Disclaimer; In a perfect world, I would own X-Men Evolution and be making money from it... and Celebrity Deathmatch would still be on the air with the original voice actors for Nick and Johnny, Debbie doing the interviews and Stone Cold would've replaced Mills after his real life heart attack... Sadly, CDM was cancelled, given a revival that failed, and was cancelled again, meaning this is not a perfect world and thus X-Men Evolution and any mainstream characters that may appear within are the property of Marvel comics and no profit is being made from their usage.

Author's Note; Certain aspects of this story, such as Kitty's presence with the Brotherhood and the capture of the New Mutants by the military are based on events in my previous story "Joyride Reversed", if you become confused I recommend you read that first and then return to this story.

"Sons of Liberty"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

Brotherhood Boarding House,
Bayville, New York.
Morning.

The Brotherhood stood crowded in the doorway between kitchen and living room, staring at the uninvited occupant of their kitchen table.

"Whatta ya kids starin' at," Colonel Nick Fury grumbled over the cup of coffee sitting in front of him, "Never had a visitor before?"

Todd folded his arms, "Never had you for a visitor, yo."

Pietro looked at Todd strangely, "You know this guy, Toad?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Todd answered, "Before Mystique found me I was picking pockets in New York, yo. One day I picked this guy's pocket and instead of a wallet got an id; 'SHIELD, Colonel Nicholas Fury, Director.' I froze up and about two seconds later I got caught with it in my hands... and he took it back and let me go."

Fury chuckled, "Ya should feel good about it, kid, you're th' only person who ever managed that little trick on me an' a lot of people wish they could."

Kitty shook her head and sighed, "Where do we start; who are you, what's 'Shield', why are you in our home, why did you let Todd go... I'm sure if you give me a second I can think of more questions."

Secretly pleased at her refering to the Brotherhood house as home, Lance put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder, "How about the immediate problem, why are you here?"

Fury took a drink of coffee and grimaced, "Let's save that one fer last, huh? I let your friend go back then 'cause him managin' ta pull that off impressed me an' takin' him ta the cops wouldn't've done either of us any good. Me? Like he said, Colonel Nick Fury, technically U.S. Army, but I've been running SHIELD so long that's what most folks think of me as. SHIELD's short for 'Strategic Hazard Intervention and Espionage Logistics Directorate'. Means we keep an eye on people an' stop 'em from turnin' little problems into big ones, which is why I'm here. We've gotta problem."

"Tell it to someone who cares, soldier," Lance shook his head, "You just said problems are your business, you handle it."

"I would, but it's your problem too," Fury countered, "Let's lay it all out; you're mutants; fine, I've known Logan almost sixty years, mutants are the least'a my concerns compared ta what's already out there. You're the kind who do whatever it takes to win, so ya don't get along with Mister Nice Guy up the road; hell, that makes ya my kind'a people. Let me tell ya about a guy; Colonel Bolivar Trask, former SHIELD agent, two doctorates... oh, yeah, an' he thinks that metahumans in general an' mutants in particular should be 'policed' for the good of humanity."

"Shades of the Third Reich," Kitty muttered with a shiver, thinking of her grandfather, causing Lance to move and put his arms around her.

"You an' me both, kid," Fury agreed, "I've already had ta fight one war like that, I'm in no mood fer another. That attitude got 'im kicked out of SHIELD, but unfortunately he's got friends in high places that don't think he's wrong an' he went underground."

"While the history lesson's sure interesting and all... what's this got to do with us?" Todd asked, slipping past the others to pull out a chair and spin it around to sit in it backwards.

"Last night, some'a Xavier's kids decided ta take that jet'a their's on a joyride... Damn fools crossed into military airspace an' got brought down... when Trask heard about it..."

"He asks his buddies for them," Tabby finished.

Fury nodded with a frown, "Right. I don't know what he wants with them, but I do know it's not goin' be good fer anyone, mutant or human."

"So, uh, why don't you take him down, take him out, whatever you do?" Fred asked, entering the kitchen as well.

"He said the guy was a former SHIELD agent," Pietro answered, speeding into the kitchen and leaning against a wall, "What do you want to bet he's still got friends there who'd tell him the second something happened?"

"Sucker's bet," Fury scoffed, "We've already caught one'a his boys sending him classified information, who knows how many others there are. An' I'm not going to Xavier since I know what he'd do, he'd try ta talk ta 'im an' end up gettin' captured himself, we're trying ta get prisoners away from Trask, not give him more."

"So you came to us," Tabby raised an eyebrow, sliding past the couple to leave them the only ones in the doorway, "Because we're 'the kind who do whatever it takes to win'?"

The SHIELD director snorted, "I prefer the term 'realists'. Xavier's dream's a good one, but the odds of it happening without a whole lot of trouble are about the same as me dancing a jig down Broadway wearing a pink tutu. You aren't out to rule the world, you're not trying to be everyone's best friends, you're just trying to survive with what ya got, believe it or not I can respect that."

"So what's in it for us?" Pietro asked.

Fury gave him a hard look, "Ya mean besides the fact that whatever Trask's got planned will involve you sooner or later... a lot sooner if he interrogates those kids an' they lead him here."

Despite the falling-out with most of the X-Men, Kitty still wanted to think she had friends at the Institute, "Who... who does he have?"

Reaching into one of his uniform pockets, Fury pulled out a PDA, "Three of the newer students... Samuel Guthrie..."

"Sammy," Tabby winced.

"Robert Drake..."

"Bobby..." Kitty groaned.

"An'... Jubilation Lee?" Fury frowned, "Name like that, gotta feel sorry fer th' kid."

"Bobby and Jubes I can see doing something like this," Kitty groaned, "But Sam?"

"I believe it," Tabby replied, "Farm boy suddenly not having to get up at dawn and do chores, support his brothers and sisters, all that extra energy... he was bound to get in trouble, I'm just disappointed he couldn't have done it while I was still at Geek Central so I could've helped."

"Got to admit," Lance added, "Part of me would love to see the expressions on Summers' and the rest of their faces when we show up with their rescued friends."

Pietro remained skeptical, "You really expect us to take on the army and win?"

"Not in a straight fight," Fury developed a wolfish grin, "But ya don't do straight fights anyway, do ya? I might havta keep SHIELD outta it ta keep Trask in the dark, but I can make sure that any equipment we've got ya need, ya get. Now, ya in or out?"