You&#39;ll Never Catch Me

Lorna was really beginning to lose her mind. Everyone around her had already lost theirs so why not? She had all but given up trying to talk to Jean or Scott. Jean was on a rampage and Scott was hiding. Alex was mad at her. Wanda was posting public notices about wanting to blow her up. It hadn't been the best morning.

She had to at least get out of this room, this building. It was stifling her. She tentatively asked Alex to come on a walk with her - getting away from all this stuff would help him, too - and he begrudgingly agreed. Well, that was something.

Lorna walked outside the X-Corp building and instantly felt a bit better. It was warm, the sun was shining and she was in Paris for heaven's sake! She brushed a hand through her hair absently and watched the passersby. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a skulking figure that looked vaguely familiar. There was something in the way the man carried himself...he was jittery and space seemed to be blurring a bit around him...

All of a sudden she knew who he was. She ran across the street, ignoring the cars beeping as she passed, instinctively jumping a bit into the air to avoid being hit. "Pietro!" She stopped short beside her brother and threw her arms around him. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you! Where have you been?"

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Pietro blinked when out of nowhere arms were thrown around him and someone was hugging him. His first instinct was to struggle away.

Who was holding him? His wife and daughter were on the moon, Crystal hiding Luna from him as always. Wanda was dead. Who would...

He blinked a few times, then saw the green hair and knew it was Lorna. Family. Someone who cared about him. She had always cared about him, back when they were little and running through the castle Magneto had before it was taken away because Layla changed the world and made them evil.

His arms wrapped around Lorna and he held her tightly. If Wanda was dead, what was to say Jean and Stark wouldn't hunt Lorna down next if she stepped out of line. He needed to keep her safe now. Keep her from being hurt.

"Everything is going to be ok, Lorna... it's ok..." he whispered softly, his voice not the soft calm it usually was, but instead just a bit on the offkilter side.

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Lorna smiled her first genuine smile in hours. This was the big brother she'd always wanted. It was so nice to feel protected and safe after the events of the last few weeks.

But there was something in Pietro's voice that made her pause. Something wasn't right. She pulled away and held him at arm's length.

"Pietro? Have you seen Wanda? Do you know where she is? She's really scaring everyone with her pronouncements. I think we have to do something." Her voice was earnest and grave. She watched Pietro as she spoke, trying to gauge his reaction. The twins were always close, she didn't quite understand why Pietro was hiding from Wanda. He seemed very tired and on edge...and...

"What are you wearing on your head?"

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His eyes darkened at the mention of Wanda. She still spoke of Wanda in present tense. Had no one told her yet that Wanda had been killed? First their father, and now he had to tell Lorna...

"She's dead, Lorna. There's nothing we can do for her now." His voice was sad, broken. "Tony Stark sent Jean Grey after her, and Jean killed her. We need to stop her before she kills other people..."

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Lorna blinked. She very nearly started laughing out loud...but his expression stopped her. Pietro was completely serious. He really believed Wanda was dead.

"What are you talking about?" She shook her head. "Pietro...Jean wouldn't kill Wanda. She's mad at her but she'd never kill her. That's ridiculous. And Stark...he's the one who asked me to find her and make sure she's okay. He's really worried about her."

"Why would you think she was dead? I've been trying to contact you forever...I bet she has, too. Look," Lorna fumbled around for her PDA, logged in and pulled up Wanda's post about people she wanted to blow up and handed it to Pietro. "She wrote this yesterday. I don't where she is and she won't tell me but we have to find her. If she keeps this up somebody really will kill her..."

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Pietro's eyes clouded in confusion. He started to back away. She wasn't going to believe him either. Why could no one believe him? Everyone always say Jean as a saint, but she wasn't! She...

But as Lorna held up the PDA, he saw the post from Wanda. He hadn't even charged his blackberry in days now, so it had died and he wasn't able to get online anymore. His fingers touched the screen, as if he didn't believe it.

"She can't be alive... that's not her." Pietro shook his head, sounding lost. "She wouldn't be like that. And I can't feel her. If she was alive I would feel her..."

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Lorna looked from the screen to Pietro. "Well...I admit she doesn't sound like our Wanda, but why would someone impersonate her? I mean, really...who would want to be her?"

She bit her lip and glanced around, what was taking Alex so long? She sighed as she turned her attention back to her brother. "Look, did you...do you know about the...reality shift? The new one? Jean just got back from Wundagore and while she was there she was sucked up into another alternate universe...and she and Stark and Captain Rogers, well, they fixed it. Set it back right. And in the process Wanda lost her powers...or at least they think she did. But now she's disappeared and reading this - " she indicated the PDA - "I think she's in trouble."

"Maybe you should try writing to her. I bet she'd tell you where she is."

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"I heard about it. I don't know... it was strange."

There was a crate behind him, and he sat down carefully, his hand coming up to run through his hair. The ski cap fall to the ground without him noticing or caring. "I was there... I saw Rogers... and he had these two boys that he said... he said they were Wanda's. That Tony sent them to see her. Then I was with Wanda, alone in the darkness and she was crying, and Jean attacked her and hurt her. It felt like Jean was ripping her apart. Then I woke up and I couldn't feel her."

He looked up at Lorna, his eyes showing just how confused and broken he was. It was the loss of contact with his sister that caused most of it, and the barage of thoughts and emotions he had absorbed from living in Wanda's head for awhile.

"I used to always be able to feel her in my head. Now I can't. I can't feel her..." he muttered softly.

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Lorna was a bit out of her element here. She'd never had a real good grasp of the bond that existed between the twins. And Pietro had never been easy to read.

"I...I, well...that sounds awful. But...maybe it's not what you think, okay? Maybe it was just a dream or an alternate reality. I mean, Jean's been weird lately but...but, I know her. She wouldn't kill Wanda. And she wouldn't lie to me about it if she did." Lorna had to believe this. There was no way Jean and Tony would be making up stories to cover the fact that they'd killed Wanda. No possible way.

She hoped.

"Please try to talk to her. Or talk to Jean or Stark...We can figure this out, Pietro. I'll help."

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"I hope you're right..." PIetro looked up at Lorna, and held a hand out for the PDA. "I'll try. If it's her, I'll know. But I'm not going to talk to Stark or Jean."

He started to write a message to his sister in that post Lorna had left up on the screen.

ooc:oh look, a perfect place for Alex to wander in...LOL!

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Alex finished talking to Jean a bit more about the daily ins-and-outs of X-Corp, which had prolonged his walk with Lorna. A walk would be good, though, to help them both. If for no other reason than it gave them some more time to talk things out and figure out a better plan for... well, for whatever the hell was going on.

Of course, as soon as he stepped outside of the building, he saw Lorna talking with Pietro. Blinking in surprise at seeing his old friend and teammate, Alex walked up to clap him on the back before stopping. "Hey, Pietro? What's that weird tinfoil thing by your feet?"

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"It keeps the psychics out."

He looked up at Alex, confused for a moment as to how the younger Summers had gotten here, and then he remembered that Lorna and Alex were still together. The only kid of Magneto to have a stable, normal relationship. Lucky for her.

He kept his eye on the PDA for Wanda's response. "What are you two doing here anyway?"

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"O-kay," he replied doubtfully, looking back and forth from his old teammate to his girlfriend.

"Uh, we're here to take charge of X-Corp while Jean and Rachel go on some mission or something. I'm still vague on the details. A better question, Pietro, is what are you doing here?"

And what, exactly, had he been talking to Lorna about?

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Lorna looked from her brother to her boyfriend, biting her lip in thought. Pietro was focused on her PDA, probably awaiting a response from their sister; she took Alex' hand and pulled him off to the side.

"He was staking out the building 'cause he thought Jean had killed Wanda," she said, quietly, her voice incredulous. "I told him that was ridiculous and what we knew. I've got him to attempt chatting with her but I don't think he really believes me yet." She glanced back at Pietro. "Like we needed another crazy person to deal with." She sighed.

"I'm going to contact Stark and let him know what's going on. Can you talk to Pietro? Maybe he'll believe you more than me." She gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. "I promise we'll find time for us. But he needs a friend."

She gave his hand a squeeze and pushed him toward her brother, still watching the tiny screen held in his hand. Then she pulled out her cell phone and sent a message to Tony Stark.

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"Wait, what?" Alex frowned at Lorna, then looked down at the tinfoil on the floor, wondering if Pietro was trying to protect himself from Jean, Emma, or Rachel. Or maybe all three.

"Jean didn't kill Wanda, Pietro," he told him as he sat next to him after the nudge from his girlfriend. "Jean didn't kill anyone. She's inside, making plans for some mission with Rachel."

Alex gently pulled the PDA out of Pietro's hands and grinned. "Hey. It's going to be fine. Lorna was worried about her, too, but I figured you'd know where she was. And, okay, even though it seems that no one knows where she is, we know that she's alive since she's been posting in her journal. Acting a little weird, sure, but that's not new."

He really didn't like Lorna talking to Stark, but they'd already discussed it and she'd promised to tell him everything. So, if Pietro stopped acting like a crazy-man, then he'd tell her, too. "Hey, you want something to drink? Some food? Extra... tinfoil?"

OOC: Not sure what the posting order is now, but I figured Lorna was stepping away so the guys could talk.

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Pietro looked up at Alex, listening to him. And his eyes cleared a bit. He ran his fingers through his silver hair, taking a few deep breaths.

"I lost her once, Alex. With Onslaught. I barely made it through that with my sanity intact. I can't do this again."

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Alex sat next to him, nodding. "I get it, I do. How many times have we all lost someone we've cared about through the years, though? Somehow, though, we always manage to make it, though. She's fine, Pietro."

He clapped him on the shoulder. "Okay? Wanda is fine. She lost her powers, and that's it. That's why it's been strange for you right now, probably."

He eyed him. "It's going to be okay. And you're not going to go and do something stupid like try to hurt Jean or someone else who hasn't done anything to really hurt Wanda."

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Pietro rolled his eyes to look at Alex at the mention of Jean, and there was danger there. "If Jean and Tony had just left Wanda alone, she would not be like this. I was there, Alex. She wasn't this bad. She was recovering. But they had to go and evaluate her. I watched it all, Alex. In here."

He pointed to his head. "I saw it all. I felt the Phoenix rip Wanda apart. Rip me apart. And now look at Wanda, and what is Jean doing to help what her damn Phoenix has done? Nothing. So maybe she didn't kill my sister, but instead she handed her a knife to do it herself."

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"You were there? Okay, so tell me then. What happened, exactly?" But as he asked, he saw Pietro point to his head. Not. Good.

"You saw it in your mind. The Phoenix hurt you..." He didn't finish the thought, though, and looked to Lorna for help. "Pietro, have you bothered talking to Jean first to see if there's something she could do to help?"

Or something she could do to help you?

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"I don't trust her." His eyes were deadly serious. "Not now, and never again."

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"Okay," he started. "If you don't trust her, then is there someone you do trust? Me? Lorna?" He waved at his girlfriend. "She's your sister. I'm your friend. If we say things are going to be okay, would you believe us?"

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Lorna closed her phone with a scowl and stepped back beside Alex. Pietro didn't look much calmer. She exchanged a worried glance with Alex and put a hand out to her brother.

"You can trust us, Pietro. We want to help - you and Wanda. I've been trying to get her to talk to me and come here. Nobody wants to hurt her." She glanced at Alex again, biting her lip, nervously. "Please let us help you."

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"The only person I've ever truely trusted was Wanda." He looked at Lorna, then Alex. "I'll believe you. But until I see Wanda and get this figured out, i can't trust anyone."

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He looked warily at his girlfriend and shrugged. "I guess that's the best we can hope for right now, then. We're going to be here in Paris for a bit, and like Lorna said, Wanda will come here. Or rather, Lorna will get Wanda to come here. She can be pretty persuasive."

Alex took a look at the X-Corp offices and figured having Pietro see Jean right now wouldn't be the best idea. "You have a place to stay? Or maybe..." He eyed Lorna. "Hey, babe, you know of a good place where he can hole up for a bit?"

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Lorna looked from one to the other again. Why would she know where to put him? She sighed and glanced at her PDA in Alex' hands.

"Look, Pietro, you're getting a response. You chat a bit while we figure out where you can stay, okay?" She placed the PDA cautiously in his hands. "She's being weird so don't get upset if she's not the Wanda you know and love...And don't run away - if...if something's wrong we're right behind you."

He didn't answer, but took the device from her. She stepped back with Alex and pulled out her cell phone again. "I don't know what to do, Alex...I'm worried he'll run." She punched in numbers on her phone, logging in to look for a nearby hotel. "I guess he'd wait here if we can get Wanda to agree to come. She wouldn't tell Tony where she is either. I..." She looked up at her boyfriend, at a loss for words and near tears with the stress of the situation.

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Pietro just worked to communicate back and forth with Wanda, and finally nodded. "She's going to come here," he stated, looking up at Lorna. "We can find out if this is really her or some imposter."

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Lorna blinked, trying to understand quite what he saying. He didn't quite believe them yet...but he was willing to wait and see. Good enough. She nodded.

"Okay. We'll get you set up in a hotel and I can send her the information." She still held Alex' hand for reassurance, but smiled encouragingly at her brother. "When you see her, you'll feel better. I know it."

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