7

AJ crossed her arms after buckling herself into the X-Jet. "I don't know. This just doesn't feel right."

"Maybe you have the straps too tight." Bobby said with a grin.

She rolled her eyes, giving him a smack on the arm "Not the seat belt y'knob. The mission."

"Why?" Rogue frowned.

"I said I don't know." She rolled her eyes.

"Relax guys. Everything will be fine if we just stick to the plan." Scott smiled at AJ. "Alright?"

She pressed her lips together and nodded.

"Sorry to disrupt this Hallmark moment." Logan said, sitting down in the passenger seat next to Storm. "But can we get going?"

They took off, cruising their way to the Acolytes base of operations. Gambit leaned over, looking out the window as they landed. The jet rumbled to a stop and they all unbuckled their seatbelts.

"Alright. Just stick to the plan." Scott repeated. "AJ, Bobby and myself will stay here as lookout. Storm, you take Nightcrawler, Kitty and Jubilee to the east side. Logan, you-"

"I know, I know… I take the rest. Can we get this thing on the road?" He stood up and walked down the ramp.

Rogue, Gambit and Jean followed Logan into the darkness.

AJ crossed her arms and leaned against the jet, adjusting the device in her ear.

"Alright, keep us posted guys." Scott said, his eyes scanning the sky with a frown.

"We will." Storm's voice cracked through the speaker in their ears.

"We're in." Logan announced.

"Copy that." Scott said with a nod, looking at Bobby. "Iceman, why don't you take the north side of the building?"

"Sure." Bobby blinked, looking at AJ.

She pointed. "Over there icebrain." She smiled.

He grinned, shooting out a blast of ice that he slid along, disappearing around the corner of the building.

"We've got something here." Storm announced.

"Wait!" Scott furrowed his brow, looking at the sky. A soft red glow erupted from the other side of the building. "Bobby! Do you copy?"

No answer.

The ground started to shake.

"Get out! It's a set up!" Scott shouted.

There was a flash of lighting, cracking through the sky.

"What do we do?" AJ looked at Scott.

They both made a dash for the back of the building.

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Storm drifted above the building, shooting bolts of lighting at the group of mutants that had formed at the back of the building.

"Welcome X-men." Magneto grinned, holding his hands out. "I assume this means you received our invitation."

Nightcrawler teleported out of the building, taking Jubilee and Kitty with him.

"Zis vas all a set up!" He frowned.

Kitty gritted her teeth "What do you want?"

"You." Magneto grinned. "All of you."

Storm let out another bolt of lightning. The blonde woman standing next to Magneto grabbed Bobby by the arm, throwing him up at Storm full force.

She caught him, falling to the ground with a thud.

Cyclops blasted the car that she'd tossed his way, sending it careening into the side of the building.

"You don't honestly believe that we would stumble across all this mutant research and not put it to good use." Magneto grinned.

"There are many more of us then there are of you Magneto." Jubilee frowned. "Don't forget that."

"Yes, you're right. The only thing is, you're in our world now."

Pyro sent out two blasts of fire, followed by a hysterical laugh. The house behind the X-men began to burn relentlessly.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

They stood back, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Scott furrowed his brow at the sight unfolding before them.

"The building's on fire." He announced. "Get out."

"What?" Rogue's voice sounded surprised.

AJ sucked in a breath. "Get out of the building!"

"We can't! Not right now…" She responded.

"We got bigger fish to fry in here then a little bit of fire…" Logan added.

"What the hell does that mean!" AJ snapped, trying to keep her voice down.

There was no answer.

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"What to do." Magneto grinned. "Should you try to save yourselves, or save your friends? Perhaps you're teammates cowering behind the building there could offer some suggestion."

Sabertooth bounded over to the two hiding mutants. Scott let out a beam of red light, causing the large mutant to jump out of the way, kicking off the building, knocking Cyclops clear off his feet. He flew a few feet before hitting the ground with a thump.

AJ seethed "You son-o- a-"

"Watch your mouth." Magneto held up a hand, sending a light post previously illuminating the street careening towards her. She tried to jump out of the way, hopping straight into the path of Sabertooth's fist. He knocked her back into the path of the light post. It slammed into her, pinning her against the burning building.

In that moment, Pyro hesitated.

Kitty took her chance, phasing through the flames with Jubilee by her side. The younger mutant let a stream of fireworks erupt, knocking the maniac off his feet.

Carol snarled before lifting off the ground, speeding towards the two girls.

Kitty gasped and let her phase through her body. Carol smashed into Jubilee, knocking her out instantly.

Kurt bamfed in front of Magneto, dropping Logan who took a swipe at him with his claws.

He disappeared again, dropping Rogue and Jean the second time. Jean closed her eyes and held out her hand keeping Sabertooth in a frozen position, levitating three feet above the ground.

"Scott!" She shouted.

He let out a quick blast, sending the hairy mutant flying away.

Kurt appeared again, dropping Gambit.

Carol narrowed her eyes. She had them in her sight.

Jean held out her hand, trying with all her might to keep the strong female in her place.

"I can't… hold on!" She said putting a hand to her temple. Jean let out a shout, causing a flaming bird to burst out behind her, belting out a deafening screech. She fell to the ground in a heap.

"Jean!" Scott hurried over to her side.

Rogue let out a growl, running towards the girl full force.

Carol held up her hand, stopping Rogue's punch. She followed up with a kick that Carol blocked easily. She grabbed the southern belle's hand, pulling her up with her as she jumped up into the air.

Rogue held on, looking down behind her with a frown. This wouldn't be good.

"I'm going to teach you, and all of your little X-friends, where you stand." Carol snickered.

She looked back up at Carol whose eyes were on the sky above her. Rogue ripped her glove off her free hand with her mouth, letting the glove drop.

Carol lifted Rogue up by the collar, holding her close with an evil looking grin.

"Or in your case, where you'll fall…" Carol snapped.

Without a thought, Rogue put her hand over top of Carols, sucking the energy from the blonde bombshell.

She tried to let go, but she couldn't.

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Gambit watched the two women zip upwards with a frown. "Kurt, can y'take me up dere?"

Kurt furrowed his brow. "To do vhat?"

Gambit let out a frustrated breath. He knew Kurt was right, but there had to be something he could do.

Then he heard a sickening scream. The sound sent a shiver down his spine.

"Rogue!" Kurt shouted. "Hold on!"

The two girls began to plummet back to the earth.

Kurt was about to teleport up to save his falling sister when Magneto tossed another light post at the two distracted mutants.

The two women struck the ground at full force.

Magneto called every one back. Obviously, things hadn't gone quite as planned.

Storm shot a few blasts of lightning behind them, desperately attempting to keep them back.

They were gone.

Gambit sat up with a cough. "You alright mon ami?"

Nightcrawler bamfed them out from under the light post with a small nod. "I guess so."

Gambit looked at Rogue, too afraid to move over to her. Afraid of what he'd find.

Kitty pulled AJ away from the building, phasing her through the light post that pinned her up against the brick wall as Storm stirred up some clouds, creating some rain to douse the flames.

Logan stopped next to Rogue, furrowing his brow as he knelt over her limp body.

He lifted her up gently, nodding at Gambit. "We'll check her out at the Institute."