Greetings, loyal reviewers! My muse has returned (thank God) for the sole purpose of telling off Guin.
GUIN! STOP REVIEWING AND GET WRITING!!! Or I'll have to...um....do....something. Something.....um.........um.....I don't know right now. BUT I'LL DO SOMETHING!!!! AND EVERYONE; I urge you to make Guin update her story, Toad Comes Home, by prodding her with sticks, and having SQUIRELLS invader her house! And whoever guessed that Mortimer's assailant was Pietro, you are my bestest, bestest friend in the WHOLE world!

Chapter Ten

Erik's eyes scanned the paper agitatedly. There was nothing to suggest that a man was kidnapped from his home three days ago, even though he was sure this was the case. He looked up briefly as he heard the fair-haired speedster, Pietro Maximoff, enter the room.

"What is it, Quicksilver?" he asked, uninterested.

"Got-some-mail-for-you." He said, his words slurring together with his fast speech. Magneto folded his paper, and placed it on his desk, his blue eyes penetrating the youth's own.

"Slow it down, Pietro." He said, giving him a smile. "Who from?"

"'Dunno. No address." He said, rushing to the table and placing a small envelope on his employer's desk.

"Hmm. Where did Pyro and Sabretooth get of to?" he asked, picking up his paper once more.

"Said something about needing some fresh air or something." He said quickly. Erik smiled. He had remembered picking up a troubled Pietro only weeks ago. He had been homeless, lost, afraid, and ready to fight. He had given Mystique quite a bit of trouble on his retrieval.

But here he was; safe and sound, and hopefully going to help to get another member of the Brotherhood to that status as well. Little did Mortimer know, Erik hadn't been giving the green-skinned mutant the cold shoulder; he had been working with the X-men at Alkali Lake.

Not considering the fact that it was incredibly hard to track someone as careful as Mr. Toynbee; Pietro hadn't really helped in 'retrieving' him. He had placed more of a threat over Mr. Toynbee's head then anything else.

Xavier was wrong when he said that he was the only one who remembered Miss Strain. He had been receiving letters from her for the past few weeks; a little while before the Liberty Island incident. She had been conversing back and forth with her about several con-mutant issues; and they had begun to work together, but as soon as she mentioned the trading of Mortimer, he had severed contact.

Erik, for awhile, had been working at the mansion as a teacher along with Xavier before they had parted ways. He remembered the fierce young felinoid better than anyone; he had talked with her often, and helped her to develop her gift.

He also remembered Jaye's counterpart- and knew that she had probably progressed in power. This is why he wouldn't let Mortimer, or anyone else, near her until she had that part of her under control.

In her short weeks at the school, Erik had helped her develop ways to control her alternative personality- and they seemed to have been working.

Until she ran away.

Jaye showed her new member around the base, grinning the whole while. She knew Mortimer would be an excellent addition to her family. She felt the need to smack herself in the head. She hadn't introduced him yet.

"It's about time I showed you the rest of our little family. I think they should be in the rec room about now. We have eleven other members, so with you, it's thirteen." She said. "You don't happen to be unlucky, do you?" he smiled, rubbing the fading scar of a lightning burn.

"You could say that." Jaye pushed open a door to reveal twenty two pairs of eyes, all glued to a large television screen. They all ranged from about fifteen to late twenties. Jaye walked up to the telly, which was blaring Invader ZIM, and turned it off with a decisive 'snap'.

"Hey!" yelped a silver-haired girl in her early twenties. "I was watching that!"

"We all were, Arana," said a moping male youth who looked about the same age. "What's up, Cat?" he asked. He seemed to be referring to Jaye. (well, no duh.)

"I'd like to introduce Mortimer Toynbee, alias, Toad." All of them gave an accepting nod.

"So this is the Mort we've been hearing all about." Said the girl called Arana. "Nice to finally meet you. Cat, here has been yapping on and on about you for months. It took quite a bit to get you here in the first place. My names Arana Vasquez, otherwise known as Tsunami." She pointed to the dark looking boy on her left. "This is Johnny, my brother. He's also known as 'Amnis'. We're both water orientated." She said, gathering an orb of liquid in her tanned palm.

Jaye nodded to a fourteen year old boy with auburn hair. "That's Theo Anderson. His codename is 'Ignis.' He can create and manipulate flame."

A very pale looking youth stood, throwing her blonde hair behind her shoulder. "I'm Glacis."

"Let me guess; ice, right?"

"You got it, Kermit." She said, slightly put out. "Those two 'loners' are Anubis and Necis. Anubis can commune with the dead, and sometimes can raise a soul that hasn't been separated from it's body for long. Necis is an illusionist. They like to pretend that they have no friends, but we love 'em anyway."

Anubis gave Glacis a sardonic grin. "It is better to think you are not loved, and to be, then to think you are, and to not be." Glacis turned the pop he was holding in to a block of ice.

"Cut it out, you two." She turned her head to Mortimer. "The rest are supposed," she threw a glare to the remainder of her team "To be on a reconaissane mission in Westchester. But obviously they find this cartoon more important." her statement made a few of the youths squirm. The catlike mutant plopped herself on the couch. "Well, hell, so do I. Let's give it to the end of this eppisode, then we'll get going, eh?" Mortimer smiled genuinly for the first time in a while.

Xavier sat in his office, pondering on what to do. He knew Miss Strain had more formidable forces than he; but...

"Scott?" he caught the man as he walked past his room. "I think we have some company."

Not the best chapter in the world...heh. REVIEW!!!