What up, guys? So again, college and general laziness/procrastination has gotten the better of me, and now I return with a way late update. Adulting sucks, man.

keology: I hear ya. It's my own story, and I still have to go back and reread (most of) the story to remember what was going on whenever I start the next chapter. And you are awesome for just putting up with me and my erratic updates!

Warmach1ne32: There's actually a reason for the button grenades (that I'll eventually get to… maybe), but I'm glad you actually caught that. Also thank you for the offer, but I'll never get better at writing unless I practice, which is really all this is, writing practice, and hopefully entertainment for others. Though I am still curious on what you could come up with for a fight scene, so if you're still up for it these days, I'd still like to read it for pointers.

ForeverTheValentine: While flawless superhero KND definitely would've been much easier to write, (they entered, guns blazing and destroyed the whole area while the captives fled to the jet in a single-file line, the end), I still see this story as somewhat of an origin story, where there are mistakes aplenty to be made (which follows the actual show better, I think). Ps, I started writing the last chapter back in January, but hadn't finished it 'til months later, so that's why that "New Year's resolution" bit was in the AN. I seriously cannot wrap my head around how much time has passed. It's been another year?! Oh sure, time stops in the middle of a boring lecture, but on this? "Oh, look at that, it's been another year." What the hell.

So as some of you might remember, I added some (mediocre at best) fight scenes in the last chapter, and that's the main reason I've procrastinated for this long. If there was anyone cringing through those scenes, it was me. I've been writing for this website since I was 11, and I had only just realized that I'd never actually written out a fight before. I guess I'm more of a dialogue/inner monologue writer. I promise I'm working on that. I've been paying more attention to how more successful writers do it to get some pointers, but reading about something and actually doing it are two very different things. So just grit your teeth and bear with me, I'm trying.

Now as for this "origin story," I honestly wish I'd done something shorter (though I was never satisfied with anything shorter that I came up with), because I've actually started writing one-shots/chapters on what happens after this whole craziness. So just in case anyone thinks I might have given up on this story due to lack of activity, I have stuff written out already that I'm excited to release.

And speaking of written out stuff, I'm like, two-thirds of the way through a new "Back to the Future, Sort of" chapter! Yeah I know, it's been years and there's only two-thirds written out; what the hell. The thing is, as much as I love it, I would really like to be completely finished with that story (with maybe a spinoff one-shot or two), so I plan on this chapter to be one of the last, and so it's going to be long (like this chapter). But I've hit some major writer's block because I have no idea what to write about. I actually came up with this whole new plot for it to spiral into that I didn't even consider when I first started it that I think would fit pretty well, but still, it takes a lot out of ya. So here I am to ask anyone who's actually still waiting for that update, "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO HAPPEN?" Like, I have a whole new plot on how it's going to end, but I wanna hear what my readers actually want as far as some resolutions, hints towards what the future looks like, focus on certain characters, that sort of thing. Like suggestions, guesses, requests, whatever. I'm only gonna do a couple more chapters, and finish it. So if any of this was relevant to you, I seriously invite you to leave a review IN THAT STORY (I'd like to stay organized and have suggestions in a separate area; so not in this story) and I would love to hear from you.

Last thing, I promise! While I've been mentally building this AU since way before I started writing about it, I still have some (not many, but some) mini plot holes here and there. Some of the more obvious ones surrounding Patton. So if you're expecting an undeniably solid story, let me tell ya, you've come to the wrong place. I do my best to have everything fit together in some way or another, or just try to make the holes as small and unnoticeable as possible, but really, sometimes my only answer is, "Because shut up, that's why." I'm sure I won't get any especially anal comments on this because you guys are awesome and understand that this is just a stupid story that I made up when watching X-Men one time, and that you shouldn't take it too seriously (or at all), but I'm just putting it out there that yes, I know the hole is there.

Okay, I'm done. On with the story!

1 Hour Ago

Another day, another tallymark. Or at least it might have been another day; it was hard to tell from where she was sitting with no clocks or windows to give a hint. But if she had to guess, the guards changed every six hours or so; but again, that was just a guess.

She glanced down at the faint lines she left on the sole of her shoe. She'd lost count a long time ago, but it was the only thing keeping her sane at this point. The fingernail she used was cracked and broken all the way down to the nub, and the last of her nail polish had chipped away yesterday. What she wouldn't give for a manicure, even one by her mom.

She sat on the cold concrete floor, and leaned her head back against the bars. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but it was the best for accepting the IV without having to be manhandled. And just like clockwork, several guards came by with carts full of trays. The few other conscious prisoners surrounding her cage shuffled forward, hoping to save most of it before it was unceremoniously splattered on the ground. The last tray went to the cage beside hers, and she was once again presented with a clear bag of fluid that she at least hoped was somewhat nutritious. From her spot on the floor, she stuck out her arm without looking at the man replacing yesterday's bag, and only slightly winced when the needle bit into her skin.

She used to fight it in the beginning, kicking and punching and scratching at those hands, but really it only led to her hair being yanked roughly back and the needle puncturing her skin with much less delicacy. Yanking it out and throwing it away after they'd left was another one of her small protests, but it was one short-lived; the lack of any kind of sustenance just left her hungry and lightheaded, with nothing to help until the following day. With her eyes closed, she sensed the guard pause, just a few feet away, probably making sure that the old needle was still attached to the hose, a result from another one of her rebellions, including the still fading bruise across her cheekbone.

The others kept giving her sideways glances as they ate their soggy, shapeless, mystery meal with their hands, most likely pitying her as she continuously suffered in silence. Some of them talked to her in low voices - or maybe they just talked in her general direction just to be able to hear their own voices - and she would sometimes try to communicate back with hand gestures or facial expressions, though she was never particularly good at playing charades.

She didn't feel particularly up to it today; the clear fluids draining into her arm sometimes made her feel a little groggy, and she suddenly remembered one of her fellow MPs unhelpfully suggesting that maybe there was some sort of drug or even poison in her IV. If they'd been grouped more closely together, she would have slapped him. Her eyes had burned in anger as she mutely tried to express the lack of a choice she had in her daily meal, but that rage has died down since. It occurred to her during their next meal that the same could be said for the colorless slop that the rest of them were being served, but she decided not to waste her time or energy on wordlessly trying to bring up this concern.

Using her free hand, she lightly traced the the electronic suction cup outlining her mouth. It felt like it had been superglued to her skin, and didn't shift around or give way unless someone with the key took it off; that had only been twice so far, and both times she'd been too sedated to really enjoy it. It could be worse, she supposed; she could be one of the unlucky few who get plucked from their cells and never come back. Though lately, she started wondering if maybe those were actually the lucky ones.

Bartie's unbalanced footsteps were giving off the only sounds throughout the still-empty hallway as he followed closely behind his more awake friends. Too loud, Nigel thought, following behind them all, covering their group from behind. Though the effects of whatever drugs they had been injected with had faded enough for Bartie to walk without Patton's assistance, it was clear that it was far from out of his system. He yawned and rubbed at his eyes for the third time in the last minute, the rough yellow gloves fastened around his hands making a hard scraping sound. There were red rings of irritated skin around his eyes, but he grimly refused all of their offers to help take them off.

Patton, on the other hand, seemed to have already recovered, and only yawned every other time that Bartie had. Armed with a heavy looking firearm that he'd stolen from the weapons room, he trailed right behind Rachel, looking surprisingly comfortable following her lead into certain danger. Nigel wasn't sure what to think of that, or why it made him so jealous.

Rachel was at the head of their search party, wringing the rope she'd found earlier through her hands nervously. The pained look on her face as she glanced around at all the weapons seemed enough explanation as to why she didn't pick one. Nigel followed her lead and decided on a disc-shaped shield that had been left on the floor. His powers were weapon enough, he just needed something to defend himself and the others if it came down to it.

"Anything?" Bartie said thickly in the middle of another yawn.

"Maybe." Rachel was whispering, but her voice rang out loud and clear, and Nigel had to wonder if she was somehow projecting her thoughts telepathically. Stress, he remembered, is like a steroid to newly-found powers. "I think I might have found David and Ashley. We have to hurry."

At long last, Belle felt a fresh breeze hit her face, and it had the amazing scent of anything-but-sewage mixed with some midsummer-afternoon. She and her new companion sprinted onward towards the fresh air until they came to the end of the tunnel, and its bars.

The boy she found growled in exasperation, slamming his palms on the iron impatiently. Belle rolled her eyes, and allowed him a moment to try pushing them open with his average-at-best strength, only to find them welded in place. It wasn't until this moment that he pressed himself against the bars with some weak sunlight passing through that she realized that she hadn't gotten a proper look at him yet. His bright orange jumpsuit became so apparent now that she was partially surprised it didn't glow in the dark while they were wandering around. His hair color, thankfully, wasn't nearly as offensive to the eyes, and was actually pretty close to hers. She had to admit, with a good scrubbing and some decent clothes, he could be kind of cute. He let out a frustrated yell, kicking the bars - and some gross sewage water - for good measure. Now if only he wasn't so annoying.

"Oh move, you big baby!" she snapped, aiming her laser. As the bars came free, they slipped past from the knee-deep sewage into the waist-deep ocean water with a splash. The ocean water worked wonders for Belle's mood, and there was a moment where she felt completely at ease and almost boneless with the relaxing quality of the saltwater, even with all the sewage polluting it.

"Move!" the boy harshly half-whispered, dragging her bodily by the upper arm until her back hit the rocky wall just beside the tunnel they'd just come through.

"Ow!" More angry than hurt, she slapped at the hand on her arm, only for it to clamp down over her mouth instead.

"Quiet!"

Glaring, she prepared what would have been the most crippling kick this boy would ever be on the receiving end of, until a shadow fell across the water where they'd just been standing a moment ago. The shadow became a silhouette of a tall, bulky man armed with a rifle, slowly coming closer to the edge of the platform he was on. Belle slowly look up and spotted the toe of a boot peeking out directly above them; all he'd have to do is look down and they'd be spotted. The guard crouched down, and for a heartstopping moment, Belle feared that would be the end of them right there and then. The guard seemed to be scanning the water for movement, and Belle reached her hand out and tapped the boy's side. He, in turn, lowered his gaze from directly above them, to the way her hand was motioning. He seemed to have understood, and a second later, they were both slowly shuffling sideways along the water's edge, away from the man with the gun.

Belle held her breath until the natural lapping of the water was enough to mask most of the noise they made. Her eyes stayed on the man as they shuffled around a bend that would hide them from sight, and her ears pricked at the sudden drip, drip, drip sound. She whirled around just as it became safe to do so, and was startled to find the boy hovering horizontally just over the water, wringing out his jumpsuit as much as he could.

"You...you can fly." Awestruck was the only word for the expression on her face.

"Close your mouth before a bug flies into it," he deadpanned.

Belle flushed and almost used her laser on him, but restrained herself and reached for her communicator instead. Aunt Janie should be proud of me for that. "Belle to jet, I've just found my way back outside through the sewers. Currently in the water just off the coast with a captive I found-"

"Found you," the boy corrected.

"-and awaiting everyone's position," she continued, rolling her eyes.

The radio was silent for a good moment or two, and she wondered not for the first time, if everyone had been caught while she was wandering around the tunnels.

"Belle! Finally, someone reported back in! I thought you guys might've ditched me!"

The voice was much higher pitched than what Belle had expected, and she jumped when her radio crackled to life. She faintly noticed that the boy had dropped back towards the water in surprise, and she fought the urge to splash him.

"Tommy? What are you doing on the jet?"

"It's The Tommy!"

"Oh, whatever! You were supposed to stay home, you little punk!"

Little punk? the boy mouthed, amused. Belle gave him the finger.

"Aw, I wasn't gonna let you guys have all the fun. Besides, when there's a need of justice for the justiceless seeking justice, who better to call than The Tom-"

Belle flipped the switch and Tommy's voice immediately cut out.

"Wow, some rescue team we have here. I'm so relieved."

"Hey! If it wasn't for me, you'd still be stuck wandering around in the dark, so shut up!" Without waiting for an answer, she switched the communicator back on.

"-ello? Belle? Belle, where'd you go?"

"Still here, Tommy. Listen, I found an exit for the others, but it's guarded by guys with guns," she said, steering her gaze around the bend, "and what looks like some kind of high-tech super cannon." Her eyes followed the smooth bend of highly polished metal surrounded by patrolling black uniforms. "So you need to bring the jet over and stay close, but don't attract any attention or else we'll lose this as an escape route, got it?"

"Yeah, but where am I gonna park this thing while we wait?"

"How about over there?" The boy pointed out across the sea at an island.

"Okay, yeah, there's an island just off the coast, about two miles from where we are now. You can probably find a spot there."

"Okay, tracking your coordinates now."

Belle's gaze wandered from the island back towards her irritating companion, still hovering over the water. His clothes finally stopped dripping, but the ugly soaked cloth still clung to him. He really is cute, she thought, in a dirty bad boy kind of way. Not my type, but still.

"Okay, I've got your location. The island you're looking at is called Fishers Island, and it's two miles from you."

Damn, I'm good.

"Should I swing by and pick you up?"

"No, you'll only give us away. We'll meet you there."

"Got it. Establish communication when you get to the coast. The Tommy'll send you coordinates to the meeting point. Over and out."

"Okay then, let's go." The boy's arms snaked their way under her armpits and around her torso and he started to lift her. She hadn't suffered this particular discomfort since she was a toddler.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Put me down!" She hoped it was his cheek that her elbow collided with; with a grunt, he released her.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Just how stupid are you? We can't fly there! With that orange, we'd be spotted, and they'd blast us out of the sky!"

"Ya know, if you wanted me to take my clothes off, you could've just asked." She saw red for a second, causing her aim to be off, and she punched him in the shoulder instead of his stupid face. "Ow! Well what's your idea, smart girl? I can't swim two miles!"

"No, but I can," she snarled through gritted teeth and a red face. "How long can you hold your breath?"

"Crud, I don't know."

"Well it's a good a time as any to find out." Grabbing him by the collar, she dove beneath the surface and dragged him down with her, hoping that he swallowed just a little bit of saltwater on the way down.

The voices in Rachel's head had returned with a vengeance. The buzzing from the plane had turned into whispers when she started tracking the kidnapped mutants, and those whispers became disjointed and loud enough for it to have been too many people loudly talking over each other in a crowded room.

The loudest of all were the three boys trailing behind her, and they were starting to drown out the two voices she vaguely recognized as David and Ashley's. "Okay, shut up!" she snapped, clapping her hands over her ears and listening for the two fading voices.

"We didn't say anything," Bartie yawned.

"You were thinking. It's annoying." Nigel and Patton exchanged glances. "I heard that."

Patton at least had the decency to look sheepish. "God, this is weird," he mumbled.

"Ugh." She could feel a headache coming on. Turning away, she closed her eyes and massaged her temples, hoping to clear her head. Focusing on specific voices while trying to banish the others felt oddly similar to the focus-on-one-person-in-the-crowd trick that she used to use during school performances, and the thought somehow helped.

While she couldn't tell what they were saying, she could almost feel David's tone and Ashley's overuse of the word "like." They were together, that much she could tell, and they were both distressed but desperately trying to stay calm, and wherever they were, they weren't alone.

Their captors heads were buzzing with too much information that she didn't know what to do with, but she found a coherent floor plan within their heads. Eyes closed, she placed one foot in front of the other, and walked with the confidence of someone who spent months strolling through the halls.

Before she knew it, she stood facing a single door among many, without a shadow of a doubt that it was where the others had been taken.

Her friends nodded and wordlessly gathered in a defensive formation with Nigel at the front and Bartie at the rear. Patton aimed his weapon, and Rachel saw at that moment that no matter how many hunting trips he took with his dad and brothers, it bore very little resemblance to the hunting rifle that he learned to shoot with, and he held it more awkwardly than she would have hoped. Too late to worry about that now, she thought grimly.

Nigel glanced at each of them, his right hand was readying to summon a fireball while his shield almost glowed ominously. Rachel gripped her rope tightly, hoping to stay out of the crossfire and help David and Ashley.

"Ready?" he said, his voice low. "One," he reached up towards his glasses, "two," a red glow appeared as the lenses shifted slightly, "three!"

Nigel lifted his glasses away completely, releasing a laser that blasted the door out of its frame and smashed it against the opposite wall. Rachel immediately took in the sight of David strapped down to a hospital bed and Ashley trapped in a clear, airtight tube. There were two men with clipboards and three more with guards uniforms; all of them had matching shocked expressions.

The guards reached for their firearms, the scientists dove out of their way; Nigel raised his shield and Patton cocked his weapon; Rachel made to turn out of their way when she heard the unmistakeable sound of the power going out, and the world went black.

The first thing Abby was aware of was pain. Pain in her upper chest where the bullet cut through her, and pain throughout the rest of her body as they reacted to her restarted heart. She wasn't sure which one hurt more.

The next thing she became aware of was wetness. Blood had soaked through the torso of her suit, and she could feel the hot, sticky liquid starting to crust over her skin. There was wetness on her face and some in her hair, which didn't make sense, but she was glad for the relief; her body may have been reacting too earnestly, and she felt slightly feverish as her heart forced the blood to flow, making up for the amount of time when it had stopped.

Unfortunately, the wet feeling also caused her to become more painfully aware of just how dry her throat felt in that moment. She coughed once, trying to clear it, and somehow ended up in the fetal position, coughing so hard she wasn't sure if she was clearing her throat or dry heaving.

After what felt like forever, the coughing finally stopped, and she knelt there on the floor, taking in shuddering, gasping breaths.

"Abby?"

It was dark, but she knew his voice. Only partially aware of his presence before now, she fought the haziness of her last memory. Things happened so fast, she wasn't entirely sure where and when they stopped.

"Abby's fi-"

The end of her sentence was lost as she was suddenly met with Hoagie's chest as he pulled her into the tightest hug she'd ever received. "You're okay!" His voice sounded as raspy as hers felt, but he was obviously overjoyed.

"Yeah, Abby's fine," she half-whispered. "Just give her a second."

Two minutes turned out to be her companion's answer. Two minutes spent underwater, and about one minute above for him to catch his breath, except for the first time when it took him several to spit up the water he swallowed in surprise.

While pulling him under didn't surprise him as much as she'd hoped, when the water cleared enough for him to see that her legs had melded together to form one long, powerful fin, he yelped in surprise and let go of her hand. Belle sighed, following him back towards the surface.

"You… you have a tail," he gasped once he finished coughing up the water he swallowed. "You're a fish, you're a mermaid, you…" His voice trailed off, gaping at her and her scaly lower half, looking half amazed and half afraid of her.

"Close your mouth before a bug flies into it," she snarked. "Now, c'mon, let's go." She reached for him, and while he didn't back away from her, he definitely flinched. "Look," she huffed, "we're like half a mile away from the coast. Now I can drag your annoying butt the rest of the way there, or I can leave you behind to swim the rest of the way yourself. You pick." The boy bobbed wordlessly, already getting tired from keeping his head above the choppy water. "I think that settles it." She pulled him back under.

The swim had been slow-going due to his breaks, so she swam quickly when they were under, effortlessly weaving around seaweed and schools of fish that swam close to the surface, hindered only slightly by the boy's weight as he clung to her hand. The water felt amazing and the race towards the island gave her such a rush that she almost didn't notice the boy squeezing her hand, signaling that the two minutes were up. She sighed, slowing down and changing direction until their heads once again broke the surface.

"How much farther?" he gasped, catching his breath.

"We're almost there," she assured him. "But we have a problem."

"Oh great, what now?"

She pointed to the various boats, some of which were still tethered to docks, and others setting sail and directly in their path. "There are too many people around for us to keep coming up; we're gonna get spotted."

The boy visibly paled. "So… what do we do?"

'We?' she almost said. "I can pick up the pace," she muttered, her eyes looking for a hiding place, "but you're gonna have to hang on."

He took a deep breath. "Okay, let's do it."

She waited until he was ready this time before diving back under; she grabbed his wrist and he returned with an iron grip. Okay, she thought, taking a breath, just like practice. She was tired of the boy weighing her down, but refused to slow down. Soon, the light that filtered down the water started getting blocked off for brief periods as boats passed overhead. Breathe in, breathe out, she recited silently, just like practice.

She spotted the underside of an unused pier and made for it, ready for a break. She could almost taste the air when the boy started pulling at her hand urgently. It hadn't been two minutes already. Annoyed, she turned her gaze to her unwanted passenger, only to find him frantically pointing towards a boat making its way to their pier. She groaned in frustration, watching as the sailors docked their boat and made their way off. Her eyes widened when she saw that they were dressed similarly to the guards they'd left behind back on the mainland. They were armored head-to-toe, looking similar enough to military that no innocent bystander would question their presence, but distinct enough for Belle to recognize that the patches on their arms didn't match any American branch, even from half a foot below water.

The two that departed from the boat seemed to be surveying the land and the water; their weapons slung across their backs, but still ready for an attack. Belle held still, waiting for some kind of clue of what they were up to, or possibly when they were going to leave. The boy tugged on her arm again.

"I know, I know," she growled impatiently, her eyes still trained above water. He tugged again, harder. "Quit it! You're going to get us caught!" Her voice sounded lower and echoed more than usual, but she knew he'd be able to hear her. "I said, quit!" she snapped when he tugged again, finally breaking her gaze.

The boy's cheeks were puffed out and his eyes were growing wider as his two minutes ran out. He started floating farther upwards and soon started struggling to get away from her death grip to get a breath of fresh air.

"Oh no you don't!" Belle wrestled him back down, fighting the urge to knock his lights out so he wouldn't kick and punch so much. She fought to keep his hands away and reached for his neck instead, pulling him closer. His eyes widened in surprise when she planted her mouth firmly over his and forced air past his lips and into his lungs. He let out a yelp, allowing more water in, but she held tight, pushing air in between them until he seemed to realize what she was doing, and stopped struggling and drank it all in.

The things I do for missions, Belle thought wryly, ignoring the blush forming across her cheeks and trusting that the water made it too dark for him to notice.

With the lights out and everyone around her panicking, Rachel was able to make her way to David, creeping low across the floor to keep from getting hit from either side. Nigel threw fireballs in the general direction of the guards, unintentionally lighting her way. David was drugged, that much she could tell, though it thankfully didn't have as much time to affect him as it had for Bartie and Patton. She yanked out the IV and worked the straps across his chest frantically.

She heard the sound of firearms deploying, and she instinctively ducked down. There was a shout of pain from somewhere too close by and her heart quickened. "Come on, come on, come on!" She'd never felt so clumsy in her life as now with her hands kept fumbling with the metal clasp.

The familiar sound of a generator groaning back to life filled her ears, and lights popped in front of her eyes, blinding her for a moment. When the stars stopped clouding her vision, she spotted Nigel on the far end of the lab, fending off one of the guards with his shield, but losing ground quickly. Both Bartie and Patton were cowering behind a hospital bed that they'd knocked over, while another guard hid behind a desk; Patton and the guard took turns glancing around their barriers and firing while Bartie seemed to be trying to use a reflective surgical pan to get a better bearing for his friend.

The third guard she noticed too late. He'd snuck past her initial gaze and stood, aiming his odd-looking rifle at her. "Look out!" Nigel shouted at her, too late.

Rachel watched the guard tighten his finger over the trigger and instinctively rose her arms to cover her face. The gun went off and a loud cracking sound cut through the air, but nothing touched her.

What the-?

Unclenching her eyes, the needle-shaped projectile was frozen in place a mere inch in front of her. A wall of ice had formed as a makeshift shield in between her and her attacker.

Rachel gaped, and she dimly felt that the others did too. "She's one of them!"

Patton snapped out of it first, using the opportunity of distraction, and shot at the scientist that yelled. The scientist immediately slumped forward, unconscious as the shot syringe poked out of his bicep. The second scientist reached out and pulled his colleague back only to have another syringe land just under his ear.

The first guard tried the same with Nigel, only for every shot to bounce harmlessly off the shield with high-pitched, metallic clangs announcing each missed attempt. Growling, the guard rammed the butt of the gun into the shield, knocking Nigel back. His back hit the wall behind him. The guard pressed forward, pinning him back. Nigel gasped, his breath knocked out of him, and pushed back, trying to get unstuck, but his teenage strength did him no favors against his much bigger and stronger opponent.

The guard kept his weight behind the shield that kept the boy in place, and reached down to scoop up one of the fallen syringes he'd fired off. Nigel gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, watching helplessly as the guard smirked, redirecting his hand. Beads of sweat trickled down Nigel's back, from fear or from strain, he wasn't sure, but he cursed himself for getting caught so easily. His anger towards himself fueled what little strength he had left, and fire erupted from his hands. The needle came closer as the guard made to stick him, and in his last ditch effort, he pushed the fire up against the back side of the shield, hoping for the heat to at least cause the guard to jerk back.

Nigel yelled some sort of wordless battle cry, and the shield in his hand burst into flames. The guard jumped back farther than he expected, but quickly recovered, charging again.

Patton was running out of ammo. He watched the reflection on Bartie's pan with a grim expression as the guard kept peeking around the desk at the opposite end of the lab. Patton counted to three, then poked out from around the hospital bed and fired another shot, diving back down immediately after. The guard rolled out of the way and behind a gurney, which he flipped onto its side and fell behind it.

Cruddy cheater, he thought as the guard pushed his new shield into a more strategic position. He contemplated doing the same, or at least taking the opportunity to jump out and attack while the guard was least expecting it, but decided against it with a sideways glance at Bartie. While his friend was definitely awake now, he wasn't any less defenseless.

"Bartie-" The hospital bed slammed into the both of them and violently shoved them back. Patton dug his heels into the ground, grinding their barrier to a halt. Feathers from the mattress created a screen as they blew from the massive hole that the guard's gun had created. Looks like the safety was turned off. "Bartie, go help Rachel!"

"Wha- What?" The sudden blow to the head seemed to have left him more dazed and confused than before.

The bed jerked towards them again, and Patton threw his weight against it to keep it from pushing them back any farther. Thankfully their position was held, but the second shot carved out a clear hole through the frame as big as his fist.

Patton grabbed at his friend's collar with more force than he meant to. "I said," he grabbed at the Bartie's beltline with his other hand, shifting the smaller boy's weight to gain momentum, "go help Rachel!"

Bartie slid across the floor on his back much faster than he should have been able to, yelping as he sailed passed a hastily erected wall of ice and slammed headfirst into Ashley's tube. He gasped in pain, and clutched at his head, his ears ringing and lights popping in front of his eyes.

"Hey!" Ashley's face appeared in his peripheral vision, startling him. "Hey, you!" She banged her fists against the glass. "Get out of the way!"

"What?" he asked stupidly, fog clouding his senses.

"Move!"

A loud thumping sound filled the air, and Bartie looked up in time to see Patton standing up and holding the one end of the battered hospital bed over his head awkwardly like a disproportionate bat, looking like he was losing his balance by turning too fast. In slow motion, he watched as the guard that had pinned them down sailed through the air, heading straight for him.

He just swatted that guy off of his feet, he thought dumbly.

"Move, you idiot!" Ashley screeched, jumping and pressing herself to the ceiling of the tube in a desperate effort to get away from the guard's likely impact point.

And that point… is me… Oh, crud! Bartie scrambled and dove out of the way at the last possible second, practically hearing the guard's clothes whistle overhead before he, too, slammed into Ashley's glass prison, cracking it.

The guard groaned as he sat up, and Bartie rolled behind Ashley's tube, staying out of his line of sight. The guard, clearly dazed, reached to readjust his helmet until a pair of hands - Patton's hands - grabbed him by the lapels, and hurled him back through the air clumsily, but with gusto. The guard flew to the opposite wall while Patton chased after him again.

Bartie tore his gaze away from his friend as Ashley slid back down from her perch and kicked at the cracks that the guard made. "Come on already, you stupid!" she growled. "Let me out!" He watched in half-fascination and half horror when she seemed to almost liquify before his eyes, attempting to squeeze in between the cracks. "Ugh! Come on!"

He glanced at the others and moved out from behind the tube when he was satisfied that the guards' attentions were elsewhere. "Here, I can help," he half-shouted over the noise of battle going on around them. Using his teeth, he tugged at the glove on his right hand. "You might want to get back up there." He glanced upwards and Ashley followed his gaze, nodding. His hand finally came free and he mentally remarked at how normal it still looked, but at how different it felt. No matter.

He reached for the glass, but drew back before touching it. His whole hand would probably be too much; he could probably do the job with way less than that. He gingerly tapped the cracked glass with one finger and quickly ducked away. The entire bottom half of the tube exploded outwards not a moment too soon, with the top half crashing down soon after.

Ashley, looking surprised but unhurt, bonelessly slid out from the jagged mess of glass that was left of her prison.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Ashley said shakily, eyeing him and his exposed hand warily. "Thanks, I guess."

Bartie raised an eyebrow and covered his hand defensively. "Uh…"

The sound of Rachel crying out broke their suspicious gazes from each other and towards the blond girl. Bartie watched as her guard drew back his fist as if to punch her, and Rachel threw up her hands defensively, creating a block of ice in midair that took the punch for her. Rachel danced away with the guard hot on her heels.

"Go help David!" said Ashley before he could make a move to help his friend.

"But-"

"I said-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, 'Go help David,'" Bartie repeated sourly, already retreating towards the boy. He did not need to be tossed across the room again.

Ashley charged in the opposite direction, getting in a running start, hopping from one toppled gurney to the other, and finally leaping into the air, aiming a kick at the guard's back and forcing all of her weight into it. The guard hit the ground at full force; Ashley leapt off, flipping through the air and landing beside Rachel.

"So like, you know what I could like, really use right now?"

With both of their eyes trained on the guard, who was already starting to rise, Rachel couldn't stop the shakiness of her voice, greatly contrasting Ashley's mocking conversational tone. "What?"

"Some good, old-fashioned telepathic snooze buttons for these guys!" Ashley's lower torso bent sideways to avoid a shot needle. "Or like, maybe just for some kind of attack."

"I'm trying!" she insisted, dancing away from an oncoming projectile. "I can't focus!" She threw up her hand, straining to push him back. She could feel the physical presence of the thick armor, and the person underneath it all, and she knew, without a doubt, that she could move him, and anything else in her way, if only she could make them bend to her will.

A fist swung towards her again, and she only barely had enough time to throw her hands up again. The force behind the punch came at her faster than she thought, and the fist cracked through the hastily-made ice, knocking her flat on her back. With the wind knocked out of her, she laid dazed as Ashley leapt to her rescue, throwing practiced punches and kicks while bending in every possible angle when dodging.

Gotta help.

She moved to sit up and her hands scrabbled along the ground in search of something to throw before Ashley made a mistake. Her hand brushed against something smooth and solid, and she looked down to see that the rope she'd stolen from the weapons room was still hanging from her hip where she'd left it in her haste to reach David and Ashley. She eyed it warily, suddenly hating herself for not going to that stupid "Daddy and Me Cowboy Camp" with the rest of her father's associates and their kids, and then hating the fact that of all things she could have taken, she brought the one thing she had no idea how to use.

Her eyes shot back upwards when she heard Ashley cry out as she tripped and fell backwards over a loose syringe. Her back hit the floor and the guard pounced, shoving her down and wielding the needle in his other hand.

"No!" With a desperate flick of her wrist, the rope came loose from her hip, and she threw the end of it like she'd seen in the movies. The makeshift lasso, amazingly, cut through the air like an extension of her arm, and wrapped around the guard's wrist and pulled taut just as it was about to thrust downwards into a struggling Ashley.

The guard whirled his head in surprised, and then realized that it was only her on the other end, and pulled against it with a strength she knew outmatched her own. The force caused Rachel to slide across the floor despite how much she dug her heels into the floor. Though she couldn't hear the man behind the mask's thoughts, she could feel the smugness radiating off of him as he turned his attention back to Ashley.

No. The thought came out calmly, but she felt power unlike anything else, and the lasso yanked the guard back and dangled him in the air. Ashley gaped from her spot on the floor, and Rachel felt the others turn to stare.

She held the end of the lasso loosely, and the end dangling the guard in the air, followed her thoughts the way her hand would. With another flick, she swung the guard through the air, slamming him into Nigel's adversary with enough force for them both to slam into the wall. Her friends saw Patton's guard slowly lift his firearm and shoot his last needle in her direction, and without turning to see it, she knew its exact target by seeing it through their eyes. With one arm extended towards the guard she just threw, she instinctively pivoted and raised her left hand, creating a shield of ice that the needle shattered against. The lasso followed her next thought before she could finish it, fastening itself around the second guard's ankle, and swung them both back, tossing them onto the third guard, who could only watch as his teammates slammed down on top of him.

The lasso uncoiled itself from the tangle of limbs and recoiled itself onto her hip. If their helmets didn't cover their entire faces, Rachel knew that they'd be groaning loudly in pain.

The sense of unbridled power rushed out of her as soon as it'd come, leaving her feeling as tired as if she had thrown them with her bare hands.

"Whoa, how'd you do that?" Bartie exclaimed at the same time as Nigel asked, "Are you alright?"

Rachel smiled weakly and her knees buckled. "Yeah," she gasped just before they gave out from underneath her. Nigel reached for her, but Patton got there first, wrapping an arm around her and lifting her back up effortlessly. "You're strong," she said, dazed.

"And you're crazy," he retorted in that mockingly snarky voice that she missed so much. "So let's get out of here before anything else goes wrong."

Thankfully, Lenny and Ogie seemed only slightly ruffled, but for the most part unharmed when Abby and Hoagie found them.

"Where'd the other two go?"

"They're gone," Ogie answered solemnly, gliding through the air beside them as they all jogged through the twisting hallways.

"What?!" Abby skidded to a halt at yet another intersection, rounding on the two. "You two were supposed to be watching them!"

"I know." Ogie bowed her head, just waiting for the oncoming lecture.

"It wasn't our fault! That lunatic just ran past me and the girl followed and then they both just disappeared! And now," two kids in bright orange jumpsuits sprinted past, mirroring each other perfectly when they skirted around their would-be rescuers and resumed their race without skipping a beat, "we have to clean up their mess now, too."

Ogie raised her hand towards the two, and they both came to an abrupt halt as they seemingly crashed into the air itself. The invisible force field pulled them back as the two struggled to untangle from each other but couldn't seem to gain their footing.

"What's going on?! What's happening?! Did they get- Ouch! Peter, that was my finger!"

"Shut up, Pete," the other one growled, managing to get to his knees while the other cradled his hurt hand and sucked on his finger.

"Hey, twins!" Hoagie unhelpfully supplied. The identical faces glared back at him.

"Relax guys, we're here to get ya out of here," Abby soothed.

"Yeah, likely story," Peter snarled. "Come on Pete, let's get outta here."

Before Abby or any of the other three could say anything else, Pete offered up his uninjured hand and Peter took it. They both shut their eyes and scrunched up their faces in concentration, and the air seemed to shimmer around them.

"What the-"

The air shifted and where there had been two boys, there were suddenly four, then six, then eight. The available space was very apparently running out, and Ogie held out both hands and concentrated on making the force field bigger, feeling like she was inflating a balloon and that it was almost to its breaking point. Craters appeared on the floor, ceiling, and walls as the invisible sphere expanded to a size that filled the section of the hallway, and yet more boys popped into existence, pushing it out even farther.

Ogie didn't notice she'd fallen to one knee until Lenny was kneeling in front of her, shaking her by the shoulders yelling something that sounded like, "Let it go, Ogie! Now, before you hurt yourself! Let it go!" The last of her strength faded away and the sound of her hitting the floor was masked by the sound of at least thirty other bodies falling in a hopeless tangle of limbs in a twin avalanche. Abby and Hoagie were knocked off their feet and Lenny was bowled over by at least five identical boys rolling and somersaulting off of each other.

Dazed, Abby shoved at least two different bodies off of her before being able to sit up, a twin draped haphazardly across her lap.

A particularly big pile of twins to her left shifted and fell apart as Hoagie's head popped up between a set of feet.

"What the- Ow! Get off me!" Abby spotted Lenny's shoes sticking out from under another pile, kicking and wiggling under all the bodies. "Where's Ogie?"

"Where are the twins?" Hoagie managed to free one arm and started tugging the other free.

"Over there!" Ogie's hand popped into view as she pointed off somewhere to Abby's left.

Abby swiveled her head and spotted two of the boys pick themselves up from the piles of their duplicates and clumsily climb across the mess of bodies littering the hallway.

"Quick! They're gettin' - Get off!" Abby shoved at one or two twins still hanging off of her.

BAMF!

She appeared at the next hallway intersection and the original twins screeched to a halt before crashing into her. "We're tryin' to help ya!"

Peter (or was it Pete?) snarled, "Yeah, right! Trying to help us back into the cages maybe!"

Abby spotted Hoagie zap himself out from under the pile of twins and make his way towards her.

"But what if they are trying to help?" Pete (Peter?) stage-whispered to his twin.

"Shut up, Pete." (Ah.)

Abby opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a flash of red and orange barrelling past. In Abby's peripheral vision, she spotted the looming figure trailing behind the smaller, brighter escapee.

BAMF!

Abby's foot landed hard on the guard's armed wrist, breaking it.

BAMF!

She leg-sweeped the guard.

BAMF!

She snatched his fallen gun and used the butt to slam his head into the ground. She found she had less sympathy and willingness to use her powers to knock him out after dying.

Out of habit from training, she quickly disassembled the weapon and tossed down the pieces in quick, fluid succession. We don't use guns, Mrs. U's voice echoed in her mind. So we might as well keep the enemy from using them, too.

"Okay, I believe you," Pete's voice startled her from her thoughts.

"Yeah, me too," Peter grudgingly agreed.

"Hey, where'd the other MP go?"

"She went that way." Pete, Peter, and her three friends all jumped, but Abby felt the blood drain from her face and turn to ice in her veins at the sound of that voice. The figure stepped into view and the shocked expressions appeared everywhere but on the twins' faces. "You'll need to hurry if you wanna catch her," it said in a cool, carefree tone.

Eyes drifted from one startled gaze to another until Hoagie chirped more to himself than anyone, "I'll go." He zapped himself into the overhead light fixtures and trailed off after the redhead without another word.

"Huh, he's usually more talkative." She shrugged, the orange jumpsuit unzipped to her navel with the sleeves tied around her waist, and a white tank top underneath. Even with the ridiculously baggy clothes, she seemed to be more relaxed than anyone else they'd encountered so far. "So, how's the mansion life been working out for you? Looks like 'Mommy and Daddy' finally came to their senses if you're here."

"They didn't 'come to' anything," said Ogie, carefully. "But we're here to help."

Her eyebrows raised as if in surprise. "Wow, breaking the rules now, are we? Huh, if I would've known, I might've stayed longer and showed you how it's really done."

Ogie and Lenny exchanged expressions and Abby's frown deepened. "Come on, we'd better start roundin' everybody up."

Lenny and Ogie shifted their attention back to her, nodding, but keeping the newcomer in their line of sight. They started forward in the direction that Hoagie took off in with the twins trotting after them.

"Well go on, Crabigail," she gestured mockingly.

"After you, sis."

The jet's interior was a welcome sight after the long swim, followed by the long trek inland. But finally, they made it.

Belle didn't wait until the ramp was lowered completely but jumped and pulled herself up, making a beeline for the storage compartment where the water bottles were kept.

"Hey Belle, you made..." Tommy trailed off as she tossed an empty bottle over her shoulder and nearly whacked him with it; she busily started draining another, "...it."

"So you're Tommy." The boy had waited outside for the ramp to open the entire way before flying directly into the jet. "I pictured you taller."

Tommy gaped even after the newcomer touched down onto the floor gracefully. "Woah!"

Belle rolled her eyes and lowered her bottle. "Kid, this is Tommy. Tommy… Kid."

"Your name is Kid?"

"No." He gave Belle an annoyed glare. "Alejandro Carlos Enriquez; my friends call me Alex." Turning back towards Belle, he added, "You can call me Alejandro."

"Too long," she snarked back.

Tommy's eyes fell out of focus as if he was trying to add something up. "A.C.E. Your initials spell out Ace. How about that?"

"Uh… Sure?"

"Which is cool 'cause they usually call pilots aces, and you can fly, so it's sorta ironic like-"

"I already said fine."

It's been a long time since she'd really been able to stretch her legs, and even longer since she's gone for a good run. She was spotted almost right away as she escaped from her cage, and she immediately turned tail and ran.

She skidded around yet another corner and hoped against hope that it didn't lead to a dead end. It seemed like she was finally catching a break when she spotted a couple more potential escapees, but then she heard the unmistakable squeak of her pursuers' rubber-soled boots as he made the hard turn right behind her.

She tried to scream but the suction cup was still attached to her mouth and she couldn't make a sound. She sensed the guard directly behind her, and she sprinted right past the others and turned another corner in an adrenaline-fuelled panic.

It seemed like she finally lost him, but she was too afraid to turn back to find the others in case she ran back into him. It was probably best to continue forward. She moved much more carefully, peeking around corners before passing hallway intersections.

The hallways were almost deathly quiet with only the low hum of the overhead lights to reassure her that she hadn't gone deaf along the way. Soon though, the low hum because a much more pronounced buzzing sound that sounded suspiciously like crackling electricity. She glanced up in time to spot what looked like some sort of electric surge running from light to light before lightning struck directly in front of her, momentarily blinding her.

She nearly jumped out of her skin in fright. Hoagie materialized in front of her and frantically whispered, "Don't scream! I'm here to help!"

She pulled her hands away from her face, and was instantaneously annoyed at the horrified expression on his face.

"Oh, crud, you can't."

Thank ye, Captain Obvious, she wanted to say.

"Hang on, it's electronic. I can get it off."

Her wary expression gave way to one of alarm when she spotted a guard creeping towards them over his shoulder. She hopped from foot to foot, frantically waving and pointing and wordlessly trying to call his attention away from the device fixed on her face.

"Hold still! It'll just take a second." With his tongue between his teeth, he stretched his hand towards her as if he meant to touch her face; sparks flew from his fingertips.

Turn aroun' ye stupid boy!

The guard crept up close enough to aim a perfect shot and her heart stopped for a brief second. Hoagie tapped the device and she felt the suction cup deactivate and fall into his open palm. Without pause, she unceremoniously shoved Hoagie to the ground, drew a deep breath, and unleashed a mountain of rageat the guard, holding absolutely nothing back.

From his place on the floor, Hoagie suffered a brief, confusing moment in the discomfort of hitting the floor before the most terrible screeching noise filled the air. He cried out in pain and clapped his hands over his ears, desperately trying to block off that loud, horrific sound. He curled on his side in the fetal position, spying the guard that he failed to notice before now cowering on the ground as the redheaded MP towered over him, eyes flared and mouth open as she continued her sonic cry.

He tried to cry out to her, make himself heard over the noise for her to stop, but the pitch seemed to kick up several notches and the lenses of his goggles simultaneously cracked. He gritted his teeth and curled more tightly into a ball, hoping for her to run out of breath soon.

Rachel dizzily clung to Patton's arm as she verbally led them onwards. They were moving too slow, and now that they'd given themselves away, hauling not one, but two weakened mutants was the last thing that they needed right now. Still, with his powers steadily returning, Rachel felt practically weightless, even though he was practically carrying her through the hall.

"There," she gasped suddenly, as if she was in pain. "That way. Hurry."

She didn't point towards where she meant, and he wasn't even sure if she spoke it aloud or in their minds, but he turned and hurried through the one he knew she meant. He felt her head drop and the rest of her go limp, so he effortlessly hoisted her over his shoulder, picking up his pace as he felt her mind continue to buzz against his. It seemed like they were finally headed towards the exit as this final hall was at least twice as long as any other that they'd wandered through, and looked to have led to a dead end. His heart dropped and considered turning back around, if not for Rachel's insistent urging and the rest of their little group following close behind.

His first observation proved to be wrong, and he inwardly sighed in relief as the room opened up before him to reveal two more hallways leading in opposite directions.

"Hey, hey Rachel." He gently lifted her off of his shoulder and set her on the ground, back against the wall. "Come on, girlie, where to next?"

"Here," she mumbled, only half-conscious.

"Yeah, we're here, but where to next?" He kneeled in front of her, nudging in what he hoped was a gentle way; he still didn't know his strength.

"Here," she said more insistently in his mind. "Here."

"Here what?" Bartie groaned.

Patton turned to see everyone clutching their heads or clamping their hands over their ears, obviously hearing Rachel too.

"I don't-"

The unmistakeable sound of hurried footsteps in the hallway to the left cut him off.

His hand scrabbled for something to use as a weapon; Nigel set fire to the shield he'd stolen, and Ashley poised for attack as best as she could while having David half draped over her shoulder and half over Bartie's. Patton felt tension deep in his gut, rearing to be released at the first sight of an enemy.

Instead he spotted a flash of orange and yelled, "Wait! It's the others!"

At the forefront of the large group was a short, blond kid he faintly recognized from before he was kept sedated. A large crowd of orange-clad teenagers ran closely behind him, some stumbling and supporting each other as they made their way forward and filtered into the room. He recognized several from the sedation room where he woke up; the others must have been the ones to stay in the cages.

"Okay, we're here," said a small Japanese girl that he faintly recognized. "Now what?"

"Ah don't know," the blond kid stubbornly answered. "Ah got the same message you d-" He gasped and clamped his hands over his ears.

"Wally! Wally, what's wrong?"

"Somethin' wrong," he groaned through gritted teeth. "We gotta get outta here."

"Why? What's happening?"

"You'll hear it in a second."

Wha-?

Echoing from the hallway to the right and filling the air suddenly was the most piercing, horrific sound that Patton had ever heard. He was faintly aware of everyone around him crying out and clamping their hands over their ears, desperately trying to block it out.

As soon as the screeching started, Abby's group stopped and made as if to block out the sound. Lenny and Ogie's cries were drowned out as was Cree's cursing, but the only thought in Abby's head was, "It's coming from Hoagie's direction."

BAMF!

Hopefully Cree would be too distracted to turn on Lenny and Ogie (as she was wont to do) until she got back.

BAMF!

Abby could practically feel her eardrums blowing out and healing back over, all because of the small redheaded girl unleashing a torrent of a scream to a collapsed guard; Hoagie writhed in pain just behind her.

"Stop!" Abby couldn't even hear herself at this proximity. "Stop! You gotta stop!" She forced herself to remove one hand from its place over her ear, and the sheer volume made it feel as if her brain might just explode. "Come on, girl! Stop! You got him!" She put her hand on the other girl's shoulder, and the weight of it seemed to snap the girl out of it.

Realizing that she and Hoagie must've been on the same side, she let the scream die off until it was little more than a whine, and then finally took a deep breath.

I'm sorry, her lips read, but Abby's hearing was completely gone. She nodded and rushed to Hoagie's side. His goggles were cracked and she couldn't tell if he was conscious or not, only that he was still breathing. She pried his hands away from his ears, revealing a sticky red substance dripping from both ears.

"A-Ah'm sorry," she heard the girl say. "'E was sneakin' up on him an' Ah couldn't warn him, so Ah - so Ah," she gulped.

"It's okay, girl." Cradling Hoagie's face, she felt his eardrums and other damaged parts of his inner ears repair themselves.

He gasped and sat up as he started to register sound again.

"He's gonna be alright."

"Abby!" he yelled louder than he meant to. "What just-"

"Later," she promised. "First, we gotta get outta here." She offered her hand and he took it without hesitation, standing shakily and leaning against her for support. "What's your name, girl?"

"Fanny," she said hesitantly.

"Well Fanny, this is a rescue mission," Abby slightly buckled under her friend's weight. "Come with us, and we'll get you home." She received a suspicious stare and Abby had to hold herself from rolling her eyes. "Come on, you're not gonna find your way out by yourself. Just trust Abby; she's just like you."

Abby held out her free hand, and Fanny continued to stare warily, as if she was trying to find the truth in her eyes. She seemed to find what she was looking for after a pause, and reached for her hand as if to shake it.

BAMF!

The three of them reappeared right where Abby left her friends, and Fanny quickly let go, crying out in surprise (though thankfully at a normal volume this time), and placed a hand on the wall as if to steady herself.

"Don't worry, that always happens the first time."

"Where's Cree?" Hoagie mumbled.

"She ran off," said Ogie, not surprising either Abby nor Hoagie. "I'm just glad she didn't try something before she did; we wouldn't have been able to fight back."

Abby nodded, partially to wave away the small guilty feeling she had at having left them alone with her. "Well come on ya'll, Abby doesn't wanna be stuck down here any longer than she has to." The mental map that Rachel had broadcasted just before the sonic cry was still clear in Abby's head. "Let's get home."

BAMF!

"Wasn't Belle supposed to find an exit through the sewers?"

"Yeah." Nigel raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Kuki lightly pushed a few MPs aside, revealing a manhole near the blank wall where an entrance was missing. The cover looked like it had been welded shut, opened, and hastily replaced. "I think I found it."

Patton pushed his way to the front. "Hang on, I got this." He found the holes and used his fingers to grab hole and pull it out of place, setting it down right beside him. He and those closest to him peered downwards, seeing a metal ladder leading down into darkness. "How far down do you think that is?"

"Let's find out." Nigel summoned a fireball in his hand, and tossed it downwards, lighting up a decently sized drop into flowing water. The fire touched down into the damp and fizzled out, leaving only blackness behind. "Okay, I'll go first," he decided, "to light the way. Everyone else, follow behind. Ashley, you come last to make sure no one attacks us from the rear."

Ashley wrinkled her nose in disgust at the sight below, and nodded.

Nigel mounted his stolen shield on his back like a backpack and descended as quickly as he could, but was hindered by the slick handlebars. With only a foot left to go to the water's surface, he dropped down with a splash, the water up to his knees. Yuck. With a fireball in each hand, he gazed down the tunnel and wondered how far it went, and if Belle found an exit.

Others splashed down just behind him and slowly the tunnel began to fill. Nigel ventured forward, the others trailing behind him as they came down. The tunnel ran straight and narrow enough for only two people to walk side by side, but they made their way single file, allowing for those still coming down to easily get in line and follow.

This might be easier than I thought. And then the tunnel forked.

"Which way?" Kuki's high-pitched voice echoed off the tunnel walls and Nigel could tell that the others were getting nervous.

"I don't know," he murmured to himself. He burned his fire brighter, revealing an X on the wall next to the left one. Was this Belle's handiwork, or of someone else before her? "I think we're supposed to follow the X," he decided. If nothing else, they'd at least find Belle if not the exit.

He felt a slight push from behind him; a boy, at least a few years younger than himself (I didn't even know you could get your powers that young) with tousled dark hair made his way ahead, squinting as if he wasn't used to looking in direct light.

"What are you-?"

The boy sprinted off into the right tunnel, and was gone in the time it took to blink. Nigel gaped, hearing only the water lapping at the boy's footsteps fast enough to sound like it was vibrating. The air in front of him whooshed from right to left and a blur sped past him and into the left tunnel. The odd sound continued for a second longer, and the boy reappeared at first running along the tunnel wall, his body parallel to the ground, before skidding to a halt in front of Nigel. "You're right, the X's lead the way out."

Nigel blinked twice and wondered if the boy would speed off again before he reopened his eyes. "Well, that was… fast."

The boy smiled sheepishly, still squinting and shielding his eyes from the fire.

"Can you not see, or what's wrong?"

"It's not that, it's - hang on."

Nigel blinked again and the boy was gone; he turned in time to see him running along the wall again and presumably back up the ladder. He reappeared after two more heartbeats, this time sporting a ushanka, effectively shielding his eyes.

"Better. I also found this."

He out a box in his outstretched arms that seemed to serve as a trash can filled with civilian clothes, shoes, and anything else that a mutant had on them at the time of their capture. At the very top of the pile was a cell phone. Nigel picked out the sparkly thing and switched on the backlight.

"No service. Already checked."

Nigel frowned, looking from the phone to the communicator on his wrist. Static filled the air as he switched it on. "Must be too deep underground," he muttered. He heard the nervous shuffling and murmurs of the stalled line behind him and turned. "We're following the X's," he announced, hoping his voice echoed all the way back to the manhole. "We're almost home."

"Psst! Psst!" Cree took advantage of the rest of the escapees' distraction to toss a button she pulled off of her jumpsuit. The button sailed through the air and bounced off of one of the remaining few waiting for their turn down.

The boy it hit turned his head in surprise and curiosity to find Cree poking her head through the unguarded door, beckoning him over. He glanced around and found no one paying attention as Ashley kneeled on the floor and lowered the unconscious Rachel down to someone waiting below by working her arms as a sort of elastic swing.

Cursing his bright orange jumpsuit for the gazillionth time, he shuffled away as inconspicuously as possible, just like he was trained. He made it partially down the hall until he was out of the others' immediate line of sight before he ran to the next intersection and around a corner, Cree just a step ahead of him.

"What are we doing? The way out is back that way," he said in a low voice, peeking back around the corner to make sure no one had seen.

Cree gazed at the way his jumpsuit folded as the rest of him, now invisible, manipulated it with his movement. "No, the way to getting caught is that way," she corrected, staring at the space where she knew his eyes would reappear. "Maurice, if they think that whoever's been running this place isn't gonna chase after them, then they're crazy."

"Maybe," he said slowly. "But there's strength in numbers, right? Besides, they might need help; a few of them are still sleepwalking." It stopped surprising him a long time ago that she always seemed to know where to look when he was invisible, but the same didn't apply to how much she'd changed since they'd left the Unos. "How are you not still sleepwalking, anyway?"

She reached deep into her mouth as a response, and pulled out a small white piece of broken plastic shaped like a tooth. "Adrenaline," she said. "Courtesy of the new boss."

He gaped at her in horror. "Adrena-"

"Don't freak out," she pleaded.

"Adrenaline! You know that stuff is dangerous for us!" He fought to keep his voice low, though he wasn't sure how well he was accomplishing that, nor was he sure if he cared after this particular revelation.

"It was only enough to jumpstart my powers in case of an emergency! And you know what? It worked. I got it together enough to find our armor," she opened the front of her hastily pinned together jumpsuit to reveal she was wearing the heavily modified suit that Mrs. Gilligan had made for her, along with his still folded and tucked under the orange fabric. "And I found another exit for us to use so we can get out of here." She pressed his folded suit to his chest. "So are you with me?"

Her stance was firm, but her eyes betrayed just how much she wanted him along. This is the mission, he reminded himself. My mission. He sighed and accepted the suit, nodding. Cree smiled, her face betraying her relief, and he realized that he couldn't let her go alone either way. She was good, but not good enough to make it out without someone watching her back.

The suit unfolded as he shook it out, the smooth fabric a welcome sight, though he wondered if the form-fitting clothes would still fit his form after living on a barely sustainable diet. Cree made a show of closing her eyes and turning around, but he still made himself invisible as he stripped the orange jumpsuit off and pulled his old one on. The fabric adapted as it was slipped on, slowly disappearing from view until he zipped it all the way up to his throat. Not even a little loose. Maurice sighed in relief at the familiarity and Cree took that as a signal that it was safe to look.

The satisfied smirk on her face disappeared and was quickly replaced with a snarl and her gloveless fists raised, glowing with a pulsing green energy. Maurice whirled around ready to roundhouse kick whoever snuck up on them into next Tuesday. His foot stopped short in mid air just as he realized that it wasn't another guard, but an unimpressed Ashley.

"So like, did you expect me not to notice you left, Maurice?" the blonde deadpanned. "Oh hey, Cree," she added as an afterthought. "So like, I guess leaving without saying anything wasn't good enough the first time. Nah, you had to go and like, try to run off again to the guy no one's seen in like, months, and probably just disappeared on you guys too. Am I right? Is that how you got down here?"

"We got down here by trying to deliver a message," said Cree coolly. "A message for you and your siblings. From your Father."

That, at least, seemed to peak the younger girl's interest. "What kind of message?"

"In essence, 'Come home.' We've been looking to set up our own base of operations where we train to actually use our powers, and we finally found our new home. And now he wants his children to join him."

Ashley scoffed - or at least tried to, it came out more like a choke. "If he wanted us at all, he would've like, taken us with him when he left." The amount of effort to hide the sting of that particular betrayal was clue enough at how much it had affected her and her foster siblings.

"He needed you to keep up with your training," said Maurice, trying to soften the blow. "With the amount of moving around we've had to do the past couple months, the five of you wouldn't have been able to keep up. He was right; last time I saw you, you had trouble retracting back to your normal size. And now you make it look easy."

"It is easy," she snapped, trying and failing to discreetly wipe at her eyes. "But like, why would we go with him now?"

"For the same reason we left," said Cree. "Oh sure, the Unos love a good project, but once you learn how to use your powers, suddenly it's wrong to ever use them outside of the mansion. Your Father gets that these gifts are meant to be used, and we deserve that freedom. And anyone who gets in the way is gonna get mowed down."

"By you," Ashley said flatly.

"And you," Cree granted, "when you join us. Lie to yourself all you want, but you know that the Unos don't care about you or the others. You don't belong with them, and you know it. You know where you belong and with who. Just think about it; we know you'll make the right decision."

Cree turned on her heel and walked back towards the maze of halls and Maurice followed, fighting the overwhelming desire to talk Ashley out of it.

"Wait." They both stopped. "How can we get in touch with him?"

"Leave the mansion, and we'll find you," Cree promised.

"Okay," she sighed. "Did you at least wanna like, follow us out?"

Cree smirked. "No thanks, kid. We've got our own escape route, but we'll see you again soon."

Ashley nodded, stony-faced, and headed back towards the room with the uncovered manhole.

"Come on," Maurice said finally. "Let's get out of here."

Cree decidedly picked a hallway and began to jog, and Maurice kept with her pace easily. He wasn't sure how far they'd run, nor how many twists and turns they made, but Cree seemed to have memorized their route as she turned with confidence and without slowing down.

"Where is this exit anyway?" he asked at one point, only slightly winded.

"It was where the first two mutants broke out of. The rescue team came back through it when breaking in, and now we're gonna use it to break out."

"That's smart," Maurice panted, impressed.

"Thanks. It should only be a little farther, so there might be a couple guards waiting for us."

"Right," he muttered to himself, slowing down to a halt as Cree stopped.

She peeked around the corner. "Okay, yeah, it's just around here, the door is to the left," she whispered. "Two guards. Ready?" Maurice made a noncommittal sound, and turned invisible.

They both nodded and simultaneously stepped out into the guards' line of sight. The two started, and aimed their weapons at Cree. They fired in rapid succession, and Cree expertly ducked and weaved her way steadily closer.

Maurice quickly made his way past her, lightly tapping her shoulder as he passed so she could guess how much longer she would play the distraction. He rushed forward catching the exact moment that one of the guards - the bigger one - stopped briefly to reload, and rammed the weapon into the man's helmet.

Dazed, the guard stumbled backwards, and Maurice slammed his heel behind the other guard's knee, causing him to lose his balance and buckle, giving Cree the opportunity to sprint forwards. Her glowing fist collided with the underside of his helmet, cracking it. The other fist was aimed at his chest, partially melting the armored vest.

A fist flew in Maurice's general direction, and he caught it with practiced ease, using his other hand to Cobra Strike him in the jugular. The guard's armor kept it from being as crippling as he'd hoped, but his invisibility was still confusing enough to the guard that he was easily able to dodge another misplace punch and deliver a kick that sent him towards Cree's awaiting fist. Maurice caught the guard's foot with his own, tripping him slightly; he didn't want Cree to punch a hole through anyone's head, whether by mistake or on purpose.

Ashley ran one last sweeping look to make sure she was alone. She lifted the manhole cover and dropped down the hole herself, pulling it closed behind her. She landed with only her feet first so she wouldn't splash the mucky water all over herself, and slowly shrank down to her normal height.

"Was that it?" David's voice echoed.

"Yeah, that's everyone." Lie. "Let's get moving."

The two trudged along silently, Cree's words seeming to echo along the tunnels. The Unos don't care about you or the others. You don't belong with them and you know it. You know where you belong. The Unos don't care. Don't care.

Ashley stopped suddenly, and David bumped into her. "Have you like, seen Bruce since we split up?"

He paused, mentally going over all the faces that had been sent down before him. "No," he said finally.

"Didn't think so. We gotta go back." She didn't stop to hear a response but turned back around and sprinted back under the manhole. She stretched upwards and pushed against the cover. "This thing is like, a lot heavier when pushing it up than pulling it down." The cover shifted slightly, but with another huff, it settled back into place.

David shot his web at the ceiling and pulled himself up until he knelt upside down. "I got this."

Ashley nodded, shrinking herself down as David started working at the manhole cover. She linked one foot in between two of the ladder's rungs and planted the other on the floor. Her top half stretched as she crawled along the tunnel's wall, avoiding the marching MPs. She began to wobble as she became increasingly top-heavy, her gloved hands only providing so much traction. The familiar sight of a red cap led her gaze down to the two she was looking for.

"Psst! Hey!" One hand laid flat on the floor, and the other stretched over everyone's head to tap on two shoulders simultaneously. Lenny and Ogie glanced at the hand and traced it back to its owner. "We've got a problem."

Ogie glanced sideways towards Abby's retreating form and Lenny nodded.

"Come on, before anyone notices we've like, run off."

"Too late for that." Abby's unimpressed frown was still clearly identifiable with only half of it visible. The other half was blocked from view by Hoagie, who still leaned against her as his balance still hadn't completely returned. His expression was closer to a grimace, but his furrowed brow made his thoughts clear. "Abby doesn't care what kind of trouble you're gettin' into now, all she knows is that you betta not be ditchin' us. We're gonna need everybody's help in case somethin' goes sour."

You don't belong with them and you know it. "This doesn't like, involve you. Team Wigglestein only." Ashley's hand grew and yanked at both of her siblings' collars, knocking their heads together; she retracted back to her normal size, pulling them both with her before Abby could get another word in.

Abby ground her teeth together at the sight of Lenny and Ogie being slingshotted away, flailing and yelling all the way back to the start. "Here," she thrusted Hoagie's weight onto Pete and Peter, who quickly shouldered him in between the both of them. "Keep movin', Abby'll be right back."

BAMF!

"So how are we gonna get outta here anyway?"

Nigel glanced back at the short Aussie, who was still trudging along only a few steps back. "Hoagie's little brother, Tommy, stowed away on the jet, so we're gonna contact him and see about him meeting us once we get a signal."

"Cool," said the young MP. Lee, Nigel corrected himself. His name is Lee, not MP. Lee matched his pace easily despite being even smaller than Wally, and showed no sign of desire to run ahead of everyone else, but fidgeted with a glow-in-the-dark yoyo that had also been pulled from the box full of their stolen possessions. His hands were a blur as he performed various tricks way too quickly for anyone's eyes to follow, but it seemed to keep his speed in check.

"Would ya knock it off already!" Wally hissed impatiently as the yoyo narrowly missed swiping him across the face, only stopped by Lee's hand as he snatched it out of the air not one second too soon.

Lee grinned sheepishly, relenting. Before long, he seemed to be vibrating with nervous tension with each footstep, causing miniature waves around him that seemed to be rocking Wally until he lost his balance.

The blond fell backwards with a splash, soaking those around him. Fully submerged, Wally experienced a moment of panic as his back hit the floor and the sound of rushing water filled his ears. Ah can't swim. He flailed blindly, reaching for something, anything to pull himself up. He swallowed a mouthful of water, and the next thing he knew, he was gazing up into a set of eyes, wide with concern.

Kuki's brow was furrowed and she seemed to be saying something to him, but his brain couldn't process her words. He watched her mouth as it moved in slow motion, and he felt, deep down, that everything was going to be okay.

Her eyes glanced somewhere behind him and before he could turn, he felt something hit him on the back, hard. His surroundings sped up and his ears cleared with another thump to his back. Water spewed from his mouth and he coughed in disgust as everything else snapped into focus. Nigel hit him a couple more times, much more lightly this time, and Kuki and Lee each held him by the elbows, helping him sit up.

"Are you okay?" Kuki asked at the same time as Lee stuttered out, "I'm sorry."

"'M fine," he growled, suddenly aware of how his fangs and claws were both out. He quickly retracted them, and took Lee and Kuki's hands as they offered him up, but not before spotting an angry red line across Kuki's palm. She met his eyes, knowing that he saw it, and quickly put her hands behind her back as casually as she could. "How long was Ah under?"

"About thirty seconds," Nigel said.

Wally blushed, thanking the dark of keeping it from being too obvious. Water dripped from his hair down his face, and he instinctively shook it off like a dog until he sprayed water all over his three rescuers and the stopped line behind them. Cries of disgust echoed around him, and a few seconds later, the hair sticking to his forehead was the only indication of him having been under water.

Lee grimaced as he wiped the water from his face, Kuki had a look of sheer disgust as she tried to wring it from her hair, and Nigel just frowned as he wiped at the lenses of his glasses without removing them. Wally smiled sheepishly. "Whoops."

""Ugh! Can we just get a move on, already?!" an angry, female voice yelled out from somewhere in the line behind them.

"Yeah," said Nigel curtly. He spun on his heel and marched forward, the rest of them trailing behind.

Wally walked side by side with Kuki, careful to keep several steps behind Lee, who had returned to his yoyo. He wasn't sure how long they followed Nigel's glowing hand, or even which direction he was heading in after a few more turns along the way, he just kept his eyes down on the water ahead of him, absentmindedly following the reflecting light.

"Do you hear that?" Kuki said finally.

"Hear what?" said Nigel.

"Water," Wally confirmed, his ears picking up the sound as soon as he started paying attention.

"Well yeah, we've been walking through it for-"

"No," he insisted. "Loike waves." The faint smell of salt wafted through the air. "We're roight by tha ocean."

The line behind him shuffled excitedly behind him, and Nigel's smirk widened. "Well then we're almost out of here. Come on." His pace quickened as he made two more turns, and the sewage beneath their feet splash higher as they all practically ran ahead towards the open air and the promise of freedom. The tunnel's end came into view and Wally sprinted forward, ready to put this horrible place behind him once and for all.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Lee ran up the wall, around the ceiling and back down rapidly, creating a whirlwind that pushed the group backwards. Wally glared as once it stopped, and the boy was once again moving at normal speed up ahead of them all. "Guards up ahead," he hastily explained, his voice low. "Right above the exit."

Nigel's frowned deepened as he contemplated his words. "Wait here," he said brusquely, marching forward before anyone could protest.

He followed Lee to the mouth of the tunnel, closing his eyes for a brief moment as the light of the setting sun blinded him, and he took a breath of clean air. The young speedster tapped his shoulder and pointed upwards, and Nigel slowly leaned outwards, holding on to the edge for support. All he could see was a bank directly above and open sky. He turned his gaze back to Lee, who held up one finger, and pulled a rock from the slope beside them. Wordlessly, he counted backwards from three, and tossed it several feet out. The splash wasn't big, but it was apparently loud enough to whoever was above them, as two figures in overly familiar uniforms appeared on the edge directly above. Nigel's heart leapt into his mouth and he jerked back into the darkness, watching the shifting reflections in the water. The two figures retreated back out of view after quickly surveying the water. Nigel took a steadying breath, and leaned back out again, his gaze following the shoreline until he spotted a bend that could hide them all from view. Quickly formulating a plan, he made his way back to the rest of the group with Lee in tow.

"So, guards?" said Patton, pushing his way forward ahead of a few yawning figures, Rachel still leaning on his shoulder, though thankfully awake.

"Yes."

"How many?"

"Impossible to tell," he said at the same time that Rachel said, "Too many."

"Right," he nodded. The group exchanged worried glances with each other. "There's a bit of a drop into the water, and if we make too much noise, they'll hear it. But," he interjected just as it looked like Wally was about to argue by pointing out the obvious, "if we were lowered down, one at a time, and everyone stayed with their backs to the wall, we might be able to shuffle past them. There's a bend off to the left that we can hide behind while I call the jet. We can figure out our next step then."

Worried looks turned into cautious but determined ones, which was all Nigel could honestly hope for in this type of situation. He motioned them all forward, and thankfully, they all stayed silent as they made their way forward again. At the mouth, Nigel made a quick peek to make sure there was no one above, making a low satisfied sound. "Patton," he whispered, beckoning him over. The boy handed Rachel off to an empty shoulder and made his way forward. "Lower them down, slowly." There was a hint of a challenge in Patton's eyes, but thankfully, he didn't argue.

Nigel checked to make sure the shield on his back was still secure, and kneeled down and slowly slid all the way down, his clothes instantly soaking through as he made his way down. It was up to his knees when he started to worry that he might not be able to reach the bottom, and he suddenly lurched forward, his hand slipping against the slick metal underneath him. The water seemed to rush forward to greet him as he fell, and Nigel made a hard stop as something, or rather someone roughly grabbed hold of his upper arm just as he almost splashed down. He turned his gaze, unsurprisingly finding a kneeling Patton holding on. Nigel nodded in reluctant respect as he ungracefully floated the rest of the way down, the water up to his waist.

He jumped back against the wall as he sensed movement up above, though it seemed to be a passing glance rather than a thorough check. The figure retreated and Nigel rotated his shoulder, feeling where he was sure five identical bruises would soon appear.

This isn't going to work, he realized suddenly. He glanced upwards, making sure the coast was clear, and wandered back under the opening, stepping out as far as he dared. Catching Patton's eye, he raised up his outstretched arms, and Patton nodded.

Lee's feet popped into view as the younger boy sat at the edge as Nigel had, and Patton held him by his underarms and lowered him slowly. Lee's weight transferred to Nigel awkwardly until Lee touched the ground, the water high on his chest. Nigel gestured towards their soon-to-be hiding place, and Lee nodded. With his back pressed against the wall, he shuffled off slowly.

The next person was already perched on the edge, and Patton lowered a girl unfamiliar to Nigel, which was easier, but was just as awkward. The next few followed and Nigel felt himself start to get tired, and his arms shook with strain as he caught and lowered them down as they came. It might have been the sixth or seventh (he lost count), a recently awoken girl, that finally fell forward too hard into his awaiting arms.

The splash she made as she hit the water, combined with the one he made as he took a hasty step backwards to balance himself out, were deafening to his ears, and he spotted the already submerged MPs swivel their heads in his direction in panic. Nigel made to push the girl to safety, but she only clung to him more tightly. Moving as quickly as he could, he pulled the girl under the jutting mouth of the tunnel, spotting Patton yanking Kuki back inside out of the corner of his eye.

Long shadows appeared across the water and the girl's grasp on him tightened even further as they could hear multiple footsteps overhead. He held his breath as one shadow kneeled down at the edge. He wasn't sure if it was Lee or one of the other few that had already made it down, but in perfect sync, they all took a deep breath and silently dunked down under the lapping water. For all their sakes, Nigel hoped that the water was dark enough to hide the bright orange jumpsuits. He sensed more than saw the guards taking long sweeping looks and he instinctively ducked down until the water was up to his neck, and the girl's hair tickled him as it started to get submerged. The water was at his nose when the attention started drifting in their direction and he hoped the girl was getting ready to hold her breath. The sound of footsteps grew louder as they made their way directly overhead, and Nigel's heart sunk as he realized just how many there were now; the individual shadows grew bulkier as more and more guards joined in the ranks in locating the suspicious noise. Directly above them, he spotted a knee and a hand of a guard, and he took a deep breath.

BOOM.

The ground slipped from under his feet at the lapping water smacked him in the face. Nigel swiveled his head to see the escapees all come up for air, some of them spitting out water, all of them alarmed. The shadows from above disappeared as the guards sprinted away from the edge, and Nigel could hear hurried and frantic sounds overhead.

We have to hurry. The girl had practically wrapped herself around him while in the water, and he pried her arms from around his neck and pushed her away until she reluctantly unwrapped her legs from around his waist. She gave him a pout with half-lidded eyes and he could sense that whatever her power was, it would be best to stay away from her.

"Hey!" he half-whispered to the ones nearest to them. A set of identical faces stopped their shuffling to look at the awkwardness of their position. "Take her, she's still half-asleep." Maybe it was a trick of the light, but something angry flashed across her face, and then it was gone, but he didn't have the time to try to figure it out; there were still others waiting to get out. He gently pushed the girl in their direction and turned back to the opening where another set of feet were already dangling out. The girl's steady, lidded gaze followed him until his back was turned, and she smacked away the twin's offered hand, standing up straight and narrowing her eyes, shuffling around the both of them with her nose in the air.

"What do you fools think you're doin'? Out is that way."

Ashley bared her teeth angrily and Abby wondered why she was even more foul tempered than usual. "It's like, none of your business," she snarled.

"It is Abby's business when you guys are threatenin' the mission by goin' back to where you're gonna get caught! We're leavin', now!"

Lenny opened his mouth to respond, but never got the words out before the ground underneath them started to shake. It felt as if the entire world around them started to rattle, and Abby could barely see straight or even keep her footing. She fell to her knees and pressed her palms to the wall in a futile effort to steady herself as she was shaken silly. The air was filled with the sound of sloshing water and creaking metal, mixed with the sound of Ashley's voice as she swore up a storm, and a high-pitched horror movie scream that Abby was very sure did not come from Ogie.

After what felt like hours, the intense shaking faded into a light rumble, and then stopped. Still, it took Abby a few long moments to get herself to stop shaking. She opened her eyes, not realizing that she'd clamped them shut, and saw David and Lenny kneeling beside each other, embracing and shaking; Ashley and Ogie were doing the same a few feet away.

She stood up shakily, fighting to regain her balance as her knees threatened to give out from under her. "We're leavin'," she meant to say, but it came out a garbled mess. She reached out and grabbed hold to all four of their collars.

BAMF!

Rachel slid into his awaiting arms easily, despite them being so tired that it felt like they were about to fall off. Her arms made their way around his neck as her weight was transferred to him more naturally than anyone else had so far. She came down to his eye-level as her feet touched the floor and Nigel prayed he wasn't blushing; there'd be no way to deny it while they were so close.

Either way, her eyes flickered from his to her left where the line was slowly moving along. The girl that had clung to him earlier was glaring hard, but her eyes instantly softened to a more innocent gaze as Nigel turned in her direction. Rachel rolled her eyes, stepping back from Nigel and joined the others with her back to the wall.

Thankfully the line had dwindled down to only a handful left, and as Hoagie splashed down, Nigel found himself almost entirely unworried; the hurried and frantic footsteps from above hadn't stopped since the miniature earthquake, and he was more concerned with speed than silence. Hoagie shook the water from his hair after he touched down, looking almost hopeful.

Ashley's leg stretched down, followed by the other, and then the rest of her. David swung down to land directly beside her, both of them wearing matching worried expressions.

Nigel glanced up past the both of them, spotting Wally dangling over the side with only Patton holding him up by the hands. He grimaced, dreading this exchange the most; that kid was way heavier than he looked, with an apparent fear of water. Oh boy.

"Last one," Patton called in a low voice. "Stop kicking," he ordered Wally, who'd begun to swing his feet nervously.

Wally noticeably gulped, and Nigel prepared to at least soften the drop if not stop it altogether.

CSHHHH! "This is The Tommy from aboard the jet calling Nigel Uno! I've just picked up your signal, tracked your coordinates, and am ready for pickup! Over!"

Nigel froze, the communicator on his wrist much louder than he expected. Overhead, some of the hurried footsteps stopped, and the shadows began to appear once again as they made their way closer, and Wally was pulled back up by Patton. As if it would do any good, he thought.

"Stop saying over! This isn't an episode of your stupid show, it's just stupid Nigel!"

The blood drained from his face as the top of a helmet came into view.

"Aw, but this sounds so much cooler!"

Nigel wondered if the guard's face were visible, if the expression on his face would be mildly or extremely surprised. The two locked eyes, (or at least, it felt like they did), and the guard reached for his modified semi automatic. He guard cocked his weapon, and Nigel lifted his glasses away from his eyes. His vision went red as the beam raced toward its target, the blast knocked the guard backwards off of his feet.

"Tommy!" he yelled into his communicator. "Get the jet over here ASA-NOW!"

"That's The Tommy to y-!"

"Just do it!" He turned to the rest of the escapees, all looking to him in panic. "The rest of you, keep going!"

Nigel grabbed hold onto a rock that he hoped was stuck in place, and hauled himself up onto the ridge.

Wally watched as Nigel hurled himself into what would no doubt be a suicide mission. Nevertheless, he made it all the way up to the top, removed the shield from its place on his back, and ran headfirst into danger and out of view.

"Tha' crazy kid's gonna get himself captured!" Or worse. "Cova meh, Ah'm goin' in!" he said to no one in particular, unsheathing his claws and reaching around to the wall.

His head snapped forward as he was unceremoniously jerked back by the collar. "You're gonna get yourself captured," Patton snapped, pointing to the guards that began to swarm the shoreline.

Wally's face fell as the numbers grew, and the orange-clad mutants sloshed through the water as fast as they could, tripping over themselves and each other in the process. "We can't just leave them alone out there!"

"We're not," Patton assured him, leaning over the edge to get a better look. "Tell me, how are you with heights?"

After the sheer emptiness of the maze down below, Nigel expected only a few handfuls of guards waiting for him. Oh how wrong he was. Dozens of them, indiscernible from each other, were manning a low building that he could only assume was the command center, and right in front of it, Is that a cannon?

The guard he blasted was laying several yards back, clutching his arm where he'd been blasted. One by one, it seemed, that they all looked up from whatever it was that they were doing to take in what had just happened. The ones nearest to him unsheathed batons while others raised their firearms.

Nigel took a steadying breath, set his shield on fire, and charged. A group of five got to him first. Without stopping, Nigel dropped, sliding between the first one's legs, and popped up fast enough to smack the second one in the chest. The less prepared guard stopped short, the last three crashing into him. A baton almost cracked him over the head, but he stepped out of the way just in time, delivering his own swipe to the first guard. He jumped off the second guard's knee and came back down with a fiery punch.

By then the rest had swarmed and had him completely surrounded. The next few who attacked were met with the same ferocity. They were all well-trained, he realized, gritting his teeth as he dodged a blow and returned another. They moved fast and they worked well together, causing him to rely on nothing but muscle memory to duck and kick and turn at the exact right moments; any second he took to stop and think about his next move would be a second too long.

He raised his shield and stopped a hard stab, and sidestepped another, leg sweeping one off their feet, jumping into a back handspring, kicking another in the head as he flipped. Duck, jab, knee stomp, duck and roll. Kneeling, his shield flew up and caught another blow. The guard behind it pushed back with his entire weight behind him and Nigel was caught with a sense of déjà vu.

Pushing back, he summoned up his concentration to burn the fire hotter, but his foot jerked out from under him and he fell onto his back. One had grabbed hold of his ankle while he was distracted and dragged him back. His other foot rammed rammed into the guard's helmet, causing him to stumble back dizzily. Nigel somersaulted backwards, landing in a low crouch less steadily than he would've liked.

His heart sunk even further as he realized that they were getting up almost as fast as he was knocking them down, with more turning their attention towards the others that were making their desperate escape. He knew he wasn't going to last nearly long enough; he was already out of breath and making clumsy mistakes. Where are you, Tommy?

The last of the fallen guards made their way back onto their feet, and the group of them made to approach him again. Nigel eyed them warily, wondering if he had the energy to optically blast them all at once. The few that had initially broke out their batons reached for their firearms, and Nigel decided he didn't have much of a choice. He stood back up and reached for his glasses. His vision went red as he lifted them up, sweeping his gaze from side to side, blasting everyone off of their feet. Nigel gritted his teeth as his remaining energy began to drain.

His glasses were slammed back down over his eyes and his arms were straightjacketed to his sides by a bear hug from behind. Without thinking, he used some of the last of his energy to set himself completely on fire. The guard holding him headbutted him and shoved him away.

Nigel crashed into the ground, stars popping into his vision. An unmistakable click brought his attention back to the guard that threw him. The uniform was singed but otherwise intact. The tranquilizer gun was aimed directly at him, but he didn't have the energy to lift his shield.

I just hope that I bought them enough time, he thought grimly, staring into the barrel.

"Ahhhhhh!"

What the-?

Both his and the guard's eyes darted upward to spot Wally careening through the air, wildly flailing his arms as he flew, yelling in surprised fear. Nigel watched in clear confusion as the blond reached the apex of his arc almost directly overhead, and his yell turned into a wordless battle cry as he sailed back down to earth. With his claws out, he slashed downwards across the tranq gun and landed in an ungraceful heap on top of the guard holding it.

"Wally! What in the-? How in the-?"

"Not now, mate! Duck!" Wally threw himself face down on the ground with his hands folded over his head.

Without giving it a second thought, Nigel quickly followed suit. A powerful gust of wind blew in a second later, at first ruffling his hair, but then started growing fiercer, actually pushing him across the ground. He faintly heard heavy bodies fly overhead that might have been the guards that had remained standing, but the sheer sound of wind blocked too much out for him to be sure.

"What's happening?!" he yelled in Wally's general direction. Wally might have responded, but his voice was carried away. The wind continued to howl and Nigel began to wonder if he might actually go deaf from the noise until finally the sound began to fade. His hair flopped back into place, and he decided that whatever that was, that it was probably over.

He pushed himself up and was immediately met with Patton standing over him, wielding a metal bar that looked like it had been broken off of something. The darker haired boy offered him a hand up, which Nigel gratefully accepted, and he was pulled back onto his feet.

"What was that?" he finally asked once Wally was also back up.

"What, this?" Patton held out the metal bar. "I found it in the water."

"No, I meant-"

Patton pushed him aside, swinging the bar in a wide arc. The wind stirred with the movement, and several more guards were blown back off their feet.

"Well that's… quite something," Nigel finally said after picking up his dropped jaw.

Patton smirked, his eyes traveling from Nigel's to somewhere over his shoulder. "Looks like our ride is here."

Nigel turned to see that the jet was finally in sight, flying close to the water, and staying steady as it approached.

"Uh, guys?"

"Yeah, it'll be a bit crowded, but we should all fit," Nigel nodded.

"Guys?"

"We've been stuck in cages by ourselves; getting close isn't gonna kill us."

"Guys!"

"What?!" Nigel and Patton both snapped.

"We got anotha problem." Wally pointed past the both of them to where the remaining guards were rebuilding their ranks.

Nigel lifted his shield higher, Patton brandished his bar like a bo staff, and Wally's claws and fangs reappeared as he scowled at the ones who just would not stay the crud down. The other two gritted their teeth and prepared to charge when the cannon started to move.

The mechanical whirring sound filled the air and the three boys dove in different directions to get out of its target range. Rolling to a stop, Nigel glanced up to see that its aim didn't follow them, but something else.

"It's gonna hit the jet!" Patton yelled helplessly.

Nigel whirled and spotted the single guard he was looking for, standing several feet away from its base, operating what looked like a bunch of switches and levers on a control pad. Heart racing, he set his shield aflame and hurled it through the air like a frisbee. He watched it sail through the air and miraculously hit its mark. The shield didn't cut through the controls like he'd hoped, but the sudden fiery force knocked the guard's hand aside, throwing a switch by accident.

The cannon fired a hulking ball of metal clear across the water; the jet careened sideways just in time for it to miss its wing. They could hear screams from below at the narrow miss of their escape craft. The jet righted itself as it kept approaching.

"What the crud was that?!"

"Tommy!" Nigel fell into a defensive stance, now without a shield to protect him from the armed guards. "Tommy, they're trying to shoot you down!" He leg sweeped a guard off of his feet and dodged a blow from another. "We're gonna try to hold them off! Don't land, just open the bay doors so the others can get in!" Wind whistled in his ear as a fist flew way too close.

"Roger that!"

The hollow sound of striking metal sounded and the guard flew sideways. Patton standing behind where he was with his staff raised. Nigel grunted a thanks and Patton nodded, turning to the next unfortunate soul.

Patton breathed deeply, trying to reign in his emotions as he dodged and jabbed at his faceless, armored foes. His deep-rooted anger made itself known as one attempted a crippling blow to his sternum that resembled something one of his brothers would do whenever they'd start fighting. Patton dodged it and returned an uppercut that sent the guard flying into the air, and landing in a crumpled heap.

Storm clouds gathered overhead as he gritted his teeth; the once-sunny evening turning blacker with his mood. Pull it together, man.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the jet hovering low over the water, awkwardly trying to position itself. He must've started seeing things because he could've sworn he saw a zap of electricity running from the water below to the underside of the plane. The jet righted itself and the turbines rotated to keep itself in place. The bay doors opened slowly, and he spotted two figures inside reaching for those still in the water.

A hard smack across the face broke him out of his observation and he stumbled back, clutching the side of his face. He instinctively swung his makeshift weapon wildly and the guard easily dodged. He raised his baton again for another hard jab, and then crumpled to the ground.

Wally retracted his claws from the guard's calf, staining them red."Oi mate, what do ya think you're doin'? Ya gotta watch your back before ya get jumped!"

BAMF!

"Speakin' of gettin' jumped, look out!" Abby grabbed onto both of their shoulders.

BAMF!

Patton's head spun as he lost his bearings for a second, but quickly realized that they were moved only several feet away; two syringes standing upright on the ground where he and Wally were just standing. The grass around the two fluttered lazily, seeming to cover them; then the grass seemed to be picking them up. The blades grew until they were taller than Patton, wielding the needles like weapons.

"What is-?"

BAMF!

A girl he faintly recognized popped into his peripheral vision, waving her arms hypnotically like a puppet master, and the grass followed her movements, growing taller and taller until the vine-like plants reached out and plucked several of the remaining guards from where they stood. The guards squirmed and struggled but the grass regrew the small bits that were torn and wrapped them until they were almost completely mummified.

Patton, Wally, and Nigel charged forward again, yelling out some sort of wordless battle cry as they attacked the remaining few with Abby appearing and disappearing alongside them. Together, the four of them cleared a path all the way to the cannon, knocking down guards for the grass underneath them to keep them from getting back up again. Nigel wrenched his shield free from the control pad and mercilessly smacked away the guard that was frantically working the controls into position. The cannon whirred and began to reposition itself to aim at the jet.

BAMF!

Abby perched near the end of the cannon and began waving her arms to signal to the jet their exact position. The aircraft turned slowly in midair, ascending only slightly.

"Uh guys, we have another problem."

Patton's heart dropped again, and with it, a light drizzle from the overcast sky.

"What's wrong now?"

"This thing is locked onto the jet's heat signature." Nigel quickly flipped every switch and lever he could reach, but the cannon continued to aim itself at the aircraft. "I don't know how to switch it off."

"Hoagie, Tommy, move the jet!" Abby yelled into the communicator on her wrist. "This thing is still locked onto ya!"

Nigel hefted his shield high over his head and brought it crashing back down into the controls. He cut into them as best as he could, bringing it down over and over again until it was a wiry mess, but the massive weapon continued to shift and follow its target.

Patton stabbed his staff into its base, creating a piercing grinding sound as it continued to rotate. He planted his feet on the ground and his hands on its side and braced his entire weight and strength into keeping it from turning any further.

"Hey! I think it's working!"

Patton grunted, feeling his face turn red from the effort it took, wondering how long he'd be able to keep it up. Lightning flashed overhead, almost drowning out Kuki's voice.

"Come on, guys! They're almost on the ground! We gotta hurry!"

"Go!" Patton gasped. "Go, I'll catch up!"

"We're not leaving you behind!" Nigel snapped.

"Oh, yes you are! You guys get those kids outta here, and Abby'll figure out a way for us to meet you at a pick up!"

"But-"

"Go! It'll be easier to get outta here with only two of us!"

Nigel's mouth hardened into a thin line, but nodded. "We'll be in touch. Come on, Wally."

Wally looked at them both in disbelief, but relented. The two boys ran off to join Kuki, and then the trio sprinted towards the jet.

"How're ya doin'?"

"Could be better," said Patton through gritted teeth.

'Here, let Abby help." Before he could ask what she was doing, she laid one hand over his, and his burning muscles seemed to be able to take more of the strain. All of his pain was still present, but his body was able to stand it better. "They're almost to the jet now; just hold on a little bit longer."

A little bit longer seemed like a million years but he bared his teeth and dug his feet further into the ground. All too soon a creaking sound cut through the air, and Patton dizzily wondered if it might be that the cruddy thing was breaking. The bar in the base snapped hard in two, the pieces flying in different directions. His feet skid across the ground and his strength failed. "No, no, no!" He and Abby both fell back as it stubbornly aimed itself at the jet.

Patton ran to the cannon's opening and stared down the chamber. Maybe he could catch it as it fired. No, I'm not stupid enough to believe that.

BAMF!

BAMF!

BAMF!

Abby skittered up and down the length of the cannon, looking for something, anything, that could possibly stop it from firing. White light filled his eyes as the thing powered up and prepared to fire.

Abby yelled something at him but she sounded a million miles away; he could hear his own heart beating slowly. He watched in slow motion as the projectile fired and climbed its way out of its shell. Lightning flashed and he was faintly aware of something resting in his hand. He instinctively swung it, only barely catching the hot metallic ball just before it made its way out of the bore.

It should have exploded in his face. He knew that as it was happening, yet the force seemed to knock the projectile back into the bore, and smashed through the chamber. And then it exploded. He shielded his eyes from the blast.

BAMF!

He and Abby both fell to the ground in a tangled heap and Patton watched from a distance with bleary eyes as the whole mess burst into spectacular flames. Debris rained down in every direction, though most of the flames were almost instantly quenched by the rain that had slowed back down to a drizzle.

He broke his gaze away in time to hear Wally whooping loudly while fistpumping the air. "Yeah, tha's how ya do it, mate! We beat their stupid faces! Dah dah dah dah dah! We won the battle! Dah dah dah dah dah! And now we finally get to go home! Dah dah dah dah dah!"

Kuki giggled as Wally continued his improvised song, helping Abby to her feet. Nigel offered Patton a hand up, which he gratefully accepted.

"Ooh! Where'd you get that?" Kuki pointed at the object Patton forgot he was still holding in his other hand.

Confused, he held it up for the others to see. The long mallet-like hammer rested easily in his palm, as if the handle had been specifically molded to his hand, and the head was just the right weight to deliver a powerful blow, but not strain himself in the process. "I don't know," he murmured. "It was just there."

"Hang on, I've seen this before," said Nigel. "In a room full of weapons somewhere underground. This thing was embedded in the ground."

Patton grimaced, feeling both unsettled by its appearance and comforted by its presence.

"Well whatever is it, we can all talk about it later. Abby says that right now, we should get goin' before somethin' else goes wrong."

"Agreed," said Nigel, and Patton gave her a thankful smile.

"Dah dah dah dah dah! And now we're gonna fly! Dah dah-"

"Come on, Sport, let's get you guys home."

Thankfully the jet was only a quick jog away, with the bay doors open and the ramp extended, though it didn't touch the ground as they were still hovering for a quick takeoff.

BAMF!

Abby disappeared into the crowd above where she promptly began wringing the rainwater from her hair; the wind picked up and carried Patton up as well, the hammer still slung low in his hand; Nigel jumped and pulled himself up with practiced ease to join his friends; Wally pulled himself up with little difficulty, and Kuki was able to pull herself, but promptly slipped on the slick metal from the water that the other three had left behind.

The jet had already begun moving, and she had a mini heart attack as the ground was swept from under her feet. Wally's hands caught hers before she completely lost her grip, and she sighed in relief as he pulled her up.

"Thank you," she said breathily.

"Whateva," he grumbled.

"No really, for breaking out with me, and finding others who could help us, and being brave enough to come back here. I couldn't have done it without you."

Heat creeped up and stained his cheeks pink. "Ah said, whateva."

Her smile seemed to grow even wider than he'd ever seen it, and he wondered if this is what she looked like all the time. Wordlessly, she leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek.

"H-hey! What the crud was that for, ya cruddy sheilah?" he yelled after her, but she had already melded into the crowd around them.

"He wants us to 'come home?' He's the one who left," said David in a low voice, eyeing Abby out of the corner of his eye while Ogie did the same for Nigel.

"You know what he means," Ashley growled.

"Yeah, but should we go?" said Ogie. "I like our home now."

"So do I. But, like, it doesn't mean that it's where we belong. You remember how it was like when he first left."

A shadow fell over their faces as each remembered the interrogations and suspicious alienation they went through when the fourth head of their household seemed to vanish after leaving with some like-minded students in tow.

"I say we leave," Ashley said finally. "We leave, and we can like, get his and the others to help us rescue Bruce."

"The Unos aren't gonna let us come back here," said Lenny thoughtfully. "They're gonna wanna go through the government and do it legally."

"It might be too late by then," David agreed.

"It will be too late by then!" Ashley snapped, punching the wall in frustration. Her gaze fell to the window just beside her fist. The sky outside had lightened considerably, and the mess that they'd left behind was shrinking as they ascended into the clouds. "Just think, that poor kid's still stuck down there with no one to help him out."

David stepped beside her; Lenny and Ogie in front of them both and they all morosely gazed out the window at the ground below

CSHHH! "Og - come in - are y - air - neverm - can't feel - jet -" CSHHH!

The four jumped at the interruption. The communicator on Ogie's wrist crackled to life and filled the air with static in between the words.

"Bruce?" Ashley said hopefully while David and Lenny exchanged looks.

"Bruce! Are you okay? Where are you?"

CSHHH! "Break - connec - still - deep -" CSHHH!

"Hang on! We're coming down for you!"

CSHHH! "No - don't - I got - just need - cannonball -"

"Cannonball?" said Ashley quizzically.

"Look!" Lenny pointed out the window towards the ground. The earth itself seemed to swell and collapse back in on itself in a straight line, like a giant version of a gopher trail.

"Is that-?"

CSHHH! "Catch."

"Wait, what?"

The four gaped in fascination as the trail stopped just below them, and sunk directly downwards. Suddenly and without warning, a single spike-like rock shot out of the ground, reaching several hundred feet before crumbling back down. An unruly head of blond hair flew even higher, cutting through the air in a high arc.

"Bruce!" Ogie raised a hand in his direction, hoping to catch him at the apex where he'd be moving the slowest. For a heart-stopping second, she felt him slip past her, and then Bruce seemed to smack into solid air, and she knew she had him.

Bruce rubbed at his nose where he collided with the barrier, and Ogie willed him closer until he was right outside their window. CSHHH! "Phew! Nice catch, Ogie!" he said breathlessly, waving to them through the invisible bubble. "Now are ya gonna let me in?"

"Yeah, sure," said Ogie, releasing a breath she didn't realize she was holding. With one arm still outstretched, she turned to nudge David, who promptly turned and started cutting through the crowd towards the cockpit.

Ashley stretched as far up as she could while bending backwards until she performed the longest backbend anyone had ever seen. Her feet kicked and she shrunk back down to her normal height as her lower half joined her torso over the bay doors. "Okay everybody, back away unless you wanna, like, fall out of the plane!"

Voices raised in alarm that quickly turned into cries of surprise and indignation as Ashley's arms elongated and pushed everyone back. Those who hadn't been knocked backwards completely shuffled awkwardly until the the doors beneath their feet were completely cleared.

Ashley pushed against the opposite wall to keep her arms steady, hoping that they'd act like seatbelts to the crowd gathered on either side. She spotted David out of the corner of her eye, crawling along the ceiling, dropping down just beside her.

"Ready, Ogie?!" he yelled out to their teammate who was still by their window, brow furrowed in concentration.

"I think so!" Ogie's voice wavered. Lenny put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, giving her a nod. "Yeah, I'm ready!" she said finally, her voice a little steadier.

David wrapped one arm around Ashley's waist, his free hand firmly planted on the wall behind them both. "Okay, come on, we can do this," he muttered to himself. "Kuki!" he called, "Hit the button, and open the doors!"

Ashley spotted the girl in question somewhere on her left close to her shoulder where her hold on everyone was looser. Kuki wriggled until one of her arms escaped from Ashley's tether. She stood up on her tiptoes and stretched across the barrier towards the button on the wall labelled in large red letters, CAUTION: BAY DOORS. With her fingers still an inch away, she allowed the arm to fall from across her stomach to her hips, and she practically hung over the rubbery arm until she finally pushed it.

The doors swung open slowly and Ashley immediately felt the dragging effect as the air pressure inside dropped. Her hair felt like it was being pulled in the direction of the opening in the floor. The rush of air didn't completely drown out the alarmed screams of the mutants as they clung to her and to each other. She clenched her teeth as she felt her strength fade and her feet start to slip; David's grip on her was the only thing keeping her from collapsing.

"Come on, Ogie," she heard David growl, and Ashley squinted through the rushing air and her whipping hair and spotted Ogie standing on her toes with her hand firmly pressed against the window.

She's about to lose visual, Ashley suddenly realized. Using her force fields without looking at her target had a very low success rate, and she was about to attempt moving Bruce completely under the jet before bringing him inside. Her heart dropped into her stomach; she wasn't going to be able to snatch him out of the air if Ogie accidentally dropped him, not with all of these kids clinging to her anyway; David couldn't reel him in either with one hand on her and the other keeping them both in place.

Over the heads of the screaming mutants she found Ogie now kneeling on the floor, pushing against the metal beneath their feet with her teeth gritted. Lenny sat beside her, clinging for a handhold with one hand, and the other making sure that Ogie wasn't sucked away. Despite his hold on her, Ogie made as if to crawl towards the open bay doors, dragging her palms across the floor, picturing the bubble surrounding Bruce as clearly as she possibly could.

"She's got him!" David yelled over the roar of wind.

Ashley's gaze snapped back down and spotted a head of blond below. Bruce stood in midair with his legs spread apart and arms out on either side of him as if to steady himself. The invisible bubble surrounding him fell and rose and swerved from side to side erratically.

Ogie cut herself a path by crawling through and around people's legs, and finally pushed past Kuki. She lifted one hand from the floor and raised it towards her friend outside; the bubble immediately steadied and began to rise. The rush of air combined with the sudden shift in weight and the slick floor caused Ogie to slip forward.

Lenny threw himself forward, hitting his head against something very solid, but managed to catch her by the ankles just in time to keep her from being sucked out. He watched dizzily as Bruce rose up into the jet, looking windswept, but otherwise unharmed.

His vision went black for a fraction of a second, and someone screamed directly into his ear. Lenny flinched away from the sound and turned back to see Kuki sliding along the floor, her hands scrambling for something to hold onto. The surrounding mutants gasped as her hands slipped against the slick floor, and she was pulled out into the open air. Lenny shook his head, making sure he didn't just imagine the past couple seconds.

"Kuki!" Wally slid on his knees towards the opening, using his claws against the floor as a tether.

Lenny and Ogie inched forward on their bellies on either side of Wally, holding onto him to keep from sliding out. Lenny secured his goggles firmly into place and peeked over the ledge. He was immediately hit with a wave of vertigo, but he pushed back his desire to puke and searched for Kuki. Fortunately, she wasn't too hard to spot as a dark speck hurtling through the air while screaming bloody murder.

His head snapped forward hard, and he was met with an up close and personal look at Wally's fangs. "You're tha one that knock her ova, ya idiot!"

Is he gonna eat me? was his first irrational thought.

Wally snarled something intelligibly and shoved him away. "Catch her!" he yelled to Ogie.

Ogie's brow was already furrowed in concentration, but her hand wavered and shook as she raised it; Kuki continued to spiral back towards the earth. "I can't! She's falling too fast!"

"Kuki!" Wally shifted and Lenny sensed he was about to throw himself down after her. Lenny held him back by the shoulder, and he was again met with wolvish fangs.

"Don't-"

An orange blur rushed towards them and Lenny instinctively flinched. One of the former prisoners ran towards them, diving out of the opening in the floor as if he was diving into a pool. There was a collective scream and Ogie waved her hands clumsily in a futile attempt to catch him, but he disappeared just as quickly as Kuki had.

Lenny forced himself to look back down over the ledge. he quickly spotted the orange jumpsuit cutting through the air in a steep dive towards Kuki, who was still hurtling towards the ground.

"He's gonna catch her!"

"Yeah, and then they'll both die!"

Wally's face paled and his fists clenched.

The boy finally met Kuki in midair, and they were free-falling together, though the longer they fell, the slower they seemed to fall. Lenny couldn't tell how close to the ground they'd fallen, but it was clear that they never reached it; they made a wide arc, missing the ground completely, and started streaming through the air back towards the jet.

The two pinpricks of color grew larger and larger as they caught up to the jet, until the boy finally flew back through the bay doors, one arm under Kuki's knees and the other behind her back.

"Close the doors!" he yelled to no one in particular. Someone managed to hit the button, and the doors closed beneath them. The air pressure increased back to a more normal level, and Ashley retracted her arms.

"Ace!" Tommy barreled through the crowd, knocking into several people in his way. "Ace, what happened? Did you just jump out?"

Ace hovered for a moment before touching down on the floor, Kuki still clinging to him for dear life. He ignored Tommy and instead kneeled to the floor, setting Kuki down, and gently pried her clenched fists from the front of his jumpsuit. Wally was immediately at her side, with Nigel, Abby, and Rachel hovering over his shoulder.

"Are ya okay?" Wally murmured, his voice too low for anyone else to hear. "Kooks?" He lightly placed a hand on her shoulder. Her bottom lip trembled and his heart dropped further down his stomach as he sensed the oncoming tears.

"Don't cry, linda," said Ace, cradling her hands and rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. "You're okay now."

Wally shot him a filthy glare. "Her name's not Linda." Ace ignored him.

Kuki clumsily wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and hiccuped. "Come on, linda, let's get you off the floor." He straightened, easing Kuki back onto her feet with the hand he was still holding. Her knees buckled underneath her, and Ace wrapped an arm around her to keep her steady. "Let's get you a seat," Ace murmured in a soothing tone. Kuki followed his lead through the crowd, most of which hadn't stopped staring since she got sucked out of the jet.

Wally was still kneeling on the floor, mouth agape in bewildered indignation as Ace strolled away with Kuki. "Hey!" he snapped, finally coming to his senses. "Whaddaya think you're doin', flyboy!" He trotted after them, clumsily cutting through smirking teenagers.

Abby at least had the decency to try to hide her smirk behind a feigned yawn, and nudged Nigel as he only barely managed to turn his snort into a cough. "Man, that's boy's got it bad."

"I hadn't noticed," Nigel said as innocently as he could, earning himself another playful nudge from Abby.

"So, we're finally headin' home. Abby doesn't remember gettin' permission to go on this rescue mission, and she's already stuck doin' laundry for the next couple weeks. How much worse do ya think it'll be when we get home?"

"Are you kidding?" Nigel quirked an eyebrow. "We just saved more mutants than we ever thought even existed. I'm thinking laundry duty lifted, and ice cream and sodas all around."

"Ya think, boss?"

"Mark my words, Abby, they're gonna be so impressed with us, we'll never be in trouble ever again!"

"Dangerous! Stupid! Reckless! Irresponsible! Of all the trouble any of you have ever gotten yourselves into, this is by far the worst trouble you have ever been in!"

Nigel felt himself tense and hang his head down lower, if that were even possible; he sensed his friends lined up on either side of him do the same with every word that was spat out of his mother's mouth. It'd been awhile since anyone had seriously worked up more than a stern lecture from any of the adults, but this was something else entirely. The five Wigglesteins, Tommy, Abby, Hoagie, and Nigel stood shoulder to shoulder with their hands folded meekly behind their backs; Rachel must have sensed the practice of falling into line, and automatically stood on Abby's other side.

Nigel's mom wasted no time in launching into a tirade while Mrs. Gilligan stood just behind her, visibly fuming. Even the usually jolly Monty Uno wore an angry frown so deep that even Nigel didn't dare looking up from his own shoes, instead just felt the disappointment roll off of his father over their bowed heads.

"Stealing the training suits!" Mrs. Gilligan chimed in as Mrs. Uno stopped to take a breath. "Stealing my jet! And you," she stopped in front of Tommy, who was trying to shrink from view, "stowing away on what could have been a suicide mission! What were you thinking!"

"Well, I was-"

"That was a rhetorical question!"

Tommy made an "Eep!" sound and shrank back down; he could've sworn his mom was about to breathe fire.

"You are all grounded!" Mrs. Uno growled, stomping her foot in emphasis. "That means no TV and no video games! You are all going to scrub this whole building from top to bottom! You're all on laundry, cooking, and dishwashing duty! You're mowing and weeding the lawn! And anything else I can think of! You're going to be on total lockdown!"

"For how long?" Bruce piped up.

The other eight young mutants turned to glare at the short blond, and Rachel projected their simultaneous thought directly into his head. "Shut up, Bruce!"

"Six months!"

Nigel grimaced. He knew that they were in trouble, but that felt harsher than what was necessary.

"But that's all the way into next year!"

"SHUT UP, BRUCE!"

"And now it's seven! Does anyone want to try for eight?"

Bruce opened his mouth to argue, until he felt a hard jab from Ashley beside him. She shook her head, and Bruce reluctantly remained silent, glaring at the floor, his hands behind his back curled tightly into fists.

Mrs. Uno pinched the bridge of her nose, giving herself a moment to reign in her temper. The room fell into absolute silence, save for the sound of the three adults breathing harder than normal. Mrs. Uno's hand came away from her face and she took a long look at the ceiling and took one last deep breath. Her eyes fell back to the lined up teenagers, who were cautiously looking up without making direct eye contact.

"Well?" she snapped expectantly.

Their alarmed gazes turned to each other, silently questioning what their next move was supposed to be; even Bruce wasn't stupid enough to think that she wanted a verbal response.

The three adults moved as one towards the door. "Let's go and get started with those chore assignments, shall we?" said Mrs. Gilligan to the puzzled teens. They grimaced and shuffled along, dragging their feet but remaining silent.

Nigel kept his eyes on the floor directly in front of him as he followed behind his dad, feeling his heart sag, still catching his mom's fierce growling several steps ahead. "I cannot believe this! We've never had this much trouble with any of the others!" He willed her words to wash over him, becoming white noise as he walked; no doubt he would be hearing the same phrases on repeat for the months to come.

He came to a hard stop as he accidentally bumped into his dad's back, Abby jolting him forward as she knocked into him. The three adults had come to a full stop in a doorway, and none had turned around. Nigel and Abby exchanged confused looks, and he sensed the others behind them do the same. He gingerly got on his tiptoes and attempted to peek over his dad's shoulder without being noticed.

Mrs. Uno's hand rested lightly on the doorframe, and she took a slow, cautious step forward into the main living room. Mrs. Gilligan stepped out even more slowly, acting as if she was trying to keep from startling an animal. When Mr. Uno finally stepped out, he tread just as carefully, though with more sureness in his footsteps, silently surveying the scene before him.

Nigel silently shuffled forward, the other trailing after him until they all had a clear view of what had rendered them all speechless. It only took a moment to see the room through his parents' eyes. The Institute, which had been largely unused since its founding, was for once crowded. The sheer amount of people felt foreign even to Rachel, and their gazes swept from one figure to another.

The room was noisy with excited chatter, which didn't pause with the appearance of the adults, nor their rescue team. Several phones were being passed from hand to hand as each mutant called home before passing it to the next person. Almost everyone was either sitting or lying down on a couch or the floor, some sleeping so deeply, Nigel doubted anything would wake them up for at least eight hours.

"I think," said Mr. Uno, snapping Nigel out of his own thoughts, "that maybe we should reconsider their punishment."

Mrs. Gilligan nodded in agreement.

"You're right," said Mrs. Uno. "Three months," she decided.

Nigel sighed inwardly. It was still the whole summer, but at least not the rest of the year.

"How about three weeks?"

"Shut up, Bruce!" the eight teenagers snapped out loud.

"Agreed," she nodded.

Even Bruce's head swiveled in her direction in surprise. "Huh?"

"Three months and three weeks," she nodded.

"Sounds fair to me," Mrs. Gilligan smirked.

Bruce laughed and sheepishly as he was met with eight identical scowls.

"Come along now, I bet these kids are hungry. First chore of your grounding: sandwich duty!" The teenagers groaned collectively, allowing themselves to be herded towards the kitchen. "Oh, this place is going to be so clean for our new guests!" she called cheerfully, high-fiving Monty as she passed.

So, a few characters were introduced this time around, so let's get started:

Belle, as some of you may have already guessed several chapters ago, kinda turns into a mermaid when in the water. I honestly don't know why I associate her with water so much. Maybe it's because she was on the beach when she made a prominent appearance, maybe the hair reminds me of Ariel, or maybe I was sleep-deprived when I thought of it. Probably a combination of all of the above. Either way, the result is the same. If I have to relate her to a specific character(s), I'd probably name the girls from H2O (even though it's been ten years since I've watched that show and can't name them without making a quick Google search).

I debated on whether or not to include Ace in this AU, but ultimately decided that you couldn't have TND drama without Ace there to muck up Wally's flirting. I can't picture him so involved with the others because he "works alone" and makes pretty rare appearances in the show, so to keep from over-complicating him, I made him Nathan from Heroes. He can fly, and that's it. It's a kickass power for sure, and it matches the fact that he's a "flyboy," so that's what I'm sticking to. And I honestly picture him looking exactly the same as a teenager, like in "OUCH!" by hendocrinogeno (on Deviantart.) Also my headcanon is that Ace is actually an acronym, because this is KND and of course it is.

Patton was originally made be Storm from X-Men. I think the original thought was that having control of the weather would be handy while spending your time in the Arctic. And then, I don't know why, he kind of morphed into Thor of Marvel Comics. I guess I just like the hammer, or I just felt like giving him super strength, or both. No, I'll probably never get around to why the hammer is there, or why Patton can lift it. *insert "because shut up, that's why" here* I just like it and that's all there is to it. So now he's got super strength, a kickass hammer, and the ability to control the weather. And I actually drew him as a teen, but that's more what I picture him at 16-17 years old, whereas here they're all 14-15; so I think of him more as in a picture I found on Pinterest with no title, artist, or link attached to redirect to another website, and a Google Image search only seemed to lead me directly back to the same page, so if anyone's at all curious, it's on
s-media-cache-ak0 . pinimg . com /originals/73/9b/85/739b853081ffa8755ba78f1b52851dc5 .jpg
and if anyone has any info on the picture and where it came from, I'd love to know.

Bartie is actually my personal favorite of the X-Men, Gambit. For those with the misfortune of only having Origins: Wolverine as reference, Gambit is actually a mutant with the power to manipulate kinetic energy and make things explode by touching them. I'm pretty sure this combination happened because I was running out of generic superpowers to use, and I suddenly remembered that Bartie wears gloves in the TV show, and I liked the idea of him, like Nigel, not being able to turn his powers off. The gloves he wears dampen his abilities so that he can actually touch things without them blowing up in his face. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of fanart available for him as a teenager and I haven't drawn him out (except at age 17-18) so I guess just a slightly taller version of his KND self is what I'd go with.

Pete and Peter, in case you didn't know, are the Numbuh 44 twins. And yes, those are their actual names. I'm all for matching names for twins but seriously, wouldn't that just get confusing? It's just so odd that I have to wonder if Mr. Warburton was making a really obscure joke about Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen naming their twins Don and Dawn. Anyway, I mainly brought them in just to be background characters (you know, like in the show), and I decided that I'd give them the ability to make duplicates of themselves… you know, because twins… yeah. Also, for some odd reason, I connected them with another set of twins, Más and Menos of the "Teen Titans" TV show (because they actually didn't originate in the comic books). So now, they require physical contact with each other to make their power work. And again, there really isn't any fanart of these two, so just taller versions of their TV selves will do.

Fanny was one of the first that I came up with. She just screams and yells so much in the show that a supersonic scream was the obvious choice. So here we have Black Canary from DC Comics. Her 14-15 year old self is also on the nameless picture I found on Pinterest.

Lee also makes a brief appearance! He was also among the last of characters that I decided to give powers to, and by that point, I'd already run out of a lot of them. I debated for a long time about incorporating his yoyo's in his abilities, but I couldn't come up with anything that I was even remotely happy with. And then when I was trying to finish Heroes (holy crap it got worse and worse as it went along) I came across the character Edgar, who had super speed and fought with knives. I have no idea how knives got translated into yoyo's, but are you honestly surprised anymore? Anyway, I had this mental vision after watching Origins: Wolverine (yet another superhero thing that progressively got worse) when the mutants are escaping, led by Scott Summers (aka Cyclops) being told telepathically which way to go. That scene might have been enhanced if they'd let the speedster quickly scout the routes. And yes, there was a speedster in that movie. You blinked, you missed it. So while there is some good fanart of him (and Sonya, let's be real), most people have him either dressed exactly the same, or evolving from wearing shorts to pants as he gets older. So, you know, whatever your preference.

I sorta hinted at Maurice also making his way into this AU as the Invisible Man a few chapters ago, but no one has commented on it, so either no one caught it, or you were all just waiting on me to elaborate before calling him out. I don't know, but I guess being a double agent/spy like in the show would've been easier if he could turn invisible at any given time. He's also pretty much drawn the same way all the time, so again, your preference (I like his original design anyway).

And Cree is Shego from Kim Possible. No particular reason why, she's just a total badass. And I loved madier1095's doodle-dump (not a sketch-dump) "Operation: RANDOM" on Deviantart, where there's a version of Cree at age 18, which would be almost the correct age for this story (where she'd be 19-20).

Also, as a side note, I've seen and read several instances of someone running out of air while underwater, and then someone else breathes into their mouths to replenish the air (while underwater themselves), and honestly, I don't get it. Like, I'm sure there's an explanation for it somewhere, but any time the situation has come up, all I can think is "Wouldn't they be breathing carbon dioxide into the other person instead of oxygen?" Like I said, I'm sure there's an explanation that I'm too lazy to Google, but even if there isn't, I felt like writing it out anyway, even though the thought kept nagging at me throughout the scene.

As for the scene with Abby dying in the last chapter, that was actually some last minute inspiration from a piece of fanart that I found on Deviantart. This is where I would normally give the title and artist name, but the thing is, I can't freaking find it. I went through all of my Favorites tab, but it's gone. If I'm right, it was called something like, "You're Okay!" or "You're Alive!" or some other variation, and, if I'm right, it was drawn by Creativemind0, who apparently deleted their account. So I tried Googling it, and I haven't found it and I'm upset *cue pouty face*. Anyway, it was a picture of Hoagie hugging Abby excitedly and Abby had this really surprised look on her face, with the title being Hoagie's dialogue. If you haven't seen it, know that it was cute; if you have seen it and know where I can find it (along with the rest of Creativemind0's gallery) on Pinterest or Tumblr or whatever, I'd love to know.

So I've been writing this chapter since mid-February and ended up getting stuck more times than I thought I would, and ended up switching perspectives more than I thought I would in the process. It's not too bad, I think; reading Game of Thrones and a couple of the sequels has gotten me more into the transitioning perspectives, and it actually helps with the writer's block. Except for those longer fight scenes. I didn't think each transition required its own break, so I tried making the shift as smooth as possible, kind of like following a single camera across several different perspectives in one long sequence rather than switching away and then switching back.

As for the action… well I tried. I wanted to go for a more fast-paced action scene, but I think that I just skipped over more than I should have. Or maybe I added more than I should have. And the final escape was probably too simple, or maybe too convoluted. Either way, let me know; as always, I'm always happy to get some reviews so I at least know that there's someone out there who's actually still reading me. Also, sorry for the long ass AN, but the only way I was ever going to move this story along is if I introduced more than one superpowered character at a time.

And the reason this took me so long was because I didn't wanna spend yet another year just trying to make my way through the "pilot" of this fic, and now that it's finally done, I can get to the various plotlines I've planned out. Sorry for the overload of storylines and characters too, but again, I had a lot to set up for the future. And speaking of which, I want this story to read like its own show with every couple of chapters starting and completing its own episode plotline. With that being said, I'm interested in knowing what you guys would like to read about; characters, storylines, or really whatever it is that keeps bringing you back despite the crappy uploading schedule. Honestly, I really wanna make this as fun to read as it is to write, so whatever feedback you've got, I'm all ears.

Okay, okay, now I'm done! Peace!