Two days and counting.

Mortimer performed small tasks around the stronghold while time crept by. He found himself unable to keep still during the day. He repaired things, cleaned, paced, washed... It was madness! Only when he wet to his sanctuary did he ever find any peace.

Toad visited him more often than ever, trying to make him give in, pushing Mortimer to the brink of sanity. The brink was not a pleasant place. He found himself not able to sleep or eat. At night, he would perform his menial chores while small fragments of time passed. In two days he would have to contribute to the mission. In two days, Mortimer would decide who he wanted to be.

Mystique sauntered into the classroom and took note of how spacious it was. There were numerous windows that let the morning light pour in, and the entirety of the room was illuminated. Mystique also noted how different it was from the Brotherhood stronghold. Pushing away those thoughts, she took a seat next to Rogue and Jubilee. The shape shifter's heart beat rapidly and she felt nauseous.

"Don't worry, Kit." A loud voice said. "We're all nervous." Mystique smiled meekly at Jubilee and slouched in her chair. Was that an imitation or did Mystique really just smile at the enemy? Shaking her head, another question popped up: How was she going to do this?

She could either rush through it and bring disgrace to the name of Kitty Pryde, or actually take the time to let her, Mystique, truly answer the questions. The shape shifter fumbled in her thoughts and bit her lip, wondering, fearing what she was going to do. It couldn't hurt to answer the questions! "Why not?" Mystique thought and smiled.

"It seems like someone is ready for the exam." Mystique shot Kitty's head up in the direction of the voice. It was Jean Grey. Mystique raised an eyebrow at the woman and smirked. So this was the woman that Cyclops had a hard-on for.

Jean smiled somewhat nervously at the girl in front of her. She had never seen Kitty smile like that before. She'd seen it somewhere, but she couldn't place her finger on it. 'Logan.' She concluded. 'I'm just thinking about Logan.' With a newfound comfort, Jean passed out the exams and went to her desk.

Mystique opened the front page to her test and her jaw dropped. What the hell was this?

It wasn't a regular exam. There was no math, no annoying bubbles to fill in... It was five questions dealing with... 'Morality, common sense, and inner being?' What kind of a trick was this?

She read the first question: 'What makes a person, or entity, strong?'

"Shit." Mystique whispered. How was she supposed to know? Last night, she and the girls studied, but she didn't know that these types of questions were the only things on the test! She exhaled slowly and began to think, 'Okay, think like an 'X-Man'. Pretend you're someone with morals- principles. You've spent your whole life with the bald man in the wheelchair learning how to be a goody-goody.'

Thoroughly done psyching herself out, Mystique began to write.

Sabretooth groaned and lifted his shaggy head of the toilet seat. Quickly, he began to hurl.

He watched as the orange-colored chunks collided with the water and made tiny splashes; the droplets of water found their way to Sabretooth's face and ran slowly through his facial hair. The large mutant ceased to spew and his over-sized hand somehow found the handle attached to the toilet. Dizziness overcame him as he watched the water spiral downward, forming into a small vortex of orange and yellow.

Exhausted, Sabe whipped his face and fell back onto the toilet.

The two painful hours finally ticked away as Mystique absently drummed her fingers on her desk. She'd been finished with the five questions in no time and resorted to drowsily watching the second hand slowly traverse around the roman numerals on the face. It seemed like an eternity before Jean Grey rose from her seat and ordered them all to 'put their writing utensils down and pass up their exam sheets.'

'Like anyone else is still taking this stupid test anymore.' Mystique thought darkly. But to her surprise, she heard many people's pencils hastily scribbling more words.

The imposter shook her head in disbelief. The exam was five questions long! How could anyone spend two hours on such a simple test? Mystique's disguised eyes flashed toward Jean Grey as the redhead approached Mystique's desk. "Easy for you, Kitty? I noticed that you finished rather quickly."

And then that bone-chilling smile.

Jean shivered internally as Kitty smiled at her. Her heart beat faster as the adrenaline in her body flowed. She knew that smile and had a sneaking suspicion that it didn't belong to Logan.

Mystique relished in Jean's silence, lapping up the sweet aroma of fear. The woman wasn't as stupid as the shape shifter had thought- she knew something was wrong. Quickly dismissing the minute moment of praise for her enemy, Mystique's thoughts suddenly turned dark as she contemplated a way to silence the wench.

Mystique saw herself disposing of the X-Woman quickly by snapping her neck, but then she reconsidered. She was tired of breaking necks. The member of the Brotherhood wanted to spice up her murdering. And suddenly, she had an idea.

After all of the papers had been collected, Jean dismissed the class. In a loud bustle, the students hastily complied and soon only Jean was left. She had thought about telling Kitty to stay, but something inside told Jean that she didn't want to be alone with that particular student. Tidying up in a perfunctory manner, Jean exited the classroom with exam papers in the crook of her arm, and headed to where Scott would surely be.

Mystique, cloaked in her borrowed for watched Rogue and Jubilee as they chatted about the exam. "Oh my gosh, I thought it was so hard!" Squealed Jubilee, her dark eyes wide. Rogue nodded and turned to Mystique. "What question did you think was the hardest, Kit?"

'None, you whiney bitch.' Mystique thought wickedly. But her mouth emitted different words, "Ah, number three was the worst! I absolutely hated it!" She watched as the other two girls continued to giggle. It seemed that Mystique was getting better at this teenager business. Only one more day after this, and the X-Men would be on their knees.

Mortimer just couldn't take it anymore! He had to go to the mansion and see exactly what was going on. Magneto wouldn't be happy about his little excursion, but it was something that Mortimer had to do- for his own sanity. It was only midday when he slunk through the dark hallways.

Down the corridor, Mort could make out the unmistakable sounds of a toilet being flushed after an immense amount of puking. "Sabe's drunk again." Mort muttered, still progressing toward the front door. There were scarce amount of windows in the fortress to sneak out of and the front door was the closest to where his boat was anyway. Being deathly silent, Mort slipped out of the door, jumped into his boat, and was off.

Magneto stood rigid and watched Toad speed away to main land. Easily, he could have risen the boat in mid-air and brought the amphibian back to the island. But he casually dismissed the idea and observed the vessel turn into a mere dot against the horizon. "So it begins." Magneto whispered dryly. 'So it begins.'

Logan inhaled the cold air deeply into his lungs. Nonchalantly, he twirled his car keys around a finger and thought of the mansion. He couldn't wait to see the looks on everyone's faces when they saw him! He'd been away on some small matter of business, and now it was time to go home. No doubt, he would be back in no more than a day.