Disclaimer: X-men not mine.

Akai Kah'ghe: Hmmm…perhaps.

Laureate:  I'm thinking arthropods and reptiles may come next chapter.

Rogue77:  Where I live, they wander about in abundance.  They're fun to see.

Chrissy:  Indeed she is.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*

"New York.  Thirty miles.  Bayville.  Ninety miles.  You know what that means, guys?" John grinned behind him at the rest of the guys.  And girls.

"WE'RE AHLMOST HOME!"  Sam whooped.  He hugged Wanda, and to my surprise, she actually hugged him back instead of blowing his head off with a hex bolt.  Rogue, Lance, and Ray were doing hip hip hoorays in the back and practically jumping up and down.

I, on the other hand, was grinning my head off, but I wasn't going to do anything that may potentially rob me of the driver's seat.

"They're gonna be so glad to see us!" 

"Ah'm gonna raid the kitchen when we get home.  What about you guys?"

"Rihght bahand you, Rogue."

"As much as I hate to admit it, I want to see my brother."

"To heck with Pietro, I wanna see Kitty!"

"Take a shower, Lance!"

There were several loud snickers erupting from John's last comment.  Lance glared at him.

"Well at least I have a girl!  I bet you're a eunuch!"

I had been sipping a soda at precisely the wrong time and started laughing.  And let me say something…soda hurts when it comes out of the nose.

"Dannyhahahahaha…Are you okay?"  Wanda snickered while she tried to look concerned.  Tabby was howling with laughter.

"Owwww…..It burns."  My eyes were watering pretty badly.  It was a good thing that there were no curves ahead of us.

There was another bout of snickering.  Rogue shook her head.

"Dann, you know exactly how ta stop people frohm arguin',donchya?"

I wiped my eyes and grinned as I dragged all of my attention back to the road.  The sun was setting.  About seven thirty at night.  The earliest we'd get back was nine.  And we'd have to call up everybody, or rather, I'd have to call up everybody.  They were my family after all.

"You know, we should do this again sometime."

"Lance.  Don't even think about it," Wanda threatened.

^**^^*^**^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^

"Quiet!"

There was a deep hush as they stood outside the base.  Its location had been a secret.  That is, until now. 

Magneto waved the first group of mutants away.  They ducked down and slipped away into the shadows to round the other side of the base.  His own group crept forward.  He waved his hands toward the fence.  It collapsed under his power.

The mission: Wipe out the information banks and any remaining robots in the base.  No mess ups.

The first group snuck in and broke off into groups.  Scott, Kurt, Remy, Ororo, and Pietro in the first, Rahne, Jean, Jubes, Todd, Fred, and Bobby in the second.

The second group that rounded off to the other side, prepared to make their way in.  The fence was cut open and Mystique, Logan, Roberto, Piotr, Kitty and Amara slipped in and set off for the main buildings.

The first groups discovered the mainframes of the computers.  Magneto followed them, shutting off any alarms and using his magnetic powers to destroy the memory and the mainframe.

The second group stumbled upon the warehouse.

"Uh oh…"

"Quiet, Princess." Logan growled.  "We don't want to set off alarms."

The warehouse was full of the twelve foot robots that attacked the institute.  It was a precarious situation.

"How do we destroy them?"  Mystique hissed.  "There's too many!"

"Perhaps we call Magneto and he brings others."  Piotr told them solenmly.

A man stepped out of the shadows behind them and quickly ducked back, afraid.  He fumbled on the wall next to him and pulled a switch.

BREEEEOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^**^*^*^*^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^*^**^^*^**^*^^**^^**^

Bayville.  Ten miles. 

It was pitch black outside.  The highway was deserted.  Which was probably a good thing, since I was going thirty miles over the sixty mile speed limit with no relief in sight.

"Hey shielah, light a fire under it!"

"John, we are already speeding.  Bayville is not going to explode just because we get there a little late!"

 BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

I almost lost control of the bus.  A pillar of smoke rose into the air a mile off the main road.

"Ahhh…..You were sayin' Danny me luv?"

"That was probably waiting to happen."

"Danny!"  Rogue leaned over the seats.  "Let's go!"

"What?!"

"Let's go!  We may be able to help."

"Ummm…."

"Go Danny go!"  Tabby threw in her vote.  I glanced into the rearview.  They were all looking grim.  I sighed.

"May the record show that I was listening to you."

I pulled a sharp turn and the bus flew off the road and began hauling through the grass and dirt, destination the impact sight.

I think my driving may be improving.  When I took out a sign, we didn't crash.  It totaled the front end of the bus though.

A cloud of dust plumed behind us as I kicked the bus into higher gear.  Which, in the end, probably saved our lives.

A twelve foot robot, one of the ones that tried to take us out in Arkansas, jumped out in front of us.  It probably expected us to brake.  Fat chance.  I took out one of its legs when I ran it over.

"Go Dann…"

"Woof."  Doggy agreed with Ray.  I grinned and kept on going.  A couple more jumped out.

"Run 'em over!"

My eyes widened slightly.  No way the bus was gonna make that.  But I was going to fast to turn away anyway.

"EVERYBODY HOLD ON!!!!"

The bus screamed into the robotic duo at seventy miles an hour.    The air bag exploded into my face at the last second.  Right before the bus flipped.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The bus turned over several times before it rocked to a stop on its side.

"Is everybody okay?"  I whispered, miraculously still conscious.  There were assorted mutters and groans. 

SKREEEN!!

"Uh Oh."  That was an understatement.  Claws dug into the driver's door.  Apparently the bus didn't do a good enough job.

"CANNONBALL!"  Sam exploded out of his seat, taking a good bit of the side of the bus with him.  The robot swung around trying to catch him, but it was no use.  Its legs, or what was left of them, were too mangled to pull any kind of pursuit.  It's buddy was already out for the count. 

"Are we gonna let him have all the fun?  LET'S ROCK THIS JOINT!"  Lance took his chances and dropped out of the bus, followed by Wanda and Rogue. I quickly unhooked myself (safety belts DO save lives) and I looked over at John.  He was groaning and he didn't look good.  I grabbed him and struggled to get him out.  I knew he shouldn't be moved, but there was a robot thirsting for our blood outside.  And the last thing I wanted was for him to be left behind.

I will never leave my friends behind. 

I felt someone tap my shoulder.  I looked back to see Arcane.  He helped me drag John to safety.

"Wow….Ray?  I think I'm bleeding."

I looked up to see Ray dragging Tabby over to us.  There was a gash on her forehead.  Hezibah and Doggy had joined Wanda and the others against the assault on the big robot.  Herman and Kally were nowhere to be found.  But they were resourceful.  I'm sure their okay.

I hope.

There was a swift episode of grinding metal.  Sam had come back and cannoned the back of the robot.  Lance and Rogue finished them off quickly.

I mentally cursed myself for handing my knife over to Spike.

(Hezibah!  Doggy!  Get over here!)

What is needed of Hezibah? 

(Tear the legs off my pants.  We need bandages.)

Doggy and Hezibah tore a few holes in my pant legs.  I ripped them off at the knee.  I tore them up into strios.  I handed most of them to Arcane to see to John, while I Took a couple of strips to clean the gash on Tabby's forehead.  Ray was holding her hand the entire time.

The others took guard as we worked.  They only had bad scratches, nothing that would stop them like these two. 

As I finished bandaging Tabby, who was rapidly recovering from her dazed state and beginning to look less than pleased, John sat up suddenly surprising Arcane.

"Let's get 'em!"

"…We already got em…."

"I meant those ones," He said pointing.  We all followed the direction he was pointing and saw a sort of complex in flames.  And wandering around that complex, a dozen robots.

"Oh great…"  I moaned.  I was really beginning to hate those things.

"Let's go."  Wanda and Tabby both got up, despite Ray's protests.  Sam, Rogue, and Lance followed.  John managed to struggle to his feet and walked off too.

Ray, Arcane, and I looked at each other.  Then we all shrugged and ran to catch up with the others.

This is my sixteenth birthday:  A walk into certain death.

^**^^*^*^*^**^^*^^**^*^*^*

Looks like this story is drawing to a dramatic finish!

Alright, leave your reviews with Dex (because all my animals are running off to war and we can't find sunny right now)  after the beep.

……

……..

………..

…Alright, it doesn't seem to be working, so I'll provide.  BEEEEP!