Last Time:

Mrs. Joews looked close to tears and sat at the edge of her seat watching as Ross was taken outback. "Please don't hurt him or my babies!" She whispered. The tears threatening to spill over the precarious damn she had erected.

"Miss, you might want to take that back in a moment. As you might have guessed we are mutants. A couple of days ago I went to take my daughter shopping here. Somehow she was discovered and we had to run." He could see the awareness creeping into her eyes. "Well at one point of time I outmaneuvered them and they must have found you husband…"

Mrs. Joews looked shocked for a split second before launching herself at Sabertooth beating at him with her fists screaming NO!

"He's dead." Sabertooth told her as she beat at him. "He unknowingly gave his life for mine."

It took longer then they had thought to finally get her to calm down. Keith made some coffee in a small kitchen that connected into the living room. Giving it to her he asked if she felt better, all he got was silence.

She was now sitting on a red chair that she had pulled from her table to sit on; she had a faraway look in her eyes like she didn't know what to do. "Mrs. Joews…" Sabertooth started.

"Alice. Call me Alice." She whispered dispassionately still staring at the fascinating spot on the wall.

"Alice we came here not only because we wanted to thank you and notify you… but to see if somehow we could help. We owe you and if you ever need anything we're there." Keith piped up.

"Then I ask for you to not hurt Officer Ross. He came here to tell me personally that my… sob husband's sniffle rescue party is going to leave t-t-tomorrow and that he will be heading them u-u-up." Alice Joews said her eyes brimming again.

Sabertooth snorted. "Fine if you want to save that sadistic son of a bitch then fine we got other people to kill…"

"W-w-what do you mean sadistic?" Alice asked as Sabertooth and the rest were about to call to Toad to let the jerk go.

"He's the one that killed your husband… and by his smell he knew it doing it and coming here. He got off on your pain." Sabertooth said his eyes telling her nothing at all.

Now:

She looked outside at the officer. He looked pitiful she supposed, but she no longer felt pity for him, or anyone. "Kill him, kill everyone who knew… make them suffer." She rasped out, the anger she felt from his victimizing her and her children let her say it with no guilt.

Smiling the Dragons all headed out. There was a bit of arguing over who could kill him and in the end Max won the privilege by fighting Keith for it. Smiling he looked up at the sky and reached out with his mind for the electric currents in the air, he had to travel for a bit but he found it. Waiting to strike something, he tugged it and it traveled pulsing threw him and around him, branching out it hit him and the officer; hitting with such force and power that the others felt the heat from it. They all winced as the noise defended them.

Max ignored them all, feeding off of the lightning, soaking it up; his dreadlocks glowed and went all staticie. The normal human died almost instantly and he could feel the electricity's confusion at the mess. He began to soak it up and laugh. Feeling almost high but also knowing that all the other town members must have heard the noise and he hoped he was out of view.

Max smiled as the glow died down leaving everyone momentarily blind. "See, no mess. Norms leave a mess but we know better." Keith smiled at Max's comment. The night crickets were silent, as was everything else, for a few minutes after the lightning and now they seem to be gossiping about what happened.

Alice stared at the ashes of the old family friend and couldn't muster even a fleeting sadness of regret. She couldn't as thoughts of her and baby twins' future. The tall blond with large black eyes in furs looked at her.

He cocked his head at her. "What?"

His question startled her. "What do you mean what?"

"Why are you so sad…? Don't tell me you feel sorry for this asshole!"

"NO! NEVER!" She snapped with force; forgetting for a moment what they are. "It's just… what am I going to do? You're going to kill everyone so there'll be none here for work… the law'll come around and then I'll have some explaining to do about why I'm one of the few people still here. What am I going to do for work and still be able to take care of the babies?" She sighed and tried to figure out what to do.

"You can live with us… We don't mind, at least until Alex says one way or the other we can give you room and board…" The triplets said at once looking thoughtful. "That way we can get some help around the house… Alex's been complaining about the case load she's got and we got tons of stuff to do too."

"This is great!" Max shouted unable to regulate his voice do to his high. "We got a two for one deal. WAHOO! This is great!"

"Max… calm down!" Rain snapped, angry because his ears were still ringing and his boyfriend was making it worse.

"Sorry." Max whispered in an excited stage whisper. "But like I was saying, we could have someone to help around; we could pay you Miss Alice. We could even help you with the babies. Me and Rain we love kids. We'll watch 'em and it'll all be good. If Alex says you can't stay we'll set you up for a new job. Sound good to you?"

Alice looked at the scary youth who had been struck by lightning. There was no physical appearance of his mutation.

He was well built with skin so dark when he smiled the contrast was almost eye hurting. His hair was in long dreads and fell to his shoulders, he was quite tall. He dressed in blue jeans and a tight black shirt. His green eyes were the only thing remarkable about him, but they had to be contacts. The over all effect was amazing though and she imagined that he'd be a heartbreaker if he weren't so obviously devoted to his boyfriend, but a very normal teen.

His boyfriend was almost exactly the opposite. Skin that no amount of sun will ever darken with shaggy electric blue hair that wasn't natural but probably died. He dressed like a Goth with verious piercings that made her wince. A dragon tattoo covered one side of his neck clawing towards his jugular and must have hurt like hell. The most striking feature was his eyes though, purple fire. The only thing he had in common with his boyfriend was his height, they were both almost the same height.

Keith suddenly giggled. "Alex will kill you when she finds out that you are cutting you words like that."

Alice looked at him and then caught a glimmer from a jack in the back of his head. She looked at him, stiffening a scream, really looked at him. He was young so incredibly young. "How old are you?"

"13, I don't have any powers but a stretchy thing." Keith said. He grabbed a tree branch and started walking away his arm stretched and he walked around to another tree and back to the original tree. His arm now stretched the entire length. He smiled at her and let go. His arm whipped around scratching on the bark and leaving a long scratch on his arm. Other then that he was fine. The others laughed at him and told him that was what he got for showing off.

She looked at each in turn.

"15, we are psychics. And DANG strong ones at that." The three pale children stated. Nick, Lacy, and Dan.

"19, power over water." Rain, the blue haired mutant smiled.

"20; bet you can't guess mine!" That was Max.

"24; illusionist, second in command." David the apparent leader of the children smirked at her.

"27, frog-like powers consist of sticky mucus, long tongue, jumping REALLY far, green hair and skin." Toad the injured man winced as he tried to wave and put to much weight on his injured leg.

"Sabertooth, but the rest is none of your business, but my daughter Alex, the leader of this small group is 17 and Kevin third in command is 25. They aren't here right now." Sabertooth the father figure grunted. "So now that you got a background on all of us you coming or what?"

"Yeah I think that would be great just let me grab my stuff." Alice said willing to just go with the flow.

"We got to finish our business. We'll pick you up in an hour." Max said, reminding her that they came here to kill the town where she grew up. She felt sadness at the waist of human life, but couldn't feel more. They knew. They knew it was him and they killed him. Or at least most of them knew when he showed up missing.

"Okay."

They smiled squeezed her hand and headed off with a calm swagger that told her they didn't care they were about to kill a hundred or more people.

David smirked as he came across a car. Jumping in front the man and women behind the wheel screamed and slammed on the brakes. He looked over at Sabertooth as the man came out of the car shouting.

"What the FUCK do you think you're doin'!"

Sabertooth nodded and before the man could react David kicked him backwards making him plop on his butt. David walked over and kicked the side of his head a sickening snap could be heard and the women screamed. Toad smiled and green goo covered her mouth and nose and they ignored her and continued walking as she suffocated. Sabertooth continued on nodding and shaking his head and watched as his children killed. He sighed at the ease with which they did it.

They even went into the school. They didn't kill any kids but they did some teachers. Male and female, young and old. They killed indiscriminately. No hesitation. The children would probably be scared from the blitz attack that seemingly came from nowhere. In one instance his children had stood in the middle of the class, kids curled in a corner, and they calmly stood there arguing over who would get to kill the perp. Now they were arguing again… this time in a home though.

"But you killed the last threeeeeee!" Whined Rain at Keith.

"But I haven't gotten to kill any in like 15 minutes. I'm burning here with the extra power!" Max snapped.

"David who should get to kill her?" The triplets asked the mutant in charge.

"Please leave her alone!" The husband pleaded for his wife. "Take me!"

"Nope you're staying put." Toad manhandled back to the floor. "You aren't guilty she is."

"BUT I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING!" The women cried out.

"Mr. Joews… you were there and knew it was him and not dad that they killed. You allowed him to die. You are soooo guilty!" Snapped Keith.

He looked at her with horror. "JIM! You KILLED Jim!"

"NO!" She cried in denial.

"But you knew it was him!" Keith snarled.

"That is it." Max smirked as she burst into flame as he hit her with 1000 volts. "That's better."

"MAX!' Rain shouted as he made it rain inside to douse flames that were engulfing the couch. "Warn me, baby, before you do that!"

"Sorry." Max replied weakly with a smile. "But we are almost late to pick up Alice."

The man whimpered from his position from the floor. "Okay goodbye have a nice life. Tell everyone that we are the avengers. We will let no bad deed go unpunished." snort of laughter "No injustice… HEY that is not fair!" The triplets laughed as the rest of the Dragons burst into laughter. "You know what we mean..."

They turned and the Dragons left the man to mourn his wife and his friend. "How many do we have left?" Rain asked wanting to get his fair share in.

"5, I think they live over there…" Sabertooth said sniffing around and trying to discern the whereabouts of the perpetrators.

"I CALL THEM!" Rain shouted as he grew excited at the idea of 5 kills.

There were grumbles but they allowed him to kill the perps in this case. They allowed him to go off by himself though he was known to get carried away, finally he came trotting back but covered in blood. His power didn't kill without a lot of power and water, so he had to do it messily that's why he didn't get to kill till near the end.

"Look at you!" Max said in a saddened tone. "You aren't snuggling with me till you take a shower with soap and everything."

"Oh… That's not fair! I'm not built for snapping necks! I gotta use a knife." Rain whined at his boyfriend.

The other Dragons smirked as Rain followed Max trying to get him to recant. But Max just smiled and danced out of the water wielders grasp.

Alice watched them approach, her children still asleep in a stroller and all their worldly possessions beside them. She looked at the small suitcase of the things that her husband owned that she wanted the twins to have. Her sons' will now grow without a father figure in their little lives. She felt tears well up but smiled a sad smile.

She watched as the two boys approached and frowned at the joking they did, especially once she noticed that one of them was covered in blood. How can children so young be so heartless?

She watched as the others appeared and they all approached in a more conserved walk. The two boys leaned over her two, the bloody one being careful not to drip. She watched them warily but they made cooing noises and smiled in a soft way at the baby boys. The others finally caught up to the two boys. The man that wore her husband's body but not his face walked up and grabbed two of the bags full of baby clothes. The other children scrambled to pick up the other bags and boxes.

Once everyone had something the headed towards the woods. Alice worried for a minute or two when they were in the woods and didn't seem to be stopping any time soon. Sabertooth looked over his shoulder at her catching the smell of fear. The two baby boys were being pushed carefully by Rain and Max, but other then them the others had begun to notice her nervousness.

"Don't worry," Keith reassured. "We'll be to the truck in 15 min at the rate we're going."

"Night's falling." Dan said his voice sounding strange when his sisters didn't accompany it. "You need to add to the account that we need to slow down… not everyone in our company can see in the dark, and Toad can't move as fast in his casts."

"Of course stupid me… 30 minutes then. Unless we go faster…" Keith looked up thoughtfully. "Hey Mrs. Alice, do you mind if we go faster?"

Alice looked at him warily and now they all stopped to look at her. "Sure, I don't have a problem with that."

Rain smiled and put his arm lightly on her arm careful of the blood soaking his shirt front. "This is going to be scary but don't look down okay."

"Wha…?" Alice didn't have time to react as the group of mutants huddled together minus the triplets, the luggage scattered around at their feet. Then suddenly ALL of them were flying bags, stroller, and all.

"OH SHIT!" She screamed. Alice clung to the nearest person; Sabertooth she guessed from the way his body felt. She buried her face into his chest and waited to feel the ground once again.

She felt like someone had grabbed around the waist when they first took off and now she almost felt as if she was standing on something. She kept her eyes closed tightly enough to block out the sight of ever darkening treetops winging past, but felt the 'ground' beneath her feet. It was almost squishy and she moved her feet around a little, it felt like the whole area around her was the same. The others around her didn't feel as if they were as tense as she knew she was.

Taking a quick peek down she instantly regretted it and pushed down nausea. The sky was a dark blue teal allowing her to see the trees and clouds. "Epp!" She let out another undignified squeak burying even deeper into Sabertooth's chest.

The chest she clung to rumbled as Sabertooth laughed and she found the courage to look up and glare at his smiling face. Even so she didn't try to shrug off the arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"Maybe we should just float for a moment, huh dad? You and Miss Alice are looking a little cozy." The triplets snickered and Alice snapped to the present and the muffled snickers around her. Sabertooth chest rumbled again this time with a menacing growl.

Blushing to her hair roots, she jumped away forgetting she was in midair. "OH SHIT!" She screamed as she plummeted. "Ouf." She gasped as the 'hand' once again caught her.

"Watch it!" Snapped Keith at the triplets. "You'll hurt her!"

"We didn't tell her to jump off the Dell!" The triplets protested at his accusatory tone. "And we didn't have time to be gentle. Good thing we are almost there huh?"

"Um, could you put me down or at least right-side up? I'm getting a headache." Alice asked in a soft strained voice.

The triplets smiled and the others giggled as they complied and allowed Alice to softly land on her feet. "'Ppreciate it." She said sarcastically but the triplets smirked and said, "You're welcome."

Alice felt a since of foreboding as they paused by the truck and Sabertooth growled… looking at all of the mutants smacking their heads and mumbling to them selves she started to feel decidedly nervous.

"What is it?" She asked; all comfort she had started to feel in their presence completely forgotten.

"We were stupid is al." Growled David, glaring at the truck as it had committed some personal crime against him. "We didn't consider how you and the babies would change the seating arrangements and we're now considering how best to fit everyone in the car…"

"Oh." She said relief flooding her. What you think they were going to do? Eat you? With all the blood covering them even now it's a possibility. Alice retorted but feeling guilty about thinking ill from people who are giving her a new life after her friends destroyed the old one.

"Well…" Keith said. "Mrs. Alice can you drive?" Sabertooth's eyes went wide and he started to shake his head.

"No way." He said. "No way is she driving mah truck." Growling he moved protectively between the truck and small woman, as though to protect the truck from her. "This is a Ford F-350 Super Duty! With extended bed and black leather seats in the cab, cushions on the bed floor for ya'll with plastic coverings so that rain or blood doesn't ruin them! What if she wrecks it?" His eyes had gone wide and something akin to terror had entered them as well.

"Even worse, what if she scratched the paint!" Toad exclaimed, mocking his adoptive father.

Alice smiled and laughed softly at their joking. Saddling up to the truck she smiled. "Oh never mind me, I'm just a little ol' woman with nothing in mah head and the urge to run inta anythin' that crosses mah path."

Rain and Max weren't paying attention to any of this banter and were frowning at the truck. "It's nonnegotiable that the babies ride in the cab. They need the protection more then we do." They said softly. "If you drive, dad, and then Alice sits passenger, Alice you can hold the babies, but dad… you'll have to be careful."

Sabertooth nodded his head and helped get everyone settled. Max seemed to have forgotten that Rain was covered in blood and rain snuggled up to him; exhausted from all the excitement. Toad climbed in the back, annoyed but being a good sport about having his place taken from him. The triplets settled down with their backs against the tailgate, looking at the others. David sat down and slew an arm around Keith, artfully covering his jack from the cold knowing how it got cold and uncomfortable in the winter and wind. All of them yawned and didn't think about the problems Alice and her babies were going to cause once they got to the mansion; they just allowed the tranquility of this moment to seem into their bones.

Sabertooth tried to remain focused on the road even though the woman next to him kept distracting him. Alice, totally unaware of the distraction she was providing, checked her sleeping twins to make sure they were okay and sighed leaning back, exhausted like everyone else.

Sabertooth watched her out of the corner of his eye and tried to drive at the same time. She's beautiful…

What are you thinking? She just suffered a serious trauma!

Well she was holding on to you pretty tight, and didn't it feel good to have an attractive female body against your again?

Well, yeah… but it's still not right!

Says who?

Everyone!

When did we start caring what everyone else thought?

…

I'll make you a deal, we won't push her, but if she shows signs of attraction then we'll be there.

What about Rebecca? Sabertooth closed his eyes momentarily forgetting he was driving, but knowing the way by heart, as pain, guilt, and sorrow washed over him. Rebecca, just the thought of her sent him back into the void where she once was and was now missing. Since she died he hadn't felt anything like what he felt for her. He slept with woman of course, first as a way to forget, then as a way to remember. He loved his daughter and he loved Mystique like a sister but he had never loved a woman for being a woman, not since then.

Rebecca… well she would want us to move on right? You would have wanted her to move on, we even discussed it before remember? They first time you left for a mission, that if anything happened to you she would find another man, not waste her life pining for you? Remember.

Yeah I remember. And I remember every time I came home, worrying when I saw her that she'd be with someone else, that she' look at me and the light that she held for me would be gone. Not only that she'd find another man, but that she would see me for the monster I am.

She's not coming back Victor, she'll never comeback. Ever. It's not possible, you know that. Don't waste your life over someone who is dead. Rebecca was your soul mate… but can't you love someone else too?

I don't know Sabertooth… I just don't know.

Sabertooth sighed and paid closer attention to the road, needing the distraction to keep from reflecting on the stinging in his eyes.

Ever since Rebecca died he seemed to be split in two, Victor, the human he could have been; and Sabertooth, the mutant he was. They were similar enough to get along most of the time, unlike Alex and the nightmare in her head, but different enough that he could distinguish between them. He hadn't been called Victor by anyone but himself since Rebecca was murdered.

With a sigh he pulled up to the house and heard a gasp from beside him. Alice was staring in wonder at the home before her. "What is that?" She whispered.

"Home sweet home." Sabertooth snorted. "It looks scarier then it normal does because Alex ain't here and she doesn't like that."

"She? Did you just call your house a she?" Alice asked caught between disbelief and amazement.

"Yeah… to make a long story short, we were looking for a place to stay, a mutant with us, named Erika. Well she was a shape-shifter. And we asked her to shape shift into the house that Alex wanted so that we could get a good idea of the size etc…. well… she kinda got… stuck." Sabertooth ended looking embarrassed.

"Stuck?" Alice asked, unable to hold in her horror.

"Yeah, at first it was really awful, and we tried everything we could to fix her… but then she told us that she preferred it this way… She said that she'd love it if we'd live inside her, so that we could be protected at all times… and she comes in real handy when we need an extra room, or," blushing he continued, "have a hangover and needs it to be real quiet. And we don't have to worry about falling down the stairs or the like… and she gets bigger when she changes and such. It's really cool, but beware cause she changes a lot, ya never know where ya gonna end up. Alex is trying to figure out how she moves people around without disturbing us… but so far no luck."

"Oh." Alice said, feeling way out of her depth and a little lost. "What do you mean she told you she likes it this way? How can she do that if she's a house?"

"Alex figured that one out." Sabertooth said with a little pride in his voice. "She says that Erika is able to shift the sounds that have bounced off her walls, so that she's able to talk with a series of words she's retained that we've already said… or something like that. So she's able to use various words to get her point across, by now she's able to say everything she wants. Once Alex found out what made her able to do that, she read an entire dictionary out loud."

"This Alex sounds… amazing." Alice sighed.

"Yeah, she's mah baby." Sabertooth was going to say more when suddenly the window next to him was pounded on. "Yeah?" He rumbled.

"Come on Dad!" Keith crowed. "Time ta stop flurtin' and get goin'!"

Getting out of the car Alice was met by Rain and Max again, Rain still covered in blood and Max wasn't looking to happy as he was half covered in it as well, they smiled and moved the stroller closer for her to set her now waking up twins in. She smiled at them and watched as they murmured to the babies.

"Where did you boys learn to handle babies?" She asked. Curiosity over her new house mates prompting this. I might as well learn about them if I'm going to live with them.

She immediately regretted asking as everyone went still, their forward momentum towards the house ceased. Before she could apologize Rain answered her. "We learned it back when we had to take care of Keith and the others." His tone while friendly clearly told her not to ask anymore questions, though his cryptic answer confused her. Why was he taking care of Keith when they had a father around? The others were all looking at the ground and shuffling now. The happiness of a moment ago had dissipated, leaving behind a grim feeling as they approached the mansion again.

Suddenly a man dressed in kaki pants and a black sweater flung the doors open. Streaking past him was a blue mutant and she latched onto the first of the children she reached. This happened to be Keith.

Squeezing him tight she looked just as angry as the man who spoke, anger lacing his voice. "And just where have you been?"

"We didn't tell you that we were leaving for the day?" At the looks Toad's question received he decided that they hadn't been told. "We left to go and… pay a visit to the town that started this all."

"Did you leave any evidence that could connect it to mutants?" Magneto asked worried about the bad publicity.

"I'm sorry Grandfather; but it couldn't be helped." Keith gasped out from the crushing embrace. "Aunt Mystique… I can't breath!"

Mystique did not let go, nor did she loosen the grip she had on him. "You left without telling any of us where you were… what if the military had stayed and they killed or captured you? And whose bright idea was it to go to town?" Her worried tone abruptly changed to a lecturing one.

"That would be me." Sabertooth said raising his hand slightly. He looked as though he instantly regretted it as Mystique and Magneto's eyes snapped to him.

It was Mystique that noticed Alice first. She stared at the human female till Alice shifted nervously. "Who is this?"

Rain and Max both looked up from the strollers they had once again been cooing over to look at Alice who now had everyone's attention. "Mystique this is Alice. Alice this is Mystique and Magneto." They spoke at the same time pointing out the elder members of the brotherhood as they said their names and then turned back to the babies.

"What is she doing here?" Magneto asked his voice deepening in anger.

"She's going to help around with cleaning and stuff. Erika is wonderful but… she can't clean herself without a lot of trouble and she's getting filthy."

"I agree." Came a soft voice from the open door.

Alice jumped at the sudden voice and the others just went on as though Erika was standing with them. "But Erika, do you really think that this is wise?" Mystique asked looking at Alice as though she were the mutant not vice versa.

"It doesn't matter if it's wise or not." David broke in. Magneto and Mystique gave him a startled glance. Usually he would fade into the background or just be a silent presence for Alex, but Alex wasn't here at the moment and he had to stand in her stead. "The decision was made as a Dragon vote and since Erika wa… is a Dragon member she will abide by the decision that we have made." David withheld a wince by mere force of will. He had almost made a blunder that showed how adept he was at handling the leadership role. Erika was and always will be a member of the Dragons. The slip of his tongue had damaged his argument and everyone knew it. He plowed right on regardless. "I have decided that Alice will stay here permanently and have unrestricted access to all areas."

Mystique's eyes widened and Magneto straightened. "You do not have the…" He trailed of as he realized that essentially David did have that authority.

"Until Alex returns to counter my decree then I am Alpha around here. I do have the authority." David looked sadly at his Grandfather. "Grandpa, I think that we best leave sooner rather then later, Erika can hold up against anything but I don't want to be stuck here while God knows what is happening to Alex."

"Thankfully I have all of our passports ready and the hotels booked. We can leave in 3 days." Mystique said finally letting go of Keith who jerked away gasping comically.

I am ending this chapter early because I want to update. :-D I'm glad so many of you like my story and I hope that more people update!