A line for Mort: Do us a favor Luv, Stick yer ‘ead in a bucket a kick it!
They say war makes strange bedfellows. Few were stranger than Wanda and Pietro Maximov. Even Mort could see they were sibs. And even he picked up on a creepy level of involvement between them. But that didn’t concern him, now.
What concerned Mort was the whippy figure currently strapped to an upright column from neck to toe. When she spoke, she rambled randomly. The movements underneath the roll of duct tape covering her were sparse and erratic.
It was her breathing, shallow, rapid and raspy, that had his heart in his throat.
“Wegottakeepheralive,” said Pietro. “S'obvious.”
“Should we try to give her to daddy-dear?” cooed Wanda. “Let the Mastermind play with her?”
“…quadrangle…” muttered Sara. Her eyes didn’t see him. “Lexington.”
“NoIthinkDaddy'dlikehersmartsintact,” said Pietro. “RememberwhathappenedtothatErrisguy.”
Erris. The man who Professor Xavier was still spending some significant time unravelling back to his former self.
“…pickle barrel…” mumbled Sara.
“Daddy won’t like her as she is. Maybe we could hand her over as she should be.”
Mort growled. “Do us a favour, luv. Stick yer 'ed in a bucket and kick it.”
Sara was looking into his eyes. Fierce as fire. “Hopscotch.”
Translation: get out of the way.
Mort leaped for the ceiling at the same time Sara faded from view and her former wrappings fell. He could, through long practice, spot Sara and her goals, so he turned the floor into a sticky labyrinth for the silver speedster. He did not aim anything at Wanda. He knew better than to try. Just keep moving and stay out of notice. Make sure Sara got to her goals and back her up on the way out.
“Not again, not again!” Wanda screamed. “This is the fifth time! How can they?”
Mort got in a lucky shot at Pietro’s face, causing the man to stumble and in stumbling, raise smoke that covered both his and Sara’s escape. Fifth time was the charm. He had her down the road and in a hotwired car in less than a minute.
Free. And heading like an arrow for safety. Not the safety of any of the X-crew’s shelters. That was how they got caught the first time. No. This time, he was going to one of the many, many places that Sara’s family owned. With the kind of added security that automatically came with being comfortably well off.
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