Rebekah

I'm getting into uniform, ready for the battle with the Brotherhood. Isaac runs by but I call out his name and he turns to look at me.

"Yeah?"

"Here."

I throw him one of the trainee uniforms.

"Unstable molecules. Helps keep you safe."

He looks at me for a long moment.

"Thanks. For this. And for lying."

I shrug.

"I want to get home but I won't go without you. Get it?"

He nods. I shrug my coat on. It feels good, the wool warm and not at all scratchy. The vibranium mesh barely adds any weight at all. No weight, lots of protection. Very handy for when unstable molecules get a little too much battering.

"Who do you think will come?"

He shrugs.

"I don't know. Probably most of them."

I nod slightly.

"Okay. I need to go, I've been working with Kitty on an attack-defence style that took a lot of effort. Also, memorise these rosette patterns and other defining features."

I hand him a set of images Beast compiled so the X-Men would recgonise me as a leopard/lion/whatever I happened to be taking the form of.

He looks slightly nervous but I shrug.

"It's only a precaution. You should still be able to sense me."

"Yeah. Look..."

I stare at him.

"Isaac, if you betray us, you do know Logan will probably try and kill you and I don't think there are very many who would stop him."

He nods once more.

"Right, let's go. Get changed. Seriously, unstable molecules are a life-saver. Although if you're here for a while, we'll get rid of the spandex."

I lope off, long easy strides. Kitty is already dressed. I smile at her.

"Ready to fight the Brotherhood? I am very, very glad Logan forced me to train with the Brotherhood Danger Room session."

She laughs but I can tell it's forced. She's scared. They all are.

And then she glances at me and I realise she isn't scared of the Brotherhood. She's scared of me and my outburst. Oops.

"Look, I want to go do a border check. I'll try and meet up later."

The look of relief in her eyes hurts. I switch forms to the more animalistic shape and run off gracefully. The main attack seems to be at the front but knowing the Brotherhood, there's going to be another attack from the back. There is.

I'm leaping through the trees when the red orb shoots towards me. I leap, dodge and land neatly, turning to look at the Scarlet Witch.

"Miss Maximoff."

Her eyes narrow.

"How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot about you. In fact, you go down on one of my favourite heroes list at about two. Maybe three. Of course, that's not until you leave the Brotherhood and you and your brother go off to the Avengers and save the world. Numerous times." Best not mention the mental breakdowns.

Her hands drop.

"We...We leave?"

"Oh yes. Become wonderful examples, especially to the Young Avengers."

"Who?"

"Sorry, they don't exist just yet."

She is staring at me, her green eyes clouded with confusion. She wants to trust me. She honestly does. But she isn't certain she can. I have to... Yes...

"You and your brother were adopted. Magneto saved your life and you felt duty bound to help him. All you have to do is get out."

She's staring at me. One last thing will seal this.

"I'm going back to protect my home. I won't hurt Pietro. I am going to turn my back. I trust you to do the right thing."

I turn and walk off slowly, making sure I present a target. She doesn't attack. As soon as I'm back in the woods I run, charging towards the sounds of fighting. Cyclops' voice rings in my ear.

"I repeat, Wolverine is under Mastermind's influence. Avoid him at all costs."

I process that. Logan=bad. The lawn -when I get there- is torn up. The Brotherhood and X-Men are battling it out. I launch in on Blob, trying to dig my claws into his head to allow Rogue to beat him. Not working. I glare at her.

"Gloves! Off!"

She looks worried.

"ROGUE! NOW! SORTA BEING SHAKEN TO DEATH!"

She tears a glove off and rams her hand directly into the Blob's face. Good. He falls unconcious and Rogue wavers slightly. I grab her arm, let her get a little bit of healing to help her cope.

She nods, relieved.

"Thanks, sugah."

I dance off, but a fist hits me about twelve times in the space of a second. I curl up into a ball as the blows rain down.

"WHEREISSHE?! WHEREISWANDA?! WHATHAVEYOUDONETOHER!?"

"Gone... Ran... Told her...safe...Avengers..."

He stops hitting me and then we're on the other side of the grounds.

"What?"

I explain -twice- and then he just stares at me.

"She's left?"

"Look, can you drop me back off there? I feel rather alone."

He nods slowly. Impressive for a guy who can run half-way around the world in 92 seconds. And then I'm back. Kitty sees me, screams. I raise my hands to placate her but Isaac is running towards me, waving his arms in terror. I don't have time to turn before a burning pain fires across my chest.

I look down. All I can do is stare. Stare. Stare at the blood trickling down my chest, at the torn holes in my uniform. Vibranium didn't protect me from this.

I look back up. Isaac is standing stock-still. Kitty looks horrified. I look back down.

Six, blood-stained adamantium claws reflect my wide-eyes.

Isaac

I ran into the mansion and grabbed one of the leather X-men jackets. I had always loved them.

I threw it on along with the body suit that Rebekah had given me and moved out into the battlefield. Spider-Man appeared beside me. He was wearing a black mask with two holes for eyes.

"What happened to your mask?" I asked.

"Wolverine's been put under some sort of spell by this guy called Mastermind. He thinks he's fighting the Brotherhood. He crept up behind me. He would have killed me as well had it not been for the faithful spider sense."

"Well, I'll be sure to avoid Wolvie then," I said. I reached out with my mind. I could detect Magneto and with two other mutants with him. One was definitely Toad and the other was...

"Storm!" I said starting to race towards the mansion.

"Wait for me!" Spider-Man yelled but I had already broken the sound barrier. I arrived less than a second later. Storm was unconscious on the floor. I knelt down beside her and propped up her head. There was blood running down her face and her nose looked broken.

"Storm, are you alright?" I asked shaking her slightly. She opened her eyes slightly. She smiled.

"Isaac, I'm glad to see you," she said. She obviously had a concussion.

"What happened? Where's Magneto?" I asked.

"Behind you," a voice said.

I swivelled my head around. Toad, Blob, and Magneto were standing there. Magneto was dressed in full garb. My eyes glowed with energy. Blob moved to stand in front Magneto but Magneto stopped him. He had already prepared a force field strong enough to withstand anything I could launch at him.

"Isaac. Again, we meet."

"I think you'll find it's, 'we meet again'."

"Never at a loss for words are you?" Magneto smirked.

"Why don't you just go on your way?" I asked. "You've already managed to escape and the X-men will be here soon."

"No rush. Mastermind has got those fools quite busy. By the time, they realize they've been tricked, we're be long gone."

"What are you going to do?"

"Isn't it simple? I'm going to kill both of you."

I looked down at Storm and then back at Magneto. "Over my dead body."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Magneto said. "You've come really far from that first time I met you in the woods but you can't take the three of us and it doesn't look like anyone's coming to your rescue does it?" Magneto said.

"Wrong bucket brain," Spider-Man said swinging in and landing beside me.

I smiled. "You were there the whole time weren't you?"

"Superhero training, lesson one, always know when to make your entrance."

"It's good to see you Peter."

Even with the mask on I could see the gobsmacked look on his face. His mouth opened andclosed like a goldfish for several seconds.

"Well, that was unexpected," he finally blurted out. "When Bekah said you knew my identity

I didn't really believe it."

"Sorry," I said. "I guess I should have gave you a little warning."

I took one final look down at Ororo. Being careful not to injure her further, I took off my jacket and placed it underneath her head. I stood up and turned to face the trio from the Brotherhood.

"We need to get them away from this area as soon as we can," I whispered to Spider-Man.

"Easier said than done," Spider-Man whispered back. "Have you seen the size of that guy? They don't call him the immovable Blob for nothing."

"Just follow my lead," I said charging at them suddenly.

"Some lead," I heard him mutter

I ran towards Magneto. Blob and Toad moved in front of him just as I had expected. I launched myself over their heads narrowly avoiding a couple of fists. Spider-Man did likewise. We landed in front of Magneto. He stood stock still expecting us to throw a punch at his force field but I knew we didn't have the combined power to do anything to it by ourselves. We waited for Blob to turn and throw a wicked haymaker before we ducked and threw our own powerful punches.

The look on Magneto's face was priceless. Him and his shield went soaring through a wall. He rolled a couple of times before coming to a complete stop.

"Move!" Spidey said tackling me out of the way as another punch missed my head by inches.

"I owe you one," I said.

"Try not to lose count," Spider-Man said jumping out of the way of Toad's tongue.

I grabbed it and teleported him outside. then swung him around at super speed and let him go. I teleported back.

"One down," I said. "Time for Blob."

I ran towards Blob at super speed and teleported him as far as I could. We landed on the lawn where he was attacked by the X-men. My work there was done. I left things with the X-men while I teleported back. All of a sudden, I collapsed with dizziness. Moving something as big as the Blob had exhausted my strength.

Spider-Man grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. I groaned and retched on the floor. I looked up to see Magneto walking towards us.

We both went into defensive positions. He held out his hands disarmingly.

"You're lucky Isaac," he said.

"Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"Because I won't be killing you today."

"Why?" I asked again.

"We've ran out of time. Mastermind can't keep up the illusions for much longer. Even now, Jean is starting to unravel them."

"Well, thank you for not killing me," I said with mock gratitude.

"Oh, I almost forgot. One more thing, you may want to look behind you."

I didn't trust Magneto so I didn't. But I did reach out my mind to see if I could detect any mutants. There was a couple but they were quite far off. They were both feral. I could tell that easily. I was sure one was Rebekah. I knew her mutant signature well enough to be able to tell where she was from half-way across the world. If I wasn't mistaken, the other was Logan. Logan! I span around to see Logan charging towards Bekah, who was completely oblivious.

I started to run but for all my speed I felt like I was moving through quicksand. I wasn't going to make it. I yelled at her to move but I was moving too fast for my voice to be audible. I approached as Logan reached her.

"Bekah," I screamed as Wolverine's claws pierced through her. She looked down at the claws in horror. I skidded to a stop. Logan yanked the claws out and stood watching her coldly as the blood gushed out. A light suddenly went on in his eyes as the illusion wore off.

No one moved. I rushed forwards and tried to stem the flow of blood with my hands but there was too much. Still Logan didn't move. Blood dripped from his claws onto the floor. Beast appeared beside me.

"Keep applying pressure," Dr McCoy said but his voice was an echo inside my head. I couldn't believe this was happening

"Come on Bekah. You'd better not die on me now. Come on!" I shouted. Rebekah's eyes were almost closed.

"Don't fall asleep Rebekah!" Dr McCoy said. And still Logan stood there, his eyes completely dead, with the steady rhythm of the blood hitting the dirt.

A.N. We both have quite a lot on and as this story doesn't seem to be gaining as much following as before, we may end up putting it on hold while we catch up.