AN: I can prove with 100% certainty that women can make men physically sick just by being around them. I've been sick, as I've said to anyone who read to the last author's note. I'm still sick whenever I get around a certain woman who I have to deal with for another 8 weeks. I am also quite pleased to know that it would only cost a grand to knock her upside the head in assault. It would be worth it, too. Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or its property. I sold my share of the business to by brass knuckles with my name and BIATCH on them. Can't wait to try them out.

Chapter 7

When the Music Stops

The weekend. The shortest part of the week and oftentimes the busiest for people. Teenagers especially. Teenagers looking to party even more so. So finding one of many parties going on in the local area wasn't hard at all for someone who was practiced at keeping his ear to the ground. One party stood out among others. A huge, parentless house filled with kids from every local school with plenty of drinks, alcoholic and otherwise, and an actual DJ.

Luke smiled to himself behind his helmet as he sped down the road. He wasn't entirely sure where to go, but he knew that he'd find it. It was kinda hard to hide a party that was as big as Luke suspected it to be. Maybe he should've carpooled, but then he would miss the chance to ride his freakin' awesome bike. He'd only had it for a week, but he was still amazed by it. Donny had done a great job.

Donny was a low class mutant that worked as a mechanic down in Maryland. Luke had met him a while back on one of his jobs and the two had become regular customers. Whenever another mechanic would set up shop to close, Luke would go and bust the place up. Whenever Luke wanted to fix his bike up with things that weren't entirely legal, he would go to Donny. Donny also did the great decal on his bike too.

Xavier wasn't exactly pleased with Luke's almost secret trip or his sudden purchase of a motorcycle. Apparently being grounded meant more than just having to do extra chores like he had thought. It also meant that you couldn't go out and do whatever you wanted to with your free time. The man had let it slide since Luke had been living on his own for so long and really had never been grounded. But after said little side trip, the man never did specify that Luke couldn't go partying. And that was a loophole Luke was going to exploit.

The party was only 4 miles out from the Bayville city limits, tucked away in a nicer neighborhood. With a little overheard direction and luck, Luke had found the party before it had gotten going strong. Parking his bike way off to the side to prevent any accidents from toasted teenagers, Luke made his way around back to a fenced in pool. Most of the loud, thumping vibrant music was originating from. And when Luke opened the wooden gate to the party, he did indeed find it.

People were everywhere. Whether in the pool, loitering around, or on the balcony overlooking the party. And the music. The music was so loud. Loud, but not to the point that it made it sound bad. In fact, it sounded better than Luke heard it on the radio or through headphones.

'This is one good DJ. And at least he doesn't play crap like Lady Gaga, or not yet. I'm gonna leave as soon as he does.'

Looking around for a familiar face, he found one, but not one he wanted to see. Before he could hide in the crowd, she had already made her way over and started talking.

"Hey Luke! Is this a great party or what? But, like, what are you doing here? I thought the Professor grounded you?"

Kitty looked great for the party. She was dressed modestly though, or at least she was compared to other girls. Luke appreciated that, as he always found it so trashy when things were hanging out of clothes. But no matter how good she looked, Luke couldn't help but groan internally.

'Why does someone from the Institute have to be here? Wait, Kitty can't drive so that means that someone else drove her here. I wish thunder and lightning would just strike me down now.'

Just as he was about to reply, a dark woman appeared out of the crowd and asked "Yes, What exactly are you doing here, Luke?"

"Research. I'm checking out the locals to get a feel for the town. Trying to make a few friends. After all, I hardly know anyone at school asides from the muties."

The noise of the party drowned out all of the conversation from being heard by bystanders, but the look on Storm's face was enough to tell she wasn't happy with his wording.

"As enlightening as your 'research' is, I doubt Charles would approve of this, especially unsupervised."

Luke focused back on the party, watching some girl with a cup in her hand trip and fall into the pool. "That's what you're here for, Mrs. Ororo. To keep me and little Kitty here out of trouble while we party away our youth. If you want to, I'll even let you test me for any beer or booze. I intend on keeping this trip entirely clean and as a learning experience."

Yeah right. Luke was here to party and was going to ditch one if not both X-women as soon as he could. He had people to meet, posse groups to assign, and girls to categorize. Storm would definitely cramp that up, but maybe Kitty wouldn't.

"Hey Kitty, where's the punch at here? I'm parched."

The brown haired girl pointed at the open glass sliding doors, leading to what he assumed to be the living room of the house. Even more people were inside there, most actually dancing. Luke took one last look around, before realizing that the DJ wasn't set up around the pool. He was inside.

'How could he make the music sound so good out here when he's inside and there aren't any amps out here?'

Before he could think on it too much, he was already on his second glass of punch watching the dance floor. Unlike Virginia, where he had to listen to the occasional country song, this party was strictly hip-hop. No pop songs or Bieber hits. Just songs that Luke would actually listen to. After all, who couldn't listen to A Kiss and say Bangladesh is a genius? Preventing himself from doing something stupid, like rapping along with the song, Luke settled for drinking a lot more punch.

It wasn't till a thump on the ear got his attention on the ever creepy friendly smile of Terrence Owens. Rather than flinch back or jump at his rival's sudden presence, Luke denied his enemy the pleasure of getting the drop on him. Instead, he quirked an eyebrow and asked "I thought you weren't the crowd type, Terrence? Don't tell me that you've turned into a party person and we've never gone partying together before?"

"The reason why is because of how gay you made it sound with that last statement of yours."

"Oh bite me, Terrence. We all know that I'm the only one out of the two of us that's ever had a girlfriend."

"She was paying you to. And who needs a girlfriend? They would just get in my way."

Luke sighed and stared out into the crowd, looking over all the girls that seemed to have a good time, regardless of present company. "True enough."

"The music's pretty good." This surprised Luke more than anything else in this situation. More than the fact Terrence was at a party, he wasn't ripping Luke's limbs off, and was playing nice.

"You like rap? I didn't think you liked anything!"

The smile merely widened before the ass shot back "I enjoyed your mom last night. But no I don't particularly like rap. I just think this is good."

Luke didn't let the insult faze him a second before he shot back as well "You probably weren't the only one."

If Terrence was surprised that Luke bagged on his own mom, he didn't show it. Instead he merely pointed into the crowd and asked "Isn't she one of the girls from your little team? The one Lance likes?"

Watching Kitty weave her way around everyone else on the dance floor with a surprising amount of footwork and grace, Luke just nodded and said "Yeah she might be. But she's gotta be jailbait for him though. She's only recently 16 or something like that. Why do you care?"

The fact that Terrence knew anything about his housemates' interest in girls was interesting in itself. As long as he had known him, Terrence had only enjoyed making himself looking good and everyone else look bad. Unless he had changed lately, Luke never would've thought that he would care about his Brotherhood.

"So what are you doing here Terrence? You can't be here to kill anyone, or the party would already be in a panic. You aren't here to steal anything, or you never would've showed yourself to me. You aren't here to fight me or you would've just snapped my neck with one of your freaky kicks. What in the world would you be hired to do at a party like this?"

"I'm not being paid for this. It's an order to watch over two targets. As much as I hate doing things for Mystique, she has proven to be helpful. She even arranged for a new house to be built for us."

Luke could care less about the house. The fact that Terrence had just now gotten around to blackmailing his new boss into building a better place for him and his team was expected. No one should have to live in those kinds of conditions. But two targets? Maybe there were two developing mutants here, which would explain Storm and Kitty's presence here. Luke decided to change topic, as any further questions wouldn't be answered.

"So how are the housemates holding up? They don't seem like very hygienic people, to say the least. And I'm sure you've started whipping them into shape."

The ever-friendly face of Terrence quirked a bit, which startled Luke. Was Terrence not top dog at the Brotherhood? That was the only thing Luke could question with his reaction to the last question.

"They are… a lazy sort. The kind that will never be motivated to truly do anything with themselves. So I've been working on my own. Lance seems fine with keeping it that way. And as far as the house cleaning, Toad knows that he will either mop the floor properly, or with his tongue."

That sounded more like Terrence. Controlling everyone around him that was weaker. He would have it no other way unless he encountered someone stronger than himself. A nudge to his side prompted Luke to glance at what the offending appendage was pointing to. Kitty.

"She's looking for you. Are you trying to avoid her?"

Luke shook his head no, wondering what Terrence would've done otherwise. Suddenly, the music that had been lingering in the background of Luke's mind was shut off, much to his displeasure. He heard a microphone pick up, then a new voice speak up over the room's chatter.

"Sorry for interrupting the music folks, but I'll be back in five. Until then, enjoy the punch and try to stay out of trouble."

The mike was put down and the DJ walked away from his board, the only equipment Luke could see set up. Glancing over at his searching teammate and taking note of her white-haired shadow, he left his post asking "Keep them busy for me, would you? I get the feeling I'm not going to like what they're gonna tell me."

Not bothering to listen for a non-existent reply, Luke slipped back into the crowd, one of his favorite disguises, and made his way to where he assumed the bathroom was. That punch was moving through him like a train at the station. Finding it was easy enough, but what was waiting on the other side was much more complicated.

Opening the door, Luke had to stop and think for a second before shutting the door behind him. It sounded as if he had just stepped into a huge Youtube collage. He heard sounds, bits and pieces of words and lines from movies, songs, or anywhere. Each floated in the air for a second, only to be instantly replaced by another.

And in a moment, it was all gone. The sounds collapsed and were no more. Luke was breathless for a moment, only for it to be ended by the flushing of a toilet. Out of the corner came the DJ, fixing his belt back into place. Taking one look at Luke's face, the teen's turned sour.

Luke hardly had a moment's thought before a deep, sickeningly dead voice echoed in the room, saying "You won't tell anyone what you heard in here. Understand?"

Rather than be intimidated by the freaky voice, Luke just looked over the mutant before him and held out his hand. The DJ was a dark 17 year old, standing around 5'10 and wore a simple graphic tee and blue jeans. He would pass as a perfectly normal, average person if Luke passed him on the street. But his voice spoke of a multitude of reasons why he wasn't. The DJ hadn't moved a muscle when he talked.

Luke had seen his fair share of Jeff Dunham, so he knew that even the best of ventriloquist had to move something to make sound. This guy didn't. And the multitude of sounds that he made earlier weren't possible by the human voice alone, especially not just one.

"You're pretty impressive. I've never meet a mutant who could manipulate sound. So how do you do it?"

The DJ was taken back for a second, but took his time answering, contemplating every word.

"Mutant? You mean you've meet others that can do things like this? I thought I had a disease. And all I know is that when I think, the music comes out. I have to hold it back so no one hears all of it."

Nodding his head, Luke decided to introduce himself. He had figured out what Kitty, Storm, and Springload were doing here. He may as well help with his team's mission.

"I'm a mutant too. Luke Hensley. I can't do anything like you can, but I go to a school of sorts to help kids like us control ourselves. It's called the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters or something like that. I use to have the card, but I lost it. They've done a lot for me and if you want to, I'm sure they could help you out to."

"Help? How could they help? It's all just a constant battle of self-restraint with me. What could they do to fix that?"

"The owner of the School, Professor Xavier, is a telepath. If anyone can help you find control of yourself, it's him. He'll have to go through your head a little, but if it's peace you're looking for, then that's your guy. I've heard word that he's one of the strongest mutants in the world."

The DJ, who had yet to name himself, shook Luke's hand but told him "I don't need any training or therapy. I've made it fine without help so far. I'm getting better at letting it out in control. It's how I play music. That board is nothing more than a prop. The only real equipment I have is my recording stuff back home."

"You record? I bet you could make a lot of hits with as versatile as your sounds are. You could give anyone in the game a run for their money."

A scoff was met at this. "Not likely. No one will hire or sign a guy that's mute. I can't use my vocal cords because of a birth complication, but now I can make it sound like my own voice when I move my mouth. It took a while to practice, but I've mostly got it covered."

And he did. Until he pointed it out, it looked as if the DJ was genuinely speaking.

"So what's your name? I'd hate not knowing what to address you as if you ever needed my help for anything."

"Darius Johnson. A lot of my friends and family just call me-"

"DJ. You've got to be kidding me. You're a DJ for hire, the perfect DJ by mutation, and a DJ by initials. How ironic. Did you ever want to be anything asides a DJ?"

"Nope."

"Then it's official. You were born to be a DJ. The best one I've ever heard."

"Uh, thanks I guess. But I got to get back out to the party. The crowd will riot without any music to keep them in line."

With that, the newly learned of mutant stepped back outside. Luke proceeded to do his own business, but he made sure to actually lock the door. After washing his hands and splashing himself with some water to cool off, he dried and went back out to the party. But something felt off. There was no loud noise coming from a crowd. There was no vibration on the floor from dancing. There wasn't any music playing either.

His gut settling heavy, Luke ventured out into the main area and found that the crowd was all gathered around in a circle over a person lying on the ground. Making his way through with a couple of sharp elbows and apologies, he found someone he wouldn't have thought to be passed out at a party.

"Storm?"

Kitty was already kneeling beside her, trying to coax her into regaining consciousness, but the woman was completely out. Already there were whispers flying about the woman's health and welfare. Kitty was in near tears trying to awake the woman, until she felt a firm hand on her shoulder.

"What happened here, Kitty? Take a deep breath and explain slowly."

The girl took a moment to catch her breathe, and as slowly as she could with all of her hormones all over the place, she explained "Me and Storm were just out here looking for you. It's tie for us to go home, or that's what she said. I was still dancing a little and Storm was out here with me and all of a sudden she just collapses. No one around her saw anything and she won't wake up. What are we gonna do?"

Luke eased on arm underneath his teacher's back and lugged her upright and carried her firemen style.

"Where did you two park?"

Kitty led the way as the crowd parted and began shuffling off to their own vehicles, the party mood ruined. The X-van had been parked towards the end of the drive, but Ororo was surprisingly light and easy to carry, and it was only easier when Luke lightened her body weight with his powers. He'd have to add those back later so it didn't throw off her coordination. Setting her down in the backseat and buckling her in as best he could, he dug through her pockets but didn't find what he was looking for.

"Do you know where she put her keys at?"

Kitty shook her head no, but her eyes brightened up and she dug into her own little purse, pulling out a jangling set of keys.

"She gave them to me since she didn't think she would keep up with them in the party."

"Alright good. Now I need you to call the Professor and tell him what happened. Tell him to prep the med bay for a neck injury and that he may want to scan it or something."

"Why tell him that? And how is she gonna get from here to the mansion?"

"Terrence was here, so this is probably his handy work. And you're gonna have to drive her. I'm not legally allowed to drive anyone asides myself, thanks to my special license. So it's up to you. You've got the 21 and older restriction taken off, haven't you?"

A nod of her head caused Luke to grin. Turning away from her, he tossed over his shoulder "Keep it under 60 in the curves!"

Dropping his grin, he headed back inside to see if the culprit was still prowling around. He was. He was still leaned up in the same spot by the punch bowl. The room had been deserted by now, with all the party goers heading home and the resident party host was outside cleaning the place up. DJ was folding up his equipment into a rectangular shaped case and getting ready to leave. Before Terrence could go after his second target, Luke walked up to him and grabbed him by the shoulder, shoveling on weight as fast as he could.

"Why did you knock Storm out? What purpose did that serve to you or Mystique?"

Terrence hardly seemed effected by the weight at all and simply shrugged and with his ever-present friendly tone, he replied "It cleared out the party, didn't it? It was her or Kitty. And I'd imagine that it would be pretty hard to hit a girl that can turn intangible. But I've heard a thing or two about how you did. Punched her right in the face and gave her a bloody nose."

"Shut up. You didn't knock Storm out just to clear out the room. You did it to make a point to the rest of the X-men. And now you're gonna try to mess with DJ. Good luck with that. He definitely had higher standards than being some over-the-hill principal's lackey like you Brotherhood rejects."

"You seem to misunderstand, Luke. DJ was not my second target. My second target was you. I was supposed to keep you tied up here until the Brotherhood had accomplished goals elsewhere freely. Mystique has deemed you to be quite a thorn in our side, with or without your little team. And now that they are done, I'll call it a night. DJ will be another pawn in Mystique's hand by morning."

Luke let go of his rival's shoulder and turned away, following the departing DJ back to his car. The smug look on Terrence's face had Luke worried about the musical mutant's health and wellbeing. Making his presence obvious, Luke made sure he had the teen's attention before talking.

"Since this party was dampened and cut off early, I didn't get a chance to really see you perform. We should exchange numbers so you can let me know whenever you DJ again. You were really good tonight and we have pretty similar taste in music."

Maybe that wasn't coming across wrong. He didn't want to panic the guy or worry him to death. It would be a turn off from the school if it seemed as if Luke was stalking him. But the teen merely grunted and dug out his phone and they swapped numbers. After that, the two parted, with Luke heading to his motorcycle and DJ heading home in his car.

The trip home wasn't supposed to be a long one, but a sudden hankering for a milkshake caused Luke to forsake the quick way home in favor of hitting the town. It also gave him time to try out his newest illegal addition to his bike. Most motorcycles don't have a radio, let alone a CD player, but Donnie had fixed him up good. None of that was illegal thought. The hidden compartments that were installed to shuffle the CD's around were legal too. But the built in headphones that Luke could listen to while driving wasn't. The chip probably would be questioned too. It was a minor thing, but it made all the difference to Luke.

Arriving at Sonic and placing his order, Luke felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Fishing it out, he saw it was DJ.

'Already? Did something happen to him?'

When he answered, he could tell right away that something had happened and that DJ hadn't meant to call Luke. The sound of his voice was off, as if barely holding onto signal strength on a weak radio. It altered and shifted, changing from an infinite arsenal of other voices mingling in and out. It was unnerving.

"Hello? DJ? What's up man? Did something happen?"

"Uh yeah, man. I meant to call the police but I hit your number cause it was the first thing that popped up. It was an accident man, sorry."

"What happened? Anything I can help with?"

"Nah man, my house got broken into. Nothing you can do about it. Don't worry about it."

"Don't write me off so quickly. I may be able to help you out after all. What all got taken?" Luke already had a feeling that the Brotherhood was somehow involved. Who knew what those idiots had done?

"My recording studio down in the basement was all that got trashed. Someone knew I had it down there and messed it all up. The place is ruined. I'm gonna have to replace everything."

"Is there anything there that isn't supposed to be? Anything off about the room? A bad smell, cracks in the walls and ceiling, stains?"

A silence was heard over the phone, but then DJ answered back "Yeah there are these weird rocks scattered around coming out of the floor. Most of them are tiny, but some of them are pretty big. You don't think it was another one of us, do you? But why? They didn't take anything asides my recording stuff. They broke everything else and left it here."

Luke had already backed out of his park, wheeling out of the parking lot and leaving tire tracks.

"Listen, DJ, whatever you do, do not call the police until I say so. I think I know who took your recording equipment. Gimme a couple of hours and I should have it back. If not, then call the cops and I'll apologize for wasting your time."

DJ agreed after a second and hung up, leaving Luke silence to focus on getting where he was going, without his much wanted milkshake. Chocolate would've been so good right now.

Cruising through Bayville was a lot easier than Luke thought it would be. It must've been the lack of traffic that Luke was used to dealing with. It made getting around nicer. No one would flip him off or shake their fist at him whenever he swerved through lanes and tight spots. So after 30 minutes or so off driving around near aimlessly, Luke found his way to a two story home hidden off in the burbs. It was a light colored house in good condition, obviously well kept if Luke could notice it in the middle of the night. Parking his motorcycle across the street and walking quietly across the sleepy neighborhood, Luke began checking over his shoulders to see if anyone was watching. No lights were on in any nearby houses, no TV's were heard, nothing to indicate that anyone was awake.

'This neighborhood sucks! Who would want to live in a neighborhood where nobody stays up past eleven o'clock? It's so boring!'

This did make things easier for Luke, however. There was nobody to sneak around hide from. Making his way over the fence surrounding his target house in a single boosted jump, Luke checked his surroundings yet again. He was still in the clear. There wasn't a dog in the yard or anything like that, thankfully. Dogs always made things impossible.

Glancing inside a window, Luke saw what looked like a nice living room. Empty. The next room was the kitchen. Deserted as well. Making his way behind the house, Luke checked on last room. Looked like a laundry room. What the hell was that hanging up in there?

Turning away quickly and fighting the blood burning his face up, Luke looked up at the second story. That was more than likely were he needed to look. But how to get up there? Jumping up there would surely wake the occupants of the house up, unless they were particularly heavy sleepers. Luke glanced around, hoping to see something he could climb up, and then remembered something. He could just climb the wall!

Placing his hand on the brick and mortar, Luke began pulling on it with his powers, just enough to support himself on and not enough to disrupt the wall. Making sure his grip was firm, Luke pulled himself up and grabbed the wall with his other hand, pulling on it. Letting his other grip go loose, he began to scale the wall in his old fashioned way. This was much less trying on his muscles than jumping and how he originally snuck into buildings before he learned how to boost his jumps.

Getting to the proper height, Luke began checking out the windows on this floor. The first one was a bedroom, presumably the master bedroom judging by the size, occupied by a sleeping man, who looked to be in his forties and was snoring loudly. The next one was a bathroom that was empty of life. And the third window showed him what he was looking for.

Opening the window was easy. The lock on the other side of the frame followed along with the simple crook of the sneaky teen's finger. Sliding it up was more troublesome, mostly because of the sound, but it didn't wake any of the house's residents. Once inside, he closed the window and examined his point of entry. The room was painted a light green, littered with all sorts of books, DVD cases and clothes on every available dresser space. A standing mirror filled the corner along with a computer and desk tucked away to one side of the room. A swivel chair sat in front of the desk and Luke took his place in the comfy seat. The bed took up the majority of the room, with a small lamp stand on its far side. The bed's user was still oblivious to this all, cuddled up inside the all of the blankets.

Tapping his finger on the swivel chair's arm, Luke thanked Jefferson in his mind and began letting out small pushes that slowly woke the teenage girl from her slumber. At first, she blearily opened her eyes and rolled over. But reality caught up with her and she snapped up, ready to scream only to find her jaw unmoving.

"Calm down, calm down. Quit panicking, it's only me. Breathe in and out slowly."

Letting her jaw go from his invisible grip after a few seconds for her to relax, he was instantly greeted with a harsh whisper of "What the hell do you think you're doing here! It's practically midnight and here you are breaking into my room! What the hell is wrong with you? Couldn't you have called or whatever at a decent hour?"

"It's important. And you didn't answer when I threw pebbles at your window, oh fair maiden. No wait, I'm sure Juliet didn't complain when Romeo risked his life to come see her."

"Juliet loved Romeo."

"Now that's harsh. And here I thought we were moving past friends pretty quickly."

"You wish. No get out of my room before I scream and wake the whole neighborhood up."

"You won't."

"And why is that?"

"You don't have your watch on."

She glared at him after that, trying to burn holes through him with her vision. Sadly, her mutation didn't allow that. Her ultimatum had collapsed before it had even really been given room to grow and she was left without any real bargaining tool.

"What do you want? I'm tired and stressed, so I really need to go back to sleep."

He ignored her question for a moment to comment on one extremely important detail. "Nice nightgown. I didn't think people still wore those anymore. But I want to know why you set Terrence up as my date for the party. You would've done a much better job of keeping me entertained and distracted than he would've."

Pulling her covers over herself better, she shot back as sternly as she could with a whisper "Quit staring you perv! Didn't you learn the first day at school? And this is why Mystique sent him instead of me. I'm sitting here talking to you instead of trying to kill you dead as a doornail. Mystique doesn't want me to have anything to do with you if I can't use it for the Brotherhood's gain. She chewed me out forever for not going in with you at the mansion the other day."

"That must suck. At least you aren't grounded, whatever that's supposed to be. Xavier has me doing double sessions in the DR until I can think more team oriented and put the mansion first or something like that."

"Your team trains? The only person who does that with us is Terrence. He goes to some stupid gym every afternoon for a couple of hours. I go over to the shack to practice myself and to give Rouge some company. She's a real oddball."

"She's a freak. She's more than one person upstairs, you know. You know what she does with her powers. Having all those people trapped in her head is gonna make her crazier than Mystique one of these days and I don't want to even think about what could happen if she does."

"I suppose you precious Professor could fix that?" If she could've been any snider then Luke would've hit her upside the head.

"I'd bet on it. But I'm here for DJ's stuff back, the recording equipment. He's gonna be pretty pissed if I don't get it back to him in an hour or so. And then the cops will get involved. Nobody wants the cops involved, right?" His purpose was clear now, and she would cave in immediately and Luke could settle this problem for the night and go home to a comfy bed and sleep. Right?

"Who's DJ? And what recording equipment? I spent the afternoon growing crystals for Mystique. She said something about wanting to sell them. Then she and the boys all went out to do something. I didn't ask because I didn't want to go or get involved. So you think they stole something from this DJ guy? Who is he?"

Perplexed, Luke began throwing the puzzle pieces around in his head and cryptically replied "A mutant and my new favorite DJ."

'She's either lying to me or this whole thing stinks of a mastermind pulling the strings. If I assume she isn't lying, then that means Mystique planted the crystals in DJ's room after she got his stuff. But why? Why would she leave evidence that could be linked back to Crystal? I'm the only one outside of the Brotherhood who could identify Crystal's powers, so she left them for bait to lead me here. It was only by chance that DJ called me and told me, so there is no way she could know that Iknow. So this is a set-up and I'm screwed, or Crystal's lying. Either way I need to leave. I can't get a location on DJ's stuff from her anyways.'

Standing up, Luke began wondering what he could do or where to go. "If you had to guess, where would Mystique put the equipment at? Not in her room again if I broke in the last time. So where does that leave?"

"Why don't you ask me yourself?"

If only the window wouldn't have been closed, Luke could've got away clean. Or at least, he hoped he could've. Turning around after recovering from his startled jump that he was pretending never happened, Luke was met by the blue-skinned form of Mystique.

"You replaced DJ while I took Storm to the car, didn't you? That explains everything now. How did I miss that?"

"The fact that you're clever enough to deduce what you have is impressive. I doubt that anyone your age would've come close to figuring this out. My team could never have put this together. It's a shame that the head on your shoulders and the power hidden in your body is wasting away behind those mansion walls? What's Charles got you doing today? Cleaning pots and pans? Amanda's offer to you still holds, you know. It would be a nice change for once to have someone around me who isn't incompetent, as your 'teachers' at the Institute would have you think. Your mind is the most astounding thing about you, if I say so myself. Asides your tremendous powers, of course."

A small part of Luke, buried deep in his repressed consciousness called out for him to stop thinking of ways to escape and resist and just give. The shape shifter had a manner of speaking that feed that part of him, making him ache with the desire to just collapse and quit. To do the easy thing and stop following all the rules. She was gifted with the tongue, he could give her that. But he knew he couldn't work for her. He wasn't a pawn under Xavier, and he had no desire to be one under her.

"So you left behind a trail for me to follow and I did so perfectly. Now what? Are you gonna try to persuade me not to go find DJ or his stuff? Do you think you can stop me?"

Bluffing had never been one of Luke's strong points, but he was stalling for time in the first place. He just needed the perfect excuse to wave his arm around a little and he would be gone. A single motion would have Mystique knocked back, giving him time for the second and third motion. The second to open the window and the third jumping out of said window, preferably commando style. Even in bad situations he had to look cool for the girls (or in this case, girl).

Her gaze firmed and she began to watch him more closely, inspecting every move and motion he made. She wasn't underestimating his abilities. This was both a good and a bad thing. Good because she obviously had belief in his abilities that he could pull it off. Bad because she was expecting it. Crystal had stayed quiet the entire time, hiding behind her covers as best she could. He didn't blame her. She was the perfect bait and had played her part unknowingly. She probably felt terrible about it too.

"You're too cocky right now for my taste. I believe we can beat that out of you and you'll warm up to things much quicker. Unless you want to just give in now?"

"Who's 'we'? Unless you brought the whole crew of idiots you have, then I'm still walking out of here."

Again, Luke was stalling. He was trying to get her to reveal the underlings' location so they couldn't surprise them. The fact that he knew of their presence was her slip of the tongue, a big mistake. She would regret giving that info up.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten about her? Amanda's been here longer than I have and she's been doing such a good job too. The entire time you've been talking, she's been encasing your feet and legs in crystal so firm that you could never break it. You've already lost here Luke. So say good night."

Luke's head instinctively whipped down to see that his legs, in fact, were indeed covered in crystals. Amanda had a grim expression on her face when he caught her eye, but the sparkle in them cried out 'I'm sorry!' Luke wanted to forgive her, but then darkness overcame him.

AN: Ok, so things are still hanging off of the Grand Canyon Cliffside. The stakes have been raised and the questions are on the table. Who's gonna go home with the new mutant who's been kidnapped? What the hell is going on with Luke and Amanda's relationship? And will Luke ever get that Chocolate milkshake from Sonic? I might get around to answering at least one of those questions next chapter. And for those of you who worry about the Ocs' and their sizeable role in the story, don't worry. I'm thinkin' that rosters are going to be filled for both teams soon enough. But when you have so many characters like I do, it's an unending argument as to which ones would fit better where.

As for my personal life, thank you for asking, I'm doing fine. I'm still dealing with a few things here and there, mostly on and off things in English. I've also made a number of startling discoveries about myself. 1. I talk to myself more that any other person. 2. I talk to my dog more than anyone else in my house of 5. 3. I haven't gone anywhere on the weekends with friends or had time off to screw around since before Christmas. No lie. It's amazing I'm not anti-social at this point. But for those of you who care and haven't skipped this part of the others note (You probably should've) I appreciate your sympathy. Leave a review telling me how sucky your life is too.

My beta hasn't proofread this chapter yet, so if there are any errors, then it's still his fault, not mine. Chapter Title is an Eminem ft. D12 song from the Eminem Show. Character props go to my iPod stereo for inspiring DJ. And I want to thank HMMaster, who's stories have kept me focused on this story instead of other things, like L4D2. Thanks and R&R. Big Willis out.