Apologies to all reading this story. Circumstances prevented updating earlier. The quotation for the chapter is the following:

"On they fight for they are right,
Yes, but who's to say?"

That's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' by Metallica. Maybe some of you have heard of them.

Anyway, on with the story now:

Chapter Six: Command.

The X-jet was waiting, with Xavier, Logan and Ororo inside when Hank arrived with the teenagers. They quickly got in and buckled up.

"Aren't you afraid of having your powers switched around as well, Professor?" Scott asked, strapping himself in. Before Xavier could reply, Logan spoke up.

"We won't be makin' as big a mess of things, Scooter."

"I would say that we hope to have more success against him," Xavier said.

"De diplomat - says de nastiest t'ings in de nicest way," Remy told the air. Everyone ignored him as Xavier continued speaking.

"The monster is at the football field. Now, we only have a couple of minutes to get there, so listen carefully to the game plan I have devised: first of all, who has Jean's power?"

"I do," Kurt replied.

"Okay. Nightcrawler and I will get everyone out of there, by telepathy. There should not be any casualties if you misuse someone's ability, and we don't want anyone seeing our powers on display. Secondly, since only Storm, Beast, Wolverine and I have proper, permanent powers, we will keep the same positions. The rest of you switch according to the following ways: those with ranged attacks, such as Cyclops's, Spyke's or Gambit's should stay with Storm, and blast it. Whoever has Rogue's power can help Wolverine and Beast take out the Brotherhood. The person who has Jean's power will come with me and try to mentally take out the monster. Got it?" The teens nodded.

"One more thing: the monster must not be killed. We the teachers believe he is being controlled by a device Mystique has in her possession, and it must be retrieved so that your power switching may be finished. Any questions?"

"We stopped it with a sofa," Scott said. "Why do we need teachers?" Jean barely held back a gasp at his disrespect.

"Mystique wasn't there at the mall. The monster was on a sort of autopilot. She is here now, though, and if the same thing happens, she would probably force it to get up and start attacking again. Also, maybe you hit it on its only weak spot or something. We should not take any risks."

The football field came into view just then. It was in flames, and there were people running around everywhere. The monster was using the posts to destroy the stands. The Brotherhood was there, with Mystique, and they were standing around, doing nothing.

"They are waiting for us." Logan growled.

"Nightcrawler, send out thoughts, quickly. Look at a person, and tell him to run away." Kurt did so, his face soon sweating with concentration. Everyone piled out as the jet landed near the edge of the field away from the monster.

The Brotherhood saw them, and Mystique looked down at something she held in her hand. She pressed a part of it, and the monster stopped. She spoke to it, and it turned around to where the X-men were, and started walking, the Brotherhood just behind.

Just then, Kurt coughed, and a two foot long tongue shot out. He stumbled in shock.

"Powers have switched again, I see." Hank said as he helped Kurt up. While he was doing so, Kitty screamed. The X-men turned to look at her, and most gasped in shock. She was bloated like a beach ball, like a balloon, like-

"De Blob!" Remy exclaimed.

"Maybe it's proximity?" Jean suggested.

"That would seem so," Xavier said, pointing to the Brotherhood. "Look."

Lance was throwing out a red optic beam, while the whole Brotherhood jumped out of its way. Mystique was also on the ground, and the monster had stopped walking.

"Now what?" Scott asked, looking at Xavier.

"Same thing." He replied, "Anyone who has ranged attacks, get the monster. Anyone with close-up attacks, get the Brotherhood. Anyone who has a defensive power, like Nightcrawler's, Shadowcat's, or Quicksilver's; distract the monster, or fight the brotherhood at your discretion. Now, take your positions, while calling out whose powers you have."

Ororo walked forward. Hank and Logan walked past her.

Evan walked up to Ororo. "I have Remy's power, prof,"

Jean walked up to where Ororo was. "I have Spyke's power, professor." She said, as she reached where Ororo was.

Kurt walked to Logan and Hank. He smelt horrible. "Uh, professor, I seem to have Toad's power." Hank and Logan, both with sensitive noses, distanced themselves from him.

"Kitty, I think you should sit this one out," Xavier said, gently. She was crying.

"An'rexics nigh'mare," Remy told Scott, who nodded.

Rogue wasn't sure what her powers were. She thought about a place. Nothing happened. She tried charging a blade of grass. Still nothing. She took a step forward, and her foot jerked two feet ahead. She tried jogging to where Xavier was, and found herself there in half a second. "Ah have Quicksilver's power, prof," She said, a trifle giddily, being unused to the speed.

Remy wasn't sure either. So he thought about Evan slapping himself. Evan did slap himself, so he thought about floating. He got off the ground, and floated to where Xavier was. "I'm de Princess," He said.

Scott also wasn't sure. He looked at his hands, imagining beating up Lance. The ground trembled. He grinned, as evilly as Scott Summers was capable of. "I have Alvers' power." He said, but he walked up to Logan and Hank, instead of Ororo, explaining the reason to Xavier as he did so, "There are enough people to take the monster down, and not enough for the Brotherhood, so I'll take them on." *And beat up Alvers again* he grinned inwardly. Remy laughed and Xavier frowned.

Remy added up everything mentally as he saw the others take their positions. *So it's Stormy, Jean an' Porcupine against de monster; Rogue is on int'rference, Charles an' me are against ev'ryone, but mainly against de monster, an' Scooter, Kurt, Logan an' Beast are against de Brotherhood an' Mystique.*

"Quite astute, Gambit," Professor Xavier muttered as he scanned the field. Suddenly he saw a shadowy figure running down the bleachers. He paused for an instant to confirm the figures' identity, and then shot off a telepathic message to Logan:

*Logan, Sabertooth is heading for you.*

*-*

Logan got the message a split second before his own nose, distracted by Kurt's newly acquired smell, picked out Creed's distinctive aroma.

"Beast, take care of Mystique, and hope Cyclops and Nightcrawler can take the Brotherhood out on their own." He turned and ran up the stands, after Sabertooth.

"Is it too much to ask?" Hank inquired Scott and Kurt.

"Watch this," Scott replied. He clenched his hand, and the entire stadium shook. He grinned and clenched his hand harder. The stands threatened to crumble and fall. The whole Brotherhood had fallen, apart from Toad, who was rotating slowly in mid-air, and even the monster was on its' knees. He laughed at the power he had.

Suddenly he realized that he was sprawling on the grass. Lance had probably shot an optic blast at him, but he would show him. He got up again, and resumed the earthquake. He was knocked down again, and this time there was a person on him. He focused on the person, and realized it was Beast. *Hank is a traitor?* He thought in shock. Then he noticed Hank was trying to shout something at him.

"Stop it! You're killing us!" Hank bellowed in his ear. Startled, Scott looked towards the X-men's end of the field. Everyone there was also fallen on the floor, with the exception of Storm and Remy, who could fly, and Xavier, who was hovering in a TK bubble Remy had made. The football field was in ruins.

*-*

When the earthquake started, the Brotherhood were about to attack. After the earthquake, however, most people were interested in surviving. None of the Brotherhood could fly, apart from Todd, who had Rogue's power, and wasn't sure how to use it anyway.

"Are you controlling Summers'?" Lance bellowed, his hands covering his eyes as he tried desperately to keep them closed and not do further damage to his team.

"The monster is emitting resonances, which are directed at him," Mystique shouted back over the screams of the others.

"So you're getting us all killed on purpose?" Lance yelled.

"The control is not working properly. It fell when that idiot started your earthquakes. We're going to be in even more serious trouble if the stupid monster decides to stop the powers again,"

*-*

The X-men were in the same state of affairs. Storm took to the air and watched helplessly as the mutants around her fell on the floor when the tremors started. Then she looked towards Xavier and saw Remy trying to stay in the air while making a telekinetic bubble around Xavier, who was really getting bashed about. He finally succeeded, but Xavier was so shaken he could not telepathically make Scott stop.

"Remy! Use your telepathy to stop Scott!" Storm shouted to him.

"Remy can't Stormy, he's goin' t' fall if he does a t'ird t'ing," He said, and she noticed that his hovering was really shaky, and so was Xavier in the telekinetic bubble.

She was about to use wind to knock Scott down, but she saw that Hank had pushed him down. The trembling stopped and she let out a sigh of relief. But her relief was short-lived as Scott got up and started making more earthquakes. The new earthquakes were more powerful, and they knocked down both Kurt and Hank, as well as Logan and Sabertooth up in the stands. Hank got up almost instantly, however, and this time gave Scott a football tackle. The earthquakes stopped again as Hank seemed to be shouting at Scott to come to his senses. Finally Scott looked around him and gasped in shock as he saw the damage he had created.

"Remy, ask Xavier for instructions," Storm said, not taking her eyes off Scott.

"Je ne peux pas, Stormy," Remy said, reverting to French in his worry, "Xavier's out of it."

Storm turned and looked at Xavier, and saw him slumped in his wheelchair, a trickle of blood running down his forehead.

"I, I lost control on the las' series of 'quakes," Remy moaned, "an' he fell headfirst. I'm sorry Stormy," He didn't even look at her, upset at his failure.

"There's nothing we can do about it, now, Remy. And maybe even Jean could not have helped him." She replied, trying to make him feel better.

"What do we do now?" He asked.

"What can we do? Scott takes over as our leader."

*-*

Scott was still in shock. "I did all that?" He asked dazedly, as Hank helped him to his feet.

"Indubitably," Hank answered.

"Now what?" Scott asked him.

Hank pointed to where the rest of the X-men were. Almost all were fallen, apart from Storm and Remy. "Maybe we should regroup?" He asked.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea," Scott replied unsteadily, although he had been unaffected by the earthquakes.

Kurt, Scott and Hank walked to where the X-men were. Storm met them stonily. "Cyclops is our leader," She told Hank. Hank raised an eyebrow.

"What about the professor? Wasn't he in a protective bubble?" he asked.

"Mister Lebeau is not the telepath Miss Grey is," She replied, looking at Hank. "He could not hold on to the bubble, and was forced to let Professor Xavier drop. He got injured in the fall." Her tone was glacial ice. She turned to Scott. "What do we do now, leader?"

Scott was taken aback. "I got everyone into this mess, and I'm being retained as leader?" he exclaimed incredulously.

"When Xavier gives someone second command, he knows why." Hank said, his tone sounding unconvinced.

"But it was you who gave me second command, when I asked for it," Scott said.

"The teachers had discussed the issue of who was to be second in command before, and we had chosen you. If you hadn't asked for second command, Xavier would have given it to you." Hank replied, looking across the field to where the Brotherhood were getting to their feet. The monster was still on its knees though, and Mystique was furiously jabbing a black pyramid, which was probably the control device. "Maybe you should start issuing commands, leader?"

"Yeah, okay. First we need a detail on who got injured in the, uh, attack," He looked at Storm. "Apart from Professor Xavier, of course."

"Of course," Storm replied dryly. "I have already done that, and Rogue and Evan can still fight. Jean however, may have an arm broken, and she is releasing spikes in pain. Remy has managed to telekinetically carry her to the corner of the field. Scott, are you listening?" She looked at him. He was transfixed, looking straight ahead.

"I hurt Jean," He said aloud, but he was talking to himself. He left Ororo and Hank behind and started walking towards where Jean was lying.

Ororo and Hank looked at each other.

"I guess that makes you leader, Ororo,"

"By the goddess! If I wasn't answerable to Xavier, that idiot would have more than a few thunderbolts up his-"

"Ororo?"

"Yes?"

"May I remind you that you are a teacher?"

"Well if you're going to, then you better do it quick, because my fingers are tingling."

Kurt interrupted their conversation. "How many active members do we have?" he demanded.

"You, Hank, Remy, Rogue, Evan and I. Logan is fighting Creed." Ororo replied, looking at the Brotherhood. None of them appeared visibly injured. She knew the X-men might not make it out of this one. Just then, Toad touched Quicksilver and he fell to the ground. Well, that evened the odds a little, but they still had a towering monster to take care of.

*-*

"I don't feel too good," Todd said, wobbling around. He held Pietro for support. This was not good for the Brotherhood, as he held Pietro's bare arm and began draining the life out of him. He realised what he was doing, and let go in shock, but not before Pietro slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Aw, geez, I had Rogue's powers." He looked down at Pietro. "Sorry, Speedy." Then he tried wiggling his fingers, to see if he could use the power that Pietro had and he had absorbed. Nothing happened. "Thanks a lot," He told the inert Pietro, "some powers you turned out to have."

Tabitha was bamfing from place to place. She chortled with glee. Freddy, who was still pretty fat, even after the loss of his powers, found himself releasing cherry bombs all over. He grinned stupidly, and was whacked on the head by Mystique.

"Stop releasing cherry bombs all over," she snapped. "Throw it at the X- men if you have to,"

"How do you aim?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" she snapped, leaving him and trying to go to Tabitha, who was still bamfing.

"Stop bamfing," she snapped at Tabitha.

"What?" called Tabitha, who was now at the other side of the field.

"I said, stop bamfing!" Mystique shouted. Tabitha bamfed next to her.

"What did you say?" Tabitha asked. Mystique turned red with anger, but her skin was blue, so she turned purple.

"Cool colour," Tabitha said, rubbing Mystique's nose.

"Don't do that!" Mystique yelled, slapping away Tabitha's hand. "Now bamf over to where Scott and Jean Grey are, and take Scott's visor and bamf back here and give it to Lance so he can use Scott's power. Got that?"

"I thought I wasn't allowed to bamf."

Mystique turned into a dragon. "Go." Said the dragon, flames coming out of its nostrils.

"(Gulp) Yes, of course," Tabitha stammered, and disappeared.

*-*

Scott was trying to get close to Jean, but she kept sending out spikes, and he was having a hard time avoiding them.

"Jean!" he called, trying to stop her.

"Scott!" she said, her body arcing in spasms, "Scott, stay away! I, I can't control these spikes!"

"Jean I'm sorry. Jean, this is all my fault."

"Don't worry," she gasped, even though she was rolling on the ground and throwing spikes like a geyser, "Everything will be alright."

"My God, Jean," Scott said, still trying to get close. "I never knew you were such a damnably good liar."

Just then, Tabitha bamfed up to Scott.

"Hello, Scott," she said, as she lifted his visor off, and bamfed away again. He was too stunned to reply, and for a split second even closed his eyes, before remembering that he could no longer shoot optic beams. Any thoughts of chasing after Tabitha were driven away as Jean finally stopped tossing spikes. He ran to her, and took her into his arms, whispering in her ear, "It's going to be alright Jean; everything will be alright."

"Didn't I just say that?" she inquired tiredly, exhausted by all the spikes she had expended. He thought about it.

"No you didn't," he told her. "Now rest in my arms until you're feeling better."

"I think my arm is broken,"

"Stay here, I'll get the first aid kit," he put her carefully on the ground.

"Scott?"

"Hmm?"

"What good will a first aid kit do?"

"I'm sure we'll figure something out Jean,"

*-*

"Okay, Evan, you take on Toad; Hank, you take Mystique; Rogue, you take The Blob; Kurt, fight Tabitha; Remy and I will take care of the monster."

"What about Lance?" Kurt asked Ororo.

"He's useless without a visor."

"He has a visor," Remy said.

"What?"

"Yeah, see?" Remy pointed towards Lance, "Dats him over dere."

"Arrggggghhhhh!" Storm screamed in frustration as she started rising, her irises disappearing, "Scott, you inept, useless moron, you let him take your visor. Mangy, flea bitten-"

"Poor Lance," Remy said, his tone unsympathetic, "She's goin' t' take it out on him."

Storm rose above the ruined football field, and called to all the winds to come, and to the rain to fall, and for the heavens to show their anger and-

"Yeah yeah, we get de point," Remy shouted from below.

The football field was covered in darkness as rain fell and lightning crashed everywhere, while Storm looked on.

"Get them while they're distracted!" she ordered.

"What about Lance?" Kurt inquired.

"Screw Lance!" Storm ordered in distinctly un-Storm-like fashion.

"Ick." Kurt said.

Everyone looked at him.

"She doesn't mean it literally, âne," Remy informed him.

"But still, eeyuck." Kurt insisted.

"If a few thunderbolts will speed you up?" a voice inquired from above, "I would be happy to oblige."

"No t'anks," Remy called, "We're good t' go." The group broke up into individuals seeking out the enemy they had been assigned. Remy was left alone, and he his face paled as he realised why.

"Merde, I have t' face de stupid monster."

*-*

"You suck," Sabertooth told Wolverine.

"Ya ain't much better, bub," Wolverine replied. Most of the stands lay sliced to ruins below them. Somehow, they had managed to reach the commentary box while fighting. Their fight had been interrupted by Scott's earthquakes, but only to a minor extent, and there was plenty of time for them to continue hacking and slashing at each other. Wolverine slashed at Sabertooth, missing and activating the mike instead.

"You ain't much good at fighting at close quarters, runt," Sabertooth informed him.

"Oh yeah?" Wolverine asked, as his claws ripped open Sabertooth's shirt, leaving thin red lines, which dried up almost instantly due to Sabertooth's accelerated healing factor.

"Oh yeah," Sabertooth said, nearly chortling with glee.

Wolverine kicked a chair at him. Sabertooth slashed at it, sending it to the side, but it threw him off guard for Wolverine's next attack, which nearly stuck into his side. Although he avoided the full blow narrowly, he was still pretty hurt.

"Yer time's run out, Creed," Wolverine said.

"I don't think so, Logan," Sabertooth said, as he grabbed the mike and threw it at Wolverine. It was sparking from Wolverine's cut, and it gave him a minor electrocution. Wolverine bellowed in anger and pain.

"Argh, son of a -"

*-*

"Profane, isn't he?" Beast asked of no-one in particular, as he fought Mystique. Both were skilled in fighting, and so far, neither had managed to get the upper hand. Wolverine and Sabertooth's abuses could be heard, amplified over the field.

"He's your team-mate," Mystique said, her face just beginning to acquire a sheen of sweat.

Hank was beginning to perspire also. "Indubitably, but your associate is no less irreverent."

"Yes, well, we don't keep him for his table manners, do we?"

"Hmm, well, you are right of course, but it would be nice if you tried to teach him to curb his tongue, would it not?"

"You are beginning to bother me, McCoy, shut up and fight."

Beast got into the position he was looking for, and gave a sweeping scissors kick, taking out Mystique's legs from under her.

"You know, Raven, when I fight, I try to distract the other person by talking." Hank said as he looked for something to tie her up with.

"Nice to know," she said, as she transformed into a mouse to escape. Hank caught her, and held her from her tail by his fingers. He then tied her with some shoelace he produced from his pocket.

"I always carry a spare shoelace," He chuckled as he tucked the mouse, in a full body bind, inside his pocket, "and I suggest you don't try to turn human again, Miss Darkholme. I believe it would be most painful."

*-*

Down the pitch, the stupid monster laughed, even though he hadn't heard Remy. Remy, however, thought he had heard his stupid monster comment, and his face paled even more.

"But I have Jean's power," he muttered, "so I can stay right here, and hit him." He concentrated on lifting the monster up as far as he was able to, like he had Xavier. However, he had lifted Xavier about a foot off the ground, and that was how far he was able to lift a man probably a quarter the weight of the monster. His concentration broken at the realization of how badly he was going to fail, and he stared unhappily at the monster.

*C'mon, Remy, can't y' t'ink of sumt'in' morale-boostin'?* he asked himself. He waited a bit to try and think of something morale boosting. *not really,* he admitted sheepishly.

*Well den, are y' gon' t' let de monster kill Rogue?* he asked himself.

*But de monster ain't nowhere near Rogue,* he argued.

*Well, he'll get t' her eventually,* he thought, and the thought angered him. It angered him enough to charge madly at the monster, forgetting all about Jean's telekinetic powers. He let out a Braveheart type yell as he did so. The monster turned to stare at him in shock, wondering how stupid this scrawny little creature, half his size, was. He picked up Remy again, as Remy came near, and held him with one hand.

"Remy ain't scrawny," Remy shouted, as he tried ineffectively, to get free. The monster stopped his other hand from smashing Remy's face in, and looked at him curiously.

*You can understand me?* the monster thought.

"Yeah, I'm telepathic. At de momen' 'nyway." Remy said, trying to break the monsters grip on him, and failing.

*You're the first person to understand me,* thought the monster.

"Dat's nice t' know," Remy said, still struggling. "Now can you put me down?"

The monster shook its head. *I have orders to kill you.* thought the monster. Remy stopped struggling and looked at him.

"I am de firs' person t' understan' y', an' y'd still kill me?" asked Remy incredulously. The monster nodded.

*The only way I will not kill you, is if someone changed the orders. Otherwise, I have to kill you*

"But we could be buddies, soulmates, whatever," Remy babbled, afraid to get his face squashed in, "can't y' kill someone else?"

*I will regret it, indeed, but you are closest to me.* the monster raised his hand again.

Now Remy was desperate, and with a focus born of determination, he lifted the both of them to the height Storm was at, which was more than a few stories above the ground. Storm looked at them in surprise as she continued directing lightning bolts all over the field.

The monster had not hit Remy yet, and it looked around curiously from its new vantage point, thoughts of disfiguring Remy temporarily forgotten.

"One question," Remy said. The monster looked at him. "Can y' survive a fall from dis high?" the monster nodded.

"Good." Remy made a bubble separating him from the monster, and releasing the monster. It fell to the ground with a crash.

"Well," said Remy, as he hovered on the brink of falling again, and narrowly managed to save himself. "dat's done wit'." But then he saw the monster get up again.

*-*

Meanwhile, Lance had come to where Scott was tending Jean, and was shooting concussive blasts at them. Scott was trying to make a localised earthquake, which did not spread to all parts of the field. The tremors he produced, while not too effective, did manage to throw off Lance's aim, so that Lance did not hit him or Jean.

They were again evenly matched, as they had been in the mall, because this time neither knew how to make full use of his powers. Lance continued trying to aim while staying on his feet; Scott concentrated on watching for any blast which may hit Jean, and trying to increase the power of his earthquake while containing it in the area around Lance. While they were doing so, Lance kept taunting him.

"We're one-all, Summers, in the past week, you've won one, and I've won one. Doesn't that bother you?"

"It does," Scott said shortly, still trying to take him down, while staying close to Jean.

"Well, I'm going to beat you again,"

Suddenly Scott noticed the monster fall, and get up almost instantly. It charged the X-men fighting in the middle of the field, scattering them. For a moment, he was torn between assuaging his ego, and saving his team. Then he made his decision.

"Lance, I'm going to kill you."

Jean was looking on from the ground, and seeing the team getting beaten up. She screamed, "Scott you idiot! Save the others!" Scott looked at Lance, noticing out of the corner of his eye the monster pick up Beast and smash him to the ground, making a mouse fall out of his pocket in the process. But Scott had no time to think about what a mouse was doing in Beast's pocket.

"Jean, honey, could you snap your fingers for as long as you possibly can?"

Jean did so, and started letting loose a stream of spikes, making Lance fall back under the assault. Scott ran past him to where the others were. He used Lance's power.

*-*

Remy looked down, and saw Scott running to the others, about to create more earthquakes. *Dat dum'ass is goin' t' kill 'em all dis time,* he thought, and concentrated on getting the X-men away from the monster. He created four TK bubbles, around Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast and Spyke and flung them away, hoping the impact wouldn't kill them. He noticed he was falling when he was about ten feet above the ground.

*-*

Scott saw the four X-men getting flung away, and he thought the monster had done something to them as he couldn't see the telekinetic bubbles. In his anger he created a massive earthquake, breaking open the ground between the monster and closing the hole as the monster fell, crushing him. Only his upper body remained above the ground after Scott stopped. The battle at the field was over.