“Yeah, he’s got the ball! Go go go!”

     “He’ll never make it in time!”

     “Naw, you idiot, why the heck you’d try to block Alvarez!? Peterson’s over there, get him man!”

     “Bobby, Jubilee, Sam, will you three please BE QUIET already!?” Kitty said from the opposite side of the Mansion’s main study. “I’m trying to study for my advanced trig exam tomorrow!”

     “Yeah, we get it already, you’re smart,” Jubilee said, rolling her eyes.

     “I wasn’t saying anything about---“

     “Look, it’s a big mansion,” Bobby said, finally taking his eyes off of the big screen TV long enough to look Kitty in the eyes. “And you can study anywhere… y’know, like in your big, fancy room? But this is the only room with a big screen TV. And the first March Madness game of the season requires a big screen TV.”

     “I never said you couldn’t watch it, I just want you to actually WATCH it and not yell at the TV!” Kitty said, exasperated.

     “I can see you’ve never gotten into the whole ‘watching sports’ thing,” Bobby said before turning back to the TV.

     “Hey, Bobby, maybe she’s right,” Sam said. “I mean, we are kinda—“

     “No, you moron! GAH, he got the ball stolen from him right as he was about to shoot!” Bobby interrupted, his attention now fixed solely on the TV again.

     “I told you, the Panthers are practically unbeatable,” Jubilee smirked, crossing her arms.

     Kitty let out a sigh of exasperation and started to gather up her school books.

     “The Panthers are so overrated,” Bobby said softly.

     “Um, I’m from CALIFORNIA, and I’m a fan of theirs,” Jubilee stated. “There’s kind of a reason for that.”

     “Whatever,” Bobby said, waving his hand dismissively at Jubilee.

     “Hey, why aren’t you a fan of the Milwaukee Panthers, anyways?” Sam asked as the game went to a commercial. “You’d think with them being from Wisconsin, one of the coldest states in the nation, you’d be on their side.”

     “Sam, I don’t judge EVERYTHING on whether it’s related to the cold or not just because I’m Iceman, geez. What, do you like… I dunno… the Buccaneers just because back in the day real Buccaneers sailed ships that could fire cannonballs?”

     “…Well, yeah. See, my codename means something to me.”

     Kitty had just about balanced her rather sizable stack of schoolbooks in her arms when the phone on the table next to her rang.

     “Hey Kitty, would you mind getting that?” Jubilee asked without turning around.

     “But it’s a commercial, you can—oh, FINE,” Kitty harrumphed before throwing her books to the floor in anger and picking up the phone.

     “Sam, you’re being ridiculous,” Bobby continued. “Cannonball’s your codename because of your Mutant ability, not because you just like cannonballs.”

     “Why can’t it be both? Cannonballs are awesome.”

     “Look, you can like cannonballs, fine, but your codename is based on what your ability is, not on what you like, that’s the whole point of it. I called myself Iceman because I can create ice, not just because I particularly like the cold. And Jubilee made up her code name because…. because… Jubilee, where DID you get your codename from?"

     “What, isn’t it obvious?” Jubilee said. “My full name is Jubilation Lee. Jubilation. Lee. Jubilee. What’s to get?”

     “But what does it have to do with your powers?” Sam asked.

     “Uh… well…. Jubilee can also mean happiness, which people usually have a lot of on the Fourth of July. Which has fireworks.”

     “Yeeeah, that’s really kind of a stretch,” Bobby said.

     “Look, I’m not the most creative person in the world, okay!? What would you prefer me to call myself, TNT? Dynamite? I hate AC/DC.”

     “Hey, AC/DC is awesome!” Sam said.

     “Oh, you think everything’s awesome,” Jubilee retorted.

     “Uh, Sam?” Kitty said, having walked up to the three on the couch, the phone in her hand.

     “What?”

     “It’s, um… it’s your mom,” Kitty said, a sad look on her face as she passed the phone to Sam. “She wants to talk to you. She sounds pretty torn up about something…”

     Xavier was concerned.

     Ever since that night a few weeks ago when Ororo had caught Kurt and Forge trying to mess around with the past, some of the images of the future he had glimpsed via the mind of Apocalypse had grown… fuzzy. Xavier hadn’t noticed the images getting fuzzier at any particular time during that night—after all, he didn’t keep them in his mind 24/7-- but after he had received the news about Kurt and Forge’s actions, the professor had immediately checked his memories to make sure Kurt was indeed correct in his assertion that he hadn’t changed anything meaningful in the past. All his normal memories seemed perfectly intact, but ever since then he was having a hard time even remembering how many images of the future he HAD seen in Apocalypse’s mind. There was the tragic one involving Jean… one involving an army of Sentinels… a few images of the future composition of the X-Men and the Brotherhood… Xavier was having trouble remembering the others. Something with Magneto…? He wasn’t sure, and it was because of those fuzzy images that he was growing increasingly worried that Kurt HAD changed something in the past. Maybe it hadn’t affected anything yet, but it would, at some point in the future. And Xavier was praying Kurt hadn’t just changed anything for the worse.

     “Professor! Professor!” Sam yelled as Xavier heard him—and three others-- run up the hallway outside the professor’s office and begin to open the door.

     “Sam, what have I told you about entering rooms without knocking?” Xavier said sternly, still facing the window in his office overlooking the Mansion’s expansive courtyard.

     “Oh! Sorry…” Sam said, taking a step back and closing the door. “Are you decent?”

     Xavier chuckled, turning in his wheelchair to face the door. “Yes Sam, I am ‘decent’. It’s just I’m often in rather… deep concentration on some subject or other when I’m in my office. It’s fine, you can come in. What did you want?”

     “Oh…. Oh, okay,” Sam said, relieved as he reopened the door and stepped into the office along with Bobby, Jubilee, and Kitty. “Hey, we just got a phone call—you gotta get me on a plane back to Cumberland, Kentucky, ASAP! I just got a call from my mother—my sister Paige is missing, and Ma wants our help!”

     “I see. Has she contacted the authorities?” Xavier asked.

     “Yeah, and that’s the part that’s really startin’ to worry me. The police did a thorough search of Paige’s room, and they found a few slices of… of her skin. My ma’s afraid things might’ve gotten violent.”

     “It would certainly appear that way,” Xavier frowned, “But I wouldn’t jump to any grisly conclusions until we’re certain of the whole story, Sam. Don’t worry, I’ll tell Logan to prep the X-Jet for takeoff. He’ll be able to track down your sister.”

     “Me and Jubilee are going too!” Bobby said, stepping forward. “We’re not to let our bud Sam here go out to Kentucky with just Logan!”

     Xavier considered Bobby’s statement for a moment before responding. “Very well, I suppose it would be helpful to have a few extra Mutants on the job in case something goes awry, and the emotional support may be beneficial to Sam. After all, Logan is hardly the most social instructor here. However—Jubilee, even though you have been here just as long as Sam and Bobby have, you are still officially a New Mutant, not a full-fledged X-Man. As such, if things do turn violent during your search, you must promise me to stay out of the fight. You have not proven yourself in battle yet like Sam and Bobby have.”

     “And I never will if you never give me a chance!” Jubilee protested.

     “You have not proven yourself in the Danger Room yet, either,” Xavier rebuked, his eyebrows furrowing. Sighing and softening his tone, he continued, “Jubilee, as a condition of your coming back to the Institute, your parents demanded you not be put into battle until you’re ready. I am bound to my word—not just because your parents are paying for your stay here, but also to ensure your safety, as well.”

     “But—oh, fine,” Jubilee harrumphed, crossing her arms and lowering her gaze to the floor.

     “Alright then,” Xavier said, “You three, get ready for the trip, gather all the supplies you’ll need. Kitty, you can get back to studying, things are taken care of here.”

     As the students nodded and left, Xavier closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing in on Logan’s location in the Institute. Logan, I need you to prep the Blackbird for takeoff as soon as possible. Sam’s sister has gone missing in Kentucky, and I need you to fly him, Bobby, and Jubilee down to his mother’s house and help with the search.

     Oh, joy. An X-Jet trip with three of my favorite kids. Thanks…Chuck.

     Instead of Sam’s mother like they were expecting, the front door to the Guthrie’s humble, somewhat dilapidated Cumberland two-story country home was opened by a brown-haired policeman with a large, bushy mustache.

     “Are you the four Mrs. Guthrie told us to expect?” The policeman asked gruffly, only keeping the door open a crack.

     “Yeah,” Logan answered, “We’re from the Xavier Institute in Bayville, New York.”

     “The Xavier Institute… isn’t that that home for Mutants?” The policeman asked, raising an eyebrow.

     “Yeah, it is,” Logan said, his patience quickly fading. “We’re Mutants, and we’re here to help in a way you guys can’t. You got a problem with that?”

     “Not… not at all,” The policeman said, holding the door open the rest of the way and taking a few steps backward as Logan, Bobby, Sam, and Jubilee entered the home and began to take off their coats.

     “Mrs. Guthrie is upstairs, speaking with a few of my superiors,” the policeman said, eyeing them suspiciously but otherwise staying out of the Mutants’ way. “The room you’re looking for is upstairs, second door on the left.”

     “Yeah…. Thanks,” Logan said. “Sam, why don’t you and the others go see your mother. I’ll be examining what the police have gathered up, see if I can pick up on any scents.”

     “Ma? Ma, we’re here!”

     Mrs. Guthrie—a rather overweight woman of average height and blonde hair-- looked over from the policemen she had been talking to see her son, flanked by two strangers. A smile immediately broke out through the tears that had been streaming down her face, and she ran over the creaking wood floor to her son and hugged him tightly.

     “Oh, Sam! I’m so glad you and your friends are here! I’m so worried about Paige, I keep trying not to think the worst but I can’t help it! Oh, I hope you’ll be able to find out happened to her!” As she talked, Mrs. Guthrie gradually degraded back into sobbing again.

     “Ma, ma, don’t worry,” Sam said, hugging his mother back, “Logan’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise. He’s in Paige’s room now, checking for clues. He can track people by their scent, just like a wolf, so it shouldn’t be too long before he has something.”

     “Oh, that’s good news, good news indeed!” Mrs. Guthrie said, wiping the tears from her eyes and looking her son in the face, smiling again. “Come now, I’ve got some hot chocolate waitin’ for y’all downstairs, then you can introduce me to your friends.”

     “Here’s all we’ve got,” the sheriff said, handing Logan a plastic Ziploc bag that contained a few fairly large slices of skin. “Genetic tests show them as belonging to Paige. No hairs or any other genetic material left behind by the presumed kidnapper. Based solely on that evidence, Paige could have just run away, but that wouldn’t explain the broken window in her bedroom, indicating a forced entry by someone else.”

     As the deputy finished his sentence, he opened the door to Paige’s bedroom and gestured towards the aforementioned broken window. Other than the window, however, there was no sign of any struggle inside the room.

     “Did you all happen to notice anything… odd about the skin samples in this bag?” Logan asked, an eyebrow quirked as he visually examined the slices of skin in the bag.

     “Good, you noticed it too,” the sheriff said. “That gives me at least some confidence you might be of some use in this investigation.”

     “Just to let you know, bub, I don’t respond well to condescension, regardless of how ‘subtle’ it is,” Logan growled. “But yeah, there’s no blood on these skin samples. Did you find any blood spots on the carpet, the bedding, anything?”

     “No,” the sheriff said, shaking his head. “And those pieces of skin are rather thick, too, so that rules out the possibility of a cut so thin it didn’t immediately draw blood.”

     “Hrrrm,” Logan said, handing the bag back to the sheriff and examining the room in more detail while being careful not to contaminate any possible evidence. Finding nothing around the either Paige’s bed or the other empty bed—presumably Sam’s during the few weeks in the summer and winter he stayed here-- Logan moved his nose right up to the shards of broken glass on the floor and gave them a good whiff.

     “Well,” Logan said, growling, “This just keeps getting better and better.”

     “So where’s everybody else?” Sam asked as his mother finished pouring everyone mugs of hot chocolate.

     “The others are staying at a hotel with your father until the police are done investigating Paige’s room here. The coal company was kind enough to let your father have a few weeks off while this whole mess is sorted out, letting him can take care of ‘em while I stay here to help out the police.”

     “’Others’? So you’ve got more than one sibling, Sam?” Jubilee asked, taking a sip of hot chocolate.

     “Oh, heck yeah,” Sam said. “I got five sisters ‘n three brothers, in fact.”

     “Wow,” Jubilee said, almost doing a spit-take in surprise. “Guess it wasn’t that big of a deal for you moving into the Institute, huh?”

     “Not in terms of living with a bunch of other people, naw, ‘a course not. Heck, we got a lot more room at the Mansion than I did livin’ here.”

     “So what’s your sister look like, anyway?” Bobby asked.

     “Here, let me get the most recent family picture,” Mrs. Guthrie said, walking into the adjacent living room and coming back a few minutes later with a framed photo of the entire Guthrie family, all dressed in formal attire. “This one was taken last summer, when Sam was home for a few weeks.”

     “Huh,” Bobby said, “So you’re the oldest one, Sam?”

     “Yup,” Sam affirmed, “And Paige is the second-oldest, barely more’n a year younger than me. My next-oldest sibling is 10, so Paige and I are a bit closer than me and the rest of my sisters ‘n brothers.”

     “So that’s Paige, then?” Jubilee asked, pointing towards the girl standing right next to Sam in the picture. Like Sam, Paige was fairly tall for her age—only three or four inches shorter than her brother—and had similarly blonde hair that reached down to the waist of her fairly curvaceous figure.

     Bobby started to let out a low whistle until Jubilee smacked him in the back of the head.

     “Yeah, that’s her,” Sam said, ignoring Bobby. “Man, I hope she’s okay…”

     Hearing footsteps approaching, the four turned to see Logan walking by them and towards the front door.

     “Logan, what’s goin’ on?” Sam asked. “You find something?”

     “Yes and no,” Logan said cryptically. “I’m heading back to the X-Jet, I need to talk with Charles about something. Things could be getting a bit… hairy soon, so Sam, Bobby, I need you two to suit up, but stay here until I get back. We might have a fight on our hands soon.”

     “Oh, dear,” Mrs. Guthrie said worriedly. “What did you find in my daughter’s room, Mr. Logan?”

     Logan sighed. “Ma’am, it looks like a rival organization, called the Brotherhood of Mutants, may have gotten to your daughter first. But we’re gonna get her back, if I have anything to say about it.”

     “The Brotherhood of Mutants?” Mrs. Guthrie asked, confused. “But what would they want…” She stopped in mid-sentence, realization dawning on her.

     “Paige is a Mutant too?!” Sam asked.

     “I’m not sure yet,” Logan answered, “But it seems likely, yeah.”

     “And you’re certain of this?”

     “It’s the only explanation that seems plausible, Charles,” Wolverine said, talking with Xavier via a two-way video feed that directly linked the main screen in the Blackbird to the TV in the Institute’s study. Logan finished putting on the gloves of his X-Man uniform before continuing. “Besides Paige’s scent, and the scent of the police officers, there was no other scent I could detect in her room. But this was clearly a break-in, not a break-out, as the glass shards from the broken window were on the inside of the room. And no scent means…”

     “…Mystique,” Xavier frowned, picking up on Wolverine’s thinking. “This does not bode well for Paige. Normally I would implore you to wait for backup, but we may not have that much time.”

     “Yeah, it looks it’ll be just me and the two boys against the Brotherhood,” Wolverine growled. “Even considering that it’s the Brotherhood… this ain’t gonna be an easy fight.”

     “Now that I know she’s a Mutant, I’ll check Cerebro and get back to you shortly with Paige’s general location, as tracking her via her scent could take too long. Good luck, Logan.”

     “So this is the place?” Cannonball asked, looking around carefully as he, Wolverine, and Iceman crept into view of an abandoned warehouse a few dozen miles from the Guthries’ home. The overcast sky lent a gloomy, dull air to the place. From a cursory view, nothing seemed to be going on inside the purportedly empty warehouse, though obviously that was just a façade.

     “A warehouse, why is it always a warehouse?” Iceman asked himself softly.

     “So says Charles,” Wolverine said, ignoring Bobby. “According to him, Surge, Pyro, and Wanda are in this general area, along with Mystique and your sister. And my nose happens to be agreeing with him—I’m not picking up the scents of Toad, Blob or Avalanche, which means Mystique’s probably trying to impress Paige and not make her want to run away in horror, heh.”

     “Y’know, I wouldn’t underestimate them anymore,” Cannonball said. “I mean, Piotr, Kurt and some of the others had a pretty rough run-in with them last Christmas. Heck, poor Amara’s still not completely recovered from those burns. Maybe Mystique really is pushing her team this time.”

     “Even though I wasn’t there, I have a hard time believing Toad was a determining factor in that fight,” Iceman said, smirking.

     “You two can continue this conversation later,” Wolverine growled, “We’ve got a job to do. Both of you go to your locations, and—oh, great.”

     “What? What is it?” Cannonball asked, apprehensive.

     “The wind just shifted, and I’m picking up another scent,” Wolverine sneered. Standing up, he yelled out as softly as he could, “Jubilee, get your butt out here! You think I wouldn’t notice!?”

     “Man, you ARE good!” Jubilee said, crawling out from under a bush a few dozen years away, fully suited up. “And I took a quick shower before following you guys and everything!”

     “What the heck do you think you’re doing!?” Wolverine growled. “I specifically told you NOT to come with us! You’re still a New Mutant!”

     “Yeah, I’m just going to stand by and let you guys go off to try save Sam’s sister, outnumbered,” Jubilee retorted, rolling her eyes. “Get real.”

     “This isn’t up to you!” Wolverine snarled. “Now, get out of here, before—“

     He was interrupted as a blue bolt of lighting streaked across the ground in between them. Before any of them could even see her move into their field of vision, Surge was suddenly standing in between Jubilee and the others, eyeing Wolverine with a grin, blue arcs of electricity racing up and down her form.

     “Speaking of thinking you wouldn’t be noticed…” Surge laughed.

     Wolverine unsheathed his claws, and Iceman changed into his ice form, taking on a ready stance.

     “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Wanda’s voice said from behind them. Turning around, the three X-Men saw Pyro, the Scarlet Witch, and Mystique standing a few dozen feet behind them, all smirking.

     What was most disturbing, however, was the figure that was in the midst of the three Brotherhood members. The long blonde hair and the few spots of skin still left on her face and arms were the only reason that Cannonball even recognized his sister. Her right arm was made up of a gel-like green substance that, judging from the frying sounds coming off of it as it ate what remained of the right arm of her red sweater, was extremely acidic. Her left arm was made up of crystal clear, nearly flawless diamond, and although her sweater and left pant leg covered up whatever was happening to her body underneath there, her right pant leg had burned off, as her right leg seemed to be composed of something resembling cooling magma. Although most of the skin on her face was still intact, the patches that had already peeled off revealed a steel-like substance underneath. Wet tears were still streaming down her cheeks, however, as her eyes looked normal.

     “Oh, God… Paige…” Cannonball whispered, choking back tears of his own.

     “Mystique, you better let her go or in a few seconds YOUR head’s going to be on the end of MY claws!” Wolverine roared.

     “You assume too much, Wolverine,” Mystique smirked. “Paige is here of her own free will—I merely asked her to join our organization, and she accepted, taking the codename of Husk.”

     “You’re lyin’!” Cannonball called out. “I’ve known my sis for 15 years, there’s no way she’d join scumbags like you!”

     “No…. no, it’s true,” Paige said softly, stepping in front of Mystique. Even as she talked, her features changed—what few bits of her skin of her face remained were peeling off, and even her magma-leg was starting to crust up and flake off, revealing at the beginning of a normal human leg underneath.

     “….What?” Cannonball said, a feeling of dread quickly rising in the pit of his stomach.

     “I… I said it’s TRUE!” Paige said, her voice suddenly taking on a tone of maniacal rage as she gritted her teeth, raised her acid-arm, and shot a stream of acidic liquid from it at her brother. Caught by surprise, Cannonball just barely managed to avoid the liquid stream as it flew past him and landed a few feet back, eating away at the frost-covered grass on the ground there.

     “We’ve got them outnumbered!” Mystique yelled. “Attack!”

     “X-Men, take ‘em down!” Wolverine growled.

     Jubilee ducked as a bolt of blue lightning shot at her, frying the bush she had been hiding under less than a minute ago.

     “Ah, anotherpersonfrommyneckofthewoods, Ipresume,” Surge said nonchalantly as she channeled the blue electricity crackling around her into her legs and began to circle rapidly around Jubilee. As the New Mutant shielded her face from the hollow circle of electricity that quickly surrounded her, Surge muttered something quickly in Japanese.

     “Huh? What did you just say!?” Jubilee said angrily, confused and losing patience as she hurled her “fireworks” into random spots of the field of electricity surrounding her, hoping to get lucky and nail Surge with one of them. Judging from the lack of a yelp, none of her shots were hitting their target so far.

     “Ah, soyou’renotJapanese. Shouldhaveknown,” said Surge, her voice seeming to come from everywhere in the electricity field at once. “Iinsultedyourmotherinmylanguage. Itwasaprettycolorfulinsult, too. Shameyoucouldn’tunderstandit.”

     “I’m Chinese, not Japanese,” Jubilee growled, hurling another “firework” steam into the field of electricity and cursing in her native tongue as well as she did so. “Did you understand THAT, huh?”

     “Unfortunately, no,” Surge said.

     Suddenly, a lightning bolt lanced through the center of the field, striking right through Jubilee. With a cry of pain, Jubilee crumpled to the ground, smoke rising from her frizzled black hair.

     “However, THAT backhand was pretty universal across all cultures, I think,” Surge said as she came to a stop, the electricity field quickly dissolving as she did so. Walking up to Jubilee and stooping down so that her face was right next to the New Mutants’, Surge continued, “So, a China native taking the wrong side ideologically, huh? How unexpected.”

     Jubilee merely groaned in response.

     “Wow, you’re still alive,” Surge said, standing back up. “You must have a lot of rubber in your suit, that should have killed you.” Charging up her gauntlets, she continued, “I guess I’ll have to fix that little mistake, then.”

     Meanwhile, Iceman and Pyro were hurling ice beams, fireballs, and insults at the other, neither managing to actually hit the other.

     “C’mon mate, you know fire beats ice!” Pyro laughed as Iceman circled around him, skating on his self-made ice slides. “It may take a while, a’course, but it always happens!”

     “I’ve beaten you before, you jackal, I can do it again…” Iceman smirked at his insult before firing another ice beam at Pyro, who nimbly dodged. “Yeah, that’s what I’m gonna call you from now on-- Jackal. You nutcase.”

     “Well, you’ve gone and hurt my feelings, now, you clever devil you!” Pyro cackled. “I guess I’ll have to stop being your friend, then!”

     As Iceman fired another ice beam at Pyro, Pyro jumped out of the way again, but instead of aiming another fire blast at Iceman, he instead aimed lower, firing at the columns of ice supporting the bridge section Iceman was just skating onto. Taken by surprise at the sudden change in tactics, Iceman couldn’t stop in time as he skated onto the crumbling section of his own ice bridge and fell the dozen feet or so to the ground, on top of a few broken chunks of his ice.

     “Ugh…” Iceman muttered. “Congrats, you pulled a fast one on me and… ugh… hurt my back a little, too…. But I’m still as iced up as ever!”

     In emphasis, Iceman fired off two quick blasts of ice, which solidified right on Pyro’s hands—including the nozzles of his flamethrower tubes.

     “Why you little….!” Pyro growled, trying to break off the ice blocks by slamming them against his legs but not succeeding. “That’s all you ever do!”

     “’Cause it always works,” Iceman said, charging up his hands for another two blasts of ice. “And THIS always works, too!”

     Just as fired off another two ice blasts, however, Iceman saw a weird, transparent electrified nebulous field surround him. Instead of firing at Pyro like Iceman had intended, the ice instead just rapidly built up around his own body, and before he could stop it Iceman stood, motionless, trapped in a block of his own ice, a look of confusion frozen onto his face.

     Wanda stepped into Iceman’s vision, smirking, her hands on her hips. “Forgot about me? I wish I could say it’s a mistake you won’t be making again, but then again, you won’t be making ANY more mistakes. Ever.”

     “’Cause he’ll be dead! I get it!” Pyro laughed.

     Wanda just gritted her teeth. “Yes, Pyro, because he’ll be dead. Thank you for ruining my moment. I’ll be sure to return the favor someday.”

     “P-Paige… why are you doing this?” Cannonball said, slowly backing away as his sister moved forward, tears running down her organic metal cheeks and into her clenched teeth.

     “Ever since you went away to that Institute, you’re the only one Ma’s ever talked about!” Paige began, her features continuing to flake away as she talked. “Look what Sam’s done! Sam is doing great at the new Institute! Sam’s doing a great job fighting evil Mutants! Oh look, Sam helped to freakin’ save the WORLD!”

     Emphasizing the last word, Paige shot another stream of acid, which Cannonball nimbly dodged again, all the while keeping an eye on the others. Wolverine was currently duking it out with Mystique, both of them exchanging dialogue as they fought, but neither visibly winning at the moment—Wolverine kept trying to strike at Mystique, but she was too nimble, and visa versa. A field of electricity was surrounding Jubilee, so Cannonball wasn’t completely sure what was going on inside there, but he guessed Jubilee was at a pretty bad disadvantage against Surge. Iceman and Pyro were currently exchanging fireballs and ice bolts, neither actually managing to hit the other. And where was Wanda…?

     “And so I first thought, hey, how great, Sam is really moving up in the world. He’s really making something of himself,” Paige said, her tone growing more somber as she continued to advance on her brother. “And the more Mom continued to talk about how great you were doing, the more I started to get jealous. ‘I just aced my math final. I made first clarinet in the school band. I give a lot to charity, even though we ourselves are barely above the poverty line. So hey, where are MY congratulations, Mom? Where are MY kudos? What about your OTHER eight kids?! I was all but forgotten, even though I LIVED there, and you just visited a few WEEKS out of the year!”

     “Paige, I’m sorry Ma reacted that way, but I was never competin’ with you! What’s gotten into you!?” Cannonball said, the person he was hearing not sounding at all like the sister he thought he knew.

     “Let me FINISH!” Paige growled, unleashing another acid stream at her brother. This one just nicked the edge of his shoulder, and quickly started to eat through that part of his uniform.

     “It was stupid, now, I realize that,” Paige continued through the tears that continued to stream down her face. “But I grew so jealous I started thinkin’, hey, wouldn’t it be cool if I became a Mutant? If I had all these great powers and could help fight evil like my big brother? And so I prayed, Sam. I prayed so hard. I kept praying, God, please let me be a Mutant like my brother. I want to help people. And then, a few days ago, I woke up. Like this. A complete monstrosity, my skin peeling off everywhere! I began to question everything I believed in. What kind of GOD would allow this to happen to me, Sam? I prayed to HIM to let me HELP people, and he turns me into a MONSTER? What kind of cruel, sick mind did God have!? And from there it was only a short logical step to my conclusion—God does not exist. Or at the very least, not a kind God. Not the God I read about in the Bible growing up. You ever have your entire worldview torn out from under you, Sam? I would never wish that. On anyone. And so I began to question other things I believed in, and that’s when Mystique showed up. At first she startled me, breaking in like she did, but what she said quickly started to make sense. A lot more sense than the baloney I had been brought up to believe in. Maybe we ARE all a mistake, but us Mutants, we’re a SUPERIOR mistake. And if it means we have to get violent to achieve our rightful place at the top of the chain of power, than so be it.”

     “Paige, none of that’s true, and you know it!” Sam said, his facial expression quickly switching from one of dread to one of anger. “That’s not how Ma brought us up, that’s not how YOU were brought up! Mystique’s trying to influence you when you’re down, and that ain’t right!”

     “If God exists—a kind, just God—then please explain to me HOW I HAVE A FREAKING ARM MADE OF SLIME! And a leg made of molten rock! And another arm—no, a freaking CLAW-- made of diamond! And each of my appendages have been through at least five different forms since I woke up that horrible, horrible morning, Sam! And my shedding is PAINFUL! I’ve grown almost numb from the pain! I’m some freaking human-snake gone horribly wrong, and I don’t know how to stop it!”

     Letting out a shriek of mixed rage and pain, Paige fired off another acid stream at Cannonball’s feet. She just barely missed, but it had the intended effect—it caused her brother to stumble and fall onto his back. Taking advantage of the situation, Paige pounced on her brother, forcing one of his hands down with the superior strength of her diamond-arm, and keeping Cannonball from shoving her off with his other arm because of the acidic arm she kept dangling just a few inches it.

     “Paige, please,” Cannonball said, his face resolute and fearless, looking his sister straight in the eyes, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

     Paige stared at her brother for a second, searching his eyes before responding. “You’re lying. You will if I really start to hurt you.”

     “No, I won’t!” Cannonball said, his attention half-focused on Paige and half-focused on the ongoing conversation between Mystique and Wolverine. “Look, Paige, Husk, whatever twisted version of my sis you’ve become! I ain’t God, and I don’t pretend to know His plan for you, and I don’t know how your mutation plays into it! But you CAN control this, Paige! And if you can control it, then you can help people with it! Look at your leg!”

     “W..what?” Paige said, suddenly confused.

     “I said, look at your leg!”

     Keeping half an eye on Cannonball, Paige looked at her magma-leg. Miraculously, only the foot was magma-rock now, and it too was quickly drying up and crumbling away to reveal… a normal leg underneath, covered with normal human skin.

     “What… I’ve never done that before! How did I do that?!” Paige said, confused.

     “I don’t know, either! But you aren’t stuck in this condition, Paige! And even if you were, you could still help people! This is YOUR decision you’re making, not God’s, not Mystique’s! … And if you want any more evidence as to why you shouldn’t follow this buncha misguided homicidal losers, listen to Mystique over there!”

     “Why?”

     “Just LISTEN!”

     “How’d you find Paige in the first place, Mystique?” Wolverine growled as he dodged a kick from the blue-skinned Brotherhood leader. “Or do you have a Cerebro I don’t know about?”

     “In a word, Destiny, both figuratively and literally,” Mystique sneered before swiftly punching Wolverine in the face and sending him reeling. “But I’ve been keeping very, very close tabs on the Guthrie family regardless, Wolverine. A family of NINE siblings, the oldest two both Mutants, with more likely as the years progress. And the mother is only in her late thirties, so it’s possible there could still be one or two MORE children. It’s a GOLD mine, Wolverine. And one that I am not about to ignore. The girl has the potential to become a very powerful Mutant, once she gains control of her power.”

     “Yeah, we’ll THIS gold mine’s off-limits, by order of the X-Men! If there are any more Guthries that become Mutants, they’ll chose for THEMSELVES what they’ll do with their powers, I won’t have you suckerin’ ‘em into joining your twisted club!”

     Running again at Mystique with is claws unsheathed, Wolverine took a swipe at Mystique, and this time it partially connected, slicing into her stomach a little. With a grunt of pain, Mystique bent over, clutching the wound.

     “It’s over, Mystique,” Wolverine growled. “Now you and your thugs get out of here before I tear you a new one.”

     “On… the contrary, Wolverine,” Mystique grunted. “You obviously haven’t been paying… much attention to the fights around you. All of your… ‘superior’ students are down, and all of mine are victorious.”

     Glancing around, Wolverine reluctantly noticed that she was right. Iceman was frozen in a cube of his own ice, Jubilee was slumped on the ground while Surge was whispering something into her ear, and Cannonball was pinned down by Husk. The Scarlet Witch and Pyro were slowly walking up to him, smirks on their faces.

     “I’ll still gut you before they kill me,” Wolverine said.

     “An impressive… threat. Why don’t you see if you…. can live up to it?”

     “There, y’see sis?” Cannonball said, drawing his sister’s attention back to him again. “See how she talks about you? You’re just a weapon to her, nothing more than something she can use. You still think she’s telling you the truth, that she really knows what’s going on in the world? But Xavier, he ain’t like that! He’ll teach to control your powers, use ‘em to do the good you used to want to do! And he’ll let you have fun with your powers, do more than just fight with ‘em, but do what you wanna do with ‘em!”

     Paige’s gaze shifted nervously back and forth between her brother and Mystique, tears streaming down her face faster than ever, her hands shaking slightly.

     “Whatever you’re gonna do, sis, do it now,” Cannonball said softly. “Because in a few seconds it ain’t gonna matter either way.”

     Letting out a shriek of pain, Paige stood up and tore off the skin of her acidic-arm, which quickly dried up and fell to the ground harmlessly. In its place was an arm made of some kind of combustible material, which immediately caught fire. The shriek drew the attention of the others, but before any of them could react, Paige built up and hurled a huge fireball at Mystique. Wolverine just barely managed to leap out of the way in time as the fireball caught the taken-aback Brotherhood member right in its center.

     Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cannonball quickly stood up and launched himself into the air, only taking a few seconds to clear the distance to Surge, who stood above Jubilee with a full charge in her gauntlets. Unable to redirect the energy back into her legs in time, Cannonball hit the Brotherhood member head-on, knocking them both to the ground several meters away. Cannonball stood up, shaking his head, and looked down at Surge, who had been knocked into unconsciousness, her pent-up charge fizzling away.

     Shrieking in agony, Mystique immediately dropped to the ground and rolled around, hoping to put out the flames that had enveloped her. Thinking quickly, Wanda enveloped Mystique in a hex field, which caused the flames to die down almost immediately.

     While Wanda was occupied, however, Paige gritted her teeth and ripped the peeling diamond skin off of her other arm, revealing an arm tipped with porcupine-like quills. She let loose a volley of the quills at Pyro, who leapt out of the way, but a moment too late. Several of the quills stuck in Pyro’s leg.

     “Aw, CRIKEY, that hurts!” Pyro hissed as he landed on the ground, immediately grabbing his quill-filled leg in pain.

     “So this… THIS is the decision you’ve made, then?” Mystique growled, getting back up, her skin at first visibly burned but quickly turning back to normal as her shapeshifting powers did their work. “Fine. Next time we meet, I’m going after YOU first, Husk. Let’s hope you’ve learned enough by then to not die within the first few minutes, or I’ll be severely disappointed.”

     “Brotherhood members, retreat!” Mystique shouted, morphing into an eagle and swooping over to pick up Surge in her talons before taking off in the horizon. Wanda helped Pyro up and both of them quickly ran after Mystique’s retreating form.

     “Should we go after ‘em?” Cannonball asked, walking up to Wolverine.

     “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, kid, but we ain’t in such great shape ourselves,” Wolverine said, motioning to Iceman and Jubilee. “Let ‘em go.”

     “Hey sis, you think could help out Iceman over there?” Cannonball asked, nodding towards his teammate, still frozen in a block of ice.

     “Y-you mean he’s still okay?” Paige said in disbelief. “I thought he was…”

     “Dead? Nah, his power is creating ice out of thin air, remember,” Wolverine said. “He’s fine, he’s just stuck in there.”

     “Right…” Paige said, her tears finally drying up as she looked over her flame-arm. “Sam…. I’m… so, so sorry. I’ve just… I’ve been pretty confused lately.”

     “Hey, consider it forgiven,” Sam said. “Nobody’s permanently hurt, anyways. I understand you may not have had the best experience the couple ‘a days.”

     “Yeah, yeah, I’ve… got a lot of things to think about,” Paige replied, her gaze lowering to the ground.

     “So, kid,” Wolverine said, walking up to her, “You cut it pretty close, but it’s good to see you made the right choice in the end. After we clean up here, did you want us to take you back to your mother’s, or are you thinking about becoming an X-Man?”

     “Well, I still want to go back to my mom’s for now… to tell her I’m fine and see the rest of my family again. But after I say my goodbyes to them, yes…yes, I’d like to enroll at your Institute. Hopefully find a way to control this and get my normal look back,” she said, smiling sadly.

     “Hey, and I know someone who can help you out with your spiritual questions a heck of a lot better than I can,” Sam said, having gone and hoisted Jubilee over his shoulder while Paige and Wolverine were talking. “You should talk to Kurt sometime—you can’t miss him, he’s got blue fur and a tail.”

     “Blue fur and a tail!?” Paige replied disbelievingly as she and Sam walked over to where Iceman was stuck.

     “Yeah, you’re going to a whole school of freaks, ‘member? You ain’t gonna be alone in this, sis.”

     “Yeah… yeah,” Paige said, her thoughts clearly somewhere else as she laid her flame-hand on the ice chunk surrounding Iceman and began to dissolve it.

     “Yeah, Kurt, man, he knows the Bible backwards and forwards, I swear. His memory is really something when it comes to stuff like that. I’m sure he’s dealt with similar feelings. Oh, and hey, you should meet Hank, too, he’s one of our instructors. And Cessily, too…”

The End
 

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