Chapter 17

The X-Mansion

"Eli!" Kitty called, her hands clasped around her mouth as she scanned the front yard. "Eli, where are you?"

"Eli!" Evan's voice echoed as he rounded the side of the mansion. Kurt teleported in front of Evan and shook his head.

"He's not inside," he explained. Scott grumbled angrily when he heard this.

"Where the heck is that kid?" he asked. "He's been missing for nearly two hours now." Jean put a hand on his tense shoulder.

"Don't worry Scott, we'll find him," she assured. Scott gave her a nod before Wolverine stepped outside in full X-gear.

"Somethin' tells me Waterboy didn't go on an evenin' stroll kids," he told the group as he walked to the front gate. A small snarl escaped his throat when he noticed pictures of Ellie scattered on the pavement outside of the mansion.

"What're those?" Evan asked as the teens surrounded their teacher.

"Well, looks like Waterboy had an incentive to leave." He passed the pictures to Scott who gasped a bit.

"Well we've got to find him!" he yelled as he handed the photos to Jean.

"Ellie too," Kitty added after seeing the pictures.

"No," Wolverine replied. "Blondie decided that she doesn't want to deal with us, so we're goin' after our own right now."

"But, Mister Logan!"

"Calm down half-pint. If we run into her, we'll help her out. Now you all go get suited up, I'm goin' to track our boy down."

"Got it," Scott announced with a nod. "X-men, you heard him. Let's go!" The team ran to get dressed as Wolverine ran down the road, tracking Eli's scent.

Woods

Eli came to a skidding halt, his eyes darting around the wooded area as the heel of his combat boot dug into the moist Earth. His chest was rising and falling hard as he tried to catch his breath. He slammed his fist against the trunk of a tree and let out an angry scream.

The car had not been in his sight throughout the entire chase, and he knew that it could not maneuver around the trees in these woods, but his feet took him here faster than his brain could decide against it. He grabbed his blond hair with his now bleeding hand and swore under his breath. His head snapped to the side at the sound of a growl.

"Who's there?" he yelled. He grimaced when a man with long greasy hair emerged out of the darkness. "Wow, it's Bigfoot."

"Shut up kid!" the man snapped, unsheathing his black, claw-like fingernails and scowling at Eli.

"Is there something that you want?"

"I want you to close your trap. My boss has a preposition for you."

"You mean your boss, the abominable snowman, right?" Eli chuckled at his own joke when the man lunged at him.

"Too slow!" Eli laughed as he jumped to the side, barely avoiding the tackle.

"I'll admit you're pretty quick on your feet kid, but not as quick as your sister." Eli's childlike smile instantly vanished.

"What do you know about my sister?"

"Did I strike a nerve?"

"Where is she?" Just as Eli was about to leap forward, Wolverine inserted himself between the two.

"Sabretooth!" he snarled as he swiped his claws at him.

"Ah Wolverine, I shoulda known this was one of your brats."

"Whoa, Wolverine you know this guy?" Eli asked, a bit surprised to see his professor.

"Unfortunately," he replied. "Stay outta the way, would ya kid? Things are about to get messy." As Wolverine smirked over his shoulder at Eli, Sabretooth lunged forward.

Seeing the attack first Eli stretched his arms forward, one on either side of Wolverine's head, and sent a burst of water at the opponent. Wolverine growled as he watched Sabretooth get pushed back from the force. Eli chuckled as his arms solidified back to their fleshy state.

"Gee Wolverine get your head in the fight man." Eli shut his mouth quickly as he received an angry look.

Eli stepped back and allowed the men to fight. With his arms folded over his chest, he stayed focused on both of their movements, studying them. He may have joked around more than he should, but Eli always had been smart even if he did not show it. His lips parted slightly and he counted to himself, timing the exact moment of every hit and kick thrown so he could calculate the best move to follow up with. Sabretooth managed to get a hit on Wolverine, sending him past Eli.

"Can I help now or no?" Eli asked over his shoulder. Wolverine flipped to his feet and snarled back at him.

"I said stay outta this kid!" Wolverine yelled, his claws shooting out of his knuckles once more. The two turned their attention to Sabretooth.

"Face it Wolverine, you're no match for me," he grumbled as he walked toward Eli. "This kid is starting to bug me though, so I'll take him out first!"

"Sorry man, but you're on my turf now," Eli apologized as he closed his eyes and faced the palms of his hands to the ground. Sabretooth grinned as he continued to advance.

"A little water ain't gonna hurt me kid!"

He stopped talking when a vine snapped around his wrist. Confused, Sabretooth went to rip it off but a second vine grabbed his other wrist before he had the chance. Wolverine watched Eli closely, waiting behind him ready to pounce if necessary. More vines started to wrap around Sabretooth's body as he growled and tried to wiggle out of their grasp and they hoisted him into the air. A leaf sprouted out of the ground, growing larger and larger before sweeping Eli off the ground. The stalk attached to the massive leaf pushed Eli close to Sabretooth and he finally opened his eyes.

"Well would ya look at that? Waterboy's got a few tricks up his sleeve," Wolverine thought with an approving smirk on his face.

"Listen up because I'm not going to ask you again," Eli ordered as he pushed the tip of his index finger against Sabretooth's forehead. "Where is my sister?" Sabretooth went to snap at his hand but the vines tightened.

Wolverine's smirk faded as he noticed the vines were starting to coil around his nemesis. Sabretooth let out a scream of pain and Wolverine looked up to where Eli was standing on the leaf. His eyes were focused on Sabretooth's, but he was smiling as if he was finding pleasure from the pain he was inflicting. The sound of a crack forced Wolverine to run to the base of the leaf stalk.

"Hydro!" he called. "Knock it off!"

"No can do Professor. You see, this guy has information that I want and I'm going to get it one way or another." A second crack was heard and Sabretooth howled out in pain.

Realizing this fight was turning into a fight to the death, Wolverine jumped into the action. He began slicing away at the thick stalk, trying to cut it down so Eli would lose his control over the plants, saving Sabretooth's life. He turned as his students burst through the woods.

"Wolverine!" Cyclops called as the X-Men entered the scene. They stopped in their tracks when they noticed what was going on.

"Rogue, stop Hydro, now!" Wolverine ordered.

"What?" Rogue asked, surprised at the request. "But why?"

"No time for questions," Kurt interrupted as he grabbed onto her. Before they knew it, they were teleported next to Eli and Rogue had touched his face.

Eli's eyes rolled up and he fell off the leaf, knocked out. Jean caught him in the air and lowered him onto the ground slowly. The giant leaf began to wilt and started crumpling apart, so Kurt teleported himself and Rogue back to the X-Men. As the vines started to unwind themselves from Sabretooth's body, the large man also lost consciousness. Wolverine caught him before he hit the ground, placing him down gently before examining the damage. No doubt he had a few broken ribs.

"I don't understand," Kitty said as she placed Eli's head in her lap, stroking his blond hair gently. "Why did Rogue have to do this Wolverine?"

"We need to be careful with this boy," he explained as he approached his students. "Hydro lost his cool up there; he woulda killed Sabretooth if he had a few more seconds."

"I don't believe that! Eli's a big sweetheart."

"Well that big sweetheart just crushed Sabretooth," Scott added as he examined the limp body on the ground. "It seems Hydro was acting more like a weapon than an X-Men during this fight." Wolverine tensed up.

Acting like a weapon, that was exactly what Eli had been doing. Wolverine had just assumed he was so riled up about his sister potentially being in trouble that he lost his cool, but Cyclops was right. Thinking back to the explanation Eli had given him the day that Ellie left the institute tied all of this together. This boy was HYDRA's creation, and Wolverine knew now that he was not created simply to see what would happen if you edited mutant DNA. He felt a twinge of sympathy for the boy and scooped him up, tossing his large body over his shoulder.

"We're goin' home," Wolverine announced as he walked into the woods. Rogue gave a sympathetic look at Eli's limp body as his blond hair tossed back and forth while Wolverine walked.

"I hope he can forgive me," she whispered. Kitty lifted a brow before looking at Eli's body.

"He'll understand. You were like, helping him, you know?" she explained. Rogue started rubbing her arms, unsure.

"The poor kid was just tryin' to find his sister. Can't really blame him for getting so worked up."

"That's enough," Scott scolded, ending the girl's conversation. "Let's just get home."

The Brotherhood House

"Well that was a great dinner. I'm stuffed!" Fred said happily as he rubbed his round stomach. Pietro glanced at him.

"Well that's the first time I've ever heard that. Since when do you get stuffed, Blob?" he asked. Fred's face turned red.

"Well, since Ellie can cook, that's since when!"

"That doesn't even make sense."

"Why don't the both of you stop arguing and oh, I don't know, clean the dishes?" Ellie asked. All four boys gave her strange looks.

"You have got to be kidding," Lance said.

"We don't really clean, yo," Toad added. Ellie shrugged.

"Then I suppose this is the perfect chance for you to start." Pietro stood up from his seat.

"Listen here, Ellie," he began in a snarky tone. "We are not going to change our lifestyle just because you're here. Quite frankly, we're guys. Cleaning is more of a woman's chore, don't you think?" Without hesitation Ellie flew from her seat and pinned Pietro's body against the adjacent wall.

"Whoa!" Toad yelled, surprised at the quick change of scenery. "She's faster than Pietro!"

"A woman's chore? Really Pietro?" Ellie angrily said as she pushed his shoulder harder against the wall.

"Hey no fair!" Pietro yelled as he squirmed. "I wasn't ready!"

"That sucks for you. Now it looks like I have the advantage in this situation, so I'll give you two choices. You can either do the dishes, or you can get burned."

"Burned?" Lance asked as he looked at Toad and then to Fred. They both shrugged.

"You wouldn't dare." Pietro's confident smirk had started to appear and Ellie's hand started to warm up.

"Okay, okay!" Pietro yelled as he felt the heat through his shirt. "We'll do the dishes." Ellie calmed herself down and released the boy.

"That sounds wonderful. After all, that is more of a man's chore, don't you think?" Ellie said happily before walking out of the room. Pietro rubbed his chest where Ellie's hand had been pressed.

"That girl kinda scares me," Toad said, his eyes wide.

"Yeah, me too," Lance added with a nod.

A/N:Well, it's finally Winter Break, so I get to update my stories thankfully! Sorry for being lame and taking forever, finals took up more of my time than I had planned for. Hope you enjoyed this, there's more to come very soon!