Disclaimer: Since Marvel is a company and I'm but a person, I obviously don't own X-Men Evolution or the character incarnations thereof, I'm just playing with them for fun and... no profit.

Author's Note: Thank rosalinda pink, whose reviews of my previous X-Evo fics reawakened my muse to turn this from an idea and the first two scenes laying around on my computer into a finished product.

"Joyride Reversed"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

As light came in through his bedroom window, Lance Alvers rolled over and woke up to the sight of the girl he loved laying next to him. The unofficial 'leader' of the Brotherhood thought nothing of it, having dreamt of waking up next to Kitty countless times before to the point that he paid no attention to the possibility. Climbing out of bed, he walked over and put a hand on the window frame as he looked outside and commented…

"Good morning, Kitty."

He could almost hear her say, "Good Morning, Lance."

Then he turned around to dress for the day and saw the clothes laying on the dresser, clothes that were definitely not his, turned and looked at the bed as Kitty threw off the covers and stretched…

And the mutant known as Avalanche promptly fainted.

If she hadn't seen the hands move, Kitty Pryde would have sworn the clock was broken since it felt too late to still be so early at night. It was two o'clock, and she had laid down at eleven, so she had been laying here three hours and still hadn't managed to fall asleep. Even cuddling her stuffed dragon Lockheed wasn't helping her relax enough, there was just something missing…

'Like a heartbeat?' Part of her asked slyly.

"Shut up," Kitty whispered.

'Why? You know why you can't sleep, you know what to do about it, so why don't you?' that part answered back.

"It's not-"

Her whispered response was cut off by that part of her, now starting to sound like the reason she couldn't sleep, ''-right.' Misuse of powers, blah, blah, blah. Don't you ever get tired of being the good girl, Pretty Kitty?'

Those last words pushed Kitty over the edge as she threw her covers off and began changing from her nightshirt into a pair of jeans and a deep purple, midriff-baring, sleeveless top… Phasing through the floor and walls with her backpack in her hand and her nightshirt inside of it, she was outside the mansion before she finished putting on one of her vests over everything else. Again phasing to pass through the front gate, she started walking across town…

"-Then I phased in here and into Lance's room, changed back into my sleeping outfit and laid down," Kitty was explaining to the other members of the Brotherhood, blushing, as Lance came to and sat up.

"Kitty. Here. Uh..." Lance started to sway before Tabitha slapped him across the face.

"Come on, Rocky, wakey-wakey!"

Lance grabbed Tabitha's wrist, "Slap me again and I'll bring the house down!"

"Yo, temper-temper, Lance!" Todd quipped, turning to their brown-haired guest, "He's so grouchy in the mornings, yo."

Lance followed Todd's line-of-sight with his eyes and saw, to him, a vision of brown-haired loveliness in purple and denim, "Kit-"

As he started to faint and fall backwards, Todd summoned up a load of slime and spat it into his housemate's face, resulting in Lance taking the hand that didn't have Tabitha still by the wrist and locking it onto the amphibian mutant's neck.

"Never do that again, Toad!"

"Need... Air!"

"Hey, let him go, you want your X-Geek lady-love to think we're nothing but thugs here?" Pietro rattled off with a smug smirk.

"Hey, Pietro, I thought the X-Geeks already thought we weren't nothing but thugs?" Freddy remarked.

"He's right," Pietro shrugged, "Never mind."

Lance released his grips he had on two of his housemates and stood up, wiping the slime from his face, "Do you guys mind?"

"Nope, not at all," Fred answered.

"Air! Sweet air! Let us never be parted again, my beloved air!" Todd shouted with exaggerated arm waves as he gasped for breath.

Kitty stared for a moment before turning to Tabitha, "Is every morning like this?"

"Only the fun ones," the blonde answered.

"Hey, wait," Todd jumped in verbally while he literally jumped between the two girls physically, "How do we know this ain't some X-Geek trick to make us let our guard down?"

Tabby shook her head before rapping her knuckles on Todd's skull, "Think, Froggy, can you see Scott letting her spend the night here - in Lance's bed - whether anything happened or not?"

The emphasis she put on 'in Lance's bed' cause Lance and Kitty both to blush a deep crimson.

Fred groaned for a moment as he thought, "She's got a point."

"You know this means they're going to be looking for her," Pietro pointed out.

Kitty's face fell, she hadn't thought of that.

"Then let's give them something to find!" Tabby exclaimed, reaching over Todd to grab Kitty by the wrist and drag her upstairs.

"Tabby's got an idea," Lance moaned, "Is anyone else terrified by that?"

Slowly, first one, then another hand was raised, then finally the remaining Brotherhood member raised their hand as well.

"Just checking," Lance muttered.

Tabby jumped the last couple steps and landed at the bottom, "Presenting the new 'Brotherhood edition' Kitty Pryde..."

"Breathe, Lance, breathe," Todd muttered to Lance as Kitty walked down the stairs with her Tabitha-done makeover, "Don't make me slime you again, yo."

Kitty's usual high ponytail had been changed to one hanging low on her back; she still wore the same midriff-baring sleeveless top, but her loose jeans replaced with ones tight enough to display the sixteen-year-old's developing curves; black fingerless gloves covered her hands and the outfit was topped off by a pair of dark sunglasses.

As she reached the bottom, Kitty spun around and asked, "What do you think?"

Pietro jerked his thumb in Lance's direction, "I don't think he's thinking, I think you blew what was left of his mind."

Mouth hanging half-open, Lance's eyes passed over fingernails that had been painted to match Kitty's top, lips that had gone from baby pink to the same royal purple and finally locked on eyes accented by a hint of eyeshadow of the same color. There were plenty of words he had used before when thinking of her, 'cute', 'attractive', even 'beautiful' and now he mentally added another one to the list...

"H-hot..." Lance stuttered, then cursed himself because that wasn't mentally.

As Kitty blushed at Lance's unintended statement, Tabby threw her arm around the other girl's shoulder, "What'd I tell you? Speechless."

"I don't know," Pietro disagreed, "He called her 'hot', which means he wasn't speechless since he spoke."

"Put a sock in it, Speedy," Tabby shot back.

Pushed to the side by Lance and Kitty's blushing-and-staring contest and Pietro and Tabby's argument, Todd and Fred were watching in amusement.

"Hey, you ever think we'll find girls like that?" Fred looked down at his smaller friend and asked.

"Kat-girl, maybe, but I'm not sure I want there to be another girl like Tabby around here," Todd shrugged, turning to face Fred, then chuckled, "Hey, if Lance's X-Girl sticks around, we'll have our own 'Tabby-Kat'."

Todd's chuckles grew to full-fledged laughter and after a moment, he stopped and looked at his large friend, "Why aren't you laughing, yo?"

Fred pointed behind Todd, "Because I don't want them to hurt me?"

Slowly turning around, Todd gulped as he saw Kitty glaring at him and Tabby tossing one of her time bombs in the air and catching it. As the two began to advance on him, he backed up until he felt himself hit a solid object behind him.

"Hey!" Fred shouted as he stepped to one side from where Todd had bumped into him and out of the line of fire, "Leave me out of this!"

Lance's arms folded around Kitty, stopping her from taking another step forward, "Sorry, Pretty Kitty, but I can't let you beat up on the Toad just now... we'd be late to introduce the X-Men to our newest member."

Kitty blushed and turned around in Lance's arms, "Just because I spent the night doesn't mean I'm staying forever, Lance."

Remembering what happened last time he laughed, Todd almost choked himself trying not to do so again at Kitty's words.

Lance pouted, "Aw, please?"

Before Kitty could respond, Pietro tapped them on the shoulders, "You know, it's not a problem for the Quicksilver, but if the rest of you don't leave now, you won't get there in time to shock and awe the crowds."

"As much as I hate to agree with Pietro about anything," Tabby glanced at her watch, "Speedy's right."

With his speed, Pietro had taken off running and left the others to pile into Lance's jeep for the drive to Bayville High. The ride was mostly quiet until about halfway there, when Tabby looked at Kitty leaning against Lance's shoulder as he drove and gave a small smirk.

"So, Kat," Kitty's eyes widened at the new name Tabby had given her, "How's Lance in bed?"

Kitty's face went from through several shades of red from ecarmine and vermillion to crimson and sanguine, "I did... we didn't... I mean..."

Tabby smirked as she called the brunette out, "I meant does he hog the covers? Is he a snuggler? One of those people who kick in their sleep? ...What did you think I meant?"

In the back, Todd and Fred were glad that the traffic was light because Lance suddenly had a problem keeping control of the vehicle when Tabby asked her question.

As the jeep came to a stop in the school parking lot, Tabby took a hard look at Kitty, "You ready for this, girl? 'Cause there's no going back, you've seen how they treat me after leaving - worse than they treated the boys to begin with."

Halfway out of the jeep, Kitty froze, realizing that this was further than she had ever expected it to go; she had just wanted to sleep with Lance. Her face pinked as the wording of her thoughts hit her, then paled as what Tabby said sank in.

'Would they really throw me out just for spending time with the Brotherhood? The Professor says the Institute is there to help all mutants,' Kitty's eyes passed over the faces of the four mutants looking at her with concern, none moreso than Lance himself, 'He says it, but even after the Brotherhood was abandoned we never really tried to help them... The others do everything they can to put them down...'

In less than a morning alone, she realized, the Brotherhood had proven they actually practiced what the Institute preached; they had teased her, helped her and accepted her all just like they did each other, with no pretensions. With her mind made up, she finished sliding out of the jeep just as Lance walked around the vehicle.

Putting his hands on her shoulders, the geomancer asked softly, "You okay?"

It took him by surprise when she grabbed his vest for leverage as she pulled herself forward out of his hands to leave a lipstick mark on his neck and the collar of his shirt, marking him as her's.

Kitty bounced on her feet a couple times before she giggled, "Now I am."

Tabby chuckled and pulled a tube of lipstick out of her pocket and held it out, "You might want to do a quick touch-up so it doesn't look like you two were... oh, I don't know... making out in the school parking lot or something."

"Why?" Todd shrugged, "I mean, that's what they were doing, yo."

A sudden wind kicking up dust and leaves and forcing the Brotherhood to cover their eyes prevented a response and heralded Pietro's arrival.

"Not that I want to interrupt this moment," the speedster remarked, pointing a finger towards the road as everyone turned to look at him, "But Summers and his car full of merry mutants are about to arrive."

"So not a problem," Kitty answered, taking the lipstick and giving her lips a quick touch-up before tossing the tube back to Tabby and reaching back to pull Lance's arms around her, causing him to take a step forward so that her back was flush against his chest. The other four members of the Brotherhood shared a look before arraying themselves around the couple.

It was not a good morning for Scott Summers; his car had been trashed, a teammate was missing and Logan had given him a hard time because of the New Mutants' poor performance at that day's morning training session. As he drove towards Bayville High with Jean next to him and Rogue, Evan and Kurt in the backseat of his hastily-cleaned convertible, he was thinking to himself that there was no possible way the day could get worse.

Fate has a way of knowing when she's being tempted, even in a person's thoughts, and usually responds severely.

Parking his car, Scott looked up and found his missing teammate... surrounded by the Brotherhood... dressed like one of them... pressed up against...

"Alvers!" Scott shouted, jumping over the door and out of the car without bothering to turn off the ignition, "Let her go!"

Pietro rolled his eyes, "I knew you X-Geeks were slow, but man... I don't know if you noticed it or not, Summers, but she's the one holding his arms like that."

"Can it, Pietro!" Scott snapped back, "I don't know what you've done to Kitty, but-"

"The hamster's dead, isn't it?" Todd remarked, interrupting the other mutant, "He just said it's all her doing. Since you can't figure it out, that means that we've done nothing."

Jean stepped forward, a puzzled expression on the redhead's face, "They're telling the truth, Scott, I'm not sensing any deceit from them."

"Thank you, Counselor Troi," Todd snarked, "What would we do without you?"

Fred folded his arms across his chest, "You want me to answer that?"

"Not now, Freddy," Tabby waved a hand dismissively, "From the smoke coming off the top of his head, I think Scott's finally starting to figure it out."

Rogue scoffed, "Changin' sides over a boy, Sugah? Why am I not surprised?"

Kitty tilted her head down so that she was looking over her sunglasses and raised an eyebrow, "Look who's talking. At least I'm willing to admit it."

Rogue glared, "An' what's that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever you think it means... 'Sugah'," Kitty mocked the Southern-born goth.

Kurt shook his head, "Vhy are you doing this, Kitty?"

"I have my reasons, Kurt," she answered calmly.

"Kurt, tell Principal Kelly we're sick or something, I'm taking Kitty back to the Mansion. We're going to have a talk with the Professor about this," Scott ordered as he took a step forward and reached for the brunette only to have his arm caught in the unbreakable grip of the Blob.

"I don't think so, Scooter," Fred sneered, "Unlike you Institute snobs, we're not teammates or classmates, we're the Brotherhood, we're a family... and family looks out for each other."

"You're the ones that don't seem to understand what's going on," Evan retorted threateningly, preparing to pop his spikes.

Pietro took a step forward, "Oh, you want to go, Daniels? Right here, right now? Powers in front of everybody?"

"Kitty, stop this!" Jean demanded.

"Stop what?" Kitty scowled, pulling out of Lance's arms and taking a step forward, "We didn't do anything. We were just standing here when Scott came up starting trouble and Scott tried to make things physical; we're just defending ourselves."

Pride in the Brotherhood and shock in the Institute students grew in equal measure as the two groups heard Kitty openly and proudly declare herself with the Brotherhood. Since the beginning, they had taken some strong blows; Rogue's defection, Magneto's decision that some of them weren't worthy of his plans, Mystique's abandonment - for a second of Xavier's students to side with them helped to balance that out and strengthen their self-respect. As if summoned by that thought, the Professor's voice sounded in the minds of the eleven mutants.

'Enough! Scott, Evan, stand down! I am fully aware of Kitty's presence with the Brotherhood. Mr. Dukes, if you will release Scott, you have my word he will make no further attempts to remove her from your group.'

"Yeah, yeah," Fred muttered, released Scott's arm with a slight shove backwards at the rest of the Institute students, "He tries it again, I'm breaking the arm."

'Go to your classes, X-Men, we will discuss this after the school day.'

"You bet we will," Evan sneered, only to flinch when Fred took a step forward into his face and growled.

"Evan, don't," Scott spoke up before Evan could react, "You heard the Professor, he'll handle this."

As the Institute students moved past the Brotherhood, midway to the main doors one of them stopped and looked back, watching as first Tabitha alone threw herself at Kitty and embraced her, followed by the rest of the Brotherhood joining in. As the group hug broke apart and the Brotherhood started for the school's entrance, Lance paused and placed his hand under her chin, tilting her head up and planting a gentle kiss on her lips. With a hurt look on his face, Kurt turned and ran to catch up with the others.

As the display flashed 'denied', Kitty glared at the keypad, "Someone wiped my access code."

Lance shook his head and laid a hand on her shoulder, "And I bet I know who."

"I'll call Mr. Logan and have him open the gate," Kitty said, reaching for the intercom button when Tabby caught her hand.

"I got a better idea," the blonde remarked, "Why don't we just knock? Lance?"

The geokinetic raised his free hand and pointed it at the gate, "Kitty?"

Kitty looked at the gate in thought for a moment, then gave a quick nod, "Do it."

Lance focused and the Brotherhood could feel the ground begin to rumble and shake, the moving ground making the pillars to either side of the gate shift and strain the metal of the lock and hinges until they broke and the gate fell to the ground in front of them.

"Must be shoddy craftsmanship," Fred joked from behind them.

"Todd, think you can bring the jeep up without wrecking it?" Lance asked over his shoulder at the mutant standing next to Fred.

"Hey, I'm getting to drive it, I'll do anything you want," Todd answered, doing a high backflip to land in the driver's seat.

"Just keep it in one piece, Toad," Lance replied as the four on foot started forward.

As soon as Lance had broken open the gate, an alarm had begun sounding in the mansion and by the time the Brotherhood reached the front steps, with a moment's pause for them to disable some automated defenses that tried to shoot them, the X-Men were there waiting for them with the notable exceptions of Kurt and the two adults.

"Something we can help you with?" Scott asked with his hand on his glasses.

"Yeah," Kitty crossed her arms, "I've come to get my stuff."

Evan snorted, "What makes you think we're just going to let you walk right in here with the Brotherhood, even if you were one of us?"

"Because the Professor says to let them," Ororo's soft voice came from the doorway.

"I can't believe you're letting her do this," Logan grumbled, looking out the window of Xavier's study.

"I believe it is the right choice," Xavier answered, "Kitty and Lance's feelings for each other are genuine and perhaps she'll serve as a controlling influence on the Brotherhood."

"Yeah," Logan countered, "Or Half-Pint could end up just like the rest of them."

"I believe you underestimate her, Logan. Let's give them a chance, shall we?"

"Are you sure about this, Kitty?" Ororo asked quietly as she watched Kitty pack her belongings.

Kitty paused and looked up, Lockheed in her hands, "More sure than I've ever been, Ororo. I'm sure the Professor means well, I really am, but he's so busy teaching us how to control our powers that he sometimes seems to forget that there's people behind the powers. Being with the Brotherhood just feels right to me. For the first time, I'm not Pryde the geek or Kitty the valley girl or even Shadowcat the X-Man. I'm just Kitty, just another girl... who happens to walk through walls... which is normal at the Boarding House considering Todd walks on them."

At the smile on the younger woman's face, Ororo had to smile herself, "Then the blessing of the goddess go with you, child."

"Thanks, Ororo, I'm glad somebody around here is being supportive of this."

"You are quite welcome, child. Come, we had best join the others before their self-restraint runs out."

In the school parking lot the next morning, Lance chuckled as he shook his head, "Are you going to do this every day?"

Kitty shrugged coquettishly, "Just until I get the point across."

"Across to who?" Tabby asked as she returned her lipstick to her pocket from Kitty using it to touch-up again.

"Whoever," Kitty shot back with a smile.

"Oh, God," Todd groaned, "Why didn't we realize this would happen? Now there's two of them, yo."

"Better with us than against us, I guess," Fred shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess you got a point," Todd nodded, "If nothing else, we're about to come into some money."

Kitty overheard this and frowned, "What money?"

"Come on, Kat-girl," the amphibious mutant shook his head, "Who do you think runs the underground gambling in this school? Most people were betting that either you'd drop Lance or he'd give up on you. A few people actually bet that he'd join the Institute to get close to you and one guy even bet that the two of you would run away together... but no one claimed this outcome, do you know what that means?"

Kitty suppressed her first reaction and instead answered, "You've got a future in Vegas?"

"We get to keep it all!" Todd crowed, "We'll have money again!"

"You'll have to excuse the toad," Lance told Kitty as he placed his hands on her shoulders from behind, "He gets excited if he can even smell money."

"How he can smell it over himself, we'll never know," Pietro added.

"Get over here and say that to my face, Quicky," Todd snapped at the silver-haired one.

"I would," Pietro replied, "But then I'd have to look at you."

"I take it this is what you meant by a 'fun morning'?" Kitty asked Tabby.

"It's getting there," the blonde shrugged, "And as much as I hate to say it, we need to get to class. So Toad can collect, if nothing else. Hey!"

Tabby tossed a small time bomb between Todd and Pietro that left them covered in dirt and soot when it exploded, "Now it's a fun morning. Come on, you guys, time to be good citizens and take our education seriously."

"Hey, don't even joke about that, yo."

As Todd collected from the betting pool, word began to get around the school about Kitty joining the Brotherhood; as word got around, students began to go up to the Brotherhood and the Institute students and ask if it was true. For their part, the Brotherhood took it well, Lance and Kitty even using it as an excuse to kiss and prove it, though the brunette was surprised to discover that some of the teachers were involved in the betting pool. The Institute students, however, on the whole were not as happy about the situation, each for their own reasons and every time another classmate asked them about what was going on it got that much worse. By the end of the day, at least one of them had reached the breaking point, ready to snap at the slightest provocation, real or imagined.

It came.

To say that Scott Summers was having a bit of a day would be an understatement of the first order. For the second time, one of the cars at the Institute had been trashed with no explanation, plus they had to deal with another student joining the Brotherhood and then he had just spent the entire day having to listen to people talk about what a couple Kitty and the hood made. For the first time that he could recall, he was looking forward to a sesson in the Danger Room, just so he could blast something without getting in trouble for it. Waiting in the parking lot for the rest of the Institute students, no one could see Scott glare behind his shades as five members of the now-six person Brotherhood came out of the school. Quicksilver was nowhere to be seen, as usual, and Toad and Blob seemed to be racing each other to the jeep, but the ones that got Scott's attention were the trio walking calmly along. Kitty was in front, walking backwards and she and Tabitha talked, with Alvers following behind, laughing and shaking his head in amusement at whatever the two girls were saying. As Lance moved his head again, Scott froze and slowly moved his head to look at Kitty's face. When he saw what he thought he might, he clenched his fist and started walking.

"So, like I was saying," Tabitha was saying as Scott got close, "Todd will eat anything you put in front of him and Freddy'll eat everything you put in front of him... so it's the three of us and Pietro that get to decide what we'll do for dinner. Since we actually made some money off Todd's latest betting pool, I was thinking we splurge and get something good, what do you... What do you want?"

Kitty spun around at Tabby's last sentence and narrowed her eyes at Scott, "That's a good question... What do you want, Scott?"

"To give you one last chance to do the right thing and come back to the Institute before I contact your parents," Scott answered bluntly and waited for the response.

It came. They laughed.

"'Play my way or I'm telling', Summers?" Lance groaned, "That's pretty good... for a four-year-old."

"For your information, Scott," Kitty glared at him, "I already called them, yesterday, they weren't happy but they're willing to give Lance a second chance... unlike you and the rest of the Institute."

"They're the Brotherhood, they worked for Magneto and Mystique," Scott tried to reason.

"So did you or have you forgotten that?" Kitty snapped back, "So did Rogue, but you don't have any problems with her, so I guess that only applies to anyone who isn't willing to join the Institute."

"That's different."

"Oh, really?" Kitty was beginning to go on the offensive, putting her hands on her hips as she spoke. By this point, Todd and Fred had turned around and started back towards the others.

"I was doing it for Alex," Scott answered defensively, "And you can't blame Rogue, she was tricked by Mystique."

Three things happened almost simultanously, Fred and Todd arrived from the direction of the jeep; Jean, Rogue, Evan and Kurt arrived from the direction of the school; and Kitty's hand impacted with Scott's face with enough force for the sound to be clearly heard by the two groups.

Todd would later dub it the 'Slap Heard Around Bayville'.

"All I'm hearing is excuses, Scott. God, they're right," Kitty shook her head, "You really are a stuck-up jerk who thinks he's better than everyone else. I always thought it was just being at the Institute the longest that did it."

Rogue was drawing back her fist to hit the newest member of the Brotherhood when Todd launched a load of slime directly into her face, causing her to recoil before she could throw the punch; meanwhile, Fred had grabbed Scott by the arm and jerked hard, dislocating the other teen's shoulder.

"I told you, Summers," Fred snarled, "Next time you tried anything, I was taking the arm."

"And I'm tempted to let him," a voice growled out from nearby, drawing the group's attention, "The Professor thought you might forget his instructions, so he sent me down here."

Logan shook his head, "Thought I taught you better about knowing when to fight and more importantly, why to fight. Guess I was wrong. Slim, get in the car and go home. Red, you're going with him to make sure he behaves. The rest of you are in the van with me."

A moment passed while Fred released Scott's arm and the Institute students shifted in place.

"Now, kiddies!" Logan snapped, causing them to run, or in Kurt's case to teleport to the vehicle they had been assigned.

"Uh... Thanks?" Lance finally asked.

"Don't thank me, Rocky, like I said; I'm just here cause the Prof asked me to make sure they didn't do something stupid. I still think he's out of his mind for letting Half-Pint go off with you all like this," Logan snorted then turned to glare at a chuckling Todd, "And why do you think you're laughing, Toad?"

Nervously, Todd shrugged, "He's a telepath, yo, being out of his mind is what he does, ain't it?"

Logan grunted, "Just remember next time, I can get away with saying stuff like that, you can't."

Kitty took a hesitant step forward, "So, does this mean...?"

"Don't mean anything," Logan answered, "I told you, I don't like it... But everyone's gotta have their own way of doing things. Professor never understands that the Institute way's not for everyone."

Logan turned to go, then stopped and added, "And don't think this means I'll go easy on you if we meet in a fight, even you, Half-Pint."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Kitty smiled.

'Good girl,' Logan thought as he walked off, 'At least one of them learned something.'

Late that night, three of the so-called New Mutants took off on their most ambitious joyride yet; the heavily-modified Super-Sonic Transport based on the Stealth Reconnaissance design known as the 'Blackbird' or simply as the 'X-Jet'. Before dawn broke, a solitary figure walked down a hallway aboard the Strategic Hazard Intervention and Espionage Logistics Directorate helicarrier U.N.N. Alpha and knocked on the door of Colonel Nick Fury's cabin.

"Come in," the Director of SHIELD called out.

Shutting the door behind him, the figure entered and announced in an Irish lilt, "We've a wee bit o' a problem, Nicky-me-boy..."

Fury looked up from the files he was going over, "What moron screwed the pooch this time, Irish?"

"It's th' lot in Bayville," the Irishman shrugged, "They've gone an' got some o' themselves captured by th' regulars an' ye know who tha' means."

"Trask," Fury snarled, angrily sweeping his paperwork into the floor, "I was afraid of this... Get Stark on the horn, tell him I want him to meet with you, me and Dum-Dum in his office in one hour... we're going to have to activate the 'Freedom Force' project a lot earlier that we'd planned."