You'll Never Catch Me

You want to hear a secret? Some piece of information that you can examine and then wonder about why I kept it a secret? Or perhaps upon revealing it, you will look at me differently, as you can't believe what I just revealed?

I have many secrets. It's just my nature to keep my life to myself. It's a way for me to protect my daughter. A way to protect my sisters (yes, Lorna, I have secrets I keep that help protect you, and no, I'm not telling them.)

However, my biggest secret is something that only two people know now, and I trust them to both to be able to respect that bit of information and not use it to their own agenda.


But I have a feeling that if I don't answer the question, I won't get credit for this entry.


I hate my uniform, especially when it was green. But it's the only material that can hold up to my speed. But it shows off every curve of my body, and that can be a bit revealing in ways that if I was self-concious, I would worry over. and you wonder why I never get fat... it's the fear of that uniform showing it....

But if could be worse. It could be yellow spandex.

"What most people don't seem to realize is that there is just as much money to be made out of the wreckage of a civilization as from the up building of one… There's good money in empire building. But, there's more in empire wrecking." Rhett Butler, Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell).

Human beings will always look out for a way to profit from one another. Since the first being walked the land, they looked to best one another. They looked to prove themselves worthy over another, whether it was to get the blessing of their god, or the affection of a mate.

As we evolved, our needs changed. No longer did we require just the simple things in life, but now we came to need "names". We wanted to be known to others, and to have them acknowledge us with the respect we felt we deserved. We would work to build empires of gold, mountains in which we can sit upon and look down at those who, as we believed, were not as good as us.

Were beneath us.

But as we looked down on others, it just made the one who were "lesser" angry. The "name" you made was not seen as a empire of gold, but instead of tyranny and unjust. And they would spread this word to others, corrupting the "name" and thus the Empire. Then, the same angry ones would create ways to bring down the empire of gold, taking the gold from the empire into their own coffers and using it to start on their own empires.

Soon, the gold is tarnished beyond recognition, and the circular nature of humans repeating the past continues. Empires rise and fall. And it is the greedy who profit.

Currently the rise of the mutant "empire" scares the homo-sapians. And the greedy spread the stories of the evil in this empire. And they are the same who build the Sentinels. The ones who developed the horror known as the Legacy Virus.

They profit from the fear and anger at the mutant race. They prevent the empire from having the "gold" which would bring peace. And so it will continue until the end of time, no matter what either side does.

Life and death. To build and to destroy. It is encoded in all of our genes, homo-sapian and superior alike. We can not change that. We can only change ourselves, if we choose to. And teach the next generation.

ooc: going back to the 1997 Quicksilver comic series for this. The underlying theme in that series is that Pietro speaks his thoughts into a voice recorder as letters to his wife, who he believes is dead for the first few issues...


Dearest Crystal,

Ever since you left with Wanda to go after Onslaught, my life has been a mess. Being the people we are and what we do, I always thought I would be prepared for the day I was told one of you left my life. Now I know that it's news I would never be able to handle, and to lose you both...

I'm barely holding on, my love. I can't sleep at night, knowing that there is no chance I can wake up to have you in my arms again. Knowing that our last moments were filled with painful accusations and hurtful words. If I only could have you back, I promise I would understand. I would help understand and fix what has gone wrong between us.

The only thing that keeps me going is Luna. She still doesn't understand that her mother is gone. She has snuck into my room in the early morning light and curled up in bed next to me. She asks where you are, and I can't tell her that you aren't coming back.

She's gotten so big now. So little, and yet she's so big. And smart, oh how much of our intelligence she has inherited. Bova managed to teach her to tie her shoelaces in just an hour.

When I look at her, all I see if your beauty reflected in her face, Crystal. And knowing that, I'm able to smile and know that there is still a tiny piece of you left here that I love with all my heart.

I love you, and miss you darling. Until next time, I remain your faithful husband, Pietro.

This is a situation that would come down to circumstances. You want to sit down and look at this and say "No, I would never do such a thing" because otherwise that would make me a bad person.

What happens though when it comes down to choices? When you have to weight the difference between the value of two lives, or the weight of one verses many?

What happens when the life of your child hangs in the balance? Or your sister or brother? A teammate? A father?

Can you justify killing another person for protecting yourself?

Killing another is not something you look to do. It's not something I enjoy doing, and try my hardest to prevent any death. It is better for the criminals to face justice than the barrel of a loaded gun.

But if I have to choose between seeing my daugher die, or killing some stranger who is holding the gun to her head, I will kill in a heartbeat and never regret my choice.


*locked from everyone*

And I forever struggle with the thought of just how long it is going to be before I'm forced to make my choice between my father and the world. And will I kill my father if I have to in order to save the rest of the world, even if they are intent on slowly destroying themselves anyway?

*unlocked*

There is a digital clock with a bomb strapped to it. The clock is counting down from 5. People are screaming, unable to move, knowing that as it counts down, their lives are coming to an end. And they don't want that to happen. It's not their "time".

5

People don't understand that we are only given a certain amount of time on this world. How your time will end all depends upon the individual and the circumstances, but the one sure thing is that time will end.

4

There are people who steal time. They feel they have the power to control the lives of others, choosing when their "time" is up... their "time" to face their consequences...

There are people who foolishly give up their time. They want to choose how and when they will end their time here, and from that, go out in the blaze of glory. And some want to see who else will come along.

3

There are people who gain time. Changing habits, making their lives better. Adding minutes, hours, days, years to their lives from doing simple things to make their bodies work better. It's not a miracle though. It's just self preservation.

2

Sometimes people complain about time moving so fast, that they don't know where it went. But it's not that time sped up. It's that when you stop paying attention to the clock, when you focus on the things that matter...

You'll find out that time, in itself, is just a number on a clock. It doesn't matter how long is invested... just how it's spent.

1

*******

Pietro smiled as he played with the bomb in the back of the Avengers twinjet. Wanda rolled her eyes, ignoring the smug look on her twin's face.

"Could you have cut your timing any closer, Quicksilver?" Hawkeye asked from the seat in front of her. "I mean, you're supposed to be the fastest man alive. You didn't have to let the clock go down to one before you actually cut the wires."

"No, I didn't," Pietro stated, putting the bomb on his lap. "But maybe doing such will let those people become just a bit more aware of how precious time can be."

ooc: going into the Ultimate 'verse for this one

There were many nights I would sit out on the other side of the lake, watching the small civilization in the Savage Lands that was known as home.

It was home, but yet, to me it never felt like it. It was a prison, one that while my feet could carry me far from it, i know I was never going to escape.

The Brotherhood. A mutant refuge, where the homosuperiors could come to live in peace, and not fear the persecutions of the human race. There was so much that could have been done, so much good that Father could have provided his people.

But instead he turned to terrorism. And me, I helped just because I wanted him to love me. Love me like the son I tried to be for him, and yet, he never saw.

I tried so hard, stepping over bounderies in my own personal code of ethics just to try and get his approval. But no. I was never good enough.

There was always something wrong with what I did. Something he would critique. Something he would point out, the bad outweighing the good I did for him. Nothing was perfect.

I could never be that son he wanted. I was a disappointment. The spurned puppy that he just kept kicking.

I guess he forgot the notion that you can only kick the dog so much, before he turns around to bite you.

I was a disappointment to him, but in reality, he was a disappointment to me. I loved my father, and I wanted to see him as a great man. But he isn't. He's just another hypocrit, and the Brotherhood ideal is really just a big disillusion.

[locked]

Ok... in retrospect... I think telling Wanda that using her powers to change the world so that everyone in the world had what they wanted and was happy...

Yeah... that whole little brainstorm there...

Probably not the best idea in the world.

It had merit though. of course there would HAVE to be a kid that would have the mutation to make everyone see through the illusion and gain their memories back... stupid Murphy

I mean, who doesn't want their friends and family to have everything that they desired? I mean, is it really my fault that you couldn't be happy having your dreams finally come true? If you're really all that upset over what your happy dream life was, don't go blaming me for it. THAT part of the illusion came from your brains, not mine or my sister's.

It was wrong, ok? I'll admit that. But I did it because I just wanted people to be happy. I had good intentions. And if that brat hadn't ripped the illusions out of your heads, do you really think that what you have now is better than what you had then?

[/locked]

We were still young; young and just married and still deeply in love. My life was finally taking a turn for the better, and in my arms was the redhead beauty that had been my undoing.

Crystal had still not seen alot of Earth at this point, so I brought her to New York for New Year's Eve. However, I wasn't stupid in going to stand in the cold huddled masses in the square while waiting for the ball to drop.

Instead, I wrapped my arms around her, and carried her up the side of a building. We sat on the edge, a blanket wrapped around both of us to stay warm while we listened to the party below us. We had our own party supplies in a basket by my hip, but just sitting together, her body against mine and wrapped in my arms, was enough for me.

"Pietro... will you always be with me, as each year ends and the next begins?" Crystal asked softly.

"Of course I will. I'm your husband, and I plan to spend the rest of my life with you," I told her then, and she leaned back to kiss me as the ball dropped, and the people cheered and started to sing Auld Lang Syne. But I didn't pay attention to them. The first memory I had of that year was the lips of my wife on mine, warming my heart and soul in a way no one else could.


And now, years later, as I watch the ball drop on television in some part of the world that I'm traveling through, I take the time to stop and close my eyes, remembering that moment. Just for the moment, to be with my wife if only in spirit. I made a promise that night and sealed it with a kiss. And I never break my promises.

Pietro woke up first, hearing the soft cries of his newborn daughter from the other room. It took him a moment, as always, to reorient his brain from sleep to awake. In that time, he swore Luna's cries got louder.

"I'll take care of her," he whispered to his wife, Crystal, who just gave a soft moan and curled back up in the large bed they shared.

( He made his way into the baby's room... )

Years later, people would start to judge what kind of father Pietro was, leaving his daughter on the moon to be raised by his wife. And while he would try to defend himself, he knew exactally what kind of father he was. All he had to do was remember that night, that dance, and know.

I hate my father and everything he stands for

If I hated him... do you think I would have gone to Genosha to try and help him rebuild that world? Done half the stunts that I've done since I've left the Avengers?

No, I don't hate my father. I don't love him either, don't get me wrong. But there is something about him that makes me want to still be there. I'm not going to support his ideaologies in the form he supports them, but that doesn't mean he's wrong.

But I am his son. Whether I want to admit it aloud or not, there is a bond there. And I want, in some ways, to make him proud of me. There are very few things that we can see eye to eye on, but those things I try to work on, and see what I can accomplish as to make him notice.

Wanda talks about how we will never be able to please him. That sometimes it would probably be better that we don't have him in our lives. But my sister is also someone that has had people in her life love her, hold onto her and support her in everything she does.

I still struggle for exceptance. The mantle that I bear isn't as strong as hers... she's the daughter. I'm his heir, in the end. I go to Genosha, and the people look to me for help. The Magnus-son.

I could never hate my father. I can hate his actions, but not him. In the end, he is a man fighting for a better world. There is nothing wrong with that. Everyone tries to make the world a better place for the next generation, me included. How can I fault him for that?