Tabitha was sure that when she got to her room, Amara would be up and waiting for her. She was also sure that when she finally crawled into bed herself, she would never be able to fall asleep after the night they had just endured. She was wrong on both counts.

She woke to her alarm, set early to prepare her for another day of school. Groggily sitting up, she panicked for a moment as she realized that Amara's bed was empty. Jumping up, Tabby was still in her pajamas when she burst into Bobby and Sam's room, where the two boys were in the process of getting dressed before breakfast.

"Amara's not in my room," Tabitha cried, her words running together in her panic. Bobby and Sam had both started when Tabby came into the room, but resumed pulling shirts on over their heads once they heard her concerns.

"Relax, Tabby," Bobby told her. "She probably just went down to breakfast. She already woke us up. Tabitha's face became less agitated at this, but only slightly so.

"So she's here? I didn't imagine anything?" she asked, not willing to relax until she had been assured that last night hadn't just been a dream.

"No, you didn't imagine anything," Bobby replied, a certain gravity to his words. Tabitha's agitation was replaced by worry, as she remembered everything that had happened last night, particularly what she and Bobby alone knew. "Go get dressed," he said, ushering her out of his room ahead of him as he and Sam made their way downstairs to breakfast.

Nodding, but still glum, Tabitha dressed hurriedly, then rushed down to the kitchen, where Amara was, in fact, breakfasting. She was surrounded by Kitty, Jean, Scott, Sam, Roberto, Bobby… and everyone else in the mansion who was awake and in the kitchen, save X and Logan, who were, once again, in a corner not talking to anyone.

"Tabitha!" Amara greeted her best friend, grinning. Tabby smiled back, happy to see that her friend was already back in high spirits. Tabitha pulled up a seat beside Amara, giving her a hug before grabbing her cereal.

"Girl, I am never letting you out of my sight again!"

"Tabitha, please," Amara said, laughing and blushing. "I'm okay. I mean, it was scary," she continued, looking down into her own cereal, "I felt so out of control. But I'm back and it's okay!" She looked up, smiling at everyone.

"It really hurts to be manipulated like that," Jean agreed, remembering her time under the control of Mesmero. Scott threw his arm around his girlfriend, then squeezed Amara's shoulder comfortingly.

"They can never hold onto us X-Men for long, though," he added. "We've always got each others' backs. There was no way you were staying gone for long."

"Morning," Ray said, walking into the kitchen with Jamie and Alex in tow. He took a seat next to Tabitha, smiling at Amara before speaking to Tabitha in a quiet voice, "So we have our first training with Logan today… right after school." Logan looked up at the mention of his name, then smirked at the two of them from across the room.

"When?" Tabitha asked, internally cringing at the thought of the unwelcome side-effect of their actions.

"After school. Beast is going to take the rest of them outside for games. We're in the danger room."

"Great," Tabitha grumbled, then sighed, resigned. "Well, such are the consequences. I'm sorry for dragging the rest of you into it."

"Well, I can't say I'm grateful," Ray said, sighing himself. "But I don't regret it either." He and Tabitha both smiled. Looking up, they noticed that a lot of the room had cleared out. Only they, Amara, Jean, Scott, and Bobby were left.

"You guys are going to be late to school if you don't hurry up," Scott remarked, checking his watch. "Better get a move on."

"Oh, calm down," Jean said, chuckling. "I can drop you guys off; go get ready."

"Thanks Jean!" Amara beamed, then ran upstairs to get her backpack with Tabitha on her heals.

"So how long do you think people are going to be super nice to you?" Tabitha asked, laughing.

"I don't know," Amara giggled. "I hope it's a while. I could get used to this!" Laughing, they made their way back downstairs, and headed to school.


School was pretty uneventful. Amara became nervous as they arrived, knowing that she might see Manuel and the others when they arrived. Would he make her feel bad? Would he make her miss him? She was terrified that he was going to snatch her away from the X-Men again, and that this time he would know to keep the others out, as well as her in.

Luckily, he, Lorna, and Douglas were all absent from school, so Amara didn't have to worry. Tabitha had to wonder, though, were they gone? Had they really left after they had obviously been found out, or were they planning something else? Was Amara still in danger?

When they got home, Amara said goodbye to Tabitha and went off with Beast, Laura, Alex, Danielle, Jubilee, and Rahne for training in the yard, while Tabitha joined Logan and the Argonauts in the Danger Room.

Logan smirked at them once they were all in the room. "So," he drawled, "I heard that you all want to be superheroes."

Tabitha stood tall as he said this, but she could see Sam wincing out of the corner of her eye. Logan was going to get them, and get them good.

So," Logan said, talking as he turned and started slowly ambling toward the door. "I could put you against the usual super villains: Magneto, Sabretooth, Pyro, Apocalypse-"

"Did that," Bobby said quietly, smirking, not able to help himself.

"Sure ya did," Logan agreed. "But…" he turned, grinning menacingly, "You never had to face me."

All of them blanched at the same time. "O-objectives?" Roberto stammered.

"Stay alive." With that he leapt at them, a chilling howl escaping his lips.

Bobby reacted first, crouching down and shooting a blast at Logan's feet, sending him off balance and making his hit the ground hard. As soon as Logan hit the ground, he sent another blast at his hands, coating it as thickly as he could.

"Okay," he said, talking before Logan even hit the ground, and keeping his eyes on the feral man the entire time. "What do we got?"

"Time bombs, electricity, super strength, a cannonball, and a whole lot of Jamies," Sam said, knowing exactly what Bobby was looking for.

"Okay, okay," Bobby muttered, continuing to talk to try and keep himself calm. "Ray, you ever tried to turn any of the stuff in here on?"

"No," Ray responded tersely, "and if I can turn them on there is no way that I can control them."

"Don't care," Bobby said, starting as Logan unsheathed his claws, shattering the ice. "Tabby, blind him! Sam, get her out when she's done!"

"On it," They both said together, running toward Logan so Tabby could get to his eyes.

"Ray, let's get some machines going. Roberto, you protect Ray. Jamie, start trying to get the door out of here open. If it won't, look for another way."

Tabitha was able to get out a few bombs before Logan started coming after her, having made short work of the ice holding him down. Sam snatched her up as soon as she was in danger and took off, dropping her on the other side of the Danger Room before slamming into the wall himself. Rolling, Tabitha was on her feet to watch Ray try and jumpstart a few of the machines hidden in the walls. They started shaking, and it seemed like it was going to work, and then they started smoking; it was a bust, and Logan was on top of him and Roberto. Roberto tried to fight back, but Logan retracted his claws, and Roberto was only able to get in a few punches before Logan threw him over his shoulder, knocking the boy out as he hit his head on the floor.

"Aw, man," Ray muttered, backing up against the wall and clenching his fists as sparks began to fly from them.

Tabitha turned to Sam, who was sprawled on the floor behind her, and helped him get up while Ray discharged the largest charge he could muster into Logan, who started to smoke and filled the room with the smell of charred flesh. The attack didn't stop him, however, and by the time Sam and Tabitha were moving to help Ray, he was on the ground by Roberto.

"Bobby!" Tabitha cried. Bobby had been busy making an ice slide up to and trying to get into the control center in the ceiling of the Danger Room. Not wanting to wait for Tabby and Bobby, Sam fired up, shooting himself toward Logan. Sam was able to knock him off his feet, and the two of them went flying across the room… heading straight toward Jamie. Not wanting to hurt Jamie, Sam powered down to try and slow down and to turn off his forcefield, but the force of Sam and Logan hitting Jamie still knocked the boy against the wall, hard, and he and Sam were both out of the fight, with several multiples generated from the crash passed out around them as well.

"Oh man," Tabitha whimpered as Wolverine got up and looked toward her. Knowing there was nowhere to go, Tabitha started concentrating on making bombs in her hands. She needed them powerful, small so she could hold on to them, and many. She already had a few when Logan started toward her. She already had ten when he was halfway across the room; she gulped down her fear. She wasn't going to die. It was training. Fifteen when he was three quarters. It was okay. It was okay.

"Tabby!" Bobby called, racing toward her on an ice slide. He was gaining on Logan. He wasn't going to make it. He wasn't going to-

"Got you," he gasped, grabbing her and pushing the two of them forward and up less than a half second before Logan was in the space that Tabitha had just occupied. They were in the air and safe… and then they were falling. Looking behind them, Tabitha saw where Logan had cut apart the base of the slide. Tabitha tossed her time bombs at the approaching threat just before Bobby grabbed her around the waist, creating another ice slide in a curve that slid them safely to the ground. They turned back to see that Logan had been knocked back a few feet by the time bombs, but he was by no means stopped.

"We're dead," Tabitha squeaked, fighting the urge to hide behind Bobby.

"Oh yeah," Bobby agreed, creating an ice wall in front of them as a last ditch effort at protection. They heard Logan start to hack away at the other side for a few seconds before they heard Scott's voice over the loud speaker.

"Hey Logan! We're scheduled now, they're done."

"Aw, come on, Slim," Logan growled. "I only had a half hour and some of them were late!"

"Sorry," Scott responded, not letting up. "Clean up the ice, and collect the bodies."

Still a little wary, Bobby and Tabitha cautiously stepped around the ice to find Logan fuming but controlled on the other side.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that you win, Badger?" Tabitha asked, trying to calm the situation with a joke, though her heart was still pounding heavily in her chest.

"Yeah I did," he smirked. "Still want to be a superhero?"

"Yeah," Bobby exclaimed, his voice breaking a little from the adrenaline in his system. He then explained when Logan frowned at him, "if I'm a hero I don't have to fight you."

"Maybe, kid. Maybe," Logan muttered, going to try and wake up Jamie and Sam. "Hey Scott! Can you get Magma in here to clean up Bobby's mess?"

"Sure thing."

Bobby and Tabby together went to wake up Roberto and Ray, and together the group hobbled out of the Danger Room.


"Oh god, I am dead tonight," Tabitha moaned, crawling into bed. It felt as though all of her bones were five times heavier than usual, and her muscles at only half the strength. It was such a relief to sink into her bed.

"Yeah, that aftermath was a little scary," Amara giggled. "I'm glad I didn't have to do it."

"And I'm jealous…"

Amara chuckled a little at the way that Tabitha seemed to be falling asleep mid-sentence before turning in herself. She really had missed her friends and the team for the few days that she was gone. It was very good to be back.


Tabitha wasn't quite sure what woke her up, but she was awake. Sitting up in bed, she flipped on her lamp, turned to Amara, then jumped out of bed. Amara was gone.

The door closed. That's what had woken her up. The door had closed, which meant that Amara…

Tabitha flew out of bed and threw open the door. Amara was at the other end of the hall, about to make her way down the stairs. "Amara!" she called, racing down the hall and catching the girl. "Amara, hey, what are you?…" She stopped when she saw Amara's eyes. They weren't looking at her… or at anything, really. "'Mara?" she asked, worried. But there was no response, no… anything from the girl. Tabitha stopped, letting her best friend continue walking, heading down the stairs and toward the front door.

"Shit," she said, standing there, stunned, for just a moment before running back the way she came. She banged on Bobby's door, then Ray's, then Roberto's. Rubbing their eyes, the Argonauts, plus Alex all came out into the hall.

"Let's go," she said, not wasting any time and running downstairs and out the front door. Confused, they all followed after her just in time to see a car speed away. "X-Van," Tabitha said, turning and running toward the garage. Bobby, Sam, Alex, and Jamie were following her, but Ray and Roberto stayed in place.

"What's going on?" Ray shouted after them. "This is crazy!"

"It's Amara," Tabitha shouted back. Roberto and Ray locked eyes for a moment, then ran after the rest of the group.

"I got the keys," Bobby said, jumping in the driver's seat. Tabitha leapt in beside him, while the others piled in the back. Bobby quickly started the car and squealed out of the garage, speeding up to catch up with the car. Everyone sat rigid in their seats, hoping that the car hadn't gotten too far away yet. As soon as it was in sight, Bobby slowed down, just barely keeping it in sight.

"They took her again," Tabitha muttered, glaring at the car in front of them.

"Who did? Emma?" Alex asked.

Tabitha nodded. "It has to be. We need to get her back before something bad happens." The rest of them nodded, ignoring the fact that they were all still in their pajamas.

"Um… Tabitha?" Bobby said after a moment. "I think you should call the professor."

"Bobby," she replied, shaking her head, "we don't have time-"

"Yes we do. The car phone's right there. I'll drive; you call. Tell them to track us and get the team out here as soon as possible. We don't want to get into any more trouble."

Gulping, Tabitha realized what he was talking about and scrambled for the phone. They had to save Amara, but was it worth losing the X-Men?


A/N: only 3 chapters to go!