The Rictor Effect: The Beginning

[x-rictor.livejournal.com]

Julio Richter is an ordinary teenager from Mexico with his own life and problems. Until one day, that all shatters.



The day that everything changed started out as a rather ordinary day. Julio Richter was up early, and out on the practice field by seven a.m. The brutal summer heat wouldn’t settle over the city until midmorning. By eight he was running drills and sweating like a pig. By nine his calves ached and it felt like he was breathing molasses, but he kept pushing himself. He wanted to start on varsity in the fall, and like his father always said, a man could achieve anything if he worked hard enough.

By the time practice ended at 11, Julio just wanted to die. His calf and thigh muscles kept jumping in exhaustion. He showered and dressed quickly, ignoring his friends’ protests on his bailing out of the movie he had agreed to go to that afternoon. Felicia had called last night, needing to see him. A man had his priorities. He waved his friends off and went out to meet the car that was waiting for him.

Among the other things Luis Richter could afford, several were very nice cars. But he would be damned if his only son would be driving them before the age of sixteen. Luis instead sent his driver, much to Julio’s embarrassment. Julio wished he could be driving, instead of being driven around like a little kid.

By noon, Julio was napping in his room. By two, he was awake and getting ready to meet Felicia. A nice shirt, a little bit of cologne, a dab of hair gel, and he was all set. He rubbed the stubble on his chin and decided he didn’t have time to shave. Besides, he thought it made him look older. Ana kept yelling at him from downstairs, telling him to hurry up and come eat. As far as Ana and the rest of the help knew, Julio was seeing a girl from his school. Ana especially liked to pinch his cheeks and lament about how “mi niño” was already seeing girls. Like she was doing now.

“Ay, Ana, stop it!” Julio swatted the shorter woman away in impatience. Since coming to live with his father at the age of nine, his father’s housekeeper had adopted “the poor motherless cat” and set about mothering him as best she could. But now at the age of nearly sixteen, it was getting on his nerves.

“Oho, Mijo is on his way to meet his girlfriend.” Ana chided, and slid a quesadilla towards him. “Eat something, you collapsed right after practice, and you need your strength.” She winked.

Julio blushed. “Ana, I’m just going to meet the guys for a movie. I don’t have a date.” He wolfed down the quesadilla quickly. He was already running late, and he hated being late.

“Ah, don’t lie to me, Julio.” Ana bustled around him, straightening his collar and smoothing his hair. “You don’t wear cologne when you’re going to meet the boys.”

Julio grunted in impatience. He swallowed the last of the quesadilla. “Ana, I have to go, I’m late.” He ducked away and darted out of the kitchen.

“Are you sure you don’t want Felipe to drive?” Ana called after him.

“No Ana! I have a ride!” Julio yelled from the hallway. He jerked the front door open and ran out, slamming it behind him. In retrospect, Julio would wish he had been nicer to Ana, if he had known he wouldn’t see her again.

He jogged down the path that lead to the main gate, and then out onto the road. Two blocks later, he was sweating and cursing his father for not letting him drive. He was the last one of his friends to not be driving. They loved to torment him about his driver, and how he was still his father’s little boy. Julio allowed himself a small smirk. If only his friends knew.

Waiting for him in its usual spot, was Felicia’s dark Mercedes Benz. She was checking her lipstick in the rearview mirror and didn’t see Julio as he ran up and opened the passenger side door.

“Hello beautiful.” Julio said, as he slid into the passenger’s seat and leaned over to kiss Felicia on the cheek.

“Hello handsome.” Felicia replied, turning her head and kissing Julio fully on the mouth. Felicia, in her heart, was not a bad woman, just very lonely. At least that’s what she told herself to justify the fact that she was seeing Julio. At 25, she was ten years his senior. And also married to his father’s boss.

Felicia suffered from classic trophy wife syndrome. She had everything she ever wanted, but something was always missing for her. Her husband was always away on buying trips, and she was often left to her own devices. Sometimes she would cry herself to sleep, alone in bed. So when she spied Luis Richter’s adorable son at a party earlier in the year, she couldn’t resist talking to him, or sleeping with him later that night. She was so lonely, and Julio was so cute and eager.

Felicia also knew that neither of them had any illusions about what was happening. Hence all the secrecy. They met often in her car and went for drives. They never went to a hotel, because those could be traced, but sometimes they went to houses of friends that were away for the weekend, and sometimes to Felicia’s empty house. Felicia often swore to herself she would break it off, because she was putting both Julio and his father at risk, but she really couldn’t help herself. So, in the end, Felicia could blame only herself.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Julio asked, concerned. Felicia looked upset, her face was perfectly made up but her eyes were still puffy and swollen. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. That made her lips quiver.

“Oh, Julio.” She sighed and turned away. He was such a cute little boy. She started the car, and revved the engine loudly. “Let’s go for a drive, I have something to tell you.”


....


The silence stretched on, as thick and heavy as the air outside the air-conditioned benz. Julio stared ahead, watching the traffic as the car sped down the road.

“Julio? Julio, please, say something.” Felicia begged, half-watching the road. She really should have stopped the car, but she felt like she needed to be constantly be in motion. If she stopped it would really sink in just how truly fucked she was.

Julio swallowed, his mouth dry. One of his headaches was starting, the familiar pressure in his temples coupled with the ringing in his ears, this time accompanied by nausea. He gripped the handle of the door to steady himself. He couldn’t even look at Felicia. “Are you sure?”

“Yes I’m sure.” The last came out as a half-sob. She had confirmation from the doctor yesterday. The old goat had shook her hand and congratulated her. Señor Mendoza had been looking forward to having a child with his pretty young wife.

Julio shook his head. Even moving it made the ringing worse. “Are you sure it’s mine?”

“Yes, Julio, goddamnit, who else’s would it be?” Felicia gripped the steering wheel tightly, her knuckles turning white.

“But...we were always so careful.” Julio said slowly. This couldn’t be happening. It just wasn’t true. He looked at Felicia accusingly, “You said we had to be careful, and we were, because it was secret...and...and it can’t be mine!”

“It is!” Felicia yelled. She was starting to cry.

Julio felt like he was going to throw up. “Felicia, I’m sorry. I just, I don’t know what to do.” He couldn’t even drive yet, let alone take care of a baby. “I’m not even out of school yet, and what about your husband?” That thought made his head hurt even more.

“We could run away.” Felicia blurted out.

“What?” Julio could only gape at her. Not only was she pregnant, she was now insane. “Where? How? For fuck’s sake, why?” He knew he should be more supportive, but his head hurt too much.

“You were born in El Paso, right? That makes you a U.S. citizen. You don’t even need a green card.” Felicia said hurriedly, this plan had come to her last night.

“Felicia, I haven’t been to the United States since I was a baby. Besides.... wouldn’t it, wouldn’t it be easier if you said it was your husband’s? You could pass it off, he was here until recently. He’d never know!” And he had been. Julio had resented the old man for staying with Felicia every night for the duration of his stay, which meant he couldn’t see her for weeks.

“Oh Julio, how could you say that?” Felicia was edging towards hysterical. “Could you live with yourself knowing that your child was being raised by another man? Could you stand your child calling another man ‘papa’?”

Julio felt like saying he would be perfectly happy with that fact, if it meant his head stayed attached to his neck. “What do you want me to do?” He said, hating himself for sounding like a whiny little kid. His eyes were coming unfocused from the pain.

“We need to leave. Today. You and me, we’ll drive to the border tonight, and you’ll say I’m your wife, which makes me a citizen too, and we’ll go start a new life in America!” Yes, please, let’s go. She thought to herself. “If I stay, if I have this baby, I’ll die. I’ll wither up and die. Please Julio, I can’t take this anymore!” The lonely nights, the servants who looked down on her for marrying a man old enough to be her father. The baby meant she was trapped, forever.

Julio couldn’t take it anymore either. He pressed his hands to his head and cried out. The pain was excruciating, he felt like his skull was too small for his brain. He started breathing rapidly, and the edges of his vision went white.

“Julio?” Felicia took her eyes off the road for an instant, to see where Julio was huddled by the door, hands pressed to temples and hyperventilating. When she turned back to the road, she barely had time to react. Because there was a man standing directly in front of her car, and she was going to hit him. She screamed.

A black-gloved hand reached out casually, then clenched into a fist. Beside Felicia's car, two sedans swerved uncontrollably, tires screeching. The sound of metal crumpling grew louder as they smashed into either side of the car, making Felicia's screams double.

From beneath a dark red helmet, Magneto's eyes squinted as automobiles began to weave and steer erratically, smashing into each other in an ever-increasing symphony of chaos and destruction. The entire time, he kept his gaze focused on Julio as if he could speak directly to the boy despite the noise, directly into his brain, into the power hidden
within his genes.

The rumble of the ground beneath his feet was the answer he was looking for.

The car veered sharply to the right, colliding with a third car and spinning before coming to a rest at the top of the embankment. The drop wasn't far, but it was enough. The rumbling grew louder. Inside the car, Julio felt like he was being crushed from the inside out. Let go, something inside him commanded. Let it all go. Julio's eyes rolled up to the top of his head. He let go. The ground began to shake violently.

Magneto's eyes grew wide - the boy's power was emerging, but much stronger than he had anticipated. Sweeping cars aside with a wave of magnetic force, he reached out with his power for the teetering car at the edge of the embankment.

One split-second too late, as it fell over the edge.

The car rolled and bounced thirty feet down the embankment before it came to a stop with a metallic crunch. Julio dimly felt the rolling of the car. He was feeling like a tremendous amount of force was using as him a conduit, passing through him so fast he could hear it roaring in his ears. He registered the car’s stop when his head smacked against the doorframe. Julio was aware of wetness down the side of his face, and the roaring stopping. Then the world went black, and Julio ceased to be aware of anything else.