Disclaimer: All right, you got me. I own um. Yup. All of them. Except for the ones who belong to Kids WB and Marvel, of course. That's all of them. Oh well.

Note: Warning. Violence in this chapter. Plus a lot of Lance ANGST. So if you're into that sort of thing, you're going to love this part. Oh, and as everyone seems to make up their own pasts for the characters, I did as well, and there's a brief mention of said stuff in here…in the ANGST section. Hope you don't mind that sort of thing, but its not a major part really. Did I mention its in the ANGST section? Sorry, I just like saying ANGST!!! It's cool. Anyway… Enjoy.

Lance Alvers was having the mother royal of bad days. He'd flunked his latest Western Civ test which, considering, the rest of his grades in that class, probably meant he'd have to take it again in summer school. Either that or, heaven forbid!, repeat his senior year of high school. As if that wasn't enough, his car had been having problems lately that took him all afternoon to repair, his job had called and told him they needed him to work on Saturday after all, and Fred had eaten everything edible in the house again. So, to relax, he and the others had gone to this concert, Bayville's 'Big Event' of the year. He'd been chilled out a bit by early morning, listening to too loud music and drinking some of Pietro's spiked punch, when he'd seen her. Kitty; the sweet girl, the hot babe, the beautiful angel; the one he'd secretly had a crush on ever since he'd moved here. She was everything a guy like him could never have, sweet and pure and innocent, but in a nice way not a "perfect" untouchable way like that Jean Grey skank.

Of course, the crush wasn't that "secret" anymore. Lance had tried to get her attention a few times; she knew he liked her. Each time he had failed miserably. Katherine didn't think much of him, he knew, not that he blamed her after some of the stuff he'd done in the past. But he'd vowed that somehow he'd change her opinion of him; let her know that she could always count on him. So, hopefully, he'd gone over.

It had been a disaster. Lance would have said it was the worst mistake of his life but, unfortunately, he remembered the other mistakes of his life, and some of them were doozies. It was certainly the most scathing mistake of his life, anyway. She'd turned him down. Complete rejection. And not just that, but had done it in a way that left no doubt whatsoever that he would never have a chance with her; that she'd never see him as anything but a jerk and loser. With just a handful of words she had crushed his hope, finally, and irretrievably. Lance started to get angry, then stopped with a sigh. What was the point? Not thinking of anything in particular he wandered around the crowed, depressed and aimless.

Abruptly the wall of people thinned in front of him a little and Lance saw his friends not far away. Two of them, anyway. Todd Tolensky worked the crowd, his small frame going easily unnoticed as he slid between and around people, lithe fingers going as easily unnoticed as they darted into pockets and returned with wallets. Those wallets then disappeared into the Toad's own pockets with startling quickness before he moved on to his next victim. Not far away, Freddy Dukes watched, munching on a complimentary donut. Lance stalked up, collaring the freshman away from his latest mark. Todd yelped loudly and swung around, obviously petrified to see who had him by the neck. He went limp with relief when he recognized the familiar features of the teen's face.

"Geez, Lance! You trying to give me a heart attack or something?"

"We're leaving," Lance told him shortly. "Find Pietro. Tell him to be at the car in five minutes or he can fucking walk home."

"No need!" A voice chirped brightly in his ear. Lance jumped in spite of himself and let go of Tolensky. Todd straightened and exaggeratedly rubbed his neck, grimacing in fake pain.

Lance looked irritably at Pietro Maximoff, who had somehow managed to slip behind him unnoticed once again. The silver haired sophomore was grinning so hard his face looked like it was about to split in two.

"I really wish you'd stop doing that."

Pietro slapped an innocent expression on his features, eyes widening cutely. "Doing what, Lancey? Didn't you want me to show up?"

Lance turned away. He had a headache and he didn't want to deal with this now. "Get to the car," he told all three of them as Freddy trundled over. "We're leaving."

"Leaving?!" Todd spoke up, sounding like a kid being dragged out of a toyshop. "But WHY?! We barely got here, yo."

Lance turned his best quelling look on the smaller boy, which quieted him immediately. Lance's quelling stares were fearful enough at normal times. When he was in a bad mood they were downright scary. Everyone tiptoed softly around their leader when he was annoyed. Except for Pietro. Lance doubted that Pietro had ever heard of the word tact, or had any idea of its meaning.

"Oh, I know what this is about." Quicksilver nodded knowingly. "I know what's gotten our Fearless Leader in such a funk!" He wore such an air of knowing mystery about himself that it was impossible not to say something.

"What?" Fred asked impatiently.

"Shut up, Pietro!" Lance snapped, knowing what was coming.

"Kee-tee!" the sophomore sing-sang. "I saw you talking to her!"

Both the others groaned. "You're not still going on about her, are you?" Todd asked with great disgust.

"Yeah, man," Fred agreed from his other side. "I mean, attraction is one thing but this is just sad."

"I said shut up!" His headache was getting worse.

Pietro donned an imaginary pair of spectacles and a bad accent at the same time. He then peered at his friend intently 'over' them. "Yes, ze patient iz suffering from an obzkure dizeaze known as "Kittyitis." It iz completely untreatable, I am afraid, and often proves fatal…"

"Okay, that's it!" Lance snarled. "I'm outta here! You bozos can just go amuse yourselves."

The three exchanged glances. "But…how are we gonna get home?" Todd asked him, looking cowed but determined to ask nevertheless.

"Fred can drive." The dark haired teen searched in his pocket for a second before coming up with the keys. He tossed them to his largest companion who caught them fumblingly. Lance started to turn away, and then paused.

"Oh. And Todd?"

The freshman looked at him rather apprehensively. "Yo?"

"That money you stole? It goes towards groceries for the household. No hoarding."

The other ducked his head. "Yeah, sure, Lance. Whatever you say."

"Good. Now I'm leaving. You losers are pissing me off." As he walked off, still discontented, he heard Pietro's voice raised mockingly.

"Tou…chy!"

It only made him grind his teeth and walk faster.

Not long after that he managed to push his way out of the crowd and lose himself in the nothing wood behind it. Finally some peace and quiet! Lance sat down on a handy fallen tree stump and promptly stared off into space blankly. Now that he was away from the unwelcome distractions of his friends and the concert he had nothing left to do but brood. What is it? He wondered. What is it about me that she hates so much? As always when this question bounced through his mind, Lance took stock of himself. It wasn't a very encouraging list. A: He was poor. B: He'd grown up practically on the streets of Chicago, caring for his heroin-addicted mother. C: He was a mutant. Although Kitty couldn't possibly care about that since she was one herself, if still made Lance feel dirty sometimes, despite himself. No matter how many times he repeated Magneto's words about mutants being the next great step in human evolution, where Lance had grown up mutant had been a byword insult, passing even faggot and nigger in derogatory implications. It was hard to wipe out that ingrained idea, that feeling of inferiority, no matter how untrue he knew it was now. Did he know it was untrue? D: He swore…let's just say often. A petty detail, maybe, but still something that someone as sweet as Kitty would find repellant. And E: He and his friends had fought, harassed, and insulted the X-Freaks…No, the X-Men, he corrected himself, at every possible opportunity they had gotten. With a list that long, he glumly concluded, how could she do anything BUT despise him? The brutal fact was that he didn't deserve her. Kitty was too good for him.

Fuck. Lance sighed and fumbled deep in his pockets again. Now, where were they? Ah! There. A moment later he came up with an unopened pack of cigarettes. The teenager had quit smoking nearly a year ago, mostly at Todd's insistence. The younger boy used to go on at length about how bad they were for you and how he should quit before he caught cancer from them, until he was driving Lance crazy. He had quit mostly just to make the other shut up about it already. That, and…it was kinda nice having someone else worry about him for a change. Not that he'd ever admit it. It made him want to do something to allay that fear and make Todd feel better. Some long embedded big brotherly instinct, no doubt. He'd bought this pack in case of emergency but had successfully managed to leave it unopened for all this time until it lay, nearly forgotten, at the bottom of his coat pocket. Nearly a year since he'd stopped cold turkey and he'd never strayed once, but Damn he could use a smoke right now. Kitty's already rejected you, the defeatist part of his mind whispered. So why bother trying to improve yourself? Why not add one more vice to the pile? It's big enough already. So thinking, he cracked the package open, found a lighter in another pocket, and lit up. At least he wouldn't have to deal with Todd getting on his case about it way out here.

***

Evan, Kitty, and a staggering Rogue slowly made their way through the forest. Slowly, much to Evan's consternation. But it was simply impossible to make the Goth girl go anything but slowly. She would keep trying to wander off in other directions. Or worse yet, would lean against one or the other of them as they guided her along, in order to say something in a loud conspiratorial whisper. This would ruck up the sleeves of her loose flowing green top, baring her arms. Then, of course, whoever it was would have to carefully wriggle out of her grip to avoid touching Rogue's bare skin. Evan even got zapped briefly by this, and was still feeling a little lightheaded from it. Rogue had just giggled again, a singularly odd sound to come from her, and began telling Kitty a particularly embarrassing story from the New 'Yorker's potty training days. This did not improve Evan's mood any, and he urged once again for more speed.

"…and then his father said, "Ah don't care how much it helps him, you're not letting him use mah watch again!"

Kitty cracked up at the end of the story, hugging her stomach with one hand as she laughed. She was enjoying this far more than Evan was.

"Oh, come on. Can we hurry?!" He had a headache from Rogue's touch and felt queasy, plus he was more worried than ever about getting in trouble for being outside when they had been forbidden to be. All in all, he didn't think this was the time for embarrassing stories. Especially ones about him.

Kitty shook her head with a smile on her face. Her expression showed clearly that she was in the mood to tease him.

"Well, I think…" What she thought would be forever unknown, however. At that moment there was a sudden roar in front of them and something very large leaped from the tall bushes. It dived straight at Kitty with a terrifying snarl. Considering this, she could perhaps be forgiven for giving a startled scream and dropping Rogue's arm, scrambling away from the creature. It landed where the pink clad girl had been standing and paused there for a second. Evan got an impression of a vaguely humanoid shape and a lot of red-orange hair, and that was all. It didn't exactly wait for inspection. With a roar it moved again. Though Rogue was standing almost next to it, it ignored her completely in favor of diving once more for the slim, chestnut haired girl. But Kitty had had time to get her bearings by now. With somewhat more presence of mind she held still, simply phasing her body out of whack as it pounced. The thing passed through her as if she were a ghost to land on the other side, snarling angrily at this second failure.

Evan, meanwhile, was not just sitting idly by as his friend was attacked. He sprouted spikes all over his body and started to charge the creature, only to reconsider as he spied a flash of claws nearly as long as Logan's. Instead he hurled his weapons, sending them shooting out of his body with surprising force to arrow towards the monster. It ducked hurriedly and once again froze, staring up at him for one unnerving moment with white-flecked golden eyes. Then it glanced back in a disgusted fashion at Kitty who, what with the beast and all the flying sharp things, was trying very hard to keep herself insubstantial. The thing was still for exactly one second longer, and then flung itself directly at Evan. It moved so fast that the black boy fell back a pace in shock, and still collapsed, the creature's weight crashing into his legs. He popped more spikes up and tried to slash the thing off him, but it twisted and managed to avoid the worst of the lows. The hard talons of its feet dug hot flashes of pain into his shins as it tried to come at him again without getting cut up by the teen's exoskeleton. Nearby, Kitty watched helplessly, not sure of what to do.

But there were three of them. Rogue was still standing where she'd been when the monster had first appeared. Fright had scared her sober and her bright green eyes were wide as she watched it attack her friends. She looked down at her arms and concentrated fiercely, sweat popping out on her brow with the intensity of the effort. All of a sudden she grew six long, whitish spikes, three on each arm tearing through her emerald sleeves. The girl still had a trace amount of Evan's power from her accidental touch earlier that night and now she put it to good stead. Rogue raised her pale arms triumphantly and the spikes spun out of her skin like bullets out of a gun to slam, one right after another, into the beasts unprotected back. It hadn't expected attack from this quarter, and thus had not seen to dodge. The creature reared back in pain, its claws digging into Evan again as it moved. The boy copied Rogue's action with his own arms and popped a few more of the needle-like spines into its furry hide. It roared again. Kitty, meanwhile, stopped thinking and simply threw herself into the fray. She grabbed a large stick and came running over. The monster was still reeling from Spyke's attack when she whacked it over the head with the wood as hard as she could. It snarled and swung one massive paw at her, claws arcing, but she simply phased out again and they passed right through her. The stick thudded to the ground as her arms lost solidity. Now she had a problem. She couldn't pick her only weapon up unless she returned to normal, but if she did so she would be at risk from the creature once again.

It, however, had evidently had enough. With a sound that was almost a yelp, and yet still managed to sound as menacing as a growl, it scrambled off Evan and fled, loping into the night on all fours.

"God!" Rogue said explosively as all three stared after it.

"Tell me about it," Evan agreed and started to get up. "I…ooh!" only to find abruptly that he couldn't. The minute he tried to put weight on his legs a white-hot pain tore through him like a lightning bolt. He looked down at himself for the first time and to his surprise found several long slashes in his jeans where the best's claws had dug in. They were oozing wetly and the flesh under them throbbed with a steady pain that he hadn't noticed in the rush of action before. Both the others turned to look at him when he cried out.

"Oh, Evan! You're all over blood!" Kitty exclaimed, seeing the problem at once.

"Gee, thanks for telling me that, Kitty. Otherwise I might not have known." His sarcasm fell a bit flat as he once again tried to lever himself up and once again ended up sitting on the ground, gasping.

"Stop that!" Rogue said sharply and hurried over to him, leaning close to check over the injury. Then she looked up at the other girl. "Go to the mansion," she told her tersely. "Tell them what's happened. Ah'll stay here with him; he'll not be moving in the state he's in. You'll have to come back with a stretcher or something, ah'm afraid."

"No way!" Evan protested. He was ignored.

"Right," Kitty nodded, her face very pale. She turned and set off at once.

"I don't need a stretcher! I'm fine!" Evan insisted again and once more tried to get up. He didn't have time to do more than feel the first jab of pain before Rogue was pushing him down again.

"Stop trying to move," she told him crossly. "We don't know how bad the damage is yet. Or do you WANT to end up in a wheelchair like Xavier?!"

That quieted him. Evan glared but he didn't attempt to rise again. After a moment he spoke, his voice the sickly sweet tone of revenge. "You know, it's a good thing that adrenaline washes out alcohol in the bloodstream. Otherwise I'd REALLY have a problem."

"What are you talkin…?" Rogue trailed off as memory hit home. Her expression grew horrified. "Oh no! What did ah do?!"

"Well, I really don't think I should tell you that," Evan said, a smile rising over his pained grimace.

"But…but ah didn't drink anything with alcohol in it!"

"Pietro spiked the punch."

"He what?! Oh, next time ah see him that white haired little freak is DEAD MEAT!"

Evan's smile grew wider. "Can't wait to see it."

***

He was hurting. There seemed to be dozens of pinpricks all over his skin, buzzing at him angrily like hornet stings. His head was sore from where that little mutant girl had smacked him with the branch. And he was frustrated and angry at being stopped. Three against one was too many, that much was obvious. At least right now when he was still so very weak. But he hadn't known all three were mutants, dammit! He'd only seen the little girl use her power. The other two had seemed like normal teenagers, easy to dispatch. And then, BOOM! They both pull weapons out of their very skin! He was going to have to find those three again very soon, once he'd gotten stronger again. Then he'd show them not to mess with him. He continued to lope along the ground on all fours, not really paying attention to where he was going now as plans of revenge formulated in his mind. All of a sudden he smelled something; something unnatural in this forest air. He slowed, inhaling deeply as he tried to figure out what the scent was and where it was coming from. Cigarette smoke, that was it. He felt a sudden vicious smile form on his face. Some pathetic, stupid human had wandered into these woods and was smoking a cigarette.

"Poor little human," he chuckled to himself. "Don't you know those are so bad for you?" As they would be. The smoke had given the person away, and now he would be prey. After all, if the creature couldn't take a mutant, he would at least have the fun of killing an ordinary person this night. Sort of a consolation prize. And the smoke smell was coming from…There! He'd pinpointed it! Not waiting even a moment, he turned and raced for the spot, mouth watering in expectation.

***

Lance finished his cigarette and flicked it to the ground, watching the glowing orange tip slowly die even as he exhaled its smoke from his lungs. That was it. The whole pack was gone. And while it had calmed his nerves greatly, it hadn't done a damn thing about his depression. Oh well. Thems the breaks. He hadn't really expected them to help much anyway. They were only a placebo and he knew it. But now that they were gone he figured there was nothing for it but to go home. Pity. He didn't really feel like moving.

Something rustled in the bushes. Lance watched them shake with mild interest. He didn't really care what sort of little furry animal might be in there, but it was something to do. A deep lethargy had fallen over him, sinking the boy into the deep waters of unhappiness, and he was loath to shake it off. The rustling increased, shaking the branches of the bush violently. In spite of himself, the teenager sat up a little and watched, curious about what was making all the racket. A moment later he had his answer. Two squirrels burst out of the underbrush and raced past him, disappearing from sight almost immediately as they darted into the undergrowth behind. Lance frowned. Admittedly, he didn't know much about squirrels, but they hadn't looked like they were playing. They'd looked more frightened to him. Weird. You know, on second thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad getting out of this forest. It's getting awfully late, after all...

He was interrupted in mid-thought. A giant crashing shook the very trees in front of him, creating a terrible racket, and a large form barreled out into his little clearing to stop almost directly in front of him. Lance stared at the creature as it looked back with glittering, golden eyes. It was huge; at least eight feet long, or tall, or whatever. It was rather hard to tell which, as it was crouched on all fours on the ground. The thing bristled with coarse reddish fur out of which long, wickedly sharp claws gleamed. It was roughly man shaped in appearance but moved and growled like an animal. It also had a number of very familiar spikes sticking out of its hide in various different places, the teen noted abstractedly. The monster stared at him with those mesmerizing eyes out of a face that was so human it was uncanny. It smiled at him in a feral manner. Lance was beginning to think he was in very serious trouble.

The beast lunged for him, claws extended, but he had been expecting something like that and rolled out of the way desperately, landing on his back five paces away from the snorting, snarling creature. Now was no time to make bones about when to use one's power. Lance spread out his hands and concentrated hurriedly as the monster turned to face him once again and started slowly advancing. The ground shook as the dark haired boy's power took hold. The thing abruptly found walking difficult as the earth bucked and practically tore itself to bits beneath its feet. Everywhere else, the woods were still. This was the only place that whirled like it was made of disturbed water, waves of loam and pine needles splashing everywhere. The monster crouched as best it could, and then leaped from that spot where the earthquake was worst, timing his jump to coincide with the bucking ground, further propelling him to safety. He landed on the other side of the clearing. Lance swung around to face the beast again, still pushing himself. The leaf-covered earth there also began to tremble, starting slowly as it built momentum.

"You're a mutant!" The monster exclaimed, surprise coloring its thick tone, garbled and guttural, but still understandable.

Lance tripped as he got up and almost ended up on his ass again. He stared at it in shock, the ground quieting as he lost his focus. "You can talk!"

"Yes." The creature suddenly grinned again; its pointy, carnivorous teeth making it look quite lethal. "And you are mine!" With a roar it leaped into the air towards the boy, covering as much space without worldly contact as it could to counteract the effect of the mutant's power. Lance saw the thing hurtling towards him and desperately tried to backpedal, only to trip completely this time over the very stump he'd been sitting on earlier. He landed across it heavily.

The monster...no, the mutant, as it must be so, landed on him a moment later with a thump so hard it knocked all the breath out of the boy's body. He never had a chance to focus again before it had grabbed his head and smashed it against the hard wood beneath him. Darkness descended like a thick and painful curtain.

***

Uh oh. Poor Lance! I felt so bad for him as I was writing this. But don't blame me, folks. It's not my fault. I didn't plan this. I never figure out the plot beforehand, I just write the situation and I write the characters as I understand them; what they'd do or say. The plot writes itself. Sometimes it takes me completely by surprise! Hehe.

Oh, and Lucid Dreamer will be happy to know that I ALMOST killed Evan in this story. (He keeps insisting I do that. So do several other people for that matter. Hm.) Almost should count for something, right?

Please Review. Review. REVIEW. (Marge Simpson: Repeating it will help you remember) REVIEW!!! I have poor self esteem. I need to know what people think. What can I say? I'm a praise hog. Constructive criticism or any ideas you might have are also more than welcome. Just write me!