1. Watch the news, people!

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Probably never will. They're fun to play with though.

Notes: This is and is not set in second season. It is as I mentioned a few things that happened in second season, but is not as I forgot to include Beast and Tabitha at all. Or the new recruits, but then no one ever uses them anyway. This is also set before any of the weirdness of Joyride, which I have not seen but have heard about. Here, Lance still has the crush on Kitty, but she doesn't seem too interested. Hm. That's like early second season, isn't it? 

Note #2: I'd just like to say for the record that I don't hate any of the characters. Frankly, I think they're all cool in one way or another and I usually keep a pretty open mind about these things. As such, any bashing of characters that is done in this story is done simply because I was doing it from a character's point of view and was trying to portray their opinions, not mine. Unfortunately, some of the characters on here do hate each other, and they think accordingly. Thus said, please don't get mad at me if I say something you don't like about a character. 

            "This is, like, going to be so cool!" Kitty exclaimed in general enthusiasm, looking around the lunch table at her friends.

            "Ja, I know!" Kurt agreed. "I've never been to a concert before."

            "What, never?!" she asked incredulously. It seemed impossible to her that there possibly could be a teenager on this green earth who hadn't been to concerts before. She herself had started going when she was thirteen, with her family.

            Kurt fiddled with his image inducer, flipping it off and then on again. For one moment he was the distinctive elf they knew at home; blue fur, golden eyes, and three fingered hands becoming apparent. The image just flickered there for a second before he became a normal looking, raven-haired boy again. "Well, its not like I could exactly go into public places, looking the way I used to," he told her dryly.

            "Oh, right," Kitty said humbly. "I, like, forgot."

            "Kurt!" Scott snapped. He'd seen what the younger boy had done. "We're at school! Don't do things like that."

            The sophomore looked at him irritably. "What?! It's not like the inducer has never conked out at school before!" 

            "That's still no reason to turn it off purposely. What if someone had seen you?"

            Kurt settled back in his chair, muttering, "Party pooper."

            "Kitty's right, though," Evan spoke up, a cheerful look on his face. "This IS going to be cool! Especially 'cause nothing ever happens in this town, so when something does its gonna be big. I bet the whole town shows up for this!"

            Jean smiled at him. "It'll be fun," she agreed. "Bigger than any of Duncan Matthews's parties."

            The Goth at the end of the table snorted at this. "Like any of us cares what Duncan Matthews's parties are like," she said in a derisive tone, causing the redhead to bristle. Evan saw the storm gathering and quickly moved to prevent it. 

            "How about you, Rogue?" he asked. "Are you going to go to the concert with us?"

            "Ah might as well," she said in a bored tone. She couldn't hide the slight smile that played about her lips, however. "Actually, it does sound like fun. Better than just staying at home on a Friday night, anyway." From Rogue, this was high praise indeed. 

            Evan grinned at her. "Cool."

            "Then everyone meet up at my car at eight thirty," Scott said. "And I'll drive us there."

            The bell rang to announce that lunch was over. Used to this, the coterie of teenagers picked up their trays and gathered their things together. "This is, like, so awesome!" Kitty exclaimed, still excited. "I guess I'll see you all tonight then!"

            Rogue rolled her eyes to Evan as they walked off to Field Biology together. "Did she forget she lives with us?" the girl asked rhetorically. "She'll see us this afternoon anyway."

            "Ah, leave her alone, Rogue. She's just excited."

            "Yeah, but with someone with that high an IQ, she sure can act like an idiot sometimes." So saying, they walked off. The others also dispersed; talking among themselves about all the fun things they were going to do that night. 

            ***

            Scott drove them home, as usual. How six people managed to fit into a little two-door convertible was a mystery even they didn't understand, but they managed it somehow. The ride home was a bit more boisterous than usual. Kurt kept bouncing up and down in his seat and Evan would insist on singing along loudly with the radio when "We Will Rock You" came on. Finally, however, they made it home. A rather sick looking Rogue got out of the back seat, slamming the door. 

            "Don't ever sing again, you hear me?!" she yelled at Evan. He had the good grace to look sheepish as cheers of agreement rose from the rest of his friends.

            Ororo came to the door of the mansion. "Come inside, all of you," she called shortly. 

            Exchanging puzzled glances, they did so. "What is it, Auntie O?" Evan asked, a crease forming on his brow. "Is something wrong?"

            She sent an unreadable look around the group of children. "It's nothing that any of you did. Come into the parlor. The Professor and Logan have something to tell you."

            The group followed the stately, white-haired young woman, all looking nervous at this unknown problem. They entered the parlor, a large room with a fireplace and a few comfortable looking chairs. Logan was there, still dressed in the outdoors jacket and faded jeans he always seemed to don when he was traveling somewhere. He'd been gone for a few days, as he often was, with no explanation of where he had gone or why. Now he was speaking to Professor Xavier in a low voice, sitting casually on the arm of one of the upholstered chairs. They both looked up when the door opened and seven people crowded inside. 

            Scott was the first to speak. "What's going on, Professor?"

            Xavier raised a hand reassuringly. "Nothing to be overly worried about, I assure you. Have any of you watched the news recently?" Blank stares met his question. "Well, maybe you should do so now," he said with a great deal of patience. The remote to the small TV sharing the room with them was on his lap. Now he picked it up and pointed it towards the machine. The picture clicked on and the Professor quickly flipped to the local news channel. 

            A perky brunette appeared, looking down at her notes. "Local authorities are puzzled by the body of a fifty year old man that was found on the outskirts of Bayville this morning," she reported in a serious voice. "The man was apparently mauled by a wild animal of some sort and probably died almost immediately." A quick picture flashed up on the screen. It showed the body lying on some grass from several feet away. It wasn't too graphic but was more than enough to make Kitty turn away, looking sick. 

            "Oh. Eew!" 

            The brown-haired newsperson was shown again. She looked up at the cameras frankly. "The strange thing is that the claw marks found match no known beast that could be identified. Rumors of an unknown monster lurking around the town's border persist despite experts' assurances that there must be a logical conclusion. But this is perhaps small comfort. On this day, many people are staying indoors, and locking those doors early. In other news..."

            The Professor turned the television off again. "You can see why I might be concerned," he said. 

            "Yeah, that's awful and all. But what's it gotta do with us?" Rogue asked. "Ah mean, you don't think it's a mutant, do you? All that talk of some scary 'monster' just sounded like a load of crap to me. People always talk about stuff like that when they're scared. It was probably just a bear or something that did that to the guy."

            "I'm not so sure about that, stripes," Logan replied. He hadn't moved from his perch on the chair arm and she was standing straight, but he still managed to look her straight in the eye without craning his neck. "I think I might have seen that thing today." He raised his voice over their sudden burble of voices, pitched with questioning and alarm. "Only for a moment! And I didn't get a clear look at it, just something in the woods that was way too large to be some lost hunter. But when I came back to the Institute and saw the news, I thought of it." He stared at them stonily. "Now if there is something wandering around out there then I think we'd all do well to follow that newsie's advice and stay inside tonight."

            Again, the voices were raised. In protest this time. 

"What?! No way!" Kurt exclaimed.

"But why?!" Jean asked rather plaintively. 

"You can't do this to us, Professor!" Evan appealed, turning to the wheel chair bound man. "It's not fair!"

"Fairness has nothing to do with it, Evan," Xavier replied, quieting the room with his soft voice. "I have to think your and the other student's safety first. I'm afraid Logan is right. Until this situation is dealt with I must insist that you all stay at home at night, and come right back here after school instead of wandering about. Do I make myself clear?" Quiet though the words were, they held authority. A mumble of disappointed yeses was heard. "Good. That's all we wanted to tell you. You may go."

The group trekked dejectedly past Storm and out of the room. "Oh man! This bites!" Kurt burst out as soon as they were out of earshot. 

"Tell me about it," Kitty agreed heartily. "I really wanted to go to that concert." 

"YOU wanted to go! At least you've been to one before! I really wanted to see what it was like."

Jean sighed heavily. "Well, there's no point in complaining about it now," she said, sounding very depressed herself. "If we can't go then we can't go. I'm going to go listen to some music." And with that, she ascended the palatial stairs to her room. 

Kurt shot a defiant, angry look around the room in general, and then teleported away without a word, a smell of sulfur rising in the air.

Scott shook his head. "Kurt's right. This does bite. But I suppose there's nothing to be done about it. Maybe we can appeal to them tomorrow, when they're not so worked up about this whole thing." This was said with a comforting look at the three still remaining, like he was trying to reassure them. Then he too turned and walked up the stairs. Kitty started to follow, only to have her arm caught by Evan. 

"Kitty. Wait up a sec," he said. Over his shoulder the brunette could see Rogue smiling grimly. The two had been quiet earlier, talking amongst themselves. "This rule's completely unfair!" the black boy said, adding his sentiment to the general pile. He looked at Kitty slyly. "Just how badly DO you want to go to the concert?"

She looked at him confusedly. "Like, what are you talking about?"

"Just this." And he explained. By the end of it, Kitty's smile matched Rogue's tooth for tooth.

Review please. I want to know what you think of it. Not too much action in this chapter but it will most definitely pick up in the next one or two. I know this as I have already written about twenty pages of this story. So keep checking back. New chapters will come frequently. And please REVIEW! I need to know what to change and what's good and what you think. I just need to, that's all. 


	2. Music and People and Drinking, Oh My!

Disclaimer: I don't own Lance, Kitty, Evan, Rogue, or any other person who makes a scene in this fanfic. I'd like to say that they belong to themselves as isn't it every person's goal to truly belong to themselves, away from the demands and strictures of other people? Unfortunately, these particular people belong to Marvel and The Kids WB, so they're just going to have to deal with corporate wages.

Note: I actually wrote this chapter before the other part, but it was too confusing and I had to backtrack to explain some things. Thus, the first part of this might sound a little repetitive as I was introducing the plot for the first time. I was planning on editing it and fixing it, but I had an attack of the killer laziness and decided not to. It's just the first scene or two, and there's no horrible harm done, plus I got to include a pointless mention of a stuffed pig! So it's all good. 

Note #2: Warning. There is mention of alcohol in here. One of the characters gets drunk. If that horribly offends you than you can leave, but it was meant in good fun, really. Just thought I ought to warn any prudish people out there.

Chapter 2

Music and People and Drinking, Oh My!

The night was dark and chilly. Low clouds scudded across the moon in fast progressions, pushed by the insistent autumn wind. It made light to see by a rear and intermittent thing. The last of the stubborn leaves chattered against the tree branches that held them aloft, dead but not willing to admit it. 

Three figures scuttled across the open lawn of the Xavier Mansion, timing their run to cross in one of the cloudy dark moments of sky. The billowy masses moved again and the pale, silvery light of the gibbous moon shone on every tree tip, every blade of grass. It glinted off the barrier of the gate that now stood before the three interlopers and shone softly on their upturned faces, making them appear white and unreal. One of them shivered and dropped her eyes to the ground, hugging her arms around herself as the wind blew against her. 

"It's cold out here. Can't we go in?" Katherine Pryde asked the others, a plaintive note in her voice.

"No, so shhh!" Evan paid her no attention as he looked up at the imposing bars of the fence before them. A contemplative expression was on his face as he considered the best way to escape. 

"It's your own fault, you know," the third spoke up irritably. "Ah warned you, Kitty, to wear warm clothes 'cause it was like to be chilly out. But do you ever listen?" The drawling note in this one's voice proclaimed her to be from the South. She looked at her companion disapprovingly from under darkly mascaraed eyelashes.

"Well, its not my fault if I haven't gotten my winter clothes out. It's, like, not supposed to be so cold yet." She looked up at them with doubtful eyes. "Are you guys, like, sure this is a good idea? I'm starting to think we should just stay here."  
            Evan snorted. "Oh, come on, Kitty. Grow a little backbone!" He took one more appraising look at the structure before him, then nodded decisively. "All right. I think we can climb this." With those words he launched himself at the fence and started scrambling up it, looking like nothing so much as a monkey climbing its cage in the zoo. The other girl looked at Kitty and raised her eyes heavenward in silent exasperation of all guys everywhere. Then she shrugged and followed him, climbing the metal as easily as a cat. Or a skunk rather, for with her black jeans and white-streaked dark hair she dearly resembled one in the dim light of evening. 

Evan, meanwhile, had reached the top. "Careful, Rogue," he called back to the girl laboring behind him. "Watch out not to touch the top of the fence when you go over it. The alarm will pick up if you even so much as brush it." So saying, he carefully swung his legs over one at a time, taking care to follow his own advice. Rogue quickly tailed him, also being wary of touching the top. Within moments they had reached the ground. The black boy looked around with a satisfied air, obviously proud to have gotten past the mansion's security system. Only then did he seem to notice that one of their number had not followed him and was still standing forlornly on the inner side of the gate.

"Come on, Kitty!" he hissed as loudly as he dared. "Are you coming?" His voice turned scornful. "Or are you gonna run away to bed like a good little girl?"

Her chin came up at that and she glared at him, forgetting her earlier reluctance. "No need to, like, sound like that. I'm coming." She straightened defiantly. And then she stepped right through the fence, the wrought iron bars passing through her body and stylish salmon pink jacket as if they weren't even there. In a second she was through and walked to stand beside Evan. The cocky smile on her face and a raised eyebrow compared their two methods succinctly. The teen acknowledged her look with a sour one of his own and turned away from her, facing the woods on this side of the fence. "Okay then," he said, reveling in his temporary role as leader. "Let's go."

***

About five minutes into the woods the trio felt it was safe to talk at a normal level again, without the fear of discovery dogging their footsteps. Evan broke the silence first by vocalizing his earlier look of triumph. The chocolate skinned, bleach blonde haired teenager looked around at the faintly damp, glistening trees around them in satisfaction. 

"Well, that wasn't too hard," he said. "Not nearly so difficult as Kurt was making it out to be."

Rogue nodded, the white streaks of her bangs shining dully in the shadowed light. "Right. But then, he can just teleport out whenever he feels like it, so of course he had to make it sound hard for the rest of us!" 

"This is great!" Evan burst out again, excitement rising to the fore now that the need for stealth was past. "We're really going!"

The Goth grinned back at him, just as excited but more reserved in showing it. "Ah know. Isn't it awesome? When Logan came in with that tale about some weird beast wandering around Bayville, and then all those news programs started talking about it and Xavier forbid us from leaving the mansion, I was worrying. After all, we've been planning to go to this concert for weeks now, all of us. And just like that, the Professor cancels it! Scott and Jean may be willing to take that lying down, but ah sure won't!"

"But what if the creature IS real?" Kitty asked somewhat nervously, glancing around at the trees as if she thought something would leap out of them. 

Evan waved that off. "Oh, rubbish!" Everyone's still spooked from Mr. McCoy's rampage last month. So, a bear pillages some camper's food bags and everyone goes postal! The story's completely made up, I'm telling you!"

"But if even Mr. Logan and the Professor are worried..."

"'Will you relax!" He rolled his eyes dramatically. "What's with you, anyway? You were just as gung-ho to sneak out as Rogue and I were when I told you about it this afternoon."  
            "Yeah, but I didn't, like, think you were really serious about it," Kitty mumbled, face turning red in embarrassment. An owl hooted abruptly from the tree above and she jumped in spite of herself.

"Oh, I don't believe it! She's afraid of the dark!" Evan laughed. 

"I am not!" she protested angrily. 

"Yes, you are! Oh, poor Kitty Kat. Afraid the nasty tree monsters will get you!" 

"Shut up! You know, if there **is** some sort of killer monster on the loose out here then I think I have an excuse to be a little jumpy!" God! Sometimes Evan could be such a...boy!

Rogue, surprisingly enough, had her back on this one. "Yeah, Evan. Stop acting so immature." She half sneered at him and added, "And before you start making fun of someone else I think we should all share a moment of silence to remember poor, missing Borty."

Kitty shot the Goth a confused look as Evan grew suddenly very still, stopping dead in his tracks to stare at her incredulously. "How do you know about..." he trailed off as he caught the evil grin that grew on her face. Understanding flared, and a sudden anger. "You're the one who stole him, aren't you?!"

Rogue dimpled at him innocently. "Well, it was such a cute stuffed pig. I couldn't resist."

"Oh! And all this time I've been blaming Kurt! Give him back!"

"Ah may. If you're nice to me."

Evan's face turned an indignant shade of purple and he opened his mouth to make another exclamation. Kitty beat him to the punch, however. 

"You sleep with a stuffed pig?!" She burst out into peals of laughter, only quieting herself with an effort when she saw the look on his face. "I think that's very...cute," the girl finished, stifling a last few giggles. Her fear was forgotten at this hilarious revelation, which, judging from the smirk on the Goth's face, had been exactly the point.

Now it was Evan's turn for his face to flame. He stared hard at the ground for a moment, not saying anything, and then abruptly changed the subject. 

"Look, are we going to get moving or what? The concert will be over by the time we get there the way we're going."

That caught all their attentions. "No it won't! Rogue said forcefully and began striding forward again, pushing herself for speed. "Ah said ah was going and ah mean to. Hurry up, you two!"

"Yeah, Kitty agreed, scurrying to catch up with her. "If we've come this far already, we might as well keep on. It wouldn't be fair not to go to the concert now."

Evan followed them silently, only relieved that the subject of the stuffed animal had been dropped.

And behind them, hidden in the trees not far away, something watched.

***

The concert was fun. Kitty felt all her worries fall away as soon as they arrived and she was soon having the time of her life. Bayville was a inconsequentially small town. Thus it was a rare event for, well...anything to happen there at all. Usually the teenagers had to take the two hour long drive up to New York City before they could find an activity that they would all enjoy. So the coming of the concert was a big deal to practically everyone in the surrounding area, and certainly everyone under the age of twenty-five. It was an event the likes of which the town of Bayville hadn't seen in a long time. It featured a couple of different groups, none overly famous, who had left the city to avoid being crushed by the bigger names' publicity. Despite being small in recognition, however, they were good, Kitty was pleased to note. Naturally, nearly the entire teenage population turned out for this event, all those whose parents weren't forcing them inside for fear of the 'monster,' in fact. Quite a few grown-ups were there as well. Needless to say, it was a huge crowd of people, all of them laughing and dancing and having a good time. 

After agreeing to meet up with each other again at one thirty, Kitty, Rogue, and Evan split up, each seeking the part of the crowd where they would be most comfortable. The three didn't really have much in common besides their mutual desire to go out that night and enjoy themselves. Kitty didn't mind. She just rocked to the music, flirted with some guys, and drank a little punch. It was great. 

Eventually, however, it got late, and she started to think of finding the others so that they could leave. Abruptly she heard her name being called by a male voice, not five feet away.

"Kitty."

She turned around, expecting it to be Evan saying it was time to go home. She looked and got a rude shock. Shaggy, dark hair; a tall, nicely muscled frame; the ever present trench coat; It was Lance Alvers.

"Oh. Eew. Like, what do you want?" Kitty asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste. Lance was a member of a group called the Brotherhood; a mean thuggish bunch of kids who always took every chance they could to make fun of her friends. The dark haired boy was the biggest bully in school. Even Duncan Matthews avoided him, just on general principle, and Duncan turned beating up people smaller than him into an art form. Lance was rude, boorish, and downright insulting most of the time. He also had a huge crush on her. 

Lance, for his part, seemed nervous. The only time he did was when he was around her. Now he shrugged and stuck his hands into his pockets. "I just saw you and thought I'd say hi," he said.

"Well, hi," Kitty replied shortly and wished he'd go away. 

"Say, what are you doing here anyway? I thought all you X-Geeks were supposed to stay indoors tonight."

The temperature dropped several degrees around them as she looked at him coldly. "Us **X-Geeks** go wherever we feel like, whenever we feel like," she said, emphasizing the insulting title. 

He either missed her hostility or ignored it. "That's not the way I hear it." The teen snorted. "You do whatever that old fossil up there tells you to do."

"Yeah, whatever," Kitty snapped and pushed past him. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go find someone I actually WANT to have a conversation with!"

"Kitty, wait!" He caught up with her and walked alongside as she fiercely pushed her way through the crowd, looking for Rogue and Evan. "I'm sorry," Lance apologized, actually managing to sound contrite by some talent. "I didn't mean to be rude to you. It's just that every time I open my mouth stuff comes out, and maybe its stuff I shouldn't have said."

"Then maybe you should put some thought into closing it." Kitty was in no mood to be charitable. Trust Lance to have to show up and ruin her entire evening!

He was still trying, however, despite her sarcasm. "I said I was sorry." Now he sounded hurt. Would the boy's acting talents never end? "Look, do you want to go out to lunch tomorrow? That way I can make it up to you. We don't have to talk about the X-Gee... I mean, the X-Men at all, if you don't want to."

Kitty stopped searching the crowd long enough to turn and stare at him. He fidgeted under her incredulous gaze. 

"Go out with you?!" she said, hardly believing she'd heard right. "What would possibly possess you into thinking I'd want to go out with you?! Get it into your head, Lance! I don't, like, LIKE you!! If I never saw you again I'd have a good day. So just, like, leave me alone already!" She whirled away from him again.

"Kitty!" He put a hand on her shoulder and spun her back around. "Why are you being like this?! I'm trying to be nice here!" 

Another voice cut through the murmur of the crowd, quiet now as it ever got since the bands were between sets. "Is he bothering you again, Kitty?"

She looked up to see Evan walking over, glowering a storm at Lance. Finally!

"Yes," she nodded and walked over to her friend. "He is."

Alvers reverted to form. He slouched slightly and looked at Evan with coldly slitted eyes, a disdainful expression on his face. "You here too, Daniels? Isn't it past your bedtime?"

Evan bristled. "Why don't you just go away, **Alvers**. Kitty doesn't want to talk to you."

"Hey, Kitty and I are none of your business."

Kitty spoke up. "Right. Because there is no 'Kitty and you.' I just told you to, like, go away!" 

He shot her a beseeching look, which she pointedly ignored, then turned a menacing one back on the New Yorker. "Fine. I'm outta here. But you'd better stay out of my way from now on, Daniels. Or else you'll have more than just Pietro to worry about." Then he turned and stalked off, trench coat flaring dramatically. Several people got shoved out of his way.

"It figures they'd have to show up and ruin everything," Evan muttered, echoing Kitty's previous thoughts. "I saw Pietro earlier, spiking the punch."

The girl started at this and quickly took stock of her senses. She felt fine. But then she'd only had a little of the punch when she'd first arrived. Maybe the speedster hadn't added anything then. 

"We should find Rogue," Evan went on, missing Kitty's inner worry. "It's almost two o'clock already and we have to get back before anybody notices we're gone. Auntie O's an early riser."

"Right," the brunette agreed. "Frankly, I, like, expected to run into her before I ran into you. She's more of a party pooper than you are."

He grinned at her. "I'll tell her you said so."  
            "Don't you dare!"

But when they found Rogue it was immediately apparent why she hadn't been the one to call them all off. The normally dour Goth was laughing gaily and dancing with a large group of people, showing none of her typical inhibitions. She'd obviously had more than a little of the punch. By the time they managed to drag her away from her flock of admirers it was well past two and Evan was starting to get frantic. Ever since he'd nearly been sent home to New York for misbehavior he had been paranoid about it happening again and always tried to act his best in front of the adults. Clearly, he was afraid that any more infractions would get him sent away for good. Now he hurried the two girls, Rogue weaving and whistling, into the woods so fast that even Kitty felt her head start to spin.

"There. We can be home in twenty minutes if we hurry."

"Twenty minutes?" Kitty said unbelievingly. "Are you crazy?"

"You know what?" Rogue commented vaguely, looking around at the brown leaves still clinging to the autumn trees. "I like green. Green'sh my favorite color. The treesh should be green like they usul…us…like they often are."

"You think you can get home in twenty minutes with her in **that** condition?" The freshman gestured pointedly to the soused Rogue, who had stumbled into one of the trees and started pounding on it, laughingly telling it to turn green.

"Hm. You have a point. But we have to try! Auntie O will kill me if she finds out I've been out!"

"Yeah, well. She'll not exactly be lenient with the rest of us either, you know. Oh, all right!" Kitty said crossly. "I'll take one of her arms and you take the other and maybe we'll be able to stop her from straying." They started walking and they were both much too occupied taking care of their friend to worry about he long walk through the dark wood.

Okay, Review please. Is it getting better? Anyone interested? Hello? Anyone there? Hello??


	3. Into the Woods

Disclaimer: All right, you got me. I own um. Yup. All of them. Except for the ones who belong to Kids WB and Marvel, of course. That's all of them. Oh well. 

Note: Warning. Violence in this chapter. Plus a lot of Lance ANGST. So if you're into that sort of thing, you're going to love this part. Oh, and as everyone seems to make up their own pasts for the characters, I did as well, and there's a brief mention of said stuff in here…in the ANGST section. Hope you don't mind that sort of thing, but its not a major part really. Did I mention its in the ANGST section? Sorry, I just like saying ANGST!!! It's cool. Anyway… Enjoy.

Lance Alvers was having the mother royal of bad days. He'd flunked his latest Western Civ test which, considering, the rest of his grades in that class, probably meant he'd have to take it again in summer school. Either that or, heaven forbid!, repeat his senior year of high school. As if that wasn't enough, his car had been having problems lately that took him all afternoon to repair, his job had called and told him they needed him to work on Saturday after all, and Fred had eaten everything edible in the house again. So, to relax, he and the others had gone to this concert, Bayville's 'Big Event' of the year. He'd been chilled out a bit by early morning, listening to too loud music and drinking some of Pietro's spiked punch, when he'd seen her. Kitty; the sweet girl, the hot babe, the beautiful angel; the one he'd secretly had a crush on ever since he'd moved here. She was everything a guy like him could never have, sweet and pure and innocent, but in a nice way not a "perfect" untouchable way like that Jean Grey skank. 

Of course, the crush wasn't that "secret" anymore. Lance had tried to get her attention a few times; she knew he liked her. Each time he had failed miserably. Katherine didn't think much of him, he knew, not that he blamed her after some of the stuff he'd done in the past. But he'd vowed that somehow he'd change her opinion of him; let her know that she could always count on him. So, hopefully, he'd gone over. 

It had been a disaster. Lance would have said it was the worst mistake of his life but, unfortunately, he remembered the other mistakes of his life, and some of them were doozies. It was certainly the most scathing mistake of his life, anyway. She'd turned him down. Complete rejection. And not just that, but had done it in a way that left no doubt whatsoever that he would never have a chance with her; that she'd never see him as anything but a jerk and loser. With just a handful of words she had crushed his hope, finally, and irretrievably. Lance started to get angry, then stopped with a sigh. What was the point? Not thinking of anything in particular he wandered around the crowed, depressed and aimless. 

Abruptly the wall of people thinned in front of him a little and Lance saw his friends not far away. Two of them, anyway. Todd Tolensky worked the crowd, his small frame going easily unnoticed as he slid between and around people, lithe fingers going as easily unnoticed as they darted into pockets and returned with wallets. Those wallets then disappeared into the Toad's own pockets with startling quickness before he moved on to his next victim. Not far away, Freddy Dukes watched, munching on a complimentary donut. Lance stalked up, collaring the freshman away from his latest mark. Todd yelped loudly and swung around, obviously petrified to see who had him by the neck. He went limp with relief when he recognized the familiar features of the teen's face. 

"Geez, Lance! You trying to give me a heart attack or something?" 

"We're leaving," Lance told him shortly. "Find Pietro. Tell him to be at the car in five minutes or he can fucking walk home."

"No need!" A voice chirped brightly in his ear. Lance jumped in spite of himself and let go of Tolensky. Todd straightened and exaggeratedly rubbed his neck, grimacing in fake pain. 

Lance looked irritably at Pietro Maximoff, who had somehow managed to slip behind him unnoticed once again. The silver haired sophomore was grinning so hard his face looked like it was about to split in two. 

"I really wish you'd stop doing that."

Pietro slapped an innocent expression on his features, eyes widening cutely. "Doing what, Lancey? Didn't you want me to show up?"

Lance turned away. He had a headache and he didn't want to deal with this now. "Get to the car," he told all three of them as Freddy trundled over. "We're leaving."

"Leaving?!" Todd spoke up, sounding like a kid being dragged out of a toyshop. "But WHY?! We barely got here, yo."

Lance turned his best quelling look on the smaller boy, which quieted him immediately. Lance's quelling stares were fearful enough at normal times. When he was in a bad mood they were downright scary. Everyone tiptoed softly around their leader when he was annoyed. Except for Pietro. Lance doubted that Pietro had ever heard of the word tact, or had any idea of its meaning.

"Oh, I know what this is about." Quicksilver nodded knowingly. "I know what's gotten our Fearless Leader in such a funk!" He wore such an air of knowing mystery about himself that it was impossible not to say something.

"What?" Fred asked impatiently.

"Shut up, Pietro!" Lance snapped, knowing what was coming.

"Kee-tee!" the sophomore sing-sang. "I saw you talking to her!"

Both the others groaned. "You're not still going on about her, are you?" Todd asked with great disgust. 

"Yeah, man," Fred agreed from his other side. "I mean, attraction is one thing but this is just sad."

"I said shut up!" His headache was getting worse. 

Pietro donned an imaginary pair of spectacles and a bad accent at the same time. He then peered at his friend intently 'over' them. "Yes, ze patient iz suffering from an obzkure dizeaze known as "Kittyitis." It iz completely untreatable, I am afraid, and often proves fatal…"

"Okay, that's it!" Lance snarled. "I'm outta here! You bozos can just go amuse yourselves."

The three exchanged glances. "But…how are we gonna get home?" Todd asked him, looking cowed but determined to ask nevertheless.

"Fred can drive." The dark haired teen searched in his pocket for a second before coming up with the keys. He tossed them to his largest companion who caught them fumblingly. Lance started to turn away, and then paused. 

"Oh. And Todd?"

The freshman looked at him rather apprehensively. "Yo?"

"That money you stole? It goes towards groceries for the household. No hoarding."

The other ducked his head. "Yeah, sure, Lance. Whatever you say."

"Good. Now I'm leaving. You losers are pissing me off." As he walked off, still discontented, he heard Pietro's voice raised mockingly. 

"Tou…chy!"

It only made him grind his teeth and walk faster. 

Not long after that he managed to push his way out of the crowd and lose himself in the nothing wood behind it. Finally some peace and quiet! Lance sat down on a handy fallen tree stump and promptly stared off into space blankly. Now that he was away from the unwelcome distractions of his friends and the concert he had nothing left to do but brood. _What is it?_ He wondered. _What is it about me that she hates so much?_ As always when this question bounced through his mind, Lance took stock of himself. It wasn't a very encouraging list. A: He was poor. B: He'd grown up practically on the streets of Chicago, caring for his heroin-addicted mother. C: He was a mutant. Although Kitty couldn't possibly care about that since she was one herself, if still made Lance feel dirty sometimes, despite himself. No matter how many times he repeated Magneto's words about mutants being the next great step in human evolution, where Lance had grown up mutant had been a byword insult, passing even faggot and nigger in derogatory implications. It was hard to wipe out that ingrained idea, that feeling of inferiority, no matter how untrue he knew it was now. Did he know it was untrue? D: He swore…let's just say often. A petty detail, maybe, but still something that someone as sweet as Kitty would find repellant. And E: He and his friends had fought, harassed, and insulted the X-Freaks…No, the X-Men, he corrected himself, at every possible opportunity they had gotten. With a list that long, he glumly concluded, how could she do anything BUT despise him? The brutal fact was that he didn't deserve her. Kitty was too good for him.

_Fuck._ Lance sighed and fumbled deep in his pockets again. Now, where were they? Ah! There. A moment later he came up with an unopened pack of cigarettes. The teenager had quit smoking nearly a year ago, mostly at Todd's insistence. The younger boy used to go on at length about how bad they were for you and how he should quit before he caught cancer from them, until he was driving Lance crazy. He had quit mostly just to make the other shut up about it already. That, and…it was kinda nice having someone else worry about him for a change. Not that he'd ever admit it. It made him want to do something to allay that fear and make Todd feel better. Some long embedded big brotherly instinct, no doubt. He'd bought this pack in case of emergency but had successfully managed to leave it unopened for all this time until it lay, nearly forgotten, at the bottom of his coat pocket. Nearly a year since he'd stopped cold turkey and he'd never strayed once, but Damn he could use a smoke right now. _Kitty's already rejected you,_ the defeatist part of his mind whispered. _So why bother trying to improve yourself? Why not add one more vice to the pile? It's big enough already._ So thinking, he cracked the package open, found a lighter in another pocket, and lit up. At least he wouldn't have to deal with Todd getting on his case about it way out here.

***

Evan, Kitty, and a staggering Rogue slowly made their way through the forest. Slowly, much to Evan's consternation. But it was simply impossible to make the Goth girl go anything but slowly. She would keep trying to wander off in other directions. Or worse yet, would lean against one or the other of them as they guided her along, in order to say something in a loud conspiratorial whisper. This would ruck up the sleeves of her loose flowing green top, baring her arms. Then, of course, whoever it was would have to carefully wriggle out of her grip to avoid touching Rogue's bare skin. Evan even got zapped briefly by this, and was still feeling a little lightheaded from it. Rogue had just giggled again, a singularly odd sound to come from her, and began telling Kitty a particularly embarrassing story from the New 'Yorker's potty training days. This did not improve Evan's mood any, and he urged once again for more speed. 

"…and then his father said, "Ah don't care how much it helps him, you're not letting him use mah watch again!" 

Kitty cracked up at the end of the story, hugging her stomach with one hand as she laughed. She was enjoying this far more than Evan was. 

"Oh, come on. Can we hurry?!" He had a headache from Rogue's touch and felt queasy, plus he was more worried than ever about getting in trouble for being outside when they had been forbidden to be. All in all, he didn't think this was the time for embarrassing stories. Especially ones about him.

Kitty shook her head with a smile on her face. Her expression showed clearly that she was in the mood to tease him. 

"Well, I think…" What she thought would be forever unknown, however. At that moment there was a sudden roar in front of them and something very large leaped from the tall bushes. It dived straight at Kitty with a terrifying snarl. Considering this, she could perhaps be forgiven for giving a startled scream and dropping Rogue's arm, scrambling away from the creature. It landed where the pink clad girl had been standing and paused there for a second. Evan got an impression of a vaguely humanoid shape and a lot of red-orange hair, and that was all. It didn't exactly wait for inspection. With a roar it moved again. Though Rogue was standing almost next to it, it ignored her completely in favor of diving once more for the slim, chestnut haired girl. But Kitty had had time to get her bearings by now. With somewhat more presence of mind she held still, simply phasing her body out of whack as it pounced. The thing passed through her as if she were a ghost to land on the other side, snarling angrily at this second failure. 

Evan, meanwhile, was not just sitting idly by as his friend was attacked. He sprouted spikes all over his body and started to charge the creature, only to reconsider as he spied a flash of claws nearly as long as Logan's. Instead he hurled his weapons, sending them shooting out of his body with surprising force to arrow towards the monster. It ducked hurriedly and once again froze, staring up at him for one unnerving moment with white-flecked golden eyes. Then it glanced back in a disgusted fashion at Kitty who, what with the beast and all the flying sharp things, was trying very hard to keep herself insubstantial. The thing was still for exactly one second longer, and then flung itself directly at Evan. It moved so fast that the black boy fell back a pace in shock, and still collapsed, the creature's weight crashing into his legs. He popped more spikes up and tried to slash the thing off him, but it twisted and managed to avoid the worst of the lows. The hard talons of its feet dug hot flashes of pain into his shins as it tried to come at him again without getting cut up by the teen's exoskeleton. Nearby, Kitty watched helplessly, not sure of what to do. 

But there were three of them. Rogue was still standing where she'd been when the monster had first appeared. Fright had scared her sober and her bright green eyes were wide as she watched it attack her friends. She looked down at her arms and concentrated fiercely, sweat popping out on her brow with the intensity of the effort. All of a sudden she grew six long, whitish spikes, three on each arm tearing through her emerald sleeves. The girl still had a trace amount of Evan's power from her accidental touch earlier that night and now she put it to good stead. Rogue raised her pale arms triumphantly and the spikes spun out of her skin like bullets out of a gun to slam, one right after another, into the beasts unprotected back. It hadn't expected attack from this quarter, and thus had not seen to dodge. The creature reared back in pain, its claws digging into Evan again as it moved. The boy copied Rogue's action with his own arms and popped a few more of the needle-like spines into its furry hide. It roared again. Kitty, meanwhile, stopped thinking and simply threw herself into the fray. She grabbed a large stick and came running over. The monster was still reeling from Spyke's attack when she whacked it over the head with the wood as hard as she could. It snarled and swung one massive paw at her, claws arcing, but she simply phased out again and they passed right through her. The stick thudded to the ground as her arms lost solidity. Now she had a problem. She couldn't pick her only weapon up unless she returned to normal, but if she did so she would be at risk from the creature once again. 

It, however, had evidently had enough. With a sound that was almost a yelp, and yet still managed to sound as menacing as a growl, it scrambled off Evan and fled, loping into the night on all fours. 

"God!" Rogue said explosively as all three stared after it. 

"Tell me about it," Evan agreed and started to get up. "I…ooh!" only to find abruptly that he couldn't. The minute he tried to put weight on his legs a white-hot pain tore through him like a lightning bolt. He looked down at himself for the first time and to his surprise found several long slashes in his jeans where the best's claws had dug in. They were oozing wetly and the flesh under them throbbed with a steady pain that he hadn't noticed in the rush of action before. Both the others turned to look at him when he cried out. 

"Oh, Evan! You're all over blood!" Kitty exclaimed, seeing the problem at once. 

"Gee, thanks for telling me that, Kitty. Otherwise I might not have known." His sarcasm fell a bit flat as he once again tried to lever himself up and once again ended up sitting on the ground, gasping.

"Stop that!" Rogue said sharply and hurried over to him, leaning close to check over the injury. Then she looked up at the other girl. "Go to the mansion," she told her tersely. "Tell them what's happened. Ah'll stay here with him; he'll not be moving in the state he's in. You'll have to come back with a stretcher or something, ah'm afraid."

"No way!" Evan protested. He was ignored.

"Right," Kitty nodded, her face very pale. She turned and set off at once. 

"I don't need a stretcher! I'm fine!" Evan insisted again and once more tried to get up. He didn't have time to do more than feel the first jab of pain before Rogue was pushing him down again. 

"Stop trying to move," she told him crossly. "We don't know how bad the damage is yet. Or do you WANT to end up in a wheelchair like Xavier?!"

That quieted him. Evan glared but he didn't attempt to rise again. After a moment he spoke, his voice the sickly sweet tone of revenge. "You know, it's a good thing that adrenaline washes out alcohol in the bloodstream. Otherwise I'd REALLY have a problem."

"What are you talkin…?" Rogue trailed off as memory hit home. Her expression grew horrified. "Oh no! What did ah do?!"

"Well, I really don't think I should tell you that," Evan said, a smile rising over his pained grimace. 

"But…but ah didn't drink anything with alcohol in it!" 

"Pietro spiked the punch."

"He what?! Oh, next time ah see him that white haired little freak is DEAD MEAT!"

Evan's smile grew wider. "Can't wait to see it."

***

He was hurting. There seemed to be dozens of pinpricks all over his skin, buzzing at him angrily like hornet stings. His head was sore from where that little mutant girl had smacked him with the branch. And he was frustrated and angry at being stopped. Three against one was too many, that much was obvious. At least right now when he was still so very weak. But he hadn't known all three were mutants, dammit! He'd only seen the little girl use her power. The other two had seemed like normal teenagers, easy to dispatch. And then, BOOM! They both pull weapons out of their very skin! He was going to have to find those three again very soon, once he'd gotten stronger again. Then he'd show them not to mess with him. He continued to lope along the ground on all fours, not really paying attention to where he was going now as plans of revenge formulated in his mind. All of a sudden he smelled something; something unnatural in this forest air. He slowed, inhaling deeply as he tried to figure out what the scent was and where it was coming from. Cigarette smoke, that was it. He felt a sudden vicious smile form on his face. Some pathetic, stupid human had wandered into these woods and was smoking a cigarette. 

"Poor little human," he chuckled to himself. "Don't you know those are so bad for you?" As they would be. The smoke had given the person away, and now he would be prey. After all, if the creature couldn't take a mutant, he would at least have the fun of killing an ordinary person this night. Sort of a consolation prize. And the smoke smell was coming from…There! He'd pinpointed it! Not waiting even a moment, he turned and raced for the spot, mouth watering in expectation.

***

Lance finished his cigarette and flicked it to the ground, watching the glowing orange tip slowly die even as he exhaled its smoke from his lungs. That was it. The whole pack was gone. And while it had calmed his nerves greatly, it hadn't done a damn thing about his depression. Oh well. Thems the breaks. He hadn't really expected them to help much anyway. They were only a placebo and he knew it. But now that they were gone he figured there was nothing for it but to go home. Pity. He didn't really feel like moving. 

Something rustled in the bushes. Lance watched them shake with mild interest. He didn't really care what sort of little furry animal might be in there, but it was something to do. A deep lethargy had fallen over him, sinking the boy into the deep waters of unhappiness, and he was loath to shake it off. The rustling increased, shaking the branches of the bush violently. In spite of himself, the teenager sat up a little and watched, curious about what was making all the racket. A moment later he had his answer. Two squirrels burst out of the underbrush and raced past him, disappearing from sight almost immediately as they darted into the undergrowth behind. Lance frowned. Admittedly, he didn't know much about squirrels, but they hadn't looked like they were playing. They'd looked more frightened to him. Weird. _You know, on second thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad getting out of this forest. It's getting awfully late, after all..._

He was interrupted in mid-thought. A giant crashing shook the very trees in front of him, creating a terrible racket, and a large form barreled out into his little clearing to stop almost directly in front of him. Lance stared at the creature as it looked back with glittering, golden eyes. It was huge; at least eight feet long, or tall, or whatever. It was rather hard to tell which, as it was crouched on all fours on the ground. The thing bristled with coarse reddish fur out of which long, wickedly sharp claws gleamed. It was roughly man shaped in appearance but moved and growled like an animal. It also had a number of very familiar spikes sticking out of its hide in various different places, the teen noted abstractedly. The monster stared at him with those mesmerizing eyes out of a face that was so human it was uncanny. It smiled at him in a feral manner. Lance was beginning to think he was in very serious trouble. 

The beast lunged for him, claws extended, but he had been expecting something like that and rolled out of the way desperately, landing on his back five paces away from the snorting, snarling creature. Now was no time to make bones about when to use one's power. Lance spread out his hands and concentrated hurriedly as the monster turned to face him once again and started slowly advancing. The ground shook as the dark haired boy's power took hold. The thing abruptly found walking difficult as the earth bucked and practically tore itself to bits beneath its feet. Everywhere else, the woods were still. This was the only place that whirled like it was made of disturbed water, waves of loam and pine needles splashing everywhere. The monster crouched as best it could, and then leaped from that spot where the earthquake was worst, timing his jump to coincide with the bucking ground, further propelling him to safety. He landed on the other side of the clearing. Lance swung around to face the beast again, still pushing himself. The leaf-covered earth there also began to tremble, starting slowly as it built momentum. 

"You're a mutant!" The monster exclaimed, surprise coloring its thick tone, garbled and guttural, but still understandable.

Lance tripped as he got up and almost ended up on his ass again. He stared at it in shock, the ground quieting as he lost his focus. "You can talk!" 

"Yes." The creature suddenly grinned again; its pointy, carnivorous teeth making it look quite lethal. "And you are mine!" With a roar it leaped into the air towards the boy, covering as much space without worldly contact as it could to counteract the effect of the mutant's power. Lance saw the thing hurtling towards him and desperately tried to backpedal, only to trip completely this time over the very stump he'd been sitting on earlier. He landed across it heavily. 

The monster...no, the mutant, as it must be so, landed on him a moment later with a thump so hard it knocked all the breath out of the boy's body. He never had a chance to focus again before it had grabbed his head and smashed it against the hard wood beneath him. Darkness descended like a thick and painful curtain. 

***

Uh oh. Poor Lance! I felt so bad for him as I was writing this. But don't blame me, folks. It's not my fault. I didn't plan this. I never figure out the plot beforehand, I just write the situation and I write the characters as I understand them; what they'd do or say. The plot writes itself. Sometimes it takes me completely by surprise! Hehe.

Oh, and Lucid Dreamer will be happy to know that I ALMOST killed Evan in this story. (He keeps insisting I do that. So do several other people for that matter. Hm.) Almost should count for something, right?

Please Review. Review. REVIEW. (Marge Simpson: Repeating it will help you remember) REVIEW!!! I have poor self esteem. I need to know what people think. What can I say? I'm a praise hog. Constructive criticism or any ideas you might have are also more than welcome. Just write me!


	4. And Afterwards

Disclaimer: Guess what? This is gonna come as a complete surprise to you but…I DON'T OWN UM! Not a single one. Damn…

Um other than that. Same notes as before. I have reached the end of my twenty pages of already written stuff. Wow. That went fast. This means that while I WILL finish this story, the downloads will most likely start coming a lot slower. I will try to add a new one at least once a week, but I make no promises.

Hope you like it. Enjoy.

***

Kitty raced through the trees frantically. As always when one is worried about someone, the mind starts producing worst-case scenarios with startling imagination, all on its own. In her mind's eye she saw Evan bleeding to death out there, dying because she wasn't fast enough to get help to him. She knew she was being stupid and silly. He wasn't that badly hurt after all, and Rogue was with him, but that didn't stop apprehension from rising in a rushing wave. The only thing keeping her from panicking completely and turning hysterical with fear was the need to go to the Institute and summon help for her friend, and the very real danger that the monster might still be lurking about. Kitty tried to keep an eye cast all about her at once, ready to phase out at the first sign of attack. 

She gasped with relief when the fence marking the boundary of the Xavier Mansion came into sight. The girl pushed herself into an even faster run and slipped through the bars of the fence without slowing. Indeed, she hardly noticed that they were solid at all. Within moments she'd reached the door of the mansion, only to have it swing open before she could even touch it. A very cross-looking Scott Summers was standing on the threshold, clad in a fuzzy brown bathrobe and his ever-present red sunglasses.

"Where have you been?!" he demanded. "You know the Professor told us not to go out tonight, but you three did it anyway! Do you have any idea how much trouble you're going to be in when he finds out?! He will, you know. He is a telepath."

Kitty had been standing in front of the door, gasping to get her breath back. Now she had enough to be able to talk again.

"Oh, never mind that! There's been trouble. We were attacked! By, like, the monster! We saw it. And Evan's hurt! Oh, you've got to come quickly!!" All this came out in a fast rush, the words tumbling over each other in her haste to get them out. 

Scott held up a hand to quiet her. His brow was furrowed. "Whoa! Slow down. What happened? And what's this about a monster?"

The girl took a couple of deep, steadying breaths, forcing herself to untense a little. "We snuck out to go to that concert we were all talking about earlier," she said, sounding a little calmer. "And you needn't look at me like that. I KNOW it was a stupid idea already! But it seemed like a good one at the time. Anyway, on the way back we got jumped by this, like, really big, hairy monster thingy. And we had to use our powers just to keep from being totally ripped to shreds!" Her tone started to turn agitated again as she got to the point of her story. "We fought it off, but, like, not before it managed to maul Evan pretty good in the legs. He's out there right now with Rogue, as if that's not punishment enough, because he couldn't walk afterwards and we've got to go back and help them before that thing comes back and, like, eats them or something!"

Kitty stopped talking abruptly, the idea scaring her. She looked urgently up at the teen in front of her. Scott was still for a moment while he digested her story. 

"Come on," he said suddenly, turning into the house. "Help me wake the others. We're gonna need their help for this." 

Mutely grateful, she followed him.

***

They woke Xavier up first. It seemed easiest. The man took one look at their grave faces and read their minds, discovering the situation in a second's time. Moments later everyone was awake as well, roused out of bed by his ringing voice in their heads, urging them to get up and get dressed. They were a grumpy lot when woken up in the middle of the night, and remained that way until a hurried explanation was passed on to them. Then irritation turned to worry and the X-Men swung into motion. Storm let out a gasp when she heard her nephew was in trouble. She leveled a meaningful look at Xavier and then strode to a window, opening it to fly out in the direction of the woods. Nobody blamed her. 

"And just what exactly were you doing in the woods to begin with, half pint?" Logan asked her, raising a suspicious eyebrow. 

Kitty squirmed. "Well, I..."  
            "Oh, who cares! Can't ve just go already?" Kurt was practically bouncing where he stood, he was so impatient to get moving. 

"Kurt is right," Professor Xavier agreed. "We can worry about the children's misbehavior later. Right now we should concentrate on getting Rogue and Evan to safety and finding this creature before it attacks someone else. I did not know for sure if it was real before, so I did not act. This was a mistake and you all have my apology." He looked down with a wry look and patted the side of his wheelchair. "I'm afraid I won't be able to travel in the woods myself, so I'll leave it up to you. Logan is in charge."

Wolverine nodded at this obvious dismissal and looked at the suited up teens all around him. "All right. Let's go."

They were in luck. The creature didn't appear again as they made their way through the slatted trees. Either their group was too large to attack, or the thing simply wasn't in the area any longer. The trip was so uneventful it seemed anticlimactic after Kitty's frantic story, but everyone remained on his or her guard nevertheless. It wouldn't do to be taken by surprise because all seemed quiet. They found Evan and Rogue where Kitty had left them, still alive and in no worse shape then they'd been the last time she'd seen them. Storm was there as well and was clucking over the boy's injuries while he fidgeted and protested. 

"I'm telling you, Auntie O, I'm fine! Everyone's blowing this way out of proportion!" 

"Nevertheless, Rogue was correct," Storm replied, looking at his legs. "Try not to move until we can get you to the Institute." She looked up, a wave of snowy hair falling about her face, to scan the others gathered around. Her eyes focused on two of them in particular. "I think I'll borrow Kurt and Jean for that. Do you think you can levitate and hold him steady while Nightcrawler teleports him back?" she asked the redhead. 

Jean nodded soberly. "Sure."

"The rest of you split up into pairs," Logan ordered. "We're gonna search the forest for this thing. Jean, Kurt; you can be each other's partners when you get back. Now move out!" 

The burly man paused as Kurt teleported himself, Evan, and a concentrating Jean away, and looked down at Rogue with an amused look. She was the only one not in uniform now. Her hair was mussed and she was sweaty from the exertion of using Spyke's powers when she'd barely touched him long enough to get them at all. Her sleeves were ripped and there were moss stains smudging them and the front of her shirt from when she'd hugged the tree.

"You look good, kid," he told her, a faint laugh in his tone. "The twiggy look works for you."

Rogue stood up, brushing pine needles off her butt. "Very funny," she muttered.

Wolverine had a very acute sense of smell. All it took were those words and he was waving a hand in front of his face. "Whoa! And you smell good too! Just what exactly were you doing at this party?"

The teenager flushed bright scarlet. "Quicksilver spiked the punch," she mumbled, looking down in embarrassment. Her white-streaked, mahogany hair fell over her face and he saw that it really did have twigs in it. 

"Uh, huh. You know, I think you should travel with me...all things considered." And with those words he strode off, leaving the Rogue to stare and then to follow, more embarrassed then ever. Storm took off, using the fact that she could fly to scan the trees from above. The others spread out, searching. 

But they didn't find anything. Or no sign of the beast at any rate. For hours they poked around in the underbrush and trees of a northern wood, without success. About the only thing of interest that happened at all was that Scott and Kitty found a pile of burned out cigarette stubs and an old sneaker beside a hollow stump of a rotting tree. Someone had evidently sat there and smoked for a while before moving on. There was no sign to say how long ago that had been, and, they were relieved to note, no body lying in the undergrowth. 

"But if he walked out, why wouldn't he have taken his shoe with him?" Kitty wanted to know, holding up the offending article in one delicate hand. It was a very old, worn down sneaker, scuffed and faded from long usage. "I mean, what? Was he just fond of hopping, or something?"

Scott shrugged. "Maybe it wasn't his."

"Oh right. And people just, like, go around carrying other people's sneakers under their arms all the time!" 

"Well, whatever he was doing out here, the beast didn't get him, so lets just move on." They did, but she took the sneaker with her. 

It was five thirty in the morning and the eastern sky was beginning to lighten when they finally gave it up. The group trudged dejectedly back to the Institute to find Evan (damn him) asleep in bed and a smiling Xavier saying that the damage wasn't permanent. He'd have to stay in bed for a while, and would be wearing a loose cast for a while after that, but he'd be all right. This was good news and relieved Kitty and Rogue greatly. Trying not to wake the injured boy the others tiptoed past his room, only to flop onto their beds the minute they reached their own. Every single one of them was out like a light within minutes. 

***

Kitty was awakened by the sound of a pebble hitting her window. She rolled over and ignored it, trying to go back to the warm embrace of sleep. Another pebble hit; a larger one. It made a loud clattering sound. Then another followed, and yet another in quick succession. 

_Oh God. Lance if that's you, I swear..._

She rolled out of bed unwillingly and stood up, glancing out the window and down a story to see who was there. A rock smacked into the glass and she flinched before her eyes focused on the small figure of an alarmingly thin, white-haired person crouching to dig up another stone.

"Pietro..." Kitty said wonderingly. Another crack sounded.

"Hm," Rogue mumbled incoherently as the noise pulled her to consciousness. "Whasit?"

"Pietro Maximoff is, like, outside my window," the Kat replied, still confounded by this fact. 

"Wha...?" Rogue propped herself up in bed, only to wince and hold a hand in front of her face at the cheerful mid-morning sunlight streaming in through the window. She had a touch of "morning after" sickness. "Why? Don't tell me you've got the ENTIRE Brotherhood pining for ya now."

Kitty walked over to the window and opened it. "God, I hope not. Can't you just imagine, like, the TOAD in love with me? Eew!" Another pebble arced up and struck her in the head. "Ow!" 

"I heard that!" Todd Tolensky's voice floated up to her. "Don't count on it sister!" She looked down and found that Pietro was not alone, as she had previously thought. The other two members of the Brotherhood were with him as well. Wait. Two? She scanned them. Pietro, mercifully not throwing anything else; Todd standing there glaring up at her; Fred, munching on a croissant. Where was Lance? That was odd. The four were almost always together. Kitty shook herself mentally and reminded herself that she didn't care where the hunky leader of the Brotherhood was. He was a jerk and could fall off the edge of the world without her caring. The chestnut haired girl leaned on the windowsill and looked crossly down at the people on the ground below her. The expression wasn't hard to carry off, as tired as she was. 

"What do you want, Pietro?" she asked him.

"We want to know where Lance is," the other replied immediately. 

Now Kitty was confused. "What? Then why are you, like, talking to me?"

"Cause you were the last person to see the victim alive," Todd quipped cheekily, obviously quoting from something. He shut up as Pietro elbowed him hard. The silver haired speed demon shot him a genuinely angry look before turning back to Kitty again. 

"Because he took off right after he had that stupid fight with **you**!" His tone of voice was almost accusatory.

"And he never came home," Fred added in a worried tone, finishing the croissant in one gulp. "Not even in the morning."

Rogue got out of bed, shrugging into her bathrobe as she did so. It was green, naturally. She walked over to stand beside her roommate, looking out the window at the boys. "What do they want?"

"They want to know where Alvers is. They seem to think I've hidden him in my pocket," she added sarcastically, glancing down at the group in scorn. 

Pietro took a step forward, looking almost apologetic. "It's not that, really. It's just that we figured he might have shown up to, like, beg your forgiveness or something. It's the sort of sappy thing he'd do for you. So, how about it? Have you, uh, seen him?"

"No," the youngest X-Man said shortly. "He hasn't been around. Good-bye." She started to close the window on them firmly. Rogue stopped her with a hand on the windowpane. Her expression was unique, half headache and half fearful suspicion. 

"Wait a minute. You said Lance took off just after talkin to Kitty? Just where did he take off to?"

The other three exchanged glances. They'd made a point of never talking to Rogue since she'd defected from their group to the X-Men. Then Todd shrugged narrow shoulders. "I think he went walking in the woods, yo."

Rogue and Kitty stared at each other as the horrible truth dawned on them. "The monster!" they shouted in unison.

Pietro cocked his head and spoke very rapidly. "What? What monster? Whatareyoutalkingabout?"

"Listen," Kitty said urgently, leaning even further forward until she was hanging halfway out the window. "You know those stories about some sort of...THING stalking Bayville? Well..."

"Oh those? What about those? They're just stupid rumors started up by a bunch of stupid Muggles who are still scared stiff from Mr. McCoy's wild rampage of death last month. It's nothing to worry about."

Kitty blinked, her mouth still open. Pietro was apparently stuck on fast forward. She had barely understood that. Plus, she was fairly sure he had just referred to the residents of Bayville as "Muggles." He'd obviously spent way too much time reading the Harry Potter books. 

"But that's just it," she said, picking her train of thought up again. "It's not just a rumor. Rogue, Evan, and I ran into it last night in the woods. We had to fight it off just to keep it from killing us. So if Lance was in the woods too..." Her voice choked off unexpectedly as the image of the man from the news rose to her mind. 

Rogue finished her sentence. "Then he could be in some serious trouble." 

Dead silence greeted them from the three on the ground. They were all gaping at the women. "You lie," Todd said weakly, trying to convince himself. "That thing's not really, REAL."

"It is," Kitty nodded urgently. "And Evan's got the cut's to prove it." 

"But, you said you guys chased it off first, right?" Pietro started slow, and then picked up speed again, his voice growing louder and more indignant with each word. "That means that if it attacked Lance it only did it because it couldn't get to you! So if he's lying dead in a gutter it's all your fault! Oh, if you lousy X-Freaks sicced some giant werewolf or something on my **Best Friend** I am so going to KILL YOU!!" He turned and darted away at quick Pietro speed. This is to say there was a giant whooshing sound and a great amount of dust was picked up in a sudden windstorm, which lasted all of a second and a half, a silver streak racing down it to disappear. Quicksilver was gone. Fred and Todd stared after him for a moment, then exchanged glances. They looked up at the two in the window again, and then without a word walked away, following in the irate speedster's footsteps. 

 Kitty and Rogue blinked at each other for a moment. Then Kitty shook herself and gently shut the window. "We have to tell Xavier about this," she said in an uncharacteristically serious voice. Rogue could only nod hearty agreement. 

***

Lance came groggily to consciousness aware that he had a splitting headache. It was very similar to the migraines he got whenever he used his power too frequently or too much, but this pain was undeniably physical in origin. He could tell that by the fact that the back of his skull hurt just as much, and it felt sticky when he shifted his head slightly. Shifting his head turned out to be a mistake and the boy groaned aloud as the pain briefly doubled, before fading back to the sick thrumming that was so familiar. What had happened? Memory flooded his mind and he almost wished he could go back to not knowing again. Kitty had turned him down, irrevocably and, crestfallen, he'd wandered into the woods. That was where it had attacked him. It...that **thing**...an unknown and apparently homicidal mutant hunting its own kind. Wonderful. He was going to die. But...it hadn't killed him before, and it surely had had the opportunity. 

The mutant cracked his eyes open as gently as he could, ignoring the extra strength this gave the pain, and looked around him. It was hard to see. His eyes didn't seem to want to focus straight and his vision swam before him in a lot of little dancing lights. He supposed he had a concussion. Lance was able to note that he was in a dark cave with no obvious entrances or egresses in sight. What little light there was filtered down from dusty cracks in the ceiling. He also made another important discovery. He was tied up. The teenager hadn't noticed before for two reasons. One was that he was lying as completely still as he could, the body's automatic reaction to try to soothe pain. The other was that the throbbing ache of his head was so great that it had completely overshadowed the bruising of tight cords wrapped around limbs and the pinprick tingling of appendages losing circulation. Now that Lance noticed cerebrally that all this was happening, however, his brain kicked in with the sensations and he felt them all. To say that this added to his misery would be a great understatement. Also, he seemed to have lost a shoe somewhere along the way. Who even knew where it was now. But, compared to everything else that was currently going wrong in his life, Lance was willing to write that one off as fairly minor. 

Thus he found himself. The great question was, of course, what to do now. He couldn't stay here, obviously. In addition to being dark and cold and uncomfortable, the creature could come back at any time and decide that it did want to kill him after all. Lance fought down a stab of panic at that. He **had** to get out of here! But he couldn't think of any way to do it. Nothing came to mind that would help him out of this predicament. 

_It's pretty hard to leave, Alvers, when you can't even move._ He wondered when his own mind had gotten so sarcastic with him, and why he'd made it use his last name like those X-Geeks did. That was just sad.

            Well, there was one thing he hadn't tried yet. Lance wasn't exactly looking forward to it, the way he felt now, but he couldn't think of anything else to do. So he concentrated, trying experimentally to use his power. The ground started to shake. Then the teen stopped with an agonized cry as his head seemed to explode, pain bursting out to such an extent that it didn't even hurt anymore. It just seemed to burn him up in a raging inferno. For that long, endless second Lance couldn't imagine surviving it. Then it blissfully lessened, felt as pain again though pounding far, far greater than it had before. The boy just lay there and gasped for a while, unable even to think for the pain. After awhile, rational thought oh-so-slowly invaded once more.

            _Okay, note to self. Do not try to use power again when have concussion. I'll have to remember that._ In truth, he wasn't entirely sure what he would have done with his ability even if it had worked. It was more suited towards mass destruction than clever escapes. And, as that summer camp "training expedition" had taught him, starting earthquakes was a bad idea when in unknown caves of questionable stability. 

            "Oh man," Lance groaned aloud. "What am I going to do?"

            ***

            Todd and Fred followed the whirlwind blown path of Pietro's passing. It wasn't hard. Dirt had been cleared away in a disappearing line a pace wide, looking as it does when you blow sharply across a dusty surface. Trashcan lids had been knocked off their containers, spilling the contents inside, and not far away an alley cat yowled. It bristled to twice its size and glared at the two teenagers as they passed as if daring them to try to do anything to it. The two walked in silence. Todd didn't know Fred's reason, but he was just too shocked to speak. What those girls had talked about was a preposterous story. It couldn't be true. Could it?

            Finally they came to the end of the "path" and found Pietro. He had apparently just stopped dead and was standing in the middle of the road. It was a good thing the street was a broad, deserted avenue or he might have had a problem. And Quicksilver getting run over would not have improved the day any. They walked up to him and Tolensky saw that the other was staring fixedly at the ground as if it held all the mysteries of life, or more likely, as if it was the only safe place to look. And were those tears in his eyes? Todd knew how he felt. They'd all seen the news programs, of course. At the time they'd actually found it funny, Pietro making a wiseass comment about tourists never learning not to feed the coyotes, but it had been the sort of humor that covers uneasiness. To think that Lance, their own Lance, could be laying dead in a ditch somewhere just like that guy on the news… His own eyes started to get blurry at the thought. _No, _he told himself sharply_. He's not dead. We just have to find him, that's all. Somehow…_

            Fred was the first to speak, his heavy voice disturbing the blanket of silence that had engulfed the Brotherhood. "So, what do we do now?"

            Todd stirred. "We look for Lance, yo. We keep looking until we find him."

            "But that won't work," Fred argued. He glanced at Pietro, as if expecting backup, but the frenetic teen remained silent, still staring off at nothing. So the junior plowed on without his help. "He could be anywhere. I mean, the police and pest control have been looking for this thing for nearly a week now and they haven't been able to find it. And they have loads of people! How are we supposed to do better with just the three of us?"

            "We have Pietro," Todd argued. "He can cover as much ground as ten people if he puts his back into it."

            "Not thoroughly. Face it, Toad. Even with Pietro's speed, it's not gonna cut it."

            "Well, what do you wanna do?" Todd snapped angrily at him, staring up a foot and a half to the other boy's face. He looked like a gnat threatening an elephant. "Just forget about him? Leave him to die?! We have to do SOMETHING!"

            "I know that!" Fred said, sounding almost tearful himself under the younger boy's green-eyed glare. "But there's got to be a better way."

            "We go to the X-Men."

            Both their heads snapped up at Pietro's quiet words. It was the first time he'd moved or spoken since they'd arrived. 

            "Say what?" Todd blinked in surprise.

            "I said we go to the X-Men." The sophomore straightened slightly, an unconscious shift, and turned to face them. His silver blue eyes were still unnaturally bright, but his face had a determined cast to it that he did not normally wear. He took control with that look. "Think about it. Freddy's right. Just searching won't get us anywhere. We need some way to know where to look." 

            "Yeah, but what's that got to do with the X-Freaks?" Todd asked, still feeling frustrated and argumentative. 

            "Cerebro." One word said it all. "Lance is a mutant. It'll be able to find him. And so is the monster. It must be. So the only way to find Lance before it kills him…because he's NOT dead!" His iron stare dared them to even suggest it. "…is to work with them."

            Silence. The other two fidgeted uncomfortably. They couldn't deny the logic of his words, but what he was suggesting went against the grain. 

            "No way," Todd finally spoke up, sounding mulish even to himself. "I'm not working with those losers. Besides, just a moment ago you freaked out and threatened to kill them for setting that thing on Lance in the first place!" 

            "That was anger speaking. This is practicality."  
            "But…" He didn't know why he was still protesting. If it would help Lance…

            Fred was nodding. "All right. I don't like it, but I can deal. So do we go back now?"

            Pietro nodded once, quickly. "We do." He prepared to take off again, but Fred threw a massive hand in his way, stopping him."

            "We all go together this time," he said. "I'm tired of eating your dust."

            "But…" Toad said again, more weakly.

            Pietro grinned slightly, regaining a little of his fire. "Well, get used to it," he quipped to Freddy. "Because da Quicksilver is dey fastest man alive!"

            "Yeah, like that's a compliment."

            "But…"

            "Fine. Just this once you can have the honor of walking beside my greatness."

            "Oh, I'm honored all right. Or something, anyway." The two turned and started walking back the way they had come, once again following the path of Pietro's destruction. Now it was Todd who was left, standing alone at the end of the dust trail. 

            "But…Oh, ALL RIGHT! I'm coming already!" He hopped to catch up with them. "We'll work with the lousy X-Freaks. Just keep that furry blue hamster away from me!"

Ok. What do you know? I didn't kill Lance. Oh, come on people! You didn't really think I was going to, did you? I love Lance! He rocks. (no pun intended) Please write me and REVIEW!!!

Tell me what you thought, parts you liked, didn't like. Give me suggestions of what to change. And give me suggestions of ideas of what to do. Like I said, the plot writes itself, so I don't have a master plan here. I know in a general sense how I want it to end, but anything in the middle is free game. I haven't come up with it yet. So if you give me a good suggestion there's a very good chance I might use it.

Anyway, REVIEW! PLEASE! I love reading them! I love getting them! You people are awesome! Write me! 


	5. The (Not so perfect) Team-up

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution or practically any of the characters in this story. Please don't sue me, I don't have any money. Okay, that said, lets move to the notes.

I'm SORRY this took so long to write. I had major writer's blockage…with this story at least, and it took a couple of months to write six pages. Sheesh. That's pathetic. Um…and because I was getting back in my stride, this chapter may be a little odd compared to the others. Sorry about that. But it moves the plot forward, at least, and that's the important thing. Please review me and tell me what you think of it. Is this chapter any good, or should I scrap it and try to rewrite this part?

***

            Professor Xavier was locked in the central room with Cerebro with the door locked when the two girls went to find him. 

            "Oh no! What are we going to do?!" Kitty fidgeted nervously, staring at the thick oak door as if she could will it open. She could phase through it, of course, but everyone at the Institute had very stern instructions not to disturb the Professor when he was in that room. It could be very dangerous. So she dared not try it. 

            "Calm down, Kitty! It's not a disaster. We'll just hafta…find someone else to tell." Rogue looked around the hall as she spoke, searching with her eyes. "Another teacher, ah mean."

            "Tell me what?" Logan turned the corner of the hall, walking with the easy gate of someone in no hurry. Scott followed him into the room. They had probably been talking. The rest of the house was eerily quiet as all its residents slept in.

            "Then monster attacked Lance last night," Kitty reported immediately. She raised the sneaker that she had dropped in her room the night before and held it up for inspection. "See? This was his shoe."

            Logan looked at it, nonplussed. "What makes you so sure that's Avalanche's?" He raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. 

            Rogue answered. "Because the rest of the Brotherhood showed up this mornin', demanding to know where he is. Apparently, he went off and took a walk in the woods after the concert last night and never came back."

            "We have to go looking for him!" Kitty exclaimed, still upset. "I mean, he and I got into a fight. It's my fault he's like, missing." She shook her head, tears starting up. "I don't like him, but I don't want him to get eaten, you know?!" 

            "We were hoping tha Professor could look for him using Cerebro."

            "Well, in that case you're in luck." The man nodded towards the closed door. "That's what he's doing right now."

            Rogue blinked at the door again, before swinging her gaze back to Logan in confusion. "But we haven't told him about Lance yet..."

            Scott spoke up for the first time. "He's not looking for Lance. He's looking for the creature." He nodded at their incredulous glances. "Yes. It's a mutant. I'm surprised you haven't figured that out yet, actually. There's certainly no creature in nature like that."

            Logan finished for him. "So if Avalanche is really with that thing, then when we find it, we find him." As he turned to walk away they heard a muttered, "As if we'd want to."

            Scott turned to the others, cocking his head slightly in questioning. "Where did the other Brotherhood boys go?"

            Rogue had leaned back against the wall and rested her head on it, face tipped up. Her eyes were closed. You could practically see the headache. Kitty glanced at her, and then answered. 

            "Who knows." She twirled a lock of her long hair around one finger absently. "Pietro got all upset and ran off in, like, a puff of wind. You know, the way he does when he's moving really fast? The other two followed him."

            Scott sighed. "Pity. It would have been better if they'd stuck around. If they go looking for Lance all on their own, they could fall into the same trap that he did. I wish there was a way we could keep them close, where we could keep an eye on them."

            The freshman snorted. "Oh yeah. Like that's ever going to happen. They, like, totally hate us. And Pietro sounded really mad. Everyone would have to... I don't know, dissolve into little puddles of green goo, or something, before they'd ever come back around here again."

            He raised an eyebrow at her. "Green goo?"

            She shrugged and blushed slightly. "It was, like, the first impossible thing I could think of. Actually its...pretty icksome." 

            "Hey, Shades!" Logan walked back in. "You know how you were just saying you wished the Brotherhood had never left?"

            No one asked how he knew. His hearing was as acute as his sense of smell. 

            "Yeah. Why?" Scott asked. 

            Logan jerked a thumb behind him. "Because they're here."

            "What?"

            "They're here. At the front gate. They want to come in and talk to you."

            The senior was astounded. "Why?" he asked.

            "Something about a temporary alliance." Logan's voice was supremely suspicious. "It's your call, but I wouldn't let them in here. It's a trap just waiting to happen. You can't trust those bozos."

            Cyclops shook his head. "No, you're wrong. I don't think they'd attack while Lance is missing. Um, let them in. Let's hear what they have to say."

            The older man stared at him for a moment, obviously not thinking much of the choice, and then turned around on his heel and walked back out to the front door.

            "Scott, are you sure this is a good idea?" Kitty asked, genuinely curious. "I mean, Logan's right. They are creeps."

            "The best way to keep an eye on them, Kitty, is to have them here willingly. And since they want to talk about an alliance, I'm not going to turn them away."

            The freshman just shrugged. "Like, whatever." Rogue still hadn't spoken or moved from her spot on the wall. Kitty wondered if she'd fallen asleep there.

            The door opened again and Pietro blew into the room. He wasn't using his super speed now, but was such a ball of energy and determination that it seemed like it. He took control of the room the minute he stepped into it, zeroing in on Scott like a missile. The other two trailed after him, guarded by a watchful Logan, who locked the door with an audible snick. Todd jumped a little and shot an apprehensive glance at the intimidating figure, who stared back flatly. Pietro didn't seem to notice. He was too busy getting in Scott's face. The speedster stopped about three inches away from the other boy, much too close for comfort, and jabbed a finger at his chest.

            "Listen, Summers. We need to find Lance and you guys have the means to do it. So we're here and you're going to help us find him, end of story." He glared at the senior as if expecting argument. "So don't even think of protesting. We're working with you whether you want us to or not!" Ice blue eyes were narrowed over a stubborn, jutting chin as Quicksilver prepared himself for a fight.

            "Actually I think that's a great idea," Scott said.

            The sophomore blinked. "You do?"

            "Yes. I mean, we worked pretty well together when we took down Juggernaut, so we know we can do it. And this thing seems pretty nasty. We can use all the help we can get." He smiled slightly in a wry fashion. "Thanks for offering."

            "Oh." Pietro wavered for a moment, clearly unprepared for this unexpected capitulation. Then he regained his stride. "Well, just so you know, we aren't doing this for you." He crossed his arms arrogantly. "We just wanna help Lance and you're the most convenient way to do it."

            "Yeah, yo," Todd added. "Why would we care what happens to you buncha freaks?"

            Scott ignored that smoothly. "Alright. Fine," he said. "As long as you're willing to help, I don't care what your motives are."

            The speedster nodded sharply. "Okay, then. Good." His tone was petulant. He almost sounded as if he missed the confrontation that had not taken place. 

            Silence reigned in the hall for a moment as the two groups looked at each other. Neither seemed to know what to say to the other. The quiet was broken by the noise of a door opening. All the Brotherhood boys jumped as Xavier rolled into the room. What would he make of them here?

            Scott tried to explain. "Oh, Professor! I..." The older man waved him to silence. Xavier scanned the three new teenagers with his eyes, piercing each of them to the core with a searching glance. Then he nodded once to them in greeting.

            "Well, in that case perhaps I should call the others." He spoke just as if they'd been carrying on a conversation and had said something memorable. Clearly, he'd been searching with more than just his eyes in that inspection, gleaning their intentions and purpose from them without their noticing. This realization did nothing to put the newcomers at their ease. Todd shifted uncomfortably again, shooting his gaze once more around the room, unconsciously looking for an escape route. They quavered when they fell on the still scowling Wolverine and he inched closer to Freddy. Fred himself gave a sort of a sigh and shifted from foot to foot, as if he wished he were somewhere else. Quicksilver dropped his gaze to the carpet. 

            The Professor ignored all this. He simply closed his eyes briefly in mental summons, and then opened them again as a familiar _bamf_ filled the room.

            "Ja, Professor. Vat did you... Whoa! Vat are THEY doing here?!" Golden eyes stared at the newcomers and a midnight blue tail twitched violently. 

            "I will explain everything, Kurt, once Jean and Ororo get here. That way I will only have to say it once."

            "Well, here we are, then." Jean descended the stairs as gracefully as a princess. She was wearing a bathrobe as well, a fluffy sky-blue one that brought out the fire of her hair to perfection. This was no doubt the reason she had bought it. Ororo came behind her silently, not spoiling the girl's grand entrance. Cerulean eyes widened s she saw what Kurt had seen and the next moment she nearly spoiled it herself, slowing and almost stumbling down the last two steps.

            "What's going on?" she asked, turning to her mentor questioningly.

            "Pietro, Fred, and Todd will be working with us in our search for the creature." Xavier said simply.  "They are most anxious about the fate of Mr. Alvers. It seems he had a run in with our unknown mutant not long after Kitty, Evan, and Rogue did."

            Jean stared, then swung her gaze to the Brotherhood boys. Todd was inching ever so slowly further away from Logan, shooting the tall man nervous looks all the while. Logan noticed this and bared his teeth at him in a parody of a smile, causing the Toad to jump and back away even further.

            "I see," the redhead said at last in a calm voice, having conquered her surprise. "But how are we going to find it?" She sighed and shifted her weight to one leg. "Searching the woods didn't do much good, after all."

            Xavier smiled slightly. "Do not forget that I have the power of Cerebro. I've managed to narrow down our search area quite a bit."

            Pietro started. "You've found Lance?"

            "No. I'm afraid its not so specific as that. This mutant apparently has some way of hiding its mind from me. I cannot get a clear fix on it, though I can point you in the right general direction."

            "Well, what about Alvers?" Scott asked, thinking. 'Can you get a clear position on him?"

            "I will try," the Professor promised. "In the meanwhile, why don't you all set off? Now that we know roughly where they are, my heart forbears that we should wait a single moment longer than necessary. Any new information I discover I will send to Jean telepathically."

            There was a moment of uneasy fidgeting as the two groups eyed each other. Neither of them was sure how to proceed in this awkward and strange situation. Scott was the first to break the silence.

            "Well, let's get going, then. We'll take the van."

            "You have a van?" Todd asked in surprise.

            Pietro scoffed. "Of course they have a van. These guys have everything."

            "The van is the only vehicle we have that will be roomy enough for everyone," the auburn-haired senior continued, dredging up as much patience as he could muster. "We certainly won't all fit in my convertible."

            Jean straightened and gazed piercingly around the room. "All right. Let's go." And she marched out the door, dignifiedly ignoring everyone she passed. Kurt shrugged and then followed her. Not to be outdone by the "furry freak", Todd hopped to pass him, with Freddy trailing in his wake. Everyone else filed out without a word, Logan pausing to get the address first. Shaking his head, Xavier turned and wheeled back into Cerebro's chamber, shutting the door telekinetically behind him.

            Well, nearly everyone had left. Pietro paused with one foot out the door, and then zoomed back to Rogue, who was still doing a statue impression.

            "Hey, what's with you? You surgically attached to that wall, or something?" He didn't get an answer. "Rogue. Hello. Excuse me, Rogue? This is Planet Earth speaking. Have you seen me lately?" He waved a hand in front of her face, but the Goth's eyes were still closed. 

            "You spiked the punch at that concert last night." It wasn't a question. Rogue spoke in an even monotone, still without shifting in the slightest.

            Pietro fidgeted confusedly. "Um…yeah. I did. Pretty cool, huh?"

            Her arm shot out and caught him by the neck, squeezing. The girl finally opened her bloodshot eyes to glare at him dangerously. "Do it again and I kill you," she grated out. "Slowly and painfully. Got it?"

            His air cut off, Pietro could only nod with a surprised whimper.

            "Good." She let go, stared at the floor for a moment, and then walked out, wincing at the bright sunlight of the outdoors. 

Behind her Quicksilver cleared his throat and massaged his neck gently. "Geez. What's got her girdle in a bunch?" All of a sudden he realized he was the only person left in the hall. The sudden horrified notion occurred that they could all be waiting…for _him_, and he flashed out the door as fast as he could go. (which is pretty fast) It wouldn't do to ruin his rep, after all.

**

The uncomfortable silence in the van about matched the uncomfortable silence they had experienced in the X-mansion's hall. Wolverine drove them all towards the part of town the Professor had indicated. Luckily, however, or perhaps not so luckily, the quiet was not quite complete this time.

"Move!" 

"No, you move!"

"You're in…my…way!"

"Well, vat are you trying to do, anyway? Stick your head out the window like a dog?"

"My legs are cramping up in this little space. Besides, you're one to talk about dogs, fuzzy. At least I'm not shedding over everything."

"No, you're just sliming the place up."

"Hey, it needed a little décor! But you're taking up a seat and a half here! Your tail keeps getting in my way. Move it or I'll cut it off, yo!"

"Hah! I'd like to see you try!"

Pietro groaned aloud. "Whose bright idea was it to have those two sit next to each other? Oh, wait. Like I have to ask." And he leaned over and hit Scott, who was sitting next to him.

"Ow!" Scott rubbed his arm and glared at the other. "Don't look at me. It was their idea, remember? They were fighting over the same seat when we came in."

"No, I don't remember," Pietro retorted. "I was…" he trailed off.

The senior smirked at him. "Oh, that's right. You were late."

"Shut up."

"'Dey fastest man alive' was the last one to get here."

"I said shut up!"

"In fact, I think I saw a couple of snails pass you on the way…"

"Hey, shut up, Summers, or I'll pop you one!"

Scott rubbed his arm again, a wry smile twisting his lips. "You just did, if you recall."

The silver haired teen blinked, and then settled back in his chair sulkily. "Besides, that was not my fault. I was assaulted by one of _your_ team members."

"Well, I don't blame her a bit. That's what you get for getting her drunk." Oh, Scott was enjoying this taunting. It wasn't often that someone got verbal advantage of Pietro. "First thing you learn around here: you want to live happily, don't piss off the Rogue."

"Children, please." Ororo looked back at them tiredly. "Stop bickering. And I mean all of you!" she called loudly to Kurt and Todd, who were now wrestling over a candy bar. Kurt stopped and pulled away with a guilty look.

"Yes, Storm."

"What are you, my mother or somethin'? Todd muttered and glanced at his rival. "That's my Snickers, yo."

Kurt just snorted and unwrapped it. "Dream on, Toad." Just as he was about to take a bite a tongue snaked out and caught it, pulling it into the other boy's smug mouth. 

"I will," Todd retorted with a smirk. "And I'm dreaming of…chocolate." 

"Hey! Give that back!"

He swallowed. "Sorry Blue Boy, but I really don't think you'd want it now."

Kurt's eyes seemed to flash. He made a noise of complete irritation and jumped on Todd. As the two rolled around fighting they spilled into Kitty's aisle, knocking her soda over into her lap. The girl sprang up with a cry, ripping her earphone's down to glare at them furiously. "Like, hey! Knock it off! Storm!"

Storm looked back again and rolled her eyes. "Children! Behave! Nightcrawler, Toad; stop fighting this instant!" 

Behind the wheel, Logan rolled his eyes. "Wonderful. I'm transporting the menagerie here. Just my luck. 

In the back Fred sat, munching on potato chips and studiously ignoring Rogue, which wasn't hard, and Jean, which was. The redhead smiled tentatively at him. 

"Um…hi, Fred." He stared straight ahead and scarfed a large handful of chips. "Look. I know we didn't get off on the right foot and…I'm really sorry about what happened when…well, when we first met. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." More chips. "I just…well, the whole thing was badly handled. I…really wouldn't mind being friends, if you want. Honestly. I'm just…not looking for a relationship right now." He'd finished the bag. Damn. Good thing he had another.

Jean stared at the Lays in consternation as he tore the top off the new bag and dug in once again. "You know, you're going to choke yourself if you keep eating so much." Munch munch. Did she really think she could give him advice? Rogue stirred from her self-imposed funk and looked cynically at the popular girl next to her. 

"Why don't you just give it a rest, Jean? He ain't listening to you anyway."

Jean sighed. "I know. I just…I know." Thankfully, she lapsed into silence. Good. He was halfway through the second bag already and didn't want to ruin anymore good snacks with bad company. Fred cast a thankful eye Rogue's way, but she just sniffed and turned to face the window again. Cold bitch. Oh well. There were chips to be eaten. 

Up front again, past the now separated Kurt and Todd (who each glared and sulked in turns), Pietro suddenly sat up and looked around, doing a head count. 

"Wait a minute. It's actually quiet in here. Where's the loser?"

"We're going to find him, remember?" Kurt drawled. This earned him a glare from the speedster, as well as another one from Todd in the bargain. Quicksilver shook his head rapidly. 

"Hey, you aren't worthy to lick Lance's shoes, Blue Boy. Maybe you could work up to fetching, though. Eventually. I'm talking about the LOSER! Where's Daniels?"

Kitty frowned at him. "Like, I told you that this morning. Evan got injured by the monster. That's why he's not coming with us. What, didn't you believe me?"

"Well…not really. To be honest, I wasn't really listening to you at that point."

Kitty humphed and crossed her arms, looking very put out. Pietro failed to notice, of course. 

"So he's really laid up? Cool. I wish I'd been there."

She stared at him. "That's horrible!"

He blinked back. "Why? I hate him."

"Yeah, but still…"

The car shuddered to a stop and Logan pulled the key out. "We're here," he announced as he stood up and opened the door. "Thank God." They all piled out after him. And then stared. 

"So…Lance is being held hostage inside the local Quickie Mart?" Todd snickered. "I think you guys musta gotten your tea leaves crossed." 

Logan growled. "Can it, Stink Boy. We've got a general area. This was just he most convenient parking. Now, if we want to narrow our search, we ought to ask around; see if anyone's noticed anything strange around here and where it's coming from."

Pietro sped over and cocked his head. "So, what are we supposed to do? Just walk in and say, "Excuse me, but have you seen a wild rampaging monster of doom wandering around here lately?"" 

The man smiled grimly. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Care to do the honors?"

"Um…no. That's okay." And he stepped back again. 

"Well, I'll do it," Kitty volunteered. She glanced around at the group. "No offense, but you guys are, like, way conspicuous in your battle uniforms. Mine's not so bad. I mean, I could probably pass it off as some sort of uniform for school; gymnastics, or band, or something. So I could go around and, like, poke for information."

Wolverine fingered his orange mask, which he had yet to pull on, and then nodded. "You're right. We do make for an interesting sight. All right, Half Pint. Have it your way. Just…try to remember that you're there to listen to _them_…not to talk their ears off." 

Kitty looked annoyed. "Well, duh." Offended, she turned and stalked off. 

Logan ignored her comment and turned to face the others again. "The rest of you listen up! This monster's not likely to be wandering around the downtown. It'll have to stay someplace inconspicuous. Someplace not too near to people. Now, we're near the edge of town; I say we search the back scrub and fields around here. Split into threesomes…" he paused as a couple members of the Brotherhood snickered and leveled a glare at them. "…of search parties, for safety. Look for a likely lair, tracks, anything that will help us find this thing. The Professor might be able to pinpoint its location, and then again, he might not. So it's up to us to search as carefully as we can. And be on your guard! The last thing we need is someone else hurt or missing." Speech given, he nodded at Ororo and pulled on his mask. 

Storm took his cue. "All right, split up."

Pietro dashed to Jean's side. "I'm going with you, Carrot Top. If the Magical Wheeling Wonder gets in touch with you, I want to be the first to know about it." 

Logan stepped behind him. "Fine. Just keep in mind, though, that_ I'll_ be keeping and eye on you… Personally."

The speed freak stiffened, and then shrugged oh-so-casually. "Fine by me. What do I care?" As the other started to turn away, he added snidely. "It's not like you could ever catch me, anyway."

Wolverine paused. "What?"

Pure innocence. "Nothing."

Todd spoke up. "I ain't going with the witch, yo." He looked pointedly at Storm. "Last time I was near her, she started throwing lightning bolts at me!" 

Scott sighed. "Fine, Toad. You can come with me, then."

"And me," Rogue added. Her gaze flicked to the auburn-haired senior and she flushed ever so slightly. 

Kurt cast a disgruntled glance at Fred, and then sighed and looked at Storm. "I guess it's the three of us together then, ja?"

"Apparently." Poised blue eyes swept around. "Well, let us split up and search for clues." They spread out and headed for the less populated areas not far away, more woods and fields where farmers had once grown their crops, scores of years ago. They searched and they looked with a strong determination in their hearts. 

Please review me. I'm not sure about this chapter. Do you think it goes well with the rest of the story or should I scrap it and try to rewrite this part? I'm not sure. Of course, if you liked it, feel free to review me and tell me how much. That's always nice.

And, as always, if anyone has any ideas they want to share with me, feel free. They just might get used in the story.

Review!


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