Disclaimer- I do not own X-Men: Evolution or anything of the sort. I will not make money from this story.

A/N: Many thanks to all of those who have reviewed. I hope this isn't dragging and we are close to reaching an end! Yay ::*:: smiles wryly::*::

Chapter 10

There were millions of stars flying around her head as she opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by familiar faces. She forced herself to sit up and confront everyone on her terms but her head was still ringing.

"Gambit hit me again, right?" she croaked.

Ava heard someone giggle nervously and tried to smile but it wasn't going to happen. She was very upset and she knew that she had hurt a lot of people. She tried to reason that it wasn't her fault because Magneto used her but that didn't help.

"Are you okay, Ava?" someone asked.

Ava swung her head around in the direction of the voice only to see Professor Xavier looking at her with concern in his eyes.

"As well as I can be," she looked at everyone else and inhaled deeply, "I guess you want to know why I am here?"

She heard grumbling and saw people nodding their heads in answer.

"Well I am from New Zealand and believe me I don't want to be here. I was thirteen when my...curse first appeared. I was riding on my parent's farm with my friend, Ben. He was the first of my victims and the most helpful. He helped me learn control mainly because he was a laid back sort of person."

Ava felt slightly ill with thoughts of Ben flooding her mind.

"Please, go on" she recognised Jean voice.

"I gained a little control. Enough that I could only affect people through direct touch of my hands or face. When it first happened this appeared" Ava said as she lifted her fringe to show the design there.

"Weird, like what about your eyes?" Kitty asked politely.

"They have always been like this which was fortunate because it would have been harder to hide them from my parents. The haircut was easy. Well sort of easy as Ben had to cut it because I couldn't risk going to a hairdresser.

"My parents had no clue until one day a couple of months ago when a strange man turned up and told them what I was and the next thing I knew I was here in Bayville and I had to hurt people."

Ava tried not to cry but she felt the tears threatening to drop so she balled up her fists and rubbed her eyes.

"Do you remember what Magneto did to you?" she heard the Professor ask with his calm voice.

"Not all of it. I remember coming home after school and not being able to find my parents or my brother. I assumed that they were probably out on the farm so I went in search of Ben. That's when I met Magneto and I saw my parents, my brother and Ben trapped in a cage of metal. My mum was crying and my dad was just angry. I didn't realise that he was angrier at me than at his situation."

"We want to help you, Ava. Will you let us?"

Ava looked at him but she didn't know what to say.

"I just want to be free. I want to go home" she mumbled but nodded in the same time.

"I don't know where they are though" she added.

"Don't worry about that. We have our very own bloodhound" Lance muttered gruffly, hooking a thumb at Gambit.

~*~

Night had flooded the boarding house by the time suitable plans had been laid down. Everyone seemed to be co-operating or at least they were attempting too. There had been a couple of skirmishes between the X-Men and the Brotherhood but that was to be expected.

All the while Charles had been watching the groups and adding ideas every so often. He was feeling great pride towards his students as they all worked effortlessly. What worried him was the disappearance of Mystique but he didn't mention it to anyone.

"Professor we are ready to start the rescue mission" Scott said to him.

Charles nodded and wheeled himself towards the X-Jet followed by Storm and the new recruits who were all to act as back up. Most of them were not happy about that but Charles didn't want any of them to get hurt.

He waved to the rest of them as Storm operated the X-Jet. The plan was as secure as plans go and he trusted the judgement of his X-Men. It was Ava whom he was really concerned about and if he had his way he would have made her stay behind but she wasn't someone who would listen to reason at this point in time. He frowned as they faded out of sight. He had a bad feeling about what might happen in the next few hours.

~*~

"For the record, yo, I don't think that this is a good idea" Toad said as he hopped along side the others.

"No one was asking you, frog-boy" Evan retorted.

"All of you calm down" Scott said in a serious tone.

They were all dressed in their various uniforms and they were ready to do business. Scott walked beside Jean and whispered to her as they moved along. Lance, Fred and Todd stayed in their little group, not really sure why they were there but everyone had serious looks on their faces.

Ava didn't want any of them to come with her because she knew that someone was going to get seriously hurt tonight and she didn't want that to happen. She had lived through enough nightmares to last her a lifetime.

They arrived at the warehouse, which served as Magneto's base and quietly split up to follow orders. All had been issued with headsets so they could keep in touch at all times. Logan was the only adult there so in sense he was in charge but Scott and Lance would be giving the orders tonight.

Ava watched all of them as she absently tugged at the material of the plain uniform that she wore. It was a similar one to the one she wore in the training session but tonight it was really uncomfortable. She had removed one of the gloves so she could use her powers easily but they worried her. She didn't know if she could control them any more but she had no choice. She was too angry to go easy on Magneto or any of them.

She wanted them to suffer for what they put her family through. For what they put Ben through. She listened eagerly for Scott's go-ahead and she didn't have to wait long.

~*~

Ben was on edge. He was slowly pacing the cage not really sure what to think because about three minutes ago everyone who was here had suddenly disappeared. In fact everyone was gone and an eerie silence had settled over the place which had made him edgy in the first place.

"What's going on, Ben?" he heard Adam whisper in his ear.

"I don't know but I think it is a good thing" Ben replied.

He glanced over at Adam's parent's who were, for once, looking hopefully back at him. Ben stopped pacing for a moment and cocked his head to one side. Suddenly all the lights in the place went out. He heard something in the darkness, which made him step away from the bars of the cage.

He peered into the darkness and swore when something came flying into the cage with a sickening crunch. The figure backed away and disappeared into the darkness making Ben realise that it was a person. A very large person but a person none the less.

"Be careful" he warned everyone in the cage.

He looked out of the cage trying to see what was happening. Occasionally he heard arguing and the following sounds of fighting but he couldn't see what was happening.

"Help. Hey anyone out there. Help us" Ben tried yelling.

The others in the cage caught on and began yelling as well. Ben tried to rattle the bars when they fell into his hands. Ben stared at them in amazement before looking up to see a stocky man dressed in a black uniform with yellow slashes on his shoulders. This wasn't too bad but Ben saw that he had three metal claws sticking out of either hand.

"You coming, bub" the man said gruffly.

Ben just nodded and grabbed Adam by his collar dragging him out as the man freed the adults.

"Ben" a voice cried and he turned to see Ava standing there dressed in black bodysuit with yellow boots.

"Ava. Are you okay?" he ran towards her and frowned when she stepped back.

"Ava. What's wrong?"

"You turned away" she muttered, looking down at the floor.

"That's right Ava. He doesn't care about you any more. You are just another horrible mutant" a rich voice said behind them.

Ben turned and saw the man who had captured them. He was dressed in his weird outfit and was floating off the ground.

"Don't listen to him Ava. I care about you, Adam cares and so do your parents" Ben tried to convince her.

"No they don't Ava. Your father thinks you are an abomination. He doesn't want to know you any more" Magneto taunted.

~*~

Ava felt as if all her bad memories had faded when she saw Ben standing there free. When she cried out his name and he had run over which was when she remembered what had happened the last time she had seen him. He had turned away from her and that memory lingered in her mind. Ben had been with her when she had gotten her curse and even then he hadn't backed away.

Then Magneto had appeared. Taunting her.

"You don't want to be seen with me, Ben. You should go now. Go away Ben" she had begun to yell.

"Ava. I'm still your friend" he pleaded.

Ava shook her head.

"Go away. You don't know me. You don't care. Bugger off. Get lost" she screamed with tears streaming down her face.

"Ava..."

"You're all free to go. Thank you for rescuing my family but now you all have to go" Ava yelled and everyone stopped.

Ava felt her anger rising and she felt her temple throb but still no one moved.

"If you value your sanity get out now" she repeated, her hands were out stretched and she noted, wryly, that she had lost her other glove during the small fight.

"Ava, calm down. Everything is okay; you don't have to worry about losing control" she heard Jean say.

"Yeah, man. Everything's cool" Evan added.

"It's too late" was all Ava could say.

To Be Continued....