Episode Forty Five - No Good Deed

Pietro: What?
Wanda: Leave me alone, okay?
Pietro: *crumples up the newspaper and tosses it aside* Look, Magneto was a bully who went after a bigger bully. End of story. End of father.
Wanda: Don't talk like that.
Pietro: Wanda, face it. He did it to himself!
Wanda: At least he was trying to save all of us from Apocalypse. Not like the X-Men, they didn't lift a finger to help him!
Pietro: Whatever. But the old man went looking for a fight so he got--
Wanda: I said STOP TALKING LIKE THAT!!!
As Wanda yells, her powers act up and bend a pole in front of her.
Pietro: You know, he wasn't the loving father you remember. In fact, you hated him.
Wanda: STOP IT!!!

Thanks to Wanda's powers, all the windows begin to crack on the train and electricity goes flying around it on the outside. Lance looks pretty shocked as he sees this occur. The tracks in front of the train begin to rend themselves in unnatural positions, causing the train to rock.
Toad and Blob: AH!
A bunch of people scream and run as it flies by uncontrollably and crashes into the wall of of the subway tunnel!
Pietro: Whoa!
The train screeches to a halt, smashing it's way into the side of the tunnel. Outside Bayville High, Cyclops pulls up in his car next to Cannonball, Iceman and Berserker, who all look dumbfounded as they look over in the direction of the train crash.

Scott: What is that? A fire?
Kitty: *comes running up* It's a subway accident! People are trapped!
Scott: Come on! Let's go see if we can help!

On ground level, above the subway station, people come running and screaming out of it as smoke pours out. A news truck arrives and both reporters gasp. (These are the same two who were following Juggernaut in Stuff of Heroes)

Down below, the train is an absolute wreck. Wires are cut and sparkling everywhere outside of it.
People: *screaming and pounding* Let us out of here!

Blob, Toad, Lance, Pietro and Wanda all pull themselves off the floor, coughing and groaning. Lance sticks his head out of the broken window. He gasps.

Lance: Aah! Let's get out of here, it's gonna blow!!
Toad: *begins bouncing around and talking hysterically* Okay, where's the exit? I can't find the exit! There is no exit! We're trapped! No way out! Aah! Get us out!
Toad leaps on Pietro, and he throws Toad off.
Pietro: Blob! Make a door!
Blob: Outta my way!!!

Blob charges at the their car door and smashes through it. He charges straight for the next door. Pietro zips behind him, Wanda runs and Toad hops. Lance is last, and he looks at all the frightened people. He stops to help them.

Lance: Come on, we're getting out of here!
An outside shot of the train, where we can see dust rising as Blob smashes his way down to the front car.

Inside, we see Toad bounce through a door.

Toad: We're gonna make it! We're gonna make it! *sees a wallet on the floor* Huh? Cool.
As he reaches to grab it, another hand grabs onto his arm. It’s a weak-looking old man.
Old Man: *whimpers* You gotta help me out here!
Toad: *acts disgusted* Huh? Hey, get off me, man!

The old man latches onto Toad's back as he hops to freedom. We see Blob smash down the wall of the subway with one mighty punch, making an opening to the station. Pietro zips out past him. Wanda and Toad follow, as Lance is still leading the panicking people out.

There is an old woman leaning against a seat, obviously having fallen out of her wheelchair.
Old Woman: *coughing* Please! Can somebody *cough* help me?!
Lance freezes in mid-run and looks back at her.
Old Woman: Help me!
Lance sighs and goes back to help her.

Outside, smoke is still pouring out of the subway station as ambulances and police cars arrive on the scene. Scott and the others pull up and run to help when they see Pietro zip outside and stop in their tracks. Blob and Wanda run out next, pushing people out of their way and Toad hops out, with the old man still on his back.

Toad: *knocks him off* Yo! This is your stop! Beat it, bub!
Old Man: *hugs him* You saved me! I owe you my life!
Toad: Yaah! Your wallet'll do.
Fireman: How many more are in there?
Old Man: Just two.

Lance comes walking heroically around the corner, carrying the old woman. He heads for the stairs.

Suddenly, there's a huge explosion as the train goes up in flames! Everyone runs away from the stairs.

Fireman: Move, move, move! Get back!
Blob: What about Lance?
Toad: Hey, there he is!

Lance continues walking normally through the explosion. Luckily, he comes out unharmed. People cheer for him as Scott and Kitty gasp. A paramedic wheels a stretcher over.

Fireman: Just put her down here, son.

Lance does as told and Pietro, Blob and Toad walk over to him. People cheer for them, take pictures and ask a bunch of questions that are all drowned out in other questions. Wanda looks at them and then looks sad. She walks away.

Reporter: Have you always been heroes?
Toad: Heroes to the core! *pulls the old man over* Just ask this guy, I saved his life!
Old Man: *nods* Y-yes.
Reporter: So what do you boys call yourselves?
Pietro: You can just call us... The Brotherhood!

More pictures are taken as Scott, Kitty, Ray, Bobby and Sam stare at them like their cat just got hit by a truck.

Show Principal Kelly on a TV screen, talking to the camera.

Kelly: [On TV] Hello. I'm Edward Kelly, and as candidate for mayor I want to ask you one question: Do you feel safe? Every day, mutants move freely through our city, our streets, and yes, our schools. And they are powerful--
The camera zooms out, showing Kelly and his advisor are watching the broadcast.
Advisor: This should bring you in votes.
Kelly: [On TV] -- mutant registration on every single one of them. These creatures must be monitored because trust me-- mutants are a menace.
Kelly: That's good. Very good.

The broadcast of Kelly's speech is interrupted by a special news report showing the train wreck and scenes of the Brotherhood saving lives.

Reporter: [On TV] This was a scene just moments ago where some heroic mutants came to the rescue after a subway train derailment. In the words of eyewitnesses, the mutants' bravery was the 'greatest act of heroism this city has ever seen.
Advisor: *turns TV off* That's not so good. We may want to consider a change in your anti-mutant platform.
Kelly: No! The only thing we have to change is the public's thinking.

At the X-Mansion, Kitty picks a newspaper off the doorstep that reads 'CITY PRAISES BROTHERHOOD'.

Kitty: Oh, give me a break!
Inside, Scott is drinking coffee at the kitchen table. Kitty tosses the newspaper onto the table in front of him.
Kitty: Can you believe this baloney?
Scott, in turn, goes and shows the newspaper to the Professor in his office.
Scott: There's no way those clowns would save anybody but themselves!
Xavier: Yes, it is hard to imagine, isn't it? But whether intentional or not, Scott, this change in the public's attitude towards mutants is very encouraging.
Scott: Yeah, until the Brotherhood mess it up.
Xavier: Let's just hope they can appreciate the benefits of being the 'good guys' and stay out of trouble.

Outside the Brotherhood house, reporters and cameramen are massing. The Brotherhood all peek out at them from the door, and Wanda turns to go upstairs.

Pietro: Wait, wait! It's just a couple of reporters.
Wanda: You talk to them.
Pietro: But they wanna talk to the girl who's with us!
Wanda: Forget it!
Pietro: Wanda, don't blame yourself for that derailment.
Wanda: It was my fault, Pietro.
Pietro: How do you know that? You don't! No one knows anything. Except that we helped save a bunch of people. You're part of that, Wanda. So step out there and enjoy the ride for once.

The Brotherhood step outside and are bombarded with questions and pictures. Many of them targeted at Wanda.

Reporters: Can we get your statement? What was your part in the rescue?
Wanda: Uhh. *runs inside, slamming the door behind her*
Pietro: She's a little camera-shy.

Pietro is crowded by reporters and looks confused, so he just strikes a pose. Toad leaps past him, knocking him off-balance.

Toad: Well as soon as the train crashed, I immediately took charge and told all the passengers I'd get them out. Even if I had to carry them on my back.

Lance glares at him. The old woman he saved earlier comes up through the crowd to Lance.

Old Woman: Young man, I owe you my life. To show you my gratitude, I'd like to present the Brotherhood with a reward.

She hands Lance a check for ten thousand dollars, which he stares at blankly. Pietro and Blob grab for it, but he keeps it to himself.

Old Woman: And since my family owns the largest construction company in Bayville, I've arranged for some improvements to be made to your wonderful old home.

Inside, Lance sits down on a chair, still staring blankly at the check. Blob and Toad crowd around him.

Blob: Man, lookit' all them zeroes...
Pietro zips by and snatches the check from Lance.
Pietro: You know somethin' boys? That subway crash just turned into a gravy train. With some more opportunities, we could really cash in.
Toad: But accidents like that don't happen every day.
Pietro: They do if they have a little... help.

At night time, Pietro and Lance are standing in an alleyway, both wearing their uniforms.

Pietro: Come onnnn. You've come this far. Let's do it!
Lance: It's a waste of time.
Pietro: It's a gold mine. And the best part, the X-Men have gotta be totally hating this!
Lance: ...okay. You're on.

We see people strolling along a street as the camera pans up to the top of a tall building, where a statue is sitting. Lance walks up behind it and stomps his foot, sending a tremor at the statue.

Lance: Hiyaaah!

The statue falls and all the below scream. Right when they think they're going to be crushes, Blob catches the statue! They all cheer for him.

A newspaper flashes into the screen, reading: "MUTANT STRONGMAN SAVES CITIZENS FROM PERIL!!"

In the next scene, two boys are playing happily with a soccer ball. Pietro gets an evil little grin on his face and then uses a baseball bat to smack a beehive at them! The bees head to swarm the kids when Toad leaps in and begins eating them! (How he eats every bee, we'll never know.)

This time the newspaper reads: "BUG-ZAPPING MUTANT SAVES KIDS FROM BEES"

Cyclops looks at the newspaper and gets angry. He hurls it into the air, blasting it to pieces with his optic blast.

It's Lance again, and this time he uses his powers to smack a bus off-course! A woman and her carriage are right in it's path! Luckily, Pietro zips by and saves them. The bus continues to swerve in in the direction of two men sitting at a bus stop but Blob grabs the bumper, bringing it to a screeching stop.

We see the Brotherhood's trashed living room change into a beautiful new room. The five of them pose for a picture. Blob gives Pietro bunny-ears in the picture.

At the X-Mansion, Scott, Sam, Bobby, Ray, Kitty and Jean are eating breakfast. Nightcrawler teleports in and lands right on top of the table, holding a newspaper.

Kurt: According to this poll, the Brotherhood have a higher rating than the police chief!
Kitty: *groans* What kind of sick and twisted world are we living in?
Xavier: *enters* One that appears to be well orchestrated. I'm detecting a trend. The Brotherhood show up exactly where their powers are needed most.
Scott: I knew it! If the loserhood are cooking this up, something's bound to go wrong.
Xavier: And that is what we must prevent.

Nightcrawler teleports on top of a multiple-story parking lot and looks at the Brotherhood in their jeep with a pair of binoculars.

Kurt: *into a communicator* I found them.
The Brotherhood turn the radio on.
Kelly: [On radio] I firmly believe that mutants are a threat to a peaceful future.
Reporter: [On radio] But what about the Brotherhood? Don't they prove that not all mutants are bad?
The Brotherhood smile and Quicksilver turns the radio up.
Kelly: [On radio] For all we know, mutants are the cause of these accidents! That's just one of the reasons I believe we need a mutant registration act!

The Brotherhood looked pissed upon hearing this and pull a U-turn, heading in the other direction. Kurt ports down and watches them go.

Reporter: [On radio] But your opponent, Mayor Richardson disagrees. Saying that such a policy is merely a form of segregation?
Kelly: [On radio] Really. Well they should be singled out. Remember I was their principal and I've experienced their destructiveness first-hand. Do not fool yourselves into thinking they're heroes.
Kelly pulls up in his car and enters his office, to find hit completely trashed! Pietro zips up behind him.
Pietro: Bad day at the office?
Kelly gasps and backs away from him, only to bump into Lance, Toad and Blob.
Lance: Hey. What's shakin'?
Gotta love that line. Kelly finds himself trapped in between all of the Brotherhood.
Kelly: What do you want from me?
Blob: We've come to contribute something to your campaign. Advice.
Pietro: And not the friendly kind.
Lance: We want you to leave us out of your anti-mutant crusade. Or else!
Kelly: Or else what?
Pietro: Okay boys, he wants to know what else! Let's show him.
They advance on Kelly, but a red force-blast shoots between them, startling them. Cyclops is standing in the doorway, hand on his visor.
Scott: Back off, now!
Lance: And just what are you gonna do about it? Red-eye.
Scott: Whatever it takes.

Storm and Jean come in behind him and Kurt ports in front. Wolverine walks up and leans against a pole, extending his claws. Beast, Iceman, Rogue, Shadowcat, Berserker, Magma, Cannonball and Multiple soon follow, all completely surrounding the Brotherhood!

Lance: Okay by me!
Lance begins to shake things up, but Quicksilver stops him.
Pietro: Are you crazy?! We'll get our heads handed to us! Save this for another day.

Lance glares around and the four Brotherhood boys turn to leave. Wolverine retracts his claws as they go. Toad sticks his extra-long tongue out at them and blows a raspberry, but Jean slams the door on his tongue with her telekinesis.

Toad: Waah!
Toad grabs his tongue and Kelly storms over to Cyclops, angrily.
Kelly: One way or another, Summers! I will drive you mutants out of Bayville! All of you! That's a promise!
Kelly storms off and Nightcrawler hangs down next to Cyclops.
Kurt: Well... I'm not voting for him.

At the Brotherhood HQ, Lance is angrily shaking the house, knocking pictures down. He knocks Toad and Blob over too. Blob for some reason is carrying a basket of fruit.

Pietro: *zips over holding a newspaper* Listen, the X-Men will get theirs, but right now we've got bigger problems! We've been bumped to the third page!
Toad: *snatches it* Third page?! Is our fifteen minutes of fame already up?! That more like five minutes! Or maybe ten.
Pietro: *snatches it back* The only mention of us is that we'll be cutting the ribbon tomorrow at the new zoo, but that's it!
Blob: *mouth full of fruit* Mmm. I say, we gotta remind the public how much they need us.
Pietro looks out the window at Wanda, who is sitting on the steps.
Pietro: Hang tight, bros. I got an idea.
Pietro opens the door and goes outside to see his sister.
Pietro: The X-Men came after us, big time. I guess watching our father go down in flames wasn't enough for them... we're next on the list. Wanda gives him a curious look.

Blob, Toad, Avalanche and Quicksilver are standing with the zookeeper at the opening of the new zoo. Pietro is holding a pair of oversized scissors above the ribbon. They pose for a picture and Quicksilver begins to make a speech.

Pietro: I'd just like to say what an honor it is to be here. Even though there are some out there who are resentful of our fame. I don't wanna name names, but like, the X-Men.

Cyclops, Jean, Iceman, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler (wearing his image inducer) are part of the crowd and frown at Pietro. Wanda sneaks up behind them and knocks Cyclops' sunglasses off with her powers.

Scott: Ahh! *accidentally shoots, causing an elephant to get frightened*
Scott continues to uncontrollably blast around as people run from the rampaging elephants.
Scott: I can't stop it, it must be Wanda!
Wanda then begins to use her powers on Iceman.
Bobby: Hey, she's messing with my powers!

Bobby unwillingly covers the ground with ice, causing people to slip and fall. One bystander crashes into a garbage can and an elephant begins to slide on the ice, heading right for him! Jean moves him out of harm's way just in time.

Suddenly, Kitty goes flying up into a crocodile pool! She tries to phase out of the glass, but Wanda traps her in the middle of it by warping her powers!

Kitty: Uhh! Get me outta here!

Luckily for her, Cyclops' optic blast shatters the glass, allowing her to escape. But the crocs make it outside of their cage.

An elephant almost tramples the zookeeper, who slips and falls on the ice. It almost stomps him again, but Kurt appears and teleports him out. He doesn't port where expected though, thanks to Wanda. He appears right in the middle of a huge light, causing it to snap in half!

Jean stops him, the zookeeper and the light to crash into the ground with her telekinesis. Wanda then causes her to hurl the lights through the air, shattering the glass around the tiger cage! The tigers then get loose and roar in front of the camera.

We see Cyclops' face as he's put behind bars. Bobby and Kurt are sharing a cell with him while Kitty and Jean have the cell right next to them. Kitty phases out of the bars and sticks her tongue out at the guard, when Xavier rolls up.

Xavier: *scolding* Kitty.
Kitty: Awe. Well they can't hold us, ya know. *phases back into her cell*
Xavier: I know, which is precisely the reason you're all staying put. At least until I can straighten this out.

We see Toad on TV, talking to the camera.

Toad: [On TV] We mutants only wanna live in peace. It's criminals like the X-Men who ruin it for us all. *holds hand in front of face and pretends to cry*

Toad pops up in the Brotherhood living room and shut the TV off.
Toad: Look at that emotion. The tears! They should give me my own show! *bounces excitedly over to Lance and Blob*
Blob: *yawns* Ugh, ya know, being a villainous hero can really wear a guy out. I'm pooped.
Lance: Yeah, I'm thinking we oughta quit while we're ahead.
Toad: Quit? We can't quit! My career's just takin' off!
Pietro: No, he's right. But I say we go out the way we came in... with a bang! A showstopper! A legend-maker! A final act of heroism this town will never forget...

A train is going by not far from the city. Pietro speeds alongside it and leaps into the conductor car, messing around with some controls. He then leaps out before he's even noticed.

Dispatch: [Over radio] SP-102-South, you missed your turn-out. We need you to clear the tracks for the northbound cargo.
Conductor: Dispatch, I have a full system failure! We are a runaway! Can you clear the northbound?
Dispatch: [Over radio] Negative. Northbound is passing the alternate tracks. Brakes are employed but we must establish a Code Five-collision scenario now.

Cars are stopped along the road as on train goes flying past. The Brotherhood jeep pulls up and they leap out.

Toad: Never fear people, the Brotherhood has arrived! We'll stop that runaway train!
Man in car: Yeah, but what about the other train?
Pietro: Uh, what other train?
Man in car: Radio says one's comin' the other way carrying eight tankers of gasoline.
Lance: *glares at Pietro* Oh yeah. This'll go out with BANG.
Pietro: Well, you can't win 'em all. See ya outside the blast zone!
Toad: Told ya we should've quit while we were ahead!
Pietro, Toad and Blob leap in the jeep and drive off, leaving Lance on his own.

At the police station, an alarm blares and the cells the X-Men are in unlock. Xavier comes to see them.

Scott: What's going on?
Xavier: The Brotherhood has gone too far, and created a crisis situation.
Jean: Are people hurt?
Xavier: No, not yet. But the authorities cannot defuse it. So they've asked for our help.

We see the runaway train as Kurt ports himself, Scott and Kitty on top of it. Kitty then phases them down inside of the conductor's car.

Conductor: Ah! Who are you?
Scott: We'll explain later. Let's go!

Scott, Kurt and the conductor walk into the next car. Cyclops then blasts the bolts holding the cars together, separating them from the runaway conductor car.

Kurt: *looks around* Where's Kitty?

Scott looks outside and sees Kitty phase up onto the roof of the conductor car. Above the other train, an X-jet flies over it. Beast and Xavier are inside. Jean flies out the hatch and puts the train to a halt with her telekinesis. She then flies in the direction of the runaway one.

She attempts to stop it with her powers, but it's going too fast for her! She grunts and groans as she has barely any effect on it. Kurt teleports on top of the train with Kitty.

Kurt: What are you doing?!
Kitty: I'm gonna phase this train through that one!
Kurt: WHAT?! No! That's way too much!
Kitty: There's no other choice! Jean can't stop it in time!

Jean floats out of the way and Kurt shields his eyes and grabs onto Kitty's shoulder so he'll be phased as well. Kitty seems to go through alot of pain as she attempts to phase such a large object through the other train. She eventually gives out and loses her grip right in the middle of one of the gasoline tanks! Kurt teleports them out of the way right before a huge explosion ensues!

Bystanders: Ahhh!

The explosion doesn't hit them, though, as Jean projects a telekinetic shield around it, to contain it! It is so powerful, though, that it has bursts of power underneath her shield, making itself grow bigger as she strains to hold it!

Jean: *strained* I-- uhh-- I can't hold it!

Xavier & Beast gasp as she is practically pushed back against a building, losing her hold on the shield as the explosion intensifies. Down on the tracks, though, familiar-looking boots come into the scene as Lance bends down and sends a tremor directly at Jean's shield! The explosion is sucked down into the chasm that he makes and then gets covered over by rock, stopping it!

Jean floats to the ground and looks at Lance, who is leaning on the ground, looking fairly drained from his heroic deed. He stands up and looks at Scott, Jean, Kitty and Kurt, who regroup behind him.

Lance: *sadly* Don't worry, that's the last of the heroics. Count on it.

Lance turns and walks away before they even get a chance to say anything. (Come on Kitty, what are you thinking of this?!)

News reporter: [On TV] And so charges against the X-Men have been dropped. While investigation is underway to determine if the Brotherhood were indeed behind the recent rash of Bayville disasters--

The TV is clicked off and we see it's in the Brotherhood living room. There a repot men everywhere, carrying boxes of stuff, one picks up the TV.

Toad: No! No! Not the big screen! *hugs it before it's dragged away* Awe...

The repot men carry everything out, leaving the Brotherhood standing in an empty room.

Pietro: Well, what now? You guys wanna take the new subway into the city?

Toad, Blob, Lance and Wanda all glare at him. Outside the Brotherhood house, we see the windows light up with explosions and hear the sounds of someone being beat up. Like Pietro.

Pietro: A simple 'no' would suffice! Ow! Yeow-ow-ow!

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THE END

Beyond Evolution Copyright © 2004 Denaill.