Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution, just my version of canon.

Chapter Ten – Scatter and Rescue

August 1996

It had, without doubt, been the worst day that Kitty could remember.

The Danger Room session that morning had been pointless, the arrival of the Brotherhood a reluctant relief.

Scott's departure had not been foreseen, Kitty had to admit, but she doubted it had made any difference.

She had been teamed with the Brotherhood, as the one most likely to willingly work with them, and they had come up against Colossus, one of Magneto's new Acolytes. Of course, a body of steel and super-strength didn't make him invincible, especially considering that he was outnumbered six-to-one.

That, however, was where their luck had run out.

Minutes after Colossus had fallen, an explosion just out of sight had caught their attention. Then, with a dark smirk, Pietro had taken off, joining his father's side at the top of a nearby skyscraper.

If Kitty was being honest, this had taken her by surprise. She was no telepath, but she did pride herself on being a very good judge of character.

And for Pietro to betray the Brotherhood like that went against everything she had guessed about him.

Then, if things weren't bad enough, just as they met up with the others, Magneto had collapsed the metal structure beneath them, sending them tumbling into even worse trouble; someone had been using the space under the city as a work-shop to create Sentinels – robots that could recognise mutant DNA.

Finally, they had been forced to retreat, but not before Spyke, Rogue, Blob and Beast had all been captured by these new threats.

Wolverine had vanished whilst on the hunt for Sabretooth, so it was a subdued and much reduced group who flew back to the Institute.

Kitty wasn't really paying attention, gazing out of the window. Lance was seated next to her in reflective silence. She knew he was thinking about his errant team-mate; that it was Pietro who had deflected would hurt him more than anyone else. She took his hand and squeezed it lightly, not getting any response, but not expecting to either.

Sighing, she leaned her head against the window, gazing down at the landscape below her. What I need is a long hot bath, a mug of hot cocoa and more chocolate than I could ever eat.

Then, far below her, interrupting her musings, she caught sight of a patch of brick and plaster. Now that's odd.

Her gaze slid forwards, noticing more piles scattered across the grass. Then her attention was caught by their origin; a pile of brick and rubble that seemed to have been caused by an immense explosion.

That's…That's…

"Professor, we need to land!" Kitty cried. "Now!"

Without question, the jet dropped into a descent and touched down outside all that was left of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters.

Everyone piled out silently, staring at the remains in shock and horror.

Kitty walked forwards slowly, swallowing hard. Everything…Everything's gone. Her eyes scanned the edge of the wreckage, searching for any sign of salvageable material. Then she realised something much, much worse. She must have shown this somehow, because Jean jogged over to her.

"Kitty, what is it?"

"The New Recruits." Kitty murmured, now looking around for their eight team-mates. "Where are they?" She didn't bother waiting for a response. "BOBBY?! AMARA?!"

"JUBILEE?!" Jean called. "COME ON, GUYS; THIS ISN'T FUNNY!!!"

"Er, Jean?" Lance tapped her on the shoulder. "Summers didn't come with us; isn't there a chance he got back in time?"

"Good point." Jean cupped her hands around her mouth. "SCOTT?!"

"We're here."

Both girls spun around to see Scott emerging from the trees, the New Recruits at his heels; he caught Jean as she ran towards them and hugged her almost automatically, keeping his gaze fixed on the group behind her. "But not everyone is."

"There were these robots and…" Jean began, but Scott cut her off.

"That's not what I meant." Scott gently moved her behind him and she turned her attention to the New Recruits.

"All eight are here." Jean frowned. "Plus Tabitha."

Kitty watched Scott closely. It was difficult to tell, but he seemed to be focusing his attention mainly on Professor Xavier.

A horrible thought crept into her mind, but she dismissed it almost immediately.

His jaw set, Scott stalked over to Lance. "Where's Mystique?"

To give Lance credit, he didn't waver. "I don't know."

"Don't give me that!" Scott spat. "I know she turned up last week; Tabitha told us."

Lance's eyes flickered to the blonde, who avoided his gaze.

"Sorry."

"Don't be." Lance turned his attention back to Scott. "Alright, she turned up, dropped Wanda off, yelled at us a bit about never beating you in battle and then left. I don't know where she is."

"So that's why the fight happened." Kurt concluded.

"No." Lance shook his head. "We didn't start that fight."

"Lance, I saw you." Jean told him, looking faintly irritated.

Before another fight could start up, Kitty cleared her throat. "If Mystique was back, isn't it possible that she morphed into Lance and started the fight? Because I know he was with me when it started."

"Actually, that makes sense." Scott agreed, surprising her.

Scott passing up an opportunity to blame Lance for everything? Is hell freezing over?

"You see I do know where Mystique is." He continued, turning to the Professor. "She put the mansion into lock-down and set it to blow."

Taking an automatic step backwards, Kitty felt Jamie appear at her elbow and put her arms around him comfortingly.

"You did this! You destroyed it all!"

"Yes." Professor Xavier stood up and shifted back into Mystique. "And things are about to get much, much worse."

There was a soft noise and Scott cursed, pulling his cell-phone out of his pocket. "Hello? Taryn, I can't talk right now; I…what? Mutant? Why would you think…? They were what? We're what? Okay…Taryn, calm down. We'll be careful, I promise. Goodbye." Hanging up, he slipped it away again. "We need to move; you were caught using your powers on a live news broadcast; the police will be here any minute."

"Newsflash, Summers." Lance pointed towards the destroyed gates. "They're already here!"

Automatically, everyone moved. In the time it took for the Brotherhood to shift so that Wanda was behind Lance and Todd, Kitty had convinced Jamie to stick with Jubilee instead and the core team had manoeuvred so that the New Recruits (plus Tabitha) were behind them.

But it was no good. In seconds, patrol cars and cruisers had surrounded them, cops emerging from their vehicles, guns drawn.

"FREEZE!"

Inwardly, Kitty smirked. Yelling that at Bobby was like waving a red flag at a bull.

"No problem!" Bobby covered his body in a layer of ice and he fired – not at the approaching officers, but at the feet of his team-mates, lifting them on a pillar and creating a bridge over the surrounding barricade. "Go! Go! Go!"

With one last glance at him, that seemed heavier than it should have been, Jubilee grasped Jamie's hand and kicked off, leading the way down and into the woods.

As Wanda hexed a path for the remaining Brotherhood to escape, the police moved in. With Jean temporarily distracted making sure the New Recruits got away safely, two officers seized her and locked her into a patrol car.

Before she had time to panic, there was a distinctive bamf, a smell of sulphur and Kurt appeared in the driver's seat. "Look at that, Jean; they've left the keys in the ignition. How kind of them."

"Kurt, we can't!" Jean protested.

"Oh, yes we can." Kurt disagreed, starting the engine.

Seeing them, Kitty phased through two men as they closed in and ran through the closed door, falling into the seat beside Jean. "Step on it!"

Kurt sped off, as Storm flew down and caught hold of Scott's arms, lifting him to safety. Bobby sent one last jet of ice at the feet of his pursuers and caught up to the car, which stopped just long enough to pick him up, before Jean lifted it up and flew it over the roadblock designed to stop them.

"Avalanche, bury them."

The order came firmly, casually and with a smirk that would strike fear into anyone's hearts.

With the help of SHIELD agent, Nick Fury, the X-Men and the Brotherhood had teamed up to procure the Velocity from authorities and break into Area 51, where their missing team-mates were being held.

Of course, it was never going to be easy, and their luck had just about run out; the building was going into security lock-down and the advancing soldiers were going to do all they could to prevent them from getting out before that happened.

At Mystique's voice, Kitty felt a flood of horror run through her. She saw the same emotion pass across the faces of their pursuers, before their expressions hardened with determination; Mystique's order combined with Lance's code-name had made it very clear what his powers were.

Kitty's gaze slid to Lance, silently pleading with him once again to remember who he was. She still didn't know why he had chosen to join the Brotherhood over finding them and taking Jean's offer, and she hadn't pushed for a reason, but Mystique had some sort of hold over him that meant that, at times like this, he acted like someone he wasn't, so much so that it scared her.

Lance lifted a hand and faltered. "Iceman, I think you're slightly more appropriate here."

Bobby caught on immediately and created a thick wall of ice in front of the soldiers, slowing them down considerably.

"Avalanche, when I give you an order, I expect you to follow it!"

Lance ignored her. "I think it's time to get out of here."

Scott gave Lance a look that may have signalled respect, before ushering Jean and Kitty ahead of him. "Let's move."

"There's a way out over here." Bobby called, beginning to scale a ladder. He clambered out onto the roof and took Kitty's hand to help her up as well.

As the night air hit her face, Kitty looked out across the chaos on the ground, as spotlights scanned for any sight of them. She shivered, both from the cold and from the realisation that they were now on the run, with people chasing them, wanting to hurt them. Or worse. Her mind supplied.

A gentle hand landed on her shoulder and she glanced up into Lance's face. Ignoring the presence of her team-mates, she leaned into him, closing her eyes, feeling his arm tighten around her shoulders.

One by one, their fellows joined them – Kitty had to give Fred a hand – and huddled on the roof, watching the soldiers down below to make sure they hadn't yet been spotted.

When Scott emerged just before Mystique, however, their attentions were diverted, when he turned and shut the grate.

"What are you doing?" Mystique demanded.

"Tell me where Professor Xavier is." Scott told her calmly.

"Don't be an idiot!" The woman snapped. "Let me out!"

Scott didn't flinch. "Tell me where the Professor is or I'll leave you here."

"You don't have the…" But Mystique was cut off mid-sentence; the security measures finally completed and the cover closed in her face.

"Jean, tell Storm where we are." Scott commanded. "Avalanche, we don't have time for this."

Lance raised an eyebrow, not moving from Kitty's side. "Time for what? Oh, you think I'm complaining?"

"You work for her." Scott pointed out.

"You didn't give me much of a choice." Lance shot back coldly.

"Guys…" Bobby cut them off, forestalling an argument. "Where's Rogue?"

"She came up ahead of me." Jean answered glancing around.

"I know." Bobby agreed. "I helped her up; where is she?"

"Uh oh." Lance muttered, pointing into the sky. "Is that what I think it is?"

Kitty peered up to see an unmistakeable metal orb speeding away. "Yes. Yes, it is."

"Oh no!" Jean groaned. "We'll never catch up with it!"

"We don't need to." Kitty told her as the Velocity came to a stop above their heads. "We think one Acolyte's being blackmailed and another's fallen for Amara. Rogue's met Gambit before and, if you take him out, that means it's only three on one."

"And for Rogue, that's not bad odds." Lance finished, giving Kitty a leg up as the hatch opened. "Besides, with the anti-mutant feeling at the moment, she's probably safer than we are."

AN: In case you hadn't realised, Taryn's not going to be a complete bi-otch in this :) Review please!