"I should have known it was too good to last." Scott sighed as the Misfits walked into the X-Mansion.
"Still, the Misfits haven't been by much lately." Jean said. "It's been about, what? Three months?"
"Best three months of my life." Scott said. "Might as well go see what they want." The X-Men headed towards the Misfits, who were standing in the doorway, when Logan suddenly recoiled.
"Haven't you kids ever heard of a shower?" He asked, covering his nose.
"I don't have super senses but even I can tell that you guys stink." Bobby said holding his nose. "Toad did you stop using that soap of yours?"
"We don't have any running water at the Pit." Toad said tersely. "Or electricity. Or gas."
"Or peace of mind." Wanda sighed.
"Like you ever had it." Pietro quipped, only to be hexed against the wall.
"General Hawk sent us over to talk…and use your showers." Althea admitted.
"Right. Anyone who gets between me and the first shower will die a horrible, painful, gruesome death." Wanda promised. "Anyone care to try it?" Everyone—Misfit and X-Men alike—shook their heads. "Thought not." Wanda said as she stormed off. "Need to wash out the stink of failure." She muttered.
Professor Xavier looked at the bedraggled Misfits. They seemed weary. Impossibly so. What had happened to them?
"Is something wrong?" Storm asked.
"Beyond the usual?" Scott clarified. The Misfits shot him a dirty look, though falling into their usual routine of baiting was helping to draw them out.
"We've been attacked, harassed, invaded, pranked, humiliated and generally driven up the wall by a bunch of maniacs for the last three months." Lance reported. "Do you have any idea what that's like?"
The X-Men all looked at each other with incredulous expressions.
"You're right Lance, we're sorry. We can't imagine what that could be possibly like." Scott said deadpanned.
"Alien experience to us at the Xavier Institute." Rogue agreed dryly.
"Completely inexperienced in that regard." Kitty added.
"Have no idea how you manage to put up with it." Kurt smirked.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Althea sighed with a faint shadow of a smile.
"You bet." Scott grinned. "But whose been harassing you?"
"We need to know where to send the gift basket." Remy explained. The Misfits' patience was starting to thin.
"Yeah, very funny, ha ha, we got what's coming to us, hah hah hah." Pietro said impatiently.
"It's not funny, the guys that did this…well, they've hurt us." Angelica said, rubbing at her eyes.
"Where's Fred?" Jamie asked, noticing that the gigantic Misfit wasn't there.
"And Lina?" Rahne asked. Althea's mouth thinned. Angelica gave a quick sob and buried her face in her hands. The X-Men blinked.
"Fred's back at The Pit." Althea said flatly. "He has some things to work out, Hulk-style. Lina…" Althea sighed, "Lina was kidnapped."
"By who?" Xavier asked quickly.
"The Hellions." Arcade answered.
"Those guys?" Betsy gasped.
"Just when I thought Evan couldn't sink any lower." Roberto said, not noticing the hurt and conflicted expression on Storm's face. The Misfits shook their heads.
"It's not those Hellions. All new roster." Toad said. "A new team of the creeps."
"Why didn't you tell us any of this?" Xavier asked.
"We expected that you would know." Roadblock sighed. "And those Hellions creeps have basically been running the show. No power, no way to talk. If it weren't for the Mass Device, we'd all have to walk!"
"It's hard to send out an email or phone you guys up when the power is constantly going out. It also kinda slipped our minds." Shane said. Spyder nodded.
"They got a portal maker with them, and they've been opening portals to The Pit just so they could shoot at us with energy blasts." She told the X-Men.
"Courtesy of their leader." Althea said grimly.
"Ooh. Sounds rough." Rogue winced.
"Yeah, well losing Lina kinda takes the cake." Lance sighed.
"On the upside, we did capture of one the Hellions so maybe we could get them to make a trade?" Toad wondered. Althea shook her head.
"Considering that they first thing they did after the battle was to bombard The Pit again, I don't think they're going to go for it." Althea told him. "Right now we have Trinity working the prisoner over." The X-Men winced.
"Ouch." Logan said sympathetically.
"At least it wasn't Fred or Cover Girl. They're really upset. Even the Triplets won't be as bad as they would be, if they got the chance."
The X-Men looked at each other. "Look," Scott said. "We don't always—or even usually or even ever—get along, but if you ever need any help to get Lina back…"
"I could try scanning for her with Cerebro, but I'm afraid that if it is the work of Emma Frost, her students will be shielded from my efforts." Xavier offered.
"It's worth a shot anyway." Low Light sighed.
"What do you think the Hellions will do to her?" Rahne asked, voicing the question they all were thinking.
"We don't know." Roadblock sighed. "And for the life of me, I don't know if that makes it better or worse."