Chapter Five: Causing Havok

Sean was at the counter knocking back some pills to deal with his killer headache when Tobi stormed into the kitchen. She looked practically feral in her pajamas with her green eyes on fire. She saw Sean standing by the sink and marched into the kitchen, teeth bared. Raven followed her.

"Where the hell is Alex?" she snapped.

Sean couldn't quite take her seriously. That, and he was still a little out of it. He grinned.

"You're cute when you're angry."

A frustrated slap to the face snapped Sean back into reality. This was Tobi he was flirting with and while he still thought she was kinda hot, it wasn't a great idea to hit on her when she was mad. Sean's head snapped back with the force of the blow and it only made his migraine twice as bad. He groaned and touched his cheek.

"Don't play games with me. I have a bruise the size of Jupiter on my face and I want to take out the guy who did it. Problem?"

Tobi cocked her head to the side. Sean thought out of Tobi and Alex, he'd rather take on Alex any day. Sighing heavily, his shoulders slumped and he jerked his thumb towards the game room.

"He's playing that soccer game thing."

Tobi nodded in satisfaction and stalked out of the kitchen, Raven hot on her heels. Sean watched them both leave, knowing that trouble was going to go down. He slunk out of the kitchen and decided to watch. It might be interesting to see who won the Tobi versus Alex showdown.

"You asshole," Tobi spat as she marched into the games room, seeing her blond quarry playing a game with Darwin as Angel watched them lazily. All three of them turned to look at her as she stormed across the room, pointing to the bruise on her cheek. "What's the big idea, huh?"

She looked dangerous, her hands clenched into fists by her sides. Tobi was obviously prepared for a fight, but Alex just laughed, shrugging and smirking as if he found the whole situation amusing.

"What's the matter? Did I ruin your pretty face? You were asking for it."

Tobi bared her teeth and stalked across towards him, shoving him in the chest. Alex staggered backwards at the force of the push and his eyebrows contracted into a frown.

"Piss off, dickhead. You've had it in for me ever since I owned your ass when I got here."

Alex sneered. "Well, sorry if we don't all want to bang you like the Banshee."

He jerked his chin towards Sean, who immediately turned red and shook his head. Tobi's fist flew out of nowhere, colliding with Alex's face so hard that something cracked. She didn't really care if she'd dislocated his jaw right now. She was so angry at him, at how he just thought he could treat her like shit all the time. Everyone else was okay with her, well, that she knew of…so what was Alex's problem?

Alex's eyes widened with shock as he crashed into one of the game machines, hitting the ground with quite some force and grunting at the impact. He glowered up at Tobi as she stood over him with a cocky smile on her face and her hands planted on her hips.

"Checkmate, Summers."

"You little bitch. I hate you."

Tobi smirked. "Feeling's mutual, big guy. Come on, if you're such a man, why are you the one on the floor?"

Raven stepped forward looking a little worried. While she was all for an Alex-bashing, she was concerned that Tobi was going to take things too far. She reached out and placed a hand on Tobi's arm, but the younger girl pushed her away.

"Alex, let it go," Darwin warned, sensing the fight that was about to break out and attempting to prevent it. "Tobi, I think that's enough."

Alex was seething. He was far too irate to listen to Darwin's attempts to soothe him and he clambered to his feet and lunged at Tobi. His speed took her by surprise and he managed to catch her around the waist and throw her to the ground. Tobi squirmed beneath him as his angry face loomed over her.

"Jesus, get off me! You weigh a freaking tonne!"

Alex managed to get a grip on Tobi's wrists and pin them over her head with one hand in a display of superior strength. Tobi was fuming. Her legs kicked uselessly.

"Say you're sorry," Alex hissed at her, "Because next time you hit me, I might have to use my powers on you…and I really don't want to do that."

Tobi laughed hoarsely. "Yeah, you do."

Alex bared his teeth and gripped her wrists so tight that she winced. The others hovered around, feeling that they shouldn't intervene. Maybe if Tobi and Alex fought it out, they'd end up getting along better…or perhaps not.

"You don't understand anything about me!" Alex snarled at her, with such venom that Tobi recoiled, "You don't know what it's like to have a power that can only destroy. You have no idea."

Tobi was overcome by a sudden stab of pity. She wished Alex would continue to shout her, provoke her, so that she could go back to being angry. Only he released her wrists and got up. Darwin tried to reach out to him as he passed, but Alex shoved him aside and walked out.

Tobi got to her feet, no longer caring about the bruise on her face or the fact that new ones would soon be forming around her wrists. Now she was beginning to see that Alex wasn't just a dickhead – there was a reason he was the way he was, and suddenly, Tobi was adamant that she'd find that reason out.

Everyone was lounging around in the games room when night fell. Charles and Erik still hadn't returned and despite Sean's eagerness, Darwin wouldn't take them out again – especially while Tobi and Alex were still not talking to each other. The tension in the room had been eased ever so slightly by a game of cards, but Alex refused to take part, sitting by himself and swirling his coke.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire reached their ears and Darwin stood up with a terse frown. The teenagers exchanged glances of shock. Alex still wouldn't meet Tobi's eyes, but now the wideness of his eyes indicated his anger at her wasn't the most prominent thing on his mind.

"What the…"

Darwin crossed to the window and pulled open the blinds, enabling them to have a clear view of the courtyard outside. There were more gunshots and shouting and suddenly, a man fell to the grass with a horrible crunch. Raven cried out in shock and leapt to her feet as his screams were immediately silenced. Only the man wasn't the one – other bodies started to fall from the sky, apparently from nowhere. Tobi's eyes widened with horror and she clambered to her feet along with others to observe whatever was happening outside.

"What's going on?" Angel exclaimed, unwilling to draw too close to the window. "Who's doing this?"

More agents were running into the courtyard, to be confronted by a blood-red mutant with a long tail. He had a devilish look about him and Raven started to sob into her hands as the mutant teleported around the courtyard, killing the agents with impossible ease. Their motionless bodies crumpled to the grass as Angel screamed.

"Get down!" Darwin shouted, gesturing wildly for them all to get behind the couches. Tobi threw herself to the ground with a grunt and crawled behind the couches along with the others. There wasn't one of them who didn't look terrified. Raven was still crying.

The screaming and gunshots continued as Tobi willed it all to go away. There wasn't a thing she could do about what was happening, powers or not. She couldn't save the agents any more than the rest of her friends. A wave of frustration washed over her. What good was she, then?

Tobi risked a glance around the edge of the couch just as the window shattered from the impact of bullets. Throwing an arm up to shield herself, she noticed that a tornado was ripping its way through the courtyard, violently throwing aside those agents who were still left alive.

"Why is this happening?" Angel whispered, her dark eyes welling with tears.

Tobi could feel the sinister atmosphere that lingered all around them, threatening to choke her. She had always possessed sharp senses and although she couldn't read minds, she could sense them. She curled her arms around her legs, drawing her knees up underneath her chin.

"They're here for us," she replied, terrified.

Tobi felt that she was breathing in the debris that surrounded her, that her head was ringing from the pandemonium erupting. Only when all the noise had stopped did she dare to climb shakily to her feet. Her knees wobbled like jelly.

The tornado ceased and a Spanish man stepped unharmed from its wrath with a rather smug look about his face as he paced towards the horrified mutants. The red-skinned teleporter appeared beside him with an equally complacent look. Tobi glanced across at the others and noticed that Alex's jaw had clenched with rage.

"Where's the telepath?"

A helmeted man was the one who had spoken and by his assured air, he was clearly the leader of the group. The red-skinned teleporter examined the mutants with his piercing eyes. Tobi tilted her chin and stared right back at him, secretly frightened of the curiosity with which these three men eyed them.

"Not here," the teleporter replied.

"Too bad," the helmeted man sounded almost dismissive, "Oh, well. At least I can take this silly thing off."

He moved towards them at a languid pace as he took off his helmet off. He obviously knew that these mutants posed no danger to him. Tobi watched him with a furious expression contorting her features.

"Good evening." The man was tall and lanky, with a non-descript face. He appeared in his early fifties or late forties. The mutants observed him warily. Raven was still crying into her hands. "My name's Sebastian Shaw, and I'm not here to hurt you."

Bullshit, Tobi thought ferociously. She could sense how sinister this man's mind was and she tensed up, clenching her hands into fists. It was when she met dark people like this Shaw that she remembered why she had posed as a boy. As a boy, Tobi had options. As a girl…she shuddered. The only real option there was prostitution, which was why she had gone with pretending to be a boy. She heard horrible stories about how awful men would abuse prostitutes.

"My friends, there's a revolution coming. When mankind discovers who we are, what we can do, each of us will face a choice. Be enslaved or rise up to rule. Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then by definition, you are against us. So you can stay and fight for the people who hate and fear you. Or you can join me and live like kings and queens."

He held out his hand and Tobi expected them all to stand their ground – only Angel reached out and took his hand. Tobi's head shot around so fast that she nearly cricked her neck, and her mouth opened wide in horror.

"Angel?" Raven gasped.

"Are you kidding me?" Alex sounded shocked.

Angel turned back to face them. She didn't look at all guilty about the decision that she'd made.

"Come on. We don't belong here…and that's nothing to be ashamed of."

The other stood in appalled silence as Angel walked away with Shaw and the others. Darwin turned to face Alex with a meaningful look in his eyes, a spark of rebellion. Tobi knew what was going on the moment Alex did. Darwin pushed at Alex, trying to get him to agree to use his power…to do it for all their sakes…but Alex just shoved him back.

"Wait!" Darwin called, and Shaw and the others turned to face him, "I'm coming."

Shaw looked sinisterly delighted. "Excellent. What can you do?"

Darwin shrugged as he crossed the courtyard towards where Shaw and the others stood. Tobi glanced across at Alex, her green eyes betraying her doubt. Alex reached across and put an arm around her shoulders as if he was comforting her about Darwin's betrayal, but then he squeezed her arm so hard it hurt…and Tobi knew she had her own part to play.

"Adapting to survive," Darwin shrugged.

Raven's eyes were wide as she stared across at Shaw and the others. Alex released Tobi and took a small step forward. Tobi swallowed back the sick feeling in her mouth, hoping that this was going to work…hoping she was strong enough to save them.

"Alex!" Darwin shouted, grabbing Angel and twirling so that his back was facing the young mutant.

Everything was a blaze of fiery red as Alex shot the energy blasts straight at Shaw. Tobi realized with horror that far from being harmed, Shaw had gathered Alex's power into himself, swallowing it with his own being. Darwin, desperate, took a swing at Shaw, who easily stopped him and pressed the glowing, tiny red ball of Alex's power into Darwin's mouth.

"Adapt to this."

Then Shaw clasped hands with Angel, the Spanish mutant and the teleporter. The four of them disappeared and Alex watched with horror as his powers, powers he had unintentionally unleashed upon his friend, obliterated Darwin…one painful layer at a time.

Raven pressed her hands over her mouth to smother a gasp. Tobi suddenly felt the need to comfort Alex as Darwin became nothing more than dust on the air. She felt as though she couldn't breathe. How could Shaw's power be so strong? How could they defeat him when every attempt they made to harm him made him powerful? She sucked in her breath.

"Shit." Tobi moved past her shell-shocked friends towards Alex. He stood with his shoulders tensed and his hands clenched into tight fists. He was still staring out at the courtyard, at the destruction he had wreaked. This was what always happened. This was exactly why he didn't use his powers.

"Alex?" Tobi's tone was tentative.

"I did this." Alex's voice was hoarse with rage and sadness, "It's my fault that Darwin's dead!"

Tobi shook her head vehemently, her green eyes bright with unshed tears. Darwin had been her friend too and she hated seeing Alex so torn up because of what had happened. She might have disliked him, thought he was a prick…but that had been when they'd had the opportunity to act like kids. Now things were a lot more serious.

"No, Alex. Please listen to me. You know that it's Shaw's fault. He's the one who killed Darwin. Shaw, not you."

Tobi reached out to touch his shoulder, but Alex glowered at her with such intensity, such guilt in his eyes and a broken look about his face. Tobi knew in that instant that this wasn't the first time this had happened, that Alex had experienced this pain before.

"Leave me alone," Alex hissed at her, his eyes blazing, "Just…don't touch me, okay, Tobi? Now do you understand why I don't use my powers? Do you get it now?"

Tobi took a deep breath, feeling the self-loathing radiating off Alex in sickening waves, hitting her like a harsh slap to the face. His frame shook as he buried his face into his hands and choked back a sob of anguish. Tobi watched sympathetically as he raked his hands through his blond hair. Then she did something that shocked even her – she placed her hands on Alex's shoulders and willed him to look into her eyes.

"Come with me," she murmured, throwing a despairing glance at the others. She didn't need words to communicate. Sean, Raven and Hank could all sense Alex's distress and despite the fact that it was weird how he and Tobi weren't fighting anymore, Raven at least recognized that Tobi and Alex needed each other.