Chapter Four

"Todd, come on! Let's get out of here!" Lance yelled above the roar of the flames, staggering slightly with dizziness. He scooped an unconscious Pietro up in his arms, reaching out at the same time to grab onto Todd's uninjured arm.

Blinded by the smoke and ash, Lance felt his way to the back door. Without thinking, he put his hand on the doorknob, successfully burning himself on the scalding hot metal. Gritting his teeth in pain, Lance yanked open the door and tore his hand away from the doorknob.

Once they had taken refuge behind a clump of bushes, Lance collapsed to the floor in exhaustion and pain. His throat felt like it was on fire itself, smarting, just like the rest of his body. All of them had sustained injuries.

Part of the ceiling had caved in on Pietro, rendering him unconscious pretty fast. Todd, in his panic, had somehow managed to dislocate his left arm. Lance had been burnt and cut up pretty badly too.

They should have known that once magneto learnt that his son had learnt the truth, he'd try to kill all of them. That night, the Acolytes had attacked. Remy had blown up his jeep and John had set flames to their house. They had no place to escape to.

What now? Pietro was dying and they couldn't save him. There was no one to go to help for. Lance hugged the unconscious boy closer to him, trembling involuntarily. No one could help them now, or so he thought.

Scott Summers yawned, flipping through the boring television channels. The x-men were used to staying up until as late as two in the morning, but Scott had to be dragged into staying up by Jean. He was naturally an early sleeper.

He hated staying up with Sam, Bobby and Ray charging around the common Room, playing and giggling like a bunch of girls. Immaturity was something Scott could never stand, since he was a bit too mature himself.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. A news report showing a picture of a burning house. Interesting. That house did look remarkably familiar. Maybe they'd blame it on mutants again, Scott thought, reaching out to change the channel, when he saw the signboard in front of the house and froze, his mouth agape.

Noticing the uncanny resemblance to a goldfish, the boys came over to watch. " Isn't that the Brotherhood's house?" Ray asked, wearing an equally stupefied expression on his face.

Scott silenced them in time to hear the reporter saying that all three boys had been in the house when the fire started. Behind her, Scott could see the house. If they had been trapped inside, none of them would have stood a chance.

"We should tell the professor," Sam spoke up softly, never taking his eyes off the television screen. For once, Scott didn't let his rivalry with Lance Alvers get in the way. He got to his feet and made a wild dash for the office, Sam following close behind him.

Not bothering to even knock, Sam cannonballed into the room and landed in an extremely undignified heap on the seat beside Rouge. The girl jumped at least a foot into the air, letting out a strangled squeal. Sam sat up, looking embarrassed at his terrible landing.

The professor looked about to reprimand him, when Scott immediately launched into explanation, speaking as fast as Pietro ran . Sparing Sam a reproachful glare, Rouge listened to Scott's explanation, looking increasingly alarmed by the news.She had been too late.

"Very well, I can leave it to the three of you to manage this, right?" Charles Xavier asked, surprisingly clam at a time like this. The two x-men and New Recruit nodded, getting to their feet swiftly.

Scott had no choice, but to run at least three traffic lights in his haste to get the brotherhood house. Why in the world was he doing this? It was not liked he cared… By the time they got there, the fire had been put out and it was said that nobody had found the three brotherhood members. So, the Brotherhood had managed to escape.

Rouge and Sam split up to search the garden for them first, as Scott explained their plans to the police officers who seemed reluctant to let them search the area, but they finally agreed.

Sam's eyes fell on a copper colored patch on the grass in the backyard. Kneeling down to inspect it, the boy gasped and recoiled in disgust. It was blood. Someone had been injured, and bad. That was quite a lot of blood the person lost.

Tearing his eyes away from the bloodstain, Sam glanced around him worriedly. They had to be somewhere close by if they were injured. The blond studied the bloodstains again. There were many smaller droplets leading away from the main one. It lead all the way to a clump of bushes.

Cautiously stepping towards it, Sam took a deep breath to calm his nerves. This was the first time the professor had sent him on anything, with the x-men. He wanted to prove tothem that he was as good as any of those x-men and not just some pathetic New Recruit.

Reaching forward, he pushed the leaves aside.