Summery: On the gate hung a plastic sign that read "Beware of Dog" in bold letters. It appeared after Logan got back and Bobby got credit for it. Still, they shouldn't have ignored it.

Comments: I was online trying to find the trailer for X2 and was unable to find one that my computer would like (I could get picture and no sound!). instead I found some pictures that are suppose to be from the trailer. They inspired me; I only used the ones that looked like they were set in the mansion.

Home Security

Pietro stood in the middle of the room and stared up at the man in black, he held a gun. The man did not belong in the richly paneled halls of the school. He had to tell someone. But the Professor and Dr. Gray were visiting his grandfather in prison and Mr. Summers and Mss. Munroe were out in the plane, the students didn't get to know were they went until after they got back. Pietro had never got to ride in the plane; his mother had brought him and his sister to the school. There was only one adult left to tell. Pietro didn't like Mr. Logan, especially during defense class. He was trying to teach everyone to fight so they would be X-Men when they grew up. The rest of the time Mr. Logan was pretty neat and knew the coolest stuff, Pietro thought that Mr. Logan was as old as his grandfather was because they both remembered WWII.

The man put his finger on his lips and Pietro just smiled up at him in silence. He extended a hand out to grab the boy. Pietro turned around and ran through the halls to wake up Mr. Logan.

About the time Pietro was sneaking out the boy's dorm to get a drink of water, Logan woke up. A cool breath of air wafted into his third floor room, it would have been nice if didn't have a faint hint of engine exhaust in it. He concentrated on the silence of the house. He heard the steady beat of blades slicing through the air. Helicopters. He slipped out of the bed and made a quick inspection out the window. Two shadows on the ground confirmed what his ears already told him.

He slipped into the hall and with lightening seed flashed out his hand and grabbed the boy that was tearing down the hall. Logan was the only one able to do that. Pietro looked up at him and realized that Mr. Logan already knew about the strangers invading the school. Logan pushed Pietro into a nearby closet. Without saying a word Pietro scooted to the furthest corner among the brooms and other cleaning paraphernalia. Making sure the kid was well hidden he closed the door and crept down the hall.

About the same time that Pietro had ran away from the stranger downstairs, Bobby laid awake thinking. Mr. Logan was right, that kid needed to work on his stealth. He could wake the dead in hundred-year-old graveyard. Bobby hated his life; not the mutant part that was the good news, it got him away from his parents. No. What he hated was that he couldn't touch one of his best friends, the girl he was in love with was dating his other best friend, he was losing a prank war against Jubilee and he lead the boys to failing their final defense project. They were beat by the girls. He knew that he was feeling sorry for himself. Bobby hated life at that moment, every boy's life in this dorm had been his responsibility and his brilliant plan didn't work.

Bobby then began to wonder why Pietro was not back yet. He flicked his eyes to the clock beside his bed, the little brat had been gone seven minutes. It didn't take the kid that long to do anything, except maybe start his homework. Just then Bobby heard the creak of the second stair from the top. At night nobody stepped on that stair, Mr. Logan didn't even step on it during the day. Automatically he reached over and shook Sam awake and then started throwing dirty socks at St. John. Silently the entire boy's dorm woke up, younger ones slipped under their beds and older ones braced for a fight. Bobby had a sinking feeling that it wasn't Mr. Logan testing them again. He reached down and touched the floor.

St. John rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows, out of nowhere an array of lighters appeared on his pillow. He sorted through them trying to decide which ones to use. All day he had been playing with a plain Zippo and decided it might be a bit low, he laid it aside. Next he examined one with a naked lady on it, but decided that if Mr. Logan figured out were his lighter went then St. John would have more problems then failed a test. The one with dice glued to it was lucky so it went into the pocket in his pajama bottoms, the gold one from the Professor last Christmas was too nice, the one with the ace of spades engraved on it went into another pocket, the same with the Harley-Davidson one that Kitty had given him. He sorted through a few more and came down to the last two. He held up one that warned not to play with matches, Bobby had given him and so he decided that he couldn't risk loosing it. Finally he picked up a cheep plastic Bic that Mr. Logan had told him to always carry with him; it went into his shirt pocket along with half a pack of cigarettes and cheep cigar. He flashed a grin at Bobby and warped his hand around a Zippo embossed with a cobra.

About the time Bobby reached for the floor, Logan engaged the first pair of intruders. About the time St. John decided against the lighter he from the Professor, Logan moved on down the hall.

Bobby watched as the doorknob slowly turned, adrenaline pumped through his system. He pulled his hand back up under his blanket. The door slowly swung open. A black boot causally stepped in; the man took another step and fell.

Directly across from the door John Proudstar did his best to stifle a laugh. These guys had probably trained for weeks for this operation and one of them had just slipped on a little ice. He watched the next one enter with a lot more care. John decided that he was a curve ball type and sat up and let go with his baseball. Bad guy number two went flying back on impact.

Instead of doing the sensible thing and seeing to his fallen comrades or bugging out of there, idiot number three raised his gun at John and stepped into the room. He looked down at Bobby and ignored the boy in the bed behind him. St. John flicked on his lighter.

About the time bad guy number two got a stomachache Logan came upon two of the Special Ops guys about to enter the boys bathroom. He was about to approach them when his nose picked up an out of place sent. He smiled and remembered Marie's warning, Jub and Bobby were at it again, something about a whoopee cushion filled with day old porridge. When he first got back Wheels had mentioned something about being relieved that those two didn't like each other, he couldn't spare to lose any more hair after Scot and Hank. Later he got Jean and Ro to tell him the story; he couldn't wait to meet a guy who could drive away six housekeepers with a booby-trapped toaster. Logan retreated and left them to their fate.

About the time Bobby was waking up Sam, Emma woke up and padded over to Kitty's bed. The little telepath stood silently over the older girl telling her to wake up. Finally Kit did and looked up at the blond girl. Strangers had waked her up; they were in the house thinking bad thoughts. Kit silently directed the girl under her bed and began to wake the others. They all knew what to do. Once again the teenagers got ready for a fight and the younger ones crawled under their beds. Kit positioned herself at the foot of her bed on one side of the door and phased, Rouge at the other side. They were confident that they could handle this after all they had just passed their defense class.

Jub scrunched up her face, the invaders had just broken the cardinal rule of the school: don't piss her off. Mr. Logan learned that other night when he graded their final and the next boy that walked into the bathroom would be reminded. She flexed her fists and waited.

All his life Tom was plagued with bad luck. He barley graduated high school, lost his football scholarship in his second year of college, never dated a cheerleader, and never got to at least try for the pros. He joined the military because he was lost and needed direction in his life. What surprised him was that he excelled, he had found his calling in the army. Quickly he mentally reviewed the mission objectives: secure the kids and move them out for transport, another team was to grab the Weapon. He was a little disappointed; his team got assigned the girls. Were was the challenge? They'd walk in, bark orders, there'd be some screaming and crying, and then they would move them out. A couple might panic, but no real trouble. It was a room full of teenage girls.

Emma smiled to herself as she lay curled under Kit's bed. It was always more fun when the telepaths were out; she got away with a lot more. The Professor and Dr. Grey both told her it was wrong to go into other people's heads but it was so much fun. Besides these were bad guys and so they didn't really matter. She giggled in her head about how Tom's recent string of good luck was about to run out. She sent the thought three beds down to Becky; she was an expert on luck. She felt a slight tap in her head. Elizabeth. Emma did not like the older Brit., but she shut up.

The door to the girl's dorm swung open Tom watched the team leader enter. In one swift motion Jubilee sat up released a blast of coloured lights and rolled to the floor, the man grabbed his chest and went down. He had what looked like severe burns to his chest. Tom looked up at his remaining partner and tried to decide what to do, they decided to treat the little princess as hostile. The other guy burst into the room with Tom close behind. Out of nowhere a teenager appeared and attacked his partner, a gush of blood exploded from his face, the brunette followed with two more blows and he went down. Tom swung his gun into the face of another girl. Two grown men had been incapacitated by a gaggle of teenage girls. He swallowed nervously; this was not covered in any of his training. He licked his lips.

"You shouldn't play with guns," said a red head in a thick Scottish accent. The girls began to surround him. He locked eyes momentarily with the girl he was aiming at.

"It might go off," one of them said. He searched his mind to what to do. His gun writhed in his hand. Shocked, he looked down and realized that he was holding a snake instead. He let go automatically. His gun clattered to the floor. The girl he had been aiming at and rubbed her temples. A brunette with a lock of white hair grabbed his arm and broke it; the others closed in.

About the time the time Tom got his third broken rib, Logan leaped into a small knot of six men. As he walked away from the pile of men he rubbed his chest; he was still recovering from the other night when the kids presented their final projects. He continued on to the dorms, the boys had failed the project and might be in trouble. Logan neared final the corner and his nose was assaulted with the sent of smoke and charred flesh and scared kids.

He peeked around the corner and took in the scene. Bobby and Jub were against the wall on either side of the main stair case making sure that no one got up the stairs, a steady stream of kids fled down the hall to the back stairs. Logan approached; they were doing it wrong. They should have been crossing in front of the stairs in small groups. The last of the kids made it past safely as he stepped over a burnt man moaning on the floor in front of the boy's dorm, he paused to knock him unconscious. No wonder Bobby's group had failed, they were too careless. Bobby extended his hands to the floor in front of the landing and installed a solid sheet of ice on the floor. He looked up and eyes momentarily locked eyes with Logan, the older man nodded and the teen turned and followed the others. No one would be coming up that way.

Logan climbed over the railing and looked down at the main floor for something to cushion his landing. Two soldiers came out from the dining room and crossed the main hall. Logan jumped.

About the time Jub's booby trap in the boy's bathroom was sprung, the sub basement was breached.

About the time Logan landed, the kids had made it to the TV room. Sam looked out into the main hall as he ran by, Mr. Logan was fighting a group of soldiers. One stood with his back to the children and was focused on the fight. Without stopping to think, Sam rushed the soldier at top speed and knocked him across the hard wood floor.

"Go!" Mr. Logan yelled at the boy. He struggled a few more minutes with his adversaries.

The students had made it to the library and Kit got ready to send them to the basement. Emma came up and tapped Kit on the shoulder; there was a very bad man downstairs. Emma had said that the intruders were trying to get into Cerbro, the supercomputer would be useless to a nontelepath. Kitty tried to think what to do and went consult Bobby. They decided on level 2 of the subbasement, the training room. Kids crowded into the elevator and in a few trips only a handful of the older kids remained.

Kit shook her head in protest; it was a bad idea. They were supposed to go to the basement and wait. That was they were taught, they were to let the faculty handle any intruders. Rouge reminded her that only the defense teacher was present. Bobby decided that Kit would be their eye in the camera room and Elizabeth would be charged with communication. They would take John and he would watch their backs. Rouge and Jub would take the east wing of the house and he would take St. John and the west wing. Kit grabbed her team and phased, the other two groups parted.

About the time the last elevator made it to the training room Logan let out a low snarl at the three men in front of him. He released his claws and stepped from the shadows.

About the time Cerbro was breached Kit's team has made it to the security room. Elizabeth was surprised to find the security room empty. Logan had drilled into their heads how important it was secure the security room. Whoever had control of the cameras had control of the eyes. The walls of television screens were off. Kit pressed a power button but nothing happened, John nodded to the window overlooking the basketball court, the lights were out. Elizabeth wondered why these people were so stupid as Kit switched to auxiliary power. The security system had its own power supply. Kitty made a quick scan of all the monitors and Elizabeth began to send out orders to everyone.

About the time Logan took out the three men guarding the main entrance to the lower levels St. John and Bobby entered the library. Liz had said that there two, one in ancient history and the other in physical education. It was almost ironic.

Bobby took on ancient history and watched as St. John disappeared deeper into the books towards the physical education section, silently Bobby hopped his friend didn't get lost. St. John hadn't been in the library since Mr. Summers had given him the tour on his first day.

Ancient history froze in place when he realized he could see his breath. Bobby cursed to himself; he was so scared his control had slipped. The man turned slowly tying to figure out what was going on. He turned to find Bobby behind him, the teen reflectively flung up both hands and let out a stream of ice. Bobby looked at the pillar of ice that incased the intruder and wondered how exactly he did that.

About the time Ancient History was history St. John made it to back to the library. The man turned the corner and was surprised to see the kid standing there. The kids were suppose to head outside for transport, this one had obviously managed to sneak away. The kid flicked on a lighter.

"What, you gonna burn me with you lighter?" he smiled. He decided that the kid was resisting and raised his gun.

"Yea," St. John replied without taking his eyes off the man in front of him. The tiny flame leapt from the lighter and engulfed the man. None of the books got scorched.

About the time St. John was done roasting a weenie Logan made it to first level of the sub basement. He punched in a code into a keypad set in the wall; a firewall came down and barred the group of men in the supercomputer. The kids weren't down here that was good. Suddenly the new British girl was in his head. Four more soldiers were at the entrance to the subbasement. Logan wondered were they kept coming from. The girl didn't know. He swore to himself about rhetorical questions and for her to get out of his head.

About the time the men in the big round room realized they were trapped, a sleek black jet appeared out of the sky and fired on a cluster of helicopters hovering above the school grounds.

About the time Liz relayed her message to Logan, Jubilee narrowed her eyes at the man that had hold of her arm and smiled wickedly.

"Didn't your mom ever teach you to never play with firecrackers? They might go off in your hand." She released bright globs of colour into his face and he screamed at the heat.

About the time Pedro started getting curious to why Mr. Logan hadn't come back, the last of the four men fell that were waiting for him fell to the floor.

"Please don't hurt me," Logan's ears pricked up at Marie's voice and he sniffed for her.

"Oh, baby I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm gonna treat you real nice." Logan peered into the study hall and felt no pity for the soldier. The man didn't stand a chance; his little girl had been voted most likely to have a duel to the death fought over her last semester. He shouldered his gun and undid his belt as he stepped toward the girl; Logan beat down the urge to cut his nuts off for even thinking about her like that and let Marie deal with him. He didn't wince at the sound of bones breaking and walked over to her as the solider went down to his knees. She swung out at the sound of someone approaching from behind; he grabbed her arm and was filled with fatherly pride. He kissed her on the top of her head.

About the time Marie started to apply her feminine wiles on her newest admirer the entire house vibrated as the jet landed on the front lawn.

About the time the group of men in the sub basement realized escape was futile Liz announced that all the intruders had been neutralized. The teenagers congregated in the main hall with Logan, despite the calmness they had possessed during the events of the evening they were scared and shocked. The place that was their safe haven had been breached.

Logan calmly walked over to St. John and pulled the cigar out of the pocket. Searched himself for his lighter and then remembered he'd lost it earlier that day.

"Got a light kid?" All St. John had left was the Bic, he flicked it to life. Logan took a long drag on the cigar. The kid had to get better cigars.

Cyclops and Storm rushed into the mansion, filled with dread at what they would find. They did not expect a knot of kids smoking in the foyer.

About the same time the helicopters dropped their load of soldiers on the lawns of the West Chester prep school, Magneto escaped.