Saving Peter Maximoff

Chapter Three- Betrayal

The young mutants entered the training room where the Professor, Hank, Erik, and Raven were waiting. There was a tense atmosphere as the professors stared at them, causing them to shift uncomfortably. Eventually, Charles opened his mouth to speak.

"We've had some unsettling news," he informed them. "Moira sent me a letter this morning containing some rather saddening information. We were unsure whether or not to share it with you, but have decided that you deserve to know." A silence followed. Jean glanced round.

"So?" she prompted, when the Professor didn't continue. He blinked, as if pulled out of his thoughts, and shook his head slightly. Jean rolled her eyes.

"Sorry. Moira has warned us that Stryker escaped the base he kept us at and is planning to move against us," at this, everyone gasped. "This in itself is nothing to worry about. The worrying part is that apparently we have a traitor among us."

They gaped at him, wordless. Jean's heart sank as she worked out who it was. She met the Professor's eyes, and he smiled sadly. He, too, knew.

"Who would betray us?" Kurt looked hurt. "We are all so close! We are all friends!"

"Yeah!" Ororo agreed. "We're closer than friends- we're family!" Scott turned to the Professor pleadingly.

"There has to be some kind of mistake!" he cried. "Maybe it wasn't Stryker! Maybe she was wrong! I can't believe one of us is a spy! It's just... it's not possible! It's a mistake!"

"I'm afraid not," the Professor assured them. He closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them, his eyes were full of pain. He opened his mouth to speak, but choked on his words. Raven filled in for him, eyes just as hurt.

"Peter, why would you help Stryker?" All eyes turned to him, Scott's eyes full of hurt and anger. And betrayal. Peter held their gaze for a moment, then looked down, seeming to deflate.

"I'm sorry..." He whispered. "I didn't want to, I swear, but... I... he..." He trailed off. They were all looking at him in disgust, except for Erik and Raven, who had betrayed their friends before, and Jean and the Professor, who sensed there was more to this story.

"But what?" Scott spat. "We weren't good enough for you? He offered you money? Why would you betray us?" Peter glanced back up, at a loss for words for the first time in his life. Scott shook his head, repulsed, and turned away. Peter was frozen, staring at his back.

"Why would you do that?" Kurt whispered. He wasn't angry, but he felt betrayed. After his parents had sold him to that circus, he hadn't had a family, he'd had no one to rely on. That's why he was so fond of his newfound friends. Because they loved him like no one had in a long time. And now one of them was a traitor. They were just like his parents. Peter visibly crumpled, trying to make himself smaller so he could hide away from their judgemental stares.

Ororo felt nothing, used to being alone, so the betrayal meant nothing to her. She was upset for her friends, sure, but didn't care herself. And that showed just how much she did care, because she was trying so hard not to, to keep a shell around her emotions like she always had done. But now that shell was breaking, shattering onto a thousand shards of pain.

"How could you do that to us?" she whispered. And that was when Peter snapped.

"He killed my mother!" he cried, his resolve crumbling, finally able to say what was slowly killing him inside. "He... he murdered her, and then he killed my sister, Lana. She was only eleven! She was just a kid! They didn't deserve that!" He shuddered, tears threatening to fall as he faced the horrified figures before him.

"He... he took Wanda. He stole her from me! He said he'd kill her unless I did what he said... I couldn't lose her too... I... she... she's all I have left... I couldn't..." The others were speechless as their friend trailed off, trembling in an attempt to hold back tears. "I won't apologise for doing what I did. I would do it again. You can hate me if you like, but there is not one fucking universe where I wouldn't do anything I could to save her. And, you know what? Screw you for thinking that I would ever, ever, willingly betray you."

Jean could feel his frustration at showing weakness, his need to be strong. She could feel the grief rolling off him in waves, as well as fear for his sister. But there was also a strange defiance in the face of his betrayal, as though he was daring them to disagree.

Erik strode forward, wrapping him in an awkward hug as Peter sobbed into his shoulder, gripping his shirt in a bone-crushing grip, finally allowing himself to feel. Scott blushed a furious red, his cheeks a deep crimson.

"I'm so sorry, Pete." He gripped the speedster's shoulder awkwardly. "I guess we did overreact a bit. Shoulda let you talk before all the rage."

"Who's Wanda?" Raven whispered to Hank. He shrugged.

"Wanda is Peter's twin sister," Jean explained, lowly, not wanting to upset her silver friend any more.

"She's a mutant, with powers similar to Jean," the Professor added under his breath. "A very powerful mutant too. They are very close. I read her file his mother didn't answer the phone. There's not much, just a little paragraph that Peter wrote in the 'family' section."

He turned to the silver haired boy. Peter lifted his head, tear stains coating his cheeks, eyes rimmed red. He extracted himself from Erik and stepped back, squaring his shoulders and standing straight. He tilted his chin back defiantly. The image of resolve.

"I'm not going to apologise," he declared in a surprisingly firm voice. "You would have done the same if you were in my situation." The Professor smiled slightly.

"I know," he said softly. "That's why we're going to rescue Wanda." Peter's eyes widened, and he looked ready to burst into a fresh bout of tears.

"Really?"

"Of course! We're not just going to abandon her!" Scott exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Yeah! We'll beat their asses!" Ororo grinned. Hank nodded.

"Well then, suit up. We're going on a rescue mission."

A/N: Hey guys! So I got my first few readers! And my first comment. Thanks for that! Poor Peter! Don't worry though, he's gonna get full on badass in the next couple of chapters. Not a fan of the whole "he killed my family" speech. Feels a bit clunky, a little underdeveloped. If anyone's got any suggestions on improvements, I'd be grateful. Stay frosty 🤟🏻