avatar: the final act is here! Are you ready for a big fight scene, solving a mystery, and the 'resolution' of the story? Good, because hopefully it will all be done by Christmas break. Anybody who wants to know the big villain in the fic, it is revealed this chapter.

Blob: avatarjk137 does not own X-Men Evolution. He does own this story, as well as Bio and Spectrum. Yellowfur owns Hunter. There, I said the disclaimer. Pay up!

avatar: (hands Blob a Philly cheesesteak, wrapped in bacon, and deep-fried)

Act III

Chapter 9

Ambush Party

"THIS is where Spectrum is hiding out?!" Logan asked incredulously. "It's right across town from us! Why'd he lead us to New York City?!"

"Well," Bio said thoughtfully, "messing with you guys was part of Spectrum's plans from the very beginning. Can you loosen the collar?"

"No." Wolverine had Hunter and Bio wearing dog collars. He had attached leashes to the collars, and was walking them like dogs. Hunter had actually taken the form of a Great Dane to make the collar fit better, and was alternating between it and several other breeds of dog.

"Come on! I can understand it with Hunter, but not me!"

"Shut UP!" Pyro had been working himself into a rage all morning. After they had gotten Bio and Hunter an early lunch at Logan's favorite fried chicken restaurant, they had set out. Along with Wolverine and Pyro, Nightcrawler had elected to come along again, as well as Gambit and Colossus (who had only recently shaken off his headache), and Blob. The rest of the Brotherhood, except for Wanda, had been pretty badly messed up. Wanda had a therapist's appointment, but was going to arrive later if they needed backup. Kitty had stayed back to take care of Lance, and Rogue was coming down with the flu, which she had managed to catch from something in New York City. She had also retained Hunter's powers, and was shapeshifting unpredictably due to her fever.

Hunter shifted back into human form. "You guys should be quiet, Spectrum's no doubt heard you by now." Bio knocked on the door several times in a specific pattern. The pattern caused a small number pad to slide out from under the knob. Bio typed in a bunch of numbers, followed by the pound symbol. The doors swung open.

"Welcome to our humble abode," Bio said.

"Vhere are your family?" Nightcrawler asked as they walked in. It appeared to be a large, abandoned old house, but a detailed examination revealed otherwise: there was dust on the furniture, but not the floor. An additional hint was the security camera hidden behind a fake cobweb in the corner.

Bio stopped short. "I don't know," he said after a pause.

"You don't know… or you can't remember?" Colossus questioned.

"Er…" Suddenly, the floor panel that Bio had walked to dropped out suddenly. Bio disappeared from sight. Logan held onto the leash with all his might, but after a second, something sliced it clean through. Hunter had transformed into a cougar and slashed both leashes. He leapt into the hole after Bio.

"It's a trap!" Gambit pulled out a card and began to charge it, but the panel under his feet opened. Gambit quickly jumped out of the way, and tossed the card down the pit. A door behind him burst open, and Sabretooth was behind it.

"What've you been up to, Remy?" Sabretooth tackled the surprised former Acolyte, knocking them both into the now-smoking hole.

Pyro saw that he was standing on another floor panel, so he jumped back, landing on the dark stone floor section in front of the fireplace. "HA! I won't get tricked like that, mate!" The fireplace promptly rotated around, hiding a shocked Pyro behind the wall.

"Pyro!" Blob slammed his fist onto the fireplace. His hand went straight through, punching a huge hole in the wall. He grabbed John, and dragged him through the large new hole.

"Ah! Thanks, Fred, I thought I was a goner!" Pyro responded breathlessly. Suddenly, Blob fell through the floor. Pyro barely managed to roll away, and noticed Blob had been standing on the floor panel he had jumped away from. "I didn't think it was big enough to fit him…"

"Enjoying my fun house?" A voice asked above them. The remaining four people in the room – Pyro, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Colossus – looked up. Spectrum stood on a balcony at the second-floor level. The stairs to the balcony had visibly been removed by force.

"Fun? You call this fun?" Kurt asked incredulously.

"You kidding? Watching this is hilarious!"

"Get down here and I'll show you hilarious, bub!" Logan threatened.

"I'll help him climb down!" Nightcrawler teleported up to Spectrum's position, and kicked him. Spectrum was knocked back against the wood railing of the balcony.

"That was… kind of painful." He looked at Kurt, but he had already teleported. Spectrum sighed and shoved his head sharply backward. It connected with Kurt's nose. The blue mutant had 'ported behind Spectrum to continue hitting him. "You're predictable, Nightcrawler." He looked at the other X-Men (and Brotherhood member). Colossus had caught Kurt, and was now glaring up at Spectrum. Logan was digging his claws into the walls, scaling them to get up to the balcony. Pyro was standing still, his head bowed.

"You…" Pyro looked up, and Spectrum was shocked. He had never seen the insane Aussie so angry. "You took my crazy! I'll kill you!" He conjured up a horned skull made out of flames, and launched it at the blue-haired mutant. Logan, Kurt, and Piotr watched in shock as the flaming visage slammed right into Spectrum, and exploded.

"Where am I?" Gambit asked. The only light came from the card he had charged. He saw a pair of yellow irises with slitlike pupils shining in the darkness. "Sabretooth? Nice contacts."

"I'm not Sabretooth, Cajun." The lights flickered on, revealing everybody's favorite blue-skinned, red-haired, terrorist, psychotic bitch.

"MYSTIQUE!" I should have known you were behind this!"

"Yes… but not alone." Gambit looked around, and realized he was entirely surrounded. Sabretooth stood behind him. Hunter and Bio stood on either side of him. Mystique stood directly in front of him. Mastermind was also there, but he was in a corner, leaning against some machinery.

At least I won't have to fight monkey-face, Gambit thought with a smirk. "Hey hey, why are y'all so jumpy? I'm a former Acolyte. I can play for the bad boys." He noticed Blob in a corner, bound and gagged. "We could play a game while whatever you have planned happens upstairs."

"A game?" Mastermind asked skeptically.

"Sure. We could play truth or dare, or pin the tail on the Blob-" Blob tried to scream something, but his voice was muffled by the gag. "-OR, we could play…" He paused dramatically as he took out his deck, shuffling it as he charged it, "…fifty-two pickup." He scattered his entire deck around him in a circle.

Mystique glared at him. "I thought Pyro was the lunatic around here."

End of Chapter

Fun fact: 52-Pickup was Gambit's Xtreme attack in X-Men: Legends.

Another fun fact: Yellowfur and I had thought up Hunter, Bio, and Spectrum years ago. For this fic, we changed Spectrum's powers (originally, he was a telekinetic with some other stuff), and Hunter's name (originally Buzz, and we couldn't think of anything better.

Next chapter, the fights continue! Yay for fighting!