Something beeped in his pocket. The perimeter alarm. Somewhere, someone or something had disturbed part of the fence. Jean and Logan looked at him, suddenly alert.

"I'll go check." He turned and walked briskly out. They'd had a lot of false alarms from one section this week. A tree had come down on part of the fence last winter and it hadn't been right since. He heard the piano stop as he passed the other room. The Professor had joined Kitty and the others.

"Scott?" The Professor called.

"Perimeter. I'll shout if it's anything."

He had to keep calm. Either this would be that stupid fence playing up again, and he'd just walk back to the common rooms and tell everyone it was fine, or he'd have to lead a defensive fight over the heads of nearly a hundred children. Either way, he could not panic. He let himself in to the security room. The perimeter light that was on was the south side, section 22. The broken bit of fence was section 4. So if it was a false alarm, it wasn't that false alarm. Scott went for the nearest CCTV feed, at the junction between sections 21 and 22. Back… five minutes, play at double speed.

A snaking line of covered, military-looking, all-terrain vehicles passed the camera. Eight of them. When was this? Four minutes ago, so maybe two minutes before the perimeter alarm. He drew a sharp breath. They had to assume this was an attack.

,

"This stuff smells funny." Logan complained half-heartedly. Aurielle had finished painting the tips of his claws, but had ordered him not to move until they'd dried.

"It smells of nail polish." The girl replied. Logan still had his ears trained on the corridor, listening for Scott.

Footsteps. He shifted in his seat. If that was Scott, he was coming too fast for it to be nothing. Logan pulled his claws back in. It stung. It'd pass. Aurielle gave an indignant yelp.

"I didn't say-"

"They're coming from the South." Scott shouted from outside. Logan jumped to his feet. "Everyone, go! This is not a drill!"

Storm was ahead of him, Jean just behind. Everyone knew where they were going, or they should know.

"How far?" Storm asked Scott.

"I give us three minutes to line of sight. Go."

Storm sprinted for the stairs, Scott went back towards Security Control, presumably to fetch his visor, Logan ran the other way, on to the front lawn. Behind him, he heard the two evac bells start. They were surprisingly low-tech, just big, brass hand bells, stored above a sign that warned what happened to anyone who rang the bells without a good reason.

A bunch of boys were playing catch on the lawn, they looked up as he ran towards them.

"Get in!" He shouted. "Get in and get below! Is there anyone else out this side?"

"No, sir." One kid said as they bolted past him. The skies suddenly darkened.

,

Storm tipped her head back and raised her hands. Let them come. Let them try to harm their children. Wind was swirling around her, the skies were black. She might give the storm a minute or two to build before she made it rain. She walked up to the edge of the roof. She could hear Kitty and Peter's alarm bells far below, see children running for cover. Let them come. She was the storm and she was waiting for them.

,

Kitty sprinted up the stairs towards the girls' dorms, swinging the bell in her hand. They had this down, this part anyway, they knew what to do, they all knew where to run to. She started counting girls as they passed her. They'd do a proper count downstairs. Jubilee caught her eye from the far end of the corridor. Between them, they worked their way along, checking for stragglers. They had to be fast. They had to be the fastest they'd ever been.

,

Scott passed what seemed to be about half the boys in the school on his way up to the middle school boys' dorm. Nice and high, nice and far from the tree line. It was probably the best vantage point he could use if the attack was from the South. He pushed the lock bar off the window and opened it as wide as it would go. He'd be shot at. No doubt about it. He'd just have to be fast.

He felt the touch of The Professor's mind. He'd worked out a while ago how to help a telepath reach him.

Scott

He could just about feel Jean through the contact, sorting out her emergency medical kit, making sure she was ready.

"Get Rogue to come to me." Scott said.

"I will, as soon as I can."

Then there was Storm. Scott had never felt her mind through telepathy before, but there was no mistaking it. He kept his eyes trained on the treeline. Where were they? Surely it had been almost three minutes. They had to be close.

,

"Go, go, come on!" Kitty called to the last students as they ran down the stairs. Peter came down from the other side.

"That's all from up there." He said.

"Me too."

They met at the bottom. He laid his hand on her shoulder and made himself metal. Kitty put her hand on his for an instant and ran after the younger ones. Peter was a ground fighter. She was not. Logan came back in just as she turned the corner to the secret elevator. They were doing better than they had the last time they'd been attacked. With any luck, they wouldn't be able to run off with six kids this time.

She followed the other students down through the elevator. They'd already started lining themselves up by dorm. Once everyone in your dorm was there, you sat down. Half the kids in the room were already on the floor, others were sitting down as she watched. She waited a second. Two dorms were still on their feet. She cast her eyes over middle school girls and tenth grade boys. Marcia, Sam, Jono and Paul. She needed to wait for –

Kurt landed in the middle of the room, clasping Jono by the wrists.

"There were others!" He cried, and disappeared again. Then he reappeared with Sam and vanished. Sam and Jono hurried over to their dorm group before Kurt disappeared and reappeared again with Paul.

"Marcia." Kitty said. "We need to find Marcia."

Kurt was panting. "The Professor-"

And Kitty felt him, like a snatch of song or a cadence of voice stuck in her head, he was there.

"Marcia." She thought frantically. "Marcia. We don't know where she is."

She could feel others, like echoes of voices, through the link. They'd done this half a dozen times now, it was still weird. Mr. Summers, Ms Munroe, Logan, Dr Grey, Peter…

"Where have they gone?" She felt Mr Summers wondering, from a dorm upstairs.

"One thing at a time! Please!"

Then just an impression from Dr Grey, no words, just an impression of an overwhelming rush of senses.

"She's here! She's here!" That was Logan's mind, then Peter's echoed it. This was so disorientating. She almost saw Marcia running down the stairs, skin glistening with water, leaving wet footprints on the carpet. The network of minds seemed to draw back from Kitty slightly, as though The Professor had noticed she was struggling. Marcia'd been in the shower. She'd been in the shower and Kitty'd missed her. So that mistake was Kitty's fault.

Even though she was further back from the network of minds, Kitty felt what Ms Munroe shouted next.

"I see them. From the South."

The lift came down again. Marcia stumbled out. Kitty pulled her in to her arms, forgetting for a moment why that might be a very stupid idea. But Marcia didn't hurt her.

"You okay?" Kitty asked.

Marcia nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You all know where you're going. Run to the rendez-vous. We'll call you back when it's over."

Jubilee walked up to her and hugged her. "Don't get killed Kitty-cat."

Kitty smiled and stepped straight through Jubilee. "I'll be fine."

Kurt held out a hand to her.

,

Scott touched his hand to the side of his head, keeping his eyes fixed on the hood of the nearest truck. It came apart, the front half of the chassis almost split in two by his blast. He heard men in the truck scream and start to scramble out, the truck had caught fire.

"Cyclops, Storm, they'll kill any adult they find." The Professor's words didn't comfort Scott. "Lethal force is justified. They'll kill any adults, and any children who resist, take those that don't." Right. Okay. They were killing then.

Rain started to pour down outside. Scott sighted the second truck and shot it in the same way, this time moving the blast up, along the vehicle. Men screamed again. Storm brought lightening down on the third truck. The men who'd been in the first two trucks were rallying. They were the threat now. Scott turned his visor down and took one high in the chest. If he screamed, Scott didn't hear him over everyone else yelling. Two below had seen him, were aiming guns up at him. He blasted one of them and dropped back, covering his face with his arms. He wasn't armoured at all. He hadn't had time. He heard the glass above him shatter. Thunder rolled again. He wanted to tell Storm to watch herself, but she knew.

He crawled to a new window on all fours and shot again. He took two before they figured out where he was firing from. This time, he wasn't quite quick enough. He felt a couple of tiny shards of glass sting his face. He wasn't badly hurt. He went back to his first window. He had to keep this up. Where was Rogue? She was supposed to come to him as fast as she could. She worked better with him than with anyone else. She wasn't only safe with his power, she was fully voluntary. She could look right at something, eyes open, and not damage it until she decided to. He pushed the question out towards The Professor, but he wasn't sure he was heard. And where was Kurt? They were holding for now, but they'd need Kurt before this was over, Scott was sure of it. Eight vehicles, each probably carrying five to ten men… They'd need their second layer. Hopefully they wouldn't need Jean, in either capacity.

Scott chose another window and tried again. Storm had been busy, and it looked like they weren't sure where she was. He opened fire again.

,

Peter crouched with Logan by the elevator. The South door was closed, no one had even reached it yet. Outside sounded like hell to Peter. Men were screaming, he'd heard what sounded like something blowing up. He thought that if Mr Summers or Ms Munroe had died, they'd have felt something through the network. It must be the invaders screaming, dying.

"Was Bobby supposed to be with us?" Peter whispered to Logan.

"Nah." Logan was very calm, given the circumstances. "He's floor above. He can't take a bullet in the head, no sense in risking him down here."

"Wasn't he supposed to ice the steps though?"

"Cyclops, Storm, look left!" But they all heard it, The Professor's voice in their heads.