September 3, 1974

Charles could hear the sounds of battle far below him. He reached out with his mind, flicking through the X-men's thoughts. It was the only role that he could have in battle: to stay in the Blackbird and try to monitor the action through his telepathy. He could give advice and streamline communication, but he could never fight. There had been few times that he regretted his non-combative role as bitterly as he did then.

From what he had seen the room below him was chaos. He saw the soldiers, saw the young mutants on the floor, twitching as black bubbled from their lips. Charles tried to touch their thoughts, to calm them and see what had happened, but it was a jumbled mess of pain and something he couldn't define. It sent him reeling and he continued on his quest.

He found Moira's mind far from the confusion of the battle. At first he was relieved, hoping that she'd found a safe place to hide. Then he'd brushed her mind with his and felt only a sense of confusion. He'd almost cried out, fearful that, whatever Sinister had done to the young mutants, he'd done to his wife as well.

However, there was a slight difference. Her confusion wasn't complete: her mind was only moving at a more sluggish rate. Despite himself he nearly laughed with joy. He hadn't harmed her: she was merely drugged. Charles knew that that wasn't good, but it was better than her going through the same pain as the young mutants.

He strengthened his reach into her mind. He saw jumbled images, saw Sinister talking to her in his smooth, mechanical way, although the words were blurred due to the drug. He tried to reach her thoughts, but the drug was doing much to cloud them. Charles smoothed them out though, pushing the drug's influence away from her thoughts. He'd helped break through a million different clouds before: it was nothing to him.

Charles?

Charles sighed in relief. The way she welcomed him into her mind after everything only made him strengthen his resolve to fix things.

Yes Moira, I'm here, he thought, touching her mind as gently as he could.

He could almost hear her swallow.

Jean…Warren…

They're fine, he thought, In the middle of a fight, but they're X-men. Moira, are you alright?

Charles had seen enough of her memories to know that she was physically unharmed. However, her thoughts were scarred. Charles tried to make his touches on her mind soft, tried to put as much care as he could into it. Now wasn't the time to talk, but she had to know that he cared.

Charles, he's doing something, some sort of virus, Moira thought, It's causing the mutants' powers to flare up without their knowledge or control.

Charles thinned his lips. It certainly made sense.

Can you show me what he did, what he's doing now? he thought.

I'm drugged, but I can try, Moira said.

He smiled at her determination.

I'll be with you every step of the way, he thought, Just show me, and I'll see if I can help.

You're already here, she thought, That helps.

Scott ran forwards, jumping over soldiers and blasting any that got in his way. He'd been relieved to see that Jean was alright when he came in. She'd ripped the side of her dress up the side so she could move easier, and she'd disposed of her heels, but she was missing most of her equipment that came with the uniform, as well as the protection it provided. Once this was over he was sure that they would be able to get it back to her.

For now Ororo was with her, and he knew she would be fine. Alex had already talked to him about respecting Jean's status as an X-man, a woman who didn't need anyone to protect her. He had the feeling that she'd prompted the talk with Alex, used him as a medium for a message she didn't know how to express. So instead of pulling her into the Blackbird and out of danger Scott settled for giving her a relieved smile and having it returned.

The ropes gave him a slight burn as he slid down them, his gloves not quite protecting him. However, he managed to keep up with his brother. Alex had led the charge, like he always had. Both he and Magnetrix had gone for Sinister. Scott had followed, determined to find out how Sinister had survived.

He was close enough to see his brother go down along with Magnetrix, barely managing to stop before he plunged into the abyss as well. He reached down, unsure of what he wanted to do, but the floor closed up too fast.

He whipped his head up. Sinister put a small remote control back into his pocket.

"At least he's safely out of the way," Sinister said.

"What did you do?" Scott screamed.

Sinister turned to look at him and Scott put his hand to his goggles. Sinister laughed, putting his hands in his lab coat.

"Oh Scott," he said, "Don't you know that doesn't work? Didn't you learn anything?"

All around him Scott could hear the sounds of the fight. He squared his feet, his hand still on his goggles.

"I can certainly put you to some discomfort," he growled.

Sinister laughed.

"You can try," he said, "But the truth of the matter is you can't kill me. You've already given it your best shot. It wasn't bad, as murder attempts go."

He shrugged.

"As for your brother, he's fine," Sinister said.

"Why don't I believe you?" Scott said.

"Well, I'm telling the truth. I couldn't risk his contamination," he said, "One of you has to survive, and I've already set you aside for dissection."

Scott clenched his free hand into a fist. He angled his head down to the floor and turned the dial on his goggles. Light shot out of his visor, but it didn't do more than dent the floor. Scott paused. He'd burnt through metal before. He heard Sinister laugh as he shook his head. Scott looked up again, gritting his teeth.

"What did you do?" he said.

"Always with the same question," Sinister said, "You really thought that I would leave something like this to chance? It's far too important. I only had a week to prepare, but I knew that the X-men would be part of the equation sooner or later. The Brotherhood was a surprise, but what is life without some unknown variables?"

He shrugged.

"Nonetheless, I planned ahead, sculpted this place. Just a few tweaks here and there," he said, "It'll be fun watching you go through it."

"Right now it's just you and me," Scott said, "You're not going anywhere."

Sinister shook his head.

"You heroes never cease to surprise me, such predictable dialogue," he said, "Still, you're strong. It's why I have a human shield and a back-up plan."

He gestured behind him. For the first time Scott realized that Moira was slumped up against the wall, her eyes barely focused. It was obvious that she had been drugged, although there seemed to be a strange level of awareness there. Scott immediately felt guilty for not noticing her. He'd been far too focused on his brother to pay attention to much else.

Someone stepped up next to him. Scott turned his head slightly and saw a man a few years older than him, his brown hair coming down slightly below his chin.

"Where the hell is Magnetrix?" he snapped.

So he was Brotherhood member. A girl with blonde hair ran up, standing by the man. He supposed she was Brotherhood too. He could feel Warren's wings beating above him. He might not be able to kill Sinister, but together they could take him.

"Below," Sinister shrugged.

"Look, there's four people here who are willing to beat the shit out of you," the man said, "So you should start being a little more descriptive."

Sinister laughed again.

"Yes, you three and the Cheyarafim. What a terrible quartet," he said.

He shook his head.

"You must work on that delivery, all of you," he said, "You're rather unsurprising. The Cheyarafim is curious perhaps, but not frightening."

Scott furrowed his brow. He could tell that he wasn't the only one confused.

"The what now?" the blonde girl asked.

"Latin. Not a language you would know," Sinister said.

He pulled out the remote again.

"I selected this center for a reason," he said, "And, although I didn't have much time to prepare, I certainly had enough time to make arrangements, as I was just telling young Summers here. Have fun."

He flipped a switch. Scott expected the floor to do something, but instead a wall began to shift from the ceiling. The man rolled underneath it, but the blonde girl stared at it until it came down, trapping her away from her back-up. Scott didn't pay the wall much mind: he lunged straight for Sinister. He could hear Warren's wings flapping above him.

At least he had back up, although he knew that the rest of the X-men were too distracted to notice. They might have seen Alex drop, but the battle had heated up after that. They wouldn't have noticed the wall come down. Even if they saw it, they wouldn't know what it was for.

Sinister dodged and pulled a vial from the inside of his coat. He pulled off the stopper, releasing white gas into the air. Scott tried to hold his breath, but he knew that he didn't have much time. The gas made the room misty and Scott looked around for Sinister, his lungs burning.

He coughed and sucked in a breath, knowing that it was a bad idea but unable to help it. He was surprised to find that he didn't feel faint. Scott took another breath, but there didn't seem to be any adverse effects. He straightened, puzzled. Shrugging it off he began to look around, not moving from his spot.

"Archangel?" he called.

"I'm here," Warren said.

Although he couldn't see Warren, he knew that he was close by. He hadn't taken to the air, he would have stirred the smoke.

"The gas is fine," he said.

"I would never have guessed," Warren said, "Which means that Sinister's probably run off with Mrs. Xavier-"

Warren stopped abruptly. Scott turned, hearing a body fall to the ground.

"Archangel?" he called again.

From somewhere to his right he heard the blonde girl cry out. It was a brief noise, and it wasn't followed up by another. Scott touched his goggles again, feeling his heart rate increase. He waited, the muffled sounds of the battle close by through the wall. The mist was beginning to die down, but he wasn't going to take that for granted. Alex had always told him that doing so was the equivalent of handing himself over to his enemy.

Scott saw movement to his left. He dialed his power up a notch and sent out a blast from his goggles. The smoke cleared slightly, but nothing was there. Scott turned up his power another notch. He turned in all directions, bringing his power in a full circle. He kept the level of his eye beams up high: Moira had been close to the floor. He didn't want to hurt her. He saw the metal sheet of the wall bend beneath his goggles, but it still didn't break. Scott didn't have time to think about what that meant.

He tried to get something of the layout of the room from the way that it was illuminated by his eye beams. Scott still couldn't see much. He turned, still trying to find the shape that he had seen move. There wasn't any movement anywhere, and he took a cautious step backwards. As he did he felt something sharp stab into his ankle. A sharp pain travelled up his leg, sending him to the ground.

Scott's vision blurred and he saw Sinister get up, brushing himself off.

"That was certainly less fun than I thought," he said.

He looked down at Scott and smiled.

"But I do get an unexpected bonus," he said.

Scott snarled and tried to get up, but his arms failed him. Soldiers came into the room as banging started up on the metal wall from the outside.

Moira took a deep breath as soldiers came in and dragged away Warren, Scott, and the blonde girl. Sinister looked back at the metal wall that separated them from the rest of the X-men. She could see the metal begin to bend under the assault of the combined forces of the X-men and the Brotherhood. Charles showed her the scene from the other side.

"We need to move," Sinister said.

It's working, Charles thought.

She tried to smile, but the drugs kept her lips numbed. Sinister turned to face her, his eyes blank. He walked towards her and grabbed her chin, jerking her face upwards.

"Now, how would they know anyone's in here? I doubt that Lance, as I believe his name is, could rally the X-men. The boy's a twit," Sinister said, "So, engaging with a little mental bond with your husband are you?"

Moira-

"No matter," Sinister said.

He slammed her head into the wall. Moira felt pain shoot through her, her vision going.

"Can't read your thoughts if there isn't anything to read," Sinister said as Moira beganto lose consciousness.

Moira!