Thanks to:
Steph14Wales – As always, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Oceanbang – I always thought the Brotherhood shouldn't have been outnumbered all the time, so it's cool to be able to turn the tables a little.
UniversalAnimeGirl – I've no plans at the moment to introduce Graydon, although it would be pretty funny! I skipped 'Shadowdance' mainly because Amanda wouldn't have seen him blue (coz I skipped 'Shadowed Past') and I wasn't sure what to do there. I'm saving the Sirens for the sequel, but they will show up – with a line-up change …According to 'Ultimate X-Men', Mystique was around in the 1930's and has a daughter called Gloria as well as the ones I knew about!
Furygrrl – I always thought it was daft of Mystique to throw Tabby out instead of recruiting her. More Acolytes in this chapter and a ton in the next!
DemonRogue13 – I feel sorry for Tabby too and there's more of her and Forge with the Brotherhood in the next couple of chapters!
Zeroeye – Lance has a pretty big role in the rest of the fic and my apologies for this chapter taking me a while.
LadyEvils – Jean and the Acolytes appearing in this chapter! And you're right, guest-starring a big metal guy in this chapter…
Wen1 – I liked the Tabby/Mystique exchange too and tried to keep it pretty much the same.
Richard-Raven-Croft – Super Jean back in this chapter!
Lyranfan – yeah, Forge has it bad for Mystique! I liked Brotherhood Tabby, I think she should have stayed there.
XX-Goth-Gal – Jean's back! And thanks for the compliments! I have considered a career in writing, although all I seem to be writing a moment is X-Men…hint hint if you're reading, Stan Lee!
Risty – Evil Forge can do so much more with his inventions than good Forge and I'm having lots of fun thinking up cool inventions for him! Good Lance has tons of potential too, he wasn't really bad in the series either so it's not too hard to imagine.
Rogue14 – Jean didn't do very much to stop Wanda anyway, so I figured she'd still kick their asses. Apologies for the lateness of this update!
Enfant-terrible – Thanks! And Jean's back in this chapter!
Carol J – hope you enjoyed your holiday! And Evil Forge is so much more interesting than Good Forge. Where was he during 'Ascension' anyway?
Disclaimer: A big damn Sentinel ripped the roof of the house and blasted the disclaimer into oblivion.
Author note – I'm sorry it took me so long to update, I'm having kind of a shitty week. This chapter's fairly short, but the next one is much longer and will be up quicker, I promise!
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"Rogue! There you are!"
"Oh, hi Risty." Rogue took the seat opposite her friend and put her lunch tray on the table, thankful that Forge didn't go to school with them. "What's going on?"
"You won't believe this, Forge had a huge row with his parents and he's moved into the Brotherhood Boarding House! Y'know, I bet it's nice for him to have that kind of freedom, his parents were well overprotective."
"Yeah." Rogue speared some pasta with her fork and stared at it moodily.
"Look Rogue, I know the others at the Institute don't like he kids at the Brotherhood – I don't know why, they seem alright to me – but that doesn't have to change things between us, does it?"
"No! Course not. But ah'd rather not hang around when you're with Forge, OK?"
"Just because he's lives at the Brotherhood house?"
Rogue shook her head. "It's complicated. Hey, can we talk about something else?"
"Sure, if you don't wanna talk about it." Risty looked hurt and Rogue felt guilty. If she could just tell Risty about her powers then she wouldn't have to keep avoiding certain issues and lying about what she did in the evenings, and maybe she could warn her friend exactly what Forge was getting into.
At a table nearby Scott sat with Kitty and Lance, scowling at his burger as if it was responsible for all his troubles. "Doesn't it bother you two that Forge and Tabitha were fighting against us the other night? Something's not right."
"Yeah," said Kitty. "Amara tried saying hello to Tabitha this morning and got totally ignored. What's with her?"
"Don't you think we should be more worried about Wanda?" Lance asked, opening his can of Nectarine Smash. "She can turn our powers against us! How do you beat some one like that?"
"I've never got stuck when I phased before and it scared me," admitted Kitty. "If me or Kurt could sneak up on her, we might be able to get Rogue close enough to drain her powers, but at the mall we couldn't get near her."
"Maybe the Professor can think of something," said Scott, pushing his plate aside, burger untouched. "Did you two think he was acting strange this morning?"
"He was a bit quiet, but he's probably just worried about Mr Logan not being back yet." Kitty frowned. "Do you think he's in trouble?"
Lance snorted. "Logan? No way! If there's one guy who can take care of himself, it's Logan. He's probably back at the mansion right now, thinking up some new and painful training sessions…"
"Hi Paul," said Kitty loudly, kicking her boyfriend on the ankle. Lance took the hint and shut up as the other boy joined them and asked Scott about their history homework, blissfully unaware of his companions' uneasy moods.
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The cat padded up the alley, which was shrouded in shadows even in the daytime, making its way toward the figure stood next to the open manhole. The gloom did little to disguise the mans grotesquely deformed features and skin so pale it might never have seen sunlight. If he was surprised when the cat morphed into a blue-skinned woman, he didn't show it.
"Caliban?"
"Word isss you wanted to sssee me."
"I hear you can find other mutants using only your mind."
"Who isss it that you are sssearching for?"
"Wolverine."
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The five metal spheres travelled soundlessly through the air, coming to rest at Pier 58, situated in the industrial area of Bayville. An onlooker would have been struck by the sheer impossibility of the flight, no apparent means for them to remain airborne, the eerie silence in which they moved – but there were no onlookers; Pier 58 was deserted. On the surface at least.
All of the X-men would have recognised the person emerging from the first orb. Sabretooth grinned, showing his unnaturally sharp teeth before growling in anticipation.
Beside him, the occupant of the second orb casually shuffled a stack of cards in one hand. He plucked the eight of diamonds from the deck, regarding it briefly with his strange red-on-black eyes as it began to glow with kinetic energy.
Fire shot out of from the next sphere, shifting in the sky to form a demonic face. The third man watched the display happily before shutting off the flamethrower on his back.
The fourth sphere opened and a girl stepped out of it, long red hair floating around her face as she levitated two feet into the air, a smile playing on her lips.
Magneto emerged from the final sphere, his face shadowy behind the helmet he wore, and walked past his Acolytes. There was much to be done and they didn't have a great deal of time.
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"Team two, you'll find some familiar-looking orbs near the loading dock. Stay alert, Magneto brought friends."
Kurt heard Storm through his radio. "Understood."
"Team three, what's your status?"
"We're proceeding into the next sector," replied Beast, glancing at the rest of the group warily. Kitty looked wary, Toad was catching flies with his tongue and Forge was unreadable as ever. He'd told the Professor how unhappy he was about the presence of the Brotherhood, but Charles had insisted. Still, it could have been worse. He could have been Lance.
I don't believe this. It's too weird.
Lance walked out of the building he'd been checking, eying his team warily. Pietro was leaning against the wall and Blob stood off to one side. It was strange to be working with them again, but it wasn't the ordeal he had expected it to be. The person he'd been most worried about was Wanda and she'd barely spoken a word, intent on the task at hand.
"Empty," he said to the two boys. "Man, I'm getting creeped out here. Where are they?"
He missed the smirk on Quicksilver's face.
Nightcrawler teleported rapidly onto each sphere, checking inside in case the Acolytes were still within. He stopped on the last one to speak into his headset. "Confirmed – ze orbs are empty."
He teleported over to Rogue, Tabby and Evan, who had finished their search of the area. Rogue frowned and put her hands on her hips. "Y'know, ah don't get this."
"Yeah," added Evan. "They've gotta know we're here."
"Now vot? No sign of zem…" Kurt trailed off as a flaming Ace of Spades floated lazily into their midst.
Tabitha was the first one to realise what was about to happen. "RUN!"
The group scattered as the card hit the ground and exploded. The blast caught the attention of the other teams, who immediately began running towards the disturbance.
"Finally, some action!" Lance took off toward the flames.
"You have no idea." Pietro turned and sped off in the other direction. Wanda stared after him in disbelief as she realised what her brother was doing.
"It's a trap!"
There was no time to curse their naivety. Every metal item in the area began to fly around and the four acolytes finally appeared, gathering on a stack of crates. Gambit flicked charged cards at the other mutants, forcing them to flee.
The fight was on.
"Was that Jean?" asked Lance as he and Kitty dodged flaming playing cards.
"Yeah," replied Kitty as it began to rain. She turned to see Storm hit Pyro with a lightning bolt. "And she's ours."
Telekinetically lifting a huge metal beam, Jean flung the object at Toad, who leapt on top of it and ran along its length.
"Hit the Toad and win a prize. Miss and you're body slammed!" Todd leapt at Jean, only to stop dead in midair and fly backwards with a wail. But Jean didn't seem to have realised that Blob was behind her and the boy slammed her into a wall, leaving her in a dazed heap on the floor.
Kitty phased through the wall, grabbed a handful of red hair and pulled Jean backwards into the building. She ran out of the door and shouted over to Lance. "Let 'er rip!"
Avalanche stamped his foot and a huge earth tremor reduced the house to rubble. They could see the hastily formed telekinetic bubble surrounding the girl, protecting her from the falling debris, but before they could take any further action, they were stopped by another tremor, one that had nothing to do with Lance. The ground split open and both the X-Men and the Brotherhood plummeted into the fissure.
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"They've released the Sentinel."
"As I knew they would."
With a gesture, Magneto closed the four orbs around the Acolytes and sent them away. Their first test had gone well. They had been ordered merely to distract the other mutants while their leader carried out part one of his plan and they had certainly done that, despite being heavily outnumbered. It was good to know he had chosen his team well.
Magneto focused his attention on raising the platform on which the group of mutants faced the Sentinel. Time enough to reflect on the Acolytes later. Right now, he had other matters to deal with.