-Stark Tower-
"Let me guess, you guys must be the Brotherhood?" Peter asked as he observed Wanda and Pietro.
Techno streaming into his thoughts with insights on Wanda and Pietro's public bio-data, there was nothing much on the surface meta-verse aside from their date and place of birth, nationality, and other trivial information. If he wanted more he'd have to dig deeper.
"Yep, that's us, hmm this is some good pizza" Pietro answered, chewing on his stolen piece of pizza, Kat glowered at him from her seat, she finished up the rest of the pizza before anyone else could grab a piece.
Bobby glanced over at Jean, they seemed to be having a silent conversation with their eyes.
"And like I said, we are the real good guys, these cowards here just give their fellow mutants a bad name" Wanda added, staring down at Jean and the rest with a smug expression.
"I'm sure they told about their school and how it's a 'safe' place for mutants everywhere and while it's true that they keep mutants safe they do it by spitting on the pride of our race in every other way. They would rather huddle up in that school with their false sense of security than stand up for our race and fight for our rights." Wanda Continued.
"They are more than happy to let the rest of the world fuck with everyone else, the mutants that aren't part of their little group, walk all over our kind, hunt us, experiment on us, and use us-"
"That's not true-" Kat interrupted only to choke on her spit as Wonder's eyes lit up with a crimson glow.
" Be quiet, it's rude to interrupt someone when they're talking" Wanda said with an edge to her tone.
It happened in an instant.
Frost suddenly crawled over the table and spread throughout the floor as the temperature dropped by a few degrees; Pietro held a vibrating hand which blurred with supernatural speed to Bobby's throat too fast for human eyes to follow, Jean's iris lit up with a golden glow as two invisible force could be felt pushing against each other; Wanda's chair was pushed back few centimeters as Kat let out a deep breaths.
"Easy, easy, everyone just calm down, don't do anything hasty frost finger, that's my thing," Pietro said softly in an attempt to calm the situation down.
"I could freeze your cells before you could even think of moving, speedy." Bobby retorted calmly as he held Pietro's gaze challengingly. Cold mists of air accompanied his words.
His threat could be felt as frost crawled up his shirt like it had a life of its own.
"I bet you could, it's a shame you chose their side. Wanda?" Pietro glanced back at his with a hard look.
"Just try it witch, give me a reason" Jean stated glaring at Wanda, the glow in her eyes intensified slightly.
"You think you can take me ginger snap" Wanda retorted, matching her intensity, a challenging grin lit up her face.
Oddly enough no one seemed to notice what was transpiring despite it being in the middle of Stark Tower. Techno chimed in that it could still be noticed on the security cam so he decided to cover that up before making his move.
He was getting rather annoyed with their presumptions, did they think they could just force their opinions on him- cause it was starting to look like they were under the impression that his only option was choosing between the two of them?
Maybe it was about time he made his position clear to the two groups.
{Imagine Breaker: Active}
*Crack*
The soft sound of shattering glass filled the air; the pressure emitted by Wanda and Jean vanished as the glow in their eyes dimmed, returning them to normal; Pietro's hand stopped vibrating returning to its normal human limb; frost on the table and floor vanished, erased as if reality corrected itself and deemed them an error on the mundane world; the temperature instantly returned to normal.
Invisible black bandages flowed out of Peter's body, five separate strands flowed through the air before softly wrapping themselves around everyone's neck, close and softly moving slithering like snakes into place, enough to the necks for them to feel the pressure but not hard enough for them to know there was something there.
Everyone froze for a second, they blinked in unison, confused and shocked as they all collectively moved their gaze to Peter. They all felt their air stand on edge, an unnerving feeling settling into them; an unspoken threat on their lives was felt left in the air as they all felt a soft pressure on their throats. Curiously enough the Maximoff siblings suddenly stilled all movement, their eyes moving from Peter to something else in the air.
The Maximoff twins could see the bandages, Peter noted with interest. They must have some experience with death in one form or another.
*Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! *
Peter drummed his fingers amusingly on the table.
"You know, I like my life, the mundanity of it as it is, it's pretty comfortable, and now. All of you are here talking like I'll join any of your little mutant groupies. You people are talking like you have a claim on me or something, like you have the power to influence my decision to choose what I get to do; either go to some secret mutant school or some mutant brotherhood. You must all feel pretty confident in yourselves right? But, What if I choose neither, what if I don't wanna join any of your little gangs, what would you do? What would your groups do to someone who could take away that little something that makes you a mutant? What would you do to me, I wonder?" Peter leaned over on his left palm, his eyes had an unnerving yellow glow that set everyone he glanced at on edge.
Pietro pulled his backhand back in a disarming gesture as he moved it back to his side. Wanda sat up a bit, lifting her head up and putting her hands on the table in a similar fashion. Jean and her friends couldn't see the invisible black bandages around them though, so they chose to remain silently and wait calmly.
"Because if you are planning to do anything, if you people mess with my life or the people in it anyway, I can promise you this. It won't end well, not for you or your little groups. " Peter finished with a snap of his finger. The bandages tightened for just an instant for added effect before vanishing.
Peter didn't know any of them, he met Jean, Bobby, and Kat, and he could tell they were pretty alright guys, and as for the Maximoff siblings, he didn't know either of them except their name. He needed to set boundaries and draw a metaphorical line in the sand to let them know at least to some extent that he could be dangerous if they crossed the line.
He needed to make a statement that said; Fuck with me and find out.
*Snap*
{Imagine Breaker: Passive}
For a moment after he said his piece, no one spoke for a moment before Kat inevitably broke the silence rather unintentionally.
"Damn, that was hot." Kat all but whispered out before blinking in embarrassment and finding great interest in anything but Peter's amused gaze.
"Pffft" Bobby made a face that made it clear what he would be doing right now if he had no self-control, his actions broke the ice so to speak.
"For once we can agree on something kitty and I have a hunch that getting along with you is going to be dangerously addictive Peter. But you're right, if that's the kind of vibe you're getting then you have my apologies for that." Wanda straightened up lightly, giving Peter her signature coy smile as Kat's face suddenly matched Jean's hair, Wanda waved her hand in the air and a card after a bright crimson glow. She stood up and slid the card over to Peter.
"We won't do anything to you or those close to you, I can't make any promises as situations can change but you'll have nothing to fear from me or my brother. That's a way to contact us if you ever consider joining us." Wanda stood up as she spoke and her brother mirrored her actions.
Peter arched an eyebrow curiously at her action.
"We're not here to start I fight. One of our friends sensed you and we came to confirm it. We came to find you because we needed to meet you, to let you know that there are other's out there that you can turn to when the world fucks you over. You're one of us Peter, we've seen it, don't let this cowards talk you into doing something you don't want to." Wanda added.
"We're not the bad guys Peter, we're fighting for our right to exist and your power may complicate that fight, it would be better to have you with us than against us but that's your choice. We protect our own and you would be safer with us than against us. Until then, it was nice meeting you, Peter." With that both siblings excused themselves and walked away from the group, they paid no mind to Jean, Bobby, and Kat glaring down their backs making no move to stop them.
"Wait" Peter stopped them. Wanda stopped and turned to Peter.
"You can see them?" Peter motioned over to his bandages.
"What about it?" Wanda confirmed with a question.
"Just curious, Only those who've experienced death can casually see them you know," Peter said to her.
"Hmm, interesting, goes to show whose side you really belong to Peter. They don't see the world like you and I. All they see is black and white, sun shines, and rainbows. You won't fit in well with them. Like I said, you belong with us. " She added as she left with her brother, their backs.
"What was that about?" Jean asked as they settled into a comfortable atmosphere.
"Nothing, it's an inside joke," Peter replied.
Jean let out a sigh before turning to Peter.
"Thank god I thought they'd never leave, they think they're all that. Damn scarlet bitch" Kat added, only to blush bright red when Peter glanced her way. Clearing her throat. "I mean yeah, bad guys, terrible am I right."
"Smooth, real smooth Kat. I mean damn, that's hot right" Bobby chuckled before donging another pizza crust as Kat's face burned even brighter if that was even possible.
A cleaner passing by swept up the pizza and gave Kat a look. Kat offered up an apologetic smile and a soft and embarrassed sorry.
"Listen Peter I'm sorry you had to see that, if it wasn't obvious we don't get along much," Jean said with a sigh.
" Look I get it Peter, I mean, you don't know us, to you we're nothing but strangers. You have the right to be cautious but I can promise you that we're really only here to help. it's not as black and white as they put it. They may act all friendly now but after this, they'll be coming for you. They like their powers, they're proud of it, it's their everything and now that they know what you can do, it'd like you said, it won't end well." Bobby said he followed Peter to try to reassure him.
"Yeah, Pete, I mean it would mean a lot to us to have you at the school, t would mean a lot to a lot of people if you could join. You don't have to join the school, You can just stop by and meet the professor and decide after." Kat added, her face still beet-red.
"Group 12! Group 12?" their teacher called out from the other side of the cafeteria signaling that it was time for the unveiling.
"Here" Kat called out.
"Look, we won't come after you or disrupt your life, we only want to help in any way we can. Will you at least consider it? For now, after the trip, you can let us know when you decide." Jean offered.
"Alright, but don't get your hopes up though, I may consider visiting your school and meeting this professor but joining you guys isn't something I can do at the moment, not now anyway," Peter said after some consideration.
"Thats alright that's all we need" Jean replied with a self-assured smile.
"Yay! I can't wait to see the look on Anna's face when she meets you. Alright, Let's go" Kat beamed animatedly as she stood up to join the rest of the students.
They all stood up to go join the other students as their teacher called out more group names.
Peter subtly whipped his nose free from blood. Turns out activating Imagine Breaker was too much for his current body. The mental and physical energy and strain were too much. The combined will of all of humanity cramped into his head space was a lot- he silently thanked Fool's mask for its effects. He could already feel his body adjusting, adapting to the power.
He needed more practice. He needed to train.
.....
On the other side of the building, the Maximoff siblings made their way out through the crowd.
"He is strong," Pietro said to his sister.
"I know." his sister replied.
"You're shaking."
"So are you." Wanda retorted.
"We're just gonna leave them like that."
"You think you can take them all on, besides we did what we came to do. He knows about us now."
"You're right, but…his dangerous, you felt it too."
"I know."
"Dad won't like this, you saw what he did."
"I know."
"What if he doesn't decide to join us."
"He will, eventually, I saw it."
"Your visions aren't always right."
"Irene saw it too. That's all the confirmation we need"
"And what if she's wrong too, power's like his can't be predicted, I don't like this, he's an omega too, he could be even stronger than you or Dad."
"Jesus, Pietro will you just calm down. Look if things don't go as planned then we'll deal with it. It won't come to that. I'm sure of it. Let's just meet up with everyone and then plan our next move."
"Alright, if you say so. I'm just worried."
" I know, me too."
Unbeknown to them multiple security cameras zoomed into them, following their every move as audio data was recorded and relayed to another source that wasn't Stark Tower Security.
...…
-Chapter End-