It's been edited. Slight improvements may result, or it may be unnoticed.

Honestly, I need to thank XxXFairyQueenXxX for reminding me to update.

Comments, criticism, and corrections are welcome.

Tabby stirred, blinking at the metal room around her. The walls slid into focus, their silver sheen glinting in the overhead light. Cold furniture stood like sentries about the floor, chairs and tables transforming the area into a metallic parody of a waiting room. In the doorway, an armored man stood speaking with the Cajun that had kidnapped her.

Thoroughly annoyed, Tabby leapt to her feet, subconsciously forming cherry bombs in her fists. "Hey! What's going on?"

Magneto smirked before molding his features into a paternal smile, "You're awake, Tabitha?"

"Obviously! But, that doesn't tell me what's going on."

Patiently, Magneto spoke, subtly watching her explosives. "I was certain that Gambit told you that you needed an interview."

"To stay with the Brotherhood? They haven't needed anyone before, they don't need you now. I don't take orders from anyone." Tabby stood a yard from the men, glaring, despite her awareness of the fact that both were trained and experienced mutants far stronger than her.

"Not to stay with the Brotherhood, Tabitha." Magneto shook his head, extending a hand to the girl's shoulder, a grip she found too heavy to shrug off, "To join the Acolytes."

"The… Acolytes?" Shock stilled her as she just stared at him.

"Of course, the Acolytes, fille." Gambit smiled at her, laughing, "That's what old Remy's part of. They're the best of the best."

"And you want me?" Tabby's eyes hardened, and she ducked out of Magneto's grip, tossing her handful of cherry bombs. "No thanks. I've had too much of people trying to run my life."

The bombs exploded harmlessly against Magneto's armor. He only smiled at her as the floor beneath her moved, "I guess this will be difficult then, Tabitha." And then, she had nothing left to stand on and fell into the room below.

"Remy thinks this might be tough, Magneto. The fille is a stubborn one."

Unfazed, Magneto replied, "All things worth having are difficult to obtain. I should have known Mystique sided with me too easily. The rest took far more persuasion."

Smirking the thief quirked, "Should Remy get a raise, then, so it won't be too easy?"

The Master of Magnetism gave the Cajun a dry look, "Your pay's high enough. Dealing with you is always a challenge as it is."

Tabby landed safely, despite the hard metal of the room, primarily due to landing in the arms of a rather surprised St. John. For a moment, both could only stare. Around that interesting scene, Sabertooth and Colossus stopped in the middle of their training to gawk at the girl who fell from the ceiling.

"Hey, mates," Pyro murmured, "Did you know that there was a sheila here?"

Sabertooth moved forward, growling, "No, there shouldn't be. Who are you, girl?"

Tabby met his eyes defiantly, "Blame thief-boy and metal-man. I didn't want to be here." She shifted her gaze to St. John, "Now, can you put me down?"

"Thief-boy and metal-man…" Pyro smiled, laughter in his eyes, "You mean Gambit and Magneto, right?"

Wrinkling her nose, Tabby grinned, "But my names fit them better."

Surprisingly quiet, Piotr crossed the room, now sans armor, "Gambit brought you here?"

"Yeh, he knocked me out and dragged me here. Why else would I be here?" She cocked her head up at him, blonde hair bobbing, "And, where is here?"

"The training room." Three voices responded, one gruff, one laughing, and one calm.

Finally righting herself, Tabby slipped from St. John's grip. "Fine. I'll leave as soon as I can find the door."

Snatching her arm, Sabertooth pulled her back, ignoring her startled yelp of pain, "You're not going anywhere until Magneto lets you go."

"Victor!" Piotr's eyes widened, the large man uncomfortably reaching out towards the girl, "Careful! You're hurting her!"

"Yeh, mate," St. John carefully tried to pry Sabertooth's hand away from Tabby's arm, only to jump back as the other hand fisted and the man snarled.

None of them noticed Tabby gathering her cherry bombs until they exploded in Sabertooth's face. They froze at the comically charred appearance of the man's hair.

"Don't mess with me, Catman."

"It's Sabertooth." Piotr corrected vainly, utterly ignored by the speaking girl.

"I may not be as strong as you, but you can't stop my bombs." With that, she stretched, arms twisting above her head, tossing another handful at the wildman.

Before Victor could attack her, he found himself restrained by Colossus, face-to-face with a fire dragon, and standing in a pile of bombs.

"She's just a young girl, Victor." Piotr reasoned while St. John smiled at Tabby. "She's been kidnapped, and she's surely frightened and confused."

"We're gonna have fun, sheila! Who are you?"

"Tabby, but call me Boom-Boom." She laughed as she exploded a new crop of bombs over their heads, much to Pyro's delight.

"St. John Allerdyce. But it's Pyro here!"

In the room above them, Magneto and Gambit stared at the floor, listening to the incessant and increasing explosions and shouts.

"Magneto, Remy thinks this might have been a bad idea."

"I suppose that… we'll just see what's become of Tabitha Smith."

Remy cast him a funny look. "Really? Remy was thinking about Piotr and Victor. They almost sound like they're dying down there… As if that Aussie wasn't bad enough alone."

A reverberating yowl promising death to a firebug and a girl echoed throughout the base, accompanied by Piotr's pleas for everyone to calm down.

Magneto could only shake his head, especially when the noise startled Mastermind into the room.

"Magneto, what's happening? Are we being attacked?"

Before the Master of Magnetism could respond, Gambit smirked, "We've got a new recruit. Honestly, Magneto, could you see her go after she survived those three? That fille will be the ace up our sleeves."

Back in Bayville, a frantic Pietro seized Lance by the shirt collar and whispered something unintelligible after rushing into the classroom, completely oblivious to the stares from the teacher and students. Fighting for patience, Lance made up an excuse of sick friends and slipped out of the room.

In the hour it took Pietro to calm down to a comprehensible speed, Lance had gathered Freddy and Todd into an alley outside the school where, at last, Pietro broke into an explanation of Gambit's message and Tabby's kidnapping.

"So," Lance spoke slowly, "We either shape up or Gambit comes, I get that. But, how do we get Tabby back?" His eyes narrowed as he rubbed his forehead against another headache.

"Guys…" Pietro whispered, locking eyes with each of them, "All he said was that we'd get her back 'when Magneto decides where to put her.' It was like she might not rejoin the Brotherhood."

"But, Magneto's your dad, right?" Todd looked at him hopefully, "If you talked to him-"

"Magneto only values people by what they can do. Apparently, I haven't proven my worth." Pietro shook his head, expression twisted somewhere between anger and grief, "There's nothing I can do."

Freddy stomped, capturing everyone's attention, "Then we wait? So, let's wait and train. If Magneto won't give us Tabby, then we'll have to get her ourselves."

"From Magneto? Freddy, are you crazy?" Pietro snapped back.

"No, he's right." Lance's eyes began to light up, "We'll get her back. She's one of us, right? We'll play nice until Magneto makes his decision, and, if we don't like it, we'll go get her."

"But, he'll kill us!" Pietro yelped. "Seriously, he'll kill us."

A harsh silence fell over the four until Todd spoke, firmer than the others had ever heard him. "The X-Men, yo. Tabby's still friends with a lot of them, and the Professor would save her." He shook his head, continuing before the others could stop him, "We don't like them, and they don't like us. Trash and snobs don't mix- unless it's Tabby. But, they hate Magneto, too. I know they'd save her."

A long moment passed.

"So," Lance spoke, regaining his unconscious leadership, "We wait and train until Magneto makes up his mind. If he won't give us Tabby back, we tell the X-Men and lead them to his base." He looked at the others.

Todd and Freddy nodded at once, while Pietro stared at them.

"Guys, this is crazy! Insane! You must've lost your minds and your memories!" He stopped. "But it must be contagious. We'll get Tabby back, one way or the other. I'm in, Lance."