A/N - Here's the new chapter. Not much to say so just enjoy it.

Disclaimer: The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and belong to Marvel Comics. Harry Potter was created by and belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this and the only thing that's mine are the original parts of the story.

25) ESCAPE

Lightning woke up because he was being shaken pretty roughly which made him sit up quickly.

"Hey stop that!" he said as he did so. Logan let go of him and sat back on the floor.

"Sorry kid" said his grandpa, "but you were really out of it. Do you always sleep that hard?"

"What? No" said Lightning, "only when I'm really comfortable."

"How did you manage that?" Logan asked with a raised eyebrow. Lightning felt the floor underneath him and realized the cushioning charm was still working.

"I used a cushioning charm" he said, "didn't you feel it?" Lightning pointed to the area of the floor he had been lying on and gestured for Logan to feel it. The older man did so.

"How did you do that?" asked Logan, "your powers shouldn't work in here."

"That was magic not mutant power" said Lightning who then stopped to think for a few moments as his face became more and more puzzled.

"How could I use magic in here?" he finally asked Logan, "I thought the Sentinels neutralized our powers."

"They neutralized our mutant powers" corrected Logan.

"What about magic?" asked Lightning, "I know Trask was attacking magicals just as much as mutants."

"From what I've learned" said Logan, "they have another field that neutralizes magical powers. They're keeping the witches and wizards in cells that use it."

"Are the fields that neutralize magical and mutant powers that different?" asked Lightning.

"No idea" said Logan, "you'd think they wouldn't be but your magic seems to work in here while our mutants powers don't."

"I wonder if that's true the other way too?" said Lightning.

"You mean will a mutant's power work in a magical cell?" said Logan, "no clue kid."

"That seems wrong somehow" said Lightning, "you would think that the sentinels would use both fields on all of the cells."

"It might not be worth it" said Logan, "are there any other magical mutants besides you? If there aren't – "

"There are three more that I know of" said Lightning, "but our existence isn't known to that many people."

"That could have something to do with it" said Logan, "out of sight and out of mind and all that. Maybe it's never occurred to the Sentinels that someone could be both since, as far as they know, it hasn't happened yet."

"That doesn't sound logical" said Lightning, "I thought robots were supposed to be logical."

"Maybe" said Logan, "but maybe not. It's also possible that the two neutralizing fields don't work together, although I find that hard to believe."

"But surely Trask wouldn't make such a basic mistake" said Lightning, "because that means that a person who is both a magical and a mutant could possibly escape regardless of which cell they're put in."

"Not necessarily" said Logan, "a mutant would have to have the right kind of power to escape from such a cell, always assuming that wasn't taken into account by the Sentinels in the first place and neutralized by the cell. Like if this cell wasn't made of Adamantium I could use my claws to cut my way out, but it is so I can't."

"By that same token a magical would need to have enough power and skill to be able to use his or her magic without a wand" said Lightning.

Yeah" said Logan, "and not many magicals can do that if what I remember about the wizarding world is still true."

"It's still true" said Lightning with a sigh, "at least in the western world it is. In Africa they know better and teach wandless magic to their kids which doesn't happen here. I don't know about Asia. Fortunately I've been working on my wandless magic for over two years now and I've gotten pretty good at it."

"Glad to hear it" said Logan, "then why don't you try getting us outta here after we've had breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" repeated Lightning before seeing two plates of food sitting on the floor near Logan. It wasn't anything impressive, mainly bread and some kind of cereal along with two cups of water.

"Where did those come from?" asked Lightning.

"Some slot in the floor or wall I guess" said Logan, "I don't know. It's always there in the morning when the light comes on and somehow gets removed later in the day."

"I see" said Lightning, "well I won't look at it too closely right now. I'm hungry."

"Thought you might be" said Logan handing him a plate, "eat up kid." They both fell to it and soon the food was gone. Once the plates were put down Logan turned to Lightning and told him to use his magic on the door."

"It may be a long shot" said Logan, "but we've got nothing to lose by trying." Lightning nodded in agreement, stood up and faced the door. He made the motions for the unlocking charm with his right index finger.

"Alohomora" he said in a firm voice. To the great surprise of both of them there was a "click" and the door swung outward a couple of inches.

"I don't believe it!" said Lightning, "I really didn't think that would work even if I could use magic in this cell. It seemed like such an obvious idea." He was now feeling a strong sense of Deja Vu as the whole situation reminded him of the day in early 1994 when he'd used wandless magic to escape from a cell on Asteroid M.

"Everyone makes mistakes kid" said Logan getting to his feet, "just be glad about it. Come on."

Logan pushed the door open and peered out into the hall.

"Coast is clear" he said to Lightning. The two of them stepped into the hall and Lightning shut the cell door behind them and heard the lock click.

"No need to leave behind unnecessary signs of escape" said Lightning.

"Good idea" said Logan, "it's odd though, you'd think we'd be hearing alarms going off over our breakout."

"But we didn't exactly break out" said Lightning as the Deja Vu kept hitting him, "I just unlocked the door. Maybe that doesn't trip the alarms."

"Maybe" said Logan, "let's go. How quietly can you move?" Now that he was out of the cell's neutralizing field Lightning could feel his ability to access his mutant powers come back. He was able to use his telekinesis again so he floated up into the air a few inches.

""How's this?" he asked.

"Works for me kid" said Logan nodding with approval, "come on."

They began moving silently down the hall. There were no other cells near them that either of them could see which seemed odd at first until Lightning remembered that their cell had been specially designed to hold Logan so presumably it was separate from other cells. Whatever the truth there were no sounds as the two of them moved down the hall. Lightning was amazed at how quietly his grandfather could move. It was uncanny. He'd never seen anyone move so quietly before. Yes, Remus and Sirius had told him that Logan could do that but he hadn't fully believed it until now when he saw it for himself.

They reached a turn in the hall and Logan stopped them both. He looked around the corner and ducked back.

"There's a sentinel around the bend" he whispered to Lightning, "but its back is to us. If we're careful we can take it out."

"How?" whispered Lightning. Logan released his claws with 'Snikt' sound.

"We'll sneak up behind it" he said to Lightning, "when I raise my left hand you shock it with your electricity. I'll do the rest."

"Okay" said Lightning. At Logan's signal they sneaked around the corner and began sneaking up on the sentinel. Unfortunately no matter how silent Logan was it still wasn't enough. When they were about 20 feet away from the sentinel it turned and saw them.

"Warning" it said, "prisoners out of cells."

Logan swore under his breath. Lightning didn't hesitate. He fired a powerful bolt of electricity from each hand at the sentinel. It slammed into the sentinel and made it stagger back.

"Under attack" it said as it tried to regain its balance but as soon as Lightning had shot his bolts Logan was moving. Before the sentinel could recover the feral mutant was on it and slicing it apart so quickly that Lightning blinked in surprise. Logan attacked it in a smart manner. He went for the most vital places first cutting off the robot's weapons and voice before dismantling the rest of it. It took less than a minute. Once he was done he stood among the pieces of the dismembered Sentinel and looked back at Lightning who was staring at him with an open mouth.

"What's with you?" Logan said as he retracted his claws.

"That was – " Lightning began before thinking for a second and starting again, "wow. You were incredible. You have to teach me how to use my claws like that."

"Be glad to once we're outta here" said Logan, "don't use 'em now though. The middle of a battle isn't a place to start training someone in new attack methods. Stick with the skills you already have. They'll be plenty."

"How did they ever catch you in the first place?" asked Lightning still staring at Logan.

"That time there were four of 'em" said Logan, "coming at me from all sides. There was no way I could have beaten them like that."

Lightning nodded but continued staring at Logan.

"You look disturbed kid" said Logan noticing this, "did I scare you just now?"

"No" said Lightning, "I've just never seen anyone fight like that. It was like you're some kind of savage animal" said Lightning, "I mean that as a compliment."

"Thanks kid" said Logan, "any particular type you got in mind?"

"Honestly" said Lightning, "I'm not sure if you're a Honey Badger, a Tasmanian Devil, or a Wolverine – say, wasn't that your nickname during World War II?"

"Yes" Logan said with a smirk, "the Howling Commandoes called me that. I always did like it. You can call me that too if you want."

"Oh brother" said Lightning rolling his eyes.

"Are you coming or not?" asked Logan who had started moving up the hallway again.

"Yeah, yeah" said Lightning as he followed after him while thinking quietly to himself 'I think I just unleashed a monster!'

As they moved up the hallway they approached a junction where the halls ran left, right, and straight ahead. As they went they started to hear noise coming from the left hallway. It sounded like someone big was making loud, heavy footsteps.

"Get behind me kid" said Logan, "I don't know who that is but I doubt it's friendly."

Before he could say anything else they heard a loud BAM! and to the amazement of both of them a Sentinel came flying out of the left hand hallway and flew into the right hand one before they heard it crash into the ground.

"What could do that?" asked Lightning.

"I don't know" said Logan, "but it's coming this way. Be ready."

They both listened as the footsteps got closer and closer. Finally the person making the footsteps entered the junction. A second person followed right behind him. Lightning's mouth dropped open in surprise when he saw them.

"Juggernaut?!" he called out, "Mage? is that you?" Juggernaut and Mage both turned and saw Lightning and Logan.

"Pup!" Mage called before rushing over and giving Lightning a big hug, "I was afraid you might be dead.

"Thankfully I'm not" said Lightning.

"Hello Lightning" said Juggernaut as he recognized the X-Man, "nice to see you again. Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Logan" said Lightning as Mage released him from the hug, "or you can call him Wolverine. He likes that. What are you doing here?"

"Trying to help" was the reply, "last time we spoke you convinced me to do something worthwhile. I think helping to take down these Sentinels would count, don't you?"

"Oh yes" said Lightning, "absolutely. You're probably the one person they can't stop at all. Maybe we should just follow you down the hall while you destroy everything." Juggernaut laughed. Meanwhile Mage had caught sight of Logan and was now picking his own jaw up from the floor.

"Mr. Evans?" he said, "Logan? Is that really you? You're really alive?" Logan looked over at Mage.

"Obviously I'm alive Padfoot" said Logan, "I would think that the fact that I'm breathing, talking, and walking around would be proof of that."

"In the magical world you never know" said Lightning

"You recognize me?" Mage asked Logan.

"Of course I do" he said, "everyone has a unique scent and I was around you often enough that I remember yours quite well you big hairy black mutt."

"Oh yeah, that's you all right" said Mage but before he could say anything else Logan interrupted him.

"We can catch up later" he said, "we need to take care of things here first."

"Agreed but before we do" said Lightning to his grandfather, "let me introduce you to Cain Marko. He's known as Juggernaut – and he really lives up to that name."

"Nice to meet you bub" said Logan holding out a hand which Juggernaut shook, "if what happened to that Sentinel is any indication I can easily believe what Lightning said."

"Thank you" said Juggernaut, "shall we go?"

"Yeah I just had a thought" said Logan, "if you're as unstoppable as Lightning says you are maybe we should have you rescue the prisoners. Lightning and I aren't the only ones here."

"That's not a bad idea" said Lightning, "you'd be able to lead them out of here without nearly as much trouble from the Sentinels as the rest of us would have."

"You better believe it" said Mage, "the whole way here he's left behind a trail of busted up Sentinels."

"Show me the way to the cells" said Juggernaut with a nod, "I'll get them all out of here."

"This way" said Logan turning down a hallway, "I can smell a whole bunch of scents coming from down here and they're all organic."

"I guess you know this place better than I do" said Juggernaut.

"Not really" said Logan, "but my senses are really great."

"Then lead on and I'll follow." said Juggernaut.

The four of them headed down the hall that Logan pointed them toward.

"We need to find the rest of the team too" said Lightning.

"Yes" said Mage, "and as soon as possible. Merlin only knows what the Sentinels might be doing to them. Why don't I go look for them while the rest of you deal with the prisoners? When I find the team I'll send you a patronus to let you know."

"Okay" said Lightning, "good luck."

"Thanks" said Mage who turned back into Padfoot and went running down another hallway. Lightning and Juggernaut followed Logan who directed them to the hallway where he said the scents were coming from. When they got there it turned out to a long corridor full of heavy doors. It was no leap of logic to realize they were prison cell doors.

"That one" said Logan pointing at the first door, "there's definitely someone in there."

"Let's see who it is" said Juggernaut and before either of his companions could stop him he grabbed hold of the door, ripped it out of its frame and tossed it aside. Surprisingly no alarm went off but Lightning didn't have time to think about that as Juggernaut was speaking to whoever was in the cell. He took up the whole doorway so neither Lightning or Logan could see past him.

"Don't be alarmed" said Juggernaut, "I and my friends are going to get you out of here. Let me help you up."

"Who are you?" said a voice that Lightning recognized at once.

"Professor Snape?" asked Lightning in amazement as Juggernaut led the prisoner out of the cell.

"Lightning?" asked Professor Snape equally surprised to see the young X-Man.

"Yes" said the reply "what are you doing here?"

"If you could tell me where 'here' is" said Snape, "I might be able to answer that question."

"You're in the main Sentinel base in New York State" said Lightning.

"Is that right?" said Snape, "that's a long way from Britain. I was attacked at my home and woke up in the this cell. I haven't seen the outside of it while I've been awake." He told them about his experience of being frequently knocked out and waking up again with new scars.

"Sounds a bit like what happened to me" said Logan, "but I was only in the lab once and I was awake the whole time." Snape now noticed Logan behind Lightning. When he saw Logan he did a double take.

"I know you" he said looking at Logan.

"Of course you do Severus" said Logan, "you've grown up a lot since I last saw you though."

"Mr. Evans?" asked Snape in amazement, "Lily's father? I heard you were dead!"

"Yeah, well, I got better" growled Logan.

"I can't believe this" said Snape, "I'm glad you're alive."

"So am I" was the reply, "but when this is all over you and I are going to have a long talk about how you've been treating my grandson during these last few years."

"Your – grandson?" asked Snape in a halting voice as he remembered who Logan's grandson was.

"Yes" Logan placing his hand on Lightning's shoulder before Lightning could stop him, "my grandson." Snape's jaw dropped as he put it all together and he opened his mouth. Lightning held up a hand to stop him from speaking.

"Not now" he said in stern voice, "whatever you think you know, whatever conclusions you're making, now is not the time. Once we're out of here then we can talk." Lightning and Snape stared at each other for a moment before Snape looked down.

"You're right" he said, "I, I apologize."

"That's okay" said Lightning before turning to Logan, "thanks for giving me away grandpa" he added with some sarcasm in his tone.

"He was a good friend of your mother's for a long time" said Logan, "if things hadn't gone wrong between 'em he might have been your father." Lightning didn't say anything to that. He found the idea of Snape being his dad wasn't one he wanted to dwell on.

"Let's go" said Juggernaut, "there are more prisoners to free."

"Right" said Lightning before turning to Snape, "are you okay to go? I'd let you use my wand but ever since I've been learning wandless magic I don't carry it with me nearly as much as I used to and I didn't bring it with me on this mission."

"I'll manage" said Snape, "who's your big companion?"

"Oh" said Lightning, "this is Juggernaut. He's a friend of mine. Juggernaut, Professor Severus Snape of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"How do you do?" said Juggernaut as Snape gave him a nod, "let's get going."

They moved further down the hall and busted open the next cell, freeing the prisoner inside, and the next one after that, and so on. Snape and the other freed prisoners followed their three liberators as they continued freeing more prisoners. Snape was deep in thought. His whole world view had just been turned completely upside down as he was forced to reevaluate his opinions of Harry Potter and Lightning the X-Man

Snape had always thought of Harry Potter as being a clone of his father – spoiled, stuck-up, arrogant, thinking he owned the world – and had treated him as such although ever since his talk with Lightning the previous spring he had slowly been considering that maybe, just maybe, he had blinded himself to Potter's real nature by only seeing what he wanted to see.

Lightning was someone that Snape respected. He'd seen Lightning in combat twice, both times when the X-Men came to defend Hogwarts. He'd saved Draco Malfoy from Magneto and later had beaten him in three straight duels. Yet Dumbledore also told Snape that Lightning had spoken up in Malfoy's defense at his hearing this past summer. Snape couldn't see James Potter doing something like that for an enemy. Lightning was confident and he knew what he was doing, but he wasn't arrogant and he never acted like he was better than other people. He was much more like how Snape remembered Lily was.

And now Snape had just found out that Harry and Lightning were the same person! Of all of the things that could have happened he wouldn't have thought of something like that.

"I owe him an apology" Snape said to himself, "many apologies. I hope I get a chance to make them."

At that moment Snape heard Juggernaut say "well now, who do we have here?" and he went up next to the man and looked into the cell that had just been broken open. His eyes went wide with surprise.

"Merlin!" he exclaimed, "Dolores Umbridge!"

"What?" asked Lightning turning from talking to Logan to look into the cell himself. It was true. He recognized the woman sitting on the floor there, but –

"What's wrong with her?" asked Lightning as he stared at the prisoner who was simply sitting there muttering to herself in a low voice rocking slightly back and forth and giving no indication that she knew anyone else was there. The words they were able to catch from her mutterings were "Sentinels" and "not magic" over and over again.

"Is she mad?" asked Juggernaut.

"In a way" said Snape looking at Umbridge, "I think she's withdrawn into herself. She's one of those people who so completely believes in the superiority of magicals that she can't deal with seeing something like the Sentinels which are obviously non-magical and yet also clearly above and beyond anything she's ever thought of."

"She was sent to Azkaban, wasn't she?" asked Lightning, "she must have been there when the Sentinels evacuated the place. That must have been way too much of a shock to someone like her. Do you think the professor can help her?"

"I don't know" said Snape who had entered the cell and crouched down in front of Umbridge. He waved a his hand in front of her face but she didn't react.

"Let's get her out of here" said Logan, "we can worry about her mind later."

"Okay, I'll carry her" said Juggernaut who bent down, grabbed Umbridge, and draped her over one of his shoulders. She didn't react at all.

"I thought that might have gotten something" he said, "oh well. That seems to be the last cell. Let's get out of here."

"Do you remember the way back?" asked Logan. Lightning chuckled.

"Are you kidding?" he said, "I bet that'll be easy. We'll just follow the trail of destroyed Sentinels."

"Too right" said Juggernaut. Before they could get moving Mage's patronus came racing toward them from one of the halls. The dog patronus stopped in front of Lightning and opened its mouth.

"Lightning" said Mage's voice coming from the patronus, "I've found the team. My patronus will lead you to us. Come as quickly as you can."

(To Be Continued)

A/N - I debated with myself for a while on whether Snape should find out who Lightning really is and ultimately decided on what you just read. I don't know if it's good or bad but it seemed right with the experiences Snape has had in this story, especially after his conversation with Lightning in Part 2.

And that's all for this chapter. See you in the next one. Meanwhile please take a moment to leave me some feedback. Constructive comments are always welcome but no flames or trolls please. Stay safe and well everyone.