Tabitha had absolutely no reason to be wandering the grounds of Bayville High, but somehow, she was, and enjoying it, even if it didn't make any sense. Thus, although she wasn't there to see the fight between Lance and Rafael, she was there to see Rafael limping away from Lance, pausing every few steps to throw peanuts at him. Wait? Were those peanuts? She couldn't tell. Maybe they were those styrofoam peanuts, although why would anyone carry styrofoam peanuts in their pockets? Except Tabitha, of course, who always carried styrofoam peanuts in her pockets. Hmm. Rafael limped past her and beaned her with a peanut. She didn't notice. What was my purpose in this fic again? And how do I know everyone's name? What continuity is this? Suddenly, she vaguely remembered taking Rafael to an ice-cream shop, although she couldn't remember why, and that she had fallen desperately in love with him. "Huh." Tabitha took a second to vaguely gnaw on a thumbnail and contemplate Rafael's back--and got beaned with another peanut. Finally, she shrugged, and stepped into Lance's path. She smiled winningly, setting the back of her hands on her hips and standing in her own special way, "Whaddya doin', Lance? Chasin' poor little kids?"

"Hold on! Are you with the Brotherhood, X-men, or unaligned? I'm not getting any context clues."

Tabitha shrugged again, "What does it matter? I'm not even in character!"

"Point taken."

Lance scowled at her. "Chasin' poor little kids? That 'poor little kid' is a mutant . . . an unaligned one, most likely, just like you. And that 'little kid' needs a friend, right? I'm goin' after that little kid for his own good." Yeah, recruiting time! Never mind that I just tried to clobber him! "If you'll excuse me . . . okay, Tabitha, you know him? How about you come with me, I ain't gonna hurt him. You can even make sure I don't hurt him; fine. But he's gonna hurt himself by running on that leg."

"'Kay, then I'll help ya wit' him, but if you pull anything nasty," she shook a finger warningly, "Ya know what I can do."

"WHAT IS WITH THAT?" Tabitha snarled, breaking the story into an aside again.

"We know, we commiserate. It's just gonna get worse, so calm down. Fight the good--man! the pithiness of all this is starting to rub off on me."

"'Your vote of confidence is overwhelming'" Lance snickered to himself. "Very well, Tabitha . . . very well." Lance's leg wasn't a whole lot better than Raf's . . . but nonetheless, it wasn't too long before the kid was in easy sight. "Rafael . . . oh, Raf . . . sorry, the whole thing was a big misunderstanding."

Rafael stopped. But he didn't look terribly impressed. He looked a little confused at Tabitha's prescence and was panting heavily and that was about all. "A big misunderstanding? What kind of idiot do you take me for? You tried to kill me, as far as I could tell . . . and you expect me to shake hands and make up? Tabitha, do you know this kid?"

The sky darkened. Lightening flashed. The half gone sun was wreathed in shadow. Electricity flared along the forefront of buildings. The epicenter of all this was stomping out of an alley, in boots so heavy they burst the concrete.

Wanda had entered the scene.

Lance smiled grimly at Wanda, releaved to see someone aligned, particularly aligned on his side. "I got a situation here . . . " He motioned toward Rafael, who had edged a little farther away. Lance suspected that the only thing holding the not-particularly-happy mutant down was Tabitha. "A new mutant . . . think we can deal better with him than . . . . . I forgot?"

"He-ey, you said I couldn't do that."

"Shut up, Raf."

Rafael growled in the background. "What are you talking about . . . dealing with me better? Look, I'm an obvious mutant, what do you care? You and your . . . uh, female friend over there going to try and beat me up? You know what I can do."

"Pelt peanuts at me?"

"Uh . . . I thought we edited that out." A widespread shaking of heads. "Drat. Peanuts, then." He held his palms out in a warning, almost bellegerant gesture. "As far as I'm concerned, you tried to kill me."

Lance firmly planted his feet on the ground and started a very minor earthquake . . . but an earthquake nonetheless. Rafael took a step backwards, his eyes re-evaluating and uneasy. "Great . . . so you're a mutant, too."

"You got that right, kid. And I'm offerin' you something. That . . . fight thing was a misunderstanding. I'd been told to keep an eye out for this new kid with dark hair . . . supposedly he was some kind of agent for our enemies. The X-men. You see, the X-men play a bunch of preppy idiots . . . all naive and the like, but in reality, they're elite warriors for the government . . . mutants trained to discover other mutants and cripple them."

Scott Summers cleared his throat and folded his arms, "Waaaaait a minute there."

"I'm not writing the script, don't look at me!"

Tabitha narrowed her eyes at Lance, than at Rafael. "And supposedly, I'm not even supposed to talk for the next half page or so, because if I called Lance's bluff, it'd ruin the rest of the story, never minding the rest of the story doesn't make any sense. Actually," she glanced over her shoulder at Scott, "How'd you get here?"

Scott scratched the back of his neck, "Forge prank? Okay, okay, I'll leave."

Lance's brain was racing. I only hope Tabitha doesn't speak up . . . I can hook this kid . . . he's not very strong . . . probably scared despite himself.

"Okay . . . mutant cripplers?" Rafael was not getting any closer. Again, he looked to Tabitha, who had gotten out her makeup kit for some reason and was checking her hairline. "Is this guy . . . ?" He shrugged and shifted his gaze back to Lance. "You thought that a kid like me was some kind of major threat, so you thought it was okay to shove my face in at the first oppurtunity? Talk fast, because I'm not buying this . . . " He rose his palms again and Lance was about out of ideas and he didn't like peanuts.

He looked to Wanda--who was staring up at a skyscraper across the street, teeth gritted. "Wanda!" No response. "WANDA, THAT WAS YOUR CUE!"

She of the dark trenchcoat blinked and looked sullenly at Lance. "I'm busy."

"Magneto's not even in this fic. You're supposed to be obsessed with me."

She blinked again, but it was kinda an angry blink. "Why? What twisted continuum is this? Should this also not be in italics?"

"Forget it! Just say your lines, okay?"

Wanda closed her eyes and a few innocent fire hydrants exploded. "It angers me that you should doubt the words of Lance and not even consider that which he is offering you. You are a mutant, you are one of us, that is all that matters, unless you are workingformyfatherinwhichcaseyoumustdiehideously."

"Uh . . . " Rafael lowered his hands and furrowed his brow and finally decided to ignore the last bit. "No, that's NOT all that matters. That's not all that matters at all. Take this guy for example," He gestured at Lance. "Because he's a mutant we suddenly become best friends and brothers? You know what I think? I think he jumped me because he thought I was easy . . . normal human type prey. So, what do you guys do, you mutants? It's a little scary being different, sure, so you use your weirdness to become predators?"

"That's not how it is at all . . . look, if I thought you were a normal human, I wouldn't have done nothin'. I'm not stupid. I don't want the world to know what I am." Lance felt lame in his lie. True, he liked secrecy, but he had really just attacked Rafael for the reasons the kid stated . . . easy prey. Not that he was about to tell him that. "Okay, say that you're right and I'm just some kind of mutant psycho. Sure. But what are you? You're alone now, ain't you. You said you were waitin' for your dad. How much of that ain't just denial that he's not comin' back . . . "

"My dad doesn't know anything." Rafael snapped, "I'm not alone. I don't need you . . . especially not you."

"Okay, not me. What about her?" Lance pointed to Wanda, although he wasn't certain why. "She hasn't done anythin' to you and she knows what's going on in your head. The fear, the uncertainity. You know what you are. Come with us. We can protect you from yourself. You afraid of me? She'll protect you from me."

Rafael glanced over Wanda incredulously. "Does she know about this?"

A long pause.

Rafael grunted irritably. "Are we going to have to prompt her every time? Hello? Wanda?"

Wanda slowly lowered her eyes coldly, her trenchcoat fluttering in a wind that wasn't there. "I know everything, save for the location of my father. Save for the amount of spare change in your pockets, the . . . " She blinked. A few bricks in an adjoining alley shuddered and shattered. "I may act as your protector from . . . Lance unless you are workingformyfatherinwhichcaseyoumustdiehideously."

Tabitha yawned, closed her makeup kit with a snap, stretched, and stepped in front of Rafael. "Hey, y'all, let's not be all hasty here. Can we, you know, chill somewhere else where it's not so public?" She turned around and smiled in that ol' winning manner at Rafael, "And I'll protect ya, kid. It'll be fun."

Rafael stared at Tabitha, chewing on his lip. Finally, he whispered, "Uh . . . I can't remember. Were you my romantic interest, or was I yours, or are we just really good friends?"

Tabitha responded in an annoyed undertone, "I'm in love with you, but apparently not enough to make more than a cameo appearance in this fic. You'll be in love with Rogue . . . I think, but she'll hate you, and so you just get to wander around in a sea of angst until the author loses interest and fizzles the story out."

"Can I go home then?"

"Not until the author rips up your contract, disgusted by all the negative reviews. But don't worry. My prescense in the fic will help a little on that front."

"Would it help if I ripped off my shirt and quoted Swartzenegger?"

"Probably not. Don't."

"I was only joking." He cleared his throat and looked past Tabitha to glare at Lance. "She's right. Er, not about protecting me, but that we should get somewhere private. You 'benefactors' have some kind of gang hovel we can hide in?"

Lance returned the glare in his own withering manner. "It's not a hovel. It just looks like one."

Wanda growled, "It is a hovel, because you are a slimey excuse for a . . . oh, what horror, I am supposed to have a crush on you. It is not a hovel, Rafael, and it is not far from here, but a mere half mile, do not call it a hovel for Lance does not wish you to."

Tabitha sighed, planting herself firmly next to Rafael, "I know you're under a lot of stress right now, what with the author conveniently forgetting to write in your parents and throwing you in with an unrealistically belligerant Brotherhood and putting only me on your side, but . . . " she inhaled, " . . . have comfort in the fact that this is probably the only hug you'll get this entire storyline." Thus she hugged him, "Besides, there might be other mutants that you can make friends with, provided they're out of character."

Rafael tightened in her grasp involuntarily. There had been so many asides this chapter that it was certainly time for internal ramblings. It took him a long second to relax enough not to be a hard mass of bone and muscle . . . and then it felt kind of good but, still unexpected, and to his instinctive dislike for being touched, uncomfortable. He drew politely away. If he had been truly, cryingly upset, he would have welcomed the hug. As it was, he was just agitated and almost aggressive. He was tempted to assert once again that he did not need to be taken care of, but decided against it. "Other mutants . . . how nice. Does anyone else find it strange that all these uh, talented people should be so close toget-never mind. Lead the way . . . Lance." He put a little more emphasis on the name than he should have. Naturally, he had no fondness for the psycho, but the idea of other mutants did interest him. A lot. Genetics had always been a field he had devoured . . . what was he saying? He was a genetic anomaly himself! Still, in some awful disturbing way . . . it's kinda cool.

Lance walked up in front with Wanda. Because of Raf's leg, he and Tabitha were lagging a little behind . . . in any case, out of hearing range for whispers. "Okay, this kid is a little weird. I know Mystique wants us to recruit everyone we can . . . but he's a wimp, you know? Might as well pass him to the X-Men, not that they'd want him, but--do you think we can tone down the mutant dominance thing? Pass a hint to Mystique?"

Wanda scowled, "All children must learn to become adults. Mutants are the power, he must learn to accept that, else he will die."

Lance grumbled under his breath, "Can't you think of any other options?"

The Brotherhood house loomed up on the end of the street, a few lights flickering wanly in the lower windows. Lance was about to point it out when he felt something . . . sizzling on his shoulder. He yelped and flicked it off seconds before it exploded.

"Taaaaaaabitha!" He whirled, fists clenched. She was laughing at him and Rafael was snickering "discreetly" behind his hand. Well, that's enough. "That's not funny. Wanda! Did you see what she just did?"

"No."

Lance rolled his eyes and snarled again, "What kind of mutant are you, using your powers just to give you and your stick limbed boy pet a little-"

"Okay, Lance, that's it!" Rafael took a couple of hard steps forward on his bad leg and fell on his face.

It was Lance's turn to laugh. "What's it?" he sneered, "Are you upset I called you a bad name, Raffi? Or are you seriously trying to defend sweet little evil incarnate Tabitha over here?!"

Rafael pushed himself off the pavement, spitting gravel, and trying to get up somewhat quickly. "Ah . . . ow . . ."

"Line!" Lance hissed.

"Right . . . ah, Oh, so she can't have a little fun, and you can, I-can't- help-it Lance. You have to be so tough all the time . . . that's all that matters to you."

"And you have to be so pathetic all the time."

Now Tabitha started laughing again, harder than ever, until both Rafael and Lance turned to look at her.

"Hey, that's not supposed to be funny."

"We're trying to be macho."

Tabitha whooped and slapped her knee, "Do that again, Raf! The 'you have to be so . . . ' that was good! But you've got to crack your voice again in the middle, or it won't work. AH HAH HAH HAH!"

"Eh." Rafael reddened and hitched his shoulders. Lance just snorted. Wanda cracked the pavement, annoyed by all the noise. Finally, Tabitha managed to calm down, "Okay, okay . . . heh heh . . . Lance, your . . . cue."

Lance glowered at Tabitha, "Tabitha . . . you wanna ever get along with other mutants, you'd better cut out trying to play both sides . . . or, you ain't gonna last half a second when you get both us and the X-men on your puny, jackal back . . . miss I'm just too aloof and special for everyone."

Tabitha whooped again. "Sorry, sorry! AH HAH HAH HAH!"

"Crap," Lance growled, jerking violently on the flaps of his jacket, "How long is this chapter?"

Rafael knelt down on the ground, seemingly peering through the grass, "Half a page, tops. Let's just get this done with." He stood up, favoring his bad leg and trying to look kind of threatening . . . for his height of five four. "Lay off Lance . . . until you can give me some idea what's the priveledge of being one of you . . . not alone or one of the 'evil X-men' who send skinny black haired boys to assassinate Mighty Rock men."

"Shut up." Lance shoved a finger as close to Rafael as he could in a millisecond . . . which was not quite close enough to get him in the chest . . . than pointed fiercely toward the Brotherhood house. "Once we get in there, it will all be clear . . . " He dropped his arm. "Okay? Is that a wrap? Can we actually go inside and evict Tabitha from the fic next chapter? I'd kill for a hamburger."

Freddy poked his head out the door of the Brotherhood house and called, "Me as well, Lance, and Todd and I have had naught to do, but burn candles, which is incongruously Gothic. I do not suppose we are bereft of an electricity payment this month?"

"I'm not going to worry about it until next chapter!" Lance barked back and made a cutting motion off screen.