For little intro thingy... kindly refer to previous chapter.

For quote of the chapter...kindly refer to previous chapter.

Disclaimer: (Applies to all previous chapters as well) I do not own X-men...--cries--

Mystique walked through the halls of the base with the sole intention of hunting down Multiple Man. The little jerk had eluded her for the past hour which was a sign that he knew that she was going to send him somewhere…and the lazy ass didn't want to go.

What possessed her to ask Pyro where Jamie might be, she didn't know. Never-the-less she walked into the wing with his bedroom.

"Pyro? Have you seen-" She stopped short in front of his room.

"What do you want?" John snapped at the blue mutant.

Mystique's eyes widened. Pyro never snapped at her like that. He must be really pissed off.

"God, Pyro. What did you do to your wall?"

"Nothing."

"Pyro, it's not even here anymore," Mystique sighed.

"It was his fault," he mumbled.

"Who?"

"Stupid fuckin' Iceman got me all fuckin' pissed! And then stupid fuckin' Multiple Man was listening at my goddamn door!"

"Please tell me he isn't dead. We need him."

"No, he jumped. I wish he was dead."

"Well, whether you wish it or not, he can't die. We need him."

"Yeah, I guess."

There was a moment of tense silence.

"So…"

"Don't ask. Bobby was just being an asshole…again. He pisses me off so much! Like sometimes I just wanna take his goodie little X-Man head and just stomp on it till his brains fall out of his fucking eyes! But then it's like… I don't know…it's just… weird with him."

"Well, you know what they say: 'It's a fine line between love and hate'."

"Too fine if you ask me. A little more definition wouldn't hurt."

"Well, nobody asked you," She said, ruffling his hair, much to the younger mutant's annoyance, "Oh, by the way, have you seen Multiple Man since you last tried to kill him?"

"Last I saw of him, he looked like he was on his way to the kitchen, probably to feed his fat ass."

"Ha!" Mystique snorted, "Like hell he's fat. I've seen you staring at that body of his."

"Shut up. Being hot doesn't make him less of an asshole."

"Very true. And the living proof is sitting right next me," She smirked.

"Oh, just go find that bottomless pit of a mutant!" John snapped, but his eyes smiled. Mystique always managed to make things a little better, if only for a moment.

"I will. And if it's any consolation, I'm sending him off on an essentially pointless mission. God knows that'll bug the crap out of him. He isn't fat, but he's gotta be of the laziest guys I've ever met."

"It is some consolation actually. Oh, and tell him that if he touches any of my food, I'll-"

"Kill him. Got it."

She stood up from the bed and gave John a supportive smile before leaving the room. John smiled back, but it was a sad smile, weighted with more pressure and stress than anyone his age should have to deal with.

----------------------------Kitchen---------------------------------

Jamie picked up his coffee mug, muttering angrily.

"Little fuckin' psychopath. Tried to freakin' kill me. He is gonna fuckin' get it. No one gets away with that shit," He slammed his mug down in anger. It cracked and coffee flooded everywhere.

"Damn it!" Jamie grabbed a paper towel and began to sop up the mess.

"Hormonal little brat. God knows I never fuckin' acted like that when I was a teenager-"

"When was that? Six months ago?" Came a female voice from by the door.

"Oh ha, ha. Aren't we funny? What do you want Mystique?"

"You've been avoiding me."

"I have not."

"Yeah, you have. You know I'm gonna ask you to go somewhere and your lazy ass doesn't want to. But we'll worry about that in a minute. What I wanna know now is, what the fuck were you doing listening at Pyro's door?"

"So, he ratted off to you did he?"

"No," Mystique hissed, "I was looking for you actually and I noticed that there was a huge smoking hole where a wall and door should have been."

"And you're mad at me for that? I wasn't the one who burned it to a crisp."

"No, but it's your fault he did it. He's under a lot of stress right now. He's been through crap you probably couldn't imagine and he's still dealing with shit. The last thing he needs is the feeling that he has no privacy to work it out in," Mystique was speaking quietly but Jamie caught every word.

"Oh come on! He's a big boy now Mystique! He doesn't need you to be 'Mama'. He needs to toughen up."

Mystiques laugh was dry and humorless, "Toughen up? He's the toughest kid I've ever met. You don't know what he's been through. And if you did, you'd have a hell of a lot more respect for him."

Jamie snorted, "Whatever. I don't feel like arguing about that PMSing little brat."

Mystique's eyes narrowed.

"What did you want me to do?" He asked quickly, trying to avoid being hit for that comment.

"Magneto just wanted me to send someone to go check out some anti-mutant rally. He thinks it's nothing but it never hurts to be sure," Mystique shrugged.

"When do you want me to go?" Jamie asked grabbing a doughnut from a box on the counter.

"Oh, two weeks from next Tuesday should be fine," Mystique said sarcastically, "Now! When do you think, Sherlock?"

"Whoa, no need to get bitchy. Just let me finish eating and I'll scram."

"Drop the doughnut and leave, now. We need to get this out of the way quickly in case something more important comes up."

"If you want it done this fuckin' second, then send your 'little angel'. He hasn't been outta this joint since god knows when and I want my fuckin doughnut, woman!"

She hadn't even moved. Jamie would swear on his life that she hadn't even moved. One minute her eyes narrowed in anger and the next his doughnut was halfway across the room and his groin hurt like a bitch.

"Christ!" He groaned, clutching his groin in pain and collapsing on the ground, "What the hell!?"

"Go crawl into one of the helicopters and check out that anti-mutant rally."

Mystique turned on heel and left, leaving Multiple Man, for the second time that day, crumpled on the floor.

"Crazy bitch," he gasped out.