Disclaimer: I do not own X-men.

A/N: Book 13 of The Babysitting series

Chapter One

The Message

A shaky video begins with the shadowy face. "If you are seeing this, I'm dead...or captured...or I accidentally hit send. In fact, for the sake of argument, just assume I'm still alive, and I hit send on accident. In fact, I may decide to send this intentionally, because really, what good is a cry for help, after the fact? So anyway, just assume I meant to send this to you but I am currently still alive and ignore my first sentence."

A few seconds of black footage is seen before the face once more appears, this time slightly easier to see. "Okay, let me start again, I'll probably edit out the first part. Maybe, if I remember and have time, and live through this." A muffled voice can be heard just off camera, before the speaker replied. "Yeah I know I'm rambling! I do that when I'm scared okay Julian! Just get off my case... Anyway. My name is James Maddox, Jamie to my friends. If I sent this video it means, we are in bigger trouble than we realized and are in need of help. By we I mean myself and my friend, Julian Keller. You see we may have stumbled upon something accidentally while on an unauthorized mission and- Yeah I know I'm getting to the point! Darn it Julian, now I have to start over!"

"Hello. My name is James 'Jamie' Maddox. I and my friend, Julian 'The Idiot' Keller need help, which is why I am sending you this message. The world needs help not just us, because if we don't stop them, they are going to win...and really this is all Julian's fault. This whole thing was his idea and really I have no idea how I always end up going along with him, because he isn't very nice to me sometimes and-" The camera shook, as the two boys seemed to fight over it, before once more going dark.

A bedraggled and haggard boy reappeared on the screen. "Okay, trying again. Hello, I'm Jamie and if you are seeing this We are in deep sh-"

The boy reappeared looking in far better condition, and with a shaking breath started again. "My name is Jamie. I'm sending this message to let the world know, the world is in danger. In fact it's more than just 'in danger' it's always freakin in danger, trust me. I know. This is different though. Here let me start at the beginning. Well after the dude with the metal helmet, that's somehow related to a couple of my teachers but they don't seem to like him, even though he seems to be trying really hard to be nice, well anyway after he and the drunk guy that used to be in charge were kidnapped? Killed? I'm not sure, I've never really paid attention in briefings, along with a bunch of others, we had this epic battle thingy that ended up on tv with this like really old mummy mutant thing...I think I was there, but I may not have been, after all I've heard the story so many times, anyway, so after all that stuff the story really began, because that's when I found Kaitlyn-"

A massive crash, sounds of a struggle, and a high-pitched scream occur as the camera falls over, then cuts off. A few seconds of black follow, then a new face appears. "Hello, my name is Julian Keller, and I am sending this message to let the world know that we are all going to die. Or it may just seem like it because of those sixteen lattes and driving for three days straight. Either way, we are in trouble. Let me start at the beginning though. First, just to get it out of the way. Logan was right. As crazy as that seems, he was right. It all began three weeks ago, when my friend and travel associate Jamie and I went in search of our former teacher, Remy LeBeau, to get advice on a Logan prob-"

The video froze as Sinister stood and yelled. "DEBBIE! Fetch my good cape, my son is in trouble somehow. DEBBIE!"

"I'm right here, sir." said the woman who sat next to him. To most of the world, her name was Chloe. To the man sitting next to her, she was Debbie, just as the five women who had this post before her. It didn't seem to matter to him that she was shorter, darker, and younger than his last assistant, or the one before that, he would forget she had only worked for him for the last three months almost daily. "Sir, do you think you should watch the rest of the video to find out how he's in danger?"

"I don't tell you how to make the coffee, don't tell me how to raise my son!" Sinister said as he walked from the room, before poking his head back through the door. "By the way, the coffee's a little weak, you may want to add more beans."

Debbie/Chloe picked up a notebook and reached to hit play as the sound of crashing beakers came from the other room. "Debbie, someone attacked my lab again! Help me!"

These boys seemed to actually need help, and her boss was already distracted. After a moment of indecision, she hit forward before she went to clean up the latest mess.

Logan had just sat down to his morning coffee and reports when his computer 'dinged' announcing a new message. He took a sip of his drink, as he opened the message. A few minutes later he hit the emergency alarm on his way to the War Room.

Seconds later he was joined by the rest of his team as he pulled up his email on the main computer. Though everyone was dressed professionally, and ready for the day, no one looked awake. Wanda and John both needed to brush their hair, Jean looked like her younger child decided to bathe her in oatmeal rather than eat it, Kitty and Piotr, who had been overseeing breakfast, looked harassed and worn out.

"I received this message from an anonymous source just minutes ago and-" Logan began without bothering to wait for everyone to sit down, as the last few walked into the room.

"Logan! What did I say about opening anonymous messages? Are you trying to kill your computer again?" Said Kitty.

"That only happened once." Logan said

"It happened three times, this week."

"Never mind, that's not important now, what's important is, that it has begun."