The news about the girls came through the phone like prickles of electricity on her skin. Raven looked over her shoulder at Peter, who was anxiously hopping from one foot to the other. He knew he needed to be ready to run: he just needed to know where to go.

But he didn't know what she knew, what was about to happen. Her brother's voice drifted through the phone at her ear, and she memorized the address. If they were lucky, Peter could be in and out in a matter of seconds.

She waited until her brother was finished talking before she turned to Peter.

"Charles told me Essex is with her now, and that he's going to be asking her questions about the future," Raven said, "That's her mutation. We need to get in there as soon as possible-"

"And do what?" asked Peter, aghast, "Kidnap a kid?"

She sighed, frustrated. The answer was on the tip of her tongue, bitter.

"Yes," she said.

He gaped at her, and she wanted to slap him for his innocence. She also wanted to dig her fingers into her arm for knowing what their next step was. Just as Peter hadn't wanted to do anything he wouldn't be able to tell Kurt about, she had wanted to walk away from the mission with her head held high.

Her son had a ridiculous image of her as someone who, yes, had done some bad things in the past, but was a good person. He truly believed she would always try t do the right thing. He was like Charles in that way, and knowing she would have to kidnap one, possibly two, children, wasn't really something he'd understand.

Charles's voice was coming through on the other end, but his words felt fuzzy, mired in the guilt. Peter's dark eyes were getting bigger by the second.

"Don't look at me like that," snapped Raven, "You can't afford to be this naive."

"I don't wanna do that," Peter said, "You can't make me."

"Peter, be realistic!" she hissed.

"Don't touch the children," said Charles on the other end of the phone, "We remove them now and we start a war, probably get the authorities involved-"

"Charles, what do you suggest?" she hissed, "I'm not going to trade the lives of my nephews and my son for Yashida's granddaughters. Do you understand that?"

"Just give me five minutes," Charles said, "Have a back-up plan in place if you have to, but give me five minutes before you send Peter in!"

"Erik won't accept that, and I won't either," snapped Raven, "Charles, we won't hurt her! We just need to-"

"Take her away from her home and family?" asked Charles, "I have a different way. I can convince her otherwise."

"Convince her to lie to the people who took her in?" demanded Raven, "They're her family. You're just some disembodied voice!"

Suddenly, she felt someone at her elbow. Peter was standing close, practically pressing his face to the phone in an attempt to hear.

"I'll help Prof, but I won't kidnap kids," Peter said, "I wanna be a teacher!"

His voice was plaintive and pleading. She could almost hear her own voice in her head: I don't want to kidnap kids. I wanna be a mother!

"What do you have in mind?" asked Raven.

"Listen, if we play our cards right, we can save everyone," said Charles, "Call Erik and tell him we have to trap them, because I don't know how this will turn out. I can't do this with Essex in the room. It'll jeopardize the child too if she agrees to help."

"What do you want?" asked Peter.

"A distraction," Charles replied, "Move fast."

Kayla could feel her soul straining to hold together. The splatters of blood were still warm and slick on her lap and hands. Yukio was looking at her in fear, having rushed to her side and dug her tiny fingers into her leg.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

She wanted to help. Kayla wanted to reach out, to tell her it was alright, because what else could she tell her? But she couldn't, because Essex had told her not to speak to the children unless absolutely necessary. As such, her tongue was frozen.

Instead, she looked long at the little girl. She was Laura's age, if she was any judge. She'd only glimpsed her daughter in the woods, cuddled up in Logan's arms. Kayla wished she could've gotten a better angle, have really seen her face, because she knew she wasn't going to get that chance again.

The door opened and Essex walked in. Yukio pointed at Kayla, her eyes wide and frightened.

"Sir, she's hurt," Yukio said.

"No, that's just part of her mutation," said Essex, "And Kayla, what did I say about doing this in public? You should apologize."

"I am sorry sir," said Kayla.

The words stirred some of the remaining blood in her mouth. She wished she had the strength to get up and rip Essex's face off. He just smiled though, no doubt guessing her thoughts as he sat down and beckoned to Yukio.

He glanced down at his clipboard immediately after, but Kayla kept looking at the child. Her big eyes were hard: she knew he was full of shit. The realization hit Kayla like a ton of bricks, but it came nonetheless. Yukio was far from stupid, and she could tell that something was off with Essex.

Or, given her mutation, she might have seen this room before, seen these people. In fact, she was only taking small steps toward Essex, who looked up at her mildly. Was she stalling for something?

"Have a seat," he said.

"Is Mari nearby?" asked Yukio, "I'm not supposed to go too far."

"She is near," said Essex, "Now have a seat."

Yukio brushed some of her hair away from her face, her expression calm. As she did, a splatter of gunfire went off from outside. Essex looked up and swore to himself as he did so. Yukio had also turned to look, but Kayla realized that she didn't seem worried at all.

"Kayla, watch the girl," he said, "Make sure no one touches her."

"Yes sir," Kayla said.

He left the room, hurrying down the hall. Once was gone Yukio jumped onto her feet, once again holding onto her leg where the blood was.

"Are you hurt?" she asked, "Did he do this?"

Something warm and comforting pierced through her mind.

Yes, Charles said, He did.

He could see the little girl's eyes widen, unused to a voice in her head. But he didn't feel surprise at his presence from her, only a sense of disquiet from the sensation.

You knew I was coming, didn't you?

I know you have the funny speedy boy running around, she said, They think he's trying to break in, but he's not. He's trying to distract them. He's causing trouble for Mari's grandfather. I know that the metal man is going to disrupt the power generators for the next few days, break all the power and fuel lines coming in. It'll cause the toll roads to shut down, leaving only one path. He knows we can't call for more supplies without bringing the authorities. Even Mari's grandfather doesn't have enough power to brush off having to call that in.

He was impressed. Had Erik really thought that plan up that quickly? Had it been something he'd been considering for a long time, or had he just had to improvise after Peter told him he was going to go in and give Charles the chance he needed?

Either way, he was glad to once again have his friend with him.

So why haven't you told someone? asked Charles.

Because I knew you would try to convince me not to, Yukio snorted, And I wanted to see what you think you could possibly say to make me go against Mari's grandfather. And when it doesn't work, I will tell him where everyone is. I'll tell him where the speedy boy is, even though they will kill him and he made Mari smile. Bad people can still make people smile.

Charles winced. He hadn't quite expected this level of harshness from the child, especially after she had tried to help Kayla. However, he could see that there was a wariness there that he'd never seen before, a child who hadn't just seen too much of the world: she'd seen everything it could be too.

But she was still a child, one who cared about others. It meant that, no matter what, she still had some compassion left. And that meant that he could talk to her, like he'd talked to Erik over all those years.

The woman in front of you has a daughter, your age, said Charles.

Terrible things can happen to children at any age, Yukio said, her voice growing sharper.

She didn't want to talk to him, he realized. In some way, Yukio had already made up her mind. She'd said it herself, there was nothing he could say.

Luckily, he had more in his toolbox than words.

I know that all too well, Charles said, But Laura's different.

He could feel Yukio's suspicion spike, but he let his memories flow through her. She blinked, surprised again at the sensation, but then-

Laura was laying on the floor, her head on Kevin's shoulder as Emma burst into the room. Kevin's face was sweating and shaking, smeared with blood, his expression one of severe shell-shock. Moira sat next to him, a task he himself couldn't do, one arm around their son. Next to her Hank was digging through his bag, hunting for something, anything that could help.

Blood puddled all around them, every now and then a soft whimper coming from Laura's lips. Emma swallowed and sat next to Laura. He felt Yukio step next to him, her eyes wide and frightened. He wished he didn't have to show her, to spare her whatever innocence he could, but she needed to understand.

"Sorry Aunt Emma..." Laura mumbled.

"Don't be sorry," said Emma, her words thick, "I...you haven't done anything wrong."

Laura just looked at her woozily. Emma smiled and kissed her forehead. Yukio walked closer, watching the scene unfold.

"He did this to her, the girl?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Why?" asked Yukio.

Charles, free from his wheelchair, walked closer. In his memory, he was begging Emma to tell him what she knew of her niece's past.

"He wanted to make a mutant," he said, "So he took her, styled her just the way he wanted. But her aunt, the blonde woman, rescued her. She'd been tortured by him too, forced to be separated from her family, her sister."

He bit his lip as Hank began breaking the bones. Kevin jolted at the first crack, Moira's hands clasped over his ears. His son had heard the snap though, the first crunch. God, what had he been through this past year?

"Why is he doing that?" asked Yukio.

"Hank's trying to save her life," said Charles, "Something went wrong with what Essex tried to do, and it was killing her. He needed to reset the bones."

Yukio pointed at Laura.

"Will he do this again if I help him?" she said, "Essex?"

"Yes," said Charles, "He will take her, and she will never know her mother. She will be just like the woman you see before you, controlled by someone else, locked up in her own mind. She will be destroyed."

The girl clasped her hands in front of her, blinking back tears. Her hands clutched the side of her face, and she began rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Yukio," Charles said, "I know this is hard, but-"

"Shhh," she said.

Charles quieted, confused. She was murmuring things under her breath, moving into a crouch, still rocking back and forth.

"He's going to come for you again," she said at last, "But not until after the baby's born, at least not right now. He'll ask me where the baby is. I'll tell him it's at the school, not the hospital. He wants to put the collars into mass production, but something in the serum is badly affecting the woman in front of him. He thinks it's destroying her throat, making it difficult for her to breathe. He dares not take it off her but he won't make any more until he's sure they work."

She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"But when he asks, I will lie," she said, "I will lie, but you must protect me and Mari to make sure nothing happens to us if things go wrong. She is my sister. You must protect us. And you must bring Laura her mother."

"Thank you," Charles said, "I know this is difficult for you."

The girl looked over at Laura again, still blinking back tears.

"You have no idea. You made me betray Mari's grandfather," she said harshly, "I don't want to talk to you anymore. Just keep your promise, take care of your children, and tell Speedy boy he has to come now if he wants to get Kayla back. They don't know it's him, so they're not protecting properly. Most of the others are up at the factory. He won't get another chance this good, but he may not like what happens."

"What?"

"She'll attack, go for his face," said Yukio, "I'm saying this because he made Mari laugh. That's hard."

"I'm not sure-"

"I don't want to talk to you!" she screamed, "I won't look, won't tell you! GO AWAY!"

Charles withdrew, and saw the girl's bright light in Cerebro as she raced for the closet. It would be a good place for her to pretend to have sought refuge for what happened next. He pondered what to do for a moment, whether he could truly call Peter. It would let them know that he was there, would increase the risk for the next part of their task.

Peter? he asked.

Yeah Prof? asked Peter, I just finished making a lap around the building. How's it going?

Peter, you have a window of time for Kayla, said Charles, Don't go just yet, but she's in the third bedroom off the main hallway. I think something bad might happen to you though. She's going to attack, aim for your face. Peter...I can't...

There was a pause, and he could almost feel Peter bite his lip.

If I do die, don't tell my dad who I was, said Peter, I don't think he could take another dead kid.

Peter-

I'm bringing Laura's mom home. Tell Raven I'm coming.

He held onto Peter's mind as he raced into the room, grabbing Kayla by the arm. Charles saw her whip around, the drug still pulling on her. A knife flashed in her hand, slashing toward Peter's face as he sped them away.