-The Astral Plane-

The Astral Plane, there is no up, no down. It's as if you're in the far reaches of space. There is nothing. There is no one. Unless… a powerful psychic wills it.

Sinister flew through the air as fast as he possibly could, he would occasionally have to dodge small psychic spikes, and the ever more dangerous psychic orbs.

Jean flew behind the man, slowly gaining up on him, but Sinister quickly turned to face her. They fired several orbs and spikes at each other, most finding their mark.

A massive concrete slab appeared and Sinister floated down to it. As his feet made contact, a massive psychic spike came hurdling towards him. He expertly dodged it and shot several smaller spikes of his own.

One spike impaled Jean, she collapsed onto the stone.

"I told you girl, you can't substitute power for experience," Sinister said with a smirk.

Jean slowly started rising into the air, "Not even if its overwhelming power?" she asked as the Phoenix Raptor appeared behind her.

The strips that comprised Sinister's cape suddenly gained a life of their own and darted out to ensnare Jean, "If you were my student I would have taught you tactics by now," he said with a smug smile.

Jean's eyes began glowing yellow. The Raptor's claws extended and sliced the tendrils into fine shreds. Upon gaining her freedom, Jean became one with the Raptor, and charged towards Sinister, incinerating him with her flame.

-The Nursery-

"Wanda, Karima we've got to go," Pietro said clutching his stomach as fresh red blood began dripping from it, "Lance and the others are getting their asses handed to them."

Wanda stared at her brother for a moment and pulled him down until he was on his knees, "You can't… even stand up right… and I can't catch… my breath," she explained in slow long gasps.

Laura walked toward the twins, her wounds closing as quickly as they had been inflicted; "What should we do then?" she threw herself against the wall and slid down to the ground.

Karima continued to work on the console, "I've almost finished," she said in a tired tone, "I can keep him alive until we get home, but we have to keep him on life support for at the very least, another week," she scooped St. John into her arms, several of her circuits placed on his body, "But we have to hurry."

Sinister's body slammed against the wall, various places of his body bleeding profusely.

Jean slowly floated to the ground her fiery psychic aura dissipating. Jean closed the gap between herself and the beaten villain, then actually picked Sinister up from the ground and slammed him against the wall, "You have a debt to settle," she said, her eyes flaring up.

Sinister smirked and nodded, "I do," he pulled a second plunger switch from his belt, and then pushed the plunger.

-The X-Mansion-

Remy hovered several feet above the ground, the five mutants who stood in his way, in varying degrees of pain.

"Why can' you just stay down homme?" he asked with pain in his eyes.

Lance got to his feet, "I… don't know how…" he said with labored breaths.

Remy shrugged as a massive amount of purple kinetic energy began swirling around him, "Sorry mon ami, but I got to finish dis…" he froze in mid-air for a moment, then clutched his head and let out a scream of pain. The gathered energy dissipated as he plummeted to the ground.

Lance and the others slowly made their way to the Cajun, everyone prepared to restart their fight, but he was out cold, bleeding from his mouth and nose.

Lance then collapsed to the ground in a sitting position, "Everyone still alive?" he asked, and was quickly answered by several grunts.

-The Nursery-

Jean reached out with her mind and touched everyone involved in the current battle, Brotherhood and X-Men.

When she pulled her mind back, she slammed Sinister into the wall again, "You settled your debt to Gambit, but what about me? Where are my children?" she asked as the Phoenix Raptor appeared behind her.

Sinister laughed, "Stupid girl, I never promised to replace your children," he said, his strength waning rapidly.

Tears began forming in Jean's eyes, as her fists were lit ablaze, "Then what did you mean by what I've lost?" she asked her voice cracking slightly.

Sinister smirked, "I restored your relationship with the witch," he said as she promptly dropped him to the floor, "She's here now, a little worse for ware, but here for you none the less, they all are."

Jean quickly turned around, to see Wanda sitting against the wall, her brother leaning against her, and her hand on his stomach trying to slow his bleeding. She then saw Laura sitting next to her drenched in her own blood, Amara on the floor unconscious, and Warren at her feet, struggling to get to his feet, "I caused all of this…" she said in disbelief.

"You were the one person that could have stopped me from the beginning," Sinister said, his wounds finally beginning to heal, "Imagine my surprise when you showed up on my doorstep."

Jean shook her head, "I've betrayed my family, my friends… Wanda," tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

Wanda reached out with her free hand, "Jean… It's okay… I'm still here," she said with a faint smile.

Jean shook her head, "No, I was so bent on getting our children back, I couldn't see you… standing in front of me, with open arms." She turned her back on Wanda and in a fiery burst of light disappeared from the room.

Pietro looked around the room, "Sinister escaped too," he said in a groan.

"We should leave," Karima said as she got to her feet.

Laura stood up and let Pietro put his weight on her, while Warren picked Amara up and began walking her out.

Wanda got to her feet, but stayed in the room for just a moment longer.

-Several hours later at the Brotherhood Mansion, St. John's room-

St. John was attached to every life support machine imaginable, fresh air being pumped into his lungs, and the proper amount of nutrition flowing into his veins. He lay in the dark, but he was not alone.

Raven sat next to him, her skin slowly returning to its natural blue. Her head resting on his shoulder she would tell him stories, like a mother would tell her son at bed time.

The Brotherhood had changed her, and she liked it.

"Mystique?" Lance questioned from the door, "Everyone's pretty banged up, but we'll survive," Lance chuckled, "We're really good at that."

Raven picked her head up to look at the leader of her children, "Lance, I…"

"How is he?" he asked in an attempt to stifle the awkward situation.

Raven looked down at her son, "He has no hair, zero muscle mass, and… he's back," she smiled, "Lance, I thought I lost my son forever."

"I know. We all thought we lost part of the family," he said in a comforting tone.

She looked back at him, "You should go to bed, you all have school in the morning," she said with her classic authoritative tone.

Lance smirked, "Sure thing Boss-lady," he said as he walked back into the hall.

She stood up and walked towards the door, but before she left she took one last look at St. John, "I'm glad to have you back… son."

-Pietro's room-

Karima sat against the headboard of Pietro's bed. Pietro nestled into her lap his arms wrapped around her waist. She would occasionally run her fingers through his hair, which would cause him to smile in his sleep. His stomach and back were heavily bandaged, but not because of the blood, Wanda had placed medicinal herbs on the wound, which aided his healing factor's ability and all but closed the wounds. The bandages were only there to keep the herbs in place.

Wanda walked into the room and sat against the headboard next to the sentinel, "How long has he been like that?" she asked staring at her brother.

Karima ran her fingers through his hair once more, "Just an hour or so," she spoke in a whisper, "Can you find her?"

Wanda shook her head, "She cut me off, but I got one last look in her mind," she paused for moment, "She's not stable, and with her power it could be a lethal situation," Wanda explained smiling at the irony.

Lightning flashed through the window, followed by several droplets of water impacting the glass.

Karima looked down at the sleeping Pietro in her lap, "Not even the rain can disturb him now."

-The X-Mansion Foyer-

Anna sat on the couch between Bobby and Sam. She looked to either side of her and noticed they were both in turmoil.

"I'm fine," they said in unison.

She shrugged in response.

"Whah do we have ta treat tha Cajun?" Sam asked.

"Hank said whatever Sinister put in his head, frahed sections of his brain. So he ain't an omega no more," she explained in a cold emotionless tone.

"I shoulda been here, I could've taken him," Bobby said throwing his head back.

"We can't always relah on your power to bail us out of everything we get ourselves into," Anna said throwing her head back as well.

"Good thing we're all invulnerable then," Sam said with a snort, as he too threw his head back.

Logan ran through the foyer, "That damn Cajun escaped," he said with a growl.

Piotr caught up to him, "But he lost so much blood," a hint of worry betrayed his hardened exterior.

-The streets of Bayville-

A lone figure walked down the abandoned streets of Bayville. The figure pulled at his trench coat as the rain began to fall from the sky. The figure then shoved both gloved hands into his coat pockets.

"Fin'ly. I knew if I wore dis trench coat long enough… it'd event'ly come in handy," the figure said, his eyes glowing a familiar purple.