"That's 200 plus night allowance and tip." Jubilee stopped her moped's engine, visibly proud, in spite of her teasing, that the wild – and definitely too fast – ride down the motorway between Westchester and downtown had gone well. Unlike Katja whom she'd left slightly unsettled, in spite of Katja's adrenaline addiction, with all these risky, tight maneuvers between cars, the trip didn't seem to have impressed her a lot.

All the more restless did Jubilee's gaze towards the entrance of the Statue of Liberty now look, where there was a hooded figure standing, leaning against the door as if the stranger belonged there. As if it was natural that there was not a single security guard to be seen anywhere. So far, the dark corner of the house where they had stopped gave them both cover, but if Katja really wanted to have a hand in what was happening, she would have to get past that guy.

"Now, who's going to help Kermit cross the road?"

It was Toad, of all people, one of Magneto's deadliest minions according to the X-Men database, whom Magneto had cleverly posted at the entrance. While Jubilee and Katja couldn't see his face clearly, what they could see was his feet-long tongue, with which he was fishing for a young sparrow that had unfortunately settled next to him on the ground before he ate it whole. Their opponent's clothing was torn in several places, and charred, just like the areas of skin that this damage revealed. The formerly green color was inflamed, discolored red, partially disfigured by huge blisters – Toad had suffered severe burns, a sight that in spite of everything, even on an enemy, couldn't leave Katja cold. He kept rubbing his face and hands with a pained expression. Well, someone had apparently already run into the X-Men. It seemed like a miracle that the guy was still able to fight in this condition, but Magneto probably didn't expect anything else from his people.

And so far, it looked like his team was having the upper hand, too. Jubilee and Katja had already spotted the Blackbird on their way here, on the roof of an abandoned factory not far from the Statue of Liberty, with the entrance hatch closed and the controls disabled. Magneto's mutation device, which they had both only heard about so far, had been mounted to the Statue's torch, barely visible, just a silver glistening from down here. None of the X-Men were anywhere to be seen, though – and that was a damn bad sign.

Technically, they would only have had to warn people in the city about the danger, especially the politicians present at the UN summit. Anyone looking closely should actually have noticed, that there was something wrong with the Statue.

But Katja had learned from Scott that the X-Men had already tried this several times by phone. On such days, the voice of mutants was not heard easily and rarely immediately, especially when the Professor had no chance to personally call on his good connections to some heavyweights in politics and economics. At some point tomorrow morning, some security guard would probably have checked, for the sake of good order, what that confused call from a couple of freaks the night before had been about. By then, it would all be over already.

"My powers are not fully developed yet. He could easily hold me off. I think if you really want to go through with this, you're going to have to take him out." Jubilee gave Katja a look that spoke volumes.

"I can't do that." Katja felt ice-cold, understanding what the girl was implying. That someone so young could have such unscrupulous thoughts caught her off guard. For that, perhaps she herself just didn't know the Brotherhood well enough yet. "I can't just kill someone unprovoked ..."

Nervously, Jubilee chewed on her ever-present gum. Despite her earlier promises, at least so far, she didn't seem to be in a hurry to get away just yet, not while they were both undetected. "Can't you knock him out? Just touch him with some lightning or something? That's what we do in training. No casualties if it can be avoided and all."

"How's that supposed to work for me? Did I miss the set to stun switch on my ass?" A shaky laugh escaped Katja as she realized how much she had really overestimated her chances to do something useful here.

"I can't even promise I'll hit him at all. I only learned how to do all this a few weeks ago, you know. But I'll figure something out. You drive back now before he sees you. You've helped me enough, thanks."

"But ... if the others really need help ..." Jubilee visibly struggled with herself.

"Flashwind! Jubilee!"

The two of them startled when a very familiar voice nearby called their names softly enough not to draw Toad's attention, which fortunately also spared Katja another heated discussion that day about getting rid of someone she definitely didn't want to see involved in a potentially deadly conflict. Taking a confused look around, they spotted the X-Jeep on the side of the road across the street. Apparently, someone else in the Mutant High hadn't been able to just sit still and wait.

They ran over there quickly, careful to stay between the shadows of the park's tall trees to not risk being spotted by Toad early.

Sure enough, it was Bobby at the wheel. Was this trip maybe prompted by his crush on Marie that word of had long spread around the school? Just like Jubilee, he had already trained a lot with the others for such emergencies, as Katja also knew from the databases. And now that the students had to witness even their usually so steadfast mentor being taken down ... That probably tempted even an otherwise rather shy young man known for obedience to rebel against instructions for once.

For the night, he'd even parted with his beloved turtlenecks. With a tight leather jacket and dark jeans, he almost looked like one of the grown-ups. "I saw you guys leave the mansion. I think I can help you," he said to Katja, still slightly unsure-sounding, once Jubilee and she had gotten into the car to have more cover.

The thought of what the X-Men would have to say about him getting involved in this whole thing was visibly making him just as uncomfortable as Jubilee, and yet the two young people were not going to back down now. "I'll try to ice him from the car. From the looks of him, he should be thanking me for cooling him off. I think I can do it if you help me, Jubes. Blind him so he can't see where the attack's coming from. The moment you're inside the building, Flashwind, we'll be out of here at 180 in case Toad gets any funny ideas. But you need to be quick."

"Quick, I can do." Speed was no problem; Katja had even impressed Scott with that a time or two.

"But be careful, alright? I really need you guys to get the fuck out of here as soon as you can." She didn't like the idea of the younger ones now being in direct contact with the opponents after all. She could only hope that at least Bobby would be sensible enough to retreat in time.

"You're one to talk," Jubilee snorted. "Mystique will be waiting up there, and Sabretooth. Do you know how many times they've flattened us in simulations? And that bullshit up there? There's no safety mode for that ... Oh man, I'm starting to sound like Professor Summers. You owe me a whole Five Guys menu for that, my dear. It's just that it'll look really bad in my file if I allow the new girl I just lured into Mutant High myself to get herself killed after a week."

"You didn't lure me. It was my decision to come to Westchester. And here." This time, Katja ignored the teasing; the honest concern in Jubilee's and Bobby's frightened expressions moved her too deeply for that.

"If it goes wrong, well, then I've screwed things for myself once more. Wouldn't be the first time. But if Magneto gets what he wants, and I didn't do anything about it, even though perhaps I could have? Then I've screwed it up for the world. That would look even worse in a file, I'd say. Besides, I don't plan on getting in the ring with close combat opponents ten times as strong as me. I just want to try and distract them so the others have a better chance. Maybe they won't need me, anyway." She did her best to sound more optimistic than she was.

"Maybe. Good luck."

But in truth, all three of them didn't believe it.

Even before Katja started running, her heart was beating up to her throat. She still managed to slam and lock the door of the building behind her.

The soft hiss of the thick rays of ice outside that Bobby could shoot from his hands, let her know that Toad would not be coming after her anytime soon, and the loud squeal and howl of a car being turned around in a flash and accelerating to its top speed, that the young people were safe.

Only now that Katja had this reassurance did she carry on, rushing up the stairs as fast as she could. Jubilee had told her exactly where to go. But then what? Thoughtlessly throwing herself at much more powerful opponents was indeed beyond even her will to risk. She could forget betting on the enemies possibly playing nice with the interesting new girl, too – she hadn't forgotten Mystique's warning at their first encounter.

At least that problem, surprisingly, solved itself. When Katja crossed the shop, she found said enemy lying on the floor – dead. Three claw marks disfigured their chest, which answered the question of what had happened here.

Katja gritted her teeth and walked past the corpse. Apart from that ugly thing that had happened to Kelly, it was the first dead body she had ever seen in reality, but she had known from the beginning that this would not be an easy fight. She struggled to fight nausea trying to come back, tightly clenching her fists. She couldn't forget that it had been this woman who had first attacked Marie and Logan for no reason recently and then Katja's team and herself. That was still no justification for killing someone, but Logan was probably lacking a lot more reservations in that regard.

And what scared Katja the most was that it probably wouldn't take long for her to feel the same way. There was a war going on indeed; there was no better proof for that but that device out there. And the X-Men had not started it. What would happen now, the Brotherhood had brought upon themselves alone.

The next floor, this had to be it. While the door was locked, Katja could observe what was going on over there from a safe distance, thanks to a video surveillance system in an adjoining room, which was completely deserted as well. A startled gasp escaped her lips; her hand tightened hard around the back of the empty chair in the tiny chamber.

That there might be trouble for the X-Men ... That, she had expected. That was why she was here. But given strong, how skilled she had seen her new friends so far with the use of their powers, she had not truly believed that things would really become that bad. If she had, maybe a good dose of healthy self-perception would otherwise have had her hesitate more about this whole madness.

Apparently, it was indeed as Scott had tried to tell Katja earlier. The X-Men had vastly underestimated their opponents themselves so far. Jean, Ororo, and he were tied defenselessly to the back wall of the Torch's viewing chamber. The slightly blurry images made it hard for Katja to see the restraints themselves, but she assumed she was just getting a taste of all the things this Magneto could do.

An unsettling glow that gradually began to spread above the Torch had her realize that time was even shorter than she had thought. The Brotherhood was about to move.

From here, she couldn't tell if anyone else was in said lounge, but that didn't have to mean anything. With a daring climb, perhaps she could attempt to enter the room from the outside ...

To do what? Katja cursed her own amateurish planning. What was next? Flash shootout at the restraints? Inflicting severe burns on a few more people with her powers? Tugging on solid metal until she broke a few bones? The only thing that would have been of use here at the moment would have been Scott's gift, and as far as Katja could tell from here, the Brotherhood had already got their dirty hands on his VISOR again.

While she was still contemplating, tense, dry-mouthed and with her heart racing, what to do against such a superior force when people who had been doing this job much longer than she had were helpless, the situation changed again. Good thing she hadn't jumped the gun.

It was Sabretooth entering the room with the prisoners, obviously just returning from a fight, his clothes bloody all over. Logan, of course ... What had happened to him, where was he? The enemy looked quite battered himself but very pleased. It was obvious that he had easily won that duel. Was Logan even still alive?

Another shiver ran down Katja's spine. Apparently, she was too late for everything anyway. She could now wait for Logan to possibly come back, hoping that he would beat Sabretooth after all ...

Or she could make a single desperate attempt to prevent people from dying, and the result, which would be equally deadly chaos all over the world. If she got into trouble in the process, that would still hurt far less than self-reproaches afterward.

It was at that moment that she stopped being a small-town wallflower secretary for good and forever.

With trembling knees, she hurried back out into the hallway, stopping in front of said door, behind which no less than death might be lurking for her. "Sabretooth!"

A clearly irritated growl as of an animal stopped in its hunt. A sound that could mean anything from "Who is this?" to "Get out of here".

Katja wasn't hoping for her cheap trick to work. It only mattered that this door would be opened, and Sabretooth would hopefully be tempted enough to do so thanks to his natural hunting instincts.

She still made an effort to give her voice an exhausted, pained sound. "They have ... I'm hurt ..."

This bastard was large, almost five heads taller than Katja herself, she knew that all too well from their last meeting. She could only try to distract him, with enough focus to summon a few lightning bolts through the windows in his direction, so that Logan could then possibly get back in the game ... And she'd better pray that Logan really was somewhere nearby, in case her gift would not work the way it should.

The door opened before Katja had finished the thought. Years of trained reflexes kicked in instead, just in time, her body twisting backward over her left shoulder before she had even visualized the planned sequence of steps. Moving upward, she kicked at her enemy as hard as she could, her heel aimed straight at hopefully as many sensitive spots as possible, before coming back down safely and quickly enough not to lose sight of her opponent for too long.

Who actually did stagger back ... for exactly one second. A rough arm jerked Katja forward by her elbow before she could start another attack of this kind or make use of the roaring of the thunderstorm outside, hurling her across the room before she even understood what was happening there.

She hit so hard on her side, with her temple, that with an ugly crack, her breath was knocked out of her, a heavy daze instantly barely allowing her to move. So much for her glorious plan.

Now, finally, she understood what Scott had been talking about.

Sabretooth headed for Ororo, the interruption much like an annoying insect flying by probably already half-forgotten. He didn't seem to notice the looks the X-Men were giving each other. The fight with Logan had apparently weakened him quite a bit and gnawed at his attention.

"You owe me a scream." The hungry stare that he eyed Ororo with from top to bottom made Katja shudder despite her weakened state, despite the burning pain in her chest at every smallest attempt to push herself back up. For a moment, fear shook her, of what this completely out-of-control animal was going to do, how far this bastard might go, right here, in front of their eyes ...

Logan's appearance stopped him, fortunately. Even visibly shaken from that duel, he came up behind the enemy, unobtrusively directing him to a spot where Scott would be able to fire at him. "I'm not done with you yet."

He visibly gritted his teeth as they could all hear Marie's bloodcurdling scream nearby. Not now.

"You drop something?" He tossed the VISOR in the vague direction of the wall that the X-Men were tied to.

Sabretooth spun around, still reaching for the device at the last second, but Jean was faster. Using her powers, she was able to help Scott get off a well-aimed shot just in time.

Sabretooth was flung out of the Torch through a huge hole in the wall and subjected to a long, hopefully fatal fall downward. His wild roar continued to ring in the X-Men's ears for several long seconds.

The hope that it had just sounded for the very last time, however, tasted stale.

Katja's sigh of relief turned into a cough that brought tears to her eyes, that had her sink back to the ground before she had even really managed to stand up on unsteady legs. What the shock had just suppressed for a few seconds, now made itself clear all the more violently. She tasted blood.

Once Logan had freed the team, she caught Scott's terrified look and shook her head harshly. With some effort, she leaned back against that wall she'd just crashed into so rudely. Marie's safety, the safety of the people out there, came first. Katja only had her own infinite stupidity to blame for her condition.

And yet, there was only a hint of bad conscience that she felt. No matter the consequences ... She had been there. She had tried. She had stood by the others. Next time, hopefully, that would end without collateral damage.

Katja couldn't make the world a better place on her own, but she couldn't go back to her old life either, one way or the other. So she might as well make the best of her new one.

With her vision blurring more by the second, she watched Ororo, with the help of a strong wind, get Logan up to that Torch to stop Magneto. She could hear the sounds of battle ... From the corner of her eyes, at some point, she could perceive the reddish glow of Scott's laser blasts once more, and a deafening bang … But it all grew steadily quieter. At that point, without really realizing, she'd already slipped from her sitting position back to the ground.

Scott was first to get to her. This time, there was no more pretending, no hiding behind quips or the strict authority of a team's boss. This time, it was fear that Katja saw shining on his pale face. The traces of blood on her face and uniform frightened him deeply.

"Can't leave you alone for five minutes, can I?" With a shake of his head, he pushed aside her hand that was clenching the side of her chest and felt over the spot briefly himself, with an even deeper frown.

"Jean, I need you here."

Jean was probably needed somewhere entirely else right now, still, she quickly made sure Katja could breathe somewhat alright by bedding her differently on her back, and that her posture would not put pressure on her battered ribs. She briefly caressed Katja's cheek when she almost bit her lip bloody to keep herself from screaming out.

"I'll get you some painkillers as soon as I can get to my bag. That's all we can do for now," she explained apologetically, just as concerned as Scott, judging from the harsh tug around her lips. "Lung perforation. That's something Hank must take care of ... later. We need to ..."

"You have to ... help Marie ..." Katja somehow got out between two coughs.

"Logan already did. Magneto's machine is destroyed." With a proud smile on her lips aimed at one certain mutant, in particular, Jean straightened up again, just squeezed Katja's hand briefly once more.

"We'll just make sure Magneto won't be a threat to anyone anytime soon. It won't take long. You'll be all right. And if you listen to us for a change, hopefully you won't come home from the next fight with something even worse."

"Got it. No missions before the first black belt," Katja promised, grinning wryly.

"Try not to cough." Jean fleetingly stroked her hair and then ran back to the others.

"Flashwind, do you hear me? No passing out!"

Katja startled, realizing she had indeed been on the verge of dozing off. She was suddenly tired, so incredibly tired. The first bodies, the first fight, the first indirect murder of her life ... Leaving it all behind for a few hours, this trembling, too, the cold slowly spreading in her body ... That actually sounded pretty good.

"Hey, look at me!" Scott turned her head toward him, keeping his fingertips on her chin. "You're going to make me yell at you again if you clock out now."

"Easy for you to say ..." It had been a long time since Katja had last been in this much pain. Even in her active days at the gymnastics club, she had never been hurt this badly. Talking became more and more exhausting, the harder it was for her to breathe. Her eyes were already falling shut again.

"Stay. Here." Scott shook her a little, very gently, carefully only. "Or you're not going to wake up!"

"Sleeping sounds nice ..." Katja murmured blissfully.

"Not with internal bleeding, it does. Look at me, Flashwind!" That leader tone was really damn hard to resist.

"Stop screaming. My lung is ruptured, not my eardrums," she growled. Opening her eyelids again took more strength than she had needed the courage to attack Sabretooth. Had she really done that? How much of your mind could you lose in one night? She really was trying her best, but there was simply no way to blink those black streaks from her vision.

An all but loving slap to her cheek tore her from her exhaustion once more, with a startle wrangling another pained moan from her. "Ouch?"

"No offense, but if your system crashes now, they won't be able to get it back going. Sadly, I don't have that many doctors available on my team right now, you know. Damn it … Hey! I said, look at me! Better. You need to keep it together, you hear me? I don't want you to die ..." The same look of threatening panic suddenly showed on Scott's face that Katja had felt earlier in the mansion when she had been afraid he might not make it through this fight tonight. He didn't want to lose her ...

So it really was true. There was something between them, she hadn't just imagined it ...

Even more coughing triggered new waves of pain that made it almost impossible to keep on fighting that heaviness in her mind, stoking Katja's own fear that maybe this whole thing might not end so mildly after all ...

And suddenly, she stopped caring. She wanted Scott to know. What difference did it make? Maybe she wouldn't even live to see his reaction to her confession ... The sheer possibility made her cling firmly to his hand.

"Isn't that weird? I've seen you ... In my room, on the first day ... I saw you, and ..." In vain, she searched for the right words. What was it that had happened at their first meeting? Hardly more than a brief flash inside her head, basically, as if Katja had lost control of her powers once more ... She hadn't been able to place it, had fought it ... But it had been there. "Every time we met ... this feeling got stronger that you could be the kind of man I've always been looking for. And who is it? A guy who's engaged ... I really have the shittiest luck with emotions ..."

Scott tried to laugh, but it sounded more than half-hearted. "If you do, that makes two of us. In case you haven't noticed, I felt the same way. On the farm. And then at that dance ... Why the hell do you think I didn't want you here? You dying here in my arms before we can sort this whole thing out wasn't really the plan."

The next shivers on Katja's arms were pleasant ones. Could it really be what she hadn't dared hope?

But Scott and Jean ... "Scott, I don't know ... I don't want you two ... to ..."

"That's been nothing but formalities for a while. Once you're awake enough to listen again properly, I'll have to thank you for the kick in the ass I've needed in that regard."

Ever so gently, Scott caressed her face, her forehead, with two fingertips. The rough leather of his gloves wasn't the only thing disturbing the romance. Now was not the time to talk about this. They both knew what was going on, maybe that would have to be enough for now. "I need to look after the others. Think you can stay up for me?"

Katja just nodded and let go of Scott's hand with a heavy heart.

From that point on, in spite of her assurance, there weren't a lot of the things going on around her that she noticed until Scott came back to her to prepare her for transport home. Breathing still hurt, but at least it was still possible, despite that sickening pressure inside of her. Maybe it wasn't too late after all ...

"Authorities will take care of the rest. Let's get out of here before they spot us." Jean settled back down next to Katja as well.

Apparently, it was only now that she saw how close Scott and Katja were. The intimate way he was holding her around her waist, helping her breathe through the pain as he slowly sat her up, the way he was looking at Katja before his lips briefly rested at her temple in comfort. The endless worry on his face.

Several emotions were mirrored on Jean's face in rapid succession. Recognition. Disappointment. Resignation. But also something like - relief.

Of course, Katja could only be imagining the latter. Probably her guilty conscience was playing tricks on her.

The exhaustion disappearing, for now, Katja suddenly saw perfectly clearly again. Yes, something had definitely been wrong between these two people before she'd shown up, but it had been her presence that had caused it to break for good. She had never felt shittier about anything. After all, after Fabian disappointing her like this, she knew best what it was like to be left for someone else. And then Jean, of all people, who had helped her so much all this time ...

"I'm sorry," she whispered hoarsely, her breath catching in her throat for more than one reason. "I didn't mean to come between you two."

"You didn't." Jean bent down to her, checking the superficial wound on her head with well-trained movements, probably just to get herself together for a moment.

She took another long look at Katja, and at Scott, and nodded almost imperceptibly. "Not really."

"Jean!" Marie's fearful voice disturbed the weird threesome. "Come quickly! Logan is getting worse!"

The usually so calm, so unfazed-acting doctor jumped up on the spot and ran back to the balcony. "Ororo, get me up there!"

The first of sirens sounded nearby. They needed to hurry.

Jean quickly turned to Scott and Katja once more, with the same expression of concern for someone she didn't want to lose on her face that Scott had just worn. "I'll be right back."

"Go. We'll be alright." It was Scott's turn to just nod wearily. "We'll be alright."