“Mail call!” Scott yelled as he entered the main room of the Mansion holding a moderately-sized stack of mail. All of the Mutants present got up from their chairs and walked over, looking at the mail in Scott’s hands to see if anything was for them.

     “Alright, my Snowboarders’ Monthly arrived!” Bobby exclaimed, snatching his glossy magazine from the top of the stack. “I almost thought they had forgotten to ship it to me this month!”

     “Since when do you snowboard?” Kitty asked, quirking an eyebrow.

     “Since never,” Bobby said off-handedly, flipping through his magazine. “But it’s the coolest sport that’s done on ice and snow. C’mon, I pretty much HAVE to keep up with it.”

     “Mmm-hmmm,” Kitty smirked, crossing her arms.

     “Jamie, here’s an early birthday card from your parents...” Scott said, flicking the envelope at Jamie, who promptly caught it with one of his doubles.

     “And here’s one from…” Scott paused, “Kurt, you don’t want to join AOL, do you?”

     “Do I really need to answer zat question?”

     “Yeah, didn’t think so. Well, there’s one for the garbage bin. Let’s see, Logan’s Harley-Davidson mag, I’ll have to take that up to him… Same with this letter here for Amara… Oh, hey, Piotr, you’ve got a letter here from your family.”

     “Ah, good,” Piotr said, taking the letter from Scott’s outstretched hand. “It has been a while since I have heard from them. I hope all is going well and that Illyana… wait a minute… this is not my mother’s handwriting. Or my father’s, or my sister’s.”

     “You sure?”

     “I think so. Let me see what is inside…”

     “Sweet, a hundred bucks!” Jamie exclaimed, holding up the check that had been enclosed in his birthday card. “I’m so totally getting that Nintendo DS I had my eyes on now!”

     “Don’t you already have one?” asked Kurt.

     “Yeah, but since I’ll have two now I can play against myself,” Jamie grinned.

     Piotr emptied the contents of the envelope into his hand—there was no letter at all, just a cracked necklace with a heart-shaped ruby in the middle.

     Piotr stared at the necklace in his hand in utter shock, a look of dread quickly forming on his face.

     “Piotr, what is it?” Kitty asked, coming over to look at what was in her friend’s hand. “What’s wrong?”

     “This… this is my sister Illyana’s favorite necklace…” Piotr stammered, his voice wavering. “It is an heirloom that has been passed along the women in my family for generations… I have never seen Illyana without it on, and it was never cracked before…”

     “Then that must mean…” Kitty said, trailing off.

     “Xavier… Xavier said that my family would be SAFE!” Piotr said, roaring as tossed the necklace aside.

     “YOU said that they would be safe!” Piotr yelled, tears welling up in his eyes as he jabbed a finger at Scott.

     “Piotr, please don’t think that…” Kitty pleaded.

     “Hey, we changed their location, their public names, everything!” Scott said, putting his hands up in defense. “There’s no way Magneto could have discovered where they were—he’d have no idea where to look!”

     “Well apparently he did!” Piotr said. “You must have forgotten something!”

     “No, we didn’t! Look, I don’t know how Magneto found your family, but…”

     “Piotr, you know Xavier would be very careful with stuff like this!” Kitty interjected. “You’ve seen how he treats all of us, why do you think it would be any different with you?”

     “You… you are right,” Piotr said, clutching his head as his tone softened. “I… I am sorry, Scott.”

     “Don’t worry about it. I would have reacted the same way,” Scott replied.

     “Still… we must go to Russia. Now.” Piotr said.

     “I’m right behind you,” Scott said. “But you realize that it’s likely going to be a trap.”

     “I know,” Piotr acknowledged. “But still… I must go.”

     “You’re definitely going to need help against Magneto,” Scott said. “I’ll get the other instructors, and we’ll come along with you.”

     “I’m coming too!” Kitty insisted.

     “Kitty, you’ve got school tomorrow. And homework tonight,” Scott said. “I don’t think—“

     “Please!,” Kitty pleaded. “Piotr’s one of my best friends, and I’m sure my powers will be helpful! I can’t just sit here while his family’s in danger!”

     Scott glanced at Piotr, then looked back at Kitty.

     “Alright,” he sighed, “So long as it’s okay with Professor X.”

     “Alright, we’re here,” Storm said from the pilot’s seat as the XM Velocity landed on the ground with a slight bump. “Everyone, file out, and be careful.”

     The property that Colossus’ family had been moved to was a large farm in the middle of the sparsely populated eastern Russian wilderness, far from the Rasputin’s original farmhouse that had been just a few hours’ drive from Moscow. Given that it was in the middle of January, there were no crops planted, and foot-deep, unbroken snow covered the ground, which was nearly blinding in the midday sun. The only things that stood out in the fields were a large, slightly rundown barn and a quaint little farmhouse. The place looked entirely deserted—there were no signs of anyone living there, but there were also no signs of any struggle.

     “This is either really good or really bad…” Shadowcat mumbled.

     “Hey Storm, you know I ain’t one to back down from a fight,” Wolverine said, “But are you sure I should be here? I don’t think I’ll be able to do much against ol’ Buckethead.”

     “We just need you to track them down, Logan,” Storm replied, her eyes scanning the area as they stepped out of the Velocity. “Jean’s mental powers can only pinpoint where they are if they’re nearby—if they aren’t, you’ll need to sniff them out. Once the scent becomes strong enough, you can get back to the Velocity.”

     “Gotcha,” Wolverine nodded.

     “Speaking of which, do you smell anything?” Cyclops asked.

     “Not yet,” Wolverine said, taking a whiff of the air. “No human scents at all ‘cept for you guys.”

     “And I’m not picking up any other minds in the area,” Jean said.

     “Okay then, let’s split up and look around for any clues,” Storm said. “Jean, you, Shadowcat, Colossus, and Wolverine will check out the house. I will go with Cyclops and Beast and look around the barn.”

     “Found anything?” Colossus asked as he entered his parents’ bedroom, where Shadowcat was busy rummaging through the cabinets.

     “Nothing,” Shadowcat said, slamming the drawer closed in frustration. “I don’t like this at all. It reminds me waaay too much of a certain battle we had with a Sentinel a while ago.”

     “Ah… yes,” Colossus said sheepishly, looking at the floor. “I must apologize for that.”

     “Oh gosh Piotr, you’ve already apologized to us for that at least half a dozen times!” Shadowcat giggled. “We understand Magneto was holding your family hostage, it wasn’t your fault.”

     “Yes, but still… that was no excuse,” Colossus replied.

     Kitty, Piotr, get to the barn, quickly! Jean said to both of them via her telepathy. Scott’s told me he’s found someone!

     Glancing quickly at each other, Colossus quickly ran back out into the hallway, while Shadowcat took a shortcut and phased downwards through the floor.

     “What is it!?” Shadowcat yelled as she phased into the barn, followed shortly after by Colossus running in through the main door.

     “Illyana!” Colossus cried out, running towards the young blonde girl being supported by Cyclops.

     “Beast and I found her hiding underneath a pile of hay in the corner,” Scott said as Colossus embraced his younger sister.

     Wolverine took a deep breath, his expression showing relief for a second but then quickly changing to one of concern.

     “Hey Red, how many minds are you picking up in the area?” Wolverine asked Jean quietly, unsheathing his claws.

     “Let’s see,” Jean said, closing her eyes and concentrating. “One, two, three…”

     “Seven,” Jean said, her eyes snapping open in fear. “And there are eight people here…”

     “And I’m not smelling any scent coming from Illyana,” Wolverine growled.

     “Piotr, Scott, get away from her!” Jean cried out. “She’s not—“

     Jean stopped in mid-sentence as Illyana’s image flicked and faded, revealing in its place Quicksilver.

     “What the--?” Cyclops started.

     “It’s so nice to know you care, Big Brother!” Quicksilver laughed in a faux girly voice before he zipped out of the barn.

     “How come we weren’t able to tell it was Pietro?” Jean asked Logan quizzically.

     Before they could answer, the whole barn started to rumble silently.

     “I think we’ve got bigger problems at the moment, Red,” Wolverine growled.

     Suddenly a long metal tentacle punched through one wall of the barn, grabbed hold of the other end of the wall, and pulled, ripping open a large hole in the side.

     Standing on the other side of the hole was Magneto, along with presumably his new band of Acolytes. Quicksilver was standing alongside his father, as expected, and Mastermind was standing there as well. Omega Red was busy shaking off the large splinters of wood from the end of his tentacles. The pale-skinned Mutant looked a little different than he had the last time Wolverine had seen him, however—he seemed a few inches taller, and his hair was now a stark white instead of a pale blond color. Most disconcerting of all, however, was the fact that his eyes were a solid black, with no pupils or irises whatsoever.

     At first Wolverine was confused as to what had happened to Omega Red, until he saw Sabretooth standing next to the tentacled Mutant. Sabretooth wasn’t his normal self, either, but Logan still recognized him—Sabretooth was covered in yellow fur, and the fangs in his mouth were decidedly larger than they had been.

     “They’ve been through Magneto’s Mutant enhancer!” Logan yelled.

     “How?!” Shadowcat asked.

     “There must have been some shard of the Gem of Cyttorak left,” Beast said.

     “Aw c’mon now Wolverine, we haven’t all been through the enhancer,” another familiar Mutant said, floating down from above. “Quicksilver hasn’t proved his worth to his dear ol’ daddy yet, so no upgrade for him, and I’d prefer not being nuked… at least, not yet.”

     “Lucas!” Jean said in recognition.

     “Ah, hello there, lass,” Lucas said, grinning. “An’ before you ask, yes, I was the one who kept you and Wolverine from detectin’ us. Gotta also give credit to Mastermind over there-- he helped with the Illyana illusion. Nice to see yer doin’ well though, Jean. I doubt that’ll be the case soon, however.”

     “How did you end up with Magneto?” Jean sneered.

     “Pretty simple, lass—he asked me to join, and I accepted. After all, it’s a chance to pummel my dear old daddy’s caretakers!”

     “Enough with the introductions,” Magneto said firmly. “Piotr, your father is already dead because of your disobedience.”

     “NO!” Colossus roared, his tone a mixture of grief and rage.

     “Oh my gosh,” Shadowcat said softly, covering her mouth with her hands as tears started to stream out of her eyes.

     “However, you mother and sister are still alive and unharmed,” Magneto said, his eyes narrowing. “If you rejoin my Acolytes, I will see to it that they remain that way. If you refuse… the outcome is obvious.”

     “I WILL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE!” Colossus roared, charging at Magneto.

     “You heard him, X-Men!” Cyclops said. “We’ve got to stop them, and make sure no one leaves this area! We don’t want any of the other Rasputins to come to harm!”

     Cyclops began by firing a blast at Lucas, who effortlessly deflected it with a psychic shield.

     “We’ve been through this before, Red-eyes!” Lucas laughed. “You can’t beat me!”

     Morphing right before Scott’s eyes, Lucas suddenly became much taller and more muscular, and the structure of his face changed some, his nose and chin becoming broader and his hair shorter. His clothes morphed into a plain white undershirt with army camouflage-colored pants.

     “His condition is getting worse,” Jean remarked worriedly. “Lucas has gained more alternate personalities since we saw him last!”

     “The name’s Bart, luv,” the new Mutant grinned, “But to make things simple, you can call us all Legion. Easier on the brain that way.”

     Roaring, Bart charged at Scott, his fists turning into stone. Scott fired off an optic blast at Bart, who blocked it with his fists, causing the blast to dissipate without any visible effect.

     “Nice try,” Bart laughed, “But now it’s my turn.”

     Backhanding Scott with a grunt, the force of the blow sent the X-Man flying to the other side of the barn.

     Bart’s victory was cut short, however, as he found himself suddenly lifted off the ground by Jean’s telekinesis and slammed into the ceiling.

     “Surrender now, Legion, or you’ll be feeling a lot of pain pretty shortly!” Jean threatened through gritted teeth. Bart is a lot heavier than he looks…and that’s saying a lot…

     “Sure, I surrender,” Bart grinned, before morphing into a young-looking, blonde girl with long hair, wearing a plaid skirt and a white button-down shirt.

     “But I’m just getting started,” the girl smirked.

     Okay, now this is just WRONG… Jean thought to herself.

     As Cyclops blasted Lucas, Colossus charged towards Magneto in a rage. Before he could make it all the way to his target, however, a thick metal tentacle grabbed him and slammed him into the ceiling of the barn, then let go of the X-Man and let him drop to the ground.

     Groaning, Colossus picked himself up, a few visible bruises on his body.

     “Not so tough without your metal skin, are you?” Omega Red grinned, walking up to Piotr. “Too afraid to metal up because of Magneto, eh?”

     Piotr was about to respond when Omega Red suddenly shot out another one of his tentacles, taking hold of Piotr and bringing the X-Man towards him while he started to squeeze.

     “Ugh… why do I suddenly… feel so much…” Colossus began, his eyelids drooping as his body started to sag.

     “One of the benefits of going through Magneto’s Mutant enhancer,” Omega Red smirked, squeezing Piotr even more, causing the X-Man to cry out in pain. “I now emit an aura of decay around me. The longer you stay close to me, the weaker you get until you finally die a painful death.” Omega Red held Colossus right up to his face as he emphasized the last few words.

     “I don’t think so!” Cyclops yelled from the other side of the barn, having recovered from Legion’s blow. Touching the button on the side of his visor, Cyclops shot an optic blast right at Omega Red’s face, who staggered back, not only hurt a fair bit by temporarily blinded from the sudden bright light.

     “Graaah! You are next, boy!” Omega Red growled, rubbing his eyes.

     “No, you are,” Storm threatened, right before blowing a huge gust of wind right at Omega Red, sending the pale-skinned Mutant tumbling backwards and right into Quicksilver, who had tried to run out of the way, but failed to so because of the incredibly strong gusts. Quicksilver grunted as the much larger Acolyte hit him and they both tumbled back out into the field, groaning..

     Meanwhile, Beast lunged at Sabretooth, roaring. Sabretooth just grinned as Beast hit his chest hard, not even budging from his spot.

     “Did you already forget that I’m enhanced now?” Sabretooth laughed, picking up Beast by the back of his neck. “Even you can’t hurt me anymore, X-Man!”

     “Can’t I?” Beast said before quickly plunging his clawed fingers into Sabretooth’s eyes. The yellow-furred Mutant roared and threw Beast backwards into the other side of the barn as the Acolyte covered his eyes in pain.

     “Mr. McCoy, are you alright?” Kitty said, running over to where Beast was thrown.

     About to respond with an affirmative, Beast glanced behind Kitty and instead suddenly yelled out, “Shadowcat, phase, now!”

     Kitty yelped and obeyed, just as Wolverine’s claws swept through her midsection. Scrambling away, Kitty stared bewilderingly at Logan as he stepped forward towards her, grunting.

     “Told you… I shouldn’t have come…” Wolverine gasped. “Magneto… controlling me….”

     “Well, then that decides who I’m going after,” Shadowcat said, running right through Wolverine and towards Magneto, and an enhanced, white-haired Mastermind, who were hanging back from the battle while the others fought.

     “I really don’t think so,” Mastermind said, his eyes glowing blue.

     Shadowcat gasped as Magneto suddenly morphed into a giant demonic figure with a nightmarish visage and long, scythe-like claws. Even though Kitty knew that what she was seeing wasn’t real, part of Mastermind’s enhanced powers allowed him to block the parts of the target’s mind that exhibited self-control. Screaming in terror, Shadowcat quickly turned around and ran in the opposite direction, away from the battle.

     “That will be enough of that!” Storm said, summoning down a lightning bolt from the sky right into Mastermind. Screaming in agony, Mastermind crumpled to the ground in a smoking heap, and Shadowcat quickly regained control of herself.

     The girl who was formerly Bart raised a hand and a high-pressure steam of water blasted out from it, hitting Jean squarely in the face. Gurgling, Jean released her hold on the girl, who let out another, softer jet of water from her other hand to cushion the fall.

     “Name’s Emerald,” the girl said, continuing to blast a column of water in Jean’s face, “Not that you’ll remember it for long.”

     “Scott--- anyone--- help!” Jean gasped, starting to panic as she struggled to inhale, only to choke on water streaming into her mouth. “Can’t—breathe!”

     “I’m coming, Jean!” Scott said, aiming his visor at Emerald’s backside.

     “I doubt it,” Magneto said, raising his hand. Grunting, Wolverine ran awkwardly at Cyclops, brandishing his claws.

     “Scott—look—out!” Wolverine managed to get out before slashing at Cyclops. Scott tentatively fired a blast at Wolverine, who deflected it with his claws before pouncing on his teammate. Landing on top of Cyclops, Wolverine raised a clawed hand in preparation, but before he could slice into Cyclops’ throat, two yellow-gloved hands reached up out of the ground and phased Wolverine down into the frozen dirt far enough so that only his head and the tops of his shoulders were poking out of the soil. Struggling, Wolverine was unable to break free as Shadowcat phased up out of the dirt, brushing off her sleeves.

     “There,” Kitty said, “That oughta hold Mr. Logan until we can take care of Magneto.”

     “Speaking of taking care of someone…” Scott started.

     Acting quickly, Scott fired a full-force optic blast into Emerald’s back, sending her crashing through one of the barn walls, yelping in pain. Jean fell to the ground, holding her stomach and coughing up water.

     “Jean, are you okay?” Scott said, running over to his girlfriend.

     “I’m… *hack*… pretty nauseous, but I’ll… *cough hack cough*… get all of this water out my system soon enough. *cough hack* Thanks, Scott.”

     “And now we’re down to one,” Storm said. “Planning on giving up, Magnus, or are we going to have to finish this the difficult way?”

     “You won’t finish this at all,” Magneto said, quickly hovering up further and further into the air. “I know where the other Rasputins are, and Piotr, you have shown me all too well that you have no inclinations to rejoin me. Therefore, you will pay the pr—“

     Magneto was cut short as Storm fired a lightning bolt upwards from her palms, striking Magneto right in the chest. Grunting in pain, the helmeted Mutant clutched his chest, only to have a large boulder thrown at him by Colossus, which sent him crashing to the ground with a thud.

     “Leave. My family. ALONE,” Colossus growled as he walked up to the fallen Acolyte leader.

     “You win… this battle, Piotr,” Magneto grunted as he struggled to stand up. “But you and the rest of Charles’ mindless followers will…. not win the war. As our war with mankind escalates, more and more… Mutants will see the truth… and even you will not be able to stand against all of us.”

     “I’m getting really tired of your rambling, Buckethead,” Cyclops said, grabbing Magneto by the front of his cape. “Where are the other Rasputins? Tell us where they are, NOW, or I’ll let Colossus kill you right here on the spot.”

     Magneto glared at Cyclops for a moment before responding. “They’re… they’re tied up in a shack a few miles to the west of here. It… should be easy to spot in such a sparsely populated area as this.”

     “Good,” Cyclops said, shoving Magneto into Colossus’ waiting arms. “Piotr, keep an eye on him. After we’re done here, we’ll find a way to lock him up for good.”

     “He will not leave my sight for an instant,” Piotr promised.

     “Shadowcat, get Logan out of the ground, now that Magneto no longer has any control over him,” Storm said.

     “On it,” Kitty said, running over to where Wolverine was.

     “Hold it right there!” came a familiar voice from behind Cyclops.

     “Illyana!” Piotr cried as he saw who was being held hostage.

     “That’s right, I’ve got your precious little sister, Steelface,” Quicksilver said, holding up a knife to Illyana’s throat. Illyana’s tears were streaming down her face, but she didn’t dare cry out for fear of the knife cutting into her neck. “And she’s quite a cutie, too…”

     “Quicksilver!?” Jean said in confusion. “But—you were knocked out by—“

     “No, I wasn’t!” Quicksilver laughed. “Another one of ol’ Mastermind’s illusions, and you suckers fell for it. I was never even here!”

     Glancing quickly over, Jean saw that, indeed, Omega Red’s unconscious body was lying on top of the snowy ground and only the snowy ground.

     “You should know by now that I always have a backup plan,” Magneto said, his glowing eyes pulsing once at the end of his sentence for emphasis. “Now, release me and let us go—all of us—or your sister dies, Colossus.”

     “And how do we know you won’t just take off with Illyana?” Beast growled.

     “You underestimate me yet again, Hank,” Magneto replied. “I am so deluded that I think I have won this battle. If Quicksilver were to kill Illyana, you X-Men would quickly overpower us, given that only three of us are currently in fighting condition. I would not jeopardize my future endeavors for something ultimately so trivial.”

     “You dare call my sister’s death TRIVIAL!?” Colossus roared, squeezing Magneto’s neck.

     “Unhand me… now!” Magneto gasped. “Or she… dies!”

     Storm sighed, rubbing her sinuses. “Do it, Colossus. All of you, let them go.”

     “Wise choice,” Magneto said as Piotr regrettably released him. “Pietro, release Illyana and get Legion. She’s in Emerald’s form now, so she should be light enough for you to carry.”

     Pietro shoved Illyana towards the X-Men and obeyed his father.

     “Illyana…” Colossus said, running over and embracing his sister. “Oh, Illyana… I am so glad to see that you are safe.”

     “Sabretooth,” Magneto addressed his fellow Acolyte, whose eyes had just about healed from their earlier injury, “Try to wake up Omega Red. I’ll carry Mastermind. X-Men, do not try to follow us, or you will pay the consequences.”

     “Yeah, I’ll bet you’ve just got everything planned out,” Kitty muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she phased Wolverine up out of the ground.

     “Jean, fly on ahead and make sure the Acolytes don’t try to trick us and head back to the house where they’re holding Piotr’s mother,” Storm said. “We’ll follow in the XM Velocity soon enough.”

     “Understood,” Jean nodded before flying off.

     Kitty watched sadly as Piotr walked out of the abandoned house, his arms around his mother and his sister. All three of them had tears streaming down their faces.

     Looking up and seeing the X-Men waiting for him in front of the XM Velocity, Piotr muttered something to his family in Russian and then walked over to the X-Men.

     “Magneto was not bluffing,” Piotr said softly. “He did kill my father.”

     “We’re… so sorry, Piotr.” Cyclops said, putting a hand on Piotr’s shoulder.

     “I’ve lost a lot of friends in my lifetime, bub,” Wolverine stated. “It never gets any easier.”

     “I’m so sorry Magneto did this to you,” Kitty said, weeping as she hugged Piotr. “I can’t imagine what you and your family must be going through right now…”

     “I thank you all for your kindness and understanding,” Piotr acknowledged. “But the question remains… what can we do to prevent this from happening all over again?”

     “Hrm…” Beast thought for a moment before answering. “We could relocate your mother and sister to Bayville. It will be a tough transition—hence why it wasn’t Charles’ first choice— considering that neither of them speak much English, and they will have to adapt to a completely different lifestyle, which can be nerve-wracking, to say the least. But it will all but assure their complete safety, with the X-Mansion being so close to where they will live.”

     “I will have to discuss that option with them,” Piotr said, “But it does seem like a good idea, at least until we finally manage to get rid of Magneto once and for all. However, I wish to spend a few months back here, in my home country. We have to plan for my father’s funeral, and if my family approves, make the arrangements for American citizenship as well.”

     “We understand,” Storm said. “We’ll keep in touch. X-Men—let’s get back to the Mansion.”

     Reluctantly letting go of Piotr, Kitty waved goodbye to the Rasputins though tear-choked eyes and walked slowly back onto the XM Velocity with the other X-Men.

The End
 

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