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PART 4
"Enter Kwannon"
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The Brotherhood "pad" was in its usual state of disarray, much to Mystique's dismay. Toad was hopping from wall-to-wall, playing keepaway with a sandwich Blob had just made for himself, a path of destruction of in the wake of the enormously overweight mutant.

"Grrr.... I'm gonna crush you!" Blob threatened, launching himself at Toad, but as the agile youngster launched himself across the room with a powerful leap, Fred ended up landing face-first into a tattered, green couch, which promptly snapped in half under his weight.

"Gotta catch me first!" Todd stuck his dark green tongue out at Fred, stretching it out a good three feet, and giving a rather disgusting raspberry. Mystique wiped the green slime-spray from her face.

"Boys!" Mystique shouted, tossing her red-orange hair over her shoulder, squinting her catlike yellow eyes at the pair. The two didn't acknowledge her presence there. As Toad leaped past her, the shape-shifter grabbed the sandwich out of the pale green mutant's hand and threw it on the floor, "I am tired of this behavior! And you wonder why you never defeated the X-Men until I brought Wanda here." Blob looked at the remains of his perfect Dagwood sandwich as they laid splattered on the floor. He almost cried as the toothpick-speared green olive rolled to a stop at his feet. "Where are Lance, Pietro, and Wanda?"

"Lance is out... somewhere..." Toad's eyes darted here and there, then he smiled, attempting to look innocent. It was pathetic. The truth was, Lance was out with Kitty, and Mystique obviously would not have been happy about that, so Todd had volunteered to cover for him. Well, the truth was Lance had threatened to hang him up by his tongue if he didn't cover for him, but he was the only one who had to know that, "Pietro went out to get some grub, and Wanda's somewhere with that spooky lady that's been trainin' her to control her powers."

Mystique eyed the pair standing before her, her blue lips curled into a deep frown, "I need you two to get this house looking presentable," she said, "we are going to have company tonight."

"Company?" Blob tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy, "who?"

"That really isn't any of your business, just do as your told," Mystique jabbed a finger into Blob's chest, and it sunk in about up to the last knuckle. She scowled in distaste as she withdrew the finger, "I'll be upstairs getting ready," she said, "Miss Kwannon only works for the most distinguished customers."

Blob and Toad looked at each other, wondering to themselves just who this Miss Kwannon was, but they merely shrugged and went to work.

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It had been a few weeks since Sabretooth's attack, Betsy's wounds had healed and she was feeling her old self again, although a bit better. She was looked upon more favorably by Mister Logan, although he tried his best not to show it. She had no illusions that she had become any better of a fighter, she thought to herself as she wandered into the kitchen, walking to the table where Kurt and Scott were watching some Van Damme movie on TV. It wasn't exactly the kind of movie Professor Xavier encouraged his students to watch, but Kurt and Scott seemed thoroughly sucked into it.

"Where is everyone?" Betsy asked, opening the refrigerator door and poking her head inside.

"Jean and Evan went off to see their folks for a few weeks, I'm really not sure where Kitty went off to, said she went shoe shopping," Scott said as a car went up in a ball of flame on the screen, "Rogue went to the library, said something about a new Anne Rice book."

Betsy grabbed an apple from the fridge, looking outside and smiling at the perfectly beautiful day. Summer was usually a pleasant time in Bayville, the days were fairly hot, but the humidity wasn't deadly. She eyed the pool in the backyard and grinned, "I'm going to go for a swim," she said, biting into her apple, "you two want to come?"

Kurt and Scott thought for a moment... Betsy in a bathing suit or Van Damme? It was a hard decision, and they both looked at each other for a moment, knowing that the same thing was running through the other's mind.

"I'll be right down," she said, heading for the stairs to get changed into her suit.

"Vhat do you think, man?" Kurt asked, his tail swishing in the air.

"Just as long as you don't get blue fur caught in the filter," Scott leapt out of his seat and darted upstairs to change into his trunks. Kurt ported to his room and got changed as quickly as he possibly could. Ah, summer was a wonderful thing, the furry blue boy thought to himself.

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The doorbell rang at six sharp at the Brotherhood house. Mystique, in her usual black leather ensemble, answered the door. Blob, Quicksilver, and Toad watched from the top of the stairs. The shadowy figure of a woman was outside, and as she moved in, the three could make out distinctly Asian features, she was Japanese, they deduced, and by the looks of her, particularly the katana strapped to her back, she was a dangerous woman.

"Hey, what's going on?" Lance asked, coming up behind the other three. In perfect synch, they put their fingers to their lips, it was really quite a comical scene.

"Glad to see you finally got back from your date with Miss Kitty," Pietro shot out quickly, although a bit quieter than usual.

"Mystique has company, yo," Toad said, "and she doesn't look like the friendly sort, neither."

Lance crouched beside the other three, looking down the stairs, watching Mystique lead Kwannon to the dining room. They felt a pair of eyes drilling into their backs. They turned around to see Wanda standing over them.

"I'm not even going to ask what you idiots are doing," she said, continuing on her way to her room.

The four remaining Brotherhood members turned their attention back to matters at hand, "Okay," Lance said, "one of us needs to sneak down there and take a listen, find out what they're talking about."

"I'll go," Blob volunteered happily.

"Oh, yeah, like they won't hear you coming down the stairs," Pietro said quickly, "I think Todd should go. He could cling to the walls, would probably make the least amount of noise."

"You kiddin', man?" Toad said, "did you see that sword on her back? I ain't goin' down there!" A heavy hand came to rest on Todd's shoulder. He looked up to see Blob.

"I'm sorry about this, buddy," he said, picking the green-skinned mutant up and hurling him downstairs. Todd stuck to the far wall, shooting a very nasty look up at Blob, who just shrugged. He quietly crept along the hideously wallpapered wall, trying to hear what was being discussed.

"I am to be paid tonight for this job," he heard Kwannon said.

"Yes, of course, in American dollars. $10,000,000." Todd wondered how Mystique had the money to pay this woman that much money when she let the rest of them live in this disgusting house.

"My boss will be happy to hear that. It seems like a simple enough job," Kwannon said, a smile curling on her lips, "getting past their defense systems may prove difficult, but I relish the challenge. Is there any... odd fate you wish the victim to suffer?"

"No, I just want him out of the way," Mystique said. Todd quietly wondered who Mystique was having killed, who would have a defense system at their house, except... Toad's eyes flew wide open and he leapt back up the stairs in a single bound.

"Well, what did you find out?" Lance demanded.

"Mystique is sending Kwannon in to take out," he swallowed hard, still wrapping his mind around what he was saying, "Professor X."

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To Be Continued
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