Here we are with the final chapter of the Recruitment Arc! It's been a trip, literally. Some things: I've added a timeline to the story, it just roughly says when each arc happens. For example: The Sinister Arc happened in late 2013, and the X Arc took place throughout 2014, while this arc takes place in late 2014, about a year after the Sinister Arc.

Speaking of arcs, I've added three more arcs: Blue & Gold Arc, which takes place between the Brotherhood and Krakoa Arcs. The Genosha Arc, which takes place between the Legacy and Avengers v X-Men arc. Lastly, the Uncanny arc, which takes place after the House of X/Powers of X arc, making it the latest arc so far. This also brings us to a total of 23 arcs!

And some things about the story: Starting in the Brotherhood Arc I've decided to go for a targeted word count of around 8,000 words per chapter, not as big as my DC story, but still pretty big chapters.

That's all from me up here. Let's get on with the story, yeah?


In Ireland, Everyone Can Hear You Scream

Y'know, I could call them right now. 'Hey Mom and Dad, so you gonna tell me more about your last name, Dad?' But that wouldn't end well, would it. Especially considering the fact that everyone else is here too, awkward would be putting it lightly.

"How'd you get in trouble with some ninjas?" Jubilee asks Betsy, she's bouncing around in her seat.

Betsy just smiles and ruffles Jubilee's already wild hair. "Like I said, I don't know why. Maybe my brother, or maybe the person who owned this body and me are connected in some way," She shrugs. "Once we find the Hand, we're definitely going to figure this thing out."

"And get your body back," Jubilee adds.

"And get my body back," Betsy reaffirms. She then looks to Scott and Jean. "Where to next?"

Jean pulls up the holographic screens in front of us, Ireland becomes highlighted. "Ireland. Here we'll find Sean Cassidy, he's an ex-Interpol agent, now freelance detective for about thirteen years now."

"Vhy is he ex-Interpol?" Kurt asks.

Jean pulls up an old article about a bombing. "In Northern Ireland the Irish Republican Army, or the IRA, had bombed the location. There were multiple casualties, Cassidy's wife included. Shortly after he left Interpol and became a freelance detective."

"Damn, dat sucks." Remy mutters.

"Agreed," Logan says. "What're his powers?"

Some grainy security footage is shown. In it we see two men holding a woman hostage in an alleyway, another man comes walking in from the end, once the two men look at him, he screams, sending them flying away. The footage clears to show Sean Cassidy was the one to do the scream.

"Sonic screaming. Nice," Kitty comments.

"Yeah, nice," Logan grumbles.

I turn to him. "If you think you have it bad then imagine how John's gonna feel."

An evil grin comes over Logan's face.

A call comes from the mansion. We all look at each other, Bobby and I have our eyebrows raised, wonder why they're calling now?

Jean answers the call, the Professor and Warren at the other end of the call. "Professor, what's happening?"

"Just some updates, one from Warren, more for Nolan if I'm correct," The Professor answers.

Warren takes up some more space on the screen. "Nolan, remember those four people at Worthington Industries?"

"The nerd, the two blond siblings, and the big guy. What about them?" I ask.

"Look up The Fantastic Four."

I look at the hologram in front of me and enter "The Fantastic Four" into the search bar…holy shit. Wait, what's up with the rock monster? Whatever, I look up at Warren with wide eyes.

He nods his head vigorously. "I know, right?"

"Who are The Fantastic Four?" Betsy asks.

Warren finally notices everyone else, especially her. "Why hello there, the name's Warren Worthington III. What's yours?"

"You'll find out when we get back," Scott interrupts, smirking at Warren's scowl. "But yeah, who's The Fantastic Four?"

"They're a new superhero team. Get this: their identities are public, like, they revealed them right from the get-go. Reed Richards is Mister Fantastic, Susan Storm is the Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm is the Human Torch, and Ben Grimm is The Thing," Warren explains.

"Wait, the rock monster's that big dude?" I ask.

"Yup," Warren nods.

"Can he transform back and forth?" I ask.

Warren shrugs. Damn, that sucks.

The Professor takes over. "According to the tracker on the Blackbird I would guess you are nearing Ireland, correct?"

"Yes, is there anything we should look out for?" Scott asks.

"No. Although I must ask for you to change your flight plan, Cassidy is not in Ireland right now, he is at Muir Island," The Professor says.

Kitty sits up in her seat. "Wait, Muir Island? As in the Muir Island with the Mutant Research Center, Muir Island?"

The Professor nods with a small smile. "Yes, that Muir Island."

"What's he doin' there, Chuck?" Logan asks.

"I believe he is there regarding his cousin, Thomas Cassidy, who is also a mutant. Once you land a…friend of mine will meet you, she will then take you to the Mutant Research Center, there you can make your plans," The Professor says.

Bobby and I share a look. Why did the Professor struggle at the word "friend"? A knowing smile then comes over our faces.

"Why Professor," Bobby begins, a sly smile on his face. "Who is this "Friend" you're talking about. I mean, you did say "she"."

The Professor actually has a light blush on his face, Warren, Jean, Scott, Bobby, and I laugh, Logan just chuckles. The others look at each other confused, not sure what's going on.

"Yes, my friend is a she, is that so hard to believe?" The Professor mutters. "Anyways, she will meet you at the airport, from there you will have a transport take you to the Mutant Research Center. Once there you can make your plans as to how to approach Cassidy."

The Professor and Warren look up, we can hear someone talking to them. Warren leaves and the Professor looks back at us. "Ororo just came, there is something we must see now. I eagerly await your arrival with our new family members."

"See ya, Professor," Bobby and I salute as the call ends.

"That was the Professor?" Piotr asks.

"Yup. And apparently there's a possible "Mrs. Xavier" on this island," Bobby jokes.

"C'mon, Bobby, let's not mess with something we know nothing about, alright?" Scott warns.

Bobby groans and folds his arms. "Alright, alright. When are we gonna land?"

The Blackbird does a turn. Scott looks at the console. "About two hours, give or take."

Bobby leans his seat back and puts his arms under his head. "Hooray." He drones.

"Hey, Scott, I've been meaning to ask: how'd you get to be such a good pilot?" I ask.

"Oh, easy, my Dad was my inspiration, he was a pilot, too," Scott answers.

"Was?" Rogue asks.

"A, uh, a few years ago my Mom, Dad, brother Alex and I were flying to Hawaii for a vacation with a private plane. It crashed. My parents died, and I have no idea where Alex is," Scott answers, his demeanor becoming negative.

"Sorry for askin'," Rogue mutters.

"It's fine," Scott shrugs. "Besides, Alex is still out there, that's enough to keep me going."

Kitty leans forward, her head next to mine. "Betsy wants her body; Scott needs to find his body. How many mysteries do you guys deal with?"

"John also wants to find his best friend who was captured a couple of months ago," I answer.

Kitty raises an eyebrow and just stares. "Why so many mysteries?"

I just shrug, smirking as well. "Who knows. I like to think it adds to the spice of life."

Kitty leans back into her seat. I follow Bobby's lead and lean my seat back, going so far back the seat hovers over Kitty's knees. While my eyes are closed, I feel a tap on my forehead. Opening my eyes, I see Kitty playfully glaring at me. I just shrug. I then close my eyes and go to sleep.


I hear a 'SNIKT' sound just inches from my face. Jerking my eyes open I see Logan's claws barely a centimeter away from the bridge of my nose, just above my most recent scar. I turn to see him smirking, he does the same thing to Bobby with his other arm.

"Get up, we're here," He says. He retracts his claws and gets up, heading towards the lowered ramp.

Kitty phases through me and the chair to get up, before she walks to the group, she pats me on the forehead. Bobby and I groan in annoyance as we simultaneously bring our seats back to their neutral positions and unbuckle our seatbelts. We've been hanging out for far too long.

"Hey," He says.

"Yeah?" I reply.

"We did the same thing at the same time, isn't that a little scary?"

"Yup," I pop the p.

We get up, following Scott and Jean off the Blackbird. Once the four of us get off the ramp it raises up, closing off the jet. Looking ahead we see a small group of people and a number of cars waiting for us, shrugging, Scott walks towards them, we all follow his lead.

Once we reach the group a brunette woman walks forward and shakes Scott's hand, followed by the rest of us. "Nice t' meet yah, the name's Moira MacTaggert. Charles told me I should be expectin' a big group, but I wasn't plannin' for something this big."

"You're on a first name basis with the Professor? Interesting," Bobby comments. Scott flicks his head.

"Sorry about Bobby, he doesn't know when to stop talking," Scott apologizes.

Moira laughs lightly. "Think nothing of it. Now, there was somethin' ye were here for, or rather, someone. Let's go to meh lab, we can talk there," She turns around and heads to the lead vehicle. "Sorry, but there aren't enough seats for all of ye, yeh'll need to go in multiple cars."

"It's okay," Scott nods. He then looks around at the group. "Logan and Jean with me. Betsy, Shiro, Jubilee, and Kurt in the second car. Bobby, Nolan, and Kitty in the third car. Remy, Rogue, and Piotr in the last car."

We all head to our vehicles in our groups, Bobby at the left, me in the middle, and Kitty at the right window. The driver begins to follow the convoy. As we do Bobby turns to the two of us. "So, this Moira lady's supposed to be around the Professor's age right?"

I raise an eyebrow, not sure where this is going. I'm not liking it either. "Yeah?"

"Then how old is she? Cause, the Professor's pretty damn old," Bobby finishes.

Kitty and I share a glance. "The Professor's old? I mean, I wouldn't put him as twenty years older than my Dad, and my Dad's pretty old."

"You just think he's old cause he doesn't understand smart phones like you do," I say, giving her a blank look.

Kitty chuckles guiltily as she points finger guns at me. "Let me have my reasons, Nol."

"Okay, I'm gonna stop your little flirting session so we can go back to my idea," Bobby says. We both glare at him. "You guys do know when the Professor was born, right?"

"Mid to late sixties?" We both guess.

Bobby just chuckles. "Oh, you poor, misguided children you. He was born in 1932, making him-"

"82," Kitty interrupts. "Holy shit," We both say.

I shake my head to gather my thoughts. "How the hell is he 82? I mean, he looks like he's his fifties."

"Before he met the original five, he and an old friend of his had an encounter with another mutant, and now they stay in their prime for a far longer time," Bobby explains.

"Who's the friend?" I ask.

"We have no idea."

Hm, that's curious. Do I wanna ask him when we get back? Nah.

Kitty rapidly taps my shoulder as she sticks her head through the window. She comes back in and looks at the two of us, bouncing in her seat. "Guys! It's the Mutant Research Center!" Her excitement dampens greatly. "Wait, you guys do know what it is, do you?"

Bobby rolls his eyes. "Kitty, we're X-Men, of course we know what the Mutant Research Center is."

"It's the world's foremost, well, research center, on how mutations work, why they happen, and how to study them," I finish. Bobby and I don't look at each other but we do a fist bump, with explosion fingers.

Kitty has an impressed look on her face as she nods. She then does a golf clap. "I'm impressed," Her excitement comes back with a vengeance. "Well, we're fucking here! Yes! Yes! YES!"

"You're excited about this, aren't you?" Bobby asks.

"Of course, I am! Well, I'm not really excited about the research per say, I'm more interested in the computers they have. Far as I can tell their top of the line," Kitty says.

I turn to Bobby. "She's always been a nerd when it came to computers. When we were younger, she somehow hacked our DS's so we could have every Pokémon available from the get-go. It was fun."

The convoy enters an indoor garage, the cars all stop, and the drivers get out to open the car doors. We all stand together, Moira and two guards standing across from us. "Welcome to the Mutant Research Center! Let me show ye around!"

We enter a large elevator, as it rises up, we look through the see-through shaft, watching the wildlife in their controlled environments. "What is done here?" Shiro asks.

Whoa, that's a first, Shiro beginning the conversation.

"Well, we look at the X-Gene, in lads and lassies who offered their services. We then study how it relates to their parents, and what could happen to any possible children they have," Moira explains.

Rogue opens her mouth; she then closes it. Remy notices me looking at her and looks at me, he taps his head. I create a telepathic link between the two of us. "She probably wants de Doctor to see what she can do about her powers," He explains.

"Right. We'll give her the time to ask alone if she wants to, then," I reply.

"Thanks, mon ami," Remy closes off his end of the telepathic link.

"What kind of computers do you guys have?" Kitty excitedly asks.

Moira laughs lightly at her excitement. "We have some advanced technology, Forge helped build much of it, actually."

"Wait, Forge's been here before?" I ask.

Moira nods. "Yes, he and Charles had been here years ago, before he found the X-Men, actually."

I turn to Scott and Jean. "Forge helped build Cerebro and travelled with the Professor here before the X-Men, why wasn't the original five not the original six?"

"Forge disappeared for a period of time, by the time the Professor was making the team he had no idea where Forge was, even with Cerebro," Jean answers.

"Yeah, that's great and all," Jubilee interrupts. "What kind of big boom boom powers have you dealt with?"
Moira rubs her chin. "There was one mutant who would grow exponentially, that was an experience. Then there was another, a boy from Brazil, he could absorb the powers of the sun and light himself on fire and gain super strength."

The doors to the elevator open, before Moira even gets out a blur of green and blue with red on top collides with her. "Yer back! I've missed ye!" The blur becomes a girl, around ten to eleven years old.

"I was gone for only an hour," Moira turns to us, still holding the girl. "Everyone, meet Rahne Sinclair, she's meh ward. Say hi, Rahne."

"Hi, Rahne," Rahne cheekily repeats.

Moira ruffles her hair. "She's a mutant."

Rahne looks at Moira, fear palpable in her eyes. Moira cups her face. "It's okay, Rahne. They're mutants too. The X-Men, actually.

Rahne looks at us with wide eyes. Logan unsheathes his claws, Bobby ices up, and Jubilee creates some fireworks. Rahne smiles and backs up out of the elevator, the rest of us follow to see her standing in the center of a large room.

Rahne takes some calming breaths, eventually she begins to shift. Her face becomes wolf-like, her body grows in size slightly, and she grows light brown fur all along her body. Once the transformation completes, she reveals her werewolf form.

"Zat's cool," Kurt comments, he drops his hood, unwraps his tail, and takes his hands out of his pockets.

"You got that right," I comment as well. I then do the same thing. I also increase in size, and black fur comes over my body.

Rahne looks at me in surprise before she runs forward, she then circles around me, sniffing me. "Yer a werewolf, too?"

"Not really. My powers let me copy other powers. And now I can copy yours," I explain. "I've noticed something though; you can go further than this."

"Oh. I, erm, I don't like going all the way. I don't have a lot of control," She sheepishly admits.

Moira stands behind her and places comforting hands on her shoulders. "It's something we're working on here. Not all mutants can control their powers, here we try to help as best we can."

Rahne shifts back to normal. "We can give ye a tour!"

"Yes, that's next on the-" She looks at the group, she raises an eyebrow in confusion. "Where's the brown-haired girl?"

We all look amongst ourselves to find that Kitty is indeed gone. How the hell did she sneak by both me and Logan? Intangibility. Man, she can be one hell of a ninja when she wants to be.

I sniff the air, after a few seconds I find her scent. "She's headed west. Is there anything important there?" I ask as I shift back to normal.

Moira just smiles. "Just the computers. How did she find them so fast?"

"Probably asked someone," Remy says.

Moira's watch goes off, once she looks at it, she looks back at us with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, this is an important call. I'll have the staff give the tour, yeah?"

"Of course, doctor," Scott says.

"W-wait," Rogue says. "Can Ah talk to yah about somethin'? It's important, we can do it on the way to your office."

Moira mulls it over before nodding. She turns around and motions for Rogue to follow her.

"Wait," Rogue turns to me. "Nolan, could you come with?"

I raise an eyebrow in intrigue and surprise but nod, nonetheless. As the two of us follow the doctor I hear the staff and Rahne begin the tour.

"What did you want to talk about?" Moira asks.

"Mah powers, they…Ah want to know if you can help me control 'em," Rogue answers.

"Why would I need to help you control them?" Moira asks.

"Ah can't touch people with skin-to-skin contact-"

"Which is why yer covered like a nun," Moira observes.

Rogue nods. "Yeah. Ah wanna know if you can help me."

"And what of him, uh..."

"Nolan, Nolan Belmont," I introduce myself.

Rogue takes off her glove and pinches my cheek. "As you can see, he's the only person Ah can touch without havin' to worry about hurtin' 'im."

"You're hurting me right now," I comment.

She stops pinching my cheek and rubs it. "You okay now, wittle baby?"

I growl and get out of her grasp; I then turn to the doctor. "But yeah, can you help her get control?"

We stop outside Moira's office. She opens the door, but before she enters, she turns around. "Wait out here, I'll send for an assistant to take ye to a lab. Once this call's done, I'll meet ye there, okay?"

Rogue nods vigorously. "Yes, thank you."

Moira gives us one more reassuring smile before entering her office. Rogue goes to the wall next to the door, she then slides down until she sits, I sit next to her. "You okay?" I ask.

"Do you think she can help me?"

"No."

Rogue looks at me, shocked at my answer, she then becomes angry, before she shouts at me, I hold my hand up.

"Let me explain myself: No, she can't help you. You help you. The only way you can gain control of your powers is with her help. But she can help you find the right starting point," I explain.

Rogue smiles before hugging me. "Thanks, Ah needed that."

"No problem, Rogue, I'm here to help," I open my eyes to see someone walking towards us, I tap Rogue on the shoulder, telling her we have company.

The female staff member stops in front of us, a polite smile on her face. "Hello, my name is Cecilia Reyes, I believe the doctor told me to get the two of you."

I get up, offering a hand to help Rogue up as well. We then turn to the doctor. "Lead the way, doc."

Rogue slaps me upside my head. "My name's Anna Marie, but I prefer Rogue."

Oh, right. "Sorry. Name's Nolan Belmont."

"Think nothing of it. Come, let me take you to the lab," We follow her down the hallway, looking in rooms where we see people testing their powers. She turns around and walks backwards. "This part of the facility is meant to help mutants learn more about their powers. Which one of you will go through the procedure today?"

Rogue raises her hand.

Dr. Reyes nods. "Got it."

We continue walking, eventually we reach a part of the facility that has less people, looking around I noticed something interesting, a door with two guards posted at either side. We walk past it; on the door it reads: "Proteus".

I look at Dr. Reyes. "Hey, doc," She turns her head to me. "What's Proteus?"

"I don't know. Only Dr. MacTaggert is allowed in the room, and even if you tried to look inside you can't, past the door's a bridge to a separate part of the facility. Hell, pass the bridge's another security door," She answers.

I hear Rogue mutter under her breath. "Proteus must be important then."

"I guess so. Imma ask her," I whisper back.

"Nolan, no," She warns.

I smirk. "Nolan, yes."

We stop in front of an open door. "Alright, let's get this procedure started, once the Dr. MacTaggert is on her way I'll inform the two of you," Dr. Reyes says.

Rogue sits on the bed in the center of the room. Dr. Reyes puts on some gloves and tries grab Rogue by the arm to raise her sleeve, Rogue jerks her arm back. "I can't do the procedure if you won't let me."

"Her powers have her absorb the lifeforce of people she touches with skin contact. It's so you won't get hurt," I explain.

The doctor smirks, she grabs one of those little hammers they hit you on the knee with to test reflexes and hits herself on the arm. Or, she tries to, before the hammer connects a clear shield appears over her skin.

"My powers increase my durability, I think I'll be good," She explains.

Rogue backs up even further, she shakes her head. "No. That ain't enough. Nolan can do it."

Dr. Reyes looks at me. "Do you have an M.D. in emergency medicine?"

"Uh, no. But I can activate my telepathy and download it from you," I reply.

"Do it."

I activate my telepathy and download the data I need. Once that's done, I look at the doctor in awe. "Why are you doing nurse stuff, you can easily be doing surgery and all that other crap."

"I still do that "crap", I just like to do this to unwind. So, can you set it up?" She asks.

I nod. She moves out of the way and lets me start the procedure, checking Rogue's pulse, looking in her ears and mouth with that light doctors use, normal doctor shit. Eventually Dr. Reyes taps me on the shoulder, gaining my attention. "Not gonna lie, I'm impressed. I've gotta go, another mutant needs my help. Dr. MacTaggert's on her way."

A few moments after Dr. Reyes leaves Rogue and I sit in silence, I look over the results, actually understanding it thanks to the data I've downloaded. Telepathy for the win!

"What'd you see?" She asks.

"Far as I can tell you look normal to me. Well, as normal as a mutant can be, but normal, nonetheless," I answer.

The door then opens, revealing Dr. MacTaggert. "I had an interesting conversation with Dr. Reyes, she said ye did the procedure, Nolan?"

I nod. "I used telepathy and downloaded it from her brain. After all, her powers wouldn't help protect her from Rogue's."

"I see. Come, we'll need to go to another room if we want to do this," She turns around and leaves the room, the two of us following.

I swap back to my Thunderbird powers as we pass the Proteus room. May as well ask now. "Hey, Dr. MacTaggert?"

"Please, call me Moira."

"Moira. What's behind the Proteus room?"

Physically she doesn't react much, but with my super hearing I can hear her heart skip a beat. Rogue gives me a pointed look and elbows me in the side, although it hurts her more than me.

"Oh, just an important project of mine. No one but myself is allowed back there, okay?" She kind of answers. We stop in front of a door. "Oh! Here we are, come in, come in. Let's see yer powers."

I hand Moira the files describing Rogue's powers. Said girl goes to sit on the edge of the bed in the center of the room, she gives me another pointed look as she does. I swap to my telepathy and create a link between us.

"Nolan, what the hell?" She mentally shouts.

"Hey, only way to solve a mystery is to start investigating it. Has Scooby Doo taught you nothing?" I nonchalantly reply.

Rogue glares at me as she cuts off the link. Whatever. Hm, just realized something: other than Betsy, the others have quickly gotten used to telepathic conversations. Then again, Rogue did have telepathy for a bit when we first met her, so that must help. Crap, the doctor's talking.

"-machine here will scan yer DNA to see if there's any damage. If ye feel like yer in pain tell me, okay?"

"Of course," Rogue lays down. Two glass screens come over Rogue, making the bed look like a cryo tube.

Images pop up all over the tube, one showing an x-ray of her body, another looking at things like heartrate and body temperature.

I walk behind Moira and look over her shoulder, watching her put in commands that I actually understand. Again, telepathy for the win! I hum as I look at the data. "Just like the files said, it doesn't look like there's any cellular damage," I comment.

Moira nods. "Ye got that right. Rogue, I think we found out what's happenin' with yer powers."

The glass covers go back into the bed. Rogue sits up and looks at Moira, a hopeful look in her eyes. "So, what's the damage? What do Ah have to do to get started?"

"Believe in yerself."

Rogue blinks in confusion. "Ah'm sorry. What?"

"Believe in yerself, Rogue," Moira repeats. She pulls up a holographic screen of the results. "Ye have no damage in yer DNA. Far as I can tell, the reason you don't have control over yer powers-"

"Is because you don't want control," I interrupt.

Rogue looks at me confused. "What do yah mean? If anyone wants control of mah powers, it's me!"

"Yeah, you do. But that might not be the case subconsciously. When you activated your powers, was there any negative…thing going on?" I ask.

"No. Ah-Ah was-"

Logan opens the door. "Hey, Cassidy's here, he's got something important to tell us."

Rogue quickly gets up and slides past Logan. He looks at her retreating form before turning back to us, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "I guess it didn't go well."

I do a so-so motion with my hand.

Moira and I then follow Logan to the rest of the group, curious as to what Sean Cassidy wants to say. And what Rogue's feelings are right now.

A few minutes later we arrive in a lobby, the group standing around a man in his mid-thirties to early forties. He's wearing a white dress shirt and black tie under a trench coat, like a stereotypical detective. He has red hair and thick sideburns, once he sees us, he claps his hands to get everyone's attention.

"Now that everyone's here I can begin. The name's Sean Cassidy, but I guess ye already knew that, huh?" Sean begins.

"Yeah, we're with the X-Men, and we're here to recruit you. My name's Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops," Scott introduces.

Sean points at Logan and Jean. "I'd guess the two of ye are Wolverine and Marvel Girl, then? Ye got similar builds," They nod. He then looks at everyone else. "I don't recognize anyone else."

"Name's Bobby Drake, Iceman," He then points at me. "That there's Nolan Belmont, also known as Mimic. Everyone else isn't officially a member of the team yet. We're on a trip around the world recruiting mutants, you happened to be the last one on the list."

"What'd you come here for?" Logan interrupts.

Sean leans to Jubilee and Remy. "Someone doesn't know how to have fun, yeah?" He mutters. "I came here to investigate a mutant, this one capable of firing concussive and heat blasts with the help of plant life."

"How the hell does that work?" I ask.

"I dunno," Sean replies.

"Who's this mutant?" Scott asks.

"Me cousin, Thomas Cassidy, he calls himself Black Tom."

"Dope name," Bobby comments.

"Is there a reason you were investigating him?" Jean asks.

"About twelve years ago me wife died in a bombing; I was on a mission for Interpol. What I didn't know was that I had a daughter, she was a few months old at the time. I believe Black Tom took her under his wing, and I don't like that, not one bit," Sean answers.

"Do you know where they are?" I ask.

He nods. "Me home, Cassidy Keep. It's in Ireland."

Logan groans in annoyance. "We were on our way there, now we gotta head back. Better be worth it, Cassidy."

Sean claps Logan on the shoulder, he laughs loudly, louder than anyone I've ever heard before. "Don't worry, boyo, we'll have ourselves a great time. Besides, don't ye want to help reunite a father with his long-lost daughter?"

Logan says nothing as he throws Sean's arm off his shoulder, Sean just has a defiant smirk on his face. Everyone else follows the two, Scott and I at the end of the group, before we leave Moira speaks up.

"It's good seein' him happy again."

Scott and I turn to her. "What do you mean?" Scott asks.

"After his wife's death he's been down. We slowly watched him get better, after learnin' about his daughter his mood's skyrocketed," Moira answers.

"Gotta say, Doc, you're really good at understanding mutants, what, are you one too?" I joke.

She begins to cough. "Oh, sorry about that, must be somethin' in me throat. Don't let me hold you. Good luck! Tell Charles I said hi!"

Scott and I wave goodbye before following the group, heading towards the Blackbird.


Tress are great, most of the time. When they give shade, or provide oxygen, great. When their branches strangle your jet, not so great. About an hour later we arrived in Ireland, but before Scott could even begin the landing process some super trees wrapped themselves around the Blackbird, threatening the ship's integrity.

"SLIM!" Logan shouts, hanging on to his seat.

Scott and Jean frantically press buttons, nothing happens. "I'm trying!" Scott looks back. "Shiro! Nolan! Get rid of those branches!"

The ramp lowers, a tendril snakes in. It doesn't get far thanks to Bobby freezing it. Carefully getting up Shiro and I head towards the ramp, looking out of the corner of my eye I see Sean standing with us. He smirks before jumping, he grabs his coat and spreads out, reminding me of gliding animals, he then shouts, creating soundwaves that help him fly.

Shiro and I look at each other surprised. We then jump off the ramp, I swap to my Shaman powers. Shiro hits the tendrils with his fire blasts, which seem to be the most effective. My powers include pant control, I wasn't able to make the tendrils go away entirely, but I could hold them back, letting Shiro hit them.

Surprisingly enough, Sean's powers seem to be the least effective. His sonic screams don't do much against the tree tendrils, yeah, they recoil, but they aren't destroyed outright.

We destroy enough for the Blackbird to escape, once it does, we feel a psychic link be created. "How are the tendrils looking?" Jean asks.

"Saints preserve me! What is this?" Sean asks, avoiding a tendril.

"It's a telepathic link, with it we can talk to each other without the enemy knowing our plans. Or so you could add input," Jean answers.

"You're lucky I can regenerate," Logan warns.

"I wish I could, pretty sure my eardrums are shot," Jubilee says.

We hear Sean mentally laugh guiltily. "Sorry about that one. Shoulda warned ye. WOAH!" He narrowly avoids another tendril, Shiro then shoots it down.

I fire mystical bolts at another two tendrils, causing them to fall due to the lack of structure. "Hey, Sean! I swear you said your cousin could only shoot blasts of energy, so I gotta ask: The fuck is this?" I fire a bolt of lightning at another tendril. "And how many of these damn things are there?"

"I dunno. To both of those questions," He looks around. "Where's yer jet?"

Shiro and I look around. Yeah, where is the jet?

A whistling noise can be heard. Looking up I see a blur of silver and dark blue falling rapidly. It passes by us, and I swear I saw Piotr falling with Kurt on his back. We hear a 'BAMF' sound, and the smell of brimstone bombards my nose. I feel a weight on my back, looking over my shoulder I see a smirking Kurt hanging on my back.

"Guten tag," Kurt says cheekily.

"Was that Piotr?" I ask.

A large boom goes off, a giant cloud of dirt and debris comes flying from Cassidy Keep.

"Ja," Kurt answers. "Ve should go help."

"We should. You ready? It's gonna be one hell of a drop," I warn.

Kurt's smirk grows, sharp canines on show. Really adds to his demon aesthetic, which is mad fucking cool. "Vhy drop when we can 'BAMF'?"

Next thing I know I'm in some dark dimension, after blinking again I find myself behind Piotr, holding back some tendrils.

"Comrade! Come, do not let me hog all the glory, yes?"

I swap to the powerset I got from Rahne—Which I need a name for—and transform into my werewolf form. I jump on one of the tendrils and tear at it.

While I do this another burst of brimstone hits my nose, this time more potent due to my enhanced senses. A blast of ice stops a tendril from behind me as it attempts to stab me.

"Man, the Lorax is gonna be pissed at us after today, huh?" Bobby jokes.

Another 'BAMF' Logan jumps at another tendril and slashes wildly at it. Remy throws some cards, destroying some tendrils. Kurt teleports again.

"So, what's the plan? Land the Blackbird somewhere else and have Kurt 'port everyone to the battle?" I ask.

"Not everyone. We'll have some of us investigate the inside of the keep, Kitty, Rogue, Psylocke, and me, actually. The rest of you will keep Black Tom busy," Scott orders.

"I should be in the search team," Sean counters. "I know the house better than any of ye. And trust me, tis a big house."

"What about Black Tom? He's your cousin, and with your screaming he has to know you're here," Betsy says.

"Half of Ireland has to know he's here," Logan mentally grumbles.

"I know ye're here, Seanny-Boy!" Black Tom shouts.

Sean mentally sighs. "Guess I'll deal with me cousin. When you find her, please tell her Daddy's here, alright?"

"Of course," Betsy affirms.

The tendrils all stop, Shiro and Sean land next to us. Kurt teleports Jean and Jubilee with us.

The ground rumbles, a giant wooden tendril moves around, stopping just in front of us. On it is a man around Sean's age. He has black hair, a black mustache, and a black goatee, he also has blue eyes. He wears a mainly black suit with red designs. The bottom half is completely black, and his top half has a red symbol that kind of reminds me of a battle axe, he has red gloves, and a black belt with red outlines, a red dot in the center.

"What, I've been chasin' ye all this time, and now ye decide to stop at home? What's yer game, Thomas?" Sean demands.

"No game, Seanny-Boy. I'm just tired of havin' ye on me ass, I mean, get over it! Theresa's been with me for years now, I don't think she'd even know ye're her daddy," Black Tom taunts.

"Theresa. Maeve always liked that name," Sean mutters.

"You weren't wrong Sean, you've got a biiig house," Jubilee says over the link.

"How're things looking for you guys?" Jean asks.

Sean continues the conversation to give us more time.

"Betsy's currently looking for her. It might take a minute, hold on guys," Scott says.

"I can hold on for however long ye need for Theresa," Sean says. He then points at Black Tom dramatically. "X-Men! Execute!"

We all stare at him, the only sound we hear is that of nature. Sean's determined look becomes sheepish really quick. "Ye don't have a battle cry, do ye?"

"No," We all say.

Tendrils erupt from the ground below us, sending some of us flying all over the place. I recover on one and run along it, catching Jubilee before she hits it. She gives me a nod of thanks before blasting the tendril we're standing on. She jumps out of my arms and runs towards him, avoiding tendrils as she does.

He sees her coming. He blasts the ground, creating more tendrils that erupt from under her. Black Tom narrowly dodges a blast of ice from Bobby, he then quickly puts up a wood wall, protecting him from rocks thrown by Jean.

"Dammit. He's just one guy, how's he holding us back so well?" I mutter in anger.

"Sinister was just one guy and he swatted us aside like flies," Jean unhelpfully adds. She telepathically turns some tendrils heading for us into a knot.

"Sinister has clones," I say.

"Still technically one guy though," Jean counters my counter.

I-wha-no. While I reboot the ground below us ruptures, sending Jean and I flying in the air, she stops us with her telekinesis. We land away from the battle, looking it over from a wall of Cassidy Keep. "Question: Sean's screams seem destructive, so why aren't they working against Black Tom's tendrils?"

"I'm not sure. MOVE!" Jean telekinetically pushes me aside, a boulder flung by one of the wooden tendrils slams into where we just were. "Guys, how's the search for Theresa going?"

We wait for a minute, which worries us. "Guys?" Jean asks again.

"She's definitely her father's daughter," Scott says.

"What do ye mean?" Sean asks.

"She's stopping us from reaching her with her own sonic scream," Betsy says.

"How do we not hear her?" Remy wonders.

A high-pitched noise becomes louder, eventually the walls of the keep burst open, Rogue, Betsy, Scott, and Kitty come flying out the hole. Jean and I look over the edge to see a red-headed girl around my age as the source of the scream.

She uses her powers to float down, the fight stops, Sean looks at her in shock.

She wears a green and yellow suit, with wings for gliding under her arms. She glares at the four who were looking for her. "Why do ye want to take me from me uncle?"

"Theresa?" Sean gasps.

She looks up at him, her eyes widen in surprise before narrowing. "How do ye know me name?"

"T-Theresa, it's me, yer daddy," Sean explains.

He ignores Black Tom and slowly walks towards her, as he does Black Tom sends a tendril flying towards him, Piotr intercepts it. Another tendril is sent by Black Tom, it's then frozen by Bobby.

As Sean walks towards his daughter the team intercept any tendrils sent by Black Tom. Jean bumps shoulders with me. She points at Black Tom. "He's busy dealing with everyone else, let's takin him down."

She and I share a now similar smirk. "You got a plan?"

Her eyes glow purple. "Mental assault?"

I activate my telepathy; my eyes begin to glow purple. We hold hands and turn to Black Tom, currently busy with the rest of the team. "Mental assault."

We attack his mind with a strong blast of telepathic energy. Black Tom grabs his head in agony and screams in pain before blacking out, the tendrils all falling down.

Boom. We won.

A sonic scream hits Sean point blank, courtesy of Theresa.

Guess we haven't won yet.

The others are behind Sean, and due to the scream, they're currently pinned down, Logan and Kurt especially.

Strangely enough, Sean seems to just be annoyed, he's barely holding his ground, but the scream doesn't seem to be doing anything to him. He grabs Theresa by the shoulders and shouts at her normally, although her screams drown out his words.

Realizing talking, or shouting, won't get him anywhere Sean turns to the telepathic link. "Please, show her I'm tellin' the truth."

"No problem," Jean and I reply at the same time.

We get all of the memories regarding Theresa, her mother, and what Black Tom did, and put it in her head. Slowly the shouting dissipates before stopping entirely. The others slowly get up, although Logan stays on the ground, his hands over his ears.

Theresa and Sean tear up before hugging each other, Sean caresses her hair as he mutters into her hair.

Jean grabs me in a side hug. "Look at us, reuniting a family."

"I think we did good," I reply.

"I think so too. Come on, let's go to the rest of the team," Jean says.

We fly down to the others, Logan's hitting the side of his head. "So, we did pretty good. If I say so myself," Scott boasts.

"We? We got our asses handed to us. If anything, we should praise these two for taking him out and saving our eardrums," Betsy looks at Logan as he tries to regain his hearing. "Well, almost all of us."

"Um, e-excuse me."

We turn around to see Sean standing behind his daughter, hands on her shoulders and a proud smile on his face. Theresa bites her lip, looks to the side, and nervously rubs her arm. "Sorry about blastin' all of ye with me scream. I promise I won't do it again."

"Think nothing of it," Kurt says. He walks up to her and holds his hand out, a disarming smile on his face. "Kurt Vagner."

Theresa steps back a little in shock and just stares at Kurt before looking at his hand. He awkwardly shifts on his feet. Theresa notices his discomfort. "Oh, no! It's not how ye look (Well, kind of), it's just…how do I shake it?"

Sean laughs loudly as he steps forward and shakes Kurt's hand. "Like this!" He looks at their hands. "Hm, it is weird, but still normal," He steps aside. "Yer turn."

Theresa shakes his hand; she smiles at the odd sensation. She then goes around shaking most of our hands, avoiding Logan as he continues the mission to regain his hearing. I see a light blush on her face once she reaches me. Probably 'cause she's tired. After all, holding down these guys with a continuous shout must be tiring.

"H-hi," She mutters.

"Hi! Name's Nolan Belmont. His name's Logan, by the way," I reply.

"WHAT!" Logan shouts, startling Piotr and Jubilee slightly.

"He has super hearing," I stage whisper.

She giggles. I notice Sean looking at me with a raised eyebrow. I give him my own raised eyebrow. What bro? He just shakes his head and stands behind Theresa, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "So, I'm goin' to America with the X-Men here. Would ye like to come with?"

Theresa nods. "Of course. I mean, me uncle was a maniac, and with him outta the way I got no one else to stay with."

The Blackbird lands at the edge of the keep. Scott, Logan, and Shiro walk towards it. "Wait," Piotr calls out, standing over Black Tom. "What do we do with him?"

"We've got power dampening collars on board. Just bring him along, we'll give him to SHIELD," Scott answers.

Piotr nods and picks him up. We then follow and enter the Blackbird, the jet flies up vertically, points westward, and begins the flight back home.

As we fly Jubilee turns to Sean. "So, you got a codename?"

"Jesus, Jubilee, at least let the guy acclimatize," Kitty wearily says.

"Actually yes," Sean says, surprising us all. "Banshee."
"Ooh! And I have one as well!" Theresa says. "Siryn."

Sean smiles proudly. "I've known ye for all of ten minutes and I'm already prouder than I've ever been."

Theresa just smiles at her father before looking at us. "So, ye're really the X-Men?"

"Yeah. I'm Cyclops, Jean's Marvel Girl, Bobby's Iceman, Logan's Wolverine, and Nolan's Mimic," Scott answers.

"And the rest of ye?"

"We're like your dad, we aren't officially on the team. But my codename's Shadowcat," Kitty replies.

"Jubilee's both my name and codename."

"Gambit's mine," Remy looks at Rogue, she doesn't say anything as she's deep in thought. "Like Jubilee her codename and name are de same, Rogue."

"Psylocke."

"Colossus."

"Well, it definitely fits," Sean comments.

"You can call me the Amazing Nightcrawler!" Kurt does some acrobatic movements and jumps around on the seats, avoiding our heads with skill and finesse.

"That's a long codename," Theresa says.

"Amazing's more of an adjective, actually," Kurt says.

"You can call me Sunfire," Shiro mutters.

Bobby turns his seat around to look at Sean. "Hey, Sean, quick question: why were you immune to Theresa's screams? On top of that, why were your screams shit against Black Tom's wood tendrils?"

Theresa glares at him for insulting her father's ability during the fight. Sean puts his hand over hers as a calming gesture. "Dr. MacTaggert's talked to me about that actually. She believes it's some sort of genetic resistance. Me powers don't work so well against his and vice versa. The same for Theresa."

"That's so cool," Jubilee whispers in awe. She shakes her head and points at Sean. "Wait, you said BT's powers were him shooting wood blasts, those weren't wood blasts."

Sean's jovial look becomes serious. "Ye got me there, lass. I don't know why his powers increased, maybe he's unlocked more abilities?" He looks at a door in the side of the jet, on the other side of it is an unconscious Black Tom. "I'll ask him when he wakes up."

"Oh! We have a missed call from the school," Jean calls out. She then tries to call the school again, but the call doesn't go through. We all share worried looks as Jean tries three more times, they all fail.

"Everyone, strap in," Scott simply says.

The Blackbirds speed increases.

It still doesn't help the pit of worry slowly growing in my stomach.


After an hour we arrive at the mansion. Or, what's left of it.

Metal rebar is all over the place, the ground's torn up, and what's left of the building has a giant hole running through it, from one end of the building to the other. Scott hurriedly begins the landing process.

Once the Blackbird lands in the hangar we rush out to find the others waiting for us. Damn, they're banged up pretty bad. Warren's wings are drooped down, an icepack on his head. Hank has his arm wrapped in bandages. Ororo's barely standing, even with John's help. John looks disoriented, and I'm not sure if it's because of damage he took or if he can't believe what happened.

Wait. "Where's Forge?" I ask. We look around, hoping to see him somewhere else.

"T-they took him," Ororo mutters.

"Who?" Logan asks.

"The Brotherhood," John says.

"They attacked now!?" Scott shouts in shock. "Where's the Professor?"

"They took him too," John answers.

Scott kicks some rubble aside before heading towards the elevator. Jean walks to Warren and helps him get up, supporting him as he stands. Bobby creates some ice chairs for Ororo and John to sit on, which they pretty much drop into.

The others stand around awkwardly as I walk up to Hank. "Who did this?"

A holographic screen pops up, showing footage of the attack. The school began to shake violently, no doubt thanks to Lance. As the students rush to the elevator to the safe room everything metal in the school begins to rise, including some of the rebar holding the school up. The earthquake stops, it then continues. Wait, not it doesn't. The camera changes, showing a brown and orange blur running through the school, destroying everything in its way. The footage stops there.

The screen then changes, showing the pictures of the people who attacked the school. Quicksilver, Lance, Mystique, Mortimer, Mastermind, a blond haired guy, his picture shows him firing blue blasts of energy at Warren, some brown-haired girl wearing scarlet red with a weird head piece on, a green haired girl with a green head piece on, and a huge, blond feral looking guy. His picture causes Logan to growl.

"They've expanded their numbers," Bobby says. "Who's this guy?" He points at the feral guy.

"Victor Creed, also known as Sabretooth," Logan answers.

"Wait, you know this guy?" Bobby asks.

"His name is Creed?" Kurt also asks.

"Yeah, that Creed. He and I have history," Logan growls.

"And the big ass guy?" I ask.

"No idea. He's one of the more dangerous ones, though," Hank says.

John leans forward in his seat, groaning in pain as he does. "He's strong as hell, and fast. I don't think we can stop him, we tried everything we could. Nothing worked."

"Um, hi. Yeah, my name's Katherine Pryde, you can call me Kitty, or Shadowcat, I guess. But, uh, what are we supposed to do?" Kitty points at the rest of the recruits.

"Oh! How rude of me! My name is Henry McCoy, you can call me Hank, or Beast. You don't-"

"Get ready," Scott interrupts. "They took the Professor and Forge, we gotta save them as fast as possible."

"But they don't even have suits, and I don't think we're trained for this," Theresa says.

"You don't have to Theresa. We came to recruit your father, not you, but thank you for coming," Scott turns to the others. "You guys have been through a lot in the few months we've been together. But if you want to really be X-Men you have to fight the Brotherhood, it's an inevitability. So, what do you say?"

They all look at each other, after a moment Sean steps forward. "Ye can count on us. But uh, me daughter's right, we don't have suits. Hell, we don't know where they took yer friends."

"Asteroid M," Hank says.

Scott and I look at each other. "That's what we got from Mastermind a long time ago," I say.

"Indeed. Magneto was sure to tell us where they were taking our friends. One little problem though," Hank begins.

"It's in space," Ororo interrupts.

"And the Blackbird isn't built for space travel. Give me a week and it'll basically be like it was born for space," Hank boasts.

"They don't have a week!" Scott shouts.

"Magneto gave us eight days. He says he wants us to have a fair fight as he finally achieves his victory. Dude's a pretentious asshole," John mutters.

"Now what?" Remy asks.

Scott looks them over. "We go to war."


Recruitment Arc; complete. Brotherhood Arc; commence.

There we go with the end of that arc! Next up is an arc I've been excited about for a while now, and I can't wait to share it with you guys! Also, there were a ton of X-Men characters in this chapter! Most were easy to spot while one was subtly (or not so subtly) referenced, you might know who I'm talking about. And please, tell me how I did regarding the Irish accents, I really don't want to butcher them.

And now the next bit of news: This story is indeed going on hiatus, sorry. I just feel like the quality's dropped lately, and I don't have as much time writing the chapters as I used to, hell this chapter and the previous four have all been finished the day I post them, which is something I don't like. I've decided to take the entire month of March off to recuperate, but don't worry, I'll still be working on chapters during the hiatus. And while you wait you can read my DC story The Vitruvian Man! It's great, trust me.

That's all from me. Please leave a constructive criticism and remember to stay awesome! See you on April 2nd!