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All you are, or ever could be; Quicksilver
Topic Started: Sep 21 2009, 04:16 AM (418 Views)
Tommy Shepard
Unregistered

September 19

He didn't believe it, he couldn't believe it, not if he wanted to keep the single shred of sanity that had somehow managed to survive his experiences since joining up with the Institute. Though there was no doubt that the thing he was hoping wasn't true very much was. He had seen it with his own eyes, though he was the only one that could have.

An image had been carved into the ground somewhere in a wooded California terrain. A single M was burned into the soil in plain view of a camera used to watch and help deter the spreading of fires. The feed caught nothing more than a blur, much too fast for any camera to make out clearly. It buzzed through in a fraction of a second and in it;s wake left the mysterious symbol. The video was spreading on the news and reports of similar symbols were popping up in various pots across the world. Tommy wouldn't of had to see it to know who was responsible, he could put the pieces together, but he did see it, and where everyone else saw the blurry flash, Tommy's eyes registered what was really going on.

Pietro Maximoff, the man he shared so much with physically, was carving these Ms, and with what he knew about Pietro's parentage, plus the pesky rumor he had heard about the speedster prior,he figured he knew what was going on. He just hoped he was wrong.

Tommy's world wasn't like that of regular people, it wasn't even that that of most other mutants. Even the most powerful of the homo superior race were glorified snails to him. It's not that he thought he was better than anybody else, it's just that he existed in a different world than them, a faster one. Until a few months ago, he assumed he inhabited that world alone. That changed when he met Pietro Maximoff, a older speedster who shared both his abilities and his unusual hair color. He began to look to Piet as a sort of role model for the kind of person he could turn into. Though if he was right, and Pietro had gone back to his mad man father, that thought sent a chill into him.

Tommy wished his inner turmoil ended there, but with the revelation that he shared a face with a student named Billy Kaplan, Tommy began to suspect, though he wasn't sure and prayed he was wrong, that he too shared a familial bond with the mutant terrorist known as Magneto.

Something had to be done, he couldn't allow Piet to fall into any of his father's traps, even if the older speedster was walking into them intentionally. He knew what he had to do.

With a flash of air that scattered any nearby objects, Tommy was gone. Soon he was at the site of the M. Focusing his energy, though still moving too quickly for the watching camera to pick up on, he shot out a vibration that drilled into the ground, marring it and turning the waiting M into nothing more than a mini crater.

That he figured would get Pietro's attention, and if it didn't he would make sure destroying the other symbols would. He found one in a field somewhere in the great plains and destroyed it, another in the side of a mountain in a place he figured was somewhere in Europe. It had gotten hard to keep track of his whereabouts.

Finally he settled at the base of another mountain. The large M sat like a flag along the side. He sighed loudly and began to wonder if any of this would do any good. He wondered if Pietro would even notice his action, and if he did would he see them as the desperate cries that they were , or such as some childish acts of vandalism. It didn't matter, Tommy needed answers, he needed to talk to the man and try to understand why he was doing what he was doing. A part of him held out hope, believing that what he was seeing and hearing was part of some heroic plan he wasn't privvy to. He took a deep breath and prepared to head toward the mountain to once deface the symbol that he believed stood for a mad man.
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Quicksilver
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Superspeed/ Superstrength
A gust of wind slammed into the young speedster, bringing with it a hurricane of dust and debris, and a hand that clamped around his throat, and lifted him off the ground, to slam him backwards into a tree several miles from where he had once been. When the world settled again, Pietro Maximoff stood above him, his hand around Tommy's neck, though not exerting any pressure other that it had taken to push the boy into the cover of the forest.

Pietro looked as he always did, though he had been gone from X-Factor for a month now. If Tommy expected him to look like he was a villain, there was no change in his appearance. He had neither grown horns, nor a goatee, he was not wearing a cape, though his uniform was a solid black now, with a simple white zag across the chest and silver cuffs at his wrist, silver boots on his feet. But he looked... tired and angry, fire in his silver blue eyes and high spots of color on his cheeks.

"You stupid little boy, are you inviting yourself to be murdered?" he spat, "Or worse, caught and cataloged like a bug on a pin? You are drawing far too much attention to who you are and what you can do." He released the child and said, "Little Cousin, please," his voice was much calmer now, as his anger faded, "I imagine you are trying to contact me, and you are a clever boy for thinking to use my own tricks against me, but I was trying for capture. I do not wish to see you follow in my footsteps to the dark places of the world."
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Tommy Shepard
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Tommy was just about to go cascading into the nearby mountain when he was swept up in something unseen. It hit him before he knew it and when it stopped Speed was sure of two things; he was obviously miles away from where he stood just instants ago and that the culprit was none other than the object of his quest, Pietro Maximoff.

Quicksilver stood in front of him, hand clenching his throat, not the villianous figure that Tommy had dreaded, but also showing no outward signs of the regret that the younger speedster had been hoping to see. Pietro's hands were firm around Tommy's neck, excerting enough force to lift him from the ground and make sure he couldn't move, but not so much that Tommy felt viably threatened. He couldn't imagine that Pietro would ever hurt him,even the older man had been making strange choices.

Tommy felt a burning and a sickness rise up in him as Quicksilver began scolding him for what he called stupid actions. It was strange, but even through the harsh words, Tommy felt a sense of relief just to see the man and to know he was okay, at least physically.

Pietro let Tommy down as his voice lost it's angry edge. The fact that he was so much quicker than Tommy always shocked him a little.

Speed scoffed a little when Pietro suggested Tommy might be in danger of being killed. As far as he could tell he was pretty much untouchable.

"Murdered ? There isn't anybody out there who could touch me, unless you're saying you'd do the honors yourself,"the boy quipped coldly. Tommy knew Pietro would never kill him, but he figured a statement like that would cut him to the core, and he was mad enough to make it.

"You-", Tommy's eyes began to burn as he tried to choke out the words to say to his mentor, "What are you doing, you're better than this. What is it, is it the powers ? I know it can get frustrating waiting on the world to catch up with you, but that's no reason to----." Tommy cleared his throat, which was begining to get dry and scratchy.

"You're not your dad Piet, you don't have to be." Tommy needed to believe that, more desperately than Pietro could of possibly understood at the moment
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Quicksilver
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Superspeed/ Superstrength
"There are people who can take your powers, Tommy," Pietro said, tightly, "They have darts, and cuffs, and traps, and SHIELD has eyes everywhere. You are a boy, you do not know how the world works." He sighed. His eyes flashed in anger at the accusation of assassination, "I hope you are not hurt. I acted rashly, out of ... because I did not wish to see you hurt or in trouble. Everyone thinks of me as a man without concern for others, but it is the furthest thing from the truth. I would never kill those I... have affection for, and your words show just how little you know me."


He let the boy question him and when the rapid barrage was finished, Pietro folded his arms and said, "I am not trying to be my father. You know nothing. You listen to rumor and gossip about who I am. Avery's 'jerk' boyfriend, Magneto's desperate son, Lorna's bastard brother, Wanda's lesser twin. So much ignorance spread about like manure, foul and terribly fertile. I would think you more clever than to believe what they said about me, but clearly I was projecting my own experience as a speedster upon you."

Turning away from the boy, he said, "I am not attempting to be my father, I am attempting to save him and save the world. You know even less about him than you do about me. There is more than you know. Far more. I do not do his bidding because I wish to be a villain, Little Cousin... I wish to be a hero, but how can I save the world if I can not save the man who gave me life?"
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Tommy Shepard
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"Just-just stop it," Tommy blurted out, becoming angrier than he had been. He hadn't come her for a lecture, least of all from Pietro Maximoff. He had come to show the older man the error of his ways and, in doing that, hopefully stifle some of the uneasiness he felt about sharing the same abilities, as well as possibly the same bloodline as him. Now that he was here, that Tommy had come all this way, he wasn't about to let Quicksilver fill his mind with crazy thoughts and try to gray things Speed was so sure about.

"I don't know you ? Are you really gonna try to make that fly ?" Tommy was becoming even more frustrated. Pietro's words were cutting and undermined what Tommy thought was a strong relationship.

"I know the world you live in Piet, I live there too. The way your heart feels out of synch with everything around you. The way that miles and inches are meaningless, but minutes and hours turn into endlessness. And worst of all, the way people look and see an impatient rash fool when the truth is we're more patient with them then they could ever imagine."

Tommy stepped in closer. "I know you Piet, in a totally different way than anybody else, and that's how I know you're making a mistake. We're faster than them, think quicker,so naturally we think we know best. You say you wanna save the world, save your dad, but who are you to save the world, and what right do you have to try and change somebody who doesn't want it. Nobody can save the world Piet, and in the end you can only help the people who'll let you. I may be young, but I know that much."
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Quicksilver
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Superspeed/ Superstrength
The boy was indeed a clever thing, was he not, speaking exactly what Pietro felt, and his chest swelled with pride. He had perhaps underestimated young Thomas Shepard, but it did not change that he had to do what he had to do. He reached out and put his hand on the boy's white haired head. Tommy was no little boy, who would blindly believe, he was a teenager and it was his age to question and test. Pietro tilted the youth's head up so their eyes met.

"Young man, I was wrong about you, you do understand, but that changes nothing," he said, "And, what you have wrong is you think I am trying to make my father into something he is not. He is more than he allows himself to be. I have seen it, brilliantly shining through the darkness he surrounds himself in. But, I am not doing this for him, do you not realize that, can you really think I am so deluded that I do not know that this is very likely a lesson in futility? I'm doing this for myself, for Wanda, for Lorna... I am doing it for you, Tommy. This path my father walks, it is a path that any of are so easily coaxed down. I have to see, I have to see if there is hope. If I can find one glimmer of faith left in him, one spec of hope, than I will know that I can find one in me, that we all can. That our paths are not already dictated."

He dropped his hand, "Tommy, I feel that if I do not do this thing, if I do not walk in this darkness, than I will never have the light again. You can hate me, you can be angry at me, you can kick and scream and strike out, but I cannot feel any of it. I am lost, boy, and this is my only hope to find myself again."
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Tommy Shepard
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Tommy felt the fight leave him as Pietro spoke about his reasoning for doing what he was doing. It wasn't that Speed agreed with the man,he still thought he was out of his mind, it was just that as he listened he could hear the pain in Pietro's voice. The man was lost. Looking at him again, Tommy could see that fact all over him, in the way he moved, in the way he spoke, and most certainly in the things he said. It must have been tragic, Tommy surmised, to live under the shadow of somebody like Magneto, to have your every move compared to someone with such a reputation. Tommy hadn't really thought about that aspect of it. Pietro always carried himself so well, the idea that he may be bogged down never entered Tommy's mind.

Tommy did feel bad for Piet, but just as he was told seconds earlier, that didn't change anything. Pietro was still on what Tommy saw as a fool's errand, and a dangerous one at that. Quicksilver said there were things in his father, sparkling bits of hope and enlightenment that he thought he could cultivate into much more. Tommy saw no such things in the mutant terrorist.

When Pietro added him into the list of people he wanted to save, along with Wanda and Lorna, it took Tommy's breath away, like a punch in the gut. Was it possible that Pietro knew about Tommy and Billy's suspicions ? Did he have them as well ? It would only make sense, Tommy thought, that anyone who saw him and his doppleganger together would make the connection, but no one in school seemed to notice.

"I just don't want you to lose yourself in this," Tommy finally spoke plainly. The defeat in his voice lay thick on his words. "You just said how easily somebody can fall prey to....." He let out a sigh and moved on. "I don't hate you. I don't understand what you're doing and I sure as hell don't agree with it, but you're a grown up I guess. You know this makes us enemies right ?", Tommy said, the last part filled with a sort of childish pleading. He couldn't imagine being enemies with Pietro, life had taken so many turns that Tommy hadn't expected, and this seemed to the latest in that line.

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Quicksilver
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Superspeed/ Superstrength
"It might be best if you did consider me an enemy," Quicksilver said, looking away, "It might keep you safe if you stay away from me, tell them all you hate me, that I am something dark and twisted. You will be above any suspicion, above any scrutiny, and you will be innocent of any wrongdoing that will be pinned on me and your resemblance to me will end at our powers and our faces."

He whirled on the boy, moving at the speed that was theirs and theirs alone. "But make no mistake, Tommy, I am not going to cause you harm, I am not going to hurt anyone, I am not going to murder even the most bigoted human. But I will be linked with those that do. I will be deemed traitor, Judas. I will be called Terrorist and Monster. Know this though,"

He rested his hand on Tommy's shoulder, and said, "I am no believer in genocide and hatred as a means of change. I will find faith, I pray, and though I am very far from God at this moment, I think he will hear me and help me through this. I remain, as ever, Pietro Django Maximoff. and when my feet lead me home, I will be Pietro still. If my father is a lost cause, at least in my trying, I will learn whether or not I am one too."
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Tommy Shepard
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Tommy listened flatly as Pietro spoke. He talked about things he had to do and the reasons he had to do them. None of those things made sense to Speed and he wasn't sure if he ever would. Though he didn't know how much of that was because he didn't want to understand. He told Tommy that he would never hurt him or kill anybody, no matter what they did. These were things Tommy already knew, even if he was too stubborn to admit it.

He said that people would call him a monster and paint him as a terrorist. Pangs of pain rang through Tommy as he realized that Pietro was probably right. He was so confused now, and he felt like an idiot for letting Pietro cloud things just as he had knew he would. Still he had to be strong. Quicksilver was making stupid and destructive decisions and while, he didn't have to hate the man, he certainly wouldn't endorse him or absolve him.

Pietro said something about the obvious resemblence between the two and Tommy couldn't hold his tongue any longer. This was the only card he had left, and there was something about their current conversation that made Tommy feel open enough to spill his secrets.

"Um, Piet, you know I have a roommate, this kid named Billy. He looks like me too. He sort of reminds me of your sister, I think they have the same powers or something. Is it--"Tommy tried to continue, but lost his nerve. The thought of him and Pietro being related, while it made sense in his head, suddenly lost it's validity when Tommy started to speak it aloud.

"That's a little weird is all. I thought it was strange, but what isn't these days." He let out a sigh and looked toward the ground.
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Quicksilver
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Superspeed/ Superstrength
"I have met him," Pietro said, "He came to us, to speak with my sister, and their powers..." He frowned and said, "I... I would have to see you together to see if you look alike, but I have no answers for you regarding that, little cousin." He squeezed the boy's shoulder, lightly, "Be strong, Tommy, and know that I am walking this path so that you might not have to. Go home, and do not seek me out again. Those I have allied myself with will think to use my affection for you against me. You will be captured, hurt, possibly worse. I will not wish that to happen."

He dropped his hand, and then suddenly, in uncommon kinship, clapped the boy lightly on the cheek. "From this moment on, you forget me until I am home again. Forget me, hate me and deny me at all turns. I am no longer your friend, I am no longer your mentor, I am no longer whatever it is I am to you. I am lost to you, until I have found myself. Do you understand, boy? Trust me, and trust yourself. We will get through this and we will all be better for it. Keep your wits about you. Use your intelligence and use your emotions, but use them in equal balance. I wish that someone had been there to tell me this when I was your age. I wish that someone had been there to help me find my path. Go back to the school, Speed, and do not think of me again."
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Tommy Shepard
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Tommy listened as Pietro spoke. His eyes burned with tears that he could barely conceal. This whole thing seemed like a dream. Forget me, Pietro said, hate me, leave me, don't think of me again. It sounded like he was sacrificing himself. Tommy wanted desperately to try one last time to change his mentor's mind. Maybe with one final push or the right words in the right order, he could finally reach Pietro's heart and talk some sense into him.

He wanted to say nothing and everything all at once. He wanted to be older, so that he could understand all the things people had told him time would reveal. Maybe then this whole thing wouldn't seem like a huge waste. Maybe then, he wouldn't have this feeling that nothing would ever be the same for either of them.

He didn't say any of these things though. He knew he wouldn't change Pietro's mind and he owed the man the dignity of a proper sendoff, free of the childish pleads and tantrums that another foray into the conversation would bring.

He simply lifted his head, bit his lip, and quietly promised himself that he would do all the things that Pietro had asked of him, and even more than that, he would save a bit of faith for the man who had so much in him.

" Be safe," he choked out quietly to Quicksilver, without really making eye contact, and in a flash he was gone, headed back to the Institute and finally releasing the tears that he had held back so long.
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