A/N: Hello everyone, guess who's back! No, not Eminem in case that's what you were thinking ***blink*** none of you were thinking that. Ohhhh… ***long pause*** ignore me then… Oh yes thank yous!
To A Watcher: Hey, wait a minute! Are you reading my script? ***eyes narrow*** I'm watching you!
To Kalystia: ***grin*** Thankie! Keep reviewing!
To Caltimere: You are forgiven for missing last chapter. I'm a very forgiving person. And yes, what are TB and the X-Men planning?
To Mika: More fuel to the fire ----------- there I said it! What's my prize? ***blink, blink***
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Chapter Thirteen- T-R-A-P"Scott?" Kurt said, appearing in the living room of the X-Men home with his mutant powers, "Have you seen Kitty?'
Scott looked up from his text book, "Not since yesterday. Why?"
"Well… no one has. It's like Kitty has disappeared from ze Earth!" Franticly, Kurt waved his arms, "What could've happened to her?"
"I'll tell you what could've happened! Alvers is what! She's been mopey about him over the past weeks and now he's got her in his clutches! Suit up, Kurt, we're going to the boarding house." Scott shouted, taking on the let's-go-get-the-big-bad-people leader personality only he had.
"Now, Scott," Jean chided walking into the room, calculus books pushed under her arm, "why do you always have to jump to conclusions? Wouldn't it be easier if you just went Professor Xavier and asked him where Kitty was?"
"Jean…" Scott groaned. Why is she never on my side? He wondered and frowned. A very good question indeed.
"I think Jean is right. We should go ask ze professor." With that Kurt disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.
"Not without me!" Scott shouted and grabbed Jean's wrist as he rushed past her, "Come on! This was your idea!" Jean growled as her books clattered to the ground, but she didn't pull away.
By the time Scott and Jean managed to get to the underground base of the X-Men, Kurt was sitting by the door to Cerebra, where Professor Xavier kept a close watch on all of the mutants in the world. Kurt was fiddling with his cloaking-device which doubled as a nice watch.
"You…" Scott panted, having reached the base in a record time of fifteen seconds, "you… you… you…" he couldn't get out the last two words.
"Are… dead…" Jean answered, taking deep breaths and sliding next to Kurt, a hand on her bosom, "As… soon… as I… find… feeling… in… legs."
"Ze professor is in zere." Kurt said, motioning to the closed metal doors, "He looked worried when I told him that Kitty had not returned home."
"I hope she's alright." Jean said, "It isn't like Kitty not to tell us where she is. How did you find out she was missing?'
"Rogue was asking for her. Something about her underwear being turned pink." Kurt said, looking towards the door once more.
As if on cue, the doors slid open and Professor Xavier wheeled out, looking concerned and anxious. Everyone near him felt their heart start to pound.
"Professor, did you find out about Kitty?" Jean asked and the professor sighed.
"No, I couldn't trace her. It's almost as if she has disappeared from the Earth. I can't find any sign of her, anywhere." Professor Xavier said.
"Can I go beat- I mean 'interrogate' that Brotherhood now?" Scott asked, "If you had let me earlier this wouldn't be a problem."
"Fine." Jean said throwing up her hands, "But I'm coming with you to make sure you don't do something stupid."
"I'm going, too." Kurt said, changing into his hidden form, "If the Brotherhood does have Kitty, I want to be backup."
"Fine. Let's go." Scott said, walking away with Kurt at his heels. Jean rolled her eyes and turned to the professor.
"I'll keep them in line, Professor." She promised and hurried after Scott and Kurt, shaking her head as she did so.
Professor Xavier watched them leave and suddenly frown, "I think perhaps I should call Logan and Storm back from training with the New Mutants up in the mountains, we might need them."
Scott's sporty red car screeched to a halt in front of the run-down Bayville Boarding House. Scott grimaced and looked at it with disgust.
He couldn't really explain why he hated the Brotherhood so much, other then the fact they were the enemy and all. There was just something about them he didn't like. Rogue would've called him snobby while Kitty would have called him arrogant. Either way something had always held Scott back from even remotely liking the Brotherhood.
And looking at the destroyed windows, the dented walls, the disheveled sidewalks, he never would. No matter how hard he tried, though he'd never tried really, he'd never been able to look them as equals. Just because they abuse their power and try to kill off humans, the real enemy of the mutants, he felt he had every reason to hate them with a passion.
"You alright?" Jean asked, laying a hand upon Scott's shoulder, looking more then a little concerned, "You look anxious."
"Just a little worried about Kitty." Scott answered, brutally aware of the heat coming from Jean's hands. How easy would it be just to snag it and hold it? He didn't think Jean would pull away from him, though he doubted she shared the same feelings as he did.
"Hey guys? Aren't we going in?" Kurt asked from the back, ruining the spell. Quickly, Jean removed her hand and Scott released a sign.
"Let's go." Scott said and they hopped out of the car. They walked side-by-side, a marching line, equals and teammates. Complete opposites of the Brotherhood. Scott for a moment felt guilty that the enemy team didn't have that sense of belonging to one another, but then he pushed it away and concentrated on Kitty.
When they pushed open the rickety doors of the boarding house, it seemed to be deserted. There were no new members Gambit, Pyro or Colossus or annoying old members Lance, Pietro, Fred, Todd or Wanda. Where were they?
To answer the X-Men's unspoken question, they heard movement upstairs. The X-Men, Cyclops (Scott), Jean and Nightcrawler (Kurt), braced themselves for a fight.
But only Lance, with a bag slung over his shoulder, walked down the stairs. His fingerless gloves were pushed into his pockets. He wore his usual outfit of baggy jeans, black shirt and a brown sleeveless jacket to go over it.
At first, Lance didn't notice the X-Men until his was midway down the stairs. He stopped, did a double take, and his dark brown eyes narrowed. Beneath them, the X-Men felt the ground tremor slightly.
"What do you want, Summers?" Lance snapped, walking down the rest of the steps and halting right in front of Scott.
"Where is Kitty?" Kurt demanded before Scott could even answer Lance's question. Lance whipped his head around to glare at the blue-skinned man.
"Why the hell should I know? I don't hang out with you X-Geeks." Lance said testily.
"Because, you loser," Scott said dangerously, "she's gone! And we can't track her with Cerebra so that means your boss is behind this. He's the only thing that can mess with Cerebra's tracking systems."
Lance grabbed Scott by the collar of his uniform and said just as powerfully, "First off, Summers, Magneto ain't my boss. And second off… what the hell do you mean Kitty's missing!?"
"Since yesterday." Jean said, "Now let Scott go or I'll make you."
Lance did so, but kept his glare in place, "So you idiots didn't start worrying about her until now? You guys aren't the goddamn police and you are constantly being threatened! When one of your team goes missing, even for two hours, you find out where she is. Who knows where she is now? She could be…" Lance trailed off.
"We came here to see what you've done with her." Scott bit off.
"Well, I didn't do anything to her." Lance snapped, his heart pounding for the brunette freshman. Growling, he turned and walked away.
"Where are you going?" Scott snapped.
"To do what you should've done. Find Kitty." Lance and walked out the door. Once he was sure no one could see him, he allowed the panic to take over him as he rushed to Buffy's house at breakneck speed. All he could think was Kitty and the possible danger she could be in.
"Come on, Scott." Jean urged back at the house, "Let's go ask the professor to try again. We need to find Kitty."
Still glaring at the spot where Lance had once stood, Scott allowed himself to be pulled away.
Lance's sprinted to his new home under five minutes, which was very fast since Buffy's apartment was over fifteen minutes away and he was exhausted from the basic-combat training the Slayers had put the Brotherhood through starting at three o'clock that morning.
He made his way all the way up the three fleets of stairs. Along the way he cursed Buffy for making his so exhausted and Faith from always going for his legs. His lungs were burning and his hands that gripped the railing were the only thing keeping him from collapsing into a heap. And the only thing that kept him walking when all he wanted to do was sit down and sleep was the thought of Kitty being hurt.
"Kitty!" Lance rasped and pushed himself up to the top floor and raced down the hall to the door of the apartment. Banging on it, Lance leaned his weight against the door and attempted to bring in deep long breaths.
The door opened and Lance saw Ori's face for a fleeting second before he collapsed to the ground. Before his could make contact, a golden fire wrapped around him but instead of hurting him like it would an enemy, the fire was soothing and relaxed his muscles. His released a deep sigh.
"Lance?" Ori asked as Pyro moved besides her, from the couch to their right everyone, Willow, Faith, Gambit, and Colossus, looked over at him. Ori flicked her wrists and Lance found himself standing on his feet.
"No," Lance rasped drawing in deep breaths, "Kitty… Kitty… danger…"
"Ah, what?" Ori asked.
Just as Lance opened his mouth to repeat his words Buffy burst in, Xander hot on her heels, and sent Lance crashing into the floor. This time, he made no move to get up. He just laid there.
"Guys!" Buffy cried in horror, not even offering Lance an apology, "Kitty's been kidnapped by this Jake guy!"
"Are you sure?" Willow asked, removing herself from the couch.
Buffy waved a letter in her hand, "Yeah, the darling man sent me a note saying: I have you precious 'kitten' and if you want to see her alive come to the graveyard tonight at ten. If you don't, I will personally chop the 'pretty kitty' in tiny pieces and send them to you in a box." Baring her teeth Buffy snarled out, "The bastard the gull to sign 'with all my best wishes, Jake'!"
Faith stalked over to Buffy, grabbed the letter from the Slayer's hand and read it. She raised one eyebrow as she did so and said, "That spells T-R-A-P to me, B. If that isn't I trap then I don't enjoy sex."
"We have to go get her!" Lance said, "He'll kill her."
"Okay. Okay. Let me think." Buffy frowned and her brows drew together in concentration.
"Perhaps it would best if only half of la team goes, mon ami." Gambit pointed out calmly, flicking his wrist to his cards flipped onto the table.
Buffy blinked and then said, "That would be a good idea. Okay, Lance… ah, Colossus, Ori and… I will go to the graveyard. The rest of you will stay put." She wasn't surprised when everyone, expect those who were going, protested.
"What about me, Buffy?" Xander asked, "I'm the goofy, yet loveable sidekick and comic relief! Don't I get to come with?"
"Xander, I… ah… I need you here to offer the girls… ah, moral support. That's it, moral support." Buffy said to which Xander huffed.
"What about me?" Willow asked, "I'm a very powerful Wicca. Ya know get it on with the magick girl? I can help!"
"I need you to find out all you can about this Jake guy, Willow."
"Slayer," Drawled Gambit, "what I said we should split into teams I meant of course dat I should be on the A team."
"Me, too! I could be some useful backup." Pyro said, not mentioning the fact that he was worried that Ori might get hurt. He liked the girl, she was sweet and funny. A rare combination.
"Listen," Everyone shushed as Buffy raised her voice, "I know you all want to help save the world and all that jazz, but if this is a trap and we can't get out, I need some of you strong ones left here to prepare the next front. Okay." Everyone looked at one another and then burst into arguments.
"Let her go." Came a quite voice and everyone turned to look at Sidney who had just entered the room, "This is her choice. Whether we like it our not right now Buffy is the leader and thus she makes the choices."
Besides her was Eve. Jack and Ann were exploring Bayville despite Sidney's protests. Eve looked annoyed at Buffy's decision but at the same time Sidney saw admiration shining in them as well.
"That Slayer is weak." Eve said, "Risking everything to save the life of a girl not worth our time? She's going to die."
"Eve has the utmost faith in you." Sidney lied, deciding to keep Eve's real comment unknown. Eve glared at her handler.
"You lie to make them feel good about going to their death! You are a goddamn idiot." She said viciously, baring her teeth.
Sidney sighed and rubbed her temples, "Why couldn't you have gone with Jack and Ann? Why couldn't you leave me alone?" Everyone was feeling a little uncomfortable as the watched Sidney talk to a person they couldn't see.
"Fuck you." Was Eve's only answer. Since Jack would've caused her pain, Eve tried to get most of her cursing out whenever he wasn't around and she liked to take it out on the only people who could see her and that was either Willow or Sidney.
Willow turned her head to glare at Eve. She could see ghosts, though not very well. She really couldn't see their whole body, but whenever she squinted her eyes she could make them out. It was easier during dawn and dusk. But she could hear them just fine.
"That wasn't very nice." Willow murmured and Eve snarled.
"Like I give a damn." She shot back.
Buffy and the other were oblivious of this exchange, but since Buffy was a Slayer and the others were mutants they could feel the tension. But Xander, who had no special abilities or unique traits save his eye-patch, was oblivious to everything that went on. And he knew it too. Trying to look disinterested, he concentrated on the TV show Survivor.
No one in the room noticed expect Buffy who, for the sake of saving Xander much embarrassment, did not say anything.
"Alright guys ready to go?" Buffy asked and they all nodded, "We might want to get there early, set up and be ready." Faith, with a sexual grin only Faith could have, walked over to Buffy.
"Gonna fight evil in that?" The Dark One said, motioning to Buffy's skirt and blazer, "Cool. Gonna be the first Slayer to save the world in pantyhose?"
Buffy glanced down at herself, saw Faith was right, and said, "Give me a few minutes guys so I can change into something more world-saving-suave clothing." Then she turned and walked into the room all the girls shared.
Buffy raced into her closet and hastily grabbed leather pants and a red tank top. She was nervous for Kitty; she had no doubt 'Jake' was serious when he said he'd kill her. Her motherly instincts would not allow her to look the other way when Kitty was in danger. And she knew Lance would probably kill her if she did.
But at the same time, Buffy knew this was a trap. Nothing could be more obvious then that and a part of her warned her not to go. That it would be smarted to forget the girl and save the world. A part almost made her stay.
But then Buffy remembered that look in Kitty's eyes when she spoke of Lance or the way she smiled, innocent and sweet. This child had too much to live for, too much to do when she was older. Buffy couldn't, wouldn't, watch all that potential for greatness be killed because one son of a bitch wanted to destroy the world.
"Hold on, Kitty." Buffy whispered, grabbing her scythe from the bottom of her closet. It glittered in the dim light of the lamp in the room.
Power pulsed through her as Buffy grabbed more stakes for the fight.
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Done and done! Ohhhhh, can you see the conflict? Two sides working for a common goal and yet a bunch of them are enemies. . What are they gonna do when they meet? Well find out in chapter fourteen Identities. I bet you're all looking forward to it. Until next time REVIEW!
"I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather ... not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car."
-Lizzy Rebel