Maybe you should go back to school.”

I thought it was over. Then icy cold hands reached through the flames and grabbed my wrists. They froze the fuel reservoirs in my wrists lighters instantly. I could feel the cold burning my skin.

I stared in shock as Bobby…No…The Iceman…rose to his feet. A man made of ice wearing Bobby’s face. Then there was nothing but blackness.