Standard Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men. If I did I would not be a poor college student. I'd be a filthy rich one. This is a labor of loooooove. However, if anyone wants to give me the X-Men I'd be more than happy to take them.

Something Wicked this Way Comes

Blob was blocking the door. Kurt was trying to avoid the flailing limbs. Scott was blindly fumbling around, looking for his glasses which had been knocked clean off his face. Pietro and Lance were holding on for dear life, and Remy was standing in a corner, laughing his head off.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Toad screamed. "You can't make me get in there!"

Lance and Pietro held his arms behind him, but Toad's legs were free and so was his tongue. Kurt swore as he ducked away from another kick. Toad was in a bathing suit, and that was it. It had taken all of three seconds to get him to change into the bathing suit. Magneto had simply ordered him to do it. Toad hadn't realized why until he saw the enormous bathtub in the room he was lead into.

"I'm allergic to water! I'm allergic to soap! I'm allergic to the idea of being washed!" He shouted, trying to twist out of his teammates grasp.

"Ifyouwouldjustcooperateandcleanupyoumightactuallymakeanimpressiononmysister!" Pietro roared all in one breath.

"My cupcake loves me just the way I am!" Toad said defensively.

"Jesus! When's the last time you brushed your teeth?" Kurt threw his hand over his nose. He scooped up Scott's glasses and passed them over to the blind and bumbling team leader. Kurt broke out a tube of toothpaste and a brand new toothbrush. Toad squealed like a girl.

"I ain't puttin' that thing in my mouth yo!"

"You don't have a choice! This isn't dhe Boarding house. You can't walk around reeking like last veeks garbage!" He passed the toothbrush and toothpaste to Pietro and took Toad's arm from him. Scott stood up.

"You start kicking again and I'm going to blow your legs off," he threatened, red glowing around his glasses.

Toad stopped kicking, his eyes wide with fear. Pietro piled a mountain of toothpaste on the toothbrush and thrust it into Toad's mouth, then started brushing. Toad thought about clamping his teeth down on the rapidly moving bush, but feared that his teeth would be filed down to nothing if he did.

"Now for the mouthwash," Pietro said. He put some in Toad's mouth, held his mouth closed and shook his head up and down rapidly. Then he let go. "Now spit."

Toad spit all of the mouthwash out onto Pietro's face. "Gah! I'm dying! My mouth's on fire! Blob! Blob, yo, help me!"

"No can do, Toad," Blob said sympathetically. "If I have to share a room with you, I want you smelling better."

Pietro thrust his head into the sink and turned on the water. "Ugh! I must have sixteen years worth of bacteria on my face! Ismyfaceokay?" He said, showing himself to Scott.

"You look red-" Scott began.

"Auuuuggh!" Pietro said. "I'm infected with something!"

"Cool it Quicksilver!" Lance snapped. "The whole world looks red to Summers! You're fine man!"

Pietro took several quick breaths. "You'renotjustsayingthat?"

"No!" Lance roared. "Now hold his legs! Summers- the bath!"

Scott turned the water on and took out a bright pink bottle labeled Johnson and Johnson's Bubble Bath Formula. He poured some in and the bath exploded into a flurry of bubbles. Blob made sure the door behind him was locked.

When Toad finally saw the bath he screamed so loudly that everyone in the mansion heard it.

-------

"What hell was that?" Ray asked, pausing as he put cream cheese on his bagel.

"That was easily the hardest assignment I have ever given anyone," Magneto said seriously, as he plucked a banana from the fruit bowl. The two boys stared at him trying to figure out if he was being serious.

"Ah'm beginnin' t' think that Magneto's gonna be a really, really hard teacher," Sam said quietly to Ray as more screaming, shouting, and loud crashes echoed across the mansion.

Ray nodded, eying Magneto like he was a coiled cobra going to strike any minute. The master of magnetism smiled at the two boys and walked off with his banana, whistling the entire way.

--------

"I won't go in there!" Toad screamed. He had already shattered the mirror, knocked the toilet seat cover clear off, and managed to kick Kurt into the bathtub. Kurt, fur plastered to his body, and suds covering his clothes, sputtered as he pulled himself from the tub.

"Gambit! Give us a hand here!" Scott shouted.

"As you wish, o' fearless leader," Remy smiled. He pulled a card from his pocket, and it lit up instantly with power.

"Is that safe?" Blob asked.

"Course not," Remy said. "Dat's de point." With perfect accuracy Remy tossed the card. It exploded right behind Toad's ear.

Toad shrieked. He shoved off of the wall and dove away from the explosion. Pietro and Lance were dragged along with him, and all three crashed into the oversized tub. The wave washed over Scott, who was just about to hand a towel to Kurt. Both wound up soaked. Remy ducked behind Blob to avoid being splashed himself as Toad, Pietro and Lance began struggling in a life or death battle to get Toad washed.

"You can't do this to meeeeee!" Toad moaned. Lance threw himself over Toad and shoved him down under the water. Pietro grabbed a scrub brush and soaped it up. When Toad broke the surface Pietro attacked him, scrubbing his skin red. "Ahhhh! Ahhh! Stop it! Stop it!"

"Ifyouwouldjustcooperate we wouldn't have to resorttothesemeasures!" Pietro kept on scrubbing. He and Lance didn't bother getting out of the tub, because the longer Toad stayed in the tub, the more water wound up on the outside of the tub. Kurt and Scott were just as wet as they were, and all the boys were covered in bubbles. The exception was Remy, who was hiding within his trench coat.

"You know de next big project is gonna be cleanin' up de tub after he's come out," the Cajun pointed out as he popped his head out of the folds of his coat. "Dere had to be at least two inches of grim in his hair alone. You see how bizarre his skin color is?" Scott rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, just look at me!" Kurt said, holding out his arms. He was dripping everywhere. "I'm going to be frizzing out for dhe rest of dhe day!" He pushed the wet hair out of his eyes. "My tail feels like it's made of lead."

Scott ducked as a bottle of shampoo that Pietro was trying to open went flying as Toad knocked it out of his hands. Remy reflexively caught it and tossed it back to the speed demon. Pietro wasn't quite ready for it and it whacked him in the head. "Watchit gumbo!" He snapped.

"You're welcome," Remy said back. He rolled his eyes.

Pietro attacked Toad's hair with a vengeance, possibly because his own was now droopy and limp instead of windswept as usual. "Hey," Pietro barked at the other occupants of the room "Someone wanna give me a hand here? He slippery!"

Blob stepped away from the door and left Remy to guard it. He placed his massive hand on Toad's head and pushed the other boy under the water to rinse him off. Toad gurgled and sputtered when he came up. "That is unfair, yo!" he shouted.

"Okay guys," Lance said as he waved from inside the tub. "Someone pass me the scrub brush!"

The words 'scrub brush' sent the room plunging into total chaos. Toad shrieked in horror, leapt out of the tub, bounced off of the wall, off of Blob, and landed on Remy. Lance lunged after him and landed on Scott, who was trying to hit Toad with a small optic blast to stun him. The blast hit the mirror, ricocheted off and caught Pietro square between the eyes. Pietro fell back into the tub yelping and sending a wave of soapy water into the air. Some suds caught Kurt in the eye and he reflexively teleported in pain, reappearing on top of Blob. Blob, reacting to what he thought was an assault by a wet blue badger or other animal bellowed and staggered into Lance and Scott.

"Summers!" Pietro yelled, pulling himself out of the tub, "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Well maybe if- Blob! Get up!- Alvers hadn't- Ow! - thrown himself around like a lunatic, I might not have missed!" Scott grunted as he pulled himself out from under Blob.

"Excuse me?" Lance retorted. "Well, if you had been acting as a proper leader like you're supposed to be maybe your people wouldn't have been taken out by Toad and soapy water!"

"Hey! I resent dhat!" Kurt said, pointing angrily at what he thought was Lance, but was actually a towel hanging on a hook. Blob chuckled.

Remy made some sort of groaning noise.

"If you could control your team at all Toad would have all ready been washed by now!" Scott yelled at Lance.

Pietro shot out of the bath. "YouwannamakesomethingofitSummers?" He brandished the scrub brush like a cudgel.

"If you're going to threaten me, Pietro, why don't you talk so I can understand it?" Scott said, tipping his glasses just enough so that red light shimmered around the top of them.

"Hey, leave Scott alone!" Kurt said, throwing himself between the three boys. "It's not his fault!" He snarled at Scott.

Pietro and Lance burst out laughing. Kurt rubbed his eyes and squinted. "Ach, sorry mein frieund," he said sheepishly to Scott.

"It's okay Kurt," he said quietly, glaring at Lance and Pietro.

Remy rolled over and began grumbling something that the other boys couldn't hear. He looked like he was aching all over. Blob picked him up by his jacket and set him on his feet. "T'anks," he grunted. He glanced over at the other boys and shouted, "Hey! We got a problem! Monsuier Toad flew the coop!"

Lance, Pietro, Kurt and Scott all stopped to stare at him. "What?" Lance said.

"While you were arguin', Toad opened de door," Remy gestured at the open portal, "an' left! He's drippin' all over de place!"

The boys stayed still for a few moments, then Pietro zipped to the door. Scott and Lance thundered up behind him, and Kurt teleported into the hall directly. Blob peered over all their heads. Remy observed the disaster area that had once been called a bathroom and winced. He was going to try and skip out on the cleanup process. It was going to be a long one.

"Follow the puddles!" Scott ordered.

"Easier said than done," Pietro said, pointing at a wet spot on the wall. "He's bouncing all over the place."

"Split up then!" Scott said. "Alvers, Kurt, you're with me. Blob, Pietro, Remy, you're going that way!"

Remy raised an eyebrow. "You've gotta be kiddin' me!" He groaned.

"No, I'm not." Scott's face was etched with determination. "We're finishing that bath one way or another."

"This is not supposed to be about your bruised pride Summers!" Lance snorted.

"Are you kidding me?" Pietro snapped. "I want to wrapmyhands around that little twit's neck too! We're gonna find him, andthenwe'regonna give him a scrubbing the likes of which the world has never seen!"

Remy looked back and forth between Scott and Pietro. "Damn! You're both crazy!" He shook his head and started jogging in the direction Scott had indicated earlier. Blob followed. Scott took off running down the other way, watching for wet spots. Lance groaned and went after him, as Kurt followed on all fours. Pietro shot down the hallway past Remy and Blob- but slipped on a puddle of water, neatly twisted his ankle, and was forced to hobble the rest of the way, cursing.

--------

Wanda mumbled something incoherently in her sleep. She'd been up most of the night, tossing and turning. The nightmares still plagued her. She had a feeling that she wasn't the only one they were bothering either. Jean kept on complaining about restless nights, for which she had no explanation. Rogue frequently had her share of other people's nightmares, and several times the two girls had crossed paths in the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning. Rogue, it appeared, was used to her odd sleeping pattern, and wasn't as disturbed by her nightmares anymore. Wanda was still waking up with screams on her lips.

She did so just then, sitting up abruptly with a gasp. Her hand flew to her arm. Panting she tried to calm herself enough to remove it. In the few seconds before she had woken up she had dreamt that a man with an evil grin had been pushing a needle into her vein. Then her world exploded in fire. She glanced around her room. Her powers had tossed things around while she had been sleeping again, but there wasn't too much damage this time. Wanda suspected it was because she was using her powers while she was asleep so much- she was simply burned out.

She put her head in her hands. For a moment she wondered if these dreams were some sort of cruel trick by Jean Grey or another student, but she remembered that the nightmares had started before the move to the mansion. No luck finding the source of the bad dreams that way.

Maybe it had been a movie she had seen. It had to be something bizarre. Maybe Gothicka? It had an asylum in it, and all sorts of other strange things. No. The only thing that had really disturbed her about that movie was how much Storm looked like Hallie Berry. It was really quite eerie.

If not a movie, or induced by someone else mind, then what was going on? Wanda propped herself up with her arms and squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them she shrieked.

Wanda leapt out of her bed staring at her arm with an expression of mute horror. Trembling she touched the scar on her arm and her blood went cold. It was in exactly the spot she had felt the needle penetrated her arm in her dream this past night and many nights before. Why hadn't she noticed it before?

She had to talk to her father.

Wanda grabbed a red tee shirt and black jeans and rushed into the bathroom. She splashed some water on her face, and looked up at herself into the mirror. What she saw caused her to freeze. She took a step back.

She was looking at herself, but she had much longer hair, a much wilder look in her eyes, and she was bound tightly in a white straight jacket. Wanda's heart skipped a beat. She shut her eyes and shook her head. Another glance in the mirror only revealed her own scared expression.

"I'm still half asleep," she said to herself. "That's why I'm seeing these things." Wanda shivered. She decided that taking a shower was probably a good idea. A quick, five minute shower would wake her right up. Especially if she used cold water. Stripping off her pajamas Wanda turned on the cold water and stepped into the shower. She washed up very briefly, toweled most of her body off and slipped into her clothes. Wanda stepped out into the hallway, hair still dripping onto the floor, and began to walk back to her room. About halfway there, she dropped her pajama top. Grumbling, Wanda bent over to get it, throwing her towel over her shoulder so she had a hand free.

As she started to straighten up there was a 'bamfing' sound from somewhere behind her. Which was closely followed by a victorious shout. "ARGH!" Wanda yelled as over a hundred pounds of blue furry mutant landed on her back.

"I've got you now Toad!" Kurt trumpeted. "Dhere is no escape from dhe amazing- Nightcrawler!" The last word was said as Kurt's body, surrounded by a bright blue light went flying down the hallway. "Ahhhhhhh!" He cried as he smashed the bust of a rather distinguished looking gentleman and crashed to the ground.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Wanda roared as Kurt staggered uneasily to his feet. When Kurt saw her he turned pale under his fur and took a step back.

"Wanda!" He exclaimed. "I thought- I thought you were-" Wanda's scorching gaze told him that he needed to explain faster. "We gave Toad a bath but he got avay and he was leaving a water trail, and you were hunched over, and dhere vas water and I mistook you for him."

"You mistook me- for Toad?"

Kurt waved his arms frantically. "I'm sorry! I know how bad dhat sounds!"

Wanda snorted. "Next time you should confirm your target!" She growled.

"I promise. Scout's honor. Cross my heart," Kurt said frantically. He took another step back. "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to-"

"Just go!" Wanda shouted irritably. She regretted it slightly when she saw the hurt look on Kurt's face, but he teleported away before she could say anything more. She gathered up her belongings and stormed back to her room. It was moments like these that made her wish Pyro hadn't been such a pervert and burned down the Boarding House. Though he had learned to keep his distance, he still winked at her or blew kisses every time they made eye contact. Wanda thought about removing his eyes to prevent that, but she was sure neither Xavier nor her father would approve.

There was one other reason Wanda tolerated Pyro. Something he had said during his brief stint at the Boarding house had struck a chord deep within her, and she couldn't explain it. "Real righteous family you've got Wanda," he had said right after Pietro had defended her against him. "Always lookin' out for your best interests." What he said really wasn't important. It was how he had said it, with that sarcastic tone and rebellious look in his eyes. Pietro was upset by the comment, maybe even more than she was, but since then neither boy had mentioned it again.

Wanda pushed those thoughts from her mind. She needed to talk to her father about these nightmares. They were relentless, and they were beginning to disturb her even more than usual. She looked down at the scar on her arm again. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could vaguely remember having it, but she couldn't remember how she had gotten it. She left her room just as professor Xavier's voice touched everyone's mind.

Senior X-Men and Brotherhood members, please proceed to the front lawn for your morning training session in five minutes. Younger X-Men please make your way to the danger room in the next fifteen minutes for your morning session. We'll just be doing some basic training and obstacle courses today so there is no need to make up medical excuses, Xavier informed them.

Wanda cursed. Talking to her father was going to have to wait. She changed out of her civilian clothes, into her uniform and ran out towards the lawn.

--------------

"Leave me alone man!" Toad shrieked bouncing off the walls. "Yo, this ain't cool at all!"

"Got you!" Pietro yelled triumphantly as he grabbed Toad by the hair. "You are such a dead man!" Blob and Remy jogged up behind him. Blob was panting loudly and Remy looked irate.

"Did you not jus' hear de boss man?" Remy said gesturing. "We gotta go!"

Lance, Scott and Kurt appeared on the other side of Toad and Pietro. Pietro shot Remy a nasty look. "I'm not letting frog breath go without getting some revenge first!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Scott said, concerned. "Revenge? No, not good."

"What!" Pietro exclaimed. "Wejustspentallmorning chasing him aroundthehouse!" He exploded. "You're gonna lethimgo!

"We've got places we need to be-" Scott began.

"You were the one who wanted to go after him Summers!" Lance retorted. He looked furious. "Are you backing out now that you've had us running around like lunatics all morning?"

"We were supposed to give him a bath and I wanted to get him back in the bath," Scott said lamely. In truth he had wanted to throw Toad into the Danger Room for a few minutes on level eight and see how he handled it. Still, that wasn't the way the professor would want him to handle things, and he knew it too. "Right now we gotta head outside, so let's just make up for the time we've lost by hustling back to our rooms and changing."

"Hellno!" Pietro growled. "I'm taking the suffering I had to go through this morning outta his hide!" He swung his arm back, and Kurt grabbed it.

"Dhat is no vay to treat a teammate!" Kurt said.

Pietro jerked his arm back, effectively elbowing Kurt in the chest. Kurt doubled over in pain. Pietro started striking Toad with rapid punches, but was interrupted after only three or four when something bright passed by his face. He paused and turned to look just in time to identify the object as the duce of clubs before it exploded and sent him reeling backwards.

"Dat's fo' bustin' on Nightcrawler!" Remy snapped, helping the fuzzy elf to his feet.

Blob towered over Remy menacingly. "Hey! Back off and leave Pietro alone, otherwise you'll know what it feels like to be a pancake."

Remy's eyes sparkled in defiance. "Is dat a threat?

"No- it's a promise!" Blob roared, lunging at him. Kurt, who had managed to recover his wits, teleported himself and Remy out of the way. Blob, carried by his momentum, went tumbling towards Scott, who opened fire with his optic blasts to stabilize the overgrown young man. "Ow!" Blob said as he landed on the floor with a cracking of wood.

"What'd you do that for Summers?" Lance said, the ground beginning to tremble.

Scott glared at Lance. "I was trying to keep the one man wrecking crew from bringing down the whole house."

"You want a wrecking crew?" Lance said. "I can give you a wrecking crew!"

The house began to tremble, and Scott grabbed onto the nearest railing. "Cut it out Alvers!" He shouted. He didn't dare use his optic blasts again. He'd probably punch a hole in the wall. Another exploding card startled him enough to make him stop.

"All right, that's it!" Lance snarled. "I've had it up to here with you, Gambit. You were a snide little ass when you were working for Magneto and I see that you haven't changed much."

"Neither have you mon ami. You were a pig back den, an' you're a pig now," Gambit retorted. "What Kitty sees in you, I can't figure out. De girl must be totally blind."

With a roar of rage, Lance threw a punch at Remy. Remy was too surprised at his reaction to move and got a fist in the face. Lance threw himself at the now staggering Cajun in order to hit him again but Kurt threw himself on top of Lance and teleported him a few feet away. Lance stumbled and nearly vomited, sick from the feeling of passing through another dimension so quickly. Pietro jumped in on the fight, circling around Kurt so fast that he was lifted off his feet and into the air.

"Hey! Cut it out guys!" Scott yelled, but soon found himself scraping slime off of his face as Toad decided to join in the fight.

"That's fo' the bubbles, yo!" He said defiantly.

The fighting continued until Blob started to stand up. There was a disturbing creaking noise when he did. No one noticed over the yelling except for Blob, and he was very, very worried. "Guys? Guys!" He called out, but no one was listening. "I think we have a bigger problem here!" He shouted, but still no response. "HEY YOU ALL! LISTEN UP!" He bellowed. That caught the attention of the whole crowd of boys. However, just as Blob opened his mouth to say more there was a sickening crack and the floor gave way underneath them.

------------

"Where are they?" Rogue asked as she glanced around. The boys on either team were no where to be seen, the exceptions being Colossus and Pyro.

Jean frowned as she too looked for them. "I don't know. . ." She admitted. "They couldn't have missed the professor's message. . ."

"Well, like, wherever they are they'd better get here fast," Kitty whispered. "Logan looks like he's going to have kittens!"

Wanda, who had arrived only moments before looked at the feral Canadian and admitted that she had to agree with Kitty. The face Logan was making was somewhere in between total fury and emotional constipation. He looked like he wanted to start roaring at the top of his lungs and slashing anything that came near, but was holding it back.

"I saw Kurt just little while 'go. He said that deh boys hed been trying to give Toad a bath," Colossus informed the others.

Rogue raised a skeptical eyebrow. "A bath? Ah think that in all the time Ah was at th' boardin' house Ah only saw him showah once. An' on that occasion he didn't use soap. That boy constantly smells like he's been dumpster divin'."

"He says it attracts flies for lunch," Wanda added distastefully. "Honestly, it's hard to imagine anyone living like that.

"Ah hear that," Rogue nodded in agreement. Kitty, Jean and Peter echoed her response.

"So Rogue, it's your first Logan-Session since you've been out of the infirmary," Jean pointed out, much to Rogue's annoyance. "You feeling up to it?"

Pretending that she wasn't bothered by what she viewed as the other girl's usual condescending manner, Rogue said, "'Course Ah am. Ah'll have you note that Ah c'n hold mah own in a fight, even before Ah manage to capture another mutant powah."

"I wasn't talking about your combat performance," Jean said apologetically. "I was talking about your physical needs. Do you think you've had enough time to recover?"

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Ah'm fine Jean. Stop bein' such a mother hen."

The southern girl moved away from the redhead with a huff. Jean was going to say more, another apology perhaps, but gave up. There was no point in talking to Rogue when she was in one of her moods. Jean was just concerned about Rogue. She had very nearly been the first causality of the X-Men, a fact that shook most of the students at Xavier's. Jean herself had taken a very long look at what life with the X-Men would mean. Certainly constant battles and injuries figured into that life a lot, but Jean had hardly ever stopped to think of Death before. Any one of these people, her friends, could die at any time. She could die herself. Seeing the way Rogue's illness had effected people, including herself, Jean wasn't quite sure which one she really feared more.

"That's it!" Logan grumbled loudly, startling Jean out of her train of thought. "I'm gonna go in there and drag them out one by one if I have to!" He turned to the all ready assembled members of the team. "Rogue," he grunted surprising the goth, "you're a team leader. I'm leaving you in charge until I get back. Have everyone run the basic obstacle course at a setting of three as a warm up. Once you're all done with that, stretch out for the real workout."

"Yes sir," Rogue said, feeling very odd in this position of power. She watched him retreat back to the mansion, eyes gleaming and turned back to the other mutants assembled on the lawn. "You heard him."

Kitty moaned. "Aw, man! A Logan level three obstacle course is brutal!"

Rogue scoffed. "All you evah do is phase through all th' dangerous stuff," she pointed out.

"That's not the point!" Kitty protested. "It's the principal of the thing that matters."

Rogue rolled her eyes as the pressed a button hidden on a statue. A computer panel slid out and Rogue tapped in the needed data. "Well, since you're not so keen on them, maybe you'd better go first and get it over with."

"What!"

Colossus nodded. "Rogue's hez a point Kitty. Deh sooner you go, deh sooner it's over."

"Fine," Kitty huffed. "Like, be that way." She shuffled off, running down the stone path that dictated the parameters of the course. Rogue shielded her eyes from the sun and tried to see as much of what was happening as possible.

"Logan went all out with this one," Rogue commented as she watched her roommate running along. "There's some sort of aerial drone that's giving Kitty a whole world o' trouble."

Wanda, who had let her mind wander back to the events from earlier was startled when Jean put a hand on her shoulder. Jean's brow was furrowed in concern. "Are you all right Wanda? You looked like you had left us for a moment there."

"Just thinking," Wanda said shortly.

"About-?" Jean inquired.

"Why me o' course," Pyro said, striding over. He looked, and acted, as cocky as he always did. "Isn't that right Sheila?"

"Since you don't seem to understand 'go away' I think I'll try 'stuff it up your ass Pyro', this time," Wanda growled.

"Still playing hard to get? Really, luv, I thought we had gotten past that."

"Cut it out St. John," Jean warned the boy. "Leave her alone or I personally guarantee you'll have nightmares for the rest of your godforsaken life."

Pyro smirked, "Jealous are we?"

Jean ignored him and Wanda followed her example.

Colossus moved towards Pyro. "I think that you should, how you say, cut the crap St. John," Peter advised him, slightly stretching his muscles.

Remembering the fact that colossus was twice as broad and at lest a head taller than he was he muttered "It was just a joke."

As Kitty returned, huffing and puffing from the running she had done, Rogue sent Pyro off to run the course next. Jean glanced at the house. "Logan's taking a long time," she commented.

Rogue shrugged. "If th' boys c'n walk by the time Logan's done with them Ah'll be very surprised. Still," she said, rubbing the back of her neck, "it's not like Scott an' Kurt t' be late."

"What about Remy?" Kitty asked now that she had her breath back.

"Remy takes his sweet time, all the time. He don't care if he's on time or not."

The girls and Colossus watched as Pyro battled frantically with the aerial drone that had given Kitty so much trouble. Jean gestured at the scene and said, "No one would risk being this late to a Logan session for fear that they get a punishment worse than a normal session."

All of them, even Wanda, winced sympathetically when the drone decided shooting at Pyro wasn't going to stop the young man and dive-bombed him, conking him hard on the head. Pyro sat down abruptly, clutching his forehead with one hand and shooting fire at the drone with the other one. In the end though his image was more bruised than his body.

------------

"I see," Professor Xavier said into the phone. "No, no I assure you I'm not trying to convince you to do anything. Yes, I understand that the location is more convenient. Of course. Of course. I was just wondering if I could have an address or a phone number or- what? I would never- I understand. Thank you for time Mrs. Lee."

He sighed and hung up. Ororo and Beast were watching him. "No luck Charles?" Ororo said sympathetically.

The professor wound his fingers together. "The headmistress of the academy, a Ms. Emma Frost by name, keeps the location of her school quite well protected 'for the safety of her unique charges,' something the Lees suggested I might find prudent."

"Ouch," Beast whistled.

"They further went onto suggest that I was trying to convince them to re-enroll Jubilee in the institute because I didn't want any competition, and that I was trying to 'undermine their authority' by talking to Jubilee about it- which was the only reason I was looking for an address of a phone number, apparently."

"So much for that idea," Beast sighed. "So all we know is that there is an academy somewhere out in California which is run by a Ms. Frost and that her student are potentially called Hellions. Most of which, might I add, was contributed by an anonymous psychic source calling himself Jonothan Starsmore."

Ororo unfolded a paper she had printed off of the computer. "That much," she said, "may be true."

Beast pulled out his glasses, and adjusted them so that they sat on his nose. "You must be joking. A tabloid website?" He tapped the URL on the top of the page. "Ororo how could this possibly be accurate-?" He paused as he read the headline. "Boy spontaneously combusts in school, blows chest off, and survives to tell the tale- in people's heads?" He looked up at Storm and the professor. "This is-"

"Authentic," Xavier finished. "The date on that article corresponds to the day and time Cerebro picked up a huge surge of mutant energy in London."

"That would also explain the British accent the Professor heard," Ororo said quietly. "But that leaves us with a dead end."

"How do we find the Hellions without anything to go on?" Beast said, confounded. Then he paused and looked up at Xavier. "Why don't we ask Sam?"

"Sam?" Xavier made a face. "Why Sam?"

"Wasn't his sister offered a place at this Academy?"

Xavier put two fingers to his temples. "Sam is in the Danger Room with the other New Mutants. After the class is over we'll speak to him."

"Maybe we aren't in such a bad position after all," Beast said.

The doors to Xavier's office burst open and Logan came in growling. "Where's Summers and the other boys?"

Xavier raised an eyebrow. "They're not at class?"

"Not as of three minutes ago," Logan grunted. "And let me tell you, I am not gonna tolerate this kinda crap! If the Brotherhood boys are going to be a bad influence-"

"Logan!" Ororo said indignantly. "I'm sure this had nothing to do with the Brotherhood boys."

Logan's claws popped out. "I tell you Chuck, this was a bad idea. We're sleepin' on a bed of vipers letting Magneto an' his hooligans stay in here."

"I'm always going to give people the benefit of the doubt Logan," Xavier said evenly.

Logan frowned. "One day Chuck, that's gonna get you killed." He folded his arms. "Can you round up the stragglers?"

"Yes, of course," the professor said. He touched his temples. "They're- they're moving between the first floor and the subbasement."

Beast blinked. Logan raised an eyebrow. "Say again?"

--------------------

"All right Amara," Magneto said, the golden ball hovering above his hand. "Let's see if you can beat Iceman's record." The ball hovered into the air. "On my signal, try to catch the ball."

"Why do I suddenly feel like Harry Potter?" Amara mumbled.

"Good luck beating my score," Bobby teased. "Ten seconds is pretty good, don't you think?" He gave her an icy thumbs up and grinned. He had frozen the ball almost before Magneto had gotten it into the air.

"Keep bragging Bobby," Amara countered. "It'll make it all that much sweeter when I trounce you."
"You wish, hott stuff," Bobby said with a wink.

Roberto and Sam exchanged eye rolls.

"You'd better beat him Amara!" Jamie shouted, "If you don't we'll never hear the end of it!" The three other Jamies next to him nodded. Even with twenty of him running around it had taken him a full five minutes to catch the ball.

"Yeah, here's hoping" Amara said, rubbing her hands together.

"Start on my mark," Magneto said. "One, two, three- GO!" The ball shot forward, and Amara burst into flames.

Here goes nothing- she thought and lunged after it.

----------------

"You ready fah this Wanda?" Rogue asked as she reset the course. Rogue knew full well that Wanda had little control over her powers. She had, after all, possessed them Though much of what had happened while she was under Apocalypse's influence was a painfully blurred streak on her memory, there were a few things she remembered. "It's a tough course t' start out on first thing."

"I'm ready," Wanda said, her eyes steely. Inside she felt less than sure. She was still disturbed by the events of the morning, but tried not to think about it. All she really wanted to do was go talk to her father.

Kitty, who was snickering quietly at the dejected Pyro, noticed Jean rubbing her temple. "You all right?" She asked.

"Yeah," Jean said, "funny, but I feel like there's some sort of- psychic disturbance."

"You don't think it's whomever contacted you and the professor, do you?"

"No," Jean said firmly. "This is different." There was a feather-like touch at her mind, and Jean stiffened. She glanced at Wanda. "I think we have a big problem."

"Huh?" Kitty asked, looking at Wanda too. "What?"

"Not sure," Jean said. "Just- stay back."

"O- okay," Kitty agreed, stepping away. Jean stepped forward to grab Wanda's arm. Before she could she was distracted by a frantic mental yelp from Scott. The redhead tried to figure out what was going on and catch a hold of Wanda at the same time, but it proved fruitless.

"Go!" Rogue said, and Wanda darted along the course.

----------------------

"Oops," Emma Frost smirked as she sensed Jean missing Wanda, "Too late."

She focused her concentration on Wanda, whom she had been gathering information on for some time. According to what she had extracted from the mind of Jubilee, Wanda was an immensely powerful mutant with a hairpin trigger. That trigger had been effectively stuck thanks to some mind manipulation ordered by her father some time ago. When she had begun to watch the X-Men the white Queen paid particular attention to Wanda's mind. A while ago, something began to chip away at the mental image of a perfect life that had kept Wanda stable for so long. Emma simply helped it along. A little mental nudge here, a nightmare or two and Wanda was on edge.

Now all she had to do was pick her moment for her first strike against the X-Men. . .

---------------------

Amara called lava from the ground and threw it at the golden ball that was flying determinedly away from her. She was intending to wrap the ball in lava and let it cool immediately, effectively doing the same thing with fire that Bobby had done with ice. Amara was so intent on her goal she didn't notice Iceman's expression of worry turn into one of shock, nor notice her classmates gasp and shout, or smell the brimstone and hear the loud 'BAMF!' All she knew that was that just a millisecond before she had successfully destroyed Bobby's bragging rights she was being smothered by the entire male population of the upper class, sans Pyro. Luckily for her, Blob was largely off to one side, not on top of her, and luckily for the other boys, Blob was on the bottom of the pile.

"Oh man dhat hurt," Kurt groaned. He looked up to see Magneto standing over him with a very amused expression.

"I see you've had a bit of trouble with my assignment," he managed to say with a straight face.

There was a mutter from one or two of the boys as they began to extract themselves from the pile. Scott helped Amara to her feet, and when she looked up she saw that the golden ball was hovering over Magneto's shoulder.

"Damnit!" She muttered. "I was so close. . ."

At that moment the rest of the staff came out of the elevator and entered the Danger room. "Class started five minutes ago!" Logan barked immediately upon spotting the boys. "I want you outside- now!" He said.

"Logan-" Storm began in a warning tone.

"What happened?" The Professor asked.

Scott frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "We had some different opinions on the best way to scrub behind Toad's ears."

"Indeed," Beast said, noticing how bruised some of the boys were. "Is that all?"

The X-Men boys and the Brotherhood boys glanced at one another sheepishly, trying to think of something to say.

-------------------

"Jean, what exactly is, like, wrong?" Kitty asked, noticing the redhead was still so distressed.

Colossus looked over at the two girls. "Is there somthink wrong?"

"I don't know," said Jean. "I don't know," she repeated getting increasingly worried.

"Is there anythink we can do?" Peter asked.

"We have to stop Wanda," Jean said. "I don't know why, but we just do-!"

"Uh oh- Wanda's in trouble," Rogue said. Jean, Peter and Kitty looked at her. The southerner was still unaware of the Wanda crisis Jean was anticipating, and Rogue's negative words made all turn.

"What? What!" Jean said frantically. Rogue looked at her confused and pointed out onto the course.

The aerial drone that had given Kitty and Pyro so much trouble had clearly sustained more damage than it had calculated it would when it dive-bombed St. John in the head. It was flying around in circles while spinning and every now and then firing off a random laser. Wanda was approaching it's path now with a breakneck speed, just trying to get through the course as quickly and painlessly as possible so she could take to her father sooner.

A laser just missed her left ear.

Wanda yelped, fired off a random blast of power, and the drone decided that if it was going to go down, she was coming with it. For a second time it dive-bombed the person in front of it. Wanda wasn't quick enough to react and she took a blow to the head that sent her reeling, then she fell down onto the grass.

"Wanda!" Kitty shouted, running onto the course after the brotherhood girl.

Rogue frantically shut down the obstacle program and proceeded to follow Kitty. Jean suddenly felt a surge of psychic energy, followed by what sounded like a psychic laugh. She grabbed Rogue and shouted, "NO!" Rogue was too stunned to say anything before the BOOM!

"FATHER!" Wanda shrieked. The dive-bombing drone rather happily exploded. Rogue yelped as a piece of shrapnel passed right through Kitty's head and the girl went down.

"Let meh go!" Rogue shouted at Jean. "KITTY!"

"She's fine Rogue!" Jean said, her grip firm. "It didn't hit her- she was just stunned by it!"

Kitty was scrambling to her feet, trying to get away from Wanda as fast as humanly possibly. Wanda was radiating blue energy, and it was making just about ever dangerous object on the obstacle course head towards the others. Colossus jumped in front of the girls and turned into metal, deflecting several pieces of shrapnel that were flying towards them.

"'Oly shit!" Pyro shouted as he dodged a projectile that looked quite a lot like a circular saw blade. "What the 'ell just 'appened!"

"I don't- shit!" Rogue shrieked. "Peter, hit the dirt!" Colossus obeyed. Rogue threw herself and Jean down as wave of blue energy erupted from Wanda in all directions. Kitty was hit and went tumbling head over heals, and lay very still. "Kitty!" Rogue shouted again. Her roommate didn't move. She looked at the massive amount of flying debris, twisting trees and warped ground in front of her, then at Jean. "Call th' professor. Colossus, you stay here an' protect Pyro an' Jean. Ah gotta get Kitty out of there."

"Rogue you can't do that!" Jean burst out. "You'll be killed!"

Rogue inhaled and looked at the older girl firmly. "Ah'm a team leader an' Logan put meh in charge Jean. Ah'll be as careful as Ah can, but Kitty's not gonna make it if she stays in there!"

Wanda's powers had now formed some sort of hex-field, within which the entire world was going crazy. Trees seemed to be trying to rip themselves out of the ground and march towards them. The ground itself was churning, rolling in some places, erupting in others. Wanda was clearly having some sort of breakdown. She was shrieking "LIES! ALL LIES!" and looked just about ready to blow the whole mansion up if she could figure out a way.

"Pyro," Rogue snapped, "cause a distraction."

"Are you outta your bloody mind?" Pyro said, taking a step back with wide eyes. "There's no way in 'ell I'm going to-"

Rogue walked right up to him and grabbed him by the collar. "You'll do exactly as Ah say, or Ah swear t' got Ah'll throw you in there!" She indicated the hex field with a jerk of her head. Her eyes were blazing with such fury that Pyro could do nothing but nod dully. "Jean! The Professor!" Rogue said again. Jean opened her mouth to protest, but Rogue plunged headfirst into the hex-field.

Rogue almost immediately regretted it. Her head felt like it was splitting open. Dozens of voices were screaming in her head all at once. She staggered, nearly fell, straightened herself out and blocked out all other thoughts but 'Save Kitty'. Slowly, haltingly, Rogue came closer and closer to her roommate, and the voices in her head kept getting louder and louder.

Pyro looked like he was ready to bolt when Jean shouted at him "Rogue needs a distraction!" She could tell how violently the hex-field was effecting the southerner's mind.

"Right, right!" He said, sounding less than thrilled. "'Ey Sheila!" He shouted, "You know you look really 'ott when you're angry!" Pyro let loose a jet of flame that went past Wanda on the right side.

"YOU!" She boomed, as she turned to look at him. "YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS, DIDN'T YOU? YOU WERE THE ONE THAT LEAD ME TO HIM!"

"Huh? Whassat?" Pyro blinked. Wanda's attention was on him now, and he realized what a health hazard that was at the moment. "Led you to whom!"

"MY FATHER! WHEN HE IMPLANTED ALL THESE LIES INTO MY MIND!"

"Oh bloody fuckin' 'ell!" Pyro said, his eyes wide with terror. Wanda roared and threw a jet of blue light at him. Pyro barely had time to shriek and dive to one side.

----------------

"What-?" Beast said, jerking his head up. "Can any of you hear that?"

The Professor looked at him. "Hear what Hank?"

"I thought I heard some sort of. . . Well I'm not sure. . ."

"If you're hearing anything through this many layers of dirt and reinforced steel it would have to be a full fledged explosion," Magneto informed him. "Even with your keen hearing."

"Are you sure it's not just-" the professor began.

Professor! Jean's voice shouted in his head, Wanda's gone ballistic! Rogue, Kitty and Pyro are in grave danger! I think Mastermind's mental rewrites have broken down!

"Oh god no," the Professor said. "Senior students and staff, we're going upstairs- now. We've got a major situation. Bobby, Alex, Amara, Illyana- you should come too ." He paused. "Erik, Pietro. . . Maybe you should stay here."

It was Kurt that said what everyone was thinking when those two were specifically asked to sit out. "Oh no. Wanda. . ."

"Ihavetogohelp!" Pietro said indignantly. "She'smysister!"

"I have to advise you against-" the Professor began.

"We'll both be going Charles," Magneto interrupted.

"Erik, I don't think that's wise," Professor Xavier said.

"Perhaps not, but it is I who caused this mess in the first place. It was only a matter of time before I would have to clean it up," Magneto put on his helmet, which he had taken off for the class. "Nightcrawler," he said. Kurt looked at him nervously. "I need you to take me outside."

"Vhat?" Nightcrawler said. "Shouldn't we all go up together?"

"No. That will put more people in danger. Wanda wants me."

"Erik, it's best if you have some sort of backup," Xavier pointed out. "We'll all go up at once."

"I'm sorry Charles, we'll just have to agree to disagree," Magneto said. He nodded at his son. "I'll see you outside." He placed a hand on Nightcrawler's shoulder. "Please," he said.

"Kurt-!" Logan said loudly, but the German and Magneto puffed away in a cloud of smoke. Pietro was gone soon afterwards in a gust of wind.

"Everyone else, into the elevators and outside, quickly!" The professor said. Help is on it's way Jean! he thought. "Hank, stay here with the younger students.

"Are you sure Charles?" Beast said tentatively. "I could be of help."

"Right now I think nothing's more important than makin' sure those kids don't wind up in the middle of the battlefield," Logan said.

"I concur. Trust me Hank, I'll let you know if we need you," Xavier said solemnly. Beast nodded his acceptance. As they piled into the elevators they could actually feel the ground shake ever so slightly.

"I hope we don't have to rebuild this place again," Bobby moaned.

"Frankly Bobby I'd rather rebuild the place then have it standing but no one left to live in it," Illyana said darkly.

"You're a real downer, you know that?" The young man shot back.

"Cut it out you two," Alex said. They all piled into the elevator and ascended in frightened silence.

------------------

As Wanda's attention was directed towards the unfortunate Pyro, Rogue felt the voices in her head retreat somewhat, at least enough for her to get to Kitty and still be thinking clearly. "Hey, Kitty!" Rogue said. "C'mawn Kitty, you've gotta get up."

Her roommate lay there, still immobile, still unconscious.

"Shit," Rogue said. She really didn't want to use her powers within Wanda's hex-field. God only knew what would happen. Still she didn't have a choice. Rogue stripped her glove off. She hesitated for a fraction of a second when she realized she'd probably be fishing out things about Kitty and Lance that she did not want to, but this was not the time to be squeamish. Or to respect Kitty's privacy for that matter. Rogue touched her face and took her phasing power just in time. The ground beneath them erupted into a mountain of spikes, which would have impaled them both if Rogue hadn't phased them through it.

Pyro was running from blue hex bolts when he tripped and crashed into the ground. Jean threw up a telekinetic shield around him. The bolt hit the shield, effectively shattering it and sending Jean reeling backwards. Colossus jumped in front of them, ready to take the blows himself.

"WANDA!" The assault of hex-bolts paused. Jean gawked at Magneto, standing tall in front of his daughter's hex-field. "Let's stop this now."

Pietro came whizzing up to stand next to his father. "Yeah Wanda! No one has to get hurt!"

Rogue, toting Kitty, came up alongside Jean. "Holy shit. . ." She said, seeing Magneto and Pietro. "Are they insane? Wanda's gonna kill them!"

"Dhey insisted on coming up here-" Kurt said, coming up besides the girls and Pyro. "Vhat happened to Kitty?"

"Hex bolt to the head," Rogue said.

"Is she okay!"

"Honestly, Ah dunno," she replied as she laid Kitty down on safer ground. "But Ah don' think she's any less okay than we're gonna be if this keeps up-" she gestured at the hex-field, which was growing by about an inch a minute.

"YOU! YOU LEFT ME THERE!" Wanda shrieked at Magneto.

"I know," he said quietly.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DID TO ME IN THERE!"

"No. Not until recently. Not until you started having these nightmares. . ."

Wanda seemed slightly taken aback by this. "You knew about them?"

"You told me you had a nightmare a while back and I asked Charles to monitor you and see if they continued," Magneto said quietly. "Mastermind sent you the nightmares in the first place and I wanted to make sure he wasn't continuing to do so."

At this point in the conversation the other senior members of the X-Men and the staff came running out of the mansion just in time to see Wanda strike Magneto down with a massive hex bolt. "YOU WERE THE ONE WHO USED HIM ON ME IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"Father!" Pietro said as there was a sickening crack and Magneto fell to his knees.

"Ah, God!" Magneto said. "I think she broke my arm." The appendage was hanging in a manner that didn't look physically possible- unless, perhaps, you were Reed Richards.

"Wanda! Please, you must calm yourself," Xavier said mentally and verbally.

"CALM MYSELF!" Wanda roared. "YOU'RE AS BAD AS HIM! YOU LET HIM LIE TO ME!"

"It was for your own good," Xavier said quietly. "We were going to let you know slowly what had happened. To try and ease you into-"

"ENOUGH!" Wanda yelled, and the Hex-field expanded in all directions around her, engulfing all the X-Men and Brotherhood members within it.

Every metal object within the field went shooting towards Magneto as his powers reversed upon themselves. Pietro tried desperately to deflect some of the more dangerous items, but he was moving at a rate that was slower than molasses. Jean was having much more success at his job. Her powers seemed to have been oddly strengthened by the hex-field and she was able to divert the blades and other thing until Magneto all ready had a large coating of metal objects all over his body that could serve as protection.

Rogue had doubled over in pain, clutching her head. Kurt was trying to comfort her while teleporting them and Kitty out of the way of various flying objects. Wherever Kurt tried to teleport to he wound up in a different spot. Finally he decided that it was better to risk taking his chances with whatever flew at him rather than ending up part way spliced into a tree and stopped.

Scott charged into the fray with a cry of, "Aim to disable her!" Remy and the younger X-Men followed right on his heels.

"Let's all chill!" Iceman said, throwing his arms out in an attempt to freeze Wanda and stop her from directing her Hex powers.

"Iceman- no!" Illyana shouted too late. Wanda's powers redirected Bobby's and covered all the charging X-Men in a thick layer of ice up to their necks.

Amara was able to burn herself free in a few seconds, and she ran over to Scott. "Let me help. . ."

"N- n- no!" Scott shivered. "It your powers are h- hex- hexed we could all wind up b- b- barbecued."

Amara looked devastated by the idea. "But-"

"H- h- help the p- p- professor," Cyclops ordered.

Amara nodded and ran towards the professor who had been knocked out of his wheelchair by a tree branch.

"Come on guys-" Lance said loudly to the Brotherhood boys. "Let's show them how this is done!"

"Uh. . .yeah. . ." Toad said, hiding behind Blob. "You do that Lance."

"Hey! What's the matter with you?" Lance growled. "We gotta go help."

"Heh, yeah, 'cept that my snooky-pie out there. . . Snooky-pie and I don't fight."

Lance looked at Blob. "Freddy?"

Blob picked up Toad.

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" Toad yelped.

"Fastball Special!" Blob yelled, hurling Toad at Wanda.

"Noooooooooooooo!" Toad screamed as he flew through the air.

Wanda's concentration was on her father and Xavier, so when Toad hit her square in the back she reeled and her hex-field wavered.

"What the hell?" Wanda shouted at Toad, hauling him up.

"Eh heh. . . Hi cupcake!" Toad said quietly.

With an angry roar she threw Toad out of her way, only to find herself wrapped up in Blob's arms.

"Let GO of me!" She shouted.

"No way Wanda," Lance said. He stretched his arms out if front of him. The ground rippled and cracked. "Quick, put her in the hole!" Lance said to Blob.

Blob wasn't nearly fast enough. Lance's power turned on him in an instant. The ground beneath him splintered, rippled and exploded. Lance cried out as he was thrown back into the trees. One of them reached down and started swiping at him. "Argh!" Lance shouted. "Get this compost heap offa me!"

"Wanda, please!" Xavier cried out. "You must stop this!" He looked over at Storm. "Ororo, Peter, try to help Cyclops and the others."

"Of course Charles," Storm said, She approached the large block of ice that contained most of the X-Men and started to thaw them out with hot air and lightning. She started work on Cyclops, while Colossus began chipping away at Havoc's block. Pyro joined in after a minute, beginning on the block of ice that contained Illyana. When Illyana was freed, she set to work on thawing Bobby with a spell that summoned heat.

"If you don't cut this out kid, I might just have to get serious-" Logan grunted at Wanda. However he was having a hard time just standing still. His entire body was slowly shifting to the left, towards Magneto and Pietro. Pietro, seeing Logan's movements, decided that in his current condition he should probably start running out of the way now, so when Logan finally did fly towards his father he didn't get sandwiched in the middle.

"HE LIED TO ME! HE LEFT ME IN THAT- THAT GOD AWFUL PLACE-" Wanda choked back tears.

"It is one of the biggest regrets of my life Wanda!" Magneto shouted, struggling to get his powers back under his control.

"LIAR!" Wanda responded. "YOU LEFT ME TO SUFFER THERE! YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!"

The ground around her exploded into puffs of dust and dirt which got into Blob's eyes and mouth. Choking and trying to get the sand out of his eyes, Blob dropped Wanda who immediately threw a hex bolt at her father.

"Erik!" Xavier shouter. Magneto was unable to move in order to protect himself, and Pietro was still moving in slow motion, unable to help. It was Magick who leapt in front of Magneto, trying to cast a quick shielding spell. The hex-bolt hit Illyana square in the chest before she could react. She hit the ground hard.

"Illyana- NO! Colossus shouted, breaking away from Storm and the others. He scrambled over towards his fallen sister.

"Ohhh. . . My head. . ." Kitty groaned. She looked up, saw Kurt and the blue tinted landscape around her and her eyes went wide. "Like, what the hell is going on?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Rogue exploded, holding her head and rocking back and forth.

"I'm just, like, asking a simple question!" Kitty said. Then she realized Rogue wasn't talking to her per se. "Kurt? What's happening?"

"Ve have a little problem. . ." Kurt said, pointing at Wanda, who was now advancing upon her father with a body nearly coated in blue energy.

"Oh." Kitty watched Wanda until a streak of silver caught her eye. "Peter!" She said ad a large, red demon hurled Colossus halfway across the lawn. "Kuuuuuuuuuurt?" Kitty said, grabbing Nightcrawler's arm. "We've got another problem. Another big problem!"

"Vhat?" Kurt turned to look where Kitty was pointing. "Oh. Scheiße."

Illyana was on an intercept course with Wanda. She barked out a word that didn't sound human, and small vortexes began opening up all over the mansion grounds. Out of them crawled an assortment of very angry looking demon creatures. The biggest one, who had hurled Colossus through the air like he was a rag doll stood behind the blonde. Illyana looked out around the hex-field at the scattered members of the X-Men and the brotherhood. She glanced at the throng of demons standing behind her and said two words.

"Sic 'em."

The demons leapt upon the X-Men in overwhelming numbers. Wanda's hex field was shrinking, as she was concentrating on her goal. Around her the effects of her power were fading. Lance was dropped by a sycamore as it once again became a still tree, the metal began to fall from Magneto's body, and Pietro found he was starting to move at reasonable speeds again. Rogue stopped shaking, much to Kitty's relief, as it looked for a moment like Rogue might be self possessed again.

"Scott!" Jean said, flinging three demons away from Cyclops as he tried to blast several that were trying to box in Storm. "We have to stop Magick!"

"I'm open to ideas Jean!" Cyclops shouted back, blasting another of the tiny imps that had come for him.

"Ah c'n do it," Rogue said quietly. "If Ah take her powahs, maybe these midgets will go away," she said, kicking one away from her and moving with Kurt and Kitty towards the other X-Men.

A bruised Lance opened a huge pit in the ground beneath them, swallowing ten demons at a go, then closing the rift he had formed. "Jesus! We just had to get two wackjobs going off at the same time!"

"Illyana's not a wackjob Lance!" Kitty said. "She's just got some. . .dark powers."

"Well her 'dark powers' are kicking our asses!" Lance replied. The X-Men and the Brotherhood were in one large cluster now, flanked on all sides by demons.

"You just have to bring everyone down, don't you Alvers?" Scott said bitterly.

"Shut up Summers!"

Havoc just barely vaporized one of the smaller demons before it took a bite out of his arm. "They're still popping up! Everywhere."

"Just hold your positions and watch each other's backs!" Scott said. "And Alvers- stuff it!"

Lance was going to reply, but the leaping demons cut him off.

-----------------

"This isn't fair," Ray complained. "We should be out there helping, instead of being grounded down here."

"Personally-" Jamie said, listening to the rumblings that were now easily ascertainable down in the Danger Room, "I'm glad we aren't up there."

"I agree with Ray," Tabitha said. "Why am I here at the kiddie table when Illyana, Bobby, Alex, and the others are outside?"

"Now, Tabitha, I'm sure the professor had a good reason for picking whom he did," Beast said with a soft smile.

"Yeah," Roberto interjected. "He probably didn't need another crazy person making a mess up there."

Tabitha blew into her hands, making a dozen blowing firecracker balls. "Why you little jerk!" She threw one at his head. "Take this!"

Roberto dodged, and flared up into his sunspot form. "Right back atcha!" He replied, throwing a glob of power at her.

"Roberto- Tabitha- cut it out!" Beast ordered. "We don't need another ruckus going on down here!"

"She started it!

"I did not!"

"Yes you did!"

"You were the one making snide comments you-"

"Uh, guys?" Sam said loudly.

"What!" Tabitha and Roberto snapped at him simultaneously.

"What th' hell is that?" Sam asked, pointing to several glowing pentagrams that appeared on the floor. After a few moments three foot demons pulled themselves out of the holes, and came towards the younger X-Men, licking their chops.

"I believe the word you were looking for was 'trouble', Sam," Beast informed the boy.

The demons advanced upon them with glee in their eyes.

-----------------

"You," Illyana said, pointing at Wanda. "You dared to attack the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo!"

Wanda's focus finally turned from her father. "What the hell?" She said, glaring at Illyana.

"Hell indeed," Illyana said. "Strike!" She commanded, raising her arm high and bringing it down.

The huge red demon that had come forth before any of its cousins reached out and swatted Wanda to one side. Wanda yelped and crumbled to the ground, her hex-field totally dissolving when she hit the floor.

"I'll help you sugar lump!" Toad shouted, leaping onto the demon's head. "Nyah, nyah!" He teased the big red brut. "You can't hit me!"

Taking this challenge all too much to heart, the demon reached up to crush Toad with one enormous and spiny hand. As it brought the hand down, Toad jumped away, letting the demon smack itself on the nodding with enough force to send it reeling.

Illyana watched this without amusement. She shouted a guttural phrase and five or six smaller demons leapt up to restrain Toad. "That's enough out of you," she said. Wit ha wave of her hand she dismissed the stunned large demon and advanced upon Wanda. "No one makes a fool out of me," she hissed. "No one!"

Illyana raised her soulsword and brought it down to impale Wanda on the glowing blade. The X-Men watched the whole thing as if it were in slow motion. The blade was coming down, Wanda was unable to react-

- and then Magneto was suddenly in front of her, taking the blade in the chest himself.

"Father!" Wanda shrieked. She tossed a hex at Illyana and the girl staggered backwards. The demons who had been fighting with the various members of the X-Men exploded into nothing, leaving piles of black soot where they had once been standing. Illyana sat down abruptly with a very stunned look on her face and was immediately confronted by Professor Xavier.

Sleep Illyana. Sleep, he commanded mentally. The girl complied, laying down on the ground. Colossus rushed over to her side and picked her up.

"What hez happened to her?" He gasped. "Will she beh all right?"

"She'll be fine-" Xavier said. He looked over towards his old friend. "Erik? Erik!"

Magneto was clutching a bad wound to the right side of his chest. Pietro was in the process of tearing off his father's armor and wrapping his cloak around the wound as quickly and tightly as he could. "Considering the circumstances," Magneto said in a strained tone, "I think I'm all right Charles."

Wanda was staring at her father, completely blank. "You- you-" she stammered at him.

He smiled at her in a pained manner. "I know that I can't make up for my mistakes very easily, Wanda, but I hope you'll let me try to."

Wanda shivered, then burst out into tears, hugging her father around the neck. She wasn't coherent at all, but Magneto patted her on the back and kept repeating "It's okay" despite the fact that he had no idea what she was saying. Kurt took them both inside to the infirmary, and then went to the danger room to retrieve Beast and the other students.

"Vhat happened here?" Kurt said, wide eyed. Jamie looked like he had nearly been eaten, Tabitha and Roberto didn't look so hot either (he was hopping along with Tabitha as a crutch) and Sam was hauling a beat up looking Beast.

"There was a whole swarm of these demons," Ray said, looking shell-shocked. "I can't believe we made it out alive. . ."

Kurt made a face and muttered "You can dhank Wanda for getting rid of them at least. Cr. McCoy?" Kurt waved a hand in front of Beast's eyes. "Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine Kurt," Beast said groggily. "Just a little beat up, that's all. Is everyone else all right?"

"Vell, besides dhe fact dhat Magneto took a sword to the chest, everyone's. . . stable."

Beast looked at Kurt and repeated "A sword in the chest?" trying to make sure he had heard properly.

"Yeah," Kurt said. "Illyana went a little crazy after Wanda his her with a hex bolt," Nightcrawler explained.

"Ah. . . So that's where' the demons came from," the furry teacher nodded.

"Yeah," Kurt nodded. "I'll take him to the infirmary Sam," he nodded at the southerner.

"Y'all be careful with him, ya hear?" Sam said. Kurt nodded and he and Beast vanished in a puff of brimstone.
When they reappeared it was in the infirmary which was populated by several members of the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Freddie was suffering from bad eye irritation. Lance was scratched and bruised up from his wrestling match with the tree. Scott was shivering, apparently still recovering from his little stint in Bobby's ice, as was Alex and Gambit. Rogue was laying down, and trying to close her eyes and rest, but every now and then twitching and sitting bolt upright. Bobby's pride had largely been the only thing hurt and he was dispensing ice to Jean, who was putting it on various bruises and whatnot. Logan, naturally, was fully recovered from any injuries he might have had and was passing over the kids, administering basic first aid.

"TOAD!" He shouted at the boy, who was jumping at every little noise since the demons had grabbed him. "Sit the hell down!"

"Yessir. Right away sir-!" He stammered, sitting abruptly.

"Logan, please," Storm implored, "the boy is frightened enough as it is."

Xavier was soothing Wanda before he moved onto Illyana and looked over at Beast with a sad smile. "I'm afraid you've got your work cut out for you Hank."

"I can see that Charles," Beast said mournfully. There was a brief mental exchange in which they filled each other in of what had happened. Beast walked over to Magneto. "Well, this wound doesn't look like it went too deep," He said, examining the sword wound. "Just enough to be dangerous if left untreated. Luckily for you, I'm quite qualified. We'll deal with this first, then your arm."

"Thank you Dr. McCoy," Erik grunted.

"You're welcome," he returned, getting his tools ready.

"Professor? Can I talk to you?" Jean asked, coming up behind the professor as he left the infirmary. He had taken care of Wanda and Illyana and was going to take a short break before tackling any residual problems with Rogue.

"Of course Jean," he said wearily. "What is it?"

"Professor- I think someone triggered Wanda's breakdown."

The Professor's brows furrowed. "What gives you that idea?"

"I- I felt something," Jean said. "There was- there was something- someone there, mentally, not physically. They- she-" Jean corrected herself, "targeted Wanda specifically."

As Jean talked, Charles Xavier began to understand. "It was an attack," he said in awe. "A direct attack on us."

"Professor?" Jean inquired.

"Jean, I'm going to need all the senior students and staff that are available in my office right away," he said. "We're under attack."

-----------------

Emma Frost lined her students up. Those who were brainwashed stood off to the right, the others to the left. "It's time to make our move," she said to her students. "Xavier and his students are willing to simply roll over and let the humans walk all over us. I am not," she looked at the Hellions most of whom were grinning, "and neither are you."

Her eyes flickered towards the white van that they were standing by. In the back, with his powers suppressed, was Jono. He was locked out of sight, and only semi conscious, as Manuel had been battering him with powerful emotions all day and night.

"So it's time to take power," Frost said. "It's time to show the world what we are made of, and take out the competition."

She smirked, her eyes flashing.

"It's time to raise a little hell."

----------------

A/N: I bet you never thought you'd see another update. But guess what? Here's another update. And guess what? There's gonna be another one, a LOT quicker than this one. And after that?

Season Six. What I like to call the S.O.S season. It's a double meaning, the usual meaning of 'S.O.S.' And it also stands for 'Summer of Sinister'.

So sit tight, because Season Five is drawing to a long anticipated end.

By the way, you've now read over 200 pages of Season Five. Congratulations!