*Bows down to reviewers* I am very much in your shadow, people like you compel me to write!!

Also this is the last chapter for this story but I did write 2 pages for the next one which I hope to get finished before Xmas!!

Meanwhile in the Retribution X wing

Kat and Jubilee were watching the dust particles dance through the air.

"Look that ones doing the nutcracker" Jubilee pointed out happily

"There's one in the kitchen" Kat pointed to the kitchen helpfully

"What?"

"Corkscrew"

"No I meant that the dust was dancing the Nutcracker"

"What's that?"

Jubilee settled down into the pile of ashes, this could take a while "Remember a while back we went to the ballet?"

"Was there candy floss?"

"No *sigh* that was the fair"

Billy Bob seizing what could be a few hours to torture and hack apart his victim made his way to the walk in freezer where he found Bobby iced up happily munching through the supply of Ice cream. Bobby soon springs into action.

"Tag your IT!" Bobby runs out into the grounds Billy Bob hot on his heals in order to secure his secret identity from being revealed.

When Billy Bob finally caught up with Bobby, Bobby thought it would be funny at this point to freeze Billy Bob's feet and push him into the pool.

Suddenly a loud splash was heard as some mad ranting person jumped from the roof of the building into the pool (their head it seems was too dense to be broken by such a high fall) and began to drag Billy Bob out.
"Don't you ever do that to my friends again, do you hear?"

"I'm sorry Kat, it seemed like fun!"

"Oh well that's ok then…as long as you wasn't being silly" The young couple embrace briefly as Kat sets Bobby's t-shirt on fire causing him to jump into the pool to douse the flames.

20 minutes later….

Mel, Hank, Logan, Richard and I entered the Retribution X living room to be greeted with the cheerful sight of Bobby and Kat gagged and bound to the hard backed chairs, (Jubilee had been seen heading in a north westerly direction to where there was a midnight 50% off discount sale at the Local mall though they didn't have any money to spend anyway). Unfortunately not even the thick gags could stop Bobby and Kat chuntering on, as they talked animatedly to each other about something incomprehensible. In the corner of the room, going almost unnoticed was that mass murderer Bob Nesbitt wrapped in a towel and shivering slightly.

"That's the one!" Richard helpfully pointed out for those of us who weren't fully aware of who he was already.

Logan and Hank were all over Bob like a hot rash: Logan gave him a good kicking, while Hank threw helpful tips on where would hurt the most, he never could stop being a Doctor. Although after a minute Logan did take pity on the poor guy who was suffering the onslaught of a mental illness from staying cooped up with Bobby and Kat for too long.

Logan patted Bob's back slightly "We've all been there bub, we've all been there!"

While all this was going on Bounce was still trying in vain to get through to Pizza Hut on the phone only to announce sadly that the phones where down.

It was pointed out by the more intelligent among us (Hank) that it would be 'prudent' to ring the police, and so we sent Mel, our sacrificial lamb…er…guardian angel to approach Xavier about borrowing his phone.

A short while later….

Mel returned from her visit with the 'old git' with a look of triumph on her face.

"I take it the mission was a success" Bounce asked with a salute and foot stamp

"Well it looked bleak for a while, however I have learned one thing from today and that was that sometimes being Kat does pay off and so I resorted to her tactics" She paused while everyone looked at her expectantly "I threw shoes and stones at him until he let me use it while yelling that he was a 'big fat poopy pants'" She looked at us pride exuding out of her

"Wow, that was harsh" I commented dryly thinking of the choice of words I would have chosen

"I know!" Mel beamed oblivious to the sarcasm

It wasn't long before the police came to take 'Billy Bob' away.

"It's so sad, why does he have to go back to prison he never did anything wrong" Kat sniffled by my side "Why is I always my friends that turn out to be mass murderers?"

Neither me nor any of the others had the heart to inform her that he was in fact being taken on a one way trip to a mental institution.

As the police car turned the corner we began to trudge back to our wing to count the reward in the same manner as Reed Richards counts his vast fortune.

I looked at the other members of the team blearily from a night without sleep

"We have enough here to cover the phone and electricity bill and to put a down payment on a new team vehicle, or even buy back our old one from the Avengers."

We all looked at each other silently unsure of what to make of the night; the silence was broken by the unexpected sound of Mel bashing her head against what was left of the coffee table

Jubilee (back from her 'shopping trip') looked at her with sympathy "I knew Kat would break her first"

Bounce giggled at this causing her to fall off the log we now used as a sofa.

Suddenly Mel began to giggle uncontrollably

We exchanged glances and Jubilee made a move to call back the men with the straight jackets.

"We could have had electricity for free…" She said between hiccupy giggles "…Ash can create electricity she could have powered the whole house." Before we knew it the whole room had dissolved into laughter

The next morning

It was with delight that we listened to Xavier's tortured screams as he woke up to find Kat handcuffed to one arm and Bobby to the other. It was a sheer pleasure to hear Xavier beg and plead with me to un-handcuff them from him after his strong boastful (to say nothing of ramming) displays of the previous days.

"I will unlock them if you agree to not only foot all of Retribution X's bill, but pay for both of the up coming weddings as well as lay on Hen and Stag do's of a scale so vast that no pub in the vicinity will go unvisited." I said looking at my nails to show that I was enjoying seeing him squirm more than I would enjoy getting a deal.

The rest of Retribution X stood behind me grinning as Kat and Bobby broke into their seventh rendition of Motown classics (at least that's what I think they were, you can never tell with Kats wail) 

"I agree, I agree no please release me"

I smiled at him showing him that he had made the best choice though I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

I put my hand in my jean pockets and rifled around for the key, I couldn't keep the look of panic off my face as I patted my self down on search of the key.

"I…erm…I seem…to have…er…misplaced the key" I stammered hunting frenziedly for the damn key

"Come on Ash enough is enough, haven't you put the old man through enough?" Jubilee said looking stern

"No seriously I have lost the key"

Xavier's face fell even further, causing the team to point and laugh.

"Looks like you're stuck with them until I find the key. Sorry" I grimaced in genuine sympathy.

Wolverine however looked on approvingly, he always did like torture.

Well that's it for this one folks, next up the Hen Night!! Hope ya'll enjoyed! Please leave a review just so I know people read this stuff!