Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.

New Recruits to the Rescue

Kitty looked out a window, searching the streets of Rome for signs of the X-Men. She looked over at Yuriko, who was slowing down the Seahawk. "Isn't there, like, a way to detect the location of the, like, Blackbird or something?"

Yuriko nodded and pointed over her shoulder. "The blue button behind me I think..." Kitty walked over and pushed the blue button. She heard the radar bleep and turned to see a red dot on the radar.

Kitty pointed to it, looking at the coordinates. "According to this, the Blackbird should, like, be practically in front of us." She looked up and saw a black spike sticking over the rooftops of Rome.

Yuriko flew towards the black spike, which revealed to be the X-Jet. "That's the Blackbird alright." Yuriko murmured to herself.

Yuriko and Peter landed the Seahawk near the Blackbird. After opening the hatch, they made their way out and over to the Blackbird. Peter pressed a combination of numbers on the leg of the Blackbird and the door fell open.

Kitty ran up inside, followed by Rahne and Forge. Everyone else stayed outside, looking around for clues.

Rahne turned into a wolf, smelling the entire area, trying to figure out how long the X-Men and Brotherhood had been gone.

Forge was in the back searching for anybody. Kitty waited for him, and when he came back he shrugged. "There's nobody here. Not even the Professor."

Rahne turned back into her human self. "I'd say nobody's been on here for a good two hours. Maybe three, but I can't be certain."

Kitty ran out on the ramp and looked at Yuriko and Peter. "There's, like, nobody on board. No one!"

Peter nodded thoughtfully. "They must have left it here, and gone into battle. Or they went looking around the city for the horsemen..." He trailed off.

Kitty looked back at Rahne and then back at the others. "Rahne said they, like, haven't been here for two to three hours."

Yuriko looked in every direction before looking down the street. "I can pinpoint their direction. They went that way." She lead the small group down the street, before stopping and looking down the street both ways. "I can't figure out which way they went... maybe you could Wolfsbane..."

Rahne nodded while turning into her wolf shape again. She sniffed the air loudly and barked, before taking off down the street, running as fast as she could. The group ran after her, trying to keep up. She didn't stop running until she ran around a corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

The rest of the group was behind by a couple of meters and were surprised when she stopped. When they caught up, they all stared around fearfully.

Amara covered her mouth with a hand as she gasped. "Oh my God! What happened here?" She looked at Yuriko, Kitty and Peter, who all shook their heads, eyes wide as they took in the scene before them.

The X-Men were all sprawled out on the street, some of them bleeding from wounds, others laying in awkward positions.

"Professor?" Yuriko yelled out, her voice echoing eerily. "Professor? Are you out here?" She yelled. No answer. She looked at the others. "Check the others. Make sure they aren't injured too badly."

Everyone moved to shake the team members to see if they were responsive, or if they were hurt badly.

Kitty nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice behind her. "Merde! What did Gambit miss?"

Kitty spun around and saw Remy, dragging his bo-staff behind him. He looked exhausted, and the hem of his trench coat was soaked. "Gambit? What, like, happened here?"

Gambit put a hand to his head and shook his head. "What do you think? The horsemen happened!"

"What about you?" Ray asked, standing up from checking on Bobby.

"Got phased into the sewers." He muttered, eyes flashing dangerously. "The horsemen kicked our asses badly." He shook his head. He opened his mouth, no doubt for a string of colourful curses when their was a moan.

Suddenly Jean sat up, a wild look in her eyes. "AH!"

Kitty, who was kneeling next to Jean, put a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Grey! Are you, like, alright?"

Jean panted slightly and nodded. "I'm fine Kitty." She was silent for a few minutes before her breathing evened out. "Wait!" She looked at Kitty. "What are you doing here? I thought you guys were staying behind!"

Kitty looked around and noticed that Yuriko wasn't around for some reason. She turned back to Jean. "We decided we, like, better come... and it's, like, a good thing too! What happened?"

Jean put a hand to her head. "We were fighting the horsemen, and losing horribly. Suddenly they had to leave. But before Death left, she shot everyone away with a big telekinetic shield which knocked everyone out..." She trailed off, shaking her head.

Theresa ran over. "Really?" Siryn was surprised.

Jean looked at the girl. "Theresa? What are you doing here?"

Peter had joined Kitty and Jean, along with the New Recruits. "Well... we feared that if we got here, Apocalypse would be fighting you guys... and that if we came to help, we wouldn't look threatening if it was the three of us, so we thought the recruits were ready and..." He trailed off.

Jean looked in thought. "I understand your reasons, but they're still so young-"

"Hey!" Sam yelled unexpectedly. "The whole reason I joined the X-Men was because I thought I'd be helping you guys fight Apocalypse! Did I assume wrong?" Rahne picked up where Sam left. "Besides, they didn't force us! They asked and we accepted, knowing the consequences."

Roberto continued. "Come on! We've been training for months in the Danger Room. We're ready for this. Just give us a chance!"

Ray started speaking. "You know we can take care of ourselves and help you defeat Apocalypse."

Theresa started up. "All we want is a shot at being an X-Men. You only have this one chance if you fail to beat him."

Amara nodded her head. "And we can help you beat him!"

Forge finished of the speeches. "So don't treat us like kids Ms. Grey! We know what we're getting into."

Jean was shocked. She'd just gotten chewed out by her students. She hesitated before answering. "Fine. But understand that if things ever get really bad, you have to leave right away."

They all nodded and grinned at one another. Roberto and Ray gave a high five to each other. "Sweet!"

A/N: There you go, I'm working on the next one. Don't forget to review!