Knocking Down the Door

The next night started out like any other. The boys were getting ready for bed. Cover Girl was checking up on them. "What are we five years old?" Pietro grumbled.

"The way you act sometimes it's more like you're three," Cover Girl said.

"Will you tuck me in?" Pietro snickered. Fred hit him with a pillow. "OW!"

"Be nice!" Fred snapped.

"That's a good boy Fred," Cover Girl kissed him on his forehead and tucked him in as best she could.

"Night Cover Girl," Todd smiled as she tucked him in.

"Good night Todd," She kissed him on the forehead. "Good night Lance. Good night Pietro. Good night Fred. Good night John Boy, etc…"

"Hey I didn't get a kiss!" Pietro protested.

"What a bunch of babies," Lance grumbled. "I didn't get tucked in or kissed but you don't see me complaining. Nope. Not a word. I don't need it. Apparently I'm the only adult here."

"Lance," Cover Girl said before she gave him a kiss on the forehead. Then she threw the covers over his head.

"Oh man," Lance's face turned red with embarrassment. "You do this deliberately don't you?"

"Yes," She said. "Embarrassing people is one of my hobbies."

"You still didn't give me a good night kiss!" Pietro pouted.

"You don't deserve one!" Todd snapped.

"All right Pietro," She gave him a peck on the forehead. "Happy?"

"Very," Pietro settled down.

"Good night boys," She turned off the lights and left.

"Good night." They said in unison.

"Good night everyone," Pietro said. "Good night Lance. Good night Toad. Good night Blob. Good night moon…"

"Pietro you are going to be saying good night to your teeth if you don't shut up!" Lance snapped.

"Aww, is Lancy-Poo embarrassed that his new mommy kissed him good night?" Pietro snickered.

"Shut up!" Lance snapped.

"Yeah," Fred told him. "I like it when she does that!"

"Me too," Todd said. "I'm glad she's our mom now."

"She's not our mom stupid," Pietro said. "She's just another adult looking after us."

"Well she's kind of like a mom," Fred said.

"Yeah she ain't so bad," Lance admitted. "Better than most of my foster mothers anyway. These people are so weird. One minute they're training us to be soldiers and the next minute they're treating us like little kids."

"Well I think its part of our therapy," Fred told him. "Since none of us ever had a stable maternal figure in our lives she is in that role to fulfil our needs. To help us actualize our fantasies of what having a mother is really like. This is supposed to decrease feelings of isolation and increase our ability to…"

"Oh brother!" Pietro groaned. "You've been reading those psychology books again haven't you?"

"At least I read!" Fred snapped. "I have decided to improve myself."

"Not a word Pietro!" Lance snapped.

"No they really help with reading skills and stuff," Todd said.

"Not to mention it helps me deal with my anger," Fred said. "Now I'm starting to understand why feel like I'm exploding inside when I'm angry."

"I guess it has nothing to do with all the food you eat huh?" Pietro asked. "You look like you've already exploded."

"You know Pietro its comments like that which in the past would have enraged me," Fred said. "Now I know better. Especially coming from someone with a severe father complex."

"Watch it Blobbo!" Pietro snapped.

"Tsk, Tsk," Fred waved his finger. "Such lashing out at people in order to redirect your feelings away from your dad. By taking your frustration out on other people, you are subconsciously directing your anger at your father. What's that word which means you're angry at one person but you act mean to someone else?"

"Transference?" Todd asked.

"Yeah I think that's it!" Fred said.

"Great," Pietro groaned. "I'm being psychoanalyzed by the Blob! This night can't get any worse."

Suddenly there was a loud explosion. "I was wrong!" Pietro got up.

The boys grabbed their clothes and got dressed hastily. They saw Low Light running downstairs. "What's going on?" Lance asked.

"We're under attack!" Low Light shouted. "I think it's those mutant synthoids again by the looks of it!"

"Cobra again?" Lance yelped.

"They never learn!" Sarge growled.

"Well we're just gonna have to teach them all over again!" Mercer grabbed his weapon.

"Let's rock!" Lance shouted.

"Let's not!" Sarge shouted. "Avalanche I need you to call headquarters and stay here to protect the younger ones! The rest of you get out there!"

Lance did as he was told, even though he wanted to be in the thick of the action. He was halfway though the living room towards the communications room in the back when the lights went out. Then something tackled him. He fought back but then he fell through his attacker. "What the hell?" Lance screamed. Then the lights flickered back on and he saw who it was sitting on top of him.

"Lance?" Kitty blinked.

"Kitty?" Lance gulped. "Is that you? What are you…?"

"Lance?" Peter burst into the room.

"Peter?" Lance looked at him.

"Shadowcat! Colossus!" Tabitha ran in. "Rocky?"

"Tabby?" Lance blinked. Immediately they both got up off the floor.

"Don't let me interrupt," Tabitha snickered.

"Boom Boom!" Kitty snapped.

"Boom Boom?" Pietro ran in. He looked at the scene. "Kitty? Peter? Tabitha?"

"Speedy?" Tabitha asked.

"What's going on?" Althea and the others ran in.

"Shadowcat, Colossus have you located the…?" Scott ran in with Bobby, Jean, Gambit and Rogue. "ALVERS?"
"Summers," Lance growled.

"You!" Althea snapped when she saw the X-Men.

"You!" Rogue snapped when she saw the other mutants.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Both the X-Men and the other mutants screamed at each other.

"We thought mutants were being held captive here!" Scott shouted.

"Does it look like we're being held against our will?" Lance shouted.

"What about that phone call you made?" Kitty asked.

"Phone call?" Pietro looked at Lance.

"What phone call?" Todd asked. "Oh wait a minute, is that who you were talking to when I tackled you the other day? I knew it!"

"La-ance," Wanda growled.

"I guess it did sound a little different than what I intended," Lance gulped. "But it's not like I asked them to come here! And if Toad hadn't decided to play ninja…"

"Oh sure," Todd drawled. "Blame it all on me!"

"Oh wonderful," Rogue growled. "A false alarm!"

"We're not exactly thrilled about this either sister!" Pietro snapped.

Rogue bristled. Only Gambit seemed to understand the double meaning. "What are you idiots doing here anyway?" He snapped.

"We're training here!" Fred snapped. They heard a loud cry. "Great! Just great! Now you woke up the baby! I hope you're happy!" He stormed upstairs.

"I can't believe we came all this way to rescue you losers!" Tabitha snapped.

"Rescue us? From what?" Pietro snapped.

"All right all of you hands up!" Sarge and the other Renegades ran in with their guns drawn. Todd put up his hands. "Not you! Them! Oh wait…I remember you!"

"Hey what are they doing here?" Shipwreck came downstairs.

"I was going to ask the same question," Logan walked into the room. Ororo followed him.

"Well I'll be…" Roadblock and the rest of the adults walked in. "What are you doing here?"

"Ask Avalanche," Logan pointed.

They all looked at him. "Would you care to explain yourself Lance?" Cover Girl folded her arms.

"Well I kinda called Kitty," Lance scratched his head. "But then Toad tackled me and the message got all mixed up!"

"I advised you to write a letter," Spirit groaned. "This is not what I meant!"

"Great! Just great!" Pietro fumed. "We all get deprived of our beauty sleep just because Lance here missed his little Kitty cat!"

"So they ain't synthoid clones," Mercer remarked.

"What?" Jean asked.

"Long story," Roadblock sighed. "Let's just say we found out what Cobra did with your DNA."

"I think we all need to have a discussion," Ororo said.

"You think?" Roadblock said.

* Logan, report. What's going on?* Xavier linked to Logan through mental telepathy.

"Chuck," Logan groaned. "You ain't gonna believe this…"