Lance slowly opened his eyes and groaned at the headache that was making his skull throb. Bright lights immediately forced him to close his eyes before slowly opening them again. When his eyes adjusted he realized he was in a cage and that there were many other cages lining the metal walls of the room. Inside the cages were, what he guessed, were mutants of varying ages.

He shifted his eyes to the middle of the room and saw at least twenty men in strange armor standing around a very tall man. In front of the man were a handful of boys and a girl that Lance didn't recognize. He was sure they were probably mutants too. He wondered how they all got there and then realized he had no clue where "there" was.

"You miserable freaks! I send you on one simple mission and you can't even manage to bring back three escapees!" The tall man shouted.

"But sir, we were outnumbered." A blond headed boy replied.

"That's no excuse! I don't want to hear any excuses from you morons!" The man roared. "You're lucky you captured two mutants or I'd have to punish you all, severely."

"We're sorry sir, it won't happen again." A second blond boy spoke up.

"It had better not." Lance watched as a cruel smile flickered across the man's face. "However, I think you need a reminder of why you never fail me."

Lance watched with wide eyes as the guards launched themselves at the teens. For the first time he saw the armored men had glowing batons and could only imagine how much they hurt. He saw one of the smaller guys open his mouth and a blast of blue energy knocked a guard across the room and into a cage. The kid in the cage cowered to the other side watching the goings on with wide silver eyes. Lance turned his attention back to the energy spitting boy just in time to see a guard jump the kid from behind and slip some kind of wrap around the boy's head that kept his mouth shut. Then the guard pummeled the kid with the baton.

A slightly muscular kid turned into a red furred bull and charged the guards that were after him. The guards, who had been standing together, jumped apart and revealed a chain between them. The bull snorted and tried to stop, but the hooves couldn't catch on the metal floor and he tripped over the chain. Once more a boy was in place of the bull and the guards began pummeling him too.

The two blond kids were struggling against a handful of the guards. They stood back to back while knocking the guards back with matching sledgehammers. One brave guard ducked under the sledgehammer and locked a collar around the neck of one of the boys. The guard then tossed the now defenseless boy to his partners and hit the other twin from behind. A collar was snapped around the other boy's neck and he was beaten as well.

The only girl of the group was frantically blasting guards away from her with high powered jets of water. The guards were smart though for they knew she would run out of water. They kept getting back up and charging her again. Soon she had exhausted her body's supply of extra water and was overwhelmed by the guards. Unlike the others she was simply handcuffed so she couldn't move her hands and then thrown into her cage.

One boy was throwing balls of energy at the guards, but he was overwhelmed rather quickly. He was grabbed from behind and his hands cuffed behind his back where he couldn't move them. Lance winced as he heard the sickening cracks of the batons bashing the boy's body.

The guards were having a lot of trouble with one teenager in particular. No matter how much they tried they just couldn't catch him. The guards couldn't even hit the boy. Every time they swung at him he changed his density and the batons went right through him. That, or the boy would leap into the air. He was circling the fight above everyone and nothing the guards did could bring him down.

And then Lance had to clench his hands over his ears as a high-pitched ringing filled his mind and ears. He noticed everyone else in the room was doing the same thing. The guards were on their knees as was the tall man that had been watching the beatings with a smirk. The boy flying around in the air cried out in pain and hit the metal floor with a thump as he was fully materialized and holding his head just as the others were. Only one boy stood unaffected by the sound with his fingers pressed to his temples and his eyes shut in concentration.

Lance couldn't take it. Without a thought he raised his hand and sent a shockwave straight at the unsuspecting boy. The boy turned just in time to see the ground rolling at him before he was knocked up into the air and then landed flat on his back.

All hell broke loose then. Guards surged to their feet and rushed the two fallen boys while another couple came toward Lance's cage. The caged boy growled, rolled his eyes back and sent another tremor tearing through the room. He would have continued, but one of the guard threw his baton at Lance's head and knocked the boy flat on his back. The tremors ceased and the guards rushed in and secured a collar around his neck, blocking his abilities. The same collars were snapped around the necks of the flying boy and the one who had been creating the high-pitched noise. Then the beating continued.

Fred shot a worried look at Lance and then at the group of boys getting a horrible beating. He growled angrily and reached for the bars, but pulled his hands back as he received a nasty shock. He tried again, but was shocked again. He decided that no matter how many times he grabbed the bars he'd just continue to get shocked, so he refrained from trying again. Instead he could only watch as the tall man, obviously the boss, snapped his fingers and the guards stopped the beating.

"Perhaps that is enough of a lesson to you freaks. DO NOT fail me again."

With that the man left the room and the guards dragged the beaten teens into their cages. Then they left, laughing as they went.

"Goddamn Jesse, you gotta learn to target certain people with your little static effect." A boy with silvery grey hair and hazel eyes said.

"Sorry Kale." Jesse said softly. The young man was curled up in a corner of his cage with his hands pressed to his temples. "I panicked, I had to do something."

"You coulda just let them beat you like the pussy you are." Jordan sneered as he tried to nurse his busted lip.

"Yeah, coulda saved us all the headache." Mick added.

"Save you the headache?" Jesse repeated angrily. "You don't even know what a headache is pal. You'd crumble and cry to your mommy if you had my kind of headache."

"Ah, c'mon mates, don't start this again."

"Sorry Ian." Jesse said softly, closing his eyes.

Lance sat up, rubbing his head from where the baton had smacked him. He turned his attention to the cage to his right and saw a black haired, black- eyed young man watching him. He couldn't quite read the expression on the boy's face, but there was a light of pity there.

"What are you lookin' at?" Lance growled defensively.

A smirk crossed the other boy's face. "Let me guess, you're the wannabe tough guy leader of your little misfit group of unwanted and abused teenagers. You have to be tough because you're the oldest and the others look up to you for guidance. But the real reason you put up that macho bullshit is that you want to keep people away from so that you won't be hurt again."

"Damn Adam, you didn't have to hand him all that philosophical bullshit his first night here." The boy in the cage to the left of Lance said.

Adam rolled his eyes. "And I see you are already stepping up to defend the newcomer, eh Erik?"

"Don't start with me Adam. No one needs your cynical-I-hate-the-world bullshit."

"And no one wants to hear your everything-will-be-okay bullshit." Adam snapped back.

"Hey! Watch your language in front of the kids!" The girl shouted, silencing both young men.

Lance blinked in shocked silence as he looked around at the people in the cages. He was confused and angry, but most of all he was scared and he hated being scared. His mood lightened just slightly when he saw Fred in one of the cages across from him. He wasn't exactly happy one of his teammates had been captured, but at least he wasn't alone with all the strangers.

The boy that had transformed into the bull suddenly groaned and sat up, Lance assumed he must have been knocked unconscious. The boy pressed a hand to his forehead and groaned again. His hair was equally as red as the fur of the bull and his eyes were a dazzling green, though a little clouded with pain.

"One of these days I'm gonna shove my horns up Baxter's a--."

"Taylon, finish that sentence and I'll shove your own horns where the sun doesn't shine." The girl snapped.

"Sorry Chailyn." The bull boy said.

The girl rolled her eyes and then looked toward Lance. "You'll have to forgive the boys. It's not very often newcomers are actually kept with us. Some of them have never seen the outside world and the only thing about manners they know is what they've read in books."

"Not good examples." Erik added. "Then again, some of us have seen the outside world and still have no manners."

"Hey, shut up liquid man." Adam snapped. "Or you'll get another taste of why I'm called Tartarus."

"Man, he's sure let his powers go to his head." Jordan spoke up.

"Yeah, and I thought we were bad." Mick agreed.

"Shut up boys." Chailyn said in exasperation. "Now, everyone introduce yourselves."

For a moment there was silence as none of the guys knew where to start. Finally Chailyn pointed to the boy with silver eyes and shaggy black hair. The boy looked startled for a moment and shrank back in his cage. He was obviously a very shy young boy and when he spoke it was soft and uncertain.

"I-I'm Bryann, but they call me Sketcher. I-I can bring my drawings to life."

"I'm Matt," A little boy with brown hair and large, enticing purple eyes, spoke up, "They call me Hypnos. I put people to sleep when they look in my eyes." Lance looked away at that and toward the other little boy in the cage with Matt. "That's my brother Trenton, or Morpheus, he can control people's dreams. He hasn't been awake very much since we got here a year ago, only for the necessities."

"Baxter has his little cronies give him sleeping pills in his food." Erik added.

Next was the boy Lance had already come to know as Jesse. Jesse looked older than himself and had black hair with dark, pain riddled grey eyes. "I'm sure you already know I'm Jesse. They've nicknamed me Static, and you can probably tell why."

Chailyn was next. Lance had to admit she was really pretty. She had soft features, smooth skin that had a hint of blue to it. She had long wavy blue hair that flowed like water and, of course, dark blue eyes. She said her codename was Tsunami and for obvious reasons.

The next two cages housed Jordan and Mick, Carnage and Marauder respectively. Apparently they could harness any kind of energy and use it to create weapons and together they could erect a shield. And, Lance gathered, they actually liked to fight and use their powers. They were willingly following the boss even though they received the same kind of beating the others did.

"That's Reece, he can't exactly talk." Chailyn introduced the boy with the strap around his head to keep his mouth closed. "They call him Howler, I think you've already seen why. He can sometimes project mental images, but pretty much only when he's emotional."

Next to Reece was Taylon the bull boy, whom they called Thrash. To his right was Ian, who announced quite proudly that he was Australian. His codename was Shift, because he could shift his density and gravity. Meaning, Ian could move through solid objects and fly, both talents he had already demonstrated.

After Ian was a boy that was still unconscious from the beating he had received earlier. He had fiery red hair and Chailyn introduced him as Luke, codenamed Firefight. She said that he could use energy attacks to fight.

"I'm Adam, but they call me Tartarus." A smirk crossed the young man's face. "Want me to show you why?"

"Um, I...don't think so." Lance stammered, shooting a quick look to Fred's cage between Bryann and the two little boys Matt and Trenton.

"He's called Tartarus because he can create total sensory illusions and his favorite thing is to create someone's personal Hell." The boy on the other side of Lance's cage explained. "I'm Erik, but they call me Mercury because I can change myself into a liquid form and shape myself into anything I want."

"Why don't you slip between the bars?" Lance asked.

Erik rolled his eyes and tried to stick his hand between the bars. Lance jumped with Erik as a crackling sound caused the older boy to jerk his hand back. Lance nodded in understanding then looked past Erik to the last boy in the room.

"I'm Kale," The boy said and ran a gloved hand through his silvery grey hair.

"Do you absorb mutant's powers by touch?" Lance asked. The gloves reminded him of Rogue.

Kale cocked his head. "No, actually I change the properties of things I touch with my hands. I can't exactly control it though."

"So what's your codename then?"

"Synth."

"And what about you two? We've made our introductions." Adam spoke up. Lance wasn't sure the boy really cared.

"I'm Lance, I create seismic waves. My codename is Avalanche."

"My name's Fred, or Blob. Nothing can penetrate my skin and I'm really strong."

"He's got the brawn, but not the brains, that much is obvious." Mick snickered.

"I'd wager that's not all muscle either." Jordan added.

Chailyn rolled her eyes. "Someone needs to teach you two some manners. These are our new teammates, you should treat them as such."

"We are." The twins quipped in unison.

"Wait, we're not your new teammates. We belong to the Brotherhood of Mutants, not some group controlled by humans." Lance said.

Adam smirked. "You don't exactly have a choice. Like it or not, you're with us now."