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Chapter One

It had started out like any other day at the Brotherhood House. Todd was annoying Wanda, earning himself several injuries in the process while Pietro yelled at them to knock it off. Fred was in the kitchen, cooking and humming over the noise while Lance worked outside on his Jeep, cursing and growling to himself.

So when the black limousine pulled up the short driveway it was easily ignored. Lance was more preoccupied with the fact that he had ruined one of his few clean shirts with oil splatters when someone kicked his foot.

"Get up, Avalanche!"

The geomancer started at the voice, and quickly rolled out from beneath the vehicle to stand up straight as Mystique glared at him. By her side were two girls, a little redheaded with green eyes and another girl with black hair and blue eyes. Both of them had a suitcase in hand and both looked extremely apprehensive of their surroundings.

"Avalanche, this is Rahne Sinclair and Lacey Charlton, our newest additions to the Brotherhood."

For a moment Lance considered decking the woman right then and there. There was barely enough food for the five of them as it was. Adding two more mouths would mean extra work and probably some thieving to keep everyone from starving. But that urge was smoothed away as he looked at the two girls more closely. Rahne, the redhead, looked scared out of her mind. Lacey seemed calmer but it was evident by her gaunt frame that she was used to hard times.

"Nice to meet ya." he said, rubbing his hands clean on his pants and shaking hands with the girls.

Mystique cocked her head towards the house and frowned, "I take it everyone is home?"

"Ya, I gotta warn ya the place is a mess. Wanda and Pietro were arguing this morning."

The woman sighed in resignation and motioned for him to lead the way. Lance winced and trudged up the steps. Inside the noise was even louder than when he'd left and the horrible state of the house shamed him as the three females entered.

"Hey!" he shouted, over the blaring music from Wanda's room, Pietro and Todd's yelling and Fred's anxious pleas for peace. "Boss Lady's back."

Instantly everything went silent and utterly still. Then in a flash and a whirl of wind the trash was disposed of, dirty clothes vanished, the rugs and drapes were straightened and any scorch marks from the walls were gone. Pietro stopped at the bottom of the stairs, not a strand of hair out of place and smiled.

"Hello Mystique, so nice of you to drop by."

The older mutant rolled her eyes and looked to the top of the stairs where Wanda stood, looking curious. Fred and Todd had also emerged from the living room, staring at the two girls.

"Who are you?" Todd demanded, ever the gentleman.

"These are your new housemates, Rahne and Lacey."

There was a pause then the air crackled angrily as Wanda descended the stairs. "Take them away. Now."

"Wanda…" Pietro hissed in warning.

"Enough brother." the witch barked making her twin flinch. "We can't feed ourselves, let alone two more." she said, echoing Lance's earlier worries. "The hazing at school is getting worse and last month we didn't have heat. Take them away."

Mystique frowned and turned her gaze on Pietro once more, "You never told me of this."

"Like you cared."

Angrily the woman turned to Lance, "I want a list of everything you need and I want to see the bills for the last three months. Pietro, go upstairs and clean up two rooms for the girls. Toad, clean the bathroom and I mean scrub it. Fred, make them something to eat, they're starving. Wanda I would like you to help Lance if you please."

The witch's lips twitched but she obeyed, following Lance into the den, which was the only room in the house that wasn't torn apart.

Meanwhile the other three boys separated to do their respective jobs, leaving Rahne and Lacey standing in the middle of the foyer.

"Well…that was interestin`." Rahne muttered in a light Scottish accent, looking at her companion.

Lacey nodded, her eyes roaming about the room. "I think I like this place." she announced, climbing the stairs.

"Are ye mad?" Rahne demanded, following her. She didn't want to run into any of the boys but she didn't want to be left alone either. "The whole place is falling apart at the seams!"

"It has personality."

"I think you're confusing personality with utter chaos. That freaky lassie said there weren't any heat last month! An` that boy that went to clean the bathroom smells like a sewer!"

"Hey! I don't smell like a sewer, yo!"

Both girls screamed as Todd poked his head out of the bathroom, near the top of the open doorway. The mutant chuckled gleefully and jumped to the floor with a thud, settling into his usual crouch as he looked at the girls, curiously.

"How the bloody hell did you get up there?" Rahne demanded.

"Do you actually talk like that or are you just faking?"

The question made the redhead falter for a moment. While she took half a second to think of a comeback a wind rushed around her ears and suddenly a rather annoyed Pietro was standing in front of them, holding the two suitcases.

"You two wanna pick out a room? I've got things to do you know."

Todd rolled his eyes at the girls and hopped back into the bathroom without a word. Pietro then led the way down the wide hallway to a collection of three rooms. The one on the left had obviously already been claimed, the door shut firmly while the other two were open. Both rooms were plain white with a bed, a dresser and a desk and chair. Rahne quickly claimed the room on the right, which looked out into the forest while Lacey took the middle room.

"Us guys sleep on the other side of the house so you don't have to worry about much except for the bathroom. Its usually a fight in the morning but Wanda almost always wins first place and I only take three seconds so…" he shrugged slightly then looked at the ground as if he was unsure of what to say.

Lacey smirked slightly, that might explain Todd's strange odor. He was obviously last in the pecking order which would mean he got the shower last and in a house full of boys she doubted there was much time to get ready for school properly.

"Hey guys! Food's ready!" Fred yelled from downstairs, breaking the awkward silence. Instantly the speedster was gone, ruffling both the girls' hair. Todd hopped out of the bathroom, shedding rubber gloves as he went. Lacey followed them, throwing the gloves back into the bathroom on her way. Rahne stayed put for a few moments, looking around her new room until a light knock made her jump. Her body rippled and she went into a crouch as her form wavered between human and wolf.

"Sorry." Wanda said her eyebrow arched in surprise.

Rahne bit her lip hard and concentrated, her body finally melting back into fully human form. She shook her head slightly and smiled at the witch, "S'alright, Wanda is it?"

The girl nodded and slowly made her way down the hall with Rahne on her heels. Inside the kitchen Todd, Fred, and Pietro were arguing while Lacey stood to the side munching on a sandwich. Without hesitation Wanda lifted a hand and hit the three of them with a blast of blue energy. Pietro was the only one who managed to dodge and promptly shut up and ate. Fred rubbed his head irritably while Todd just moaned from the floor.

"Wanda…" Lance said as he stepped over the smaller mutant and into the kitchen.

"Sorry Toad, I was aiming for Pietro mostly."

"Ya missed; sweetums." Todd sighed.

Mystique also entered the room and silently offered the boy a hand. He took it gratefully and hopped onto the counter to snap up a sandwich with his long tongue. Wanda's nose wrinkled while Lacey and Rahne stared openly. Mystique rolled her eyes, almost fondly, and rapped her knuckles on the counter, calling the group to attention.

"I've spoken with Lance and Wanda both. They both have jobs as I understand and are helping buy food, pay bills and take care of you. Starting now I want all of you to begin looking for jobs."

"What?" Pietro exclaimed indignantly but Mystique ignored him.

"Part of any money you earn will go to paying for food, gas, and repairs to get the Jeep running. Another part will be put into a savings account that Lance and Wanda will be able to access in order to save for another car. Money that is left over can be spent however you want."

"What about the bills?" Fred asked, shuffling his big feet. "We ain't got any water sometimes an-"

"Let me worry about the bills." the woman snapped. She turned and headed for the door, "I'll be back in a month. When I come back I'd like to see this place in better repair than it is now."

Lance quickly got to his feet and saw Mystique to the door before coming back in and joining his friends. For awhile they all ate in silence then Fred cleared his throat quietly.

"So…now what're we gonna do?"

"Just the same as we were doing, yo." Todd muttered, "Boss don't give a rip about us, she just doesn't want to deal with getting us outta her house. So she made a few promises, tells us to clean up and after awhile BOOM we're out on the streets again."

"She seemed serious." Rahne ventured.

Toad, Pietro and Fred all looked at her like she'd grown two heads then looked at each other blankly.

"She is serious guys," Lance said. "Why else would she dump these two with us?"

Rahne's upper lip lifted while Lacey just rolled her eyes.

"And she's got a few more conditions that she didn't mention that we have to follow in order to stay here." Wanda added, nonchalantly.

"Like what?" her brother asked warily.

"Training."

Instantly the table was full of protests and yells from the boys, minus Lance who just slammed his hand down on the table causing the whole house to shudder and groan. Instantly the arguing was quieted and he pinched the bridge of his nose to starve off a headache.

"Do you want to have running water or not?" he demanded.

Hours later the house was finally quiet. Pietro and Wanda had both left and Fred was busy helping Lance with the Jeep so the two girls and Todd sat inside, watching the TV mindlessly.

"Saturday TV sucks." the frog-mutant finally declared after having flipped through every channel twice.

"Duh." Rahne muttered. She was lying on her stomach on the floor, flipping through the newspaper classifieds. Lacey sat at the opposite end of the couch, her petite body curled up into a neat little ball as she examined the living room walls.

"So…uh…what are your guys' powers?"

Rahne's head jerked up and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Just wondering, yo."

"I um…I turn into a wolf." the Scot said, trying to shrug carelessly.

"I can predict the future and alter people's emotions." Lacey supplied quickly, when Todd just stared openly she decided to change the subject. "So what do you guys do for fun around here?"

"Well…usually I just hang out by myself while everyone else does their own thing, yo." the boy shrugged his thin shoulders, "'Sides, I don't have a car and Lance is too protective of the Jeep to ever let me take it anywhere."

"So you don't do anything?"

"Not really."

The front door suddenly banged open and Lance and Fred walked in, covered in grease but looking pleased with themselves. Fred lumbered upstairs to take a shower while Lance joined the little group on the couch.

"You get it running, dawg?" Todd asked, excitedly.

"Not yet but we should be able to drive to school on Monday." he paused and looked at the girls. "Did Mystique say you guys were going to school with us?"

"Aye, she signed us up this morning." Rahne answered, "But I don't think there's gonna be enough room for all of us in the Jeep."

"We'll make Pietro run." Lance muttered, more under his breath than to anyone else. He yawned and glanced at the clock. It was only nine-thirty but he was exhausted. With a groan he rose from his chair.

"Toad, wait up for the twins will ya? And make sure the girls go to bed by ten." he called over his shoulder.

Involuntarily Rahne let out a huge yawn and stretched; much like a dog, before climbing to her feet. "Im'ma head to bed too. G'night Lace, Todd."

The twosome murmured their goodnights and quickly settled into the couch, while the TV droned on into the night.