The Blackbird shot out of the hangar perhaps half an hour later. Once the others had convinced Amara to come out of her room and explained the situation, plans had been set in motion. By general consensus of the adults, it had been agreed that Mystique was the one who'd made the phone call, for some reason alerting the X-Men of their friend's plight...
"Why would she tell us?" Scott had argued. "It's gotta be a trap of some sort..."
"Almost certainly," Charles had agreed. "If the Brotherhood has taken Kurt, and he is still alive, then they are most likely using him as bait to capture the rest of us. However, we can't very well leave him there."
"How do we even know he's there?" Logan wanted to know.
"We only just found out Kurt's missing. That means that Mystique knew before we did. And therefore, had to have something to do with it. Satisfied?"
The answer, of course, had been a resounding NO. However, Evan had fortunately chosen that exact moment to turn on the radio.
"...and in other news, a house fire in central Bayville has left one building gutted by flames and an entire block with smoke damage. The house, belonging to one Mr. Andrew Kayle, and his children Simon and Vicki, was not able to be saved by firefighters, and the family was apparently unable to escape the blaze in time. Police refused to comment on suspected arson, but our reports show..."
Evan had switched the radio off with one shaky hand. Scott stood.
"Suit up. We're going."
Now, as the jet soared away toward the midday sun, the occupants were more than a little tense. Despite all arguments, the new mutants had been instructed to remain at the Institute, so as not to leave the building completely unguarded. Charles and Ororo also remained, keeping watch over the others. Scott, Evan, Kitty, Rogue, Jean, Logan and Hank were on board the Blackbird, headed for Asteroid M.
Or, so the planning had gone.
Now, Logan unbuckled his seatbelt and rose, sniffing the air. Hank glanced up.
"What is it?"
"Somethin' ain't right," Logan growled, stalking slowly toward the back of the plane.
Hank shook his head and resumed his brooding with a muttered, "Here we go..."
Logan ignored him and continued down the aisle, eventually reaching a large storage cabinet. He stopped and cursed.
"For Christ's sake, we told 'em..."
He yanked the door open. Inside the cabinet, Jamie and Amara blinked at him like startled owls. Jamie offered a crooked smile.
"Um... hi?"
Logan stepped back. "Out. Now."
As the younger students trooped out of the cabinet and sat, Scott glanced back from the controls of the jet and did a double take.
"What in the hell are they doing here?"
Amara sniffed. "We are going to assist you in helping Kurt," she announced.
Rogue tried not to laugh at Scott's expression. "Really?"
Jamie shrugged. "Why not? We want to help, and we've gotta be worth something..."
Hank was doing his best to sound stern while Logan stared, speechless, at the two students. "And you are so eager to help because...?"
Jamie frowned. "He's cool. He's Kurt. I want to help you help him." He blinked. "Umm... help you with helping... wait, help..."
Evan shook his head. "Jamie. Shut. Up. We get it."
Kitty looked at Amara. "And do we, like, even need to ask why you want to help?"
Amara raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm certain you're all more than capable of rescuing Kurt by yourselves. It's simply that this... Magneto character... he irritates me."
"Irritates," Jean said flatly.
"I had plans for last night. Magneto disrupted them. No-one disrupts the plans of a Nova Roman of royal blood and gets away with it."
Logan blinked for the first time since letting the pair out of the cabinet, then walked back to his seat and sat down. For the first time in his life, he felt a pang of sympathy for one Erik Lensherr, aka Magneto.
He'd pissed off the wrong princess...
Magneto and Sabretooth watched the console with marked interest. Although the Blackbird was invisible to radar, it was metallic, and therefore could be sensed by Magneto's power. By use of a few handy satellites, he was easily able to track their progress. Next to him, Sabretooth frowned.
"You sure this is gonna work?" he asked gruffly.
Magneto nodded, his eyes not leaving the screen. "Have I told you of Megabyte's capabilities yet, Sabretooth?" The larger man shook his head, and Magneto continued. "Megabyte is to electricity and electrical energy what I am to magnetism. He is capable of generating incredible amounts of electrical energy, and also capable of controlling any system activated by electrical energy."
Sabretooth was unimpressed. "What does that mean?"
Magneto smiled faintly. "It means that he can control anything electrical. He can distort radio waves, he can turn appliances on and off by merely thinking about it, and he can overwhelm any computer system in existence by focusing his attention on it. He's capable of extending his awareness over huge areas – anywhere in this country, in fact – and if faced by an opponent in face-to-face combat, he can charge them with up to eighty thousand volts of energy without even trying."
Sabretooth grunted. "Okay. So what's he gonna do here?"
Magneto merely smiled. "Watch and see..."
As the Blackbird neared Asteroid M, the X-Men were preparing to enter Magneto's stronghold. Scott switched on the radio and spoke into it.
"Professor? We're nearly there. No signs of life so far."
"Very well, Scott," came the professor's voice in reply. "Just keep your guard up. Good luck."
Scott nodded and switched the radio off, banking the jet slowly toward the Asteroid.
Then the radio turned on again. Scott frowned and turned it off.
And it turned back on again.
Scott thumped the console. "Damn radio's broken," he informed Logan. "We'd better watch it, I don't know if we can contact the professor now." Logan nodded and was about to reply when the radio broke out in a harsh burst of static. Slowly, the static cleared, being replaced with an eerie silence.
Which was suddenly broken.
"Satan salve, moritorium es!" boomed a metallic voice over the radio.
Evan blinked. "What?"
Amara sat up higher in her seat. "It's Latin," she said, confused. "It means, 'the adversary greets you, you who are about to die'." She looked at the others. "Who would..."
All of a sudden, their stomachs lurched as the jet swung violently to the right.
"Scooter!" yelled Logan. "What the hell are you doing?"
"It's not me!" Scott shouted. "Look!"
Lights were flickering on the console as various switches turned on and off. Moving of its own accord, the control stick turned the plane rapidly to the right.
The jet was not under their control.
Scott was dimly aware of Kitty screaming as the Blackbird went into a dizzying spin.
