Molly and Angelo: Saturday Afternoon

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Molly runs into Angelo in the gym. Something happens that sparks a memory of Genosha. The two discuss it.



Molly liked to play in the gym sometimes. She couldn't practice her powers there cause she'd break things, unless it was the special machines that Miss Monet had. So for now she just played with a tennis ball, tossing it against the mirror on the back wall and catching it. She could see her reflection. It was kinda like playing with another her.

Angelo was humming to himself as he stepped out of the shower room to grab his gym bag off the bench. He didn't look up, not having expected anyone to be there, until his foot slipped unexpectedly in his own dripped puddle and put him on his ass before he could steady himself.

Boom, thunk. Boom, thunk. Molly had gotten the rhythm down pretty well. She had heard the footsteps coming but didn't think much of it until she saw Angelo come into the room. He had no shirt on. It felt familiar. And then he fell.

Because we’ll use his own brainwashed soldiers to bring him down, try him on camera for the whole world to watch, and then execute the sick mongrel.

CRACK! Thud. Angelo was there, on the floor, covered in red. It had been light before but for a few moments it was dark. There were people around. They were naked. Somehow she knew she was too. All of it happened, all at once.

The next time one of you threatens me, we’ll take it out on the youngest one here. Do you filth understand me?

She screamed, but she couldn't move to cover her eyes with her hands. Somehow her arms hurt. And she was cold. And even when she shut her eyes she saw it. And Meggan's voice in her head, pleading. She didn't know why.

"...crap." He scrambled up, approaching her carefully despite still only wearing shorts. "Molly? It's okay, look, it's me and I'm fine."

Things got quiet again. Molly didn't realize she'd managed to close her eyes until she heard Angelo speak. She lifted her head after a few moments. It was daytime again. And there was no one around but him. And they were in the gym not somewhere else. She had to look around just to make sure. Now she was mostly just confused.

"You were bleeding. A lot. A man hit you in the head. We were...we had no..." Her cheeks flushed crimson. She swallowed, glancing down.

"It was a memory, wasn't it?"

"It was", he said quietly, and opened his arms to her in case a comforting hug would help. "That was over the summer. But I got better, and we're all home safe now."

Molly gladly took the hug. "But...what happened? Why did he do it?" she said. Part of her didn't wanna know but sometimes you needed the bad memories too. They made you who you were.

"Oh, chiquita." He held her close, trying his best to be reassuring. "I might not be the best person to explain the whole thing to you, but... the man hit me because he was a soldier and his boss told him to. They wanted us to be quiet and behave like good hostages, to make the Professor do what they wanted."

"They...." Molly's voice was small, uncertain and sad. "They kidnapped us?"

She fell silent, not sure what to say after that or what to think. Remembering that part was like peeking through a hole in a door to see the dark on the other side and there were monsters. Still...monsters were fightable, right?

"What did they want the professor to do?"

"They did", he confirmed. "But it's all over now and the bad men that ordered it aren't going to bother us ever again. They wanted him to stop interfering in their business, but all he did was try to help people who needed it."

"Who?" Molly said, then glanced down. "Sorry...um...I'm sorry I scared you."

"A boy and a girl, a few years older than you. The boy was the President's son, and his girlfriend... was a mutant. Bad things were going to happen to her, so they ran away." He squeezed her shoulders. "You don't have to apologize. I'm sorry I gave you a flashback, but neither of us meant to."

"And the Professor helped them?" Molly said, then tilted her head. "The President of America?" She thought the guy seemed nice...but he had girls, not boys?

She kept her eyes lowered. "I remember things sometimes....like....things that remind me of other stuff. But I dunno what else happened before and after that."

"The president of Genosha", Angelo corrected. "Where we were. The memories will come back, it's just probably best not to force it."

"Oh," Molly nodded. That was good that it was not the president of America. She wanted to know so much more but she was a little afraid of it all coming back at once. And Ms. Frost the 2nd said that wouldn't be good. She remembered getting ready to go to the rally at the Genosha place. So they must've been taken from there.

"Yeah." She made a face. "I don't want my brain to explode."

"Nobody wants that", he agreed. "Can't be losing our Molly."

Molly smiled. "Yeah...my powers don't probably work good as a ghost," she said. Her eyes widened.

"Oooh! I have an idea!"

Angelo tilted his head at her, grinning and quite happy to go along with the distraction. "Yeah? What's that?"

Molly stepped back, mainly so she could be able to hop up and down without whacking him.

"Can you use your powers like a rubber band?"

"If I want to, yeah", he confirmed. "I just have to stretch around and latch back onto myself. Works as a good slingshot, too."

"A slingshot!" Molly said, nodding quickly. "Yeah, that!"

"Maybe some time when you're fighting bad guys you can slingshot people at the bad guys! Like...really short girls who like to wear the best hats ever!"

Angelo laughed. "Maybe, sometime, when you're old enough to go out fighting bad guys. For now, though, we could practice in the quarry?"

Blinking, Molly frowned. "But I fought the Slendermen. And the angry church guy..." she said.

"They came to you, kiddo", he pointed out. "Or the angry church guy, it was supposed to be a peaceful day out and it all went sideways. Nobody's saying you shouldn't fight when you're in danger, but we don't want to go putting you in danger when we get the choice just yet either. See the difference?"

"But I wanna fight the bad guys before they come to me. Or hurt other people," Molly said, walking over to plop down on a bench with a frown.

"I don't wanna feel helpless."

Angelo sighed and walked over to sit next to her, grabbing a clean shirt from his gym bag and pulling it over his head - thoroughly mussing his wet hair - on the way.

"You're not helpless, Molly. But you can't be a full X-Man until you're 18, can't even be a trainee before that unless your mom and dad say you can. That's the rules, and it's why the New Mutants were started, 'cause we know you all don't like being treated like babies. The students here, it's the staff's responsibility to keep you safe."

Molly made a face. "Oh," she said. Her parents didn't even like the X-People. And they were kinda bad guys. So that'd never happen.

"Were you a New Mutant?"

"No, they didn't have that when I was in school here", he said with a grin. "And I was a bad, bad boy. Always running off and getting into trouble, or helping other people do it. It's a good thing the Professor's so forgiving."

"You were?" Molly said, her eyes widening. " You were a bad guy?"

If he was maybe that meant her parents could be...someday. Right now, though, she was still unhappy with them.

"Not a really bad guy", he said seriously. "But I was pretty angry at the world back then. My life got all screwed up when I manifested, and it wasn't the greatest life, but it was mine and I wanted it back but that wasn't gonna happen. So I acted out. A lot."

"Like Matt and Artie," Molly said. They were mad sometimes. And they did bad things. But they were still good guys.

"Yeah, exactly like them." He nodded. "But people grow up, they find their place in the world and they settle down. And everyone can change their mind."

"I hope so," Molly said. That'd be a lot easier then punching all the bad guys. She'd get really tired.

"I hope I get to be 18 really fast, though. Just in case. My parents would never say yes to let me train before that."

"You'll get to be 18 when you get to be 18", Angelo said, amused. "Seeing as we don't know anybody yet that can speed up time for you."

"Yeah," Molly said, resting her chin in her hand with a curled nose.

"Can we still do the quarry rubber band practice, though?"

"Course we can!" he told her cheerfully. "Sounds like fun. And I can help you work with your own powers, too, if you want."

"How?" Molly tilted her head. She mostly just punched robots a lot in the Dangerous Room now that Monet was gone.

"Be your spotter, mostly", he suggested. "Work the exact limits of what you can do before you get tired, and see if we can't help you push them back."

"Oh...okay," Molly said, nodding. "I usedta be able to punch without getting sleepy but after the Slendermen I punched a lot of stuff and then I took a nap. It had been awhile since I did that. So does that mean I should punch more stuff all at once?"

"No, no", Angelo said quickly. "It means you should work up to it, get it so you don't get sleepy before you try to go up a level. Think of it like a muscle - if you're working on your muscles, you can't just lift the biggest barbell on the first day, right? You wait and work until you can lift one easily before you go on to the next."

"Yeah...Miss Monet tried to teach me to do that before she left. I tried to keep practicing. I guess I need to practice more," Molly said.

"It's the only way to get stronger." He grinned. "Want to go out to the quarry now?"

Molly hopped up, then nodded quickly. "Yes please!"

"Sure thing. Just let me stop by the office and grab my coat on the way."

Peering down at his shorts, Molly paused. "Won't you be cold?"

"It's a long coat", he said easily. "I'll manage."

Looking a little uncertain, Molly finally nodded again. "Okay...I should get mine too. Maybe we can meet in the lobby?"

"If it'll make you feel better, I'll go borrow sweatpants from Jean-Philippe, he's only a bit taller than me. And then see you in the lobby."

"That's okay..." Molly said with a shrug. "I just didn't want you to be cold."

Reaching down to grab her tennis ball, she smiled. "Be down in a bit!"