Author's Note: My thanks to all my reviewers!

Paprika90: Glad you liked it. Sorry it's taken me so long. School, other stories that pop into my hand and demand to be updated or written…I'm sure you know how it is. Thanks a lot, and keep reviewing!

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Kaliann: Glad you like no love it! I love writing when I get reviews like this.

Thanks, everybody!

Chapter 9

"I think she's coming to."

Elizabeth zeroed in on the voice that sounded like Scott's and followed it back to consciousness. Her head was pounding, her mouth was dry, and she had a little crick in her neck. She fought gummy and gritty eyelids open, and found herself staring at a ceiling with a dim light. When she looked around, she spotted the Xavier kids.

"What happened?" she asked, sitting up, wincing as her head gave a nasty pound. "Where are we?" She gasped as her memory came back to her. "Where's the Professor? I've gotta tell him--"

"He's not here," Jean said, sitting down beside her. "We haven't seen him since we woke up here."

"How did we get here?" Elizabeth asked, looking around. It was a rectangular room, and the only way out of it were a door to the hallway and a door to the bathroom. The floor and walls were made of cement and plaster over wood, and mats with blankets and pillows were spread all over the floor. Beyond that, there was nothing to see.

"O'Toole and a couple of his students brought us in. O'Toole's a mutant, too, but he can take powers like Rogue can, without draining people's energy or taking their memories. It takes him a while, though, while it only takes Rogue a second," Scott explained.

"How do you know?" Elizabeth asked, warily getting to her feet.

"Well, we saw 'im work his magic on Kurt," Rogue muttered. She pointed to where Kurt lay, dead to the world. "He doesn't drain your energy, but he does make your body shut down, it seems. I guess he did that to give us all an example."

"And he took mine before he even brought me down here," Kitty wailed. "I still have a headache!"

Eilzabeth swallowed hard, feeling very frightened. "How much does he know about us?"

"Just about everything," Rogue said, sounding furious. "He has this one girl who can read minds like crazy. Just read them, not talk into them or anything like that. He sounded real happy when he heard about Mystique from Kurt's mind."

"Well, he's welcome to her," Scott said. "We've got to get out of here!"

Elizabeth looked around the room, wondering where the teachers all were. "Where are Logan, Storm, and Beast? Aren't they here with us?"

"Nope," Jean said, sounding thoroughly upset. "We haven't seen them, either. Boy, am I glad that the rest of the understudents are back at the Institute!"

"Ach. Mein Kopf," they heard as Kurt sat up, wincing and holding his head. "Was ist geschehen?"

"English, Kurt," Scott said, going to his side. "We're in the States."

"Ja. What' s happened? What did he do to me?"

"He managed to take your power," Rogue said from where she sat. "We saw it happen."

"No!" Kurt gasped as he tried to teleport and nothing happened. "Oh, man!"

"Too bad he didn't turn blue and fuzzy," Rogue quipped.

"Not funny," Kurt said, glaring at her. "Not funny at all. How long have we been down here? What time is it?"

Scott checked his watch. "About five in the morning. It's been a couple of hours now."

Elizabeth sat down on a mat, trying to think. "He's been taking everybody's powers, right?"

"Unfortunately," Kitty snarled. "I hate that jerk!"

"Who still has powers?"

Jean, Scott, Rogue, and Elizabeth raised their hands.

"Okay, we'll have to think of a way to get out of here using the powers we have," Elizabeth said, getting to her feet.

"But how?" Kurt wanted to know. "Sure, Scott can blast us out of here, but what next? How do we find the Professor or the others?"

"We'll think of something," Elizabeth assured him. "We're not totally helpless, you know!"

"I know, I'm just worried," Kurt said, sounding much worse than simply worried.

Space

Xavier woke up, feeling if his head were ready to split apart. Had he been in the car with Kitty driving again? Had they been unable to phase through something? Had he done the unthinkable and agreed to spar with Logan? What had happened?

"Ah, you're awake, Professor," he heard someone say. "How are you feeling?"

"Horrible," he croaked. "Where am I?" He turned his head and spotted O'Toole, who was looking quite pleased with himself.

"You're in my lab," he said, smiling. "Quite nice, don't you think?"

That was when the Professor came completely awake and remembered everything that had happened. "Where are my students? What have you done to them?"

"They're perfectly safe," O'Toole assured him. "They're resting. I've become acquainted with your students Kurt and Kitty, however. Their powers are quite useful."

Xavier wanted to leap from the table where he was lying and shake the man. "You've managed to take their powers? Mine as well, I take it?"

"If you'd try using them, you'd find that I have not," O'Toole said, sounding distinctly put out. "I think it will take more than one try on my part. The more powerful the mutant, the more difficult and longer the process is for me."

"Why are you doing this, O'Toole?" the Professor asked, sounding mystified. "Why do you steal the powers of others?"

"To have them, of course," O'Toole said, smiling. He no longer resembled the affable man they had met the other day. Now he looked like a hungry bird of prey that was sighting a plump mouse. "I can take the powers of others and keep them for myself or transfer them to others. With your students' powers, my students will be the most powerful on earth, you see, and no one will be able to stop us from anything we wish to do. I'm surprised you didn't recognize some of the powers that my students were demonstrating when you first arrived. They're all the powers that your friend Magneto and his protégés have, didn't you realize?"

With a sinking heart, Xavier realized that what he said was true. He had seen the powers and hadn't understood what they had meant. Then again, he hadn't had any reason to suspect that anything was wrong.

"Where are Logan, Storm, and Beast?" the Professor asked, becoming just a trifle worried. Usually, he could count on Logan to come tearing into a place when he was threatened with a mad villain and dice the place up.

"They're in little rooms of their own. After all, I couldn't have you all together and plotting escape, could I?" O'Toole said, turning on a television screen so that he could see them. "Logan's quite amusing, I have to admit. Doesn't he realize that the walls are adamantium? Really!"

The Professor ignored O'Toole's laughter and checked on each of his faculty, assuring himself that they were all right.

Professor?

A quiet mind-voice had touched his own, startling him. Elizabeth?

Yes. We've made a plan, and we're going to try to get out, she thought to him.

BOOM!

"What the devil?" O'Toole gasped, shocked at the explosion.

We're out, the Professor heard her say. Hold on, we're coming!

German Dictionary:

Ah, my head! What has happened?