Disclaimer: I'm recovering from a severe case of pneumonia thanks to Iceman… I'll get him back… so may be I can't control ice… I bet I can control… electricity like Berzerker! Yeah, that'll be fun!

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

((…))- author's/my own thoughts

'blah…' -telepathy/what people say mentally

Chapter 24: Finding the Battle Scene

Underground Hallways, Xavier Institute, Bayville, NY- May 15, 1:00 AM

Kitty and Lance, still searching for the Danger Room, came to another dead hallway.

"Kitty," said Lance as he tried to catch his breath from the amount of running he had been doing for the past hour. "We've checked every inch of this place, and still no Danger Room. Now what?"

"We've checked every place but one," mused Kitty as she caught her breath, stood up, and thought for a minute. She then smiled and turned to Lance, saying "Lance, aim your x-ray vision straight ahead."

"If you say so," muttered Lance, still unconvinced that it actually worked, as he focused and the bright yellow light, signaling the use of x-ray vision, appeared. He focused it straight ahead, and after a moment, grinned and blinked once, thereby turning it off.

"Well…" prompted Kitty impatiently. "Did you find it?"

"Yep," said Lance, broad grin still on his face. "I saw the door that leads to the inside of the Danger Room. It's right beyond this wall. If you would, Kitty…"

Kitty nodded, took Lance's hand in hers, ran the few feet between them and the wall and phased through. They arrived in front of the door, just as Lance had said, and approached the door carefully; both afraid of being jumped if anyone spotted them in their new forms.

"Password, please," said a computerized voice as Kitty and Lance stopped in front of the door.

"Peaceful World," said Kitty to the door, and after a minute the voice ((or should I say the door)) responded, "Voiceprint Identification confirmed. Welcome Shadowcat."

With this, the door opened, and as Kitty and Lance entered, Kitty gasped in shock and Lance blanched. The Danger Room was literally in pieces, with the computer lab overlooking the training area in pieces; the once-working lasers and droids used for Danger Room sessions were destroyed and holes were in the walls where people had been thrown. There were also 3 very large gaping holes; one in the ceiling, one in the wall that led to the machine Cerebro, and one leading to the outside.

"Oh my god, like, what happened here?" asked Kitty with fear in her voice as she stared at what once was the Danger Room.

"I think I know," said Lance calmly as he walked towards the hole that led to the outside, and fingered the edges of the hole. A few minutes later, he unfolded his wings and took to the air. He almost dove straight back down to the floor, not used to having wings. After a few minutes, he got the hang of them and flew up to what remained of the computer lab.

After landing inside, he began to search through the rubble left behind. He noted the settings on the once functional computer mainframe and the now-destroyed equipment that was scattered around the room. He saw a faint orange-red glow out of the corner of his eye, and on kneeling to look at it more closely frowned, picked up the object, and flew back down to where Kitty was waiting on the floor.

"Well?" asked Kitty as she looked at Lance.

"Magneto attacked, and took everyone who was here, which I'm assuming was the whole institute, hostage and took them to his new base: Asteroid Evolution," replied Lance as he looked Kitty in the eye, and watched for her reaction.

Kitty gasped, put a hand over her mouth in shock, removed it quickly, and asked, "Lance, are you like sure? I mean, you don't, like, think it was like one of Forge's inventions gone wrong, right? I mean, it wasn't, like really Magneto, because Wanda is like my friend, and Rogue's, and Lexie's, too, and I don't think that she would attack the Institute with her dad because they like, hate each other. Plus, Wanda told me a few days ago that she was seriously, like, thinking of quitting the Brotherhood and joining the X-Men. Was it really Magneto?" asked Kitty as she stopped rambling and looked at Lance questionably.

She saw him lower his head a bit, as if in shame, and then he looked up at her and slowly showed her a card that was still glowing a faint red-orange and was slightly smoking. He heard Kitty gasp as she reached out to take it and examine it.

"But this is…" whispered Kitty as she looked from the card to Lance.

"Yeah, it is," finished Lance as he looked at the card. "It's the King of Hearts, Gambit's favorite card."