It was dark in Bayville when Rahne and Sharon arrived in front of the Institute. "Home sweet home." Rahne sighed. She took a step forward and nearly tripped over a rubber chicken. "What the—? Oh right, the Misfits are probably still here." Rahne said as she straightened herself up. She winced as she started feeling some of the injuries she received during her fight with Aiden.
"Need help?" Sharon asked as she offered Rahne her hand.
"Yeah, I guess so." Rahne groaned as she let Catseye drape her arm around Rahne's shoulder. "Let's go inside."
In the Danger Room, the uniformed X-Men and Misfits were going over their plans with GI Joe.
"We hit them hard, we hit them fast and we don't leave without Rahne." Logan growled.
"Right." Scott said as the X-Men and Misfits walked towards the main hall. "The Hellions are probably expecting us, so we have to be on our guard for anything."
"Umm, guys?" Jamie asked as they passed the living room. "Rahne's back."
"That's nice Jamie," Jean said, not really listening. "But we have to go rescue…Wait, did you say, Rahne's here?"
"Yeah, she walked in a minute ago with a friend." Jamie answered.
"Unbelievable." Scott groaned. "We just spent two hours planning her rescue!"
"You did say to be prepared for anything." Althea pointed out.
"Wait, who's this 'friend?' " Logan asked as he walked into the living room. His jaw dropped when he saw Rahne and Sharon sitting on the couch. He didn't notice that the two of them were playing with Claudius and Barney. What he did notice right away was the blood on Rahne's face and Catseye's—as he thought it—threatening posture. "YOU!" Logan bellowed at Catseye. "Back away!" He unsheathed his claws and rushed at her.
"Logan! Wait! You don't understand, Sharon—" Rahne began. But Logan wasn't listening. He kept charging towards Sharon. He probably would've torn her apart right then and there if it weren't for Barney. He bopped Logan in the face repeatedly with his wiffle bat before he even got close to Sharon.
"Cut that out!" Logan shouted. "Healing factor or not, that still hurts!"
"Serves you right." Rahne snapped. "Trying to attack Sharon for no reason!"
"Catseye?" Doug blinked.
"Cypher?" Sharon blinked back.
"Waitaminute, Sharon? Rahne she kidnapped you!" Scott snapped as he put his hand up to his visor.
"She did not!" Rahne shouted. "You don't understand!"
"Yeah right, Frost probably did a number on your mind." Bobby argued.
"She did not!" Rahne said.
"She's telling the truth." Jean said. "The Professor or I would've noticed if her mind had been tampered with."
"It's still time to put the cat out!" Logan snarled.
"STOP IT!" Rahne screamed, bolting out of her seat and standing in front of Logan, keeping herself between him and Sharon. "Don't you dare hurt her! If any of you hurt Sharon I will hate you forever!" She shouted, angry tears starting to well up in her eyes. Taken aback, the X-Men and Misfits stood down. Surprisingly it was Shipwreck who took the initiative.
"It's okay kid." Shipwreck murmured gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right."
"You can talk to us Rahne." Cover Girl agreed. Lina walked up to her.
"Please, just talk to us. Tell us what happened. We were worried about you." She said quietly.
"It's a long story." Rahne sniffled as she sat back down.
"Then start talking." Logan grumbled as he moved out of Barney's range and retraced his claws. "You're in big trouble kid! It was bad enough when we started having the Misfits come over, now she brings home a Hellion!"
"Yes, do enlighten us as to why she's here." Beast said, crossing his arms.
"Well," Rahne began. "I was feeling kind of cooped up here so I used a teleportation watch I…found—"
"They know I gave it to you." Lina interrupted. "There's no point trying to protect me." Rahne coughed.
"Erm, yes, well after I used the watch I ended up running into Sharon—you all probably know her better as Catseye—"
"Vividly." Kitty said as she made a face.
"And, well there was a little misunderstanding at first…" Rahne continued nervously.
"You call that a misunderstanding?" Bobby said pointing at the blood on Rahne's face.
"Sharon didn't do that to me! Aiden did!" Rahne protested.
"WHAT?" Logan bellowed, his claws coming out again. " 'Scuse me, I'm going to go skin his hide." He grumbled as he made for the door.
"Sharon said the same thing." Rahne grinned, which made Logan pause. A vein above his eye twitched at the comparison.
"So, let me guess." Rogue said. "You two fought and ended up teleporting to Cleveland together?"
"Yes, we—" Rahne blinked. "How did you know we ended up in Cleveland?" Althea casually deposited the plastic bag of green hair in Rahne's lap.
"Call it a hunch." Wanda said, rolling her eyes.
"General Hawk came by and told us that the police found the Dreadnoks." Althea said. "Nice job on Zanya, by the way."
"That was actually Sharon's doing." Rahne said, pointing.
"Catseye still need floss." Sharon mumbled. Althea blinked.
"Cool." She admitted.
"The Dreadnoks locked us up." Rahne went on. "They were going to use the teleportation watch to attack the Joes and call Emma Frost to pick up Catseye. They were going to—" She gulped. "They were going to sell me to Dr. Mindbender." Rahne finished quietly. The mutants in the room who had experiences with scientists and experimentation; Althea, Angelica, Wanda, Xi, Rina, Rogue, Todd, Lance, Low Light, and Logan, looked severe.
"But Sharon saved me." Rahne told them. "We got to talking when we were imprisoned and she attacked Zanya when they let her out and then we, well…"
"Beat the Dreadnoks up seven ways from Sunday?" Wanda asked with a raised brow.
"I guess so." Rahne admitted.
"Sound right." Sharon agreed.
"Are you're going to punish Rahne for that?" Althea questioned.
"Yeah, and if you punished everyone who beat up the Dreadnoks we'd all end up in trouble." Fred pointed out.
"Just forget it." Storm sighed.
"And the reason you didn't come home was because the watch was broken?" Cover Girl.
"Uh-huh." Rahne nodded.
"And the reason you felt you needed to trash a FOH-Purist rally was what?" Beast asked. Rahne winced.
"Oh…you know about that, huh?"
"It was on the news." Xavier said. "Thousands of people watched a mob of crazed Christians and Communists beat up the Purists and Friends of Humanity."
"Which actually isn't a bad thing, per se." Logan admitted.
"Well, they chased us when we teleported there." Rahne said. "And Duncan Matthews was in the crowd…"
"Say no more." Scott grinned. "I think we can let that one slide too."
"It pretty funny when he fall in sewer." Sharon snickered.
"You dropped him in a sewer?" Jean gasped. "Rahne, the next time you want to borrow my CDs, go right ahead!"
"Jean!" Storm chastised. "You're rewarding that?"
"It's Duncan." Practically everyone explained.
"You'd have done the same if she did it to Shipwreck." Sam reasoned. Storm blinked.
"Point taken." She admitted.
"Hey Stormy, where's the love?" Shipwreck pouted.
"If you want me to show you…" She growled as she made a fist.
"Moving on…" Xavier sighed. "What happened next?"
"Well…" Rahne began. The doorbell rang. "I'll get it." She said before anyone else could, grateful for the reprieve. "Wonder who that could be…"
"Uh guys? There's a giant metal frog and a spaceship on our lawn." Jamie reported as he looked out the window. "And it isn't the Misfits' ship."
"Giant metal frog? Why does that sound so familiar?" Althea wondered.
Rahne opened the door to reveal a familiar looking dinosaur and her human companion. "Old Lace? Gert? What're you doing here?" She asked as the dinosaur gave her a hello lick.
"The Runaways?" Althea gaped. "How do you know them?"
"You two forgot your stuff back at Disneyland." Gert told Rahne as she handed her the bags of souvenirs Rahne and Sharon had bought at Disneyland.
"Disneyland?" Kurt blinked.
"Oh, and thanks again for taking such good care of Old Lace for me." Gert said as the others' jaws dropped.
"Taking care of a raptor?" Todd said in disbelief.
"A Deinoychus, actually." Gert corrected him.
"Yay! Old Lace is back!" Daria yelled.
"Another Princess Fluffieta Tinkerbell!" Brittany squealed.
"Yipee!" Quinn whooped. Old Lace whined and cowered behind Gert.
"And that's our cue to leave." Gert groaned as she recognized the Triplets. "Gotta go!"
"Wait we forgot to tell them about what the nice guy at Disneyland said after we beat up the bad guys!" Molly told her.
"Disneyland?" Tim asked.
"Bad guys?" Kitty repeated.
"Yeah!" Katie Powers added as she appeared. "He said that 'cause Rahne and Sharon helped saved Disneyland from all those Snarks and other bad guys, they get free passes to all the amusement parks in Florida! Their friends too!"
"Power Pack too?" Xi blinked.
"Snarks?" Lance said, dumbfounded.
"Free passes?" The Triplets, Spyder, and Jamie repeated eagerly. "Cool!"
"I know!" Molly said.
"That guy was real nice." Katie agreed.
"Terrific, I think the Triplets and Spyder just made some new friends." Althea groaned as she watched them talk with Molly and Katie. "All we need is Torpid and the set will be complete!"
"Let me guess." Blind Master said to Rahne and Sharon. "After beating up the FOH and Purists, you girls hit Disneyland?"
"Not quite." Rahne corrected. "You see—" A sudden beeping noise cut her off. "What was—?"
"Oh yeah, check your bags." Gert told her. "Kim left you and Sharon something." Rahne ruffled through her bag and finally pulled out a copy of the Kimmunicator.
"What?" Rahne wondered.
"I see you found your gift." Wade said as his face popped up on the X-Men's television.
"Wade?" The Triplets asked in surprise.
"Who's Wade?" Todd wondered.
"Oh, just another kid genius the Triplets know." Shipwreck waved. "Don't ask."
"Hi girls." Wade waved. "Rahne, Kim just wanted to thank you again, so she asked me to patch her through to you. Hold on." Wade's image vanished from the TV, only to be replaced by Kim Possible's.
"Kim Possible?" Said Jamie. "Awesome!"
"Hey Rahne, hey Sharon." Kim said. "I just wanted to thank you again. If you hadn't showed up when you did, Drakken and that creep Sinister—"
"Sinister!" Remy gasped.
"—would've used Old Lace to finish me for sure." Kim concluded. "If you ever need me, you can—"
"Call you?" Rahne drawled.
"Beep you?" Sharon suggested.
"It's okay. We know." Rahne said. "Thanks."
"Spanking! Kim Possible signing off." She smiled as the TV went black.
"Well that was—" Rahne said.
"Unexpected?" Rogue said wryly. Rahne never got a chance to answer since another beep came from her bag. This time it was the Titan communicator that was the source. Robin appeared at the other end.
"Robin? Of the Teen Titans?" Scott asked in bewilderment.
"Hey Rahne. I just thought you'd like to know that when you rescued Jinx and Beast Boy from that Sentinel—"
"Sentinel?" Logan said, disbelieving.
"—You two sent Sentinel research back a solid decade, especially when Trask's computers were destroyed."
"Trask?" Pietro asked. "Man next you'll tell me that—"
"General Eddington managed to wiggle his way out of trouble." Robin continued. "But SHIELD has Trask behind bars again, for a good long time."
"Dreadnoks? Mr. Sinister? Sentinels? Eddington and Trask?" Scott said, his jaw dropping.
"Wait what was this about Disneyland?" Dead Girl asked Rahne.
"Well, you see—" Rahne was interrupted yet again when a red and white truck pulled up in front of the Mansion.
"Yeah? Who's this?" Logan asked Rahne as they headed outside. "More friends of yours?"
"I don't think so." Rahne blinked.
"Hey there's nobody driving!" Roberto noted.
"Don't be ridiculous." Ray scoffed. "Do you think that the truck….drove…itself…" He trailed off as the truck unfolded into a gigantic robot of Sentinel-like proportions.
"Is that some new kind of Sentinel?" Peter asked as he activated his mutation.
"No, I am not." The truck-turned-robot said. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. Who here is known as Rahne and Sharon?"
"Um, we are." Rahne said nervously as she and Sharon raised their hands. Optimus kneeled to bring himself closer to their level.
"I and the Autobots owe you a debt of thanks." He told them. "Thanks to you and your allies the Decepticons were defeated. We had been lured off by a decoy operation in the Sahara. If you hadn't been there to stop him, Megatron would've been able to cause untold of devastation and destruction."
"Yeah, instead most of Disneyland was just coated with chocolate pudding." Gert drawled.
"That's the Insecticons for you." Optimus said as he gave the Cybertronian equivalent of a sigh. "If you or your friends ever need our help, the Autobots will be there."
"Um, thank you." Rahne blinked. Optimus Prime stood up and transformed back into a truck. As he sped away, the assembled crowd numbly walked back into the Mansion.
"Autobots? Decepticons? What was all that about?" Arcade asked.
"They're two factions of a race of robotic life-forms called Transformers." General Hawk told everyone. "The Autobots are basically the good guys. They're trying to stop the Decepticons from taking over the planet and draining it dry of all our resources."
"How do you know all this?" Xavier asked him.
"GI Joe has been aware of the Transformers for over two decades, but we've been too busy with Cobra to really do anything about it ourselves." Hawk admitted.
"Yeah, kinda like the situation with the Dinosauc—OOF!" Shipwreck grunted as Blind Master elbowed him in the gut.
"And how did you encounter these 'Decepticons?' " Beast asked Rahne.
"And what does any of this have to do with Disneyland?" Besty asked.
"Sharon and I kind of ended up at Disneyland, well after we ended up trashing Kelly's office…" Rahne said.
"You trashed Kelly's office too?" Pietro asked. "Darn it! They had all the fun today!"
"That would explain the report about Senator Kelly, Mayor Chandler, Ms. March and Bonnie Blake getting committed to rehab." Spirit mused.
"We had a good time at Disney, until Cobra invaded anyway." Rahne continued.
"WHAT?" Roadblock yelled.
"And Magneto and his troops." Sharon added. "Including Aiden."
"WHAT?" Xavier shouted.
"And Azazel and his family." Rahne said.
"WHAT?" The X-Men shouted, especially Kurt.
"And Dr. Doom." Sharon said, also doing a tally.
"WHAT?" The Misfits yelled again, especially Angelica.
"And Slade." Rahne said, ticking off villains with her fingers.
"WHAT?" The X-Men shouted now.
"And the Snarks." Sharon said.
"WHAT?" The Misfits yelled.
"And the Decepticons." Rahne added.
"WHAT?" The X-Men shouted, yet again.
"And Monkey Fist…oh and weird Zim guy." Sharon finished.
"WHO?" Everyone shouted.
"They ALL invaded Disneyland?" Logan said, on the verge of a heart attack. "At the same time!"
"Pretty much." Rahne confirmed.
"It was annoying." Sharon said.
"And you beat them all?" Wanda asked, amazed.
"Well, we had Old Lace with us." Rahne said. "And the Titans, Runaways, and Power Pack helped us…"
"Un—freaking—believable." Logan gulped.
"The Dreadnoks, Duncan, FOH, the Purists, Sinister, Drakken, Trask, Eddington, a Sentinel, Kelly, Chandler, March, Bonnie Blake, Cobra, Snarks, Azazel, Dr. Doom, the Decepticons, AND Magneto?" Scott swayed. "I think I need to sit down…" He collapsed into the couch.
"Somehow, I don't think the Danger Room is going to be much of a challenge for Rahne anymore." Paige noted.
"Lucky girl." Tabitha said.
"I'm impressed you survived." Dead Girl said. "Of course I'm impressed when anyone survives anything around here…"
"Catch you two around sometime." Gert said as she and Old Lace departed. "Come on Molly, we better get back before Chase starts playing with the lasers again."
"Bye!" Molly said to the Triplets and Spyder as she left. "We've got to meet again sometime!"
"Yeah!" Katie agreed as Power Pack also took their leave as she headed back to her own ship.
"So now what do we do about her?" Forge asked, indicating Sharon.
"I say we call the police." Kitty said as she crossed her arms. "She's a Hellion with a rap sheet—"
"—Almost as long as ours." Rahne cut in. "I won't let you turn Sharon over to the police!"
"It would be useless anyway half-pint." Logan said. "With the pull the Hellfire Club has, she'd be out in under a day, if the police even listen without throwing us in jail. I don't think even G.I. Joe or SHIELD could help us out this time."
"Assuming SHIELD would even bother to help us." Roadblock pointed out.
"And it would give Frost another reason to go after us." Beast agreed. "I suggest that we simply inform Frost that we have one of her students and be done with it."
"But it's late!" Rahne pointed out. "The Hellions wont be able to pick her up until morning anyway. Can't she spend the night?"
"Are you crazy?" Kitty practically screamed. "Let her stay? Rahne, no offense but your taste in friends totally stinks! I mean, wouldn't Aiden have been enough to—"
"Finish that thought Kitty and I'll force-feed you one of your own muffins!" Rahne yelled as she leaped up.
"Girl who strings along two boys has no right to criticize Rahne's choice of friends!" Sharon snapped.
"You know she's got a point." Todd said. Kitty glared at him.
"Runt," Logan said to Rahne as calmly as he could. "Do you really think Emma Frost will allow your…friendship with Catseye to continue? She'll either try to subvert it or destroy it altogether!"
"So? Isn't that what you're doing? Do you want to be like Frost?" Rahne demanded.
"Enough." Xavier said forcefully. More softly he continued, "Rahne, I don't think you've really thought this through…"
"What about mutant solidarity? What about trying to help mutants and make friends?" Rahne asked. "Catseye—Sharon—is my friend. You still hold out hope for Magneto, don't you? From what you said at his funeral when you thought Apocalypse killed him, you still considered him a friend, didn't you?"
"It's not the same thing…" He started to say.
"Yeah, Catseye never abandoned anyone in an asylum!" Wanda snapped.
"Or used someone to spy on their own friends!" Pietro added.
"Or used mutants as her own little guinea pigs and treat them like cannon fodder!" Lance said angrily.
"Or…" Todd started to say.
"All right!" Xavier said, defeated holding his head in his hands. "She can stay the night, then first thing in the morning we're calling Emma Frost to take her back."
"Professor—!" Kitty started to protest. "Rahne was gone all day without permission with an enemy! And you're going to reward her?"
"Haven't you been keeping score kitty-kat?" Pietro scorned. "Let's see, today Rahne has: made a new friend, beaten up most of our enemies, made some great allies for us, and scored us all free passes to all the amusement parks in Florida! And you've done…what exactly?"
"Lighten up Kitty." Jean said.
"Out of the mouth of Jean." Fred snickered.
"Never expected to hear that." Pietro agreed. Kitty whirled on Jean.
"You're just saying that because she beat up Duncan!"
"You're point being?"
Professor Xavier held up a hand.
"That's enough for now." He said simply. To Rahne he said, "I want someone to look you over and make sure you're all right."
"I'll do it." Lina volunteered. "Come on." She said as she directed Rahne towards the X-Men's infirmary. She nodded to Catseye. "You should probably come too." Sharon nodded once and followed them.
"I want a word with you all in my study." Professor Xavier telepathically told the adult X-Men and Misfit Handlers. Aloud he said, "It's late. You all should be getting ready for bed."
"Like any of us are going to be able to sleep with a Hellion in the Mansion." Kitty muttered as she trudged upstairs with the others.
Meanwhile, the adults had gathered in Xavier's study.
"Chuck, have you gone nuts?" Logan said. "Letting her stay here?"
"He didn't seem to have any other choice." Cover Girl pointed out. "You all saw how defensive of her Rahne was."
"That's what worries us." Storm answered.
"I shudder to think what will happen when we fight the Hellions again." Beast said. Shipwreck snorted.
"Come on!" He said. "Don't tell me you expect Rahne to betray you! She's not even a Misfit and I know her better than that!"
"My concern is not for her loyalty, but for her emotional well being." Xavier said calmly. "Imagine how devastating it would be for Rahne if she were forced into combat against Catseye and the other Hellions. Or if they others had to."
"It would destroy her." Storm agreed. "And given how emotionally fragile she's been since Aiden, her judgment may be impaired."
"So why not simply try to get Catseye to join the X-Men? Or even the Misfits?" Shipwreck suggested.
"Remember what happened when Xavier tried recruiting me?" Low Light demanded. "It set our relationship with the X-Men way back and they're our allies! How do you think the Hellions would respond to us taking another one of theirs, assuming Catseye would even join us?"
"So that's it? We're going to let Catseye stay here?" Logan demanded. "This just screams 'bad idea' Chuck."
"I don't think so." Xavier said, steepling his fingers. "Cover Girl, Storm if you would be so kind, I think you should encourage the female Misfits and X-Men to spend the night with Rahne and Catseye. I can't force Rahne to stop interacting with Catseye, but I can give her the chance to interact with other people who aren't Catseye."
"That's a good suggestion Charles." Storm said. "Part of the reason why Rahne bonded with Catseye—aside from their similar mutations—is her general lack of close friends among either the X-Men or the Misfits."
"Great, so we're encouraging the X-Men and the Misfits to be friends simply to pry someone else's friendship apart." Roadblock said as he crossed his arms. "I don't like it."
"I am not pleased with the situation either." Xavier informed him. "But considering our other alternatives, this may be our best choice."
"I'll go inform the girls that they'll have a sleepover in Rahne's room." Storm said.
"Might as well tell the boys to have a sleepover of their own." Logan added.
"Another sleepover at Xavier's." Low Light groaned. "You know how these always end up!"