All of the New X-Men rushed into the dining room at the same time, nearly knocking into each other.

"What's happened?" Christian demanded.

Evalyn teleported out, and then back in a moment later, holding Kitty's limp body. "Mr. and Mrs. Summers and the Rasputins have been knocked out!" she exclaimed.

Nikki rushed to her mothers side, while Christian took a deep breath. "Okay," he said. "Here's what we're going to do -"

"Surrender."

They all turned; Reese and Naomi stood in one door way; Allison and Mayson in another; Holly and Lindsey stood in the other.

"You're all surrounded," Reese said. "Give up easily, and tell us where you're keeping Charles Xavier."

"Reese," Christian said. "Don't do this. We haven't done anything to you."

"You fight for a wrong cause!" Reese exclaimed. "Why do none of you see it the way I do?"

"Uh, duh!" came a voice from behind them. "Because we're too busy being to good guys!" Deadpool elbowed Mayson in the ribs, and then threw him across the floor.

"Get them!" Reese yelled.

Christian! Rachel Summers voice was in Christians head all the sudden. Christian, it's Rachel! Is everything alright?

No, he replied. We're under attack! The Brotherhood is here!

Seriously? Well, this is just great!

What's wrong?

The baby is coming!

Christian cursed. Just his luck.

Tell Frankie to get you down to the lab! Go to the Professors room. Kavita will help you! And hurry!

Christian dove into battle.

This is impossible! he thought to himself. There are more of us than there are of them, and they're still beating us!

He looked up, his eyes widening, in time to see Claus stabbed threw the shoulder by Holly. She twisted her claws, and Claus yelled in pain. Holly threw him across the room, and he hit the wall, before sliding down it.

"Claus!" Evalyn screamed. "No!"

"Stop!" Reese said, grabbing her arm. "You wanted in on this! You knew this could happen!"

Evalyn yanked her arm away. "Not to my brother! You promised he vould not get hurt!"

"You promised us that most the X-Men would be gone!"

"I knew it!" Selena yelled. "I knew it was you, Wagner!"

"Of course it vas me!" she snapped. "Vhy vouldn't I, the granddaughter of Mystique, be a part of the Brotherhood? It is vhat I have been vaiting for my entire life!"

"Why?" Nikita asked, horrified as she crouched by Claus.

Evalyn smiled cruelly. "Humans are a disgrace!" she spat. "They look beautiful, normal. So they are automatically perfect! But then you get a mutant like me, or Miranda or Ayesha who look different than the others, and we are monsters!"

"I never said we were monsters, Evalyn!" Miranda snapped. "I thought we were friends!"

"You thought everything could be solved by money," Evalyn growled.

"Listen to me, Evalyn," Miranda said. "I know you can't control what you look like, but -"

"Fool!" she spat. "You think I alvays look like this? No! When I was born, I vas a red, fuzzy monster with a tail! But as I got older, I found that I could change . . ." Evalyns form shifted, and she suddenly looked like Kurt. "To anyvone I want . . ." She shifted into Logan. "Anytime I want."

She shifted back to herself, and suddenly frowned back at Reese. "And you shall pay for vhat has happened to my brother!"

"How long has this been going on?" Christian demanded.

"Since the Brotherhood started. Don't you know anything?" Reese sneered. "We've been behind it all! I sent Michelangelo Nefaria here before I even created the Brotherhood - I sold him my brilliant plan to manipulate poor little Gwen, and Sinister and Nefaria just rolled right along with it! I knew that Temperance would loose her spot and her mind, and that she would run away. I knew that the Hellfire Club would retrieve her. I had Allison and Lindsey Cuckoo here give her a little telepathic nudge into the Hellfire club. Then, I sent an anonymous tip that the X-Men should check out the Hellfire Club, knowing that Nick would find her there. He wasn't as devastated as we had planned, but it worked out for the best, because Christian was!" He laughed. "Yes. It was all a brilliant plan. And then we heard you had Charles Xavier, and we knew what we had to do."

"Interesting story," said a cold voice from behind Reese. "But I'm going to have to stop you there." There was a sickening crunch as Reese was thrown across the room with such force, that he hit the wall and his arm snapped and his nose broke.

Temperance stood there, in diamond form, looking quite angry.

"Temperance!" Gwen exclaimed.

Holly attacked Temperance, and Temp caught her. She grabbed her claws and, with her diamond strength, twisted them upwards on both hands. Holly hissed in pain, and made a run for it.

Temperance didn't try and stop her. While Christian and Alex took the Cuckoos barriers down as best they could, Temperance grabbed Mayson by the tongue, pulling him towards her.

She frowned and sighed sadly. "Oh, Mayson," she said. "You could have really been something good." She then threw him after Holly, and he disappeared into the night.

Naomi ran without a fight, and the Cuckoos followed, Evalyn right behind them, her brother forgotten.

Reese moaned, and Amanda picked him up. "Where should I put this?"

"In the infirmary, for now; I don't think he's going anywhere," Christian replied.

Amanda nodded, and led him away.

Temperance returned to her human form, looking at Gwen. Gwen looked back at her, and the next thing, the two girls were clinging to each other, sobbing.

"I'm so sorry!" Gwen bawled.

"No, the fault is mine!"

"The fault is Reese," Christian said, putting his arms around his sisters. "Neither one of you could have been prepared for this. Well done."

Temperance sniffed, clinging to her family.

"Oh my!" Temperance suddenly exclaimed. "Rachel!"

The siblings ran to the subbasment, opening the room that housed Charles Xavier and Mystique.

Mystique was propped against her pillows, smiling towards the bed beside her.

Rachel sat in the bed, a small bundle in her arms. Frankie stood beside her, holding onto his wifes hand.

Gwen wondered over as Kavita went upstairs to help Claus. Looking straight up at them, was a beautiful baby girl. She had a head full of pure-white hair, and her ears were a lovely blue-violet, shinning and round.

"She's lovely," Temperance remarked. "Congratulations."

Upstairs, Nikki and Kavita cared for Claus, cleaning his wounds and sewing him up.

"Do not fuss over me," he insisted. "Go help Rachel and the baby."

"Rachel is not wounded as you are," Kavita frowned. "There. All sewed up. Don't do much moving for a while, young man, or you're in trouble. You won't heal as fast at Logan, but your healing factor is there thanks to Mystique."

She stood and looked at Nikki. "I trust that you can get him to bed?"

Nikita nodded, and Kavita left.

Nikki helped Claus to the elevator, and then to his bedroom, where she layed him down gently.

"It was brave of you to jump into action like that," Nikki said.

He chuckled. "I wasn't in combat for more than a moment."

"It was a great moment."

Claus smiled.

Nikki frowned, though, looking at her feet. "I'm sorry I hurt you," she said.

"You did not hurt me nearly as much as Deathstryke did."

Nikki smiled a bit. "No, I did. And . . . I was wrong. I thought you were a kid, and we were too different, but . . . we're not. Not at all. I really, really like you, Claus," she said.

He smiled. "And I really, really like you, Nikita."

Nikita smiled. She started to lean down, closing her eyes and puckering her mouth . . .

"But as a friend."

Nikita stopped at those words. She stood back up, looking at Claus. "What?"

"I am sorry. But when you rejected me, I figured that you would never vant to be with me. And now, my heart is with another."

"Oh," Nikki said.

"I am sorry, Nikita. I hope we can remain as friends, yes?"

"Yes. Yes, of course." She gave a weak smile. "Well, I should help Kavita with the others . . . goodnight, Claus." She left the room quickly, trying not to tear up.