Hello earthlings! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and I hope you enjoy! I own nothing except a dysfunctional computer.

Race was definitely not expecting for her to say that. He may have been more surprised than the others, and that was saying a lot.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Albert scoffed. "You can't be serious."

"Of course I'm serious!" Katherine seemed confused as to why they hadn't instantly started celebrating her genius idea. "There have got to be thousands of mutants in this city! If all of you started fighting-"

"We'd get our butts kicked," Jojo cut in. "The Refuge and the places like it… they have the police on their side! We'd never win!"

"Well, maybe if there were a lot of us…" Katherine's voice trailed off as she looked around self-consciously. None of the kids looked at all excited. "Never mind."

"Wait!" Race surprised even himself by speaking. This… could work? He could somehow convince his friends to help, without ever mentioning the fact that he worked for a gang and was being forced to do this. "This could work."

"Race…" Jack looked worried. "This won't work. You know that."

And yeah, Race did know. He remembered reading about another mutant rebellion that had happened about ten years ago. Everyone involved had been killed. Race wanted to not get involved with this. But he knew that he and his friends had no choice. One way or another, Spot would make sure they fought for him.

"C'mon, Jack," the boy continued. "There are a lot of mutants. Maybe if we all banded together… I have some old friends who might be willing to help… we could shut the Refuge down for good!"

"That's a stupid idea! We'd just get ourselves killed!"

"Actually," Henry mused, "this could work. Especially if we get enough mutants to join in…"

Albert whipped around to face him. "You can't be serious!"

The electric boy looked almost embarrassed. "So um… Finch, Tommy Boy and I have been thinking about this for a little while."

Jack looked like he was about to break something. "You what? Why? There's no reason-"

"We wanted to do something!" Finch yelled, jumping to his feet. The quick action startled all of the gathered children. "We had to! Don't you know the way mutants are treated? Don't you remember how it feels to be ditched by your family? After Crutchie… we couldn't just sit there and let them take more of us away!"

Race winced at the reminder of what had happened to the healer. Spyder's men had snatched him off the street, and he hadn't been able to get away in time. He was the first of them to be taken to the Refuge, and all the kids knew he probably wouldn't be the last.

"And what do you think will happen when the fighting goes wrong!" Jack shouted back. "You won't just be taken to the Refuge, you'll be gunned down on the spot!" The oldest boy looked like he was trying to control his emotions. Race knew how much he missed the cheerful, encouraging presence that was Crutchie, and how much he was afraid that the other kids would be taken too.

"Well, we might as well try!" Finch exclaimed. "What do you think hiding out in this factory will accomplish? Nothing, that's what! We need to be out in the world, doing something! Helping mutants!"

"I couldn't agree more," a familiar voice hissed. Race's eyes widened as he saw Cobra and another one of Spot's minions coming in behind her. This wasn't good. They really needed some kind of security system.

"Who are you?" Jack asked the snake woman. "What do you want?"

"We want to help mutants, of courssse," Cobra grinned. It was a little creepy, since she had fangs. "We happened to hear what you were planning, and we would like to offer you all jobssss."

"We weren't planning anything," Jack said, moving towards Cobra, scowling. "Now get out!"

Suddenly Cobra flashed forward, quicker than most normal humans could move. Before anyone could react, she was across the room, standing next to Romeo and Les, her fangs out for everyone to see. "I sssuggessst you lisssten to me," she said, bending down so her teeth were only a few inches away from Romeo's neck.

"Alright, please leave the kids alone! We'll do what you want!" Jack was scared. Race knew it. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Everything was getting out of control, from the moment Spot had told him about the "revolution" he was planning. Race just wanted for all the kids to be safe and happy, but apparently the universe hated that idea. Now they were going to have to fight a battle they'd most likely lose and why on earth were Spot's people here, he'd been told he'd have three days?

"I won't hurt them," Cobra said, grinning menacingly. "We need all the fightersss we can get."

"FIghters! They're kids! And who the hell are you people, and what the hell do you want?"

"We're going to help mutantsss everywhere! We will make sssure that they can all live normal livesss! We're going to destroy the Refuge and all the other placesss like it! And you are all going to help usss fight!"

Jack shook his head passionately. "No way. No way! Who's 'we' anyway?"

"We work for the King. He'sss leading the fight. I think the invisssible boy can tell you a lot about him." She looked at Race. Oh no.

Jack frowned at him. "What's she talking about?"

Race glared at Cobra. "He said I had three days! We need more-"

Cobra hiss-laughed. "You mussst have misssunderssstood. Three days until we fight. Well… two now."

"Race? Who said you had three days for what?" Albert asked cautiously. Race hated the way all the kids were eyeing him- like they couldn't quite trust him.

"I… I work for the gang she does. I help them," Race muttered, staring at the ground. "Spot, the gang's leader… he told me I had to convince you to fight. Or… or he would make you."

"Race!" Albert yelled, stepping towards him angrily. "You said you were done! You said you wouldn't go back to the gang!"

"And I wasn't exactly planning on it!" Race wanted them to understand, wanted to make them understand. "They… said they'd use the rest of you if I didn't. So I had to! I had to help…" His voice trailed off. All of his friends were glaring at him, either with anger or frustration or disappointment or, worst of al,l fear. Like they couldn't trust him anymore.

"Fight with usss, children." Cobra continued. Race had the feeling that she was enjoying all this. "You'll be helping all mutantsss, and-"

"Go," Jack said flatly. "Just leave."

Cobra looked like she was about to say something else, until Les started glaring at her. "He said to leave!" he commanded, moving his hand like he was throwing something. Cobra and the other person tumbled towards the window, as if they'd been pushed. When they reached it, they realized the smartest course of action would be to leave. Quickly.

After a moment of stunned silence, Jack turned to glare at Race. The younger boy felt incredibly nervous. "Jack, I-"

"You lied to us."

The older boy- the boy Race looked up to and counted on, the boy who was practically a brother- sounded so disappointed. Race would do anything to make up for what he did. "I know, I know! I was trying to protect everyone! I don't know how…"

"Well, you didn't protect us. You just did something unbelievably stupid, and for what? Money?"

"I was serious!" Suddenly, irrationally, Race was starting to get angry. Why did none of them believe him? He just was trying to help. "I joined because otherwise they'd said they'd kidnap some of us! I didn't… I didn't want any of you to be hurt!"

"Race." Race looked at Albert, who was staring at him nervously. "Is it really Spot's gang?" Race didn't answer. His friend knew.

Race had first met the gang when he was eleven years old, just after running away from his jerk family. He and Albert had worked with them for a little while, but then one of the kids they worked with had been shot after her mission went wrong. SHe was shot by one of Spot's people. The two boys had run away then, and they'd ended up meeting Jack. Race had said he was done. That he didn't miss being in a gang- hurting people, and sometimes being hurt badly. And he didn't miss it. He hated being forced to go back. But he knew Albert wouldn't see it that way. Actually, none of the kids would.

Jack sighed, looking way older than seventeen. "Even if you did it to help us… what would've happened if you were followed by the cops one time and led them here? DId you ever think about that?"

"I can turn invisible! Of course I wasn't followed!"

"Race, I don't think we can trust you anymore!"

Race felt like crying. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" He wasn't sure what he was apologizing for. Lying? Trying to help? Not telling anyone something? He did know, however, that he should probably apologize.

"Jack," the girl, Katherine, started. "I think he was just trying to do the right thing. He didn't-"

"Please leave," Jack said emotionlessly. "It's not safe here. Get yourself somewhere safe before the mutant rebellion thing."

Katherine looked like she was about to argue. But then she looked around at the faces of the other kids, all of whom were frowning, and she seemed to realize that no one wanted her there. She smiled sadly and climbed out the window.

"As for the rest of us-" Jack looked at the grim-faced kids. "-we need to get ready for the thing too. Whether it works or not, we need to be sure that we'll be ok. Start guarding all the entrances. Make sure that you don't go outside alone. Davey, Specs- come with me." No one questioned the oldest kid's authority. The two boys he'd named followed him out of the room, while everyone else started nervously getting ready for a fight. None of them looked in the mood to talk to Race. The boy walked down the stairs to watch the main door, wondering how everything had gone out of control so quickly.

Davey was preparing for battle. That sounded more impressive than it was. In reality, he was fiddling with his old phone, trying to make it so it would do something that could be useful in a fight. Like shoot lasers. He didn't know if even he could make it do that, but why not try?

The other kids were all working, trying to make plans and practicing with their powers. The three oldest kids (Jack, Specs and Davey) had worked out an evacuation plan. They weren't going to engage in the fight if they had a choice, but everyone was expecting the worst.

Davey's feelings about the mutant-rebellion-thing were mixed. On the one hand, he'd love to be an equal member of society, and to not have to be afraid every time he went outside. Even before Les had almost blown up his school and the boys had had to run away, Davey had always been nervous that someone would find out what he or Les could do and use them or take them. It would be nice for all young mutants to not have to worry about that.

On the other hand, there was no way this could work. No matter how many mutants actually showed up to fight, there would be more police officers, bounty hunters and soldiers. They'd be outnumbered. And anyway, wouldn't fighting just prove to everyone that all mutants were dangerous and needed to be controlled? That seemed anti productive. There had to be a better way, but Davey doubted that either side would want to talk about this.

Davey was working in the main room, near the entrance with the ladder. The only other kids in the room were Les and Romeo (who were quietly watching the window nervously) and Finch (who was nervously reading a comic book on the ceiling). The others were either getting ready in other rooms or guarding the entrances. It was quiet. Davey had never really understood the phrase the calm before the storm, but he understood it now.

Suddenly Elmer tumbled through the window. He was yelling intelligibly, and the sound brought many of the other kids racing upstairs.

"They got 'em!" the boy was screaming desperately. He looked like he was about to cry.

Jack knelt down beside him. "It's ok, Elmer," he said calmly, though Davey could see that he was only pretending to be calm and was really close to screaming himself. "Who got who?"

"Me and Jojo and Lucky were watching the door outside," Elmer gasped. He looked like he was nowhere close to calming down. "And then the snake lady who came in earlier came back with others, and she grabbed them and told me not to move or she'd hurt them, and then she told me to tell you what happened and I'm so sorry, I wanted to help but…" The boy's voice trailed off as Jack hugged him.

"Did she take them with her?" Jack seemed to know the answer even before Elmer nodded. The older boy took a deep breath and held it. All of the kids looked at each other, most of them feeling a mixture of anger and fear.

Davey understood the message the gang was sending. The kids in the factory were either going to fight in the mutant rebellion, or the kidnapped kids would die.

Well, ok! Sorry for the delay, and thank you for reading! Please leave a review with constructive criticism, story suggestions, and words of encouragement! Later, potaters!