Author's Note: Check me posting so quickly! At this point I feel obliged to point out that I don't like to write action scenes but even if I don't quite pull it off – I don't think you're gonna care. You will be otherwise… distracted. So – enjoy!

And yay – thanks for the pick up in reviews!

Disclaimer: Don't own the x-men but I will stake my claim on the uber-cuteness of Jinx and Tommy and Abi if they pop up!

Sleeping With the Enemy

Chapter 20

"There's nothing here!" Bobby sighed heavily after circling the same piece of ground for he didn't know how many times. Logan too grunted.

"Kid's right," he glared around at the surroundings – a large clearing set amongst pockets of woodland. They had landed the Blackbird nearby, in another clearing identified by Hank's team in Washington, following a quick flyover of the area narrowed for the search. There had been nothing useful visible from the air and now they were on the ground – still nothing. No sign of life anywhere…

All five turned sharply, startled by a loud clunking sound off to their side.

"So much for the element of surprise," Logan arched an eyebrow as he looked at the now ajar trap door, previously obscured by the shrubbery at the entrance to one of the wooded areas on the edge of the clearing. Hank took a deep breath.

"Perhaps this was not the wisest of ideas…"

"Maybe not," Logan agreed. "But they just invited us in. Seems rude to walk away," he roughly pulled up the trap door, squinting into the dimly lit, seemingly never ending metal staircase. "Bobby, Pete, cover up and stay behind me. Cover Hank and Warren in case our old friend decides to flame us."

Slowly – tentatively – the small group descended the stairs, finally reaching the corridor at the bottom. Logan took a deep breath, looking briefly at the open doorway at the end before pressing determinedly forward, making his way through the gap, the other four right behind him. Logan and Piotr stopped suddenly however, but not by choice. The Russian cursed mentally as he found himself unable to move and unable to return to his non-metallic form. Magneto smirked as Hank, Bobby and Warren held back, seeing that their two colleagues were stuck.

"Well it's about time," Mystique drawled, crossing her arms. She stood next to Magneto at the far end of a huge, vast square metal room, Pyro, Quicksilver and Multiple Man standing on the other side of her. Suddenly Logan and Piotr found themselves able to move again but neither went very far, the five X-Men instinctively lining up opposite the five Brotherhood members. Piotr glanced up, inhaling deeply as he realised he stood opposite Jamie, but the multiplying mutant did not return his gaze. Next to the Russian, Logan clenched his fists, his long claws sliding out of his knuckles on both hands. Mystique dropped her eyes to scrutinize her nails. "I mean really, you knew where we were last night. We were expecting you hours ago."

Logan growled, lunging forward but he stopped suddenly, although this time it was not at Magneto's will.

"Stay together!" he yelled as an almighty rumble filled the large room but it was too late. The floor split into multiple sections, some raising, some falling and some shifting sideways, metal walls dividing the newly formed rooms. Piotr cursed as within seconds he found himself alone, surrounded by a cold metal maze. Looking around quickly, he let out a weary sigh and made his way toward the one doorway in the room. Hopefully he'd find one of the other X-Men before he ran into one of the Brotherhood…

x-x-x x-x-x x-x-x

Piotr jumped as a loud crash came from somewhere above him. Pausing briefly, he looked at the roof uneasily. He still had no idea where everyone else was – but someone had apparently found someone…

Movement from further down the corridor caught the Russian's attention. Quickly he set forward, following the shadow that disappeared round the corner. In the background noise picked up but Piotr could not make anything out clearly. Searching each room along the new corridor quickly, he finally entered the right one, stopping dead in his tracks as the mutant he had been following turned to face him. His metal skin instinctively peeled back to reveal his normal form. The pause seemed to last forever. Fifty feet under ground, in a dimly lit, metal walled room the two mutants just stared at each other, neither moving, neither talking, both oblivious to the noise that raged somewhere in the background…

A loud crash echoed over the rest of the chaos from somewhere to their side, followed by a pained cry and the sound of shattering – ice shattering. Piotr's eyes widened, his gaze turning instinctively towards the noise although all he saw was the stone wall. Jamie smiled cruelly.

"You should go and help your friend," he said blandly. "Pyro won't lose twice."

Piotr swallowed hard.

"I'm not leaving you."

"Awwwww…" Jamie pulled a mocking, sweet face. "Are you worried about me?"

Piotr bristled, crossing his arms.

"I'm not leaving you unattended," he replied flatly. Jamie scowled, glancing sideways as another loud crash filtered through the wall.

"Being a bit heavy handed aren't you all?" he arched an eyebrow. "I thought you guys were supposed to be the peaceful type?"

Piotr's eyes narrowed.

"One of our kids is dead," he replied tightly. Jamie sighed helplessly.

"I told you – that had nothing to do with us!"

"You're the only one who could hack our security system!"

"I set up your security system!" Jamie threw up his arms in despair. "Why the hell would I bother to do that if we were gonna be the ones breaking into the mansion?"

"So no-one else would get there first."

Jamie shook his head.

"You know I didn't take Tommy!" he replied agitatedly, oblivious now to the distant chaos that still raged in the background. Curling his lip up slightly he held out his arms, wrists together as if offering for them to be tied up. "Fine - take me to your leader and I'll tell them exactly what I was doing when Tommy was kidnapped," the multiplying mutant lowered his arms with a wry smirk as Piotr's head dropped briefly. "But of course we don't want your precious comrades finding out that good old reliable Piotr has been sleeping with the enemy now do we?"

Piotr let out a shaky sigh but his face remained stoic.

"I shall own up to my mistakes," he replied flatly.

Jamie's face fell slightly.

"You reallythink I did it?" the multiplying mutant frowned heavily although there was no hiding the genuine hurt in his bright blue eyes. "You really think that I would be involved in this?"

Piotr took a deep breath.

"What use is an alibi to someone who can be in two places at once?"

Jamie closed his eyes briefly before standing up straight, setting the taller mutant a defiant stare, his shoulders bristling.

"Well, if that's how you feel…"

Within seconds the room was filled with duplicates. Piotr cursed violently, spinning around to try and keep track of the original but it was impossible. Just as quickly as they had appeared the duplicates vanished, quickly disappearing out of the room obviously following the original. Quickly the Russian set off after him but the multiplying mutant was gone, lost in the maze of metal. With an exasperated sigh he headed in the direction of the sound of the ice, although the way the corridors echoed that was easier said than done.

The ground shook suddenly under Piotr's feet. Before he had time to register what was happening the Russian found the ground lowering beneath him, the walls moving along with them. As quickly as they had lost each other the x-men found themselves back on the same level, Hank and Warren together, Logan at the far side near where they had started, Bobby and John just a few meters away from Piotr, both ice and fire mutants sporting bloody lips and the early signs of bruises on their faces. Pyro – quickest to adapt to the movement – took a few steps back. In the blink of an eye Quicksilver was by his side, leading him back to where the Brotherhood were gathered much where they had started – Multiple Man standing in the middle of the furthest away wall, Magneto standing in the corner, Mystique sitting next to him looking somehow bored. The x-men regrouped, Hank quickly giving Bobby the once over but the ice mutant dismissed him. The five stood their ground, looking back over at the Brotherhood, none of the five sure what to do.

"Fine, I admit it," Jamie suddenly spoke up, holding his arms out to the side. "I took the kid."

Logan growled and lunged forward, but just as he had before, he stopped dead as if slammed up against a brick wall. Magneto smirked, hand held up lazily. Pyro too smirked, twirling a fireball around his fingers menacingly. With Logan, Piotr and Bobby essentially neutralized, Hank and Warren stood helplessly, knowing all too well they could not take on the other five mutants themselves. Across the room, Jamie took a deep breath.

"I snuck into the mansion on Friday afternoon," he continued blandly, his eyes fixed on one location – on one mutant. "I slipped Tommy a pill to make him sick. When he was in his room I injected him with a dose of my mutation which we able to copy thanks to that information we stole when you helped us, I made him duplicate, I mildly sedated the dupe and got outa there with the original," a wry smile pulled on his lips as a duplicate peeled off his body, walking to a doorway off to his right, the x-men's eyes widening as he spoke. "So at three o'clock in the morning when I was supposed to be breaking into the mansion, I was at our apartment in town, sound asleep. And Tommy…" the duplicate opened the door, another duplicate appearing in the doorway – with an all too familiar blonde teenager. "…was right here. Safe and sound."