Alright, time to wrap this up. Hope you've enjoyed it!

Act 3, Chapter 4 (12)- The Brotherhood Five

"Fall back! Fall back!" Cyclops commanded before being blasted by Lucas's telekinesis. Colossus caught him and set him back down. "We need to get that helmet off!"

Lucas hovered over the grass inside the grounds of Stokes County Maximum Security Prison only an hour after sunset, wearing his special helmet, painted white with black lines around it. The prison's main building was only a few yards from Lucas, who had no trouble entering the perimeter wall from the air. Despite this, the SHIELD-trained guards detected him before his arrival and prepared themselves- not that it made any difference, as Lucas quickly took out the first guards that tried to stop him. A squad had been sent in with special power inhibitor weapons, but their reflexes were unfortunately slower than Lucas's, as evidenced by their bodies lying on the grass.

Lucas did little damage initially, and sought mostly to defend himself against the prison's forces. The wardens didn't question why Lucas didn't take any directly offensive actions, or why he seemed content to just wait for the guards to come to him. They contacted SHIELD, who agreed to send reinforcements, but they also called in the X-Men, who would arrived sooner.

If they had stopped to question Lucas's actions, they might have realized that was exactly what he wanted.

Searchlights kept Lucas in view, and every so often SHIELD guards would aim their rifles at him, though they never succeeded in doing anything but drawing attention to themselves, and subsequently becoming Lucas's victims. The X-Jet, as well as a variant of the Velocity, rested nearby within the perimeter wall, and Rogue carried an unconscious Nightcrawler towards it while Beast chipped away at an ice block containing Storm.

"I said it was an accident!" Iceman pleaded.

Professor Xavier remained in the Blackbird (or X-Jet, depending on who you asked), clutching his hands together anxiously. Outside, Jean Grey was the only one who seemed to be able to even stand against Lucas, flying around him and dodging his telekinetic blasts as quickly as he dodged hers. Several unconscious or dead prison guards lay on the ground, along with a few unconscious members of the X-Men's west coast team, the New Mutants. At the prison itself, cracks were visible in spots where Lucas was about to tear open the outer wall. Fortunately, the X-Men had stopped him in time.

Shadowcat phased through the ice block and freed Storm, only to have the ice, now hollow and lacking support, fall over and bonk Storm on the head. Beast sighed and scratched his head.

Jean put her hands out and held on to Lucas long enough for Cyclops to blast him out of the sky. Rogue flew up behind Lucas and prepared to slam him back to the ground, but he took control and threw her off, stopping his descent.

"What is it that you're trying to accomplish here?" Jean asked. "What are you trying to prove?"

"That I'm better than you!" Lucas shouted. "I could kill all of you right now if I wanted, but that's the easy way. I don't just want you to die, I want you to die knowing there was nothing you could do to stop me! All of your training, all of your power, all of it in vain!"

"Lucas, leave them out of this!" Xavier called. "It's me you want! Please, stop this rampage, the people you're hurting are all innocent!"

"They stopped being innocent the moment you took them in," Lucas yelled. "They're guilty of taking what didn't belong to them!"

"We're running out of team members," Beast told Cyclops. "Did you tell Jean to get his helmet off?"

"She's trying, Beast, it's not as easy as it looks!"

"Well let me get in there," Sunspot yelled, running on reserve solar energy. He kicked off the grass and flew straight up at Lucas, who grinned and snapped his fingers. Sunspot fell back as if punched down by a stronger force, and Colossus rushed over and picked him up so that he could join the other downed X-Men at the Blackbird. Or X-Jet.

Jean flew around Lucas, resisting his telekinetic attacks and blasting him with her own, trying to pry his helmet off, but he used his power to keep it planted firmly on his head. She wondered how it was that Lucas could still use his power through the helmet- if it prevented others from reaching his head, logically, it should also hold his own powers back.

"That would be the case, wouldn't it?" Lucas answered, startling her. "Maybe this would keep your powers damp, but I'm a little too strong to be contained. Something wrong, Jeanie? Trying to get in here? Well why can't you? Hasn't the Professor taught you well enough?" Lucas raised his telekinetic shield to deflect an optic blast. "No? Well that's a pity! Seems to me that he wasted his time on such a pathetic pupil."

Finally, the tide of battle turned when Rogue managed to fly back up to Lucas and kick him in the back, knocking him forward and throwing his helmet off. Immediately, Jean and Xavier closed their eyes. Lucas grabbed his forehead, feeling as if his head were being crushed from all sides, but he still managed to reach for his helmet. Even under attack, Lucas's powers were still formidable- he tossed Rogue aside as she flew towards the helmet, and weakly deflected a blast from Cyclops. Beast rushed out to the field to try and grab the helmet, but he missed it by mere inches as it flew up into Lucas's hands. Quickly, he slipped it back on and the pressure was quickly relieved.

"A nice try, but it won't happen again," Lucas warned. "Have any of you wondered why I've chosen this fine place for our little soiree? I think it's time for the main event!" Blocking another optic blast, Lucas flew towards the prison wall, hovering next to it. With both hands, he telegraphed his actions as he seized the wall. Ten large craters appeared in the concrete, as if two giant hands had dug their fingers into it, and then tore a large section of the wall away. The pieces of the wall shattered in Lucas's telekinetic grip, revealing their thick metal inner lining, as well as the various wires and pipes that ran inside the walls. Lucas flung the loose debris as the prison block's security functions began to fail, now that a piece of the system had been pulled out.

The exposed cell revealed a man with pitch-black skin and a shock of blue hair growing upwards from the very top of his head, wearing a straitjacket, and held in place by several chains.

"Hello, my friend. I trust you're ready to get out of here?" Lucas said as he approached him. The mutant Abyss nodded. "I'll tell you what. I'll get you out of there if you agree to raise some hell on your way out."

"Whatever you say," Abyss replied, bearing his sharp teeth. Lucas waved his hands and broke the chains. Abyss did the rest- he pulled apart his own straight jacket. Flexing his chest outward, he exhaled, and the jacket vanished entirely. He revealed a gaping hole in his chest, tugging at Lucas like a vacuum cleaner, and he stretched out his arms to the length of the room- uncoiling them unnaturally, showing them to be hollow beneath this skin, with each arm also leading into the void inside.

"Find some friends," Lucas instructed him. "I'll be outside dealing with a few pests." Abyss's arms grabbed the walls on either side of him, crumbling them under the sheer force of his power as he pulled the walls towards him. Large chunks began to break off, snapping wires and disrupting the electrical systems inside the walls- including the power dampers. Guards were arriving to see what had happened, but they were also sucked into the void in Abyss's body.

And in only a few moments, all hell broke loose.

Omega Red's freed tendrils tore apart the wall of his cell. A Japanese man with a black ponytail took a loose pipe and charged it with energy, using it to cut apart the rest of the walls, despite the seeming bluntness of his weapon. One man in a white prison uniform summoned various duplicates of himself, all of them wearing black uniforms, for some reason. As other prisoners began to riot and escape, one young man with glasses huddled in the corner of what was left of his cell. He grabbed his head in agony, and moments later, found himself transformed into a flying reptile. By now, most of the prisoners were simply focused on escaping, rather than finding out who had helped free them or what he wanted in return.

"Run! Run to freedom, boys!" Lucas shouted. The remaining X-Men had to shift their focus away from Lucas, and guards from other sections of the prison were forced into action. Several Multiples tried to act as crowd control, but the other duplicating mutant was making himself useful and battling the various Madroxes. Berzerker fired his electric blast at the prisoners, but Abyss just swallowed it. Various beam weapons, fireballs and organic projectiles were fired from the frenzy as various mutant prisoners fought through the defense in their desperate attempt to reach freedom.

"I don't think we're going to get through this one," Shadowcat told Cyclops.

"Actually, I was just waiting for breakfast," a hairless prisoner with a heavily scarred face told Shadowcat. "You know how they sell it to you with words like 'continental breakfast,' but all you get is a stale bagel and a glass of orange juice? That's what I was hoping for, but I got Cheerios. I fucking hate Cheerios. I wouldn't have complained at all if it was Lucky Charms, though."

"What?" Kitty asked, dumbfounded.

"You don't like Lucky Charms? Well fuck you!" the man kicked her in the shin, then ran off, making a Three Stooges-esque whooping sound. Colossus jumped in his path, and trying to stop him by any means, punched him in the jaw with a loud snap. Colossus gasped, realizing he'd overdone it- the man's head had been turned 180 degrees. However, after just a few moments, the man stood back up, snapped his head back into position, and continued fleeing. "So, you're made of metal, huh? That's gotta suck. I mean, do you use motor oil to jack off? I can't imagine a worse-"

"You talk too much!" The duplicate-creating prisoner shouted to him. "My guys will give us cover, don't blow it!" Several of the duplicates began to climb a guard tower, quickly taking out the posted agents and taking their weapons, turning them against other SHIELD guards. The flying reptile soared overhead, roaring and causing some of the tower guards to instinctively duck. Cyclops began firing at it, but it flew too quickly.

Lucas flew to the front gate and quickly tore it open, allowed several of the prisoners to escape. Twenty-two prisoners had managed to get out of the gate before a secondary iron wall was activated, taking the original gate's place.

"All of our offense is down," Shadowcat said to Cyclops. "If Jean gets knocked out, we are so losing this fight!" She phased through a chunk of concrete skidding along the ground. "If we still had Magneto..."

"This is a disaster," Cyclops admitted. He fired at one of the many prisoners who had no superpowers and knocked him out. Guards with inhibitor guns were arriving to help out. Professor X was also reluctantly helping, safely subduing prisoners by telepathically rendering them unconscious. But with so many minds at work, all excited and scattered in their thoughts, even he couldn't deal with all of them. Suddenly, a prison guard next to him knocked him with the butt of his rifle and kicked his wheelchair over. As if to gloat to the surprised Cyclops, the guard reverted to her true form: Mystique. She had also planned ahead: she took a detonator from her hip pouch and activated it. All of the inhibitor weapons, previously sabotaged, exploded.

"You! What are you doing here?!"

"Escaping," Mystique said, becoming a raven and taking flight. Cyclops tried to blast her out of the sky, but his aim was thrown off by a flying pipe to the shoulder.

"Agh! Shadowcat, see to the Professor." Kitty nodded and ran to Xavier.

"Oh no, you don't," Lucas said, tensing his face. Shadowcat screamed and phased through the falling wheelchair, gently falling to the grass. Cyclops quickly fired an optic blast and hit Lucas in his moment of distraction. He drifted downward, but very quickly, he picked himself back up. Lucas's helmet slid upwards for a moment before he regained his concentration. Jean pushed him down to the ground, but he pushed back and propelled her to the sky. Once he was back in the air, he blocked her telekinesis once more and clenched his fist.

"That's enough of that." Lucas seized Jean with a tight grip and plucked her out of the sky, catapulting her to the ground, telegraphing his move with a fierce swing of his arm. Jean fell screaming until Cyclops caught her roughly, thrown down by the force of the impact. On his knees, he held Jean as she weakly looked up at him.

"Scott..." she moaned softly, before slipping out of consciousness.

"JEAN!" Scott yelled in Jean's face. It was fortunate she wasn't awake to be startled. Scott could only take solace in noting that most of the prisoners had been subdued or recaptured, the ones that hadn't already escaped, at any rate. But Lucas was still flying around, and Cyclops knew he had no reason not to break out every last prisoner just to overwhelm the X-Men. Yards away, Lucas set his sights on Professor Xavier, who lay on the ground, helpless. Grinning triumphantly, Lucas landed over him, standing with one leg on either side of the crippled Xavier.

"That's right, crawl," Lucas smirked as he stood over his fallen father. He waved his hand and threw the wheelchair even further. "Crawl like the worm you are! I want you to watch your X-Men defeated, and once they're all down where they belong, I'm coming for you, dear father!" Lucas knelt down and firmly gripped Xavier's chin. "Do you regret it now, old man? Do you wish you'd bothered to stay, to be there for your miserable, worthless son?"

"Every day," Xavier muttered weakly. Disgusted, Lucas pushed him away, turning his sights on the prison again. But then, he sensed something behind him. His eyes shifted back and he turned his entire body away from the prison.

"...Wanda..."

-------------------------------

Wanda stood out in the open field with Pietro and Fred, with a SHIELD helijet hovering above them. Lance and Toad jumped down after them, followed by Pyro, who once again had his flamethrower attached to his back and hands. Lucas flew to them and descended to the ground, approaching them like a king inspecting the common rabble.

"That outfit flatters you Wanda, truly," Lucas remarked, admiring the skin-tight outfit that she (and unfortunately, the others) were wearing. "Oh, and you've brought Pyro with you. To what do I owe this special honor?"

"Lucas, you need to stop this," Wanda said.

"Stop this? This is all I've ever wanted!" Lucas announced. "The X-Men are all but defeated, and once I've made sure that Xavier has watched all of them fall, I'll go after him. I'm glad you came by, love, you can watch me finish them off! This is what we've dreamed of, Wanda! This is my whole reason for being!"

"You've carried this on long enough," Wanda told him. "This obsession is needs to stop this now, before you go too far!"

"Too far? Too far?!" Lucas laughed. "Wanda, dear, I haven't gone far enough yet!"

"You won't get the chance," Pietro said. "We're here to stop you."

"Stop me?" Lucas looked back to Wanda, his partner and lover. "Wanda, you're with them now? You're gone for a little bit, and you turn on me?! What's all this now? Why?"

"Because I realized that in the end, you're exactly like Magneto," Wanda finally admitted, both to Lucas and to herself. Lucas could only stare, taken aback by such a comparison.

"I am nothing like him! That man is a monster. I'm only doing what's right-"

"That's what Magneto thought, too." Wanda and Lucas looked into each others' eyes. Their understanding, their passion- or what had once passed for passion- was gone. Wanda only saw the madness of a spoiled child, and Lucas saw only another betrayal.

"If that's the way you want it," Lucas growled. He threw out his hands and hurled the entire team backwards- even Fred. Toad landed on his feet, and Pietro quickly rolled and got up on one knee.

"Pyro, go!" he commanded.

"Right!" Pyro rubbed his hands together before he launched a flame shark, which quickly dissolved with a wave of Lucas's fingers. Lance swiped his hand forward and let the ground rise up and smack Lucas in the back.

"That was uncalled for, Avalanche." Lucas pushed the dirt back and levitated upwards.

"You're not going anywhere!" Wanda yelled, surrounded by her own blue aura and projecting a hex wave at Lucas. His eyes widened and he held out both hands to fend it off. Though he struggled, Lucas dissipated the hex and knocked Wanda off her feet and onto her head with a telekinetic attack of his own.

"Hated to do that, lass, but I've got my own troubles." Lucas floated towards the prison, but something tugged at his leg. He looked down to see Toad dangling below him, clinging on with his tongue. "Oh? I forgot you were all here. Well, goodbye!" Lucas forced Toad's tongue loose, but fortunately, Todd's legs could withstand his long fall.

"Allerdyce, if you've got some secret info, now's a good time," Fred said to Pyro.

"Well... I've got nothing."

"Then get out of the way!" Fred yelled, pushing him aside. He jumped as high as he could, aided slightly by Lance's geological manipulation, and gripped Lucas's legs tightly, catching him by surprise and pulling him down with his weight and strength. "Here it comes!"

"Let go of me!" Lucas broke free of Fred's pull moments before he could be body slammed into the ground. Toad quickly hopped to avoid Fred's mass as it plunged into the grassy field. "Agh. Perhaps I shouldn't get so careless around you buffoons. Let me just deal with you..." Lucas lifted Toad to him. "Toad, is it? Fitting. We'll see how well you jump without your kneecaps!" Quickly, Toad spat a glob of sticky slime at Lucas's face, momentarily distracting him.

"Give this guy what's coming to him!" Pietro commanded again.

"Way ahead of you," Lance said, running up the hill... hill? Lance had created an upward slope that continued to rise until it collided with Lucas, who at the time was busy wiping slime from his face, and showered him with dirt and grass, pushing him back to the ground. Lance rode the avalanche downward as it buried Lucas, until the wave stopped. Pietro ran over to inspect the damage.

"Hmm. Not bad. Now let's just get Blob to sit on this and make sure he doesn't get up."

"Stand aside, mates." Pyro held his arms forward and torched the small hill. "Better be on the safe side, eh?"

"You really didn't need to do that," Pietro said.

"No, but it just looks so much better this way." The mound exploded, spraying burnt soil everywhere. Lucas rose with a distorted psychic shield around him. Without a word, he pulled Lance, Pietro and Pyro into the sky with him, twirling them around him to gain momentum and then hurling them all away from him in various directions. Pietro managed to right himself and hit the ground running to soften his fall. Pyro hit the prison wall but was protected by his tank and stood back up, dusting himself off, and Fred managed to catch Lance.

"Out of my way!" Lucas yelled, throwing both Fred and Lance away from him. Lance knocked his head against one of the concrete slabs that littered the field.

"Argh... wish I still had that stupid salad bowl," Lance whispered before losing consciousness.

"Don't you people ever die?!" Lucas took one of the broken gates and tore it in pieces, using them as projectiles. Toad hopped over one and caught another with his tongue and hurled it back, but naturally, that didn't work. Pietro ran around, sidestepping the projectiles. He bent down to the ground and took a small clump of dirt into his hand and with as much strength and speed as he could muster, he threw it at Lucas's face. "YOWCH! How in...?! Quite inventive. Here I thought you hung around these boys because they were like-minded. But don't let that go to your- ARRGH!"

"You talk too much, you know that?" Pietro sped around in circles, grabbing handfuls of dirt and flinging them at Lucas at high speeds. Lucas raised his shield after the third dirtball. A flame bat flew around him, but as Lucas soon learned, that was yet another distraction; Fred swung a giant steel beam at him and batted him to the ground. Pardon the pun.

"Argh, I've had enough of this... lass?" Wanda was on her feet again, her entire body now glowing with a blue aura, furious at Lucas. Lucas held out both hands, but Wanda's hex overpowered him, grounding him long enough for Toad to kick his shoulders and grab his helmet with his tongue. "No! How-?!" Fred picked him up, held him close, and then slammed him into the ground with his weight above him.

"Yeah! Body slam!"

"My turn!" Pyro rubbed his hands together.

"That won't be necessary," Professor Xavier said, holding his fingers to his temples, now seated in his chair. Cyclops and Beast watched from the open ramp of the Blackjet X-Bird. But Xavier's concentration was broken when his wheelchair suddenly tipped over, stranding him on the floor for the second time.

"No!" Wanda screamed, blue hex sparks flaring from her body. "Lucas is mine!"

"Wanda, no!" Xavier pleaded. "Lucas is only a part of my son! If you destroy Lucas, you'll kill David as well!"

"I don't care!" Wanda's hex wave intensified and Lucas writhed in agony, standing against her power, unable to do anything but scream. Fred took a step backwards and Toad hopped onto his shoulders, both watching in suspense. In his despair, Lucas held both arms upward, clutching his hands into fists. His blond mane stood on end and edges of his clothing began to tear. The studs on his bracelets separated from the leather bands and twirled around his wrists.

"Wanda, please!" Xavier pleaded.

"Aye, do what my dear father says!" Lucas yelled, half-mockingly, "This is no way to treat a lover! Or are we done with that? Am I too mad for you? What are you afraid of, Wanda? Are you afraid that you're like me? Afraid to come down to my level?"

CRACK.

From the ground, Professor Xavier watched the scene play out in slow motion and to his horror, the moment lasted an eternity to him. Pietro gasped when he heard the sound, followed by several more cracking noises, but Pyro had a wide, sadistic grin from ear to ear. Wanda released her hex wave and dropped to her knees, breathing heavily and feeling a great deal of tension fade away. All of her anger was replaced by relief, and fatigue.

Lucas dropped limply like a stack of body parts loosely glued together. He was whole, and alive, but every bone in his body had simultaneously snapped under the combination of Wanda's power, and Lucas's own telekinesis hexed against him. He struggled to breath with his ribcage shattered and looked up at Wanda with frightened eyes.

"It's over, Lucas. I don't care if we are the same. I never want to see you again."

Pietro helped Professor Xavier back into his chair. He rubbed his head and looked in both disgust and alarm at his broken son. "He's alive... but badly injured." With the mutant battle over, a second SHIELD helijet arrived, carrying Bishop and four agents. They had been waiting just out of range until the area was clear. Bishop jumped out, followed by his men, inspecting the damage.

"Bring out the life support." Two agents ran back to the helijet as Bishop approached the Brotherhood. "You cut it close. Good use of diversionary tactics. Now we take him into custody and let him answer our questions."

"I'd prefer it if you would turn him over to me," Professor Xavier insisted, his voice shaking. "He is my son, after all."

"Can't do that. Stokes Maximum has been SHIELD property for a few months now. He has to be taken in for questioning." Bishop noted the dejected, but accepting look on the Professor's face. "I'll talk to Colonel Fury. We might be able to work something out."

"Thank you." Professor Xavier watched as the SHIELD soldiers applied specialized splints to Lucas's body. Wanda watched with him, but she didn't seem as hopeful as he did. "Wanda... you could have killed him, but you didn't."

"I'm nothing like Lucas. I let him live, after all..." Wanda sighed. "...But I hope he's learned his lesson."

"You're a lot like your father, Wanda," Professor Xavier told her, with both admiration and great pity in his voice. Cyclops approached the group, rubbing the back of his head, still surprised and a little upset that the Brotherhood had succeeded where the X-Men had failed. He approached Lance, but noting that he was unconscious, he exhaled, glad that he didn't have to congratulate him specifically. Instead, he turned to Pietro and Wanda.

"Good job," he said sincerely. "It takes tough mutants to pull this off."

"Yeah, we are pretty good, aren't we?" Pietro bragged. "Who knows, maybe we'll end up replacing the X-Men as the big mutant team around here." Wanda rolled her eyes and walked away from the site, but Toad hopped after her.

"You feelin' okay?" he asked as he hopped alongside her.

"Just a little tired. Maybe it was cruel of me, but breaking Lucas just felt so good. After all, everything's his fault."

"Glad it ain't my fault for once. But hey, we beat him, right? That's what counts. Like Pietro said, we're becomin' bigshots now."

"I don't know, Toad. I don't think Lucas really took us seriously. I think the only reason he went down so easily was because I was just so angry at him. I don't know if I can do that again."

"Well I got faith in you. Ain't let us down yet, Scarlet Witch." Wanda had to allow herself a smile, and Toad relished it, having seldom seen it for himself. "You know..." Toad said, stopping. Wanda stopped along with him, turning back to him. "I know I've said it before, but... I'm really sorry, about all... that."

"You know, you've matured a lot," Wanda said. "You're really not a much of a slimeball as I thought you were." She gave him a half-smile, and walked away, leaving Toad to sit and admire her as she left.

"Witchy woman still drives me crazy," Toad said to himself.

-------------------------------

Lance opened his eyes but then quickly shut them; wherever he was, it was bright. His head was pounding, but he otherwise felt rested and comfortable. He felt something soft in his hand.

"Lance, you're awake!"

"Kitty?" Kitty Pryde sat at his side. He was at the Xavier Institute's infirmary, along with several of the X-Men. "Hey, Kitty. Couldn't stand not having me around huh?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Kitty giggled. "Scott told me what you guys did. I can't believe you got off so easy, while we have to tend to our injured. That is so not fair."

"Hey, we're just a better team." The last word stuck in Lance's head. "Wait, why am I here?"

"Well, you hit your head, and-"

"No, I mean at the Xavier Institute."

"Relax, Lance, I'm just kidding," Kitty chuckled. "The Professor called in a favor. He seems to have a lot of those. Commander Bishop wants you back this afternoon, though."

"Oh, great." Lanced guessed that SHIELD considered his debt paid off, if he wasn't back in their custody. He felt a great wave of relief, and didn't even realize how worried he'd been about it. "Might as well enjoy myself while I'm here then. So, when are you giving me my sponge bath?" Kitty phased Lance's pillow out from under his head and hit him with it. "Well, how about spoon-feeding me Jell-o?"

"You're not THAT badly injured," Kitty giggled. Such a sweet sound...

"Well, don't I get anything?"

"Just this." Kitty leaned onto him, putting her arms around his head and kissing him warmly. Lance rubbed the back of her head and held the small of her back, pulling her closer to him.

"LAAAANCE!" Kurt mocked from his bed.

"KITTYYYY!" Bobby responded. Kitty took the pillow and threw it in their general direction.

-------------------------------

"I have to say, I'm a little impressed," Nick Fury explained, sitting at the head of a table in a small conference room with Bishop on his right and Pietro on his left. Next to Bishop were Fred and Toad and next to Pietro sat Wanda, Lance and Pyro. Fury had several blank screens behind him. "It's not every day that we find a team that can fight a psychic like Lucas and still come out on top."

"Actually, Wa-" Toad stopped when Pietro kicked him under the table.

"You've fulfilled your end of our deal," Fury told them. They all started to slide their chairs back and stand up. "But..." They all froze. "That's not the end of it. Lucas managed to break out an entire cell block. Fortunately, the guards and the X-Men managed to stop most of them. Quite a few managed to get out of the gates, but the quick thinking of our agents brought them back in. Most of them."

Fury stood to give the group a clear view of the screens behind him. All nine screens displayed the mug shot of an escaped convict. Mystique and Omega Red were among them, though most were unfamiliar to the Brotherhood. "We have nine unaccounted for. We're sending you guys after them."

"Wait a minute," Lance protested. "You said we did our part. You're going to keep us here?!"

"The Director will give you the details." The screens all went white, and then were replaced by the single image of the Director of SHIELD, the details of his face hidden in shadow, though his glasses and moustache were slightly visible.

"Face front, true believers!" the Director said. The team all exchanged confused glances. "I have watch your progress for some time now. We pride ourselves on breeding the best agents, but sometimes, we need to outsource. As Colonel Fury explained, we'd like you to hunt down the fugitive nine. But... your continued cooperation would kill two birds. The city of Bayville has become a magnet for mutants in the last few years. Thanks to Professor Xavier's continued influence, Bayville has the largest openly mutant population in the country, and the highest crime rate among mutants. The police can't compete with such uncanny criminals. Right now, the only real peacekeeping team are the X-Men, and a few outlaw vigilantes. SHIELD needs to move in on that territory... without looking like SHIELD."

"What are you suggesting?" Pietro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm proposing we make you guys an official public mutant team. A team of crime-fighting mutants, working to serve the community and uphold justice, just like the X-Men." The members of the Brotherhood exchanged glances; Lance wasn't too thrilled, though Pietro seemed keen on the idea. "Officially, you're privately funded. Off the record, you're agents of SHIELD. But I should warn you, what I'm proposing will not be an easy job."

"What do we get out of it?" Fred asked.

"Cleared records, full salaries and government-regulation benefits," the Director explained.

"You want to hire us full time?" Lance asked, surprised.

"Precisely!" the Director replied with enthusiasm.

"We'll give you your own space to live and train," Bishop further explained. "Something less cramped. We'll provide basic SHIELD training for you. Piloting, engineering, that sort of thing. If you don't like any of this and you kids just want to get back to being kids, everything stays on your records, but you're free to go."

"Alright!" Pyro yelled.

"Uh-uh, not you," Bishop said. "You've done some bad shit and your 'inside information' was completely useless to us. You're still our property."

"Give us a few minutes to discuss this," Pietro said. He waited patiently, but Fury, Bishop and the image of the Director remained. "Well?"

"Well what?" Bishop asked. "This isn't your room. If you want to talk, go outside and do it."

"So is this a great deal or what?" Pietro said to the others in the hallway outside. Fred was slumped against the wall and Lance leaned back with his arms crossed next to him. Wanda stood at the opposite wall with Todd clinging to it next to her. "Think about this, government pay and benefits, that's gotta include health insurance, life insurance, full dental..." He cast a sidelong glance at Toad, who didn't seem to catch his meaning.

"Yeah, but for what?" Lance asked. Lance liked what Fury proposed, but ever the cynic, wasn't so sure it was the right choice. If he walked out, he could just pick up where he left off... unsuccessful trying to find a way to pay for a college education. But what made this deal any different? "They don't pay well for easy jobs."

"I think we should do this," Fred said. As much as Fred liked his job as Unus the Untouchable's bodyguard, he had missed having his old buddies around. Though he'd never admit it, he felt comfortable and even a little safe whenever he was with the rest of his old gang. "I mean... if you guys want to. I mean, my old job isn't that hard... er..."

"Heh, all we gotta do is fight a few people every so often and we get paid for it," Toad said. His job was Magneto's right-hand lackey hadn't done much for his self-confidence. It was bad enough that he was... well, Toad, but having the added stigma of being a former terrorist's assistant meant just about every day at the Xavier Institute had a tinge of uneasiness. Plus, Magneto yelled at him a lot. "It's like livin' with Mystique, except we get big fancy allowances for it. Hell, Magneto and Summers never let me have any fun. C'mon, what's not to like about this setup?"

"There's something not right about this," Wanda worried. Between Lucas's defeat and the meeting with Fury, Wanda had put some thought into her future. There was one thing she still needed to do before she could get on with her life: she needed to confront Magneto and finally end her quest for revenge. "If you guys want to do it, that's your problem. But I have other things I need to do." Wanda began to walk away.

"Wait," Pietro said. "We can't do this without you."

"Yeah, you're one of us. We ain't goin' without you," Toad added. Wanda saw the eagerness their faces. Fred, Lance and Todd would be doing something they loved and Pietro would be happy with the money and benefits provided by a government organization.

But none of that was her problem.

"I'm not one of you," she said. "And I'm not going to be a part of this team." Without another word, Wanda left the hall.

"Aww... I thought she was gonna say 'yes' to us," Toad griped. "That ain't cool..."

"What's the big deal?" Lance asked, warming up to the idea. "It's been just four of us before. We don't need her to have a team."

"Hey, yeah," Fred remembered. "It was just us for a long time."

"But we never won before she came along," Toad noted.

"Wanda or not, this is too good a deal to pass up," Pietro said to the group. They all nodded. With the four of them in agreement, Pietro opened the door of the meeting room.

"Colonel Fury, Commander Bishop, Mr. Director" Pietro announced with his team behind him. "You've got a new team of mutants on your side."

"Excelsior!" the Director shouted.

"What?"

-------------------------------

Professor Xavier walked through a foggy meadow in the moonlight near a forest, on the opposite side of a cliff near the ocean. He marveled at how much he missed the ability to walk. He looked out at a meadow, watching various people congregate, some of them happy, some sad, several angry. At least one fight had broken out, but most of those gathered kept to themselves. This was especially true for David Haller, the only real person among the group. He was alone, sitting on a small bench near the edge of the woods.

"David!" he called. David looked up with a frown. "How are you, David?"

"I'm cold."

"Maybe we should start a fire, then." There was a long pause, and Xavier sat down next to his son. "David, do you blame me for what I did?"

"I guess I do."

"I'm sorry to hear that, David, but-"

"Listen, I'm tired right now. I've been going through a lot, thanks to Lucas. I don't feel like talking."

"To me?"

"To anyone. I just want to be alone right now." Lucas watched from the woods, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. He huffed in amusement as he watched David walk away from Xavier without a second glance.

"Visiting hours are over, Professor," a specter behind Xavier told him.

Lucas was stuck in a full body cast with several braces and rods attached to him as well as various tubes and wires leading to a sophisticated life support system dedicated to his cell, which had several pale red lightbulbs, that produced an inhibitor field around the cell. Professor Xavier sat across from him in a more conventional wheelchair, just out of range of the field, opening his eyes as the guard stood behind him, wearing a SHIELD logo on his shoulder.

"That's all the time they've given me for today," Professor Xavier said. "I'll be back tomorrow, David."

"Not David," Lucas muttered, unable to raise his voice.

"Despite what you may call yourself, you are still a part of David. And you are still my son." The guard pulled Professor Xavier out of the cell. "Goodnight, David."

"Yeah," Lucas whispered. Professor Xavier was escorted out of the cell, which was at the center of a massive, dense cylinder, separated from the rest of the base by a deep chasm. Lucas was alone in his tiny, cramped cell, but he didn't need room to move if he couldn't use it. His eyes slowly moved around, looking at his dull surroundings. "I don't suppose," he whispered to himself, or rather, his selves, "Any of you has a healing ability?"

As Professor Xavier wheeled down the corridor of Stokes Maximum, escorted by two guards, he passed Wanda, who moved through the prison in her civilian clothes with an armed escort, carrying a special red, yellow and white pass clipped to one of her shoulder straps.

"Hello, Wanda," he said. The guards stopped with him.

"Hi, Professor."

"Are you here to see Lucas?"

"No," Wanda said bluntly. "My father."

"I see. Give my regards," he said a little coldly. Professor Xavier had forgiven Wanda for her actions, though he wasn't on friendly terms with her. With nothing else to say, Professor Xavier went down the hall, followed closely by his escorts. Wanda entered a circular door, into a small prepping room, where two guards stood at a metal detector. The first guard scanned her with a handheld device. He nodded to her, and she moved underneath the large-frame metal detector, pausing while the second guard monitored the read-out.

"All clear," he said. "Go on through, Ms. Maximoff."

"Thank you." Wanda passed another door, leading to a long, clear bridge through a wide chamber, easily fifty feet down and above, and into a special plastic holding cell suspended over it with thick cables.

Erik Lehnsherr sat in a clear plastic booth, wearing a white uniform, and reading a borrowed copy of Machiavelli's "The Prince." The booth was suspended in a giant plastic chamber with several guard posts. Though Magneto was considered powerful enough to warrant an inhibitor field in his cell, none were added because he wasn't considered a serious threat (and they were rather expensive)- though he was told that the moment he showed any hostility, one would swiftly be installed. After passing through another metal detector, Wanda was allowed to enter the cell.

"Wanda," Erik lit up. He set his book down and stood up to greet his daughter. Wanda sat down in one of the plastic chairs, and Erik followed suit. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't come."

"I'm not here to visit," Wanda told him. "I'm here to end it."

Erik looked past the extending bridge, wondering if the guards were watching. They weren't. Surely, they would've taken any weapon she had brought... but then, he knew Wanda did not intend to use any man-made weapon against him. There was no way they could stop her from bringing her deadly hexing powers into the cell.

"Then finish it," Erik said sternly, hanging his head. Wanda raised her hands, her fingers outstretched. This was the perfect opportunity. This time, she wouldn't let him go. This time, there was nobody telling her what to do. This was her own decision, and at last, Wanda controlled her destiny.

But coming to that realization, she lowered her arms.

"Wanda?" Erik asked.

"I... I can't," Wanda said, rubbing her forehead. "I've wanted this for so long, but I can't do it. I'm not Lucas. I won't let you control my actions. I won't let you define who I am."

"Then you forgive me?" Erik asked hopefully.

"No," Wanda said bluntly. "I don't forgive you. I'll never forgive you for what you did. But I'm done living in the past. I'm in control of my life now, and I'm moving on with it."

"Then what do you intended to do now?"

"I'm sure you've heard about Pietro and the others," Wanda said in reference to their new jobs. They were filthy, ignorant clods with short tempers and loud mouths. And they'd lied to her. But right now, they were the only thing she had. She hadn't even realized that she missed their immature antics. God help her, she even missed Toad's stench.

Wanda came to an odd realization: since leaving Lucas, she'd never actually made up with the Brotherhood, and apparently, they hadn't noticed this either. With all that had happened, Wanda didn't even realize she'd become "one of the guys."

"I'm going to join the Brotherhood again," she announced. "At least until I can figure out where to go from here.

"You need to be careful around these... people," Erik told her. "I don't think I need to explain why. SHIELD's operations extend to all manner of things. Some of which would be illegal if they were a normal government agency."

"I know," Wanda said.

"It's just a precaution," Erik said. "By the way... Fury mentioned that something was at stake. I don't think he knew that I heard him. Has he mentioned anything peculiar?"

"Actually, Toad overheard him talking to Commander Bishop about something called Polaris. It sounds like some kind of superweapon. Maybe they thought you would be interested in it." Erik stopped for a moment when he realized what it meant.

"I can't imagine why they would think that," Erik quickly feigned, looking away and narrowing his eyes. 'They'd better pray this prison holds me,' he thought to himself. 'The day I escape will be Fury's last.'

"I should be going," Wanda said, turning rather abruptly. Erik reached out for her, but relented, and stayed behind. He wanted to say something to her as she left, but he wasn't sure what.

Wanda left her father in his plastic cell, and walked out of the prison without an escort. As she left the main building, where construction was already underway to repair the damage caused by Lucas, Wanda took what seemed like her first real breath of fresh air. She let the cool breeze brush against her; it was like she had never felt the sensation before. Even the sun, though hidden by a cloud cover, seemed radiant to her. She had left the asylum so many years ago, but it was only now that Wanda felt that she was truly free from her invisible cell.

-------------------------------

Commander Bishop waited in lobby of a more decorated SHIELD base, with the SHIELD insignia on the wall behind him. He nodded as ranking officers passed him with more decorated uniforms. He was soon joined by Nick Fury, exchanging salutes.

"First day on the job, and they're already late," Bishop commented.

"Keeping them in line is your job, Bishop. Now that they're on payroll, I expect them to fall in and shape up. There's no room for error here."

"We're here, we're here," Quicksilver announced. He wore a special new uniform, a form-fitting one-piece garment made of a glossy blue-green insulated material. A diagonal, lightning-shaped line from his left shoulder to his right hip divided the costume; his right was a light blue-green while his left was a darker color. The only part of his body that was exposed was his head, allowing his body to be more aerodynamic.

He was followed by Avalanche, wearing a dark blue costume with red striping. His muscular arms were exposed, but his forearms were covered by black gloves with his fingers bare, and on top of that, he wore special forearm guards with a two-piece elbow plate. He had simple gray shoulderpads and stylized shinguards that mimicked the design on his forearms, right down to the black sock beneath it and the two-piece kneepads. He wore a gray belt, the only piece of his old costume he retained, and in place of his old helmet, he wore a wide, clear visor over his face.

"So, you got that goggle thing so you'd look more like Summers or what?" Blob asked. Blob's costume was much simpler than his old uniform, and if it weren't for the fact that it was much larger, it could be mistaken as being taken from the original. Blob wore military style dark-gray pants with brown boots and a large, tannish-gray tank top. Or wifebeater, depending on who was describing it.

"Fuck you, I'm wearing this so I don't get dirt in my eyes. At least we don't look as stupid as Toad."

"I happen to like my new look, thank you," Toad replied. He had a basic green outfit with two black belts and thick, but flexible black boots. His off-white shoulderpads were large and angular, matching the bulky kneepads he wore, held on by black straps. His elbowpads were similar, though smaller, which only emphasized that his legs were more muscular than his arms. For whatever reason, his sleeve stopped at his mid-forearm. "Heh, Wanda said it makes me look handsome."

"No, I said it doesn't look as weird as your old one." The Scarlet Witch's basic outfit was the same one she had worn while working for Lucas. In case you've forgotten, it was a low-cut bodysuit made of tight-fitting red vinyl, with her trademark holes cut into it, decorated with black belts, two of which hugged the area beneath her breasts and raised them slightly. Long leggings, made of the same material as her outfit, reached up to her thighs, and covering her arms and shoulders, primarily, was a red coat, similar in design to her old on, though showing several tears along the bottom. A black choker bore an ankh and several plain, silver rings adorned her fingers. Her hair was tinted red from around ear-level down, giving her a slightly wilder look.

"Either way, glad you changed your mind, sis," Quicksilver told her, putting his arm around her.

Pyro then joined them, standing with his hands on his hips. While his uniform was made of the same insulated fabric as his old uniform, he'd traded it in for a darker reddish-orange motif here, including orange ribbing running up my legs and stopping mid-thigh, and running along his sleeves and inward to his chest, where a tall collar began. His boots dulled blue boots and gloves were the same, with added black straps. He also wore his old orange goggles, but without his form-fitting hood. On his back, he wore a new, more efficient tank, along with new, more streamlined flame emitters strapped to his wrists.

"What, isn't anyone going to compliment my new look?" he asked.

"Uh, ain't that the same thing you always wear?" Toad quipped.

"Yeah, well what about your backpack?" Blob asked. "Tell us about that thing!"

"Well, you see..." Pyro turned his head back to see his own tank, then turned his body in an attempt to get a better look. Before long he was spinning in place. "Uh... hang on just a sec here... won't be much longer... aahh..."

"Pyro, cut that out. Blob, don't encourage him," Bishop barked. "Listen up. Colonel Fury has a few words for you."

"I'm not big on formality, so I'll make this quick," Fury began, tossing aside a toothpick. "Welcome to SHIELD. Commander John Lucas Bishop will be your supervisor, but ultimately, you fall under my command, along with six other SHIELD divisions. Along with your salaries and insurance benefits, we'll provide living quarters and a training facility for you. In order to keep up appearances, we've... acquired a building in downtown Bayville that we are currently renovating, but until then, you will be housed at this base. You will attend regular training sessions, twice a day, three days a week. Pyro is still on probation and is forbidden to use his powers outside of missions. The rest of you are all clear. Once your tenure with SHIELD is over with, you can go back to living nice, normal, boring lives, free from your criminal records. You're free to come and go, but you are to respond immediately to any calls made by SHIELD."

"Do we get phone calls?" Avalanche asked.

"You're not prisoners anymore, of course you get phone calls. Once in your quarters, you're essentially free to do what you want, just remember that if either Commander Bishop or myself issue a command, you follow it without question. Any SHIELD business is confidential, so if you plan to discuss anything with your friends or family, you come to me so I can clear what parts of your story need to stay inside SHIELD walls. Keep in mind that SHIELD is above civilian law, so we have the authority to do whatever we have to in order to keep our secrets safe. It's your first day, so we're going easy on you. Commander Bishop will guide you through your mission and brief you en route. Any questions?"

"What's the team name?" Blob asked.

"You are officially SHIELD Tactical Metahuman Enforcement Division Unit 1. But, you'll obviously need a different name for public use. I thought I'd leave that up to you," Fury smiled.

"I think I speak for the rest of us when I say our team name is The Brotherhood," Quicksilver said. Avalanche, Blob and Toad nodded in agreement. Pyro said a quick 'no' but nobody paid any attention to him. The Scarlet Witch didn't seem to care one way or the other.

"That about covers everything. Good luck." The team saluted Fury as he left the lobby.

"Follow me to the hangar," Bishop ordered. "I'll bring you all up to speed." They followed, with Quicksilver leading the group, followed by Avalanche and the Scarlet Witch. Toad hopped after them, and Blob and Pyro trailed behind.

"Since we'll be working together, Allerdyce, I think we should patch things up," Blob explained. Pyro walked next to him, giving him a suspicious look. "No hard feelings?"

"None at all, Dukes," Pyro said, suddenly smiling. "But since we're going to have to be buddy-buddy now, we should be honest. Personally, I think you could do a little better in the wardrobe department, and frankly, you're showing a little more than I'd like to see."

"Maybe, but I'm comfortable. Hey, since we're being honest now, I've got a little secret you might want to hear."

"Oh? Well fill me in." Blob leaned in, shifting his eyebrows.

"I hear Maximoff has a huge crush on you," Blob said in a low voice.

"Oh yeah? It must be my good looks and natural charm. Maybe we could get together later today, once the mission's over. Hot and sweaty after all that action, you know what I mean? Hahahahaha!" Pyro glanced forward. Quicksilver had heard his laugh and looked back at him. Noticing that Pyro was looking at him (but otherwise oblivious to the conversation going on), Quicksilver smiled and waved to him. The blood rushed out of Pyro's face. Coincidentally, Blob's face turned red as he tried to keep back his laughter. "Now wait a second, which Maximoff?!"

Blob could no longer contain his laughter.

"You fat bastard, don't do this to me!" Anguished, Pyro crossed his arms and pouted. The group finally arrived at the hangar, where a refurbished SHIELD helijet waited for them. The insignia had been removed, as well as some of the more conspicuous weapons systems, but otherwise it was just like the one the Brotherhood had stolen.

"Alright, here we are," Bishop said. "This is your first mission, so I'll be accompanying you to make sure you don't fuck it up. I want to make this as smooth as possible, so Pyro, you're sitting this one out."

"Well that's not fair!" Pyro protested. "I get to come on the next one, right?"

"Maybe. The rest of you, let's get onboard." Like the other helijets, there were several seats in the passenger area, all facing inward. A SHIELD pilot sat at the controls with Toad as his copilot, though he was there mostly to observe the pilot rather than participate. Avalanche and Quicksilver took the seats closest to the front, with the Scarlet Witch seated next to Quicksilver, and Blob a few seats away from Avalanche. Bishop stood up in front of them, holding onto the a handle on the ceiling.

"Okay, simple enough," Bishop said. "We're flying to Montgomery on riot control at an anti-mutant rally. We have a tip that some mutant militants might act up. Our job is to provide security."

"Whoa, we're working for mutant haters?" Toad asked.

"No, but we have reason to believe that these mutant activists have powerful underworld ties. We just want to make sure they don't do anything stupid and keep the people safe. Otherwise, we'd let those bigots get what they deserve." Once Bishop was seated, Avalanche took a cell phone from his belt and dialed a number.

"Kitty?" Quicksilver asked.

"Who else? Hey, Kitty! Yeah. No, it's great, we're going on our first mission right now, sounds like a fun one. Actually, I can't tell you what it is, since, well, you're just a civilian. Huh? Come on, Kitty, I was just joking around. Yeah. So listen, I don't get too much time off, I thought maybe I could call ahead and tell you to leave your schedule open so we could go dancing... or something. I mean, if you want. Really? Awesome! So, what are you up to?"

"AVALANCHE!" Bishop yelled. "No phone calls during missions, understand?!"

"Right. Gotta go Kitty. I'll miss you. No, I'll miss you more. No, I'll miss you more. No, I'll-" Quicksilver quickly took the phone from him.

"He really will miss you more. Buh-bye!" Quicksilver shut it off and returned to his seat. Avalanche grumbled, but then shrugged. The jet hit a bit of turbulence and Avalanche took a pill from his belt.

"Hey Fred, wake me when we land, okay?" Avalanche popped the pill into his mouth and dozed off.

"Uh... I don't think you're supposed to do that, Lance," Quicksilver told him. "Lance? Aw, he's out."

-------------------------------

At the steps of a courthouse in downtown Montgomery, a mob riot had broken out. Men wearing black military uniforms with black motorcycle helmets and yellow armbands stood at the podium, behind a middle-aged man with light brown hair and small glasses standing behind the podium, cowering in fear. Mutant thugs attacked the anti-mutant activists and the strange motorcycle men fought back with their rifles, aiming to kill.

"Uh... I think we got here a little late," Quicksilver said to Bishop as their jet landed roughly in an empty lot near the courthouse.

"The riot's broken out, so we have only one option. Quiz time, Team Leader, what do we do?"

"We ignore mutant and human lines and bring down everyone who's causing a fuss."

"Exactly. Get out there and earn your pay!" And just like that, the Brotherhood emerged from the helijet. Avalanche and Blob were eager to get into the fray. Quicksilver observed the riot and tried to determine how many rioters he could bring down in twenty... no, ten seconds. Toad looked around to see if there was anyone he could actually beat. The Scarlet Witch's hands were charged with hex energy, ready to be unleashed.

"Let's give 'em hell," Quicksilver said, and the team went to work.

Five years after they had split, the Brotherhood five were back. Whether kept together by duty, convenience, or some kind of actual fondness for one another, something always brought kept them close to one another. Sometimes whether they liked it or not. But this time, they were actually happy with the circumstances- getting paid to beat people up.

Professor Xavier was right. Some people never change.

IT BEGINS.

Alright, some final notes for the curious:

-Pyro's part is small because I wanted to concentrate on the five core members (I did title it "Brotherhood Five" for a reason), and the main cast was getting pretty large as it was. He'll be featured a little more in future stories. Also, just for future reference: there will be no "Jonda." That pairing makes absolutely no sense to me.

-Bishop's backstory will not involve time travel. I'm trying to keep a certain level of realism (well, as much as you can with mutants and giant robots and all that), so I'm going to do something else with Bishop's past.

-I wanted to include Tabitha at some point, but I thought it was better to give her a full re-introduction rather than throw her in. She's such an attention-grabbing character that she more or less demands focus. Unfortunately... I couldn't find room for her in The Fugitive Nine, either. There is a mention of what she's been up to, but she doesn't actually appear. I promise, she'll be in the next one after that.

-I'm going to be honest: after Iceman and the pre-Morlock Spyke, Lucas is probably my least favorite character. To be more honest, I only included him out of convenience. I didn't want to give Lucas's role to an original character (something I try to avoid), and he was a powerful enough threat that also had something in common with Wanda (whose memory-whack I needed to clear up). They never mentioned his goals in the series, so to make things easier, I wrote him as being obsessed with revenge against his father. When pairing the two, I specifically avoided making them affectionate (beyond a single scene, which was only done to highlight just how out of touch Lucas is) and playing on the fact that both are obsessive and bitter. When put together, Wanda comes off looking better, as she still has a shred of decency and compassion. Lucas is just insane, though I think I came up with a decent explanation for his two-dimensional, single-minded behavior.

-I'll get to the New Mutants... eventually. They're not in Fugitive Nine. In fact, I don't think they're even mentioned. I'll admit I don't especially like them.

-No, Gambit ("REMY!!!") isn't in this one. However, he's going to play a very large role in Fugitive Nine. I'm not sure it'll be well-liked since it doesn't involve forced romance between him and Rogue, but I'd compare the size of Gambit's role to the size of Lucas's role in this story.

-No, X23 was not on the team. Like Tabitha, I felt she needed a proper re-introduction. This will be dealt with in the next one.

Once I'm comfortable that enough people have read this (for continuity's sake, not vanity), I'll start posting the first story arc in the series. It's essentially finished, so once I begin posting, each additional installment/episode/whatever (each takes up about three chapters) will be posted every week until the arc is finished. Then, I'm taking a break. Naturally, the next story follows the Brotherhood as they hunt down the Fugitive Nine. Some of the nine were named in this chapter, some were only referenced, and some weren't mentioned at all. Actually, let me try to sell it a bit:

IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF BROTHERHOOD FIVE:

As the Brotherhood establish themselves in Bayville, Mayor Kelly grows irritated, and the X-Men grow anxious. Tasked with tracking down and capturing the Fugitive Nine that escaped from Stokes Maximum, the Brotherhood must put their SHIELD training to the test- especially when there's a mysterious new villain interfering with their mission. What is his motive, and why does he refuse to show himself? More importantly, how long can the Brotherhood stay together without driving each other insane?

Next: THE FUGITIVE NINE! More titles with numbers in them!

So now that you're done... how about some reviews? It doesn't have to be too much, but I'd like feedback on how the characters and their relationships have changed, the story, the style... hell, if you just want call me names, that's fine, too. Call me a dork, I haven't been called that in years.