I do not own any X-men Evolution characters. I may somewhere along the line introduce an original character to play a minor part. I'll let you know.

Lance focused his powers again, and Magneto flew back towards a wall. However he used his magnetic powers to steady himself. He tried to counterattack, but he was so busy steadying the steel girders, keeping himself in the air, and dodging the occasional object Lance's powers threw into the air that he couldn't concentrate.

Lance however was also having trouble keeping up the pace. He was weak from his ordeal, and from the beating Mystique had given him before. But he had not lost his sense of strategy. He opened up a huge crack under Magneto, and while he was adjusting his magnetic field so he wouldn't fall, Lance toppled a huge tower directly behind him.

Magneto realized what was happening, and used his powers to stop it in time, but Lance used the opportunity to hurl a heavy bulldozer at him. He managed to deflect it but barely, and he was still straining to keep the tower from crushing him. He finally flew out of the way and let it drop.

He lifted all of his Acolytes into their metal spheres, and landed in his own. They flew off.

Lance watched them go, then stepped towards the jeep, and collapsed.

Pietro watched him, and stumbled forward to help before blackness claimed him. Just before he passed out, he became aware of a shooting pain in his leg.
* * *
Lance woke up. He was in the infirmary of the Xavier Institute. Henry McCoy was standing over him, looking at a medical readout. He seemed to realize that Lance was awake.

"Well, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is you're going to be alright. The bad news is it will take a month."

"A month!?"

"Give or take a week."

"What?"

"Your wounds from the beating Mystique gave you were already quite bad. Then you brought down the house, upon yourself. Those injuries alone would take several weeks. And then to top it all off, you overtaxed your powers to defeat Magneto."

"Does that hurt me?"

"No but it does exhaust your body, making it harder for you to heal."

"So is there anything I'll be able to do or not do?"

"Well, you should be able to get up and about in a wheelchair. Other then that, I'm going to prescribe a lot of rest, since you really can't go wrong with that."

"O.K. I guess that means I'm stuck here. Oh well, it's not like I have anywhere else to go."

"That is sadly true. I'll try to find you a wheelchair." He wandered off.

Toad leaped down from the chandelier where he'd been hanging. "A month, pretty harsh."

"Yeah, well, it's hardly as if I have anything better to do."

"Blob and I had a talk with Xavier while you were out. We decided we're gonna hangout here till you two are up and about again."

"You two?"

"Yeah, you and Pietro."

"Pietro?"

"Yeah, apparently he started fighting back against Magneto a few minutes before you showed up. Magneto had been injecting extra iron into his body. He's in bad shape. Worst of all though, his leg's broken. Needless to say, he ain't taking that to well."

"Hey Toad, why don't you say yo, anymore?"

"I don't know yo,"

"Forget I asked."

"O.K."

"Wait, what about Wanda?"

"She's going after Magneto."

"Oh."

"Well, it's a good this happened right before the start of summer vacation, yo."

For a while neither of them said anything.

"Toad,"

"Yeah?"

"When I used my powers to get out from under that rubble, I threw off almost all of it. Mystique should have been there. She wasn't."

"You mean,"

"Yeah, she's still out there. And knowing her she isn't going to rest on her laurels."

"You think,"

"Xavier's back, she'll have a hard time getting in, but she might hire an expert arsonist."

"So, should we tell them?"

"Yeah. Much as we hate the X-geeks, if they have a chance at nabbing Mystique, their welcome to it."