Haha! The fifth chapter.  This is picking up a lot faster than all of my other stories.  I shall take it as a sign that I am improving.

Flamingo1:  Yes! That's what it was called! I've been wracking my brains to figure that out.

Abigail Marie: Wait no longer.

Laureate:  Maybe she'll find him in a later chapter, hmmm?

Dragonet: I suppose we could.  Dex and Doggy would love to have a chat with your muses.

Akai Kah'ghe:  Yeah, it is pretty freaky.

Disclaimer:  X-men ain't mine.

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"You know how to hotwire a car?"

"I'm not just another handsome face, you know."

Ray, Doggy, and I were hanging out behind the dinghy hotel, next to a big van.  It fit about eight people, which was just perfect.  Doggy and I were lookouts while Ray was messing with the wires underneath the wheel. 

"So how do you know so much so much about this?"  I looked down the street, trying to keep a lookout and be inconspicuous at the same time.

"Well, most of the time there's only a little stream of glue holding the plastic over the wires, and with this handy dandy pocket knife you allowed me to borrow," He gestured to my pocketknife, a really nice one with an engraving of a pack of coyotes on the handle, "I can cut around the edge with little cosmetic damage."

"What do you do if the doors are locked?"

"Use a brick."

"The wonders of modern carjacking."

"Yup."

Ray did something to the wires and suddenly the van roared to life. He sat up in the seat and closed the door. I went around the front and got in shotgun after Doggy. Doggy sat right behind us in the second row seat.

"Do you have your license, Ray?"

"We're stealing a car.  Do you think it really matters?"

"Yeah, but I'll get over it."

We drove to the front of the building where the others could see us.  They had been standing around in the lobby.   It looked as if they were all displeased about something.  Probably the clerk.  He still had rotten looking teeth.

John was first to get out of the lobby.  The others followed, slightly hurried. 

When they got into the van, they all jostled for good seats.  As it turned out, Sam, Lance, and John sat in the very back while Rogue and Wanda both sat on either side of Doggy.

Rogue looked around in disgust. "This thing is filthy!"

"Can't help that.  At least it's a ride with a full tank of gas."  Ray started to put the van into gear.

"Wanda?  Do you still have Kally and Herman?"  My question made Ray stop putting the van into gear.  He looked back at Wanda.

Wanda rolled her eyes.  "Yes, I have your precious rat.  She's right here."  She pulled the rat out of her pocket.  Kally ran off of her palm to perch on Doggy's collar.  Then she reached inside her shirtsleeve to pull out Herman, who she placed on his collar also.

Ray put the van in gear and took off down the road.

"Who wants to sing a song?"  John asked cheekily from the back.

"I know a song called 'kill the pyro.'" Wanda glared back at him.  The Aussie pyro then decided that silence was a better alternative.

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Jean sighed as she put cerebro back on its stand.

"I'm sorry Scott, it's as if they disappeared of the face of the earth.  They're just…gone." 

Scott sighed and shook his head.  Magneto looked on with little emotion.  Mystique and Logan had been put in charge while Beast looked at the remains of one of the robots they had brought back.  As far as anyone knew, Pyro and Berzerker had taken it out.  And yet there was no sign of them.

"We will try again later.  Now you must get rest, for we may resort to physical search teams."  Magneto turned away.

"How can you be so calm?!"

Magnus turned to face Scott.  "Do not make the mistake that I do not care of their well-being.  One of my alcolytes is also missing.   You are not the only one who will lose trusted comrades."

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"ON THE ROAD AGAIN! JUST CAN'T WAIT TO GET ON THE ROAD AGAIN!"

Lance and Wanda both had their hands over their ears.  Ray would have too, but he was driving.

"WHAT I LOVE IS MAKIN' MUSIC WITH MY FRIENDS! I CAN'T WAIT TO GET ON THE ROAD AGAIN!"

Sam and I were the loudest, having heard this song many times before and therefore knowing it by heart.  Rogue and John were jumping in every few seconds, singing bits they knew.

"ON THE ROAD AGAIN! GOIN' PLACES THAT I'VE NEVER BEEN!  SEEIN' THINGS I MAY NEVER SEE AGAIN, I CAN'T WAIT TO GET ON THE ROAD AGAIN!"

Ray's knuckles began to turn white.  I assume it was because he was enjoying our singing so gosh darned much.

"ON THE ROAD AGAIN! LIKE A BAND OF GYPSIES WE GO DOWN THE HIGHWAY! WE'RE THE BEST OF FRIENDS, INSISTING THAT THE WORLD BE TURNIN' OUR WAY!"

"ENOUGH! I'LL DO IT! I"LL TURN ON THE RADIO!"

Silence filled the van for about two whole seconds.  Ray had a death grip on the wheel and a slightly deranged look to him.  Wanda and Lance weren't much better off.

"We're glad you see it our way."  John quipped.

Ray rushed to turn on the radio.  It blared to life.

And our way
Is on the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again

"Yes!" Me and Sam both pumped our fists into the air.

"NO!" Ray hit the search button, presumably to get away from Willie Nelson.  Or he was just trying to kill the radio, and therefore have an excuse.

It hit a nice alternative rock station, and even though I know Ray would have usually hurt himself just to change the station, it had an unnaturally calming effect on him.

I looked at him a little worriedly.  "Ray?  Are you enroute to your happy place?"

"Yeah."

"You wanna hand over the wheel?"

"Sure."  He pulled off to the side of the road. And got out.  I quickly ran over to the driver's side because he forgot to put the van in park and it was rolling away.  I managed to get in and stop it while Ray took shotgun.  Not an easy feat with an injured knee. 

I decided not to tell anyone I only had a driving permit.  After all, we were all kinda tired and after almost rolling away because Ray didn't put them in park, I don't think they needed anymore grief.

I am not like Kitty.  I actually drive fairly well.  Sometimes I have trouble keeping constant speed, but that's alright.  Sort of.

About twenty minutes down the road I began to hear snores.  I glanced up at the rearview and saw that Lance had his head back and was drooling, much to the disgust of John and Sam, who were on either side of him.  Wanda had her head on Doggy's shoulder, who in turn had his head on Rogue's knee.  She was looking out the window. 

About this time I had to turn my attention back to the road because I was getting really close to the line.  When I got it back where it was supposed to be, I snuck a glance at Ray.

Apparently getting to his happy place took a lot of energy, because he was slumped in his seat, fast asleep.  Kally was curled between his neck and shoulder.  Herman was still on Doggy's collar.

I turned the radio down a little because I saw yawns coming from the people that were awake.  Not that I could blame them.  We didn't sleep very much at all in the hotel.  I slept a grand total of about three and a half hours.  And I was the one that slept the most.

I drove silently while they slept, with only the radio for company.

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It never occurred to me that we might hit customs in Baja California.  I guess they might have been looking for someone.  We were stuck in a fifty-car traffic jam as people got searched ahead of us.  The noise of all the cars woke up my passengers. 

"What's goin' ah-hoaughhhon?"  I assume Rogue was asking me what was going on, but she yawned in mid-sentence.

"Hey, what's that white stuff?"  Lance was pointing at something on the floor of the van.  John bent down to look at it.  He came back up real fast.

"We have a problem."

"What?"  Ray looked over his shoulder at them.

"Well…" John took a deep breath. "We have a fifteen year old sheilah driving the van.  And we have a strange white substance of which I'm fairly sure is not sugar."

It took a few seconds for that to register with the others in the van.  That's when Wanda struck on the meaning.

"We have DRUGS in this VAN?!"

"It's worse."  Wanda turned around to glare at me.  She's a little intimidating. 

"HOW is it WORSE?"

"We're about to get searched."  I pointed to the gate five cars ahead of us.

"Oh mah…Crap!  What are we gonna do?"  Rogue looked around for ideas.

"You guys picked a van with cocaine in it!" Wanda was still stuck on the drugs.

"We picked the van that could fit all of us!" Ray glared back at her.

"Quiet!"  Sam hissed out.

All the while, we had been pulling up.  Now it was our turn.

"Greetings Mam.  May I see your Driver's license?"  The guard was tall and god looking.  Or at least that's what I could tell from peripherals.  I didn't want to look him in the eye for fear that I might let something slip.  It was probably a good thing the van seem to suck in light, making it impossible to get a good look at me.

"Mam?  Did you know dogs are not allowed to cross the border unless you have a permit?"

This got me to look at him.  " There is no way in hell I will leave my dog behind."

I heard Ray take in a little breath.  The guard glared at me.  "You and the others step out of the car.  I want to see your ID's."

Alright, I had already ticked off the guard, I had no ID to speak of, and there was cocaine or some other drug on the floor of the backseat.  Plus I had a dog that couldn't go over the border.

Yeah, I didn't have anything to lose.  I gave him my best grin, which probably looked pretty maniacal at the moment. 

"Holy-" Ray grabbed Kally as I put the pedal to the floor.  I totally took out the little crossing fence.  Wanda had anticipated I was going to do this and hexed the phone lines and walkie talkies so they couldn't call the cops on us right away.

For a dinghy old van, it had really good acceleration.  And the fact that I was a crazy driver hauling it probably helped.

We hit the border at about a hundred and five and were still climbing when sirens began going off.  Apparently the crossing guard's buddies had been closer than I imagined.

Now I definitely didn't have anything to lose.  The cop cars, at least four of them, tried to cut me off by making the way too narrow.  However, being only on a permit, I do not understand the concept of not enough space. 

But they figured out the concept of getting hit by a van pretty quickly.  The van side swiped both of the cars that had been trying to cut me off, sending them careening into a ditch.  The other two backed off and settled for bumping my rear bumper with their cars. 

So I braked.  In a panic, one of cars went barreling into the other one.  They both hit the ditch.

Thankfully no one was hurt. The cops were staring at us when we made tracks.

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The first town we were in, we ditched the van.  And I was forbidden ever to drive again.  But I earned Wanda's admiration.

"I can't believe you were stupid enough to pull that stunt!"  She was giving me an evil look while the guys and Rogue escorted Ray off to find another car.  We didn't need anymore incidents.  Doggy, Herman, and Kally were wandering off to go find some chow.  When there was just me and her, she actually broke into a grin.

"It was stupid, but wicked.  How'd you learn to drive like that?"

"Actually I don't really know how to drive.  I'm still on a permit."

She shook her head and laughed.  She sobered up fairly quickly. 

"What do we do about that?"  She asked gloomily staring at the van.

"I don't know. It has our fingerprints.  We'll have warrants out on us."

"We already do." She pointed out.  Then she looked up suddenly.  "We'll get rid of it!"

"We determined that we need to do that already."

"I know that!"  She scowled at me.  "But I know how to do it."

"What?  We ask Lance to bury it or something?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of burning it to a crisp then melting it to slag."

"Pyro."

"Yep."

She ran off to go get John.  I stood all by my lonesome, guarding the van. 

After a couple minutes, I got uneasy.  It was a strange place, Doggy and the other two were wandering, and all of the others were off with Ray.

A light clicking sound caught my attention.  Something was moving towards the van.  I turned and ran into an alleyway.  Well, I sort of ran. 

Another one of those big machines came walking up to the van.    The big nasty ones with teeth.  It looked into the van, ripping off a door in the process.

Danny? Are you there? There.

Dan!  There isa thing bythevan where areyou?

(I'm here) I whispered.  No sense in speaking too loudly.  (Don't come near.)

What should we do? We do.

(Get the others.  Don't let it see you.)

I couldn't feel them anymore, so I turned my attention back to the robot.  It was ripping up the van.

At least we wouldn't have to worry about fingerprints, I thought as the wheel went flying by where I was sitting.

"Danny!  Where are you, you're dog is goin' crazy!" 

Sam.  He didn't realize…

The droid went into a crouch. I got up and yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Don't come!  It's one of those robots by the van!  It- oh CRAP!"

I ducked down fast as the robot leapt at me.  It sailed over me and I hauled myself out of the hiding space and ran off.  The robot recovered and was a few steps behind when a Cannonball (literally!) went flying past me and landed Robot into the van.  It fizzled and snapped a bit, but didn't get back up.

Sam ran back up to me. "You ahlright?"

"Yeah."

"Cahn't stay outta trouble, cahn ya?"

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Alrighty then!  I had lots of fun with this chapter.

Herman is looking for reviews!