I didn't know what to do. The fire was everywhere! Screaming, dancing…licking the explosive liquids which ignited and destroyed years of my uncle's work. I put two furry hands to my ears in an effort to protect myself, but to no avail.

I felt so small. So small and weak.

I leaped out of the way as a large beam crashed down beside of me, embers sparking into my fur and causing me to circle in terror. I shrieked openly, screaming for my uncle to help me, to save me, but I could see him, separated by leaping flames.

The flames of hell………

I couldn't move more than a few feet in any direction; the fire blocked my escape. Behind me, I heard sirens outside. That's when I realized I was next to the only window in the laboratory, a small four foot by two foot square that led to the outside world.

The window was nearly ten feet above me, the high ceiling accounting for this fact. My mind raced at a million miles an hour, trying to churn out a solution, until I finally gave up and let instinct take over. I sprinted for the wall behind me, scrabbling upwards as best I could, using my tail to help push me off the ground. I could hear my uncle shouting at me, but I could not make out the words. The flames were closing in below me just as I reached the window. I fumbled with the latch until it finally popped open and I could push the window outwards.

I glanced one last time at the lab to see if I could signal my uncle, but he was hidden by a smoky haze that blanketed the entire room. Shoving myself out of the window, I searched for handholds in the rough brick that covered the building that my uncle used as his laboratory. I spared a glance downward, seeing that we were already three stories in the air.

Okay, Jeff. No time to panic. Climb! My furry hands and feet grappled with the wall, now that I was fully out of the building. I shimmied sideways quickly, never doubting where I placed my feet, knowing that I was finding all of the best spots, until I came to the drainage pipe that ran clear to the ground. The pipe was no more than six inches in diameter, but that was all I needed. My strong hands grasped it, the rough pads that covered them combating the normal slickness of the drainpipe, so I would not slip and fall to my death.

Death. It seemed all too real right now.

I began to climb, hand over hand, foot over foot, my tail coming last, wrapped around the pipe in case I should fall. At this point, I wasn't even thinking of how the fire could easily consume the ceiling and roof of the building, as I had no idea how fire worked.

But I was climbing up a drain pipe, something I had never done before, the mad rush of sirens below me, flashing red lights at my back, heat emanating off the building, which was now, essentially, a furnace. I finally reached the top of the building, scrabbling to safety with a grace I had not known I possessed. My feet crunched on the gravel that was spread across the rooftop, but I could not stay in place for long. The fire below had turned the rocks into so many hot coals.

I panicked suddenly with the realization that not only was I in a strange place, I was totally alone.

"UNCLE ROD!" I screamed. My high-pitched voice was drowned out by the noise that drifted up the rooftop. I ran on all fours until I reached the other side of the building. I screamed for my uncle again, tears running down my cheeks. Where was he!?

"Jeff?" A voice called behind me. I turned quickly to see a smoke-stained man rise from the fire escape.

My uncle. I ran to him and hugged him, unaware that some hundred feet away, a man dressed in black was watching us with a pair of binoculars…

That was nine years ago. I'm older now, wiser. Definitely more mature. And a lot more religious.

The religious part was the doing of my uncle. Ever since the fire, he's been teaching me the Bible. And right now, I was having a particularly difficult time with understanding and acceptance, the two things that Uncle told me were most important in the Word.

"But," I began, my voice seeming both uncertain and weak. "It says God made the livestock and the animals of the Earth. Then, it says God made the man of the earth," I quoted. I then brought myself to the question I had never dared ask before. "So…where do I come in?" I gestured towards my abnormally dexterous hands, the rounded ears, maneuverable toes, and six-foot-long prehensile tail that stretched out behind me. My uncle sighed resolutely, scratching his head and thinking about my question.

"I'm not sure," He said finally. "But that doesn't mean that there's no plan for you. A lot of what God does is not understood until the end. You know the old saying…"

"'My life is but a weaving, between the Lord and me,'" I quoted.

"Right," he nodded. "You just have to have faith and someday, you'll see exactly who you are and what you need to do." I didn't move. He stood up to leave, our lessons for the day finished.

"Can I go up top?" I asked suddenly. He sighed, and I knew he wanted to say no.

"Ok, but be careful. Don't let anyone see you. And put on some more normal clothes in case anyone does." It was my turn to sigh. "Either do it or don't go," my uncle ordered, and I had to agree.

I kept a few sets of more teenage-friendly clothes in my closet, but most of the time I wore shorts and tight tank tops. I just didn't feel comfortable in anything more.

However, this time I found a pair of baggy jeans and a hooded sweatshirt to wear. I didn't own shoes, mostly because climbing required the use of my toes, and shoes would just ruin that.

My uncle owned a two bedroom apartment, with one bathroom, a kitchen, and a living/dining room. After the fire at the lab, we moved here. It was hard to get me in without anyone seeing me, but fortunately at that time I was small enough to be covered in some old clothes from a thrift store, and my tail was short enough-three feet-that I could wrap it around my waist without anybody noticing. Now, whenever I did and hid it under my shirt I just looked chubby.

My room was sparsely decorated, only a few posters on the walls, and a hammock, rather than a bed, hanging lazily from the corner closest to the window. The posters were bands I had heard while watching MTV. Since I couldn't go outside much, my uncle had insisted that I learn my social skills from the television while he was gone. It wasn't an altogether stupid idea, but there were certain…inadequacies to it.

Specifically, girls. Ok, yes, I was covered in brown fur, had a large six foot whip sticking out of my butt, and could use chopsticks with my feet, but still, I was somewhat human. And you can't learn how to pick up girls from soap operas and teen comedies. I sighed on this very familiar note and, making sure no one was looking up from the ground below, climbed out of the window and scaled the wall upwards.

We lived in a larger apartment building, almost ten stories high. Our place was on the fourth floor, and I never got tired of climbing back down-face first- to my window and slinking inside. It was just so…liberating. Most of the time I was cooped up inside, and the only exercise I got was at nights, scaling buildings, running across rooftops…

Sometimes, when I made sure my uncle was asleep, I made my way to the nearest park and climbed the trees there. Of course, I was careful of policemen, homeless persons, and people in general. But there was something mystic, almost magical, about sitting at the top of a large oak tree, gazing at the moon and listening to the rush of the city around you.

Today, though, I was in broad daylight, so I settled for sitting on top of the giant antenna that protruded from the rooftop for a good thirty feet, reading the Psalms over again. I stopped as the sun began to set looking at it in wonder, pondering how the world worked, when I heard a very familiar sounds.

Three long beeps in a row. I looked around for the sound, but I could not see anyone. Three short beeps. What. Was that a man standing below me? What was he holding? Three-

I was back inside my room, the only light coming from a small desk lamp at the computer desk. What was going on? What had happened? I rushed to the window before realizing I was no longer wearing my sweatshirt and jeans. They had been discarded on the floor by the window, which now was dark. It was night? I looked at my digital clock. Ten thirty? But it was barely seven when I was on the roof top!

Suddenly, my door flew open.

"We have to leave," My uncle panted, holding a bunch of clothes in his hands and a duffel bag. "Get all of your stuff together, go out the window, and meet me at the back door as soon as possible."

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked, scared now. My uncle never ever was like this. Scared, nervous.

"Mrs. Ethman upstairs saw you outside a few minutes ago. And the landlord spotted you on the rooftop." What? How? Was that why I was suddenly back in my room, and three hours had mysteriously disappeared? My uncle left to finish deciding which personal junk to take with him. I pulled on the clothes again, this time tying a pair of size 12 shoes together by the laces and hanging them around my neck before pulling the hood over my head. I stuffed my pocket Bible into my jeans pocket, grabbing a spare backpack that I had for just such an emergency, and putting clothes into it.

I made my way to the bathroom and began packing my toothbrush and other personal hygiene tools, including a brush and several combs. Hey, being furry isn't as great as you'd think. There was an unexpected knock on the door as I zipped my pack.

Uncle Rod looked very scared.

"Run. Go out the window," He ordered, and when I didn't move, he yelled, "Now!"

There was a loud CRUNCH and the door hit the floor, four men in police uniforms rushing in.

"Rodney Seales! You are under arrest!" A particularly burly-looking cop shouted, holding up his badge for show. Then, they spotted me, frozen in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Holy-! Sarge, what is that?" One of the policemen gripping a rifle cried. The rest where all holding handguns, pointed at Uncle Rod. 'Sarge' didn't say anything.

"Run, Jeff!" Rod yelled, and I finally heeded his words, dashing for my bedroom.

"Shoot it!" 'Sarge' finally made a decision. Bullets pierced the air around me. I halted as the shrieking bullets flew into the air around me. I took quick stock of the situation as they retrained their weapons on me, before leaping close enough so they couldn't attack. I cracked my tail like a whip, latching around the one man's rifle and yanking it out of his hands. The guy looked extremely surprised as I flung it backwards behind the couch, far out of reach. I back flipped towards my room and ducked inside. I slammed the door shut; making sure my tail was inside. I didn't even pause, just leaped right out of the window and scrambled up the side of the building.

Ka-POW! I glanced at the brick beside me as a bullet ricocheted off. That meant that there were snipers below me. Well, I thought, gritting my teeth, Let's see how fast they are!

I practically flew up the side of the building, not even pausing long enough to make sure I had good foot holds, my brain screaming at me to slow down, but my instincts screaming at me to go faster.

I chose to obey my instincts because, let's face it; my brain wasn't in the best shape at this moment. I scrabbled wildly up; finger clutching stone, slipping into miniscule cracks, feet propelling myself upward while my tail whipped uselessly behind me. Bullets Ka-Chinged off of the building around me, coming close, but never close enough to make me really afraid.

"The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want," I breathed when a bullet came slammed into the rock I was just about to grab. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures," I finished, deciding to ditch the building. I took one breath and leaped away, spinning myself around so I was going down spread-eagled. The ground rushed towards me with startling swiftness, closing the distance from eighty feet to ten. I managed to grip the streetlight that rose from the sidewalk, surprising the police below me as I swung around with the force of my momentum and somersaulted across the street, cars honking their horns furiously.

I hit the sidewalk, decided not to try and scale the much smaller clinic across the street, and instead ducked around it into an alleyway, running on all fours. I needed someplace to hide, someplace to get away! But I couldn't think properly, there was the little voice in my ear, whispering to me, my conscience.

You! It's all your fault now! Uncle Rod will go to jail forever because you were stupid enough to be seen in broad daylight! You knowingly betrayed your Uncle and destroyed his life!

Shut up! I ordered the voice. I started pulling over trash cans with my tail, in case anyone was following me. I hoped that the rubbish would slow them down, at the very least. Ignoring the now-screaming voice in my head, I leaped to a fire escape and began scrabbling up the side. If I could get to the top of this building, maybe four stories high, I could probably get away.

That is, if they didn't bring in a helicopter. For a fleeting instant, I knew exactly why Uncle Rod had kept me a secret for so long. People just didn't understand. The police back at the apartment were proof of that.

Well, one thing was for sure: I could not stay here any longer. Soon, everyone would be looking for me; the Police, Animal Control, anyone who was remotely concerned about a half-man, half-monkey prowling the cityscape of our fair city.

I chose not to go all the way to the structure's summit, instead slipping inside through an open window and padding quietly down a hallway. I realized I had lost my shoes when leaping from my home (I choked on the word) and was grateful not to have the dead weight around my neck. I was in another apartment building and I could hear televisions blaring from behind various doors. I found one that was abnormally quiet and, deciding to take a chance, slid my tail under the door. If anyone were to come and find me, it would look like I was just sitting there with my back against it, for I kept my head tucked down and my hands and feet out of sight. I easily reached the deadbolt lock, using my tail as an extra-sensitive hand. Fortunately, the deadbolts were not pulled, so I knew no one could be inside. I maneuvered so that I could wrap the end of my tail around the knob and twist. It took a couple of tries, but I finally managed to open the door and crawl in.

I mentally laughed to myself. Jeff Seales, Super Thief. Spiderman has nothing on me! I closed the door quietly, taking in the vast expanse. It was a much smaller place than I was used to, and I immediately felt claustrophobic. I opened a few windows, and that helped some. Still, it did nothing to quell my now raging fear that any second, the entire building was going to explode into flames.

Fortunately, fear has nothing on sleep, and I drifted off to thoughts of climbing………visions of a forest I'd never seen………

I woke up underneath a blanket, and I suddenly realized I was cold. The extra sweater and jeans, plus my fur and the blanket, should have kept me warm, but didn't. I lifted the blanket somewhat to look out from underneath it, when I realized that it was very windy. I stopped suddenly, fearing the worst. I carefully shifted my weight, so I could see what I was laying on.

Metal. Red metal that I instantly recognized as the bed of a pickup. I mentally cursed myself. How did I get in the back of a pickup, which was obviously traveling very fast. I chanced a glance out from under the blanket, which I now realized was actually a tarp, and saw that we were on a highway. I could see, behind us, a sign that read:

NOW LEAVING BAYVILLE, NEW YORK

That meant we were actually entering Bayville, New York. Like I had any clue where that was. How long had I been asleep? I mean, I didn't even live in New York State, and I'd never been to Bayville. Something weird was definitely going on.

First, I space out on top of the antenna, then come back to three hours later inside of my room. Then, I fall asleep in the middle of the night in an empty apartment and wake up in the back of a pickup in another state. I was getting out of here before I could get into any more trouble. As soon as we stopped………

I heard a door slam and tensed my legs underneath me.

"Hey Bert, where are you going?" I heard one guy say after there was much crunching on what I assumed to be gravel.

"I'm just going to go get something to eat!" Another guy protested. He sounded smaller.

"Well, we gotta deliver this stuff, first!" I had noticed on the trip up that there were several boxes in the back, and had taken the liberty of checking what was inside. Just log chains and stuff. Suddenly, the tarp was pulled off and I was in plain sight.

"Hey, kid!" One man yelled, who I could now see was wearing a flannel shirt and had a five o' clock shadow. He looked like a lumberjack. "What're you doing back here?"

"That's no kid!" The other one exclaimed, who looked more like an executive, with a crisp suit and checkered tie. "Look at his tail!"

"Is it a monkey?"

"No, it's too big to be a monkey!" I didn't wait for them to finish their argument. I leaped over the cab of the truck and hit the hood, sliding onto the ground and running on all fours. Where should I go? I was in an unfamiliar place, in unfamiliar territory. Should I-

The room was dark and gloomy, save for the flashing of hundreds of monitors and blinking lights. Two men stood, hidden by shadows, behind a glass partition that separated them from the twenty other men in the control room. One entire wall was dominated by a giant screen, and on that screen, the Operative was shown.

"Should we activate him?" One of the shadowed figures asked the other. On the screen, the Operative had escaped from the truck bed and was now looking for a way out. The two deliverers were coming after him.

"Yes. Cutter, give the order." Cutter nodded and leaned closer to the microphone.

"Activate the Operative." One of the many soldiers, for that is what they were, saluted in recognition and pressed a button. On the screen, the one named Jeffrey Seales stopped cold before spinning around and slamming into Business Suit with his fist, wrapping his tail around Lumberjack's neck and throwing him to the ground in one swift motion.

"Good," The shadowed figure muttered, a grin playing across his features. "Now, send him after the Target."

CHANG'S P.O.V.

BLAM! Something that sounded surprisingly like a gunshot went off, the sound echoing through the hallways of the mansion. The sound was followed by screams, yells, and more gunshots.

I sat up straight in my bed, racing for the door. I opened it just as Scott came running past, followed closely by Roberto and Jamie.

"What's going on?!" I yelled.

"Not sure!" Cyclops returned. "Come on, something's happening in the foyer!" I followed after Jamie, helping to pick up a couple of his doubles when he tripped on a flight of stairs. As we ran past windows where sunlight was pouring in, Roberto charged up, turning black and emanating flames. I followed his cue and started rubbing my hands together in preparation of a fight. I noticed that Scott had switched from his glasses to his visor for better control.

"Any idea, Sunspot?" I asked quickly, using Roberto's codename. One of the Jamies I was helping disappeared in my arms.

"No idea, Dragonoid. Probably Logan running some off-the-hook Danger Room session."

"In the foyer?" I said to no one in particular.

We finally reached the top of the stairs that led down the foyer, only to see Cannonball and Frenzy dragging in bodies. Storm was helping by checking pulses on the unconscious guys that my mutant friends were pulling through the doorway.

"What happened?" Cyclops asked, all cool and in control. I noticed that Storm had dropped a large potted plant. Dirt and pottery shards covered the floor.

"No big, man. These guys were asking for Cameron, and Cannonball and I took care of them," Frenzy drawled in that arrogant way he has. "One of them managed to nick me, but luckily Cannonball took care of him before he could hit what he was really aiming at." My friend grinned, point to a small trickle of blood on his shoulder, where the fabric of his shirt had been torn open.

"Stop being so modest. Does it hurt?" I asked. Zach just grinned even more.

"Course not. Nothing hurts a stud like me!" I laughed.

"How about this!" I jammed a thumb onto the wound and pressed as hard as I could. He yelped loudly.

"Chang!" Ororo scolded. I pulled my hand back quickly.

"Sorry, ma'am." Zach rubbed his shoulder and scowled at me. "So what did they want with Cameron?"

"I'll have to see the Professor about this," Ororo murmered. "Scott, you and the rest get these men to the infirmary. I have to go find Logan." She left hurriedly in the direction of the Danger Room. I think Logan might have had a romantic interest in that place. For a few seconds, Sam, Zach, Scott, Roberto, Jamie and I just looked at the six bodies on the ground. Without warning, Zach kicked the top one as hard as he could.

"There," He grunted, rubbing his shoulder. "I feel better now." Scott sighed in exasperation.

"Alright, everybody grab a bad guy."

"Storm said to bring these to you, Doctor. Apparently they were harassing our students." Hank looked up from his medical texts. Scott, Zach, and I were the only ones carrying bad guys, besides Jamie. Make that Jamies. Despite Scott's numerous warnings and frequent protesting, Sam and Roberto had goaded the poor kid into carrying their baggage as well.

"Heavy load?" Hank asked, one eyebrow raised at Sunspot.

"Not really," He grinned in return. "Just thought it'd be good to help out." All of the Jamies glared at him.

"Hmm. Well, why don't you guys go. The Professor will probably want to talk to you all about this. Zach, stay for a second a let me get that cut cleaned up."

"Jeez, it's fine! Just a scratch," My manic friend protested, but Hank gave him the no-nonsense-look and he obeyed. I left the room right behind Roberto, who was laughing about something with Sam, and I happened to turn around and look. Beast had pulled out what could easily have been a medieval spear, but was actually a syringe.

"Now this won't hurt a bit…"

ZACH'S P.O.V.

I rubbed my shoulder tenderly. Beast had been joking when he pulled out the needle, but not by much. Turned out I needed a couple of stitches, and those hurt like the blazes.

We were all assembled in the Professor's study. I was sitting on the edge of the table with Chang. Scott was pacing side to side behind me, Jean was watching him with an amused expression, Rogue was leaning against the wall sullenly, Kitty was lounging with her legs crossed in an armchair, and Kurt was sitting on the ceiling. Hank was running the rest of the new mutants through a Danger Room Sim, and Logan and Storm were no where to be found. The door opened and all of us looked up, including the Professor, who was watching all of us with a kind of studying gaze.

Cameron walked inside sheepishly.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all," Xavier said. "Please, sit down. We were expecting you." I let out an involuntary bark of laughter. Leave it to a telepath…

"So what's up, Professor? Some reason why we're all here?" Scott spoke up.

"Ja, I'm missing some quality grooming time."

"Like, ewww," Kitty snorted.

"I will cut right to the chase. As you all know, a group of armed men, who I have learned are part of the United States Government, attacked Sam and Zach today. No one was seriously hurt, except, well, them." I caught a definite smile on his face then, but he quickly hid it. "The reason they were here and driven to this type of behavior was unknown at the time, but after extensive probing, I believe I have learned the reason they are here." I sighed. Xavier could be really long winded when he wanted to be.

"Point?" Chang asked, more blunt than I could ever be.

"The point is, they were here for Cameron. And, based on what I found in their minds, I have reason to believe that you are hiding something from us." This last part was said with a penetrating stare at Deftone, who suddenly looked very nervous.

"What do you mean?" She asked, her lips moving soundlessly.

"I mean that there appears to be some sort of mental block inside of your head that I have not been able to get around since the events of this morning."

"Why are you looking around inside of my personal thoughts anyway?!" She demanded hotly. Xavier was not intimidated.

"Because two of my students were viciously attacked, and one superficially injured. Apparently, you had something to do with it." This last part was not really an idle speculation; it was more of a fact. I tried to read the expression on Cameron's face, but she had good practice keeping her emotions hidden. She gravitated from indignation to fear to nothing in less than a second.

"Well, I didn't." This simple statement was followed by her reaching for the doorknob.

"Please, Cameron. If this does have something to do with you, and you really do not know why, then you, too, are in danger. I would like you and the other girls to stay for a moment. Everyone else, you may go."

"But Professor!" I protested. "Cameron's like family to us. You can't just tell us to leave when she could be in trouble!" I clenched my fist.

"Zach, I understand your concerns, but you must trust my judgment in this case. Now, you all have had a busy day. I think you should get some rest." It was clear from his tone that this discussion was over. Cameron looked sullen, even more so than Rogue, who I had never seen smile about anything. Kitty gave me a kind of half-hearted wave, and I slapped myself mentally, remembering that we were supposed to have gone on a date tonight.

Ok, so secretly I was a little relieved that I didn't have to deal with it. But on the other hand, I was going to have to go up to Kitty tomorrow and ask for a rain check. Like my life wasn't hard enough with school in two days and a government agency trying to hunt one of my friends down.

So I was entitled to a little peace and quiet, right?

Wrong.

NO ONE'S P.O.V.

All was quiet on the grounds of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, as seen through the control room where Cutter and his superior watched with mixed feelings. Jeff Seales quietly and stealthily avoided all cameras and detectors, climbing from tree to tree until reaching the fuse-box that controlled the automated defense systems.

"It's magnificent, sir," Cutter breathed quietly, wondering how such a young specimen could infiltrate someplace not even a highly trained team of commando's had been able to. On the screen, the mutated boy was reconfiguring wires like a switchboard operator.

"Yes, it is," the superior officer agreed. "Soon, we'll have our second weapon, and with it, all the information we need…" He trailed off, watching as Jeff avoided more cameras until reaching the actual Institute. In the shadows, he looked more like a cat than anything, prowling on all fours until he finally saw the window he was supposed to get into and climbing, hand over hand over foot over foot over tail up the drainpipe. The window was open a crack, which would not have been wide enough for him to get his arm through, but was just enough to slip his tail into. After some careful maneuvering, the tip of the tail managed to unlock the window, and Jeff pushed it open, crawling inside. "Get the containment cell ready. He'll be able to get her out, but the rest of them will come looking for her. They won't be slowed down very long by the booby traps he's rewired, and with extra baggage, he'll be much slower. The camera zoomed in as Jeffrey crawled to the bed and pulled back the covers. The sleeping figure was obscured from view by the monkey-man's lanky frame, but it was clear that she did not notice, or move. There was no need to put a hand over her mouth to silence her.

All the careful research they'd done, the plan that had been put into effect nearly thirteen years ago, was now nearing its peak. After this, it was only a matter of time…

Jeffrey's tail had snaked around the girl's throat, and her eyes snapped open. She tried to struggle, but he had too firm a grip on her throat, and began dragging her towards the window. She could not scream for help, simply because of her abilities. As Jeff pulled himself through the window, the mission seemed finished.

Then the girl screamed………

ZACH'S P.O.V.

My bed bucked underneath me and I was thrown into the air, colliding with Chang and falling to the floor in a heap of rubble and I rubbed my head and opened my eyes blearily. My posters were hanging loosely on the wall, and all the pictures and knickknacks I'd kept on my dresser had fallen on to the floor. Small cracks had appeared in the plaster around our room.

"What the-?" Chang asked, looking around. His bed had completely flipped over and his mattress had fallen on top of him. I rushed to the door and opened it. I looked out at the hallway we shared with Kitty, Rogue, and Kurt. The paintings on the wall were now hanging somewhat crooked, and many of the plants that dotted the hall (Storm's work,) were overturned and spilling dirt onto the carpet.

"I think it's Cameron. Something's wrong!" I yelled, running back inside of our now demolished room. Chang had crawled out from underneath his mattress and was now watching me with interest. I opened my window while pulling on a pair of decent shorts, looking below me one floor and to the left. Chang leaned out the window beside of me.

"What do you mean, something's wrong with Cameron?" I pointed at the shadowy figure that seemed to be trying to yank something from Cameron's room.

"That." I turned to look at my tall friend. "Can you hit it from here?" Chang grinned and charged up his fist.

"I can sure try!" I leaned back slightly as a blast of pure electricity jumped through the air, barely missing the target and colliding with the wall behind it. The shadow, whatever it was, ducked back inside.

"Nice shootin, Tex. Come on!" And the next second I was racing down the hallway to the stairs that would bring us to Cameron's room.

By the time I got there, Kurt and Kitty had just arrived, and Chang was painting behind me. Here, the destruction was worse. The entire wall bowed towards, and the whole hallway was tilted at a weird angle. I charged my system full of adrenaline.

"Want me to blast it?" Chang asked off-handedly.

"If you would be so kind," I returned. He didn't have to. Right before he was about to blast the door, it opened quite suddenly, and something brown and furry shot out.

There was a moment of stunned silence at this new intruder. About five feet tall, I would guess, because it was hard to tell when he was crouching. He was covered in brown fur, save for a black tank top and spandex shorts. Behind him, a very long, very maneuverable tail whipped about. He struck me as an overgrown monkey.

Still in the room, Cameron was lying on the floor, rubbing her throat viciously. Her room looked like a disaster area. The walls had huge fissures in them, her ceiling fan wobbled at an impossible angle, and every piece of furniture had been turned into toothpicks.

That was all the time I had for reflective thought, because the next moment, the assailants tail, holding a broken chunk of wood, was flying towards me from the side. I ducked with inhuman (Duh.) speed, but Chang wasn't so lucky. The wood, which I can only assume was a piece of a chair at one point, struck him in the face and he slumped against the wall. He tried the same thing with Kitty and Kurt, who simple phased and teleported out of the way.

"Vhat is zis guy?" Kurt panted, reappearing beside of me.

"I don't know. But I hope he likes to dance!" I growled and threw a punch that connected with yielding flesh. The monkey scrambled backwards out of range, but I just dived at him and caught him full on. We rolled across the floor, punching and kicking, my body being assailed by numerous blows, and I'm sure we looked like a cartoon or something. Then, quite suddenly, I felt pressure on my chest as we rolled across the floor. He had somehow managed to get his feet underneath me! WHAM! I wobbled wildly through the hallway, totally airborne. I yelled out in terror, but then something wrapped around my ankle.

In a moment that seemed frozen in time, I saw the monkey's tail grip my leg, yank me backwards and slam me into the wall. I hit the already severely fractured wall and went straight through, a shower of plaster and sawdust erupting around me. A loud screeching sound and a #BAMF# told me that Kurt was now fighting the intruder and I struggled to pick myself up to help. I was actually half in and half out of the wall, my legs hanging uselessly in the hallway.

When I finally managed to pull myself up enough to view the scene, there really wasn't all that much to see. There was a lot of smoke, screeching, and the distinctive smell that comes with teleporting. I tried to make out what was happening, but all I could see were shadows that kept changing places. It was, all in all, very confusing. That is, until Kurt reappeared right in front of me, looking around frantically.

"Vas za-?" he was stopped mid-sentence when two hands wrapped around his neck and flung him backwards. All I caught after that was a swishing sound and a stir of the smoke. Finally, the smoke cleared and I saw Kurt lying dazed on the other side of the hall, a large dent beside of him that was curiously head-shaped.

I didn't wait for Kurt to wake up, but took off in the direction that the Monkey (As I was now calling him in my mind,) ran. It was personal, now. No one, and I mean NO ONE, beat me on my own turf.

He may have been more agile, but he certainly wasn't faster, and I caught up with him soon. He was unfamiliar with the twisting turns of the Xavier mansion, and I eventually found him right in foyer, at the top of the giant staircase. He didn't slow down for a second, didn't make any move to turn and take the steps and go out the front door like anyone else would have, just leaped up on to the railing and launched himself onto one of the two chandeliers that dominated the ceiling of the Institute. Across from me, Scott had appeared with his visor and fired off a beam that narrowly missed Monkey and hit the wall beside of me.

"Check your fire, man!" I yelled, following after Monkey man, who had leaped from the chandelier onto the next one, dangling from the chain and swinging wildly. I abandoned any pretense of fear and hurdled, much less gracefully, onto the first chandelier. The rickety glass structure bucked and I nearly fell before gripping the thick chain that connected it to the ceiling. "You're not getting out of this situate that easily!" I called with a lot more confidence than I felt. Monkey man paused for a second, weighing his options. Me on one side, who was just itching for a tussle, and Cyclops on the other, who could blast him through a wall. Monkey's eyes glinted maliciously, and his lips curled into a grin, baring his sharpened canines. With a quick flick of his tail, one of the crystals from the chandelier was suddenly whizzing through the air, until it connected with, and punctured, Cyclops' visor. I stared in horror, fearing the worst, when a beam of red light exploded, the crystal vaporizing and the beam punching a hole through the ceiling. Cyclops ripped the visor off and closed his eyes.

The crystal had not penetrated enough to hurt Scott, but had just broken the visor enough to let his powers through. How had the Monkey known about Scott?! The Institute was supposed to be secret, no one but the Brotherhood knew of our powers, except for the Acolytes. Maybe the Professor was right, and Cameron was………

Stop it, Zach! I ordered myself. No time to think of that.

Monkey was hanging lazily from the chain on the chandelier as roof rained down around him. He wasn't even looking at me, but was looking through the hallway that led through the senior dorms. Below us, several of the younger kids had congregated. Dr. McCoy was there, too, trying his best to hold them back. Jean was no where in sight, and that meant that Monkey Man could easily get to the window at the end of the senior hall, because no one was there to stop him!

Time for me to do my thing, then.

I pumped myself up, slammed out my muscles with a speed I hadn't known I possessed, and rocketed through the air. My fist connected with the bad guy's stomach and we went sprawling out onto the landing in the other side.

It was like fighting a steel cable when we landed. His muscles were all working perfectly together, squeezing, pushing, hitting, crunching. I could do nothing except wait for an opening, but he wasn't giving me one. I couldn't tell if he was using an actual fighting style or not. It was more like wrestling with kickboxing mixed in.

Fortunately, I knew how to combat that. Logan was big martial arts freak. Said he used to live in Japan. Since I had only a physical mutation, and couldn't blast stuff with my eyes or shoot bones out of my arms or move things with my mind, Logan had taken my self-defense lessons into the Japan section of fighting. Capoiera. That's what I use. Think of it as lethal break-dancing.

I returned his attack, feet flying out at impossible angles and slamming into his jaw like wrecking balls. I spun around on the ground, throwing him off while leaping into a fighting stance. He landed easily on his feet (and hands,) with his tail thrashing behind him like a killer snake.

#BAMF#

Kurt appeared in his classic gargoyle pose on the opposite side of the intruder. Smoke curled around him before disappearing into nothingness.

"Now, Mr. Bad Man, vhy don't you just put your hands up, and ve'll take you down to ze Professor, ja?" Kurt asked in his own unique brand of English. The Monkey paused for a moment, and somehow, I knew exactly what he was going to do.

Unfortunately, I don't have Kurt's teleporting ability or I would've gotten the heck out of there.

Quick as a flash, the long brown tail wrapped around Kurt's throat in a choke hold. Before Kurt could try and get free, he was flying through the air towards me. I tried to dodge out of the way, but not even I was that fast. Kurt's helpless body slammed into me ("OOF!") and we hit the banister. Instantaneously, I heard wood splinter and break, and in the next split-second, we were falling towards the first level of the Mansion.

"AHHH!" I yelled.

"AHHH!" Kurt agreed. The floor was just about to meet us when #BAMF# my head seemed to spin on its shoulders, and #BAMF# we were back on the top floor, right where we had just fallen from.

"Nice save," I grumbled, rubbing my head where it had knocked against the floor.

"Ja," Kurt muttered from beside me. I lifted my head just enough to see the window at the end of the hallway, Monkey Dude's only way of escape, shattered.

"We just lost, didn't we?" I asked. "An entire mansion full of mutants with phenomenal super powers just lost to one half-man, half-monkey. Doesn't that seem pathetic to you?"

"Ja."

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Like, don't like? Jeff and Cameron are going to have a very big focus in the next few chapters, so be prepared for some twisting plot lines. By the way, Jeffrey Seales is the property of Jeff Hunter, and I in no way claim ownership, blah blah blah.

^Insert standard X-Men: Evolution Disclaimer here^