Kate walked into the common room. She went over to Paul.

"Paul?" she asked, concerned. "Do you know where Tom is?"

"No. Ask Angela. He went outside with her before." Paul said, then resumed talking to his friends.

Angela? Why would Tom hang around with Angela?

Angela, however, was not in the common room. Kate went to the end of the corridor, and knocked on Angela's door. She opened it.

"Yes?" she said expectantly.

Kate took a deep breath. Her and Angela had never been exactly friends. "Do you know where Tom is? Paul said he went out of the common room with you before." she asked, hoping that he was okay.

Angela looked confused. "I never went out of the common room with Tom. I've just come back from the fitness suite."

Kate's eyes widened. Something was up. "So you've not seen Tom in the common room today?"

"No. Who said that?" Angela asked.

"Paul. I will go and check now." Kate said, now slightly worried.

"I'll come with you." Angela said, concerned.

They walked back into the common room, and confronted Paul.

"Yes, he did. We all saw. You came and sat next to him, then you went into the corridor." Paul said. "Why, what's wrong?"

Kate and Angela looked at each other.

Angela took a deep breath. "Whoever that was, it was not me. I've just come from the fitness suite downstairs."

Paul looked at them, suspecting a prank. But he saw they were serious, and swore.

"John might have seen them, he went out before as well." Josh said.

"Where is John?" Kate demanded fiercely.

"He- he didn't come back." Paul stammered, now scared.

"Damn." Angela swore. "I'm reporting this to the Professor."


Thirty minutes later, the Blackbird took off, with several of the X-Men on board, including Colossus, Iceman, Bishop, Shadowcat, Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine. There was also a backup team heading off, including Elixir, Psylocke and several of the younger X-men, including Angela.

"Listen up, everyone." Cyclops announced, "Over thirty minutes ago, a Class Five mutant named Thomas Blackhurst was supposedly kidnapped from the Mansion. DNA testing suggests that Mystique was involved, and the boy left her blood on the floor. Reports suggest that another boy, John Allerdyce, may have been involved in the abduction. Professor X has managed to trace the boy to Genosha."

Wolverine swore.

"Our task is to retrieve him, at all costs. We cannot allow Magneto to gain a Class Five mutant, with as much power as Blackhurst has. Any questions?"

"Yes." Storm said, "What if he doesn't want to come back?"

Cyclops grimaced. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."


Ten minutes earlier

Tom woke up, in an unfamiliar place. Looking at him was an old man in a red cape with a strange red helmet. He had grey hair beneath his helmet, and had strange costume.

"Hello, Tom. My name is Magneto, and I was the one who rescued you from the shapeshifter." he said gently. "Do not be alarmed, you are safe here."

Tom found he had metal bracelets on his hands.

"What are these?" he demanded.

"They restrain your power. To protect yourself, and protect others from you." Magneto stated.

"Can you take them off? I have perfect control of my power." Tom said, looking the old man in the eyes.

"I can, yet I will not. I doubt you can truly control it." he said.

"Take me back to my friends!" Tom snarled. He disliked this old man's calm attitude, when Tom had just been abducted.

"My dear boy, calm down! We have only just met. You will be taken back, in due course, yet I have one small favour for you to do first." Magneto's eyes twinkled.

"And what is that?" Tom spat.

"So much inquisitiveness! Yet there is no harm in telling you, as you will do what I want whether you co-operate or not. You will kill Senator Kelly, an oppressor to our people." Magneto said calmly, and the door opened. In came a huge man with a large, semicircle-shaped hat that covered his head. He want incredibly muscly, and had a red costume on.

"Who are you?" Tom asked, astounded at the man's huge size.

The man narrowed his eyes. "Don't you know who I am?" he shouted at Tom, I'm the JUGGERNAUT!"

"Now, Cain, calm down. Please escort Tom to his cell, and guard him there." Magneto instructed him.

The 'Juggernaut' walked over to Tom and slung him on his shoulder like a ragdoll, knocking the wind out of him. As Tom gasped for breath, the Juggernaut marched down into an underground passageway, and flung Tom into a cell. He then slammed the door shut, and stood watch over the boy.

Tom felt humiliated. He had been captured so easily, and was now helpless. It would be a long time before he was let out of this cell, and he needed to get out before he was used as a weapon to kill a politician.

He needed to think. He had none of his powers, but he still had his brain. How could he beat a guard that was clearly much stronger than he was?

The answer came to him almost immediately: use his strength against him.

He was about to do something either very brave or very stupid. He taunted the huge man. "Hey fatty, why do you let Magneto boss you around? You're too scared to even look at him!"

Juggernaut turned and glared at him. "What did you just say?"

"Oh, you're too stupid to understand? Is your tiny brain trying to figure out all these hard words?" Tom jeered, sounding braver than he felt.

"You've got some nerve, kid! But not for much longer!" the giant figure snarled, furious.

The taunting had come off, the Juggernaut was now not bothering about guarding him, more about killing him. Actually, that was not a such good thing. The Juggernaut ripped the jail door off his hinges with one hand, and advanced on Tom. Tom stayed light on his feet, waiting for the Juggernaut to make a move.

The move came, sure enough, in the form of a huge punch from one of his massive hands. Tom side-stepped it, but brought his wrist forward to block the punch, knowing it would hurt.

He was wrong. It more than hurt. It was agony. The punch shattered his arm, and sent Tom sprawling. However, his plan had worked. The punch had destroyed the metal bracelet.

Tom felt the power awaken within him, and felt free. He shot blue energy out of his broken hand, and blasted off the other metal bracelet.

He saw the Juggernaut's eyes widen in fear. Tom grinned at him. "Time to say hello to Class Five."

The Juggernaut reacted, lowering his head and charging at Tom. Tom charged back, and-

BOOM!

The energy from Juggernaut's unstoppable force had been absorbed by Tom, but the force of it blasted them both back, and sent out a shockwave that shook the building to its core. Tom got up, and could feel the amount of energy inside him. He focused it on his broken hand, trying to end the pain, and it did.

The hand snapped back in place, and blue light covered it, as his bones mended themselves. When it was done, the light faded, and flexed his hand. It worked perfectly. Tom smiled, and looked at the Juggernaut, who was on the floor, drooling and speaking gibberish.

When Tom stood over him, the huge man muttered, "Mummy?" Tom laughed, then punched him in the face, cracking his skull with his super-strength. The Juggernaut would no longer be much of a threat.


The X-Men entered the island of Genosha on their Blackbird while in stealth mode.

Cyclops issued orders. "Everyone spread out and look for the boy. If you find him, press the button on your wrists. He will be guarded, so watch out."

The X-men spread out across the mutant island. It was supposed to represent a safe haven for mutants, a place where they could live in peace, but it was a lie. They lived under the control of the power-hungry Magneto, who wanted to eradicate humanity.

As they stealthily searched the city, a large rumble erupted from Magneto's palace, and they could feel the shockwave even here. The team raced across the island, hoping to get to Tom before someone else did.


As Tom looked up the tunnel, he saw a figure hurrying down towards him. As light illuminated the figure's face, he saw that it was familiar. He remembered the hand that he pressed the poisoned cloth to his throat.

"John?" Tom asked incredulously. "Why are you here?"

"Its Pyro now." he snarled. "I am here to eradicate the enemies of mutants. And subdue you!"

Pyro shot a blast of flame at Tom, who absorbed it.

"Forgotten that one?" Tom asked sarcastically, as Pyro turned and ran. Tom sprinted past him, using his super speed, and found himself facing a large group of angry mutants, including Magneto.

"Give it up, Tom!" Magneto snarled. "You can't win this fight!"

Tom stood off him. "Then I'll die trying!"

"So be it." Magneto said, and the group attacked him.

One mutant was dressed in a light blue costume with a white lightning bolt on. He rushed towards Tom superhumanly fast, giving Tom no time to react, and clattered into him, who absorbed the impact of the charge. In retaliation, Tom kicked him in the stomach as the man yelped in pain.
The next attacker was an obese man who lumbered towards him. The man was at least two metres tall, and at least three metres wide. Tom leapt at him, summoning his blue sword and plunging it into the man's fat belly. The man yelled in pain, and Tom left sword in there, and glared at the rest of the group of attackers.

One woman had dark markings on her head and two pistols in her hands. She shot at him repeatedly, square in the forehead, but he just absorbed the bullets and blasted her back with his own energy, and knocking her unconscious. A short man in green with goggles tried to grab him with his long green tongue, but Tom grabbed the tongue and used it to fling the man against a wall, denting it.

He was loving this. The thrill of combat, of besting one's enemies, was unique. Tom relished it, the triumph you felt when you inflicted violence on an enemy.

Next came Magneto himself. Metal bars suddenly flew from the walls and tried to wrap themselves around Tom. Tom ignored them, as they could not hold his armoured skin. He shot a blue energy blast at Magneto, which went right through the metal shields and into the Master of Magnetism, who flew back. Tom looked around for more attackers. There were none.

Then the wall came crashing is as a red beam of light shot through it. Cyclops and the rest of the X-men rushed in, ready for combat, but found very little left to do.

Magneto was nowhere in sight, the girl with the gun was unconscious, the tongue-person was a crumpled heap on the ground, the fast one was still clutching his stomach, and the obese giant was bleeding heavily from his wound.

The X-Men were speechless. "Tom? You did this?" Cyclops asked.

"Yes, they kidnapped me, and restrained my powers. Then some guy called the Juggernaut guarded my cell, and I tricked him into destroying the power-restraints. I then knocked him out and came out here where all these were waiting. I then fought them, until you came. Did I do something wrong? It was self-defence."

Colossus was the only one who spoke, "No Tom, you didn't. Now come with us, and let's get out of here before more show up."

This snapped the X-Men out of their spell. They ran for the Blackbird, making sure Tom got on first, and then everyone else came on, running for the ramp, with Colossus guarding the rear. Tom had just got on when an alarm sounded and mutants came charging at the X-Men. Cyclops covered them with his optic blast, when suddenly the Blackbird began vibrating. Colossus was about to get on when the ground below him shattered.

He ran, hoping to reach the Blackbird, as the ground shook, and the metal man could not get a grip of the floor. Tom could see desperation and fear in his face, as he mouthed something that Tom could not quite catch.

"That's Avalanche! He'll destroy us! Get out of here now!" Cyclops yelled at the pilot, who flew off into the air, dodging jets of flame and energy. Colossus made a desperate leap, but did not make it onto the jet.

Tom looked back to see Colossus fall through the air and collapse on the ground of Genosha, with hostile mutants closing in on him. Surely they could not leave him?

But they did. The X-Jet zoomed away from the island, with Shadowcat shouting at Cyclops for them to go back for Colossus, while the reality sank in to Tom, of what had happened in those last few, hectic minutes.

Colossus was captured, probably to be tortured and killed. And it was all Tom's fault. A tear slid down his face. What had he done?