A/N: Please read and review!

Storm flew the jet between the dozens of newly formed tornadoes, and I gripped the straps holding me into my seat. I almost threw up. There was a reason why I hated flying in a jet, unless I had more control. I tipped my head back and closed my eyes, praying that it would end.

I snapped my eyes open, and I realized that something strange started to happen to Jean. For some reason, there was a faint outline of a bird made of flame, and it almost looked like her eyes had that more distinct shape of a bird in them as she concentrated on the two missiles that were shot at us.

"Oh. . .no. . ." Jean said when the strange vision of the bird of fire disappeared completely, leaving an exhausted and pained Jean. "I. . ."

The remaining missile hit the jet, ripping a giant hole in the back of the jet, and my seat belt malfunctioned. I was thrown out of that giant hole, falling very quickly to the ground. I was so afraid, and I couldn't find a breath, let alone my concentration. My eyes were tightly closed. I didn't want to look down at my death.

I could only faintly hear the calming reassurances in German as arms were suddenly wrapped around me, and just as suddenly, I was back in the jet that was starting to lose control. Kurt was the one who saved me, a teleporter who acted very quickly. Despite that chaos around me, I was starting to breath normally and calmly, and Jean and Storm were working to keep the jet from crashing.

The jet abruptly stopped falling, and the jagged hole in the jet was slowly closed up by some unseen force. The het was gently placed on the ground, and we quickly stumbled out of the jet to see Magneto, Mystique, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch. Magneto's hand was outstretched in front of him, and he looked so amused when he looked at us.

"When will you ever learn how to fly?" He commented.

The older people were busy planning and discussing about what was happening, leaving us out of everything. We were too young to get involved. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch kept to themselves for the most part, and we all tried to hear what the older people were saying.

Whatever it was, it made Logan, Storm and Jean seem to be very upset and almost sickened. What could it have been?

Lauren would try to walk over to them, but they would stop talking when they noticed her. She wasn't happy about that. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch shared a look, and I walked towards them.

"So. . ." I drew the word out to get their attention. "You know something?"

They were quiet for that moment, and Quicksilver looked at his twin sister. She gave him a small shrug.

"Stryker kidnapped Charles Xavier earlier this year," he told me. "And, he has plans to make his own Cerebro. And, we all know he doesn't like Mutants."

I shuddered. That couldn't be good. Damn it, Stryker!

"That's what we thought, too," the Scarlet Witch told me quietly.

The adults were talking to Kurt, and Jean had that look of concentration again as she began to read his mind.

"So, Stryker used him in that attack," I said out loud, keeping my voice steady as I talked.

"I don't know how," Quicksilver told me. "That he did."

We made camp that night, and it was the adults who would deal with Stryker, save the kids, and save the professor and Cyclops. All on their own. The five of them would have help from Magneto's two children, and that was it. They weren't going to ask for our help, not wanting us to get involved with something dangerous.

Even though we had a common goal, a common enemy, we were still pretty divided. You had the X-Men and their students, just Kurt, Magneto and that part of his Brotherhood, and me and Lauren. The different groups had no reason to trust each other. John was still pretty angry and playing with his lighter, and he drew the attention of Magneto. Kitty and Peter were off to the side, quietly speaking with each other. Kurt was on his own, praying quietly to himself in German and fingers running along his simple rosary.

When he finished praying, he looked up at me and Lauren, unsure for a moment. I sat next to him.

"Thank you for saving my life," I quietly told him, speaking in the German that I knew.

Modern German speakers had issues understanding Low German nowadays. It was like a completely different language to them. The people in my area of Iowa knew that language and could speak it very fluently, and many of us still spoke that German at home as much as they could. My dad jokingly called it Ghetto German. Oddly enough, Kurt could understand me perfectly.

"You're welcome," he responded in the same language. His grip tightened around his rosary for a moment. "I know you think this is strange, but this gives me peace of mind at what I have done."

"I don't think it's strange," I told him truthfully. Of all the people he was talking to, he found a couple people who would actually understand him better than most. "It seems pretty right."

He unclasped his hands, thinking. "Most people would not think I would have the faith that I have. Especially with the way I look. They hate me and are afraid of me, but. . .I pity them."

I gave him a look, and it was hard not to respect the guy. Here was someone who had the worst of mutation. Me and Lauren looked normal, so you wouldn't even know we were Mutants if we didn't tell you. Kurt, for the lack of a better term, looked almost demonic. He had blue skin and a demonic tale and angelic symbols all over his skin. Instead of being bitter and hating back, he was sympathetic.

Lauren quickly changed the subject, commenting on how those symbols were pretty but had to be very painful.

"I carve these into my skin for each of my sins," Kurt explained. "So, I have quite a few."

Her eyes flashed when he said that. "Well. . .they are pretty."

Magneto was talking to John, and I didn't need to guess on what he was telling him. He had a silvertongue and an eye for new members for his Brotherhood, and John ate up his every word which was probably not a good thing. The looks that Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were giving their father that showed a small sense of unease and a growing dislike. It was pretty clear that they didn't have the same opinions as their father anymore. There might have been hope for those two yet.

"There's something strange about the one called Jean," the Scarlet Witch quietly told us when she walked over to us, not looking at her father. "An almost god-like power locked away within her. . ." She became uneasy. "That might be more than she can control."

Jean walked by to look at the jet after the makeshift repairs, and that bird of fire flashed in her eyes. I actually felt cold. Something about it felt wrong and unsettling. A portent of something to come.