Disclaimer: Well… my attempts to use Pyro's powers have left me slightly burned… is that a third degree burn on my arm?! I also feel the need to stay away from any kind of water…

A/N: I am so sorry for the lateness of this chapter… I have so much shit on my plate lately that it's been really hard to find time to post this, including homework, papers, projects, exams, and so much stuff that my mind feels like it's going to explode! Before that happens, enjoy this chapter!

"…"- conversation

'…'- thoughts

(…)- extra facts/actions (some)

((…))- author's/my own thoughts

'blah…' -telepathy/what people say mentally

Chapter 44: Battle between Two Celestial Beings, Quicksilver, Colossus, and Mastermind

Hallway #23, Asteroid Evolution, Orbit of the Moon, Milky Way Galaxy- May 16, 9:15 PM

Jason and Piotr stared in openmouthed shock at the two creatures that were before them, one of them obviously female, the other male, both with wings and tails. The male snarled at the two intruders and raised his claw, which had nails that suddenly extended to stop at the edge of Piotr and Jason's throats, razor-sharp.

Just as the creature was about to ram his nails into the two mutants' throats, his snarl faded and was replaced with one of embarrassment. He retracted his nails and helped the female to her feet, then got into a fighting stance.

"Vhat are you?" asked Piotr slowly, trying to convince his mind that the female in front of him was not his crush Kitty Pryde, if only because she didn't look like the woman at all.

"We are mutants, like you, except that we are evolved mutants," replied the purple creature as she stepped forward, a claw offered in friendship. Piotr's eyes widened, and he quickly back-stepped, almost stumbling into Pietro, who had just arrived and was just staring at the green creature that looked vaguely familiar.

Kitty frowned; she could sense that Piotr didn't trust her and she knew she shouldn't be surprised, but damn, it still hurt. 'Lance, we need to do something to convince them that we are not the bad guys in this scenario; we are the good guys and they are too.'

'I know… maybe my plan'll work,' replied Lance as he took a deep breath and stepped forward, causing a small tremor to run under Pietro's feet. The pale-skinned speed demon's eyes widened as he finally knew why the creature was familiar— it was his best friend.

"Lance, buddy, please don't tell me that's you," Pietro whispered fearfully as he took a step towards his best friend; or rather, sometimes best friend.

"It's me, Speedy, and this was caused by your father's henchman Sabretooth.," Lance said, a frown marring his face.

Just as Pietro was about to reply, Piotr pushed him aside roughly in his metal form. "You are an impostor; Katchya would never become such a hideous beast!"

Piotr threw a punch at the purple creature, but was surprised to find himself stumbling when he missed his target. He felt a magnetic field take hold of him, and felt the metal being forced to retract into his body. Piotr screamed in pain and fell to his knees, heavily panting. Jason blinked, thinking he had just seen an illusion, but then realized that he had indeed seen the purple creature speed out of Piotr's range, and the green creature cast a magnetic field over the Russian mutant.

"Pietro, listen to me…" began Lance, but was quickly forced back when Pietro sped into him, ramming him into the wall behind him.

"Why should I? You lied to me… you make it seem like you don't care about me, no matter how many times I try to convince you that I worked with my father to protect you, and yet you never forgive me or give me any leniency. You are the true traitor to the Brotherhood and not me! At-least-I-don't-fall-in-love-with-an-X-Geek-and-do-anything-I-can-to-win-her-affections;-even-if-it-means-abandoning-the-only-family-I-have-ever-really-known!" Pietro had tears coming out of his eyes as he kept punching Lance in the chest, tearing at the uniform, shredding it to pieces in the process, along with ripping the earth shaker's helmet off and throwing it to the ground. Lance hung his head, waiting for his chance to retaliate.

Kitty, meanwhile, had her hands on her forehead and was trying to battle Jason and bring his defenses down so she could knock him out cold. Jason couldn't believe it— this was one of the hardest battles he had ever fought. Jason could feel the sweat trickling down his forehead and into his eyes, but he didn't blink, knowing that if he did he would lose.

"Please listen to us! Magneto's using you; everyone here's in real danger… he's back…" screamed Kitty as she tried to win the battle against Jason, but suddenly felt her mind turn blank as her eyes rolled back in her head. She fell to the ground, unconscious, and Piotr took a mutation inhibition collar from the bookshelf in the room, activating it as he placed it on her neck so that Kitty wouldn't be able to use her powers.

"Kitty!" Lance screamed as he saw his girlfriend fall unconscious, and his eyes began to glow a dangerous green. The metal in the room began to glow the same color as Lance's eyes and began flying towards the speed demon. Pietro noticed his friend's eye color but didn't think anything of it until he heard Jason yelling to turn around. When Pietro did, he was hit by a collection of CDs, causing him to stop punching Lance to hold his nose, which was now bleeding profusely. Lance took the opportunity to fire more metal objects at the speed demon, while at the same time using his telepathy to knock Jason out cold. Like Kitty, Lance didn't sense Piotr behind him until it was too late and Piotr, who had his two fists together, hit Lance in the back of his head. Lance fell to his knees, his eyes returning to their chocolate brown color, and he mouthed Kitty's name before falling unconscious. Piotr took out another mutant inhibition collar and snapped it around Lance's neck a little more roughly than he had with Kitty, and activated it.

"My god-how-in-the-world-did-they-get-so-strong?" asked Pietro, his voice sounding like he had inhaled some helium because of the high pitch, caused by his broken nose.

Piotr shook his head and replied, "I don't know, comrade. But, however they got like this it appears they will not be returning to normal soon." Piotr gestured to the two mutants, who were still in their creature forms, even with their mutation inhibition devices on.

"Will you imbeciles get me out of here?!" hissed Raven from her position on the bed. The three mutants hadn't seen her during the fight.

Piotr shrugged and walked over to the shape-shifter, snapping the metal bonds in half without a problem. Raven smirked evilly, and quickly changed into three small rhinos, but with adult-sized horns. Each rhino snorted at a mutant and charged. Jason, having come out of his unconscious state just a minute ago, hadn't had a chance to recover from Lance's psychic blast and was hit dead on. Pietro used his speed to get away, but the rhino simply sped up and rammed the speed demon in the back, causing him to land on his stomach and bruise a couple of ribs. Piotr armored up, caught Raven by the horns, and picked her up, the rhino's eyes wide in shock. He then body-slammed her to the ground, and thought he had won, but was caught in another magnetic field. He looked at the door, and saw a pissed-off Erik. Raven had disappeared.

"What in the hell is going on here?!" roared Erik as he surveyed the scene. He saw Pietro and Jason out cold, Piotr in his magnetic field, and two creatures were on the ground. Wait… creatures?! Erik released Piotr, who was now gasping for breath. He turned over the purple creature, and saw to his utmost surprise the phaser Shadowcat. He then flipped the green creature over and saw it was Avalanche—the traitor. Just as Erik was about to walk out of the hallway like nothing had happened, he felt Apocalypse enter his head and give him orders to take all five mutants to cells. Erik nodded in acquiescence, and fashioned a metal stretcher, upon which he loaded the now conscious Piotr, trapped in another magnetic field, the two creatures, and Jason. He carried Pietro in his arms, noting the broken nose and the quickly drying blood on his face. Erik felt love and compassion well up for his son; his only son whom he had treated like dirt ever since he was six. He quickly squashed the emotions as he left the cell, his son in his arms and the other four mutants following him on the metal stretcher.