Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of the lovely reviews! Here's chapter 4, hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men, never have, and unfortunately never will. Damn.

Oh, and don't worry, nothing that big is gonna happen between Darkside and Kurt. Sorry, Souleater, honey.

Enjoy.

~*~*~*

"Thanks for helping me, Darky." Ben was fully awake now. After he had collapsed in the medical unit, Darkside had dragged him back to their hiding place on the ground floor. Rogue had drained nearly all of his energy, and if she'd held on for much longer, she'd have killed him. "I'll just have to be more careful next time. Get rid of her first."

Darkside nodded, not really listening. She was glad to be away from the medical unit, but her wounds were still hurting her. And for some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about Nightcrawler. She knew she couldn't do anything about it. She was supposed to be the villain and here she was, falling for the good guy. Ben wouldn't be happy at all if he knew. Not that she was going to tell him anytime soon.

"Darky?" Ben turned to look at her. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Darkside blinked, snapping back to Earth. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? They didn't drug you did they?"

"No." Darkside gave Ben a half-smile and leaned against the windowsill, her arms folded across her chest.

"That blue thing-"

"Nightcrawler."

"Yeah, that's the one. He was getting way too close to you back there." He smiled. "It looked like he was about to kiss you or something."

"Kurt and I were just-"

"Kurt?" The smile fell from Ben's face. "So you're on first name terms with him are you?"

"Don't be stupid, Ben." Darkside quickly looked at the floor, her heart hammering. "It was nothing. I was just looking at the killer tattoo things he has."

"You weren't supposed to be looking at the killer tattoo things he has. You were in the perfect position to punch his lights out."

"I know, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Too right it won't happen again." Ben walked to the opposite side of the window, looking out over the grounds. "I have a way to kill them without me even having to lift a fist."

"How?" Darkside didn't like the sound of this.

"The students." Ben replied simply. "We know where they are. We can hold them hostage."

"But they're kids." Darkside protested, but Ben cut over her.

"It's the perfect plan! Get the X-men to sacrifice themselves instead of the kids! Don't you see the beauty of this?"

"No." Darkside shook her head, moving away from him. His hand grabbed her arm, swinging her back to face him.

"You are going to help me, Darky." He hissed quietly. He had never been as rough with her before. Sure, he'd made jokes about kicking the crap out of her, but he'd never tried to threaten her.

"What are you-" Darkside started to stammer, but Ben continued.

"You will help me. You don't want something nasty to happen to you, do you?"

Darkside shook her head quickly, her eyes wide. Ben let go of her.

"Good." He walked past her. "You should try and get some rest. The room next door is free as well, I'll use that room." And he left her, walking through the wall.

~*~*~*

Kurt twisted his tail in his hands. Wolverine had been very… well, lets just say 'mad' doesn't even begin to compare.

He followed the silent group up the stairs towards to second floor. Rogue was holding Bobby's hand again and one of her shoulders was bandaged from where the lightning had hit her. Logan kept throwing him dirty looks. Professor Xavier had gone down to the ground floor to check on the children and the others had set off on yet another search for Vapor and Darkside. Only one thought crossed his mind. Darkside. He hadn't stopped thinking about her since she'd left the medical unit. Why hadn't she zapped him with the lightning gun as well? Did she feel something for him as well?

'Don't be stupid, Kurt,' he thought, 'of course she doesn't. Vhy vud somevun like her fall for a guy like you?'

His foot caught on something at the top of the stairs, sending him crashing to the floor. The others turned to look at him as he stumbled to his feet, blushing an even darker blue. Logan shook his head and continued down the hall.

As he scrambled to his feet, something was pushed into his hand. He looked down to see a small piece of paper folded into a neat square. Making sure that the others couldn't see him, he lagged behind and unfolded the paper. A note was scrawled in what looked like very rushed handwriting.

Sorry about the trip, but I had to get your attention. Meet

me at seven, in the kitchen. Alone. Trust me.

Mel

"What are you doing back there?" Kurt looked up to see Logan's angry face. "You're holding us up."

"Sorry, I'm comink." Kurt stuffed the paper into his trouser pocket and hurried after the group.

~*~*~*

The clock on the wall seemed to be taking years to tick away the minutes. Kurt stared at it as if it were about to explain the meaning of life in a one-second flash.

He wasn't sure what was going to happen, and even if he entirely trusted her or not. But, being a teleporter, he could escape pretty quickly if it turned out to be a trick. 'Unless zhey grab you by zhe zhroat again…' Kurt thought, feeling very embarrassed as he remembered what happened the first time he had encountered Vapor and Darkside.

The clock slowly ticked onto seven 'o' clock and Kurt's eyes snapped to the door as if she were about to just walk right in.

The door opened and Kurt jumped to his feet, his heart pounding. But no one came through. 'It must be zhe vind…' Kurt moved to shut the door and a hand tapped him on the shoulder. He panicked and teleported to the top of the cupboard.

"Woah, its only me!" Darkside merged out from the wall. Although she sounded cheerful, her face was riddled with worry.

"Ich - I didn't see you come in." Kurt teleported from the cupboard to the floor, still standing a little way off. "Vhat's wrong?"

"Its Ben." Darkside answered quickly, taking a step towards him. "He's gonna attack the kids downstairs."

"Vhat? How?"

"I don't know, but I shouldn't be in here. I promised I'd meet him there at 7:15." Darkside looked at the clock, which said 7:10. "Please, get the rest of the X-men together and get there first." She stared back towards the door, but Kurt stopped her by touching her shoulder.

"Vait…" He said. Darkside turned back to him and smiled. "Vhy did you come to me? Vhy didn't you go to somevun else, like Storm?"

"Let's just say, you're alright for an X-man." She smiled again and disappeared into the wall.

~*~*~*

"How long do we have to stay down here for, Professor Xavier?" Josie leapt up onto Xavier's lap, looking up at him with her big green eyes.

"Not too long now, I expect." Xavier scratched the cat behind her ears and she purred happily.

"Is it true that that guy can walk through things?" Another young mutant asked.

"Yes." Xavier nodded.

"B-But what if he walks through this wall into here?" Josie stammered. "Will he hurt us?"

"Don't worry about that, children. If Ben does come down here, we have installed lasers in the walls that will alert us if he passes through them. And I'm sure Ben wouldn't want to hurt you."

"Yes, that IS true, Professor." A voice spoke from behind him. Xavier and the students whirled around to see Vapor passing though the wall, wearing the silver Cerebro helmet. "I don't want to hurt them. But who said I don't want to hurt you?"

"Ben, how did you get in here without the alarm going off?" Xavier asked, placing Josie on the floor, who scurried under his wheelchair.

"That's the great thing about having an invisible sidekick who can follow you in and turn them off." Vapor nodded at the opposite wall. Darkside appeared, hanging her head. She hadn't wanted to do it, but he'd made her. Thank God she gave Kurt the note.

"Now, I want you to do me a big favor." Vapor held up his slightly too familiar lightning gun. "Use your powers. Kill your little X-men buddies."

"What?" Xavier stared up at him in disbelief. "I can't do -"

"Don't give me that crap, I know you can." Vapor signaled to Darkside, who miserably grabbed one of the students by the scruff of the neck, twisted him around and held onto his arms. Vapor aimed the gun at him. "Do it, or I kill them all."

"Ben, think about what you're doing?"

"Why should I?" Vapor hissed, his scarlet eyes narrowing. "You didn't stop to think about saving my family."

"We couldn't save Jason, or your father." Xavier replied soothingly. "We had to get away quickly on both occasions-"

"-Shut up, I don't want to hear excuses."

"We can't leave you alone for five minutes, professor." Vapor turned his head slowly at the sound of Rogue's voice. The X-men were standing in the doorway, each of them holding glass bars. Kurt gave Darkside a small wave. Rogue smiled sweetly at Vapor. "Hey there, sugar. We came prepared this time."

Vapor spun his hand around to fire at them, but Logan lashed out with the glass, knocking the gun flying. Logan took another swing at him, but Vapor managed to duck beneath it, swiping Logan's feet from under him.

Storm and Scott threw themselves at him, ducking under Vapor's attacks and swinging the glass. Bobby and Rogue advanced on Darkside, who dropped the student quickly, holding her hands up innocently. Kurt stepped in front of her.

"She's not goink to hurt us." He protested. Rogue glowered at her over Kurt's shoulder.

"Try telling me that a few hours ago in the medical room." She growled. "The gun hurts ya know."

"I'm sorry, honestly." Darkside dodged behind Kurt.

Meanwhile, Scott, Storm and Logan were still taking wild swings at Vapor, desperately trying to make one of them connect. Vapor suddenly noticed that instead of kicking their butts, Darkside was actually TALKING to the enemy. Unfortunetly, he waited a second to long and one of Storm's swings smacked him full force in the head, knocking him backwards.

He glared at them all, rubbing his head.

Storm smiled at her glass pole satisfyingly. "Double glazing always works."

Vapor suddenly wheeled around, catching Bobby and Rogue in the chest. He knocked Kurt out of the way and grabbed Darkside's arm. Darkside pulled herself away.

"What are you doing?" Vapor screamed, grabbing her again.

"I'm NOT coming with you!" Darkside wrenched her arm away. Vapor roared in anger, punching her across the jaw. She slumped down and he caught her in his arms.

Her body went white and transparent, like his. Vapor waved at the X-men before sinking through the floor, taking Darkside with him.

"Shit!" Logan flung his pole at the wall angrily. "They've gotten away again!"

"We can still catch up with him." Xavier wheeled forward. "He has gone insane, we have to end this madness tonight."

"What room's below us?" Bobby asked. Scott clicked his fingers.

"The garage!" He exclaimed. "My bike's down there, he'd better not touch it."

"Let's get down there." Xavier turned to the students. "Are you alright?"

The students stared back at him, silent and open-mouthed. Josie nodded mutely.

~*~*~*

Sorry that chapter took so long. When I rule the world, I will ban homework to school hell.

I hope you like the story so far. The next chapter is the last, the final face off between Vapor and the X-men.

Please review!

Taz