Disclaimer: Ditto last chapter.

Flamingo1:  Well…You know Kitty's muffins, nobody wants to eat them…so on and so forth.

Dragonet: Yeah, it really isn't all that smart, striking a hyena.

Laureate:   I suppose she could have, but I think Danny's mommy would have been more than a little upset.

hnh:  Umm…Dutchness?  Thanks.  You should love this chapter.

Akai Kah'ghe: That seems to be the general consensus.  Thanks.

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"SCATTER!"

I don't know who shouted.  I just know that I concurred. 

It was bigger than the other ones.  At least twelve feet tall.  And with blades and beam weapons and all those space-man things.

We didn't see this robot until it was right on top of us.  We stopped in Little Rock, Arkansas just for a bite to eat.  Just one meal without getting into trouble.  Is that too much to ask?

Hezibah and Doggy were leading the way.  We snuck past the robot into an alleyway. 

John turned on the robot to give Rogue some time to get away.  He is a brave guy.  Or insane.  I haven't decided yet.  He pulled out a lighter and started throwing fireball at the robot.

Needless to say, it got angry, if that is indeed possible.  It tossed him twenty feet.  A couple people ran past me screaming.  Yeah, that will probably be me in a couple minutes.

How do these things know where we are?  Are we biological homing beacons? 

Arcane and Wanda pulled off to the side and began hitting robot jones with everything they had.  Ray ran over to John to help him out of the line of fire, if one will excuse the pun. Lance and Sam were getting ready to cannonball and rock the robot's world.  Again with the horrible puns.

Everything that they did however, seemed not to faze it.  Sam hit it and he deflected and ran into a monument.  Oops.  Lance tried to throw it off it's feet but it flew.  Wanda hexed it but it deflected and hit Rogue a glancing blow.  No bullets could penetrate the plate metal. Again, everybody scattered.

Except Rogue.  She was stumbling.  Arcane saw her and immediately tried to divert the robot's attention. 

Appears it worked a little too well. 

Arcane had to make a break for it when the robot charged him.  Sam and Wanda grabbed Rogue and made themselves scarce.

Man cannot run forever.

(I know.)  Hezibah looked at me, waiting for an action, a decision, or some witty one-liner.  Maybe not the last one.

Danny. We go with you.  You.

I'd almost forgotten Herman was in my shirt.  I sighed and closed my eyes.  I am useless in a fight against a giant robot.  Then again, I don't leave my friends to rot so…What am I saying?  Ya only live once.  It's better to live with no regrets.

(Find him)

Hezibah and Doggy peeled out in pursuit, with me close behind.

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"Pull back!  Don't let it grab you!"

"Gee Ineverwouldhaverealizedthat One eye." Peitro blew past him.  The others were pulling back with a little less speed.

The robot had popped out out of nowhere.  Amara had bravely stepped in, setting off enough flames for everyone to figure out something big was going on. They all fought valiantly against it. Those that needed to rest stayed behind Piotr, whose metal form evenly matched that off the robot's.

Magneto used his powers to make sure it couldn't get close to the wounded, while Hank carried them into the institute, away from danger.

"Kurt!"

"Ya?"

" Take Gambit and see if you can't blow a hole in that thing!"

Kurt grabbed onto Gambit's trenchcoat and teleported them over.  Remy put both of his hands on the Robot's back. At first it didn't charge and the robot tried to grab them, but Magneto intervened, catching it's arms.

"More, More energy!"  He yelled, trying to keep the robot stationary.  Gambit put everything he had into the robot, causing it to glow violently.  Kurt barely teleported them away before it blew. 

Gambit collapsed, the strain of the power surge too much.  He was picked up by Piotr and ushered into the medlab with the others who had cuts and injuries.

Jean watched as they left.  And she couldn't help but feel uneasy for the fate of the others who were missing.

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"Oh my—I'M GONNA DIE!" 

That was me.  Jumping off a roof onto the back of a twelve foot robot.  I said I was smart, but I never said I didn't have a good bit of stupidity.

The robot had managed to back Arcane into a corner, which happened to be next to this cute over hang.  What I did afterwards was simply elementary.

The robot started waving it's arms, trying to grab me.  I ducked down and held on for dear life. It was the whole thing of, if I fell off I was going to die, and right now I have an incredible desire to live.

Hezibah and Doggy tore around from wherever they were hiding from, and latched themselves onto one of the arms. Herman latched himself over it's eye sensor…thingies. Not that it would do much anyway, but anything to get its mind off me.

Arcane managed to get out of the corner and was loading his gun.  Like that would do anything. The robot was the terminator on a bad day!

"Danny!"  He was calling to me.  I glared at him.

"I'm just a little BUSY right now!"

"Move!"

"Are you INSANE?!" Just then the robot bucked, trying to throw off Hezibah and my cheekbone slapped down on it's back.  A nasty cut opened up and started bleeding.

"Move!  I'll have a shot then!"  There he was, going on about me moving again!  I was ten feet off the ground on the back of a killer robot. WHERE THE HELL WAS I GONNA MOVE TO?!

"DAN! WATCH OUT!"

The robot arm smacked me in the ribs and I fell off the robot.  I hit the ground shoulders first, with the wind knocked out of me. 

BOOOOMM!!!!!!!

It sounded like a rocket.  It hit the robot and it began setting off sparks.  The robot started shaking and pitched forward.  Two arms grabbed me and hauled me out of the way of the keeling robot.

"Well."  I looked up at Arcane.  He was winded and looked like he just ran a marathon with Hezibah chasing him.  "That was fun."

I stared at him with a glare that says 'I just got beaten up and you think it was FUN?'  He gave me a grin that countered with 'Yup'.

I shoved him away with mock exasperation.  Then I heard something.  Sirens.

"The fuzz!  Let's run!"

"The what?"

I grabbed his arm.  "Don't ask questions, just go!"

We both ran out of the alley, trailing a wolfhound with a bat on it's collar and a hyena.  We were about to dart into the street when I saw cop cars basically converging on either side of the street.  I dragged him over to the nearest door, which happened to be a sort of mini church.  The kind where you can get married and get on with it.

"Are we going in there?"  Arcane asked staring at the door.

"I—no.  Of course not.  I just wanted you to see this door.  It's such a pretty door.  Personally I'd prefer baby blue but the pink it's in right now looks fantastic, don't you agree? OF COURSE WE'RE GOING IN THERE YOU STUPID….JACKASS!"  I shoved him through the door and closed it after Doggy and Hezibah got in.

"…..I don't think anyone has called me that in a long time."  He said finally.

"Maybe not to your face," I grumbled.

"Oh, you two are just like my husband and I when we were married."  I whirled around to see an old lady with lavender robes.  The priest.  I sighed with relief.

"So, are you two ready?  I have no other people waiting."  She said with a smile.  Arcane gave her a guarded look.

"We're not here to get married."

"Oh, well in that case, my husband and I divorced the same way you two are."

"We aren't here to get divorced.  Do you give everybody that story?"  I asked.

"People will get married sooner if there are coincidences."  She offered.

"Ah."

"Cops are gone." Arcane said dryly.

"Yeah, hey thanks for letting us hide out here."  I said to her.  She quickly stopped me. 

"You're in trouble?  Now, I know you're not a bad kid.  Wanna be able to show the police an excuse?"

"That'd be great, what did you have in mind?" 

"What is your name?"

"Danielle Nesmond."

"And your name young man?"

"….My real name?"

"Preferrably."

"……"  I elbowed him hard in the ribs.  He muttered something.

"What was that?"

"James Jerald Torkelli."  He glared at me when I started snickering.

"What is that?  Itallian?"  The priest asked.

"Greek.  Stop laughing!  I didn't ask to be named that!"

"Sorry."  I said, though I really wasn't.

"Alrighty!"  She did something with a paper and handed it to us.  I read it.

"The state hereby recognizes the marriage of--hey!"

"It isn't a real certificate.  It doesn't have my signature or anything."  The lady reassured me.  I nodded and grabbed Arcane's arm. 

"Thanks!  I'll tell anybody who wants to get married where your church is!"

"Keep out of trouble, dears!"

Arcane glared at me when we walked down the street.

"You breath a word about my name and you will be regretting it for the rest of your very short life."

"Whatever.  Let's find the others."

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"Your honor, we would never have done such a thing if the robot had not attacked us!"

I was pleading our case to the judge.  No reason to say we weren't mutants, lots of people saw us fighting.  Arcane and I (Jerry?  I shall laugh about that forever.) had discovered that the others had gotten arrested.  We were trying to talk them out of sending us straight to the slammer. 

"And where is this robot? Probably just some fantasy!"  The prosecutor returned.

"Oh, yeah, it was a fantasy that bruised my ribs and gave me this cut."  I pointed at my cheek.  We had a swift glaring contest.

The doors opened up and a guy in a three-piece ran up to the judge  The judge listened to him and waved him away.

"It has come to my attention that a large robot has been found a couple blocks from a chapel."

I grinned at the prosecutor.  "I rest my case."

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" It has been determined that you were defending yourselves.   Therefore, I will not press charges.  However, because you are a severe danger to the citizen's of Arkansas, I have decided that action must be taken."

We all stood in front of the judge. All of us.  Even Hezibah.

"Therefore, I have no choice but to ban you from the state of Arkansas, effective in seventy-two hours."

Wow.  I just got banned from a state.

"You must get someone to bail your bus out, whom is not banned from Arkansas.  Have a nice day."

With that we were dismissed.

When we all got out to the front of the building (after another trip to the bathroom-my cheek would not stop bleeding.)  John looked around at all of us.

"Now what?"

"We need somebody to bail our bus out."

"Dan?"

"Why is everybody looking at me?"

"You always have some relation you can call."  Ray pointed out.

"We-ell…I could always call Spike."

"Sounds like a plan."

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MWAHAAHAHHAHAHAH!

Oh gosh, the professor is gonna have a fit when he wakes up. 

Sunny the sunspider, who is now determined to be female, will take reviews.  Hezibah and Doggy are her bodyguards, so no funny stuff.