Shout Outs...

X00001: Glad to hear you liked it.

The Notorious SMP: Sarcasm noted. And my place is sprayed for nuclear zombies.

Kairan1979: Only James is mine. Abigail, Victor and Theresa are take from the comics. (Cloud Nine, Anole and Siryn respectively.)

Note: This chapter contains one big, massive battle, and my first real large scale fight. I'm not sure how it will come out, but I hope it's good.

0---0

For some reason Rouge loved Linkin Park's song 'Numb'. She had spent years of her life being groomed by Mystique for a role, at least that was the impression she had from the woman, being deceived and lied to, manipulated. She hated her. Which was a part of Numb's charm, she was in the song's words very much 'be more like me and be less like you', even if she hadn't quite figured out who she was.

She was a teenage girl, listening to loud music. Music that was cut off as a barrage of laser blasts assaulted her room, annihilating the stereo and damaging the room about her. Before a part of the ceiling fell on to her body, sending her into unconsciousness she had a brief wish to be a person that paid less attention to lyrics.

0---0

Protecting other people was not what Hydra trained her to do, but tackling James out of the way of a barrage of laser fire to the point of literal 'beam spam' seemed to be on instinct alone. "Sentinels!" She cried out, expanding her hearing. She could make out six points from where the fire came, the shots slamming into the girl's wing in what was possibly only a first wave. Briefly she hoped they didn't destroy her underwear drawer.

A moment later she chastised herself for pondering such a mundane thing while under attack.

"I noticed!" James replied, rolling her off him as he got to his knees, his own training coming to fore, even though very little was for forty or so foot metallic monsters. "We got to take the fight out THERE before the whole mansion drops around our ears!" He said, standing up, ramming through a wall, adding a hole to the many already accumulating.

Pausing for a moment he considered the situation. Six robots, all firing weapons from their chests while forming a loose line. Amara, Ray and Jubilee returned fire, damaging the plate on one before they were forced to seek cover. Rushing forth he charged, zig-zagging as the robots as they fired back only to watch Sam, a literal human (Or mutant) cannonball slam into one, staggering it. Trying to further the damage he leapt up slamming a kick into the side of it's knee. The robot responded by lifting it's foot to try and stomp him only for him to kick at the joint again.

A ruby blast cut the air as Scott, visor on his face, stormed onto the yard, optic powers firing out, Jean, Kurt and Kitty behind him. Abigail flew out from the second story, Amara and Bobby on her cloud as well as they landed the pair opening fire.

Leaping upwards he landed on the back of a Sentinel slamming a fist into it's neck while Scott barked orders about. Abigail's scream caught his ear as he turned to see another mechanical beast about to open fire, jumping away just before the blast struck, toppling it's kin. He got to his feet just in time to see a giant metal foot fill his field of view. "Oh sh--"

0---0

"iiiit!" Scott heard as James was kicked like a soccer ball onto the roof of the mansion. Narrowing his visor's setting he sent out a blast of power at the offending robot, severing it's neck.

As the second one toppled over the remainder began to fire upon him forcing Jean to raise a shield over him, the others scattering across the yard to gain their attention, a bark of warning piercing the air. Beast barrelled out the door, having relocated the professor to the more secure areas first, before crossing the field and leaning onto an offending robot, tearing at a joint that refused to give.

James, meanwhile, shrugged off the pain and stood up as Sam smashed into another Sentinel's head, bending it to the left but otherwise not impairing it. Laura, like himself before, was leaping up and striking at the knee joints to little effect, unable to put the strength behind her blows needed to pieces the Sentinel. He forced down a well of fear.

These were not training robots. These things were built to take punishment and give it in turn.

Leaping down he charged across the field towards Laura.

0---0

Laura gave herself a quick mental tally on the battle thus far. James had, inadvertently, used one Sentinel to destroy another, Scott, aka Cyclops, dropped another with a well placed shot, the third Sam had damaged was brought down by tandem firing by Amara, Jubilee and Ray while Bobby froze it's legs, impairing it's movement. The other three were still firing, as Kurt ported onto the back of one in an effort to repeat James' tactic.

This had actually backfired as it seemed someone programmed these things to LEARN, and instead of firing another just tried to grab him, forcing him to leap away only to be slammed with an open hand, sending him crashing to the ground.

To what effect she couldn't tell as she was too busy dodging robot boots. She did notice Kitty rushing over to the blue mutant to drag him away or at least use her phasing powers to protect him.

"X, foot claws out!" She heard James bark out as he charged back to the fray. "And take my hand." She had only known him for a month and a half but had learned to trust him, if only because he always seemed genuinely concerned for her. Reaching out she grabbed his hand, popped the claws hidden in her feet as he bodily swung her, making her cry out in surprise, at the knee joint, leaping up to make the hit.

Adamantium claws and super strength combined sliced past the joint, the robot extending it's arms and shifting it's weight to keep it's balance only for him to leap up and swing her again, slashing at the neck on the Sentinel, severing the head, letting it roll of it's shoulders and onto the ground, the body landing atop of it.

"What do you call THAT!?" She asked as the landed, him cradling her.

"Uh, grievous assault with a body?" James with a nervous grin.

"Uhh..." Laura groaned. "When Hydra said I was meant to be a weapon I don't think they had this in mind..."

"Come on, two more--"

"Make it fourteen..." Laura added, pointing upwards, a dozen flying figures in the distance rushing towards the mansion.

"You gotta be..."

0---0

"What in the...?" Logan muttered as he stopped his bike, looking upwards as the sounds of jets came from over head. Just as he peered up a formation or humanoid machines flew over head, heading towards his own destination. "Sentinels? Oh no..." He let out, revving up the engine and gunning it down the road as smoke began to rise over the tree line.

0---0

"We have to hold the line! Keep them away from the mansion!" Scott called out, just as a blast of lightning from the sky stuck another robot, sending it down.

"I apologize for my late arrival!" Ororo called out as she floated overhead. "I was in the woods when Charles contacted me!"

"Better late than never!" Abigail added as Scott managed another shot on the neck of the last robot of the first wave.

"Everyone, get your wind back before the second wave lands!" Scott bellowed out. "Abi, help Kitty with Kurt! Get him to the med bay! Everyone else, get ready!"

"I can move him myself!" Abigail replied, flying over to Kurt and quickly forming a cloud under him, flying them both off into the mansion.

"Okay fine..." Scott muttered before looking up at the next group of Sentinels, opening fire on the first, blasting part of it's head off while Jean focused on the second, her telekinesis crushing the head in.

"These must be mass production models!" Jean let out. "Not as powerful as the others, but still tough!"

"Well we're tougher!" Scott replied, firing again as Roberto flew overhead.

"Can't get a tan with these tin cans flying about!" He complained, the robots landing just as he smashed into one Sentinel's head, smashing it in.

"Nice of you to join us!" Scott called out just as Logan came barrelling past the gate, claws unsheathed as he leapt from the bike onto the back of a Sentinel, his claws digging into it's back as he climbed up, Ray and Amara firing on two more of the robots, each falling soon after, the remainder returning fire.

"Eighteen more! Coming from the west!" Kitty called out, Scott's head tuning to look.

"God damn it!" He cried out as chaos continued to consume the field. Sentinels open fired on mutants at range or swung at those close enough. Logan decapitated one, as Amara and Jubilee focused fire on another. James continued to swing Laura about like a sword, focusing on the lower joints to impair the robots movement. Kitty ran out and phased through the legs, her phasing ability disrupting their components until a laser blast struck an iced-up Bobby whose frozen armour shattered apart. Screaming out Jubilee turned her fire to the offending robot as Kitty rushed over to remove him from the field.

Overhead Ororo called upon wind, lightning and hail to pummel the third wave, trying to slow and damage as many as she could. Sam and Roberto slammed into Sentinels as ruby blasts shot out, telekinesis grabbed and tore metal, claws slashed and lava burned.

As the last of the second wave fell to the ground the third wave landed, only two destroyed before arrival. Quickly refocusing the mutants reformed their lines, training coming to the fore, even as Amara was blasted aside from a laser hitting her lava form. Powers were used to effect as their foes let lose laser blasts the Sentinels now closing range in an effort to crush them with their might.

Ten more minutes passed by, seeming closer to ten hours. The battle came to a halt once James had thrown Laura into the final robot, her claws slashing it's neck and severing head from body as a returning Abigail caught her in the air.

"Is... is that it?" Abigail asked. Craters were littered across the yard, the girl's wing was missing most of the front wall, rooms filled with holes in walls and ceilings. Sentinel parts littered the ground, previously a battle zone as the residents began to look about.

"I... think so..." Scott replied, looking around a moment. "Storm! Sunspot! Cloud Nine! Quick patrol around the area, see if we missed any! Dual! Anole! Get Iceman and Magma inside to the med bay! Everyone else, get your wind back and stay ready in case of another wave!"

No one questioned his orders, only doing as told. It was only twenty minutes later that they could relax and take stock of the damage done and how safe they really were...

0---0

"All in all the kids handled themselves pretty good." Logan admitted as he, Xavier, Henry and Ororo met in Xavier's office. "For a situation that went right to hell they stood up pretty well."

"Agreed, I am proud of everyone here..." Xavier said with a sigh. "But we must face facts; this changes things..."

"Yeah..." Logan growled out. "Now Trask is coming to hit us on our own turf; if we didn't have everyone at home it coulda gone a lot worse..."

"Yes... Henry, do you have a... casualty report?"

"Kurt's the worst off, took a full on hit." Henry muttered, looking at his notes. "A couple broken ribs, bruised tailbone, minor concussion... It's a miracle he isn't worse off. Bobby and Amara were protected by their mutations, bruising to both their chests mainly. They'll recover in a couple of days. James, despite being used for a football isn't hurt, and avoided aggravating previous injuries.

"Rouge was found after the fight, under some debris. She's unconscious, but otherwise fine. The Seftons were out house hunting, and Tabitha and Jamie were in town. I took the liberty of calling them on their cells and informing them of the attack, they should be returning soon."

"The mansion is another story though Chuck." Logan began with a slight growl. "The girl's wing is a wreck. Jean's room is untouched, as is Tabitha's and Amara's but the others got blown apart. We'll have to move their stuff into storage and set them up in temporary rooms in the boys wing. Gaming room is damaged, but it ain't that bad. Library took a shot, but it's just a big hole. Gonna take some time to fix her up."

"Well it's not as if we haven't rebuilt before." Xavier said with a sigh, leaning back. "We should also look into investing in some anti-armour weapons for the security systems to destroy Sentinels specifically, and drill the children in ways to defeat them."

"I've already called Forge." Ororo added. "He wants to take some of the more intact ones apart to see how they work. I'm sure he'll be able to help come up with counter measures."

"Excellent. I've already pulled a hard drive from one of them." Henry replied. "I'm using it to try and decipher where they came from, but there is some form of encryption I have to get by first."

"Nice." Logan replied with a grin. "For now we gotta tough things out while the mansion is rebuilt. Again."

0---0

"Oh my god..." Amanda let out as she and her family returned to mansion, her father steering the car around a Sentinel head on the road. Sure they were told a battle had taken place, but this was still horrifying. She could see James and a charged up Roberto lugging robot parts to a large pile while another mutant, Forge if she recalled, poured over a mostly intact one. Scott, Rahne, Logan and Laura were nailing boards to damaged walls in an effort to at least weather proof the damaged structure while a team of Jamies were filling in pot holes and craters. "My god..."

They pulled up to the front, exiting the car and walking inside, a few sounds upstairs as Xavier wheeled out to greet them. "I apologize for the mess." He began. "We're still cleaning up after--"

"No apologies needed." Ricardo began. "Just tell me how I can help."

"We're moving furniture into storage for now, and sorting through what's salvageable." Xavier replied. "I'm sure the extra pair of hands won't hurt."

"Is... is Kurt alright?" Amanda began nervously, swallowing down her fear as Xavier sighed.

"He took a rather bad hit; Dr. McCoy is tending to him Amara and Bobby as we speak. Broken ribs mainly. He is awake if you..." He trailed off as the girl ran past him. "Ah, yes..."

"My god..." Margali sighed. "Just... my god..."

"We will recover, make no doubt..." Xavier assured her. "Although making sure you get your own housing is more important than before. No offence, you all been wonderful guests, but--"

"You're worried for our safety, I know." Ricardo replied. "We understand."

0---0

"I don't believe it... I do not believe it..." Trask let off, pacing behind his desk as he read the mission report. "Thirty-six Sentinels, all wiped out? ALL wiped out? And not one dead mutant TO SHOW FOR IT!?" He cried out, throwing the clip board into the wall.

"There were more mutants present that expected, only a handful were away from home and they were more skilled than anticipated." Clansey replied calmly. "We should consider altering our strategy in order to--"

"How many Guardians are operational?" Trask barked out.

"...Fifty-three." Clansey replied.

"Then we need to hit them at the high school..." Trask mused. "The older ones won't be there. We can crush them, publicly. We can show humans can stand up to these freaks!"

"Sir, I should point out that a battle there will risk a lot of property damage." Clansey replied. "I doubt people would appreciate that."

"The Guardians only target mutants." Trask replied, setting his hands on his desk. "And whatever property damage is done... Will. Be. Worth it..."