Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! I rewrote a few times because I just didn't like how things came out...still not 100% a fan of what I put out, but I decided it was more important to get it out there to progress the story for you all. Without further ado, I give you the conclusion to the Brotherhood chronicle! Enjoy =)

Chapter 5

The Brotherhood Part III

Wanda awoke in metal jail cell that was dimly lit with a blue light, which flickered on and off. Aside from a minor headache, the Scarlet Witch seemed unharmed. She quickly noticed her arms were in large metal cuffs, restricting any movement whatsoever. Her jail cell had no bars, but electronic bolts that prohibited anyone from getting out. At first impression, Wanda assumed herself to be alone in the cell, but that theory changed, once she heard the voice of a young man.

"It's good to see you up, beautiful. I was hoping we'd be able to spend some time together before I get out of here."

The Scarlet Witch quickly turned to her left to see a man appear from the shadow of the cell. He had an odd costume on. His leather helmet, covering everything but his mouth, was light purple and looked like it was representing some kind of bird. He had a light purple sleeveless tunic on, that had the emblem of a H over the body in a darker purple color. He wore purple tights, with medieval looking dark purple boots on. Wanda thought about laughing about his outfit, but remembered what she was in fact wearing and decided against it.

"Who are you?" She asked curious about her new cellmate.

"You can call me Hawkeye." The man said with a smile, "so I gotta know, what kind of power does a gorgeous lady like yourself have that gets her locked into this cell?"

"It's complicated…" Scarlet Witch spoke, not wanting to explain how her power over probability worked to this stranger. "But needless to say, if I got these cuffs off, I could get us out of here easily."

"That certainly is the challenge of the day." Hawkeye replied with a tricky smile on his face, "Perhaps I can help with that? You see, you've been laying there all gorgeous and unconscious for quite some time, and I came up with a little plan while you were asleep, but I am in need of one thing from you."

"What's that?" Scarlet Witch asked, still a little uneasy about this young man. "I swear, if this is your intro to a pickup line…"

"Don't worry," Hawkeye assured her with a charming smile, "I'll save the cheesy one liners for when we're outside this facility. What I need from you is that cute little tiara you have on your head."

"What?" Scarlet Witch had no idea what Hawkeye possibly was thinking about doing. "Why do you want that?"

"I'll show you, c'mon give me the tiara."

"Whatever…" Scarlet Witch replied as she walked over to the wall where Hawkeye stood. "You're creeping me out, man. By the way, you never told me what your mutant power is."

"That's kind of a funny story." Hawkeye explained, "I was kind of on a mission for my…err, organization…and it involved helping some mutants get out of a bind, and when I helped them get away from the MRD, I was caught…and because I'm such an awesome human, everyone was convinced I had mutant powers…but I really don't, I guess I am just that good."

"Maybe your power is a super human sized ego." Wanda joked as she leaned over so the handcuffed Hawkeye could remove her tiara.

The man dressed in purple fidgeted for a few minute with the tiara in his hands then eventually was able to pick the lock of his cuffs with the tiara. Shortly after that, he uncuffed Wanda in the same way. The Scarlet Witch was very impressed with his lock picking ability and considered it good fortune that she was put in the same cell as Hawkeye. With the mutant's hands free, Wanda began concentrating her power ready to Hex the door and bust through the prison.

"Hold on just a second!" Hawkeye jumped in front of the Scarlet Witch. "Now, I'm not sure what you're power is…but if you think blasting out of here is the best plan of escape, let me assure you that the security here is tighter than a knot on a rope…stealth should be our primary escape route.

"That's a good point." Scarlet Witch had scarred memories of her and Mystique being subdued in their attempt to infiltrate this facility. "I came in with the hopes of breaking out a mutant, but that didn't exactly happen."

"Perhaps we can find a way to override the security cell here." Hawkeye spoke as he examined the door.

"Or if it just had a tiny power surge…" Wanda used her power to create a hex that overloaded the electrified jail cell door. With a loud pop, the electricity disappeared. "It could short out the entire cell."

The two quickly moved out of the cell into the facility hallway, to see a MRD guard waiting for them with his rifle pointed at the Scarlet Witch. The mutant cussed as she readied a hex to disarm the mutant hater. Before she could use her powers, Hawkeye jumped out of the cell and threw Wanda's tiara at the guard like a ninja star. The tiara jammed into the point of the rifle, and caused it to explode, knocking the soldier down.

"Wow!" the Scarlet Witch was astonished by Hawkeye's accuracy, as she picked up her tiara and put it back on her head. "That was impressive."

"You should see me with a bow and arrow!"

"I didn't come here alone." The crimson lady spoke as the two ran to the other end of the hall and took the stairs to the next level. "we have to go find Mystique and get her out of here too."

"Woah, wait a minute!" Hawkeye stopped abruptly. "Mystique….she's on a list of wanted supervillians for the organization I work with…surely…you're not here with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are you?"

"Well, we're really just called the Brotherhood…" Scarlet Witch replied, "It's only mutant haters that call us evil mutants."

"No it's really everyone…" Hawkeye corrected her, "Magneto is a pretty bad dude, and the people that follow him aren't much better. "

Amidst their argument, there was an explosion at the door near them. After the smoke cleared, Hawkeye and Wanda saw several armed MRD officers armed with various weapons from flamethrowers to laser rifles, ready to apprehend their escaped prisoners.

"Guess word got out on our escape pretty quickly." Hawkeye grumbled. "What do you say we table this talk for later, eh?"

"Good plan!" Wanda replied as she started to cast hexes, causing the small army's weapons to backfire. "There are to many of these guys to fight off though."

"We just have to get around them!" the man in purple spoke, as he slid under the legs of two flamethrowers. He unhooked the tubes connecting their flame gun to their fire tank, causing the tank to explode on the backs of the men. Hawkeye then turned around to see down the hall, Mystique being chased by several mutant hating soldiers. "Hey I have some good news and some bad news…"

"I'm curious about what in this situation could be considered good news." Wanda spoke as she caused three guns to explode and their officers to fall on their face.

"It's two parts really…First, we weren't the ones that got the attention of the MRD, so at least our escape was successful! Second, I found your friend Mystique…but the bad news, she's being chased down by a lot more soldiers."

Suddenly, an entire wall of the building was ripped off of the facility as everyone's ears were deafened by the sound of metal pulling from hinges all on its own. Everyone, mutant, mutant hater, and Hawkeye's, attention was turned to the wall leading outside. The eyes went to the skies above where they saw Magneto floating in the air, breaking apart pieces of the metal wall and throwing it at MRD officers, killing them instantly. Climbing up the walls came Toad and Sabertooth who began to fight off MRD men as well from Mystique. As they still moved up the wall, a blue and white flash whooshed by, and suddenly the Scarlet Witch who was surrounded by many soldiers was picked up and moved towards Sabertooth, Toad, and Mystique. The brunette in red turned around to see her brother, Quicksilver put her down on her feet.

"Pietro!" Wanda exclaimed as she hugged her brother. "You picked the best time to come rushing in."

Quicksilver hugged his sister tightly as he realized that this was the first time the two had ever been apart. He was very relieved to see that Wanda was not harmed. Suddenly his sister turned back to where she was in the staircase.

"Hawkeye!" She exclaimed, "I was in there with the guy who helped me get out…He's surrounded by MRD troops."

"Don't worry about it!" Quicksilver spoke as he sped off and punched the ten men surrounding the marksman. Hawkeye, once surrounded by many blinked and saw nobody near him except Quicksilver.

"Gee thanks…" Hawkeye was confused as the speedster nodded at him. "But aren't you guys supposed to be the bad guys?"

"Says who?" Pietro asked.

"Says the good guys!" A gruff voice from outside spoke. Pietro recognized it as Wolverine.

Suddenly a large red beam destroyed a wall and the X-men (Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Rogue, Gambit, and Storm) entered the building, ready to battle the Brotherhood. Mystique cursed as she gave a spinning crescent kick to the face of a MRD officer. There was just to many people trying to fight them.

"Mystique!" Magneto commanded, "Get to the Juggernaut, NOW!"

"I'll pave you a way!" Sabertooth growled as he charged forward knocking out several soldiers in the shapeshifter's path…as she transformed into a cheetah and began to run down the hall.

"Don't let get to the bottom level!" A officer yelled as his troops readied their rifles and began shooting at Mystique, all missing her with her quick reflexes.

"X-men, apprehend Mystique!" Cyclops ordered his team, "This will get a lot harder if that monster is released."

"Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Toad…help me teach our mutant brethren their place in this world!" Magneto raged as he threw large metal debris at the X-men. "If you are against Magneto then you will fall at his hands!"

Hawkeye watched the mutants battling and was baffled at how he had aided in the escape of a brotherhood mutant. With that said, he couldn't help but feel that Scarlet Witch, and her brother Quicksilver, were not as bad as the others…if only they were on different sides! Realizing that his top priority was stopping the shapeshifter from letting the notoriously evil and powerful Juggernaut escape, Hawkeye scrambled past the battle and started to chuck rocks at the cheetah, hitting her in the head each time. If only he had his bow! Mystique turned back and growled at Hawkeye in annoyance.

"Wanda! Your friend is getting in the way." Quicksilver called out as he sped around, dodging blasts from Cyclops.

"Sorry Hawkeye!" the Scarlet Witch spoke disappointed with what she had to do. "But we owe Magneto for training me the way he has…you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

The mutant hexed several metal beams that Magneto had thrown in the area to wrap around the archer and pinned him against the ground. The battle between mutants (with MRD soldiers occasionally joining in when they weren't running from the backlash of battle.) raged on for several minutes until it was clear that Mystique had made her way to the bottom level to release Juggernaut. Before long, there was a large roar of the terrifying man leaping through the floor breaking everything in sight.

Quicksilver had heard about this giant mutant, but never had he seen something so out of control and dangerous. Juggernaut was at least eight feet tall with mounds of muscle covering his entire body, which was covered in red armor and a giant red helmet. It was clear that the large man was furious that he had been contained, and aimed to break the facility down inch by inch, injuring as many people as possible within the process.

The X-men fought the Brotherhood courageously, but with the added power of the Juggernaut it appeared that Magneto's forces were too strong for the mutant heroes to face. As the fight continued, a blinding light appeared in the middle of the scene. At that moment, nobody, mutant or human alike could move a muscle. X-men, Brotherhood, MRD…everyone was frozen looking around trying to understand who was doing this.

"Wanda, do you mind?" Quicksilver yelled out to his sister, figuring this was her power again.

"It's not me!" the Scarlet Witch yelled back.

"Behold, mortals!" a voice came from the blinding light. "It is I, Stranger, who withholds motion from you!"

All eyes fell upon the old man coming from the blinding light. He had many wrinkles, white hair and a white beard, and was dressed in green and orange garments. As everyone stood still, Stranger looked around at the people gazing at each mutant and human intently, looking to further his own agenda.

"Earth fascinates me with its so called mutants." Stranger spoke, his voice demanding the attention of all the motionless. "Such powerful entities among the powerless, it's truly a biological paradox within this dimension…I simply must know more."

Stranger's eyes fell upon the Juggernaut as he continued to speak. "You seem to be the most powerful in this group, but your powers are not natural…I have no need for you…"

Stranger's attention then moved elsewhere, and looked at the Toad, as Juggernaut struggled to break free, cursing the powerful being. "You are obviously are the weakest mutant here…I will take you as an example of the least potential."

Finally, the dimensional traveler's gaze fell upon Magneto. "Ahhh…you are a being of immense power, that is very well trained…I simply must study you. It's decided! The one called Toad and the one called Magneto will come with me to further my research."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Magneto demanded. "I will do no such…"

And before the Master of Magnetism could utter the word "thing", he, Toad, and Stranger all disappeared in a bright blinding light. The awkward silence due to nobody knowing what happened was broken by a raging Juggernaut who insisted on chasing Stranger. He busted through the building and raged outside, as the structure began to fall due to lack of foundation.

"X-men we have to retreat!" Cyclops called out to his team.

"Let's get out of here too!" Quicksilver yelled, as he picked up Wanda and sped off. After getting his sister to safety, Quicksilver went back in, rescued Mystique, and returned once more to drag Sabertooth out.

"Jeez, you're a heavy one!" Quicksilver spoke as he tossed the mutant onto the ground. "You guys are welcome by the way!"

"You!" Mystique growled, as she jumped up and rushed towards the Scarlet Witch. "This whole mess is YOUR fault!"

"What are you talking about?" Scarlet Witch demanded, working hard to contain her frustration. "What did I do that was anymore wrong then what you did!? If I remember correctly, we BOTH were caught!"

"Magneto was so certain that you're power would be a game changer in this entire plan, and you ended up being nothing more than a dud!" Mystique yelled furiously. "If you hadn't gotten caught…Argh, forget this!"

Mystique stormed away, as Sabertooth followed her. Scarlet Witch, confused at the turn of events, began to walk their way as well.

"Wait Wanda!" Quicksilver grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Those guys are a bunch of jerks. Let's not waste our time with them anymore. Besides, with Magneto gone, we don't really owe anything to Mystique or Sabertooth. Let's go back to doing things our way, it was a lot better. Besides, America seems like a pretty cool place to explore, don't you think?"

Scarlet Witch smiled as she considered leaving the Brotherhood. "You're right, they definitely didn't seem like the folks we should associate with. Forget them. Let's go Pietro!"

With that, Quicksilver picked up his sister and the two sped off in the opposite direction of the Brotherhood, leaving their team and not looking back.

A large floating fortress, known as the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters uncloaked from over the rubble of the New York's mutant containment facility. Several officers, including a certain superhero super soldier clad in red, white, and blue dropped down to find their missing teammate. It was this patriotic icon that pulled the purple sharpshooter from the rubble.

"Are you okay, soldier?" he spoke to Hawkeye.

"Yes, thanks to you Captain." Hawkeye replied. "That was definitely an odd experience at best…Mutants are not to be taken lightly, that's for sure."

"Let's get you back to the medical ward and treat those injuries."

"Sure thing…but when I'm better, with your permission I'd like to go seek out a couple of new recruits." Hawkeye spoke as he was helped into the S.H.I.E.L.D ship. "I met a couple of unusual mutants that I think would be a great asset to our new team."