I do not own the X men. And I am sorry that I have not updated in a while.

X Chapter 5X

Bobby scrambled up the stairs. He panted, realizing that he was nearly at the 2nd floor at last. The stairs were nearly never-ending.

Bobby looked up to see Logan and John walking up the stairs easily. Logan had his hands in his pockets and John's arms were crossed. A cold scowl was fixed on Logan's face while a smug and indifferent look was on John's.

"Hey, guys, wait for me!" Bobby yelled, racing up the steps. Logan and John turned around, Logan with a sigh.

"There's an elevator," Logan said, his voice emotionless.

"Then why are you on the stairs?" Bobby asked, confused. "Wouldn't you want the elevator?"

"Not for me," John scoffed. "There are too many people and the fan-girls will probably chase me to the tenth floor."

"Oh. Of course," Bobby muttered sarcastically. "How could I forget?"

They reached the destined floor and walked through the hallway. They then spotted their classrooms.

"Later," Logan called, entering Room 16. A few doors down the hall, Bobby spotted Room 10.

"There it is!" Bobby exclaimed.

"Yes." John walked towards Room 10.

"Hi! You got here the same time we did," Kitty called. Bobby looked up and flashed a grin at her. But in his mind he was thinking, How on earth will I corner her and kill her? She's tougher than I expected.

Rogue gave them a smile too but John ignored her, opening the door.

"Hello, boys," their teacher, Mr McCoy, looked up from his desk. Then he spotted Rogue and Kitty. "Welcome, girls. Early as always."

Kitty and Rogue shrugged and tossed down their bags at the middle front seat. They were sitting next to each other.

"Would you two boys like to seat beside each other or separate?" Mr McCoy asked.

John and Bobby exchanged a look. Neither wanted to sit beside the other, but it would be better than sitting beside some crazy fan-girl. An unspoken message passed between brown eyes and black as they made their decision.

"That seat," Bobby said, pointing at the empty two-seat right behind Kitty and Rogue.

Mr McCoy wrote it down in his book and nodded. "Go ahead."

"Scared of fan-girls, aren't you?" Rogue teased, turning around to face them.

"Not a chance!" Bobby protested. Then a crowd of flashy fan-girls entered the room and squealed as they saw him. Bobby cringed, "Or maybe a little." John rolled his eyes.

"Oh my gosh!" a girl squealed to another. "You have a class with The John?" The girl being spoken to nodded excitedly and the whole crowd squealed in envy.

"How would they know?" Rogue exclaimed, looking shocked.

"They're stalkers – duh," Kitty replied, taking out her science book.

"Good point," Rogue muttered, grabbing her own book out.

"I still think it's hilarious how those girls became fans in just one night," Kitty mused to Rogue.

"I know! It's like news spread like wildfire or something!" Rogue agreed.

Bobby held back a laugh. News travelled faster than a wildfire when they were around.

"These girls are getting irritating," John grumbled, flipping open to the page that Hank had put up on the board. By that time, Kitty and Rogue had turned back to the front and weren't paying attention to the boys.

"Don't you just wish you could slash 'em all," Bobby agreed, fingering the sheathed penknife in his pocket.

"You better not," John sighed. "We could get pinpointed in a minute."

"Darn," Bobby complained. He looked outside at the window, down to the Gardens. "Man, do I wish I was there instead of stuck in science…"

"Wishing gets nothing done," Kitty said dryly from in front of them. "Now focus and maybe the days will go faster."

"Yes ma'am!" Bobby said cheekily, causing Kitty to sigh and lightly blush. Rogue laughed and of course, John just smirked.

"This is so darn annoying!" Scott growled, throwing his pencil down in disgust. They were in math class and they were just given a four-page worksheet to work on.

"I know what you mean," Jean grumbled, writing down her work on the side. Oh yeah-they had to show all of their work too.

"C'mon, this is easy," Ororo laughed.

"Wait until you get to Language Arts, Rogue," Jean shot back. "Anyways, it's just tedious, not hard."

"I agree about the tedious and it is annoying," Logan added.

"One of the worst," Ororo agreed. "But–"

"Are you going to work or complain?" their teacher, Miss Leithead, asked with amusement, coming over.

"Work!" Jean said quickly, bending over the paper and writing lightning-fast. "Hey, this is easy!"

"Really?" Ororo looked at the fourth page. "Whoa! You're right, this is easy!"

Logan and Scott exchanged an amused look before calculating once more.

Bobby's POV

"Well, science was fun," Rogue remarked, walking out of the classroom. "Considering all Mr McCoy had to do during class was stop the rabid fan-girls from kissing you guys." I cringed as I recalled the memory. I swear, those fan-girls were insane!

They were even worse than the ones back at Grey Boarding School, who actually sneaked into the yearbook committee room and ripped, photocopied, and left lipstick marks all over the pictures of us! Drove me nuts. Logan and Scott made quick work of them after killing our main target. John and I just stayed out.

"Yeah, I didn't expect you to be so famous," Kitty added. I shrugged and grinned at her, and she blushed once more. This will be easy. While they were talking John and Rogue walked ahead. While a couple of seconds later Ororo and Jean joined them.

"You kept talking to us! And then they tried to kill us, literally!" a voice yelled indignantly and furiously. Logan and Bobby looked ahead, wondering who was talking, but Ororo, Jean and Kitty recognized the voice at once.

"Rogue!" they exclaimed. "What's wrong?"

"That…that…that John!" Rogue spluttered furiously.

"You know you love me." John smirked, passing by her and flicking her nose.

"John," Rogue began, trying to hold her anger back, "kept talking to us, and then all the stupid fan-girls kept–"

"Hey, I have to go," I interrupted, feeling my communication device vibrate in my pocket. Remembering Raven, I felt a bit of sadness. It wasn't fair that that sixteen year old girl had to die…or was she not dead? Who killed Raven, or at least cut her connection to us? Or who did what or … oh, I lost myself there.

Whatever. Anyways, I indicated to my pocket and the rest of the guys got the hint. Coming over to me, Scott ordered, "Pick it up."

"Yes Master," I said cheekily, but pulled it out. Flicking it to get the screen on, I saw only a lighter gray than the black screen. The Commander.

"Commander?" Scott asked with obvious surprise. The Commander almost never called us, especially on a mission.

"Killed those girls yet?" he purred. I flinched at the sugar in his voice and I saw John and Logan exchange an uneasy look.

"Not yet," John answered uncomfortably – where it was from the Commander's voice or from the fact that we haven't killed the girls, I couldn't tell.

"Why not?" The Commander sounded shocked. "Didn't you want revenge?"

"You mind telling us why?" Scott demanded heatedly. "If their parents killed ours, so what? Yeah, I know those were our parents, then I feel sorry for them, but I never knew them so it doesn't matter. Why kill the girls?"

"Is Cyclops falling?" the Commander growled, switching from sympathetic to angry.

"I am not!" Scott snapped at the phone furiously. "I'm just asking!"

"Answer us, or we're leaving," Logan added, his voice cold. The Commander recognized the threatening undertone in Logan's voice, and it looked like he shuddered. Logan was really scary, and I had to say that the only person the Commander seemed to be afraid of was Logan.

"I figured you wanted revenge," the Commander explained, a sullen tone taking over.

"Considering I don't even know my parents, I don't feel any revenge," John remarked casually.

"Oh, you Rogue not, but Logan does, am I correct?" the Commander sneered. Logan stiffened and I remembered that he did in fact remember his parents and was there when they were killed.

"That's no excuse to murder these girls," Logan said coldly.

"Tell us this," I butted in, "Who's parents killed who?"

"Oh, I figured you'd ask," the Commander laughed. "Let's see. As you have conveniently chosen, Wolverine's parents were killed by the Munroe's. Cyclops's parents were killed by the Greys… Pyro's parents were … oh!"

"What?" I demanded.

"Apparently Pyro's parents were in a fight with Pryde and D'Ancanto family! Iceman's parents were siding with Pyro's…until they were killed, one by one. The young Kitty and Rogue were apparently at the site and…"

"What? What happened?" John exclaimed. The line went dead. Clearly, the Commander wasn't about to tell us that bit of key information.

We looked at each other.

"I'm going to kill that Rogue," John growled suddenly. "If it wasn't for her parents, I would still have parents and…"

"We get the point," Scott said lazily. "Keep it down: it's not like the girls will disappear or anything."

"Hey, Ororo!" a blue-haired boy called excitedly." Ororo looked up, her eyes brightening at the entrance of her friend.

"Kurt!" she grinned. "Nice to see you again! You were sick for how long?"

"A week," Kurt groaned. "It was pure torture! Bugsy made me stay in bed for that long, even when I just had a sniffle!" Ororo laughed. Kitty and Rogue came over to see what it was all about and Jean followed.

"Oh, hey, Kurty," Kitty greeted cheerfully. "How was your torture?"

"As you heard, it was just great," Kurt replied sarcastically. "What do you think?"

"Are you looking for someone?" I asked Kitty. I didn't seem to like this Kurt.

"Nope," Kitty answered. "Just remembering…something."

"Which is?" I questioned. Kitty got irritated and smacked my head with the palm of her hand. I flinched. "OW! What was that for, Kit?"

"Keep your nose out of my business," Kitty snapped.

Geez, man this girl is tough! I groaned mentally and smiled at her.

"Sorry," I apologized, figuring the old Scott style (the I-apologize-with-a-stupid-looking-grin style) would work on her. To my immense surprise, it did.

"Whatever," she sighed. "I wonder where my parents are…"

"Huh? Are they still alive?" I asked stupidly. Then, realizing what I said, I amended hastily, "I mean, where are they now?" I still realized how stupid I sounded. Shrugging it off mentally, I decided I'd play the fool and silly guy who'd try to win Kitty's terrible heart (man, I would so get an acting prize for that! Imagine it!).

"Oh yes, they're totally still alive!" Kitty said immediately…too immediately. I knew she was lying.

"C'mon, Kit, you're lying," I coaxed. I realized that I'd switched tactics. Stupid Scott lessons…

"I am not lying!" Kitty snapped, slapping my head. Ouch. She would pay…later. "My parents are alive!"

"Okay, Kit," I said, trying not to sound sceptical.

"They are," Kitty said with a trembling look on her face that I knew I shouldn't press on. "They're just somewhere that I don't know."

"Hm…" I wondered back at what the Commander had nearly told us before. Something was digging at me…and it seemed that…the Commander was lying.

Still Bobby's POV

Logan tensed suddenly and I looked at him in confusion. Then I realized his communication device was vibrating. And only one person called Logan.

Raven.

But she was dead…right? Or not?

If that was truly Raven, she staged her death really well. If it wasn't Raven then…we were dead.

The reason? Logan is the leader of us. If anyone else but Raven called him that meant we were in serious danger. No one else besides the Commander should know Logan's number and it was only at Raven's furiousness and persistency that she too knew his number.

"What are you waiting for?" I urged. "Pick it up!" Logan hesitated and his hand hovered over his pocket reluctantly.

"Dude, just pick it up already," John snapped. Logan pressed the button and held it to his ear.

"Wolverine, you're being watched!" a sudden shriek shocked all four of us. "I repeat, you're being watched! You will be betrayed!"

"That's not Raven…is it?" Scott asked shakily. I nodded.

"That's Raven…" But I knew there was something wrong. Raven was always calm unless something really frightened her. Which meant something had really frightened her, and it took a lot to scare her?

"Wolverine, Wolverine, please answer me!" the girl begged. Logan was looking worried, for once, and complied.

"What is it, Mystique?" he asked quietly. Mystique was Raven's code name.

"The Commander has betrayed you! Be on the watch for his betrayal that Rogue strike any minute!" I counted. One, two, three, four, five, six exclamation mark sentences. That wasn't like Raven.

"What happened?" John said urgently. "Raven, you're not usually like this."

"There's no time!" Raven cried her voice cracking. "Believe me when I say this: I care about all of you, okay? I don't care that you guys don't care about anyone else, I care about you! So I'm doing this at my own risk, just to save you!"

"Who said we don't care about you?" I demanded. Raven ignored me, or she didn't hear me. I sighed. Seven, eight, nine.

"Just be careful. Trust no one but yourselves, including girls, because you never know who the Commander will send."

"I thought you had died!" I tried to talk to her again. This time she replied.

"Well, that was needed. Anyways, I have to go, so be careful."

"Wait a minute, why is your voice so clear?" Scott asked. "It would usually be cracking."

But the line had gone dead, and Raven was gone from our reach again. Who knows how long it'll take for her to call again? For all we know…she would never talk to us again.

"There's one thing that confuses me," John said suddenly. "How would Raven know all of this?"

"She isn't one of the Commander's favourites," Logan agreed, having the same question in mind. I tapped my foot thoughtfully as I mused.

"Do you think she's betraying us?" Scott asked.

"What?" Logan, John, and I exclaimed simultaneously.

"Hold your horses!" Scott protested. "I'm just naming possibilities!"

"Hang on, there's a message," Logan cut in, looking at the device. "It's from Mystique."

We peered at the white screen. The black words stood out against the white.

Guardians were all it said. Well, along with Raven's regular Mystique symbol.

If we were anyone else, we would probably think it was Raven's cheekiness, but we weren't anyone else.

We are the Assassins. We are the Ice-types. We are friends of Raven. We are capable of knowing what the meaning was.

And let me tell you: Logan, John, and Scott weren't too happy about the message.

Thanks for reading please Review.

Natsori forevaX