Stokes County Maximum was the place for the worst of the worst. It held not just the scum of the earth, but the scum that were gifted with powers. Powers that they've abused in a life of crime, and now they're here to pay for them.

One of these inmates was kept in a large tank. He was a very big man. Almost inhuman with how large he was, which explains the extremes that went with his prison. He had a chain on each arm at all times, along with some on his legs, and his tank was filled with a fluid that paralyzed every part of him, putting him in a coma-like state.

Despite this being a possible infringement of human rights, it was necessary to keep him contained.

Only a fool would think about releasing him.

Which was why Mystique walked into his cell, disguised as a prison guard.

Using her form's finger prints and retina scan, she was able to gain access to the cell. She then went to the computer console and pressed a button, making the tank come up, exposing the unconscious prisoner. Another button was pressed, which caused all the fluid to be drained. No longer paralyzed, the prisoner's eyes opened, regaining consciousness.

Shifting into her true form, the shapeshifter smirked.

"Wake up, Cain." She said. "It's time you had a long-overdue family reunion with your brother. Charles Xavier."

His eyes narrowed at the name of his brother.

"You will not be making wallets, necktie racks, or paperweights." Sergeant Hawk said to the line of students that had just stepped off the bus to spend a day at Iron Back Survival Camp. A camp that brought out the soldier in everyone.

The students that consisted of the X-Men, Brotherhood, and other teens from Bayville High all stood at attention as Sergeant Hawk gave his speech.

"You will not engage in potato-sack races, water-balloon tosses, or pony rides." He continued.

"Damn, I was looking forward to the pony rides." Danny whispered to Rogue, making her giggle.

"You will be taking twenty-mile hikes, rappelling two hundred-foot cliffs, and crossing treacherous water with no more than a rope and courage." Hawk finished before turning to his new recruits. "Do you read me?"

"Yes, Sergeant Hawk, sir!" They all shouted.

"I said, do you read me?" Hawk repeated.

"Yes, Sergeant Hawk, sir!" They shouted even louder.

"Welcome to Iron Back Survival Camp. A name you won't forget." He told them.

"I'd rather take my chances at Camp Crystal Lake." Danny whispered to Rogue, making her giggle again.

Hawk was now standing in front of Scott. "Now, here we have a young man, Scott Sumner."

"Summers." Scott corrected.

"Whose scholastic achievements at Bayville High earned him the rank of group leader." He continued. "You will be following his lead. You've got ten minutes to stow your gear and report to the training field. Dismissed!"

As all the students went to put their stuff away, the X-Men stayed back in front of the bus.

"Oh, I'm gonna be dead in, like, two days." Kitty groaned, not wanting to deal with this.

"What about me?" Evan said. "I'm a city kid."

"What did we do to deserve this?" Kurt asked.

"We were born, that's what." Danny said.

"I'm going AWOL." Rogue picked up her bag. "Anyone know how to hot-wire a school bus?" She looked at her boyfriend, hopefully. "Danny?"

Danny nodded. "I think I can do it." He was about to go get the bus up and running when Scott grabbed him.

"Whoa, slow down, private." Scott said. "We're not washing out in front of the school. Besides, Professor X endorses this place."

"Yeah." Jean agreed. "At least he gave us a choice. Survival training here or with Wolverine."

"Some choice." Rogue whined.

"Come on. We can do this." Scott said as he stepped forward to observe the camp. "We can brave through this camp. Together, no obstacle can get in our way. And you want to know why. Because we're the X-Men." He turned around. "Now, who's with me?"

The sight Scott was greeted with was the bus taking off, leaving him and Jean alone.

"What the hell?" Scott exclaimed before he and Jean started chasing the bus. "Hey, come back here!"

The Brotherhood was nearby and saw the whole scene.

"Wow, didn't expect the goodie goodies to actually ditch." Lance said, impressed that the good guys broke the rules for once. "I'm actually kind of jealous."

"Yeah, we should've hopped on that bus as well." Toad added. "I can't believe Mystique signed us up for this."

"Well, we better get going before Sergeant Hawk decides to make us drop and give him twenty." Lance said as the Brotherhood went to put their stuff away.

"Cellular paralysis biofluid." Mystique observed as the fluid finished draining. "Amazing. It actually stopped the unstoppable." She opened the tank. "It'll take a few moments before you can move." She then pressed another button, which made his chains release him. "Then I'll sneak you out of this prison; where, now, who was it that locked you away?" She said mockingly. "Oh, that's right. Your brother, Charles Xavier."

The Juggernaut growled.

"Sore subject?" Mystique asked.

"Who are you?" He asked her.

"A dealmaker." Mystique answered as she went to a small door on the wall. Opening it, she pulled out a large dome-like helmet. "I arrange your early release, and you deliver to me one item in your brother's possession. His mutant detection system known as Cerebro."

"And my brother?" Juggernaut asked.

"I leave his fate in your capable hands." Mystique said as he placed the helmet on him and connected the straps. "You are, after all, the unstoppable Juggernaut."

Juggernaut narrowed his eyes. "If you want it so much, why don't you just steal it from him?"

"Unfortunately, Charles is rather protected by his students, the X-Men." Mystique revealed.

"X-Men?" Juggernaut raised an eyebrow. "Students?"

"Yes." Mystique said. "Most of them are at this survival camp, so they won't be a problem when we go meet Charles." She then started heading out of the cell. "Now, I have a plane waiting. It will take you-"

She was interrupted when Juggernaut pushed her aside as he left.

"No one." He grunted. "No one takes Juggernaut anywhere. And nothing gets in my way."

"Charming." Mystique said sarcastically at this brute's treatment of her.

Juggernaut rampaged through the security of the rest of the prison, throwing guards aside and crushing their guns. He made his way to several more cells and broke out three more prisoners. He might need them just in case.

One of the prisoners was a young man in a green jumpsuit. His entire head was glowing with yellow electrical energy. This was Electro.

Another was a buff man wearing armor, with long hair and an iron mask over his head. In each of his hands was a whip made of pure energy. This was Whiplash.

The final was an anthropomorphic dragon-like creature called Dragon Man.

The three prisoners looked at Juggernaut with hesitation and a bit of fear.

"Here's the deal." Juggernaut told them. "I let you out, so you owe me a favor. You help me pull off a little job, and then you're free to go. Refuse, and I'll beat you black and blue and throw you back into your cells. So which is it?"

The three looked at each other before looking back at their rescuer.

"We'll help you." Electro said, itching to get out of here. Then, after this was all done, he could get some payback against Spider-Man for putting him here.

"Yes." Whiplash agreed, wanting to get even with Iron Man.

Dragon Man nodded, not wanting to stay here after being defeated again by the Fantastic Four.

The Juggernaut smirked before going over to Mystique and grabbing her by the throat.

"Now tell me where this survival camp is." He demanded.

"Are they still following us?" Danny asked as he was driving the bus.

Rogue looked through the window to see that Scott and Jean were still chasing them. "Yep."

"Wow, still?" Danny said in awe. "That's impressive. Okay, they earned it. I'll stop."

He hit the brakes as the bus stopped and opened the doors for Jean and Scott to come in.

"What the hell, Danny?" Scott berated.

"How can you take off with the others?" Jean scolded him.

Danny simply sighed. "Look, I'm not in the mood for military training, okay? So I was thinking that maybe instead of spending the day running and doing pushups, we go out, maybe see a movie, check out the arcade, and maybe do some shopping." He turned to the other X-Men, who took off with him. "Who's with me?"

"Yeah." Kurt said happily.

"Totally." Evan agreed.

Kitty clapped her hands together. "You had me at shopping."

Rogue placed a hand around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "You sure know how to brighten up a girl's day."

"No way." Scott said as he placed his hand on the wheel. "We are turning this bus around."

Danny stared at Scott. "Scott, I like you, bro, but if you touch this wheel, I will throw you out of this bus. Now you can go back to the camp and probably get into a fight with Avalanche, or you can sit in the back and enjoy a day off. What will it be?"

"I can't believe he talked me into this." Scott said as he stood in line for popcorn at the movie theater.

"I know he's very persuasive." Jean said with a smile before she noticed Scott's dreary mood. "Oh, come on, Scott." She said, trying to cheer him up. "It'll be fun."

"Professor Xavier expects us to be at that camp and not slacking off." Scott argued. "This is a bad idea, Jean."

"Look, I know that it's not cool to ditch the camp, but it's not like it's the end of the world." Jean reasoned.

"Yeah, but we could get in trouble." Scott pointed out.

Jean pointed over to Danny, who was with Rogue getting their sodas. "I doubt Danny would let that happen. He seems to have a plan for everything."

"Of course he does." Scott muttered as he crossed his arms.

"Scott, what's wrong?" Jean asked.

Scott looked down. "It's just that I'm jealous of Danny." He confessed, feeling depressed when he compared himself to his friend. "He's so suave and cool. Walking around with no worries or concerns. Just living life freely, and everything seems to work out for him. He doesn't care about anything. Nothing scares him. He can do anything. Nothing's impossible for him."

'He can even manage to date the girl that he likes, while I can't even admit my feelings to Jean.' Scott thought to himself bitterly as he saw Rogue give Danny a dazzling smile.

"Sometimes I wish I was like him." he revealed to Jean.

Jean smiled sympathetically as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Scott, you're perfect the way you are. Danny is cool, but we X-Men depend on your leadership and responsibility. Don't worry about what Danny's doing. Just be yourself."

Scott smiled back. "Thanks, Jean."

"Anytime." Jean said. "Now let's go. The movie's about to start."

"Well, at least it's better here than back at the camp." Scott said as they headed into the theater.

"58, 59, 60." The Brotherhood groaned in pain as they were doing pushups. The four boys were placed in an exercise that consisted of rowing boats, but their arguing over who got the paddle earned them punishment from Sergeant Hawk.

"Now on your feet." Hawk commanded as they finished their pushups. He pointed over to an obstacle course. "I want you maggots to run that obstacle course ten times. Go!"

"I really wish we ditched this place." Lance said as the boys started running.

"You and me both." Toad said.

Xavier was at Cerebro looking for any mutant signatures, and strangely, there weren't any. He couldn't even detect his students. He assumed that they weren't using their powers while they were at the camp.

"Is Cerebro locating new mutant sigs?" Logan asked as he walked into the room.

"No." Xavier answered. "I can't pick up any. Not even our students up at Iron Back. They haven't been active that much."

"Did you tell them not to use their powers?" Logan asked.

"No." Xavier replied. "I was hoping they'd make that decision themselves. And they did." He said proudly.

"Well, I still say you should have let me handle their survival training." Logan told him.

"I gave them that choice, Logan." Xavier reminded him. "They felt they had a better chance of surviving the camp." Cerebro then went off, catching their attention. "Well, well. Seems we have a new mutant on the scene after all."

"Discovery: Enhanced mutant signature." Cerebro said. "Identity confirmed and matched to archive file."

"Archive file?" Xavier asked. "Who would-" He stopped as he saw a picture of the mutant in question. The Juggernaut.

"Name: Cain Marko." Cerebro revealed. "Residence: Stokes County Maximum Security Prison. Current Location: In transit, upstate New York."

"No!" Xavier exclaimed in fear.

"Cain Marko?" Logan said. "Who's-"

"My half-brother." Xavier revealed. "Somehow he's escaped. But that's impossible."

"What's an enhanced mutant signature?" Logan asked, picking up on what Cerebro told them.

"He possessed an X-gene at birth." Xavier informed him. "But it was dormant most of his life. So he awakened it with mysticism."

"What kind of powers does he have?" Logan questioned, wondering what they were dealing with.

"He's become a juggernaut." Xavier said. "Invulnerable."

As Xavier and Logan were wondering what to do, the four escaped prisoners were walking down the road towards Bayville as two police cars came towards them. Electro blasted one of them, while Dragon Man let out a stream from its mouth, burning the other.

Another pair came right away, with Whiplash slicing one in half with his whips while Juggernaut smacked the final car aside like it was nothing.

With no more obstacles in their way, the four made their way to the survival camp.

"That was a good movie." Kurt said as they walked out. "I give it two thumbs up."

"Alright, we saw a movie." Scott said to Danny. "Now what?"

"We go shopping!" Kitty said.

"Whoa, whoa!" Scott tried to keep them from getting off track. They had their fun, and now it was time to go back. "Come on, we have to get back to camp soon."

"We will, Scott." Danny told him. "At the end of the day, when it's time to go."

"But-"

"Trust me, Scott." Danny reassured his friend. "We'll be back in time to leave, with no one else the wiser."

"Yeah, you need to relax." Rogue said. "You're acting as bad as Sergeant Hawk."

This made Scott worry. Sergeant Hawk will realize that they ditched. "Sergeant Hawk will know that we've been gone." He panicked.

Danny, however, wasn't worried in the slightest. "I doubt that man is paid enough to care about a few missing teenagers. You just need to lighten up, Scott. It's all gonna work out."

"Danny's right, man." Evan said to Scott. "You just got to go with the flow."

"Now, come on, let's go!" Kitty cried, itching to get some shopping done. "I'm sure there are some great deals we can get at the mall. You interested, Jean?"

Jean smiled and grabbed Scott's arm as she dragged him to the mall. "Let's go, Scott!"

"Hey! Wait!" Scott cried as he was brought along.

Storm was currently in the Blackbird as she was activating the autopilot. "Engage autopilot." She then stepped on a platform that raised her through the hatch on top of the Blackbird.

Closing her eyes and concentrating, she summoned a mist that surrounded the entire area.

"Efforts to locate these powerful convicts have been hampered by the unexpected appearance of dense inland fog." A reporter said on the monitor that Xavier was watching. "Let's go to Haley Taylor for more on this strange weather."

'Very good, Storm.' He said to her telepathically. 'Keep it up.' He then turned his attention back to Logan. "If no one can see Cain and his fellow escapees, then no one will be foolish enough to try and recapture them."

"If I can't stop them, Charles, your best protection will be in the Danger Room." Logan told him. "I've got it ready."

"Yes." Xavier entered the elevator with Logan. "It may slow him down. But it won't stop him."

"Do you have any defense against him?" Logan asked.

"Just one." Xavier revealed. "My mind. With enough psychic blasts, I can disable him, unless he's wearing his helmet."

The Brotherhood stood with the rest of the campers in front of Sergeant Hawk, exhausted and ready to collapse at any moment.

"Alright, maggots, it's time to go fight it out in the wilderness." Hawk told them. He pointed to the mountain in the distance. "Your goal will be to snatch the flag I planted up there on Mount Humiliation."

Lance held back a cry of frustration. "Could this get any worse?" He asked himself silently.

Out of nowhere, a blast of yellow electrical energy struck Hawk, knocking him into a tree.

"What the heck was that?" Fred cried.

"Uh, guys." Toad pointed to Juggernaut, Whiplash, and Electro approaching them.

"Run!" Lance cried as everyone tried to make a run for it, with Pietro using super speed to escape, leaving his teammates alone.

As the group of children tried to escape, Dragon Man flew overhead and fired a steam of fire, creating a ring of flames that trapped the Brotherhood and the other kids.

"Yo, what kind of mutants are these guys?" Toad asked fearfully.

"Which of you runts are Charles' students?" Juggernaut demanded as he approached them.

All the students simply stared at him and the others with terror in their eyes.

"No answer, huh." Juggernaut smirked as he thought of an idea. "Well, I guess we'll have to weed out the freaks from the normal. And I got the thing to make you use your powers."

He snapped his fingers, making Dragon Man grab Toad and fly off into the air.

"Toad!" Lance and Fred cried, catching Juggernauts attention with their concern and familiarity with Toad.

Dragon Man flew Toad right next to Mount Humiliation, making the mutant cry out in fear before he shot his stretchy tongue to grab the peak of the mountain, saving himself from falling to his death.

Seeing that he was indeed a mutant, Dragon Man took hold of Toad again and flew him back to Juggernaut, dropping him at the giant's feet.

"Is he one of them?" Juggernaut asked, getting a nod of confirmation from his cohort.

"Guess that means you two are also Charles' students." He said to Lance and Fred, remembering their fear for Toad's safety. "Bring them forward."

Dragon Man grabbed the two and brought them before Juggernaut as he cracked his fists in anticipation.

"Wait, you got it all wrong!" Lance yelled. "We're not with Xavier. Honest."

"Pathetic." Juggernaut said as he looked at the three miscreants. "But I will take great pleasure in destroying my brother's pets. Now, how do I do it? Perhaps I can break all your bones and have Dragon Man set you on fire."

The three boys looked at each other in fear. For once, they wished the X-Men were here to save the day.

"Cain's failed relationship with our father and his resentment of me fueled his anger." Xavier said to Logan as they entered the Danger Room. "But after he was empowered, that anger became destructive and dangerous. He had to be locked away. I had no choice."

"Strange, he should be here by now." Logan said, expecting Cain's arrival to be any second now.

Xavier went to a computer console to look at the news.

"Police have surrounded Iron Back Survival Camp, where the four escaped convicts have taken the people there hostage." The reporter said, making Xavier's eyes widen.

"Oh, no!"

"You know this has been a great day, sugar." Rogue said as she walked through the mall with her boyfriend hand in hand.

"I aim to please." Danny chuckled. The two met up with the rest of the X-Men, with Kitty and Jean carrying several shopping bags in their hands.

"Alright, what's next?" Kitty asked.

The kids then heard the sound of the news on the nearby TVs in a store.

"There have been no demands from the four convicts since taking over this military camp." The reporter said as footage showed police outside the outskirts of the camp.

The X-Men all had dumbfounded looks on their faces at the news.

"Crap." Danny said.

"Well, what do we do now?" Scott said to Danny.

Before Danny could say anything, the X-Men, except for Danny, all received a telepathic message from Xavier.

'X-Men, are you all right?' He asked with dread in his voice, hoping his students were safe.

There was a pause before Jean finally answered. "Yes, professor, why?"

'My brother and three other criminals are at your camp. Where are you?' Xavier demanded.

"Jean, let me talk to him." Danny said as he opened his mind up to Xavier. 'Professor, what's going on? We're deep in the forest on a hike. What's the problem?'

'Oh, thank God none of you are hurt.' Xavier said. 'My half-brother and three others are there. I believe they're there to hurt you to get to me. I need you to be extremely careful. Help is on the way.'

'We will, professor.' Danny said before cutting off the connection. "Looks like we'll have to save the day and not get caught."

The X-Men all gave Danny incredulous looks, not believing that everything would work out.

"How?" Scott asked.

Danny smirked. "Trust me. I got a plan. Let's go!"

"Please, we're telling the truth." Lance said to Juggernaut. "We're not with Xavier!"

"So, you're a bunch of mutants that just happen to be here?" Juggernaut asked sarcastically. "What do you think I am, stupid?"

Meanwhile, the X-Men had all arrived at the camp. Danny drove the bus back, and using his powers of intangibility and invisibility, he managed to get past the police blockade.

"Okay, you guys deal with those three." Danny said to the others, pointing at Juggernaut's henchmen. "I'll handle the head honcho."

"What about the other people?" Scott asked, pointing to the other teens who were watching what was going on. "We'll risk exposing ourselves."

"I got a plan for that." Danny told him. "Now let's go!"

Juggernaut was about to throw a punch at the Brotherhood when an ectoblast blasted him.

"Hey, asshole!" Danny shouted as he and the X-Men confronted the bad guys. "You looking for us?"

Juggernaut snarled at the X-Men. "So you're the runts my brother has taken under his wing? I'll kill you!"

Danny blasted the Juggernaut into a cabin. "Your battle is with me, big guy! Try and keep up!"

As Danny was battling the Juggernaut, the X-Men were dealing with the other three.

Scott fired his optic blast at Electro.

"Ah!" Electro cried in pain at the blast.

"What's wrong?" Scott taunted. "Too much of a shock for you?"

"The gloves are off!" Electro shot another blast at electric energy, which collided with Scott's optic blast.

As the two were trying to win the struggle, Kurt teleported Rogue behind Electro as the goth touched Electro's head, absorbing his power.

Electro collapsed to the floor as Rogue glowed with electricity.

"Wow, this guy is really messed up." Rogue said as she was taking in Electro's memories.

Dragon Man was trying to hit Kitty with his fire, but she kept phasing through it. Using this distraction, Evan impaled the villain with his spikes.

"Looks like you seen my point." Evan joked.

Whiplash was fighting Jean. He was about to attack her with his whips when Jean used her telekinesis and took control of them, using them to wrap up Whiplash before Rogue electrocuted him with a blast of electricity.

Only Juggernaut was left.

"You can't stop me! I'm the Juggernaut!" Juggernaut cried as he kept throwing punches at Danny, but he kept dodging them.

"What you are is a little bitch." Danny said. "Why did you want us anyway?"

"To pound you into smithereens to hurt my brother." Juggernaut answered.

"Aw, is the big man jealous of his brother?" Danny teased. "Can't blame you. I mean, Xavier has money. He also has respect, a mansion, and people who care for him. What do you have?"

"Shut up!" Juggernaut roared.

"You can get angry all you want, but you can't escape the truth." Danny told him. "No matter how big you are, you'll never be able to break out of your brother's shadow."

Juggernaut let out a shout of rage at this kid mocking him. Before he could grab a hold of Danny's neck, the hybrid punched him in the face, shattering his helmet, breaking his nose, and knocking him out.

Danny then turned to Jean. "Jean, contact the professor. Tell him we beat them and to erase the memories of the campers who saw us use our powers."

Jean nodded. 'Professor?' She asked telepathically.

'Jean, are you all right?' Xavier asked desperately.

'Yes.' She answered. 'We managed to beat them all.'

'You did?' Xavier couldn't believe that they would be able to stop not only the Juggernaut but three others as well. 'Is anybody hurt?'

'No.' Jean told him. 'We're all right, professor. But some of the campers saw us use our powers.'

Xavier smiled, happy that his students were safe and sound. 'Don't worry, Jean. I got it.'

He connected his mind to those of the other campers and erased any memories of the X-Men using their powers.

The X-Men saw all the kids looking around in confusion and wondering what had happened.

Danny smiled at his team. "I told you it would all work out."

Scott patted him on the back. "Sorry, I doubted you."

Back at Stokes County, Xavier was looking over his brother, who was now back in his tank, paralyzed again by the fluid.

"You can't control the will of others, Charles." Logan said to the solemn-looking professor. "They do what they want."

"And we do what we have to do." Xavier said as he left with Logan. Danny and Scott, who also tagged along, walked behind them.

"Hey, I wanted to say thanks for taking us out that day." Scott said, making sure the two couldn't hear their conversation. "It was really fun, I'll admit."

"Scott approving of breaking the rules; is this the apocalypse?" Danny teased.

"Ha ha." Scott elbowed Danny jokingly. "But no, really. I think you're right. Sometimes I just need to relax a bit, you know."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't be able to pull stuff like this if you weren't there, making sure I don't go too far." Danny told him. "Sometimes I wish I was like you. All put together, with your life on track."

Scott felt touched that Danny thought that about him. "Thanks. But every now and then we need to loosen up again, which is why we have you. You're a credit to this team."

"So are you, Scott." Danny smiled. "So are you."