Disclaimer: Marvel owns X-Men Evolution and the 616-mainstream, if any money was being made from this fic - which it's not - they'd get it, not me. The only way I'd get to make money off of my fanfics would be if Marvel or whoever owns the right to whatever fandom were to authorise and publish my writing, and that's not as easy as some people think...

Author's Note; I apologise for my unexpected 'week off', I had originally planned to post one of my Transformers shorts last week, but it seems intent on growing larger every time I try to complete it, so it was no joy on that... Thus, we now return you to our regular update schedule, or at least attempt to...


"Sons of Liberty"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'


Underground Military Facility
Fort Wadsworth Army Base
Staten Island, New York
Outside the labs

"As soon as I open the door, Banshee, Toad, Quicksilver; I want anyone in the room taken care of quick," Avalanche whispered loudly.

"Why do I have to do this?" Quicksilver complained.

"Because you're the only one fast enough if anyone goes for an alarm, yo," Toad answered for him.

"Right," Avalanche agreed.

"Why can't Shadowcat go in first?" Quicksilver insisted.

"Because if I disrupt the wrong piece of equipment, it'll waste everything we've done so far," Shadowcat crossed her arms and prepared to push the speedster's buttons, "If I didn't know any better, Quicksilver, I'd think you were scared... I mean, this is the kind of stuff Wolverine put all of us, including Spyke, through, but if you're not up for it..."

The mention of Quicksilver's eternal rival had the intended effect.

"A challenge, is it? I live for challenges, if only there was anyone that actually could challenge me. Fine, I'm going in," Quicksilver rattled off darting off to stand on the opposite side of the door to the labs.

'Too easy,' Shadowcat mouthed where only Avalanche could see.

'Without the X-Geeks trying to stifle it, she's really growing into something,' the geokinetic thought to himself as he took up position in front of the door, Toad hopping onto the wall behind him.

When Banshee had taken up his own position, Shadowcat raised her hand, five fingers out.

'I thought these kids were supposed ta be untrained,' Banshee thought as the fingers dropped to four.

At three fingers, Quicksilver thought about how he could use some of the information he was learning.

Two fingers and Toad took a deep breath, preparing to go through the door and planning what to do when he did.

With one finger left, Shadowcat felt her teeth clench as she reminded herself that this wasn't the Danger Room but real life with the others counting on her.

As the last finger dropped and his girlfriend closed her fist, Avalanche drew back his leg and slammed his foot sole-first into the door, feeling the lightweight metal buckle and give way, creating a gap between the two sliding pieces. A second kick broke them free from the locking mechanisms and caused them to retract into the walls. While Avalanche was recovering, the others moved - Quicksilver darting one way, Banshee the other and Toad careening overhead and rolling to his feet as he hit the floor, looking around.

"Well, this is a disappointment," Toad remarked upon seeing the empty room, "What's the point of making a good entrance when there's nobody to see it, yo?"

"Ye'd think they'd be workin' hard ta get all th' information they can outta their prisoners," Banshee added with a frown.

"Maybe they're trying to keep the number of people that know about them down so they gave everyone a vacation?" Toad shot back.

"Not bloody likely," Banshee scoffed.

Quicksilver grumbled, "Well, lab's clear, that means they must be in the brig, let's go, okay?"

"First thing's first," Shadowcat interjected as she and Avalanche walked into the lab, "We need to make sure they don't get anything from these computers."

"Assuming they aren't remote-linked to off-site data storage, yo," Toad countered.

"Even if they are, losing the equipment here might set them back," Avalanche nodded, tussling the other mutant's hair with brotherly affection, "Let's do it."

"An' how will ye do tha' without settin' off every alarm from here ta Donegal?" Banshee asked.

Shadowcat looked around for a moment before pointing at one of the workstations, "I think it's our lucky day; someone's been a bad boy and forgot to log out..."

"Shoddy, very shoddy," Toad remarked with a put-on British accent as he hopped over to it and as he landed in the chair he gave it a quick spin and looked at the screen closely, "SysAdmin, even, I am one lucky toad..."

Shadowcat and Avalanche joined him, each reaching to put a hand on the back of the chair and giving each other a blushing look when Avalanche's rested on top of Shadowcat's, but neither moved their hand.

"Think you can take out the rest of the security systems?"

"Should do," Toad remarked, a series of keystrokes giving him entrance to the necessary programs, "Except this one... and maybe these two... Look like they'd take higher clearance than what this guy has."

"Do what you can, Toad, even one system down gives us a better chance of this working."

"You're really starting to sound like you enjoy this, Lance," Quicksilver remarked.

Avalanche didn't turn around, "Hey, if they're willing to make it legal for us to do what we'd do anyway... I'm all for that."

"And what about when they want us to turn on our own kind, huh?" Quicksilver challenged, "You going to start hunting down other mutants like some kind of hound?"

This time, Avalanche did turn, the hand that had been covering his girlfriend's moving to point at the silver-haired speedster, "What's that supposed to mean, huh, Quicksilver? You got something you want to say, then just say it. Otherwise, you might want to remember that Xavier and Magneto were more than willing to turn mutants against each other themselves. At least Fury doesn't care what we do as long as we do it quietly."

"It's more than that," Shadowcat added, placing her hand on Avalanche's shoulder as she turned around, "If something does happen, we're in a place to make a difference. Who would you rather the goverment have hunting mutants if it came to it; people like us who can understand and try to help other mutants or someone who'd just throw them into concentration camps if they're lucky..."

"Somebody who knows what it's like surviving against the odds or some geek with a lot of math telling him that nobody's got no choice in the matter?" Toad added over his shoulder.

"What, you're ganging up on me now?" Quicksilver snapped defensively.

"You're the one who started it, Quickie," Avalanche replied, "If you think there's a problem with what we're doing, why don't you go find Mystique? Maybe the two of you could start your own little war on the world, just remember that you'll have to go through us now."

"This hero stuff is going to the rocks in your head," Quicksilver shook his head, "Mystique? I want that crazy lady to pay as much as the rest of you do; she abandoned me, too, remember? I'm just not sure signing up with the humans is the way to do it."

"I never said it was the best move," Avalanche defended, "Just that it's the best move we've got at the moment. What are our other options? Hunt down Mystique or Magneto and sign back up to be abandoned again? Forget it. Join up with the X-Geeks? We wouldn't last a week surrounded by the goody-goodies... Er, present company excepted, Pretty Kitty."

Shadowcat raised an eyebrow, "I don't see anyone from the Institute here. I'm one of us now, remember? Besides, you're right. Jean tries to act like everyone's big sister and really, she just ends up being bossy and holier-than-thou... and you saw what Scott's like when something doesn't fit his point-of-view... The only ones who'd accept us as we are there would be the younger students, like the three we're here to help."

"And one more thing," Avalanche continued, "If we stayed on our own; sooner or later, they'd come after us, we'd have to deal with Mystique, Xavier, Magneto, maybe the humans too... Like I told Boom-Boom and 'Kat; if we're on the humans' side, we'll be able to let the rest of them fight it out and be there when they're all worn out, ready to go."

Across the room, Banshee chuckled, "Do ye two do this oft'? Tradin' back an' forth an' th' like while ye're talkin'?"

"Nah, this is new," Toad answered, stretching his arms, "I think it has something to do with them being on the same side of things now... and... gotcha!"

"Security systems are down?" Avalanche asked.

"Most of 'em," Toad admitted, "We'll need to stick close to the walls when we get to the brig - there's a bunch of laser beams there that seem to be on another system. Lucky for us, there's about two feet on either side of the hall that's no problem - just enough for us to get in and out with."

"We'll just have to be careful," Shadowcat remarked, "And take it slow."

"'Take it slow'... I'm being punished, aren't I?" Quicksilver fumed, glaring at the ceiling as though he were looking through it.


Author's Note; There's a minor - and I mean minor as in 'blink and you'll miss it' - reference to another X-Men character hidden in this chapter, I'll give you a hint - they never appeared in Evolution - let's see how many people can catch it, shall we?