Sorry it took me so long to put this chapter up. But I promise it's worth the wait. Enjoy!

Deep Dive

The professor was using Cerebro to locate Serena, Scott was outside the room pacing back and forth deep in thought. How could I let this happen? All this was happening right underneath my nose and I failed to notice any of it. I wonder if this entire thing is my fault. I was always blaming her for things she didn't do. I shouldn't have been so hard on her… I was just too stubborn. If I had just left it alone and just let her deal with her own life. Why did I have to interfere? Scott Summers, you are such an idiot. Jean was watching him with a worried look on her face. She could sense his feelings; could tell what he was thinking.

Jean put a hand out to the pacing figure, "Scott, it's not your fault."

He ceased his relentless pacing and turned to look at her. "How can you say that Jean? I'm probably the reason why she's so angry at us."

"Scott I know what you're feeling right now, but blaming yourself isn't going to make the situation any better." She said, a sincere look on her face.

"But I should've noticed what was going on." Came the immediate retort.

"None of us noticed it," Jean said, moving to stand just in front of him. "Just because you're the leader doesn't mean you're expected to know everything that goes on."

"Still, I wish I could've been able to do something to help her." Scott said slamming his fist into his other hand.

"You will be able to do something Scott. As soon as the professor finds Serena we'll all be able to help her."

"I hope so. I want to make up for everything I put her through." He told her with a slightly pleading look in his face.

"You did what you thought was best Scott, nobody's blaming you for that."

Scott was about to reply when the doors opened and Professor Xavier came wheeling out. "Professor, have you found her?"

"Cerebro has located her in a city not far off the coast. We'd better hurry if we want to get there in time." He said, a look of urgency written in the features of his face. "We must find her and do whatever we can to detain her. We do not want her killed in the process, is that clear?"

"Got it Professor." Jean and Scott replied in unison.

There was a noise and Kurt appeared, along with the entire Brotherhood group.

"What are they doing here?" Scott asked viciously, pointing at them.

"Scott, calm down." Jean whispered to him.

"Chill Summers, we're here to help." Lance said.

"Serena's just as much our friend as she is yours." Tabitha said as she stepped forward.

Todd crossed his arms over his chest. "And no matter what you say we're coming."

Scott was going to protest when the professor's thoughts entered his head. Scott, we will no doubt need their help.

Scott clenched his hands at his sides trying to restrain himself. "Do they understand the current situation?" Scott asked Kurt.

Kurt nodded. "I've already told them everything."

"Fine, you can tag along," Scott said grudgingly, "but don't even think of trying to pull anything."

Lance smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"All of you, to the hanger," Xavier instructed them. "Those not here will join you shortly." Minutes later, everyone had boarded the jet and they were off. Nobody spoke for most of the trip.

As they neared their destination Scott stood and addressed everyone on the plane. "Alright everyone, listen up. We're here for one reason: find and capture Serena." He began as he made eye contact with each person on board. "Be careful, we don't want anyone getting injured in the process. If worse comes to worse…" He didn't finish, though everyone knew what he was going to say.

They landed on the outskirts of the city.

"Tell our stowaways that we have arrived."

"Huh?" replied Jean, not understanding.

Scott stepped off the bottom step and proceeded to the underside of the plane. Opening one of the pressurized storage compartments, two identical boys tumbled out. "Ouch! Hey watch it!"

"Who are you and what do you think you're doing?" Jean asked.

Scott suddenly realized who they were, "Hey, aren't you two Serena's brothers?"

"Yep!" They said together. "We were worried about our sister so we decided to tag along." One said. "We want to help." The other chimed in.

"Look kids," Scott began in his sternest voice, "things are going to get dangerous and you'll only get in the way."

Standing the pulled themselves to their full height, "Nuh uh." They said as one adding,

"We can help. We can! Just tell us what to do."

Scott turned to the others who had formed up near the plane and were watching the events unfold under the fuselage.

Turning back to the boys, Scott pointed a finger at each of them, "Fine then, stay here." The two of them gave him identical scowls. Turning to the group he said, "X-Men, move out!"

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Meanwhile, Flood was in the house of an old 'friend'. Upon first entering she assumed no one was there, but then she heard a shrieking laugh come from upstairs. Her eyes flashed as she recognized the laugh that had not changed in three years. She made her way upstairs, the scent of cigarette smoke reaching her nostrils as the sound of the girl's voice grew louder. Flood assumed she was talking on the phone as she could here no other voice. 'Perfect,' she thought. 'She's alone.' Once upstairs she managed to locate her bedroom with ease having been there before, so long ago. She pushed the door open and saw a cluttered room, the walls, painted black with the latest gothic posters taped helter skelter to them. Dark clothes and papers littered the floor, in one corner a television was playing the latest thrasher videos as pictures of young teens, many with spiked hair and white make-up and black eye liner stared from the mirror they had been stuck to. In the middle of the room was a twin bed, dark bedclothes askew and in the middle of it all, spread out on an unkempt bed talking on the phone, was Carol. She was slightly different than Flood remembered, her hair was a darker red and slightly longer than it had been, her face looked older, but she still held the same hard, merciless glint in her eye that Flood (or rather Serena) had always known.

"Yeah she is a total--" When the red-head noticed Flood standing there. Not recognizing that it was Serena, she frowned and said, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut your conversation short," Flood said in a flat tone as she strode over to the phone cord and pulled it out of the wall. The phone went dead in Carol's hand.

"Hey, what is your problem bitch?" Carol said, jumping to her feet and facing the newcomer.

"What's wrong Carol?" Flood asked as she stepped right up to the other girl who was trying hard not to show any fear. "Don't you remember me?"

Carol peered at her for a second, her eyes widening in astonishment. "You!"

"Me." Flood said grinning.

"Serena?"

"Not quite."

She stood across from the older girl with a glare of death. "What happened to the others Carol?"

"Those losers? I ditched them. They were weak, like you." Carol spat in her face.

"You always did think everyone was beneath you." Flood said in a deadly soft tone, "I remember that night, when you beat me and left me for dead. I'm here to return the favor."

Carol's eyes now widened and the fear shown through now. "S-stay back," she reached a hand into top drawer of her dresser and pulled out a chrome plated 9mm Luger, pointed it at Flood. "I mean it you freak!"

Flood merely laughed. "Go ahead then, give me you best shot." Carol pulled the trigger, the sound was deafening in the small room as the bullet leaped from the end of the gun. Flood immediately turned into her liquid form and the bullet passed through, hitting the wall behind her. "Did you really think you could hurt me with that?" She began to advance on Carol when a red beam shot in front of her cutting her off. Roaring with rage, she turned to see Cyclops along with the other X-Men standing in the doorway.

"Back off." Scott said, his visor flashing dangerously.

"This doesn't concern you." Flood snarled.

"It does when it involves taking innocent lives." Scott said.

Flood's eyes became the size of saucers, "Her, innocent? You don't know her like I do."

"Be that as it may, we can't let you follow through with this." Jean said.

"Now give us back Serena!" Kurt shouted.

"You're too late," Flood said as she backed to the window, "she's long gone!" With that, she slipped through a crack in the window.

"Let's hurry!" Scott said and the rest of them hurried out except for Jean who was looking at the cowering Carol.

"Don't worry, you won't remember a thing," she said as she put her hands to her temples.

Scott walked around the backside of the building cautiously, trying not to make any noise. He had decided to split-up the group in order to find Flood more quickly and was now searching an abandoned warehouse just down the alley from the dingy apartment where Carol lived.

Suddenly something grabbed him from behind. It was Flood. She clamped her hand over his mouth and a layer of water seeped out of her hand covering his mouth and nose so that he couldn't breath or make any sound. Scott struggle to get free but she held him in a tight grip. He was running out of air. He needed to do something fast. There was only one option left. He shot a laser beam from his visor shooting a hole through the roof. The others would have to have seen it. Passing out, Flood let him drop to the ground. "One down." She whispered as she stepped out of the warehouse only to meet Jean and several of the new recruits.

"We don't want to hurt you." Jean said.

"That's funny, cause I want to hurt you!" She shot a powerful stream of water towards the group. Reacting with skills built through years of practice, Jean held it off with a shield. Around them, underground water pipes began bursting hurtling pavement into the sky as water began flooding the area.

The jewel on Flood's medallion was pulsing with light, fueling her with power. When the water blast did not cease Jean felt herself become weaker with each passing second. "I… can't hold it…" She managed to say as her shield dropped just a fraction of an inch and she was blasted several yards away by the steam from water.

Behind the shield, Ray had charged up his hands and Roberto was getting ready to flare out with his powers. But before they could do anything Flood had formed two water balls almost as big as her head and threw them at the two before they could react. The water, with a density approaching concrete, hit directly them both in the head knocking them unconscious.

Methodically, she took care of the rest of them by forming a powerful compact tidal wave that swept them away leaving them into the debris along the alley walls. She didn't wait for them to recover as she swirled her hand around and the water did the same until it was a spinning mini water spout. Before she could unleash her final blow on the unconscious forms, she was interrupted by Pietro who, in the blink of an eye, grabbed her and sped her away to an empty side street where he could talk to her without interruption.

Wrenching herself away from him, she prepared to attack.

Holding up his hands, palms out, he said in a calm, soothing voice, "Flood stop, I just wanna talk."

"Well look at this." She said in a voice that dripped of withheld rage and sarcasm while she lowered her fists. "You must have a death wish to come showing your face again."

"Look Flood, you have to stop this." He said in that soft, warm tone.

"And why should I?" She spat back in his face.

"Because it's me you should be mad at." He said, his eyes full of emotion. He made sure that she was staring so she could see. "Don't take your anger with me, out on them."

"Oh, I'm not mad," She hissed as they circled each other slowly in the empty street, "I'm pissed off. And not just at you, I hate the whole gaud-damned world."

"But why?" He intensified the look of longing in his eyes, made it come through in his voice.

"Because it was always Serena who had a home, Serena who had friends and a family, Serena who was loved." She screamed, the years of pent up rage and loathing now unleashed like the flood gates of Hoover Dam, "What do I have huh? Nothing! Nobody cares about me!"

"That's not true Flood." Pietro said as he took a step closer to her, his hands out, "I care. I… I love you."

"Shut up." She said in that deadly quiet tone.

He took another step closer, the hands still out, the longing in his eyes, he put every ounce of feeling he had into his next words, willing her to understand. "I love you Flood."

"Shut up!" She blasted him across the street and into the opposing building's brick wall.

Slowly standing, never taking his eyes from hers, he stood defiant; determined to make sure she saw the look in his eye. "I….love you." He said again in a calm, soothing way taking another step towards her with his hands out again.

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! You're nothing but a filthy lying bastard!" Suddenly, in a heartbeat he rushed her. Wrapping his arms about her, he held fast as she struggled to escape, raring with rage, she cursed him, cursed his parentage!

He held her tightly in his arms. Grabbing her shoulders, he forced her to look directly into his eyes.

"If you truly have Serena's powers" He began, his sterling blue eyes boring into her, "Then you know I'm not lying to you. You will be able to feel that I truly, deeply love you and care about only you." He said in a voice, in a way that she had never heard from him before.

Flood slowly stopped struggling as she looked into his eyes. She cleared her mind and suddenly she could feel his emotions. She realized that he wasn't lying to her, she knew it now.

"Why do you care about ME?" she said in a voice so softly, he had to strain to hear it.

He stroked her hair softly, "Because, in the past few weeks, I've discovered what it's like to be discriminated against for doing what you thought was right, when everyone else saw it as a sin."

Flood had almost let out a sob. All she had ever wanted was a body of her own, to have her own life, to feel her own emotions, to be her own person. Was that so wrong?

Pietro relaxed his grip as he continued to stroke her hair, "I know what it's like to be alone, and unloved." He cooed, the depth of his emotion rocking Flood to her core. "I remember that night, in the alleyway, you had helped me though some of my grief."

She looked at him incredulously. "How can you remember that?"

"No amount of intoxication can numb my mind for long," He replied, relaxing his grip completely taking a step back so he could hold her hand, "as for the near concussion you gave me, I heal fast."

"Well, I don't." She said sullenly, looking at the ground, "I'll never heal."

He tipped her chin up so he could maintain eye contact, "We can help you Flood, I can help you, if you'll let me."

"Yeah right." She said contemptuously. "Are you sure it isn't just Serena you love?"

Now he looked to the ground, but quickly returned to gaze into her softening face, "I'll admit, at first I had thought it was Serena, but it was you all along." He took her other hand in his. "You've helped me, let me help you."

"I…" She started to let him take her in his embrace.

An explosion ripped the pavement at her feet and she jumped back. "Leave him alone!" Tabitha cried.

Flood shoved Pietro away from her. He landed hard on the ground knocking the wind out of him. Flood vanished into the storm drain at the curb.

Racing to his side, Tabitha looked into his face. "Are you okay?"

"Dammit Tabitha!" Pietro said as he stood up, "I almost had her!"

Emerging around the block, Flood ran down an alleyway. Out of breath she leaned against the wall and slid down it whimpering into a sitting position. She drew her knees to her chest and sat there in a little ball. She no longer knew what to believe. There were so many things she wanted, revenge, retribution, acceptance, and possibly love. But how could she ever hope to acquire these things when everyone wanted to get rid of her? Why couldn't they accept her like they did Serena? Why couldn't they understand? A tear slid down her cheek. Why can't I have a life? Hearing a noise, she looked up. "Who's there?"

Straining in the dark, Lance caused the ground to shake. Caught off guard, Flood fell forward, her foot becoming stuck in the pavement. Putting her hands flat on the ground, she closed her eyes. From the sewers deep under the street, geysers of water burst from the ground in front of Lance. Suddenly losing focus, the tremors stopped. Instinctively, he ran. As he did water kept blasting out of the ground from underneath him and he jumped just barely missing one that erupted between his legs.

While Lance had kept Flood busy, Rogue had quietly snuck up on her, her bare hand outstretched. She was just inches away from Flood's neck when Flood whipped around grabbing Rogue's covered wrist and holding it away from her. "Why are you doing this?" Rogue said through clenched teeth, "Do you really hate us that much? Is this going to solve anything?"

Flood gave a faint smile. "You really wanna know? Fine then. I'll show you." Before Rogue could stop her Flood put her hand against Rogue's face. As Rogue drew Flood's power and memories Flood gasped enduring the pain. She pulled her hand away from Rogue's face, weakened, but still standing. Then she threw Rogue away from her straight into Kitty who had just phased through the wall. The two fell, Rogue grabbed her head yelling and flailed around.

"What did you do to her?" Kitty yelled.

"She wanted to know what I was feeling," she raised an open palm, "so I showed her first hand."

"This is not good." Kitty said under her breath as team of X-men began to appear around her, recovered from Flood's last assault.

Kitty yelled to them, "No, stay away! Rogue's not herself!" But it was already too late.

Rogue stood up yelling at the X-Men. "None of you understand how I feel! You'll never know what it's like for me! Never!" She lashed out both with Flood's powers and rage, throwing her tantrum until nearly all of the X-men had been beaten into unconsciousness again. When she was finally through and Flood's personality had vented itself, Rogue sank to the ground with fatigue. She looked down at her hands in utter horror. "Oh no, what have I done?"

Kurt was the only one to escape the attack. Teleporting in front of Flood to prevent her from escaping he said. "Serena what's wrong with you? You were never like this before."

"Never like this?" She laughed. "She's obviously never told you about herself."

Kurt blinked, "What do you mean?"

Flood laughed a wicked laugh, "Where to start? First of all when her powers manifested she did much more than flood a house. She didn't even live in a house at the time. No, she flooded an entire apartment drowning two of the neighbors!"

Kurt gasped, "No. You're lying!"

Flood forced an ironic smile, "Sad but true. That was the night when I had awakened. She eventually found out she was the one who had caused it and practically killed herself because of it. She was so weak. Luckily I was around to give her the boost she needed."

Realization came to Kurt's face, "So you are the one who's been causing all the trouble!"

Flood grinned, "Yes, that was me."

"But why didn't Serena ask the Professor to get rid of you?" Kurt stammered, trying to think one step ahead of her.

"For one thing she didn't even know I existed." Flood began "At one point I revealed myself to her, but she was convinced I was just a dream, another hallucination. Second of all she doesn't realize or remember anything when I come out. I however, am always aware of what's going on."

"Little Serena keeping so many secrets from her so-called friends." She said in a voice filled with snide laughter. "And that's not all. Did Serena ever tell you about her little bad girl phase?"

"What are you talking about?" Kurt was desperate to buy the time his friends needed to regain their senses and find him.

"Oh this is rich! You mean to tell me Serena never told you how she used to lie, steal, cheat?"

"What?" Kurt said in disbelief.

"That's right, just after her powers manifested. She was sick of being pushed around, so she took matters into her own two powerful hands."

"You're a liar! Serena would never do that! She's sweet and kind." Kurt pleaded.

"Of course I did lend a hand every once in a while. She softened up after the little incident."

Kurt was running out of time, "What incident?" He said, trying to keep her talking.

"It was during a fight between two gangs. It was supposed to be a fair fight, no weapons. But somebody went against the rules, and the next thing you know, her best friend had been stabbed with a switch blade. She swore she would never let another one of her friends die again. And well, you know the rest."

"Why didn't she ever tell us?" Kurt said, looking around to see if the calvary was coming.

"Are you kidding me? She was afraid that you would hate her because of her past. She saw the way you treated the Brotherhood and knew she could never tell anyone about it, except for one person."

Kurt's head snapped to look at her, he senses tense. "Who?"

"The only person who could ever understand the way she felt, her boyfriend Toad."

"You mean… Toad knew all about this?" He could not believe what he was hearing.

"Yes. He knew every little detail. Why do you think they got so close? Toad was the only one who had ever understood what Serena had been through. He was the only person she would ever let into her world." She smiled. "Too bad he lost his memory, and even after they did get back together they were soon discovered by their teammates. And then her mother disowned her and she, that is to say, I lashed out at Toad which utterly destroyed her, which made her weak enough for me to finally take over." She gave a wide smile. "So I must say, I owe you a big thanks."

Kurt did not follow, "Me?" He said trying to make sense of it in his head.

"Yes you." She said, taking a step towards him, "Every time you tried to get close to her you were pushing her closer to the edge. But she didn't want to get close to you. You reminded her too much of Toad. She was afraid that the same thing would happen again, that once she got close to you she would lose you too."

"So, she didn't hate me?" He asked, a glimmer of understanding beginning to come to his mind.

"Hate you? She loved you, almost as much as she loved Toad." Flood laughed wickedly, "Don't ask me why though. She always did have horrible taste. It's really funny if you ask me. As beautiful as she is, she could have her pick of any of the guys, and what does she end up picking? A disgusting, slimy, smelly frog boy and an overgrown blue rat."

"Hey! Only I can call him that!" It was Todd.

Kurt breathed a sigh of relief, the Marines had landed, "Toad?"

"Ah, so the faithful boyfriend is here after all." Flood said in a tone that showed she was not surprised by his appearance.

"I don't know who the hell you are but let Serena go now!" Todd said as he stood there with his hands on his hips.

"Never!" Flood spat, a jet of water leaping out in Todd's direction.

"Serena, we know what you're going through." Todd said, dodging the jet. "We know what it's like."

"Stop saying that! You don't know the pain I've felt! You don't know me, you don't know anything!" She screamed at him. "But you soon will. It's time to show you just how much I've suffered. I've taken in more than my share of torment. It's time to give some back."

From out of the shadows the others appeared. Turning slowly to look at each and every one, she suddenly threw her head back and screamed at the dark sky. "The whole world will know and feel my pain!"

Deep beneath their feet, the ground began to shudder; they could felt he ground swelling as the water below came hurtling up at them. Around them, 200 pound manhole covers shot into the air as if out of a cannon. Water blasting after it. The sewers below were raging. The streets started cracking.

"Everyone back to the jet" Scott shouted. "Hurry!"

From out of every window in the buildings surrounding them, water poured as if a great dam had opened its flood gates flooding the streets. The group struggled as the water swept around them, first at their ankles, then suddenly, their knees.

People screamed for help as they were swept away, little children were crying as sirens wailed loudly. In the sky, above all of the chaos, Flood was in her liquid form, her hair waving in a smooth action, her eyes glowing green, her medallion shining with a life of its own.

Stick with me people! I promise that as long as there are still people reading this fanfic, I will keep going. I will not stop until it's finished, this I promise to all my faithful readers that support me.