SUMMARY: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: Wolverine still has his memory, Sabretooth wasn't raised by a sadistic father and Mystique didn't turn blue when her mutation set in. Magneto wasn't able to get his hands on Senator Kelly and found another subject instead. He got more then even he ever wanted or could handle.

DICLAIMER: I still don't own the X-Men, rats! I own Bell and Sabretooth's grandkids, though. If ya want to use them ask first.

Sorry about taking so long to update. It's hard to write about those guys with healing factors when you're suffering with a cold.

CHAPTER 24: PREPARATIONS

Marie was shocked out of her anger by Bell's statement. Bell was still in a huff, and Marie wondered just what had been going on with the three of them for her to be so casual towards them.

"I mean it boys; if you don't stop arguing I'm gonna hit you both with a tree, or two." Logan and Victor just burst out laughing.

"Aw, come on Bell we were just having a bit a fun." Logan said calmingly.

"Yes, well, we are running out of time that we don't have. First we got to fill everybody in on what's going on, and then we got to get this place ready for Erick and his gang. He's not gonna play nice." She pointed at Victor, "You of all people should know that!" The good natures of both Victor and Logan were deflated quickly.

"She's right, of course. Charles have we got a story for you. It may be better if we take this inside and keep it just among us for the time being." Logan said in a business like tone pointing to the teachers gathered. Charles getting a bit from their public minds nodded.

"All right children, back to your regular activities. We'll be informing you of what is going on later." The youngsters that had assembled to see the strangers and their car, grumbled a bit, but obeyed. The Professor was pretty good at telling them what was going on, so they would wait until he thought it was time to tell them.

Bell was getting antsy and led the way at a quick trot. She knew the way around the mansion like she lived there for years. She turned to everyone and scowled.

"Well, come on we don't have all day!" Victor and Logan smiled. They watched as she bounced up and down on her toes.

"Calm down Bell, we're coming. Logan said calmly.

"It won't work, Logan. See, her eyes are starting to glow red again." Victor said. Victor turned his head to look at Marie who turned off to go to another part of the mansion. "Going somewhere, Marie? This concerns you too." She gave him a questioning look. "Yes, it does. It has a lot to do with you. In fact it's all about you." Victor said. Marie paled. Victor saw Raven gulp fearfully. He knew her to be rather brave, but she was concerned for her daughter, as well as he was.

They entered the office together and Bell was pacing back and forth like a caged tiger. She stared at Victor piercingly. "Well, don't just stand there, fill them in." She said irritably.

So Victor started his story of how he was 'recruited' to find and retrieve a female mutant. He also related Bell's story of how Erick had 'made' her.

"Yeah, I was dying and Victor here saved my life." Bell said smiling. Scott was astounded that she didn't even blame Sabretooth for getting her in dire straits in the first place. She gave Scott a hard look. "Well he did!"

"Bell," Xavier said patiently.

"Yeah, I know...he was just thinking it so loud." Bell grumbled.

"Scott it would be best that you refrained from thinking about anything other then what we are talking about." Xavier said. Scott nodded. The Professor had trained him and his other older students how to guard their thoughts.

"Erick has gotten his machine working fairly well, but it's still too strong. He doesn't realize he doesn't need it to be so strong. I tried to tell him, but he won't listen to anybody else. Certainly not to Sabretooth, that's for sure." Victor said a bit bitterly.

"Erick only sees what Erick wants to see. Other people's opinions matter little in his scheme of things." Xavier said sadly.

"So I noticed." Said Victor drolly. "And those who oppose him automatically become his enemy." He turned to look at Raven who nodded. There was a minute or two of silence.

"Scott, gather the students in cafeteria. I need them instructed on what to do tonight. Marshall the older students into teams and assign some to watch and guard the younger children." The professor said. Scott nodded, and waited for the orders for the others. "Jean prepare the med-lab for injuries, just in case." Jean sighed and hoped it wouldn't be necessary.

"Remy, you need to stay with Marie, don't leave her alone for any reason, no matter what you hear going on." Bell said sternly. Remy cocked his head. "Marie is Rogue." A flash of understanding lit up in his red eyes.

"Remy didn't know that she has such a pretty name." He smiled at her and she grinned back reassured.

"Everyone, I will handle Erick. Only I can do that. I'm more powerful than he is. You two," She said pointing at Victor and Logan "Will be useless against him, just handle the others." Bell cocked her head and her eyes blaze bright white. "Oh, dear! I really need to do something else." She said distraught.

"What is it, Bell?" Logan asked. Bell put up a hand and cocked her head another time or two.

"Ah, that's better. I think that'll do fine." She smiled. "Well, what are the two of you waiting for? Better crank up the security defenses, we're gonna need them." She said to Victor and Logan.

"Scott before you assemble the students show Logan and Victor the security systems, if there's anybody who know how to improve them in a short time we have it will be them." Xavier said. Scott nodded and led the two men out the door. "Ororo why don't you take Marie and Remy to the lower levels and show them were they can wait out the trouble."

"But sir, I really would like to help." Marie said.

"You will be helping, not getting in the way and staying out of Magneto's sight will be helping." Xavier said quietly. "After all you're the one he's coming for." Marie took a deep breath. She nodded. She didn't like being the cause of all this. "You're not Marie, its Erick's doing, not yours. Try not to take it so hard, just stay out of sight."

"Yeah, Marie, you don't have to worry for a few hours yet, Erick and his crew won't show up until six or so." Bell said reassuring. "Get some rest, grab something to eat and get to know your new friend." Bell said grinning. "Everything will be all right," she said, and her eyes glowed white again. "Yes, everything will be just fine." She smiled.

"This way gentleman," Scott said turning to Victor and Logan. They followed behind closely. Scott led them to the security room and unlocked the security code on the computer terminal.

Victor frowned, and looked over the security camera video screens; they seemed to be fairly good at covering the entire estate borders. There were some that looked over onto the road and others that watched the extensive pastures that housed the horses. There were also in home cameras as well.

"Unfortunately, Erick can turn these off," Victor said pointing at the outside cameras, "without a thought. Of course that would alert us to his presence." He was then lost in thought. "HMMM, maybe we should set up some special alerts and some delays without using metal." Logan nodded.

"Yeah, it has to have absolutely no metal at all, he could probably sense even a little bit." Logan said, and Victor nodded. "Does this school have a fairly good supply of non-metal items?" Logan asked. "We'll need tools too."

"That's not a real problem. We have a good well equipped shop and tool shed." Scott said. "If you need anything else, I can take you into town to the local depot supplier." Both Victor and Logan smiled.

"Let's see what you have in supply first. A trip into town, unless needed, would be a waste of our time." Victor said. "I can make do with what is at hand." He smiled; a chill went down Scott's back. It was somewhat an evil grin, and his eye had a malicious glint to it. He looked at Logan, and his chill was doubled. There was exchange of grins and smiles from the brothers. They've worked together before obviously.

"Show us the way, Scott. Then you better handle the students. We can take it from there. If we need your help, we'll send for ya." Logan said nodding. Scott realizing that they were professionals left to gather the students.

While Scott was going on this errand, he thought about two days ago when he rescued Logan and Marie from Sabretooth. It was surreal that now Sabretooth was here and now helping them against his former employer and held no resentment from him from blasting him. In fact he hadn't even mentioned it. It probably hurt him a lot but not a word or even a look of anger at him. What kind of man was/is Sabretooth? Bell didn't even seem angry at him for what happened to her. In fact there seem to be more between them then just the event. Raven never told him or the others about her husband being Sabretooth, and it was obvious that she knew. It was confusing, by rights, Sabretooth should have been seriously pissed at his wife about not knowing about a daughter after all those years. But instead he seemed kind, sensitive and understanding. Why was he a mercenary? He apparently didn't seem the type, was there more? Scott hadn't been watching were he was going and walked into one of the students on there way to class.

"Oh, sorry Mr. Summers, I didn't see you." She said, apologizing.

"Oh, no, Marge, it's my fault. I should have been watching where I was going. Will you do me a favor?"

"Of course, Mr. Summers." Marge said.

"Would you tell the students from your class to gather in the cafeteria?"

"Sure, is something up?" Marge asked.

"It'll be explained there. Just spread the word." Scott said smiling.

"Sure thing, Mr. Summers." Marge said and went to tell her class the message.

Scott went to gather students from their dorms, those whose classes were finished and those who were between classes. The school hours were almost over anyway and it didn't bother the students that classes would be shortened. He knew most of the students had gotten the gossip of new arrivals already and were doubly curious as to what was going on. Scott arrived in the cafeteria and there were some already there. Some had come by for snacks or using the cafeteria for gathering, talking and studying. Some of the very young students trotted in chattering and laughing and traveling in small but rambunctious groups, some of them separating themselves into certain ages and sexes, depending on their mutual interests at the moment.

It wasn't long before almost all the students and many of the teachers were gathered in the large room. Scrapping of chairs and thumps of books on tables were scattered around the large room in echoes. Raven and Ororo came in and sat at the teacher's table and the room started quieting down. Professor Xavier had alerted most of the students by his 'in head intercom' and the students had responded quickly. The whispering had reached a fevered pitch and stopped completely when a huge woman with wild blonde hair and dark eyes, dressed in rather expensive looking clothes walked in behind Xavier with huge strides.

"Everyone, I need your attention, please!" Scott said raising his voice over the whispering started again, and comments on whom the strange woman was. Bell smiled at some of the older male students who had commented on her appearance. She winked at one of the handsome blonde boys that had been talking to each other earlier. When they realized that she had heard what they had said about her, they blushed. The room became quiet and still as they turned their attention to Professor Xavier.

"Good afternoon all, I have some announcements to make. The last classes of the day are cancelled. They will be of course resumed tomorrow. I'd like to introduce my friend here. Her name is Belinda James." The professor said. There was a chorus of "Hello, Ms. James." She nodded and smiled at the kids. There were some gasps of surprise when some of them noticed her canines. She chuckled. The gasps were only in surprise, not fear.

One of the younger students piped up. "Is Ms. James gonna be a new teacher here?" The little girl with a ponytail in a red matching skirt and shirt asked.

"Not at this time, Jenny. She's here to tell you a story." The young children got really excited. They loved stories, and it was kind of exciting to have someone different come to tell them stories. Bell heard in her head, "Please try to keep it as G rated as you can." Bell nodded to the Professor and advanced to the center of the room.

"Hello everyone, my name is Belinda James, Bell to my friends." Bell started. She smiled when the youngest students chorused, "Hello, Bell." "I'm going to tell you a story."

"Is it a real fun story?" Jenny asked.

"It's a true story, Jenny. And it does have some fun in it." Bell said kindly. Bell's eyes glowed bright white, and the ohs and ahs were impressive. "What? Huh?" She turned to Xavier. "Oh, I didn't realize that they did that. Thanks."

"Let's see where should I start?" Bell asked.

"Once upon a time?" Jenny said. The room laughed. The tension had evaporated.

"Thanks, Jenny. Once upon a time, I was a fairly normal person. I was not as tall as I am now, nor did I have blonde hair. One night, on my birthday...My father and mother and I went out to a nice dinner at really great restaurant. We had such a nice time and we talked and talked. It was the best birthday I had in such a long time." Bell took a deep breath. "Well, on the way home a car came out of nowhere and crashed into us. It was going very fast and it didn't even stop at the red light." She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Most of the younger kids were getting scared. She could smell it.

"My parents were killed right away." There were sympathetic groans from most of the students. "Yes, well I was hurt very badly. I spend almost a year in the hospital. I had to learn everything all over again. Walking and talking, thinking in a new way."

"Was it really hard?" Asked Jenny, quietly.

"Very hard....but I tried and tried to do everything like I used to. I finally got to be almost the way I was. But the man who had hit us, made it even more difficult for me."

"You mean he never went to jail?" One of the boys asked.

"Not a day. They didn't even take away his license. He had been drinking, a lot. But since he was a Senator, he was able to get away with it." Bell's eyes glowed a very dark red. One of the older boys scoffed loudly.

"A Senator, it figures!" One of the pretty blonde boys said. His tone was sarcastic and cynical and punctuated it with a click of a lighter.

"Yes and my story gets even better. The Senator's name is Senator Robert Kelly." The smell of the room changed dramatically. Even the youngest of them had heard of Kelly.

"The reason he got away with doing what he did, 'cause you're a mutant?" Jenny asked.

"No I wasn't a mutant then." Bell said, grinning. "He got away with it 'cause he's got lots of power and influence." This was perfect. He was the bad guy and they were getting into the story. Xavier almost wasn't going to let her tell her story. He wanted to protect his students, but Bell convinced him it would be best to bring it out in the open. Especially since everything that happened to her was going to involve them shortly and for the long run. She had shown him what she had seen thru her new powers and he was impressed by her candor, and he agreed. "I was just a normal human."

"You weren't even gonna be a mutant?" Jenny asked, curious. Bell shook her head. "Then how did you become one?"

"Jenny. Quit 'rupting. Let her tell the story." One of the boys sitting at Jenny's table complained. Jenny turned to the boy and wrinkled her nose at him and stuck out her tongue.

"Now Paul, don't scold Jenny." Bell said. "She can ask questions. They are good ones." Jenny stuck out her tongue at Paul again.

"Jenny, that's quite enough." Professor Xavier scolded lightly trying not to laugh. Jenny settled back into her chair.

"Well, believe or not, I owe the fact I'm a mutant to Kelly as well." Bell grinned. An excited buzz moved around the room at light speed. They knew that Kelly hated mutants with a passion and being Kelly's fault that Bell was a mutant was an oxymoronic thing. "Let me finish explaining my story. I had to have several jobs to pay for my medical treatments and therapy. It was hard to have two jobs and I worked very hard. But I wasn't getting anywhere. I thought it would be a good idea to find a way to get the man responsible to pay for his crime. Easier said then done, for certain." She took a deep breath. "He had heard that I was doing just that and he started doing stuff to prevent me from making it public and bringing it into the courts. My lawyer," She scuffed. "My lawyer decided it would be more profitable to get to Kelly instead of working for me." The boy with the lighter rolled his eyes and said quietly. "Yeah, I can see where this is going."

"You're quite right John," Bell said. "But to make it just a lot more difficult for me he managed, I still don't know how, or why, he was able to freeze what little assets I had."

"Weird, I thought he would save that sort of stuff for mutants." John said darkly.

"Yeah, well it gets better." Bell said lightly. Her eyes glowed a dangerous red though. "He managed to get me fired from both my jobs. Cute, huh? If you think he's done with me, you guess it; a bad guy just keeps being the bad guy. He got to my landlord." She saw the faces and heard the groans. "No matter how much I wanted to pay back the medical bills, I always, I always saved enough out to keep my rent up by months. But did that save me? No. It. Did. Not. My landlord was intimidated enough to lock me out of my apartment with everything I own still in it." The younger kids were boooooing the story with enthusiasm.

"Now my story gets a little bit exciting. I was thinking of what to do with myself while walking in the park, when all of a sudden I was confronted by.....Sabretooth." She dragged out the name and gave it a menacing feel to it. "Why he even growled at me!" She mimicked the growl that Sabretooth greeted her with. The younger students eyes got big and the older students gulped; simply because it was so realistic and they had heard of Sabertooth.

"Oh no! Bell, were you afraid!" Jenny asked, excitedly.

"I was surprised when he stepped out in front of me, but I wasn't afraid."

"You weren't afraid??" Jenny asked her eyes wide. She was waiting for the rest of the story, Bell was certain.

"No, not even when Sabretooth picked me up.... and threw me over his shoulder." Bell said smiling.

"Not even then?"

"Nope...I wasn't afraid of Sabretooth at all." Jenny could hardly believe it, and she said 'wow', a lot.

"Then what happened?" Paul asked, leaning forward.

"He carried me away out of the park and put me in his car." Bell said. The younger children were latched onto the story and the older students were getting a bit nervous. Bell made it sound like an exciting adventure getting kidnapped by one of the most dangerous mutants around. "He drove really fast thru the city and there wasn't a cop in sight." Bell snickered.

"Golly." Jenny said, dropping her jaw.

"He drove me to the airport and made me get into a helicopter. And he piloted it himself. Fortunately for me, I fell asleep." Bell was the only one who heard John say, "Holy Shit," under his breath. Bell could almost start to agree with him, after about taking the time to think of what had happened to her in the last two days. Telling the story helped.

"Yes, well after I woke up, I found myself in Sabretooth's arms; he had carried me into some kind of base. I saw another fellow there when I woke up, he had green skin and Sabretooth called him Toad."

"Then what happened?" Paul asked really getting into the story.

"Well, the man who Sabretooth worked for had him strap me into a metal chair. Both my arms and legs were locked in shackles, real tight." Jenny said golly again, and Paul said wow. "Then he turned on a machine and did something to me." She blinked, remembering the pain she had been in. "The machine had hurt me a lot; in fact I was dying from the effect of the machine." Mouths had dropped open. She didn't look like she was dying now.

"Sabretooth took me away to the woods by a lake and stayed with me for a while and held my hand." She could see Jenny's mouth gape wider and wider. "After about an hour, I became a mutant."