Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution.

Chapter Twenty Eight – The End of the World III

October 1998: Day Four

New York

With the raging storm, it was obvious to those left behind that something was happening and it wasn't good.

Outside, the thunder rolled and lightning streaked across the sky as a fierce wind blew, threatening to uproot trees and cars, and rain pounded the ground, causing some lower areas to begin flooding.

By lunchtime on the fourth day – although none of them had realised it – they had moved across the hall to the rec room, leaving the TV on in the living room.

It was then that the power died and they instantly became alert.

"What's going on?" Lorna asked quietly.

"I don't …" Jubilee trailed off as there was a loud thud outside. "What was that?"

Rahne peered out of the window, but it was dark as night outside. "One of the trees got uprooted. I've never seen a storm this bad."

"They're losing." Remy stated grimly. "It's now or never."

"But everything's gonna be fine, isn't it?" Belladonna asked, nodding meaningfully at the four-year-old on her lap.

"Yeah, of course." Jubilee lied cheerfully, praying Illyana had the X-gene. "Can we get some light in here, Pyro?"

"Hang on." John flicked the lighter and sent the flame into the fireplace, illuminating their pale faces.

As it did, Jubilee groaned, seeing that Belladonna's face was contorted in pain. Lorna leaned over and pulled Illyana into her own arms. "You want an aspirin?"

"I don't think aspirin's gonna help her." Jubilee muttered, turning back to the window and once more praying to a higher entity she was no longer sure she believed in.

Mexico

As Blob and Sunspot hammered at the base, Wanda and Alex sent a steady stream of energy up at the beam. Although it wavered, it remained as strong as ever and all four were forced to stop.

Todd leapt onto a tree branch, clinging to it in the gale. "Did we win?"

"Right." Pietro rolled his eyes and jerked a thumb towards the two jets, where two women writhed in agony on the ground, a television camera abandoned at their side. "Don't you ever learn?"

"Oh yeah." Todd remembered. "We never win."

As if to prove his point, the tail end of the helijet suddenly tore away from the rest, shaping into a propeller which began spinning towards them.

They scattered as it slashed through the debris, freeing Magneto, who rose into the air, the metallic substances joining him.

Pietro scowled up at him. "Let's finish this!"

Sphinx

"Wolverine …" Beast's voice crackled weakly through the communicator. "We're … not gonna … make it …"

Wolverine was as badly injured as everyone else, if not worse; he staggered to his feet, switching the frequency to reach Kitty and Jean as well. "Don't give up. We've got one play left."

Mystique leapt towards him, turning into a bundle of cobras mid-jump, which latched onto him, knocking him off his feet again.

Outside the Sphinx, the last helijet hovered, the hatch opening. Rogue gazed at the mighty structure for a few seconds, before turning to their two extra passengers. "It's okay, Mrs. Leech; this is as far as Dorian has to go."

Dorian's face was pale enough at the best of times, but now, as he shrank back into his mother, his skin was almost ashen and he looked up at Rogue, looking terrified.

"It's okay." Rogue soothed, crouching down carefully. "Please don't be scared. Like I said, the ability you have to shut down the energy around you is gonna help save a lot of people. I'm just gonna borrow it for a while. Okay?"

Dorian looked up at his mother, who smiled comfortingly at him. He nodded at Rogue, who touched his face gently, taking a little more of his powers than she would normally, just to be sure, and he sagged into her arms. Carefully, she handed him to his mother. "He'll only be out for a few minutes. Ready?"

Sam helped her to her feet and wrapped an arm around her waist. "When you are." Powering up, he rocketed them up to the entrance of the Sphinx and they landed on the steps. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Rogue pulled a face. "Baby didn't like that very much. I'm fine; come on."

Finally managing to rip the cobras from him, Logan sprinted for the door, past Scott's unconscious body, but Mystique shifted into a panther and leapt at him again.

Then a wave of energy travelled through the room, hitting her in mid-air; she turned human again and fell to the floor.

Seeing Rogue and Cannonball in the doorway, Logan leapt towards the other, slicing it open. "Go! Go! Go! Go!"

Rogue slipped past him and Logan made to follow, but Mystique grasped his leg. He smirked down at her. "You ain't so tough without your powers, are you?"

Pushing her concern to the back of her mind, Rogue stood beside her brother, sending another wave of energy towards Apocalypse, who was lying in the Eye of Ages, effectively stopping the infusion of his DNA.

Mexico

To everyone's surprise, the beam from the pyramid vanished suddenly. Magneto lifted his hands, preparing to strike at his opponents, then fell to the ground with a groan.

"Hey!" Todd cried as Pietro and Wanda approached their father warily. "We won!"

China

The current lightning storm coming to a sudden, Storm fell from the sky. Evan raced to catch her, the mind control implements falling from her.

Egypt

Jean came to just to see Professor Xavier drop from the sky. Catching him telekinetically, she hurried over to him, mentally breathing a sigh of relief as she felt a soft thud below her uniform.

New York

"The storm's died down." Rahne called, peering out the window at the destruction. Thankfully, the perimeter fence had been left in tact, though many of the trees had been uprooted and they knew that several of the upstairs windows had been shattered.

"Yeah, but is that good or bad?" Remy asked, trying to get the TV working again.

"I don't know." Jubilee admitted shakily.

Having become the sole voice of reason – probably since she'd never met the rest of the team – Lorna was braiding Illyana's hair in an attempt to soothe her. "Well, Bella doesn't look like she's about to collapse anymore, so I'd take it as a good thing."

"Or she's one of the 3%." John muttered.

Belladonna groaned, pressing a cold cloth to her forehead. "I am still here, you know."

Lorna sighed. "I know. Why don't we make some more hot cocoa?"

"How?" John asked. "There's no electricity."

Lorna tossed him his lighter. "Are you a mutant or not?"

Sphinx

Mid-kick, Mystique staggered and fell, the device controlling her falling off as she did. Logan caught her before she hit the ground. "Now what am I supposed to do with her?" He looked at Sam. "Stay with her; try to get Cyke up."

Rogue approached the Eye of Ages. "You've used us for the last time."

Apocalypse grabbed her arm, but she shook free and proceeded to slam the device shut on him. He began slamming on the inside, trying to break free, but Wolverine leapt over and landed on top of it, keeping it shut. "Rogue, turn the power back on!"

Confused, Rogue did as she was told and the Eye of Ages began to power back up again. Logan sliced through the controls, rendering it useless. "Let's go!"

The two sprinted for the exit, leaping out of the vessel right before it closed and vanished in a flash of light before their very eyes.

"Where'd it go?" Rogue asked.

"I don't know." Logan reached down and pulled Kurt to his feet as he woke up. "Hopefully, it just fell through the cracks of time. Never to be seen again."

"Somehow, I don't think we'll be that lucky." Rogue sighed.

Kurt hugged her. "How's the baby?"

"Alive and kicking." Rogue winced, putting a hand on her stomach. "And seems to think my bladder's a squeeze toy."

It wasn't that funny, but both men laughed, and she could help joining, elation filling her. Kurt released her, keeping an arm around her shoulders. "Let's go home."

As they all climbed out of the Sphinx, realising as they did that the pyramid had sunk back into the desert, Scott gazed up at the sky, leaning heavily on Logan and Sam, limping on a leg that was probably broken. "Do you think we stopped Apocalypse in time?"

"I think we cut it close." Logan told him. "But yeah."

"Kurt! Rogue!" Mystique called from behind them.

Kurt stiffened, glancing at Rogue. "Up to you."

"You go on." Rogue prompted, sensing that he didn't want to talk to their mother. "I'll meet you at the jet." Without waiting for an argument, she turned and walked back.

"I just want you to know …" Mystique began.

"Save it." Rogue cut her off. "You don't believe your excuses; don't expect me to. We're both exhausted and full of adrenalin. I just wanna go home. At some point before Christmas, I'll visit Irene. I'm not saying anything will come of it, but hopefully I'll have a clearer head then. I am not having this discussion now."

Mystique nodded. "Thank you."

Rogue turned away without a response, accepting Kurt's help into the jet. "Why did you do that, Rogue?" Kurt hissed.

"I think this little one might give me a different view of things." Rogue answered. "And it's Anna. I've gone by a code-name for long enough."

"Anna." Scott repeated from her other side. "It suits you."

Anna smiled at him. "Thanks. We've got a few extra; what happened?"

"We've been reporting on the battle." One of the extra men she'd noticed told her. "Any chance of an explanation?"

The siblings exchanged an amused glance, before launching into the story of how Apocalypse was stopped.

After everything, they'd finally been handed a miracle.

"We are not getting home in that." Wanda commented, surveying the damaged helijet. She pulled the hatch to the cockpit open and helped the two pilots out. "Are you two alright?"

"Been better." One of the men coughed. "She alright?"

Wanda glanced over to where Lance and Roberto were kneeling at Kitty's side. "I don't know."

A few feet away, Warren and Alex were having a similar conversation with the two women from the news crew.

"This was broadcast?" Alex asked in disbelief.

"World-wide." The reporter confirmed. "Oh, turn the camera off, Jenny; there's no point. That storm wiped out the power."

"That means the mansion won't know we won." Roberto commented.

"No one will." Warren pointed out. "We'll have to let them know somehow; put people at ease."

"What do you suggest?" Lance asked. "Carrier pigeon?"

Warren rolled his eyes. "Funny."

"Wanda, is there anything you can do here?" Lance called.

Wanda joined them, pulling a face. "I don't think so." She lifted her hand, encasing Kitty's legs in a blue light. "There's too much damage; I can block the pain to get us into … whatever's gonna take us home. But you're on your own from then."

"I'll take what I can get." Kitty breathed a sigh of relief as the pain went away, even if it was temporary. "Thank you."

"Wanda!" Pietro called, supporting Magneto's weight. "I'm going to run father back to his base and then I'll make my own way back to Bayville, alright?"

"Alright, we'll see you there." Wanda responded.

"Head for the Institute, not the Boarding House." Kitty added. "You'll beat everyone back and they don't know what's happened."

"You got it, Kit-Kat." Pietro disappeared with his father in a gust of wind before she had a chance to scold him.

"None of this solves how we're going to get home." Wanda sighed.

Lance straightened up. "Well, we could always leave the same way we came in."

Twelve pairs of eyes turned to look at the Brotherhood, shining in the afternoon sun.

Having dropped his father off at his base, Pietro took off for Bayville, which was a much shorter run, but, for the first time in his life, he overshot on the run, passing through New York altogether.

When he skidded to a halt, he was standing in woodland, much farther north than where he wanted to be.

Bending over, Pietro rested his hands on his knees, breathing deeply. He needed to catch his breath before he made another run like that.

"Excuse me."

Pietro turned to face the voice … and stopped. The woman standing before him couldn't have been much younger than himself and had obviously been living wild – her clothes were torn and her hair a mess – but she was beautiful – dark chestnut hair, green eyes that sparkled despite the weariness within them and a body a model would be proud of. After a few awkward seconds, he realised he was staring at her and cleared his throat. "Sorry. Can I help you?"

"Maybe." She ran a hand through her hair. "I need to get to Bayville, New York. There's … someone there I need to talk to. Do you know the way?"

Pietro smiled at her. "I can do better than that; I can take you there myself. Just give me a few minutes to catch my breath."

She returned his smile, but still looked a little wary. "How?"

"I'm mutant." Pietro extended a hand. "Pietro Maximoff; fastest man alive. And you are?"

"I'm … complicated." She shook his hand. "I don't really have a name." Taking a few steps backwards, she held up the hand he had just held and clenched her fist. "At HYDRA, I was known only as X-23."

Three claws shot from her knuckles and it was only years of experience that stopped Pietro from recoiling in shock. "You're looking for Wolverine then." He guessed, remembering Kitty's story about his errant 'clone'. "He's not in Bayville at the moment, but he should be back soon." He stretched, feeling his energy return. "Alright. Time to go."

This time when he extended a hand, she hesitated before taking it.

"Relax." Pietro moved closer to her. "I don't bite." Wrapping an arm around her waist, he started running and, in a split second, they were standing in a well-decorated hallway.

"Where are we?" She asked. "I thought you were gonna take me to Bayville."

"This is Bayville." Pietro assured her. "Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. This was where you were headed, right?"

"Yeah." She looked at him. "You're in the X-Men?"

"God, no." Pietro pulled a face. "I just helped them out; needed to return for a debrief."

She nodded absently and he couldn't help noticing the apprehension in her eyes.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." She lied.

Taking her elbow, Pietro guided her into the nearest room, which, as it happened, turned out to be the library. "Shadowcat told us about you, you know. You don't have to lie to me."

"I expected to be killed taking HYDRA out." She confessed quietly. "I don't know what to do now."

"Wolverine'll be able to help." Pietro assured her. "I don't get along with the man and God knows he hates me, but he'll sort everything out."

"I just want to leave that part of my life behind." She sighed, more out of frustration than anything else.

A book on one of the coffee tables caught Pietro's eye and he picked it up. "Well, you could start by giving people another name to call you by."

She raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"I can help you there." Pietro held up the book. "My cousin's expecting a baby; she's spent the last four months thinking up names." Flipping through the pages, he stopped randomly and ran his eye down the list of names. "Hmm. Levia?"

"No."

"Levona?"

"No."

"Lewa?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Definitely not."

"Alright." Pietro conceded. "How about Lexa?"

This time, she hesitated. "Lexa … I like that name."

Pietro closed the book, observing her. "It suits you."

Lexa smirked at him. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It is a compliment. Trust me." Pietro gestured towards the stairs. "Jubilee doesn't know the outcome yet and this was a big battle, so I need to let her know as soon as possible." He led her down the staircase, through the entrance hall and into the rec room, where a group of people – three of whom he knew, one of whom he recognised and three of whom he'd never met – were staring at the blank TV screen as though they were afraid it might vanish before their eyes.

Pietro cleared his throat, causing the two women he'd never met to jump, one of them pulling the child on her lap closer.

Gambit and Pyro got to their feet as Jubilee spun around to face him. "Quicksilver!"

"What happened?" Remy demanded. "Do you know something?"

Pietro nodded. "We won."

AN: So that's the end of canon in this fic, if I ever really followed it to start with, and we're about to embark upon an alternative journey … Sometimes I wonder what I'm on when I write these notes, I really do. Review please!