Legend: Thoughts = <>

Stray thoughts = ()

Flashback **

Com links []

Ok, guys, all the disclaimers apply, that means all thanks goes to Marvel

For the X-Men, I'm just making the story. And I do read all the other

Stories and they're great, keep up the good work. They inspire me!

"Bitchassness?" Connor asked.

"Yeah," I said, "It's a black thing."

"You're not black. You're light brown at best." Connor said.

"Is it bad that I miss our small little office." I said as we walked through the sea of students.

"Oh, come on, this place is cherry." Connor said.

"Yeah, but we're nowhere near close to finding the Professor or Magneto." I said.

"We're trying to find him too?" Connor asked.

I smirked, "Where's Raiden?" I asked.

"She didn't want to come out." Connor said, "Ever since she found that guy in the alley, she's been...different."

"Different?" I asked.

In her room...

Raiden sat, looking at the knife before her. She twisted it around, looking at it from all angle before slicing it through the air. She stood and threw it at the wall and it stuck in. She picked it up again, twirling it once more.

"So, what was your favorite adventure?" Katia asked.

"I...I kind of like the ones I don't remember." I said.

Katia looked at me oddly.

"I just mean...there was a period of my life where a clone took over and I like to hear stuff about it." I said quickly, "And Genosha." I added, "It's beautiful."

Katia smiled.

"As much fun as your adventures are, I think I'll go and barf now." Bobby said, standing and walking away.

"Did I miss something?" I asked following Bobby, "Hey, what was that?"

"She's totally up your ass and for what?" Bobby sneered, "Why doesn't she just marry you?"

"Because I'm totally against that." I said, "And since when does it even matter?"

"Maybe I like her." Bobby said.

"Wow, I knew that was coming, seriously, but hearing you say it was just..."

"I'm sorry." Bobby said, "I've never felt this way about someone before."

I sighed, "Again, hearing that was..."

"Sorry." Bobby said, "I really like her."

"Don't say it again." I frowned, "I think she likes you too. It's not like I'm going to start dating her or anything."

"I know, I just...she's always talking about how great you are." Bobby said, "I have a history too."

"Look, Bobby, she seems to like you. I saved her, so she is sort of infatuated but if it were you that would have saved her, it'd be you she would be giving attention."

Bobby nodded.

"Besides, I don't think I'll be hanging around long enough for anything." I said, "We're leaving pretty soon."

"Hey guys." Katia said.

"Hey." I said, "I should get going."

"No, don't leave on my account." Katia said, "You two go ahead..."

"No, we were just done." I said, "See you guys." I said, walking away.

-           

"It wasn't my fault." Raiden said, sitting in the middle of her room. She had cut strips in the walls, all in the heat of a freak out. She had cut strips off her hair and it was all frazzled and uneven. She wore an old sports bra and jogging pants. Her bed was unmade, even though she hadn't slept and her room was a mess, filled with food wrappers and food she hadn't eaten. Without knocking, Connor entered and looked around before finally noticing Raiden standing by the window. Before he could fully see her, she stashed the knife under her mattress.

"Raiden...what..." Connor said, looking around.

"Hey, Connor." Raiden rasped.

Connor just stared at her.

"Do you like my hair?" Raiden asked, pushing her hair down on her head, "I straightened it. It was too long."

Connor walked over and grabbed her, "Raiden! What's going on?" he asked.

"Do you think he screamed?" Raiden asked, looking up into Connor's eyes.

"What?" Connor asked, looking at her quickly, "Do I think who screamed? Who are you talking about?"

"I didn't mean to...he...he..." Raiden said.

"The man in alley wasn't your fault." Connor said.

"He barely made a noise. I mean, if I were getting stabbed, I'd scream." Raiden said.

"What do you mean..." Connor asked.

Raiden stopped, "He didn't scream." Raiden said slowly.

Connor pulled her into a hug, "It's okay." He said.

"It's," she pulled away, "It's not!"

Connor just stared.

"Connor...I did something. Something bad." Raiden said, "I'm a bad person."

-           

"We believe that we know the whereabouts of Magneto." Emma Frost said as we all sat around the War Room. Apparently, news had come through about the whereabouts of Magneto and Professor Xavier. We all sat, watching Emma and Scott brief us for the journey ahead of us. Apparently, like every other thing, this would be dangerous and would take us to the us to a very secured place. The plan was to sneak in and attack from the inside, having some of us save Professor before they knew what hit them.

"Who says we're gonna save him?" Logan growled.

"Our source of intel came from Mystique." Emma said, "We had to make a deal."

"What is it, we save theyha boy and we find ours?" Rogue asked.

"Yes," Scott said, "Apparently, this is a trap. Mystique got enough info to let us know that and in exchange for the information we got, we have to save Magneto."

"You said it was a trap," I said, "What's the what?"

Emma raised her eyebrow with amusement, "They want us to bring you out into the open." She said.

"Which means you sit this one out." Scott said.

"Negatory." I said quickly, "I'm going. I have unfinished business with these guys."

"You are our weak link, taking you in would be a mistake on our part." Emma said.

"You know me better than that." I said.

"Pane, I believe they are right." Ororo said, "Not about you being the weak link, about you being in danger."

"I can handle myself." I said.

"No one is disputing that," Beast said.

"I am." Emma spat.

"But we can't take a chance that you might be captured too. If worse comes to worse, then we might need..." Beast said.

"The Hollow." I said, "Thing is, I've been on the sideline since the world went to Hell, I've been running and that's not my style. That's not what X-Men do, we fight."

"An I was beginning to think yer speeches were over." Logan smirked.

"We're X-Men. Nuff said." I said.

"Fine, but don't be a hero." Scott warned, "If you're in trouble, call for help. I don't want you anywhere alone, got it?"

"Fine." I said, "Military building right? I'm thinking Sentinels and robots abound."

"You'd be right." Scott said, "We're going to have to make a distraction."

"Who is going inside?" I asked.

"Telepaths. Kitty. Nightcrawler. And Me." Scott said, "Everyone else will be outside fighting the Sentinels and causing a distraction."

"Anything else we should know, Scott?" Ororo asked.

"Stay together." Scott said.

-           

As we found our way through the military compound, I found myself wondering about what was going on outside. I couldn't throw the feeling that something was going to go completely wrong. We stopped at a humongous room. The rest of the team doubled back.

"What is it?" Shadowcat asked.

"This room." I said, "I think he's in there."

"Who?" Cyclops asked walking to the doorway, "Professor?"

"No. Mega." I said, "You go ahead. Professor should be ahead."

"This is a trap." Cyclops said, "Legacy, listen to me..."

"No. We don't have time." I said, "I'll be okay."

"Scott, he's right. Professor and Magneto are just ahead." Emma said.

Cyclops nodded and headed out with the rest of the group. I made my way into the room. It had huge tubes filled with water, which I immediately recognized as incubation chambers, but there was nobody in them. I walked farther ahead and there was an at least forty foot drop with scaffolding all around. Up above, there was at least another story and on the scaffolding above and opposite me, stood Mega and Stryker. My mouth went dry.

"Welcome." Stryker smirked.

Meanwhile, Cyclops, Emma, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler made their way into a cement and glass room that led into an even bigger room where Magneto lay, dressed in normal clothes. Cyclops immediately shot the guard with his optic blast and the guard fell to the floor! Shadowcat ran her hand through the computer and the big glass doors containing Magneto swung open! Emma used her powers to put down the last of the guards while Nightcrawler popped in and grabbed Magneto, then popped back out.

"I zink we are ready." Nightcrawler said.

Cyclops walked over to them, "Where is Professor Xavier?" he asked.

Magneto looked up at him, "This is a trap." He said slowly.

Back in the large room, I stood, watching Mega and Stryker. It was then that I noticed that there was someone lying on the floor in front of Stryker and Mega and I looked closer. It was Professor Xavier! I stepped ahead, but stopped at Stryker's throat clearing.

"If you want him to live through this, you won't take another step." Stryker said.

"You son of a bitch." I said quickly.

"I was hoping you'd come." Stryker said, "We've been hoping you'd come. Don't you recognize your old friend?"

I looked at him, then at Mega, "No, it can't be...he was blown away in space." I said.

"Pieces of him fell to Earth." Stryker said, "We needed pieces."

"You created a monster." I said, "Out of my friends."

"No, just one." Mega said.

"Rocky died on that space ship." I said.

"But I'm right here." Mega said, "We're right here."

I looked away.

"What to do now." Mega said.

"I'd say fight, but somehow I'm not good at it." I said.

Mega jump from where he was down to where I was. I immediately took a fighting stance, waiting on him to throw the first punch.

"You will always be a hero." Mega said, "But I am far from a villain."

"I'm no hero, I just do what's right." I said, "Which I guess would be a hero, but still."

"You talk a lot." Mega said, "I won't miss that."

"Jerk." I frowned.

Mega threw a punch and I barely ducked it, but then I kicked him in the stomach.

"Good show." Mega smiled.

"Just watch." I said, twirling around and bringing my fist close to his face, but he caught it and elbowed me, causing me to stumble forward into the wall! I ducked a punch that went into the wall and punched him. I ran up and jumped into the air, kicking but he countered all of my kicks and held me by my neck! As I dangled in the air, I looked at the glass tubes.

Mega looked at the tubes also and smiled, "Interesting." He said, throwing me through the glass.

I writhed in pain from the cuts as blood spilled from my body. I waited for the wounds to heal but they didn't. I gasped in pain. It was almost unbearable.

"That must hurt." Mega said, bending down to me.

I swallowed, "I can't wait to kill you." I frowned.

"You will have to." Mega said, "You want to kill me? More than you want to save the world?"

"What does that even mean?" I asked.

"You'll see." Mega said, walking away.

I coughed up blood, trying to move but every time I did, there was more glass and more blood mixed with the dingy water that was in the tube.

"Pane? Pane!" Cyclop's voice said.

I tried to look over at them, but couldn't. I had been beaten. I heard the glass crunching as Scott ran to me and I felt his arms as he hoisted me up.

"Scott, the Professor!" Emma said, pointing up at him.

I must have passed out because when I slipped back into consciousness, I saw Storm and the team facing Sentinels. I was conscious just long enough to see Bobby get knocked off his ice sled and fall to the ground!

-           

I awoke to those same metal walls of the Med Bay. I had woken up too many times in these walls. I stood and surveyed the cuts on my body, trying to seek out a particular pattern but there wasn't one. I had been cut all over, my arm was in a sling, and my leg was wrapped tight with cloth. I looked over to see Bobby laying on the slab next to me with Katia fast asleep, hunched over in her chair so that she was lying over Bobby. I felt something watching them sleep. It was...jealousy. I shook it off and stumbled out into the hallway.

Before I could get too far, Logan stepped out in front of me, "Where ya goin?"

I swallowed, trying to get the dryness out of my mouth, "I can't...I can't be here." I said quickly.

"The love fest? Yeah, I hear ya." Logan said, "But ya can't be walkin aroun' wit yer guts hanging out."

"It'll heal." I smiled weakly.

Logan smirked, "Doesnit always?" he asked.

"Is the Professor back?" I asked.

"Yeah." Logan said.

"I think I'll have to see him." I said, limping away.

-           

I knocked on the door before I entered.

"Come in." Professor's voice said on the other side of the door.

I opened the door to find Ororo, Beast, Scott, and Emma sitting around. At the sight of me, they rose to their feet.

"Pane..." Scott said.

"You should be resting." Ororo said.

"Yeah, I should be." I said unemotionally.

"Are you alright?" Emma asked.

I shook my head, "No." I frowned.

"You need to go and heal." Scott said.

"I'm leaving." I said, "And I'm taking my friends with me."

"May I ask why?" Professor inquired.

"I feel like I just got hit by a bus." I said quickly, "This isn't the place for me anymore."

"Pane...We all need to be together." Scott said.

"Thank you for taking us in, but it's time we go back to our home." I said, walking out of the office.

Scott grabbed my arm and turned me around, "This is your home." He said.

I shook my head.

"I know about our future." Scott said, "I want that."

I looked at him, "To give up everything? For what? For me?" I asked.

"We're not going to end up like that." Scott said.

"I know." I said, "Because I just can't do that to either of us." I said, kissing his cheek, "You belong here. I...don't."

Scott didn't say another word, he just watched me walk away. When I finally got to Raiden's room, I knocked, but there was no answer. I opened it and saw that the room was totally trashed and Raiden sat in the corner with Connor holding her head.

"I didn't mean to do it." Is all she said.

I watched in disbelief. What was happening?

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Well, if you liked it please tell me so I can start work on the next one. I really need feedback, especially if you like it. If you don't, I need advice and suggestions, please.