Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2003 16:31:18 -0400
From: Jonathan Hix <xmanpaul@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Ultimate X-Men 7

First off, I know nothing of the sexuality of any person mentioned in this
story. And I don't know any of them and never will.
Secondly, Stan Lee created X-Men and all its characters. Copyright of Marvel
Comics and 20th Century Fox. X-Men Evolution is owned by the WB network.
Third, email if you want at: xmanpaul@hotmail.com
This story is based off The Ultimate X-Men comic strip. The story, however,
will be quite different from the comic book. So read on if you want.

I'd like to thank Dash and Josh for reading over everything multiple times!
Thanks guys!

<Indicates telepathic conversations>
'Indicates someone think to themselves'
{Indicates communication over a comlink.}


Chapter 7


Marie saw him fall and screamed for him. Jean immediately turned around at
the sound of terror in Marie's voice. When she realized that something was
wrong, she headed back towards Paul.

"Paul? Are you all right?" Jean asked as she gently set herself and the
other on the ground. "Paul?" she said louder.

"Oh god, my head. My head hurts!" Paul said with his hands grasping his
head. The pain was only getting worse and he couldn't even stand up.

"What's wrong with him?" Marie asked.

"I don't know." Jean said as she grabbed Paul by the head. She closed her
eyes and concentrated. "There's someone in there, but I don't know. They're
strong. I might be able to repel them." Jean closed her eyes again and tried
to build up a psychic wall in Paul's mind.

Whoever was hurting didn't want to leave and were putting up a fight. They
were fighting Jena with all their might, but won't let them win Jean let a
scream out as she strove to drive out the invader. Jean was now beginning to
feel the pain. Paul was still writhing on the ground as Jean worked.

"Fight it, Paul!" she pleaded. "I need you help. See a wall being built in
your mind. Like a fortress, a solid brick wall." She said through gritted
teeth. The struggle continued for only a few seconds longer and the pain in
Paul's head subsided.

"What was that?" Paul questioned as he stood up. "Are you all right, Jean?"

"Yeah, we need to get out of here. Whoever did that wasn't playing around.
They're very powerful. I don't know if I can do that again." Jean answered.

"I didn't think you would be able to it in the first place." A new voice
said. Everyone turned the direction it came from. "I'm very impressed."

"You did this, Seth?" Paul asked not quite surprised.

"Well, I had help, but yes." He answered smoothly.

"You did it all." Paul said realizing. "The town people suddenly freakin'
out about mutants." Paul stated.

"Yes I did, and I'm not quite through yet. Simple human minds are nothing,
but defeating you and that Professor of yours will be something to be proud
of. " Seth said with a smile. Then from around the corner three new people
walked into view. Two of them were twins with rather large, bald heads and
the other was the mutant known as Sabretooth. They took up position behind
where Seth was standing.

"We're leaving." Jean said more of a command than a request.

"That's fine, but there's something I want you to know before you go Paul."
Seth said. Paul's face was stony, expressing no emotion. "Mr. McKnight felt
no pain when I killed him. I thought you might want to know that his death
was painless."

"What?" Paul face was definitely showing emotion now. The rage filled him
and he let if flow. The amount of power that he threw towards Seth could
have crushed a car. You could see the telekinetic blast ripple through the
air as it headed for Seth.

Unfortunately, it had no effect on Seth at all. There was Seth with his hand
extended and an evil smirk on his face; an unseen force absorbed the
telekinetic energy. Paul was astonished. He knew Seth didn't have that kind
of power. He looked and he saw the twins behind Seth had their eyes closed
and were holding hands. It had to be them.

	Sabertooth took a running leap at Paul, but was caught in mid-air and flung
into a near-by building by Jean before he even got close.

"Paul, we need to get out of here." Jean said again.

"Fine." Paul said backing up towards the others behind him. Jean and Paul
each took two passengers and started to move away from Seth and his friends.

"Why did they just let us leave?" Jean asked.

"I don't know." Paul answered. The rage was still inside him. Filling every
inch of his being. `How can I love someone who kills other people that I
care so much about?' Paul thought to himself.

	The trip back to the studio was made in silence and when they landed in
front of the building Paul walked straight in without a word. "SAM?" Paul
said loudly walking into the back of the studio.

"Yeah?" Sam replied walking in from the bedroom.

"Ok, good you're ok." Paul said with relief.

"We need to get the Professor down here. If those mutants are as powerful as
I think they are, he's about he only one who can help. And we need to move
to different location. That guy probably knows about this place already."
Jean paused. "So, that was your brother. I didn't realize he was that
powerful."

"He didn't used to be able to do that. I used to be able to block him out.
He's obviously been doing some training in the last week." Paul said staring
at the wall absently. Jean turned around and started to gather her things
together. Sudden she heard a muffled curse and a loud thud. She turned
around to see Paul's fist embedded in the wall.

"Sorry, had to do it." Paul said with a shrug. He pulled his hand out of the
wall and grabbed a rag to wrap around his hand.

"What are we going to do now?" Marie asked.

"Sorry, but I'm leaving." One of the other people they had saved spoke up.
He stood silent for a second and then turned and walked out.

"You two are free to leave if you want. We're not holding you prisoner."
Paul said to them.

"Ok, well thanks and goodbye." The girl said and followed the other guy out.

"And you?" Paul asked the guy remaining.

"Well, the way I figure it. I'm safer here than out there. Unlike those
guys, I'm a mutant." He said with a shrug.

"Ok, whatever you want to do." Paul said tendering to his hand.

"We're going to the jet?" Paul asked Jean.

"Yup, seems the safest place to me." She said zipping up her bag.

"Fine, let's go." Paul said walking into his rooms to get his stuff. Paul
had managed to pack up most his stuff so he picked it into the air and the
five of them headed to the jet. When they arrive, Jean uncloaked the jet and
walked aboard. Paul loaded the stuff onto the jet and joined Jean in the
cockpit while the other waited in the back.

"Professor Xavier, this Jean. Please acknowledge." Jean said.

"What is it, Jean?" the Professor voice came out of the comlink.

"We've encountered some problems here. There are some very powerful
telepaths here and they controlling part of the population. Sabertooth is
here as well. They confronted us, but we managed to get away with no
problems. I've been able to block them out of our mind for now, but I don't
think that Paul and I can fight them effectively by yourselves." Jean said.

"Are you safe for the moment?" the Professor asked.

"Yes, for now. But we have to do something about this. They are controlling
the people to persecute mutants, most of which aren't mutants at all." She
says back to him.

"Fine, I'll be there as quickly as a can. There was a terrorist attack in
Paris and I sent Scott, Ororo, Hank, Peter, and Bobby to handle it."

	Paul was immediately anxious for the rest of his team, Scott in particular.
He hoped that they would be all right and he hated that he wasn't there to
help them.

"While you two were gone we rescued a mutant from the imprisonment. He and
Rebecca will be accompanying me to your location. I will leave a message for
the others telling them where we are. They should return sometime this
afternoon." He replied.

"That's fine. We'll be waiting. Marvel Girl out." And that's exactly what
they did. Nothing but wait for three hours. In those three hours, Jean
worked with Paul on how to create and maintain a psychic barrier. It was a
rushed lesson, but it was the best that would happen under the
circumstances. They also found that the guy that remained behind was named
Chad and had slight control over the wind. Nothing major he assured them.

	The Professor arrived in what looked like a hybrid of a helicopter and
small jet. It set down beside where the jet had landed. Upon landing a gruff
looking mutant stepped off of the crafted followed by Rebecca and Xavier.
Jean and Paul were there to meet them.

"Jean, Paul; I would like you meet Logan. Otherwise known as Wolverine. And
you two already know Rebecca." He said rolling his wheelchair up to the two
mutants. "Has anything happened since we last spoke?"

"No, sir. I neglected to tell you that one of the mutants that is
controlling the people is my brother, Seth." Paul said.

"Well, him and at least to other mutants that we think are telepaths." Jean
said.

"Magneto is already employing your brother into combat?" Professor seemed to
ask himself more than anyone else. "He must being up to something."

"Do you think he's finally making his move?" Jean asked.

"Maybe, but there's not much we can do to find out. It's best that we deal
with the current situation and deal with that later." Xavier said. "I'm sure
you two have already done this, but Paul, I want you, Jean, and Logan to
search the surrounding area and secure the perimeter. No needs in letting
someone sneak up on us. At nightfall we'll go into to town and see what we
can find."

	Paul, Jean and Logan headed off in three different directions and in a few
minutes had secured the immediate area.  They all returned to the jets
around the same time and all went aboard. The three of them walk to the
cockpit where the professor was using Cerebro.

	Paul wasn't sure what to think about the new guy. He hadn't said a word to
him and to be honest, Paul thought he was a little scary looking. Not that
his ugly or something, quite the opposite actually. It just seemed he
wouldn't hesitate to rip a man apart with his bare hands.

"What have you found out, Professor?" Paul asked as they entered the small
area. The Professor was sitting in front of Cerebro and Rebecca was leaned
against the wall to the right.

"Well, I have isolated at least eight mutant signatures in the surrounding
area and confirmed that Sabertooth and your brother are here. There's the
twins telepaths and also, the mutants that were with your brother when
attacked you at your school are here. I don't know their names, only their
signatures. The other two are mutants form this area and I don't believe
that they are involve with this situation." He said.

"Did you say Sabertooth?" Logan said his first words with an angry voice.

"Yes, Wolverine. Sabertooth is in the area." Xavier said calmly.

	Wolverines only answered with a low growl and headed towards the door.
"Wolverine, wait. You shouldn't take him on alone. Wolverine? Logan?" Xavier
yelled after the quickly exiting mutant. Logan didn't stop just headed
towards the back of the plane. "Paul." Professor X said with a sharp jerk of
his head towards Wolverine. "Bring him back." He said simply and with a
little annoyance.

	Paul looked confused for a moment then realized what Xavier wanted him to
do. He hurried after Logan and exited the jet as he was walked off into the
woods.

"Hey!" Paul yelled. "You ain't goin' anywhere." Paul said to him. Wolverine
stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Paul.

"And you're gonna stop me? Sorry kid, but your kinda scrawny. You don't got
much of a chance on stoppin' me." He said with a small chuckle and turned to
walk off again. He didn't get anywhere before he was lifted off the ground.
"Hey, put me down!" Wolverine demand.

"Nope, sorry bub. Professor told my to bring you back." Paul said turning
around and heading back to the jet with Logan in tow. Logan started to
thrash about so Paul applied a little more mental pressure and held him
completely still. "I might put you down if you promise to be nice, ok?"

"Put me the fuck down, now!" he was only getting louder and the smile on
Paul's face was only getting big. Paul stopped and turned around.

"I ain't ever puttin' you down with an attitude like that. Just calm down
and we'll all get along." Marie, Sam, and Chad just stared in shock as Paul
took Logan back into the jet. They stood talking outside the two vehicles.

"You gonna be good?" Paul eyed Logan as they walked back into the cockpit.
Paul still held Logan a few inches above the floor and he would hold him
there until Xavier told him otherwise. "I got'em. What should I do with him
know?"

"You can put him down." Xavier answered Paul as he typed something into the
computer.

"I'm not sure I want to put him down. I think he'll try to kill me." Paul
said innocently.

"Oh, I won't try to kill you. I might try to hurt you, but not kill you."
Logan corrected with a smirk.

"Oh, that's reassuring." Paul said releasing Logan, who landed softly on the
deck of the plane. "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, the mutants have taken up residence in the town hall and haven't been
able to determine what reason's they would want to control such a small,
insignificant number of people. We'll move in four hours. Is Chad willing to
lend a hand?" Xavier asked.

"He said he was." Jean answered.

"Ok, get him in here." He said and Jean exited to get him. "Paul, you and
Logan will our heavy hitters. Rebecca will provide you support, if it is
needed. You three will take on Sabertooth and any other non-telepathic
threats. But Sabertooth will be your main target." Jean and Chad came
walking into the cockpit. "Chad, please join us. Could you detail, for me,
what you know about your mutant abilities?"

"Um, I can create wind to a certain degree." He demonstrated with a slight
breeze that blew through the small space. "I don't know to what limit I can
use it, though."

"Ok, then. You will provide cover for Jean and I if we need it. Don't put
yourself in danger if you can avoid it. Jean and myself will deal with the
telepaths. In the meantime Paul, I want to work with you on developing your
psionic abilities. We'll need as much help as we can get. Jean, can you
provide Chad with a few points on how to control his powers? It just like
learning any other power." She nodded and they headed outside. Paul stood
still and waited for Xavier to say something. "If you would please excuse
us, Logan. We have some work to do." Logan gave us a look of annoyance and
walked out. Rebecca followed him out.

"So how do we do this?" Paul asked sitting down in front of where the
Professor was sitting.

"Well, I'm not sure how far we can get in four hours, but I will have time
to build a sufficient psychic wall and teach you how to hold it up." He said
turning his chair so he was facing Paul.

"Ok, I'm ready." Paul said.

"I want you to close your eyes and take a deep breath. Clear your mind as
well as you can. I realize that there is little we know about your
telempathic abilities, but I still believe that we can use them against
telepathy. Just concentrate. I promise that I won't be snooping around in
there. Just don't think about anything specific and I won't hear a thing."
Xavier said. He held his hand on either side of Paul head, centimeters away
from his temples.

	Paul did as the Professor said and tried to clear his mind of anything and
everything. So much had gone on in the last couple of days. So much had
changed in his life. Paul wasn't sure if all of it had even sunk in yet. But
now was not the time to think about it. He had things to do and a town to
save.

"This is a simple task of employing your telepathic abilities into forming a
barrier. I realize that you may have never done this while actually knowing
you were doing. If you have been able to block out your brother then you
have done it."  The Professor continued explaining the specifics of mental
barriers and how they worked. Paul listened and tried to understand all that
he could.

	The Professor was able to build a barrier in Paul's mind and had taught
Paul how to hold it up. But Xavier knew that the barrier wouldn't hold up
long under direct attack. He'd done all he could, though.

	The situation concerned Xavier greatly. He wasn't sure what this meant for
the plans that Magneto had, but he knew that it meant something. Professor X
hoped that his student would be able to deal with what was coming. It would
be a long and hard battle. Xavier wanted peace, but he knew in a world like
this one it wasn't possible. Magnus had ensured that.

	He hoped that Paul would be able to adjust to the events of the last few
days. Xavier knew it had to have been hard on the young man. Faced his own
brother in combat twice, had a close friend's death, and being thrown into a
new life. Paul seemed to be taking to everything well, but he had let a few
thoughts slip while they were training. Strangely, most involved Scott and
the feelings that accompanied the thoughts weren't ones that Xavier
expected.

	Paul also felt responsible for his friend's death. That the Professor had
gotten loud and clear. Paul had been actively thinking on these things
during the session and that had been the only reason that the Professor had
picked up on them. Paul thought that if he had stayed then they would all
still be safe. The Professor knew, however, that the opposite was true. Had
Paul stayed here then there was a good chance that he would be dead and his
friends worse off than they are now.

	Paul had left the Professor a while ago and was now outside the jet with
the others. Jean was practicing with Chad, Rebecca seemed to doing a little
practicing on her, and Logan was leaning against a tree with a cigar in his
mouth. Three hours had passed since Xavier and Paul had started the training
and they had finally finished.

	"Hey." Paul said to Rebecca as he approached her. She was letting the
electricity flow from fingertip to fingertip. She was throwing rocks into
the air and blowing them apart in midair. " Nice shot."

"Thanks." She said stopping what she was doing. "Sorry about the other
night. I just freaked when I woke up. Honestly, I don't remember that much
of it."

"No worries." Paul said sitting down on the ground. "How's your shoulder? I
threw you into that wall pretty hard."

"Aww, its fine. It's a little sore, but nothing to bad." She said bending
over and picking up another rock.

"Here, I got that for ya." Paul said. He could feel his mind expand and
grasp the baseball size rock firmly. He gave it a toss into the air and
within seconds it was blown apart.

"What's the deal Paul?" Jean asked as she walked up.

"Well, we're headin' over there in about an hour and I guess we'll figure it
out from there." Paul said standing.

<Isn't that the mutant y'all told me is like one of the most violent people
alive? > Paul sent to Jean.

<Yeah, I think it is. And the Professor hasn't told me anything about the
whole situation yet. > She replied.

<Yippy skippy. We get to fight along side a psycho-killer. > Paul said to
her sarcastically. <I hope he's nice. Maybe I should go talk to him? >

<Ahh, maybe. Do you like being alive? > Jean asked him, but Paul was already
walking over to him.

"Hey, you know those things will kill you, right?" Paul said to him in
reference to the cigar.

"Thanks for your concern, but I'll take my chances." He grunted.

"So, I take it that you've fought Sabertooth before." Paul said, but didn't
get a response from the other mutant. "I fought him once. Thought I killed
him too, but apparently I didn't. He has some wicked healing power." Paul
said.

"Yeah, he tends not to die when you want him to. But I guess you could say
the same for me." He said knocking some ashes from his cigar.

"So you got that healin' power too?" Paul asked trying to get as much out of
Logan as he could. He just nodded. "So how are we gonna deal with
Sabertooth?"

	Before Paul could get his answer the Professor interrupted. < Everyone on
to the jet. There's been a change in plans. We're going now. > He said
urgently. No one hesitated and everyone got on board.

"What is it, Professor?" Jean asked taking the pilot's seat. She began
starting up the jet.

"A large amount of people have gathered at the town hall. At least five
hundred." He said.

"That's almost the whole town." Paul said worriedly.

"I'm not sure what they are doing, but I don't want to take the chance that
those people will get hurt." He replied.

"Won't those people be under the control of the telepaths?" Chad asked.

"I'm sure they will be, but when Jean and I engage those telepaths they
shouldn't be able to maintain control of those people." Xavier said
strapping himself as the jet lifted off the ground. The others did the same.
It was only moments before they were setting the plane the down about 100
yards away from the town hall and the crowd of people. Paul and Logan were
the first off followed by the others. Marie and Sam stayed behind.

	While exited the jet they could hear the crowd shouting. They were shouting
about mutants. Strangely, Paul could feel the anger and hate radiating off
the people. They were very angry and suddenly they turned and directed that
anger at the new arrivals.

"Jean, you and Paul will make us a hole through the crowd, then we'll head
inside." Professor X said stopping his wheelchair beside Paul. Paul nodded
to Jean and they both started towards the crowd. Jean and Paul were having
to block debris that was being thrown at them from the crowd.

	Paul and Jean pushed back the crowd like the wind moving leaves. They
didn't hurt any of the people. Only moved from their path. Soon they reached
the doors and with an extended hand, Jean ripped them from their frame. They
all entered. For some reason the crowd didn't follow.

	They entered the hall and walked through the foyer into and much larger
room. This room had high ceilings and two stories. The room was completely
open and the only furniture there was were the tables that lined the walls.
At the far end of the room stood their opponents.  Seth and the twins were
standing on the second floor balcony. Sabertooth and the mutants known as
Crush and Syphon were below.

"Rebecca, you and Chad stay out of this useless you have to get involved.
Paul and Logan, your up. Take point." Xavier said.

"Professor? That orange lookin' mutant? I think that's Crush. I think he
looks bigger." Paul said with a little shock. Crush had definitely changed.
He was a little taller and it looked that he gotten more muscular. He
definitely wasn't orange last time. Syphon looked different as well. He was
no longer the skinny man he had been before. He had definite muscle tone and
seemed more confident than he had last time.

	Paul and Wolverine stepped forward and started towards the other side of
the room. Jean and the Professor weren't to far behind. Chad and Rebecca
stayed back as the Professor had told them too. There were two sudden shink
sounds and Paul looked over to Wolverine. He had three claws extended from
his hands. That was something that Paul didn't expect, but was something to
think about later.

"Shall we get this over with?" Paul said. It seemed like a sarcastic
comment, but that's not how Paul meant. He wanted this to be over. He was
quickly tiring of these people. Paul was finding difficult to fight the rage
that was building up in his heart. Seth had killed Mr. McKnight. He didn't
think he could ever forgive that. But at the same time he heard his mother
telling him to always love his brother, no matter what. He knew it. He knew
he had to. Paul was the only real family Seth had left. Paul would be true
to his mother's wishes if he had to die doing it.

	Wolverine's response to Paul's question was only a growl. Paul didn't know
for sure if it was his telempathic powers or what it was, but he could feel
the hatred radiating off of Logan. To who it was direct Paul wasn't sure,
but he pretty much figured it was Sabertooth.

	Wolverine let out an inhuman scream and charged towards Sabertooth.
Sabertooth didn't react he only stood still. Before Wolverine could reach
his target his paced slowed and he started to stumble. Then he fell ground.
Not in pain, but in what seemed like tiredness or fatigue.

	Paul wasn't far behind Logan and saw him fall. He looked and noticed that
Syphon had his hands extended and fists clinched. Syphon's range had
increased since their first fight. Paul gathered his energy and sent it
hurling towards. Syphon managed to jump out of the way, but it broke his
power over Wolverine.

	Jean had floated the Professor and herself to the second level of the
building and they were heading towards their intended targets. "Jean, you
focus an Seth. I will deal with the other two." Xavier said. He heard her
acknowledge him telepathically.

	Crush had certainly changed. He was like a bull charging at Paul. Paul
almost had to focus hard to move Crush. The wall that Paul threw Crush into
smashed in, but Crush just bounced off. Paul didn't worry though. He had the
time. Wolverine and Sabertooth were trading shattering blows. It looked
like, to Paul that is, that Syphon was headed towards the stairs and then to
Jean and Xavier.

	With one hand extended towards the approaching Crush and the other towards
the retreating Syphon Paul reached out his mind. He sent the two mutants
flying through the air and slamming into each other. Crush was more
resilient to recover and he pulled Syphon up with him. Syphon nodded to
Crush who then picked up Syphon since him flying through the air towards
Paul.

	Paul caught him in midair, but he started to feel the effects of Syphon's
powers. He let Syphon fly before it could get to bad. In Paul moment of
dehydrated distraction Crush managed to come up behind Paul. He picked Paul
up and threw him very hard towards the door at the other end of the room.
Paul more than reached the door before he realized what was going on. He hit
the ground outside hard and his shoulder hurt severely as he got up. The
crowd that had been outside early had disappeared.

	Back inside Crush and Syphon looked to each other. "You help Sabertooth and
I'll take him." Crush said jerking his thumb towards where Paul had been
thrown. Syphon nodded and they both headed their own ways.

"I'm having trouble busting through his mental barriers Professor. They are
incredibly strong." Jean said.

"Yes, they are. I think the twins are channeling their power through Seth.
I'm having problems as well." Xavier told her. They had positioned
themselves yards away from their opponents. Neither group had moved. "Jean,
I will punch a hole through his barrier and you move in a take care of it."

"I'll try." She replied. To anyone who might have watched this battle might
have thought nothing was going on but a bunch of staring, but so much more
was happening. "My god." Jean said softly. "He experimented on them. All
three of them." She said disgusted.

"Jean, cut him off from the twins." Xavier commanded. Jean focused all the
telepathic energy she could gather into finding and severing the links
between Seth and the other two. Once the links were found she built a
fortification of mental energy around the connection and cut Seth off from
the twins. He fell to the ground.

	The twins had more mental discipline than he did, though. They renew their
attack by pulling back momentarily and then sending a surge of telepathic
energy to Jean and Xavier. Jean was nearly knocked off her feet by the rush
of power, but she held her ground. Seth began to crawl away and was ignored
by Jean and Xavier. He was no longer the main problem.

	Paul stood and reached for his shoulder. It hurt terribly.  He didn't have
time to deal with that now. He started back inside. Paul passed Rebecca and
Chad who were watching from the corner of the room. "Are you all right?" she
asked him.

"I'm fine." Paul answered harshly. He continued inside and it was seconds
before he saw Crush.

"Ok, now y'all have really pissed me off!" Paul said angrily. The pain and
hurt that he had stored up over the last few days released upon Crush. Crush
had started outside to finish the fight him Paul, but didn't get far before
he was thrown back inside by the now enraged Paul. Crush slid across the
wooden floor and quickly regained his footing.

	That didn't matter must because he was quickly lifted off the ground and
thrown, once again, into the wall. Paul didn't stop there. He sent the
orange mutant slamming into the opposite wall. Syphon barely had time to get
to Sabertooth and Wolverine before he heard a cry of pain from Crush.

"Get away from him!" Syphon yelled running towards Paul.

"You should stay out of it. I don't think you're as durable as him." Paul
said callously. He lifted his hand Syphon flew into the nearest wall. Crush
had gotten up, but was meeting the wall head own again before he could think
straight.

"This is pointless, Wolverine." Sabertooth said as he forcibly removed
Wolverine's claws from his stomach and picked up Wolverine up. Sabertooth's
wounds quickly healed themselves. He tossed onto the floor and pinned him
down. He began hitting barbarically. Wolverine slipped his right leg in
Sabertooth's armpit and pushed back as hard as he could. He managed to force
Sabertooth off him enough to slip out.

	He swung his body around and nailed Sabertooth with the heel of his boot in
the face. He quickly circled with another kick to the face before Sabertooth
could recover. Sabertooth stood and they began punching blocking all over
again.

	Syphon lied unconscious on the floor, but Crush, bleeding from his month
and nose, was still standing.

"Do you really want to do this again?" Paul asked Crush as he held him in
the air.

"Do I have a choice?" Crush asked curtly.

"Y'all have brought this upon yourself. You attacked innocent people. There
are repercussions for your actions." Paul said harshly. Paul was about to
throw Crush into the wall once again, but something hit him in the back and
sent him to the ground. Crush fell to the ground and Paul looked up to see
Seth standing behind him.

"We're leaving!" Seth yelled.

	Paul saw Wolverine flying towards a wall and he extended his mind and
caught him before impact. He set him down and stood.

"No one said you gave the orders." Sabertooth answered. "But yes, we are
leaving. Tell your bald friends." He said to Seth. Paul walked over to Logan
to make sure he was all right, and of course he was. Seth and the others
stood in front of the door and Paul and Logan were in front of a wall.

"They are already outside." Seth answered after a few seconds. He closed his
eyes and seemed to focusing on something. Suddenly, his eyes shot open in
shock. "Sentinels! Six of them. They'll be here soon."

"Let's go." Sabertooth said.

"You aren't goin' anywhere." Wolverine said.

"You can't stop us." Sabertooth responded flatly.

"I can." Paul stated simply. He picked all four of them off the ground.
Crush was holding the still unconscious Syphon in his arms. Sabertooth
growled, but that didn't his situation any.

	Suddenly, Rebecca and Chad both stepped into the room and Rebecca raised
her hands into the air. She let an electric bolt go and it hit Wolverine
squarely in the chest. He went flying backwards into a wall.

"Rebecca, want are you do?!" Paul yelled at her, but she didn't respond and
a bolt came flying at Paul. He easily blocked it, but not without diverting
some the energy he was using to hold the others in place. As soon as
Sabretooth hit the ground he made a break for it. Paul quickly picked Seth
and Crush back into the air and tired to throw Sabretooth back towards the
wall behind him. He over-compensated and Sabretooth flew through the window
instead.

	A slightly breeze began to blow through the room and quickly pick up to
gale force winds. Paul anchored himself in place with his teke and looked
Chad. Chad was still standing at the end, but Paul could tell that he was
concentrating of the use of his powers.

An unexpected pain hit Paul. His head was already hurting from the sustained
use of his abilities and this was only making it worse. It was the same pain
that he had felt early in the day when Seth had first made him know. Paul
was about to deal with the situation, but was interrupted before he could.

< Paul, get everyone outside we have to leave. > Professor X told him.

< I know, Sentinels. Six of them, right? > Paul answered back.

< No, try more like twenty or thirty. We can't take on the kind of
firepower. They'll be here soon. > Jean said.

	The pain in Paul's head hadn't subsided, but he was still able to function.
This pain wasn't as intense as it had been last time. Paul knew Seth was the
source, but this time he didn't have the twins backing him up. Paul dug down
deep into his mind and used the power to throw Seth from the room. He heard
Seth hit the ground with a thud and as that happened the wind in the room
dissipated. Paul then assumed that Seth had been the reason that Rebecca and
Chad had attacked.

"Oh god." Rebecca said to herself. "Are you guys all right? I could stop
myself. I tired, but couldn't. " She said running over to Logan who was now
standing.

"Yeah, I'm fine lil'one." Logan replied.

"We gotta go." Paul said and headed outside towing Crush and Syphon along.
Wolverine, Rebecca, and Chad quickly followed.

	When Paul got outside he saw that the Professor and Jean were still engaged
with the twins and Sabertooth was headed their way. < Jean, behind you. >
Paul sent to her. Jean turned out quickly and put out her hand. Sabertooth
went flying backwards.

"God, I hate telekinetics." Sabertooth scolded as he got up.

	Paul looked around everywhere; Seth was nowhere to be seen. Paul sent Crush
down beside Sabertooth. "It's over. You can't accomplish anything here." He
said to them. Paul looked over his shoulder towards Xavier and the twins now
laid unconscious on the ground. "You have been defeated."

"Mutant signature identified and confirmed. Terminate target." Came an
eerily metallic voice. Paul, Logan, Rebecca, and Chad turned to see six
sentinels above their heads. They fired upon the mutants, but they all
reacted immediately and the shots hit the ground harmlessly.

	Paul took to the skies hoping to distract the sentinels away from everyone
else. He succeeded with the six that were there, but he saw more closing in
on the area quickly. Paul was a bit quicker than the sentinels and he put
some distance between them before he turned to face them. They fired yellow
energy beams at him, but he put his hands up and blocked the energy. The
strength of the impact pushed him back through the air, but he still
maintained control.

	Rebecca joined in on the battle. She, apparently, had good control over he
powers. The electric current rolled off her like the wind over a desert, and
the electrical force propelled her into the sky and she followed after Paul
at an almost equal speed.

	Jean had the twins floating in the air and was headed back towards the jet.
Once she got the twins to the plane she could help out, but the professor
wasn't capable of getting them there. She set them down the back hold of the
jet and headed down the ramp. Chad had followed her to the jet. "Stay here.
If anyone tries to get inside make sure they don't." he nodded.

	Paul picked up two cars off the street about 50 yards below him and sent
them hurling into one of the sentinels. It didn't seem to do much damage,
but it did slow it down. He had to think of a different way to deal with
them. He stopped in the air and wrenched two of the metal light poles that
lined the streets out of the cement. He hoped he was right in assuming that
the main computers for the sentinels were located in their heads and he sent
the poles into two of the sentinels' eyes. They both promptly fell from the
sky and crashed into the ground.

	Rebecca caught up with the group sentinels chasing Paul. She extended her
hands and focused as much energy she could muster out towards her opponent.
She let out a scream and the electricity leapt from her hands and collided
into all four sentinels. The voltage that Rebecca had sent into the
sentinels nearly disintegrated where the bolts made contact. The brief
engagement left Rebecca feeling empowered. She had yet to channel that much
energy and she hadn't been completely sure she could do it until now.

"Good shot!" Paul yelled to her and received a "Look out!" in response. Paul
turned around with only enough time to put up a shield blocking the shots
form two incoming sentinels. Paul reached out his hands and gasped the
sentinels as best as he could. He poured as much power as he could into the
attack and he brought his hands together in one quick motion.  The sentinels
slammed into each other and plummeted to the ground.

"Where are Sabertooth and the others?" Xavier as head got on board the jet.

"They ran off. I've got his scent, but I thought you might need me for
something else. Plus there was much I could do to them alone." Logan
answered.

"Ok, watch the twins. They're in the back hold. They might wakeup." He
answered him.

"Should get this thing moving? Won't the sentinels attack the jet?" Logan
asked Xavier who sat at the controls of the jet.

"No, the jet is shield against their scans." He answered back. Logan headed
to the back.

"Rebecca, there are five coming from that direction. You take those." Paul
told her pointing to his right. She nodded and headed that way. Paul flew to
the two that were headed straight for him. When he reached them he realized
he hadn't seen the other two that had now surrounded him. They all began to
fire at him as they closed in on him. His teke shield was holding up, but if
they continued to fire he didn't know how it would. They were close enough
for him to try his last trick.

	Paul head was starting to ache. He couldn't keep this up much longer. He
concentrated all his energy on one sentinel and slammed it into one of the
others, then the next, and then the next. There was a single sentinel
approaching and he forced the remains of the one he just used into it. Once
he was sure that the robots had been destroyed his mind gave way. Paul began
to fall from the sky along with the wrecked robots. He managed to soften his
landing, but he still hit the ground pretty hard. He blacked out among the
fiery remains of the five sentinels.

	Jean had dealt with four of the sentinels on her own and was now headed for
Rebecca. The electrical mutant was holding her own for now, but she might
need some help. A long bolt of electrical current laced through the night
sky and sent a sentinel towards a flaming heap of already destroyed
wreckage.

	Paul came to by the raindrops that he felt hitting his face. Then he
realized that the remains of a sentinel was falling towards him and he was
about to try and deflected it but a red beam of light lurched from off to
his right and impacted the wreckage. The remains were force in another
direction of the falling and they slammed into the ground many feet away
from Paul.

Paul tried forced his body to work, but it refused. He did manage to crane
his neck to the right. What he saw was a relief. Cyclops, Storm, Colossus,
Beast, and Iceman had somehow made down to North Carolina. They walked up to
him.

"We got this. You take a rest." Storm said as she and Scott helped him to
his feet. Paul nodded his thanks. Storm lifted into the sky and the others
ran to join the battle. The rain was coming down pretty hard and Paul was
pretty wet.

"Come on, I'll get you to the jet. You look pretty drained." Scott said
wrapping his arm under Paul's to support him. Paul could barely hold himself
up and was happy too receive the help.

"You should help them. I can make it on my own." Paul managed weakly.

"No, they've got it. There's only about eight sentinels left to deal with
anyway." Scott said as they started to the jet. They walked at a slow pace
and had to avoid a lot of fallen debris. They caught by surprise when Seth
stepped out from behind a half wrecked building.

"What the hell!" Scott said. Confused why the guy looked like Paul. Before
either of them could react Scott doubled over in pain.

"Seth, what are you doin'?" Paul asked weakly as he bent down to grabbed
Scott by the shoulders. The rain looked like it had soaked Seth to the bone.
Paul had never seen his brother so terrified. He could remember a time when
he saw Seth terrified and that was very unsettling to Paul. He was no longer
sure of what Seth was capable of.

"What I'm doin' is killing you both." He said showing no emotion.

"No can't kill me." Paul said more fiercely.

"Oh no?" Seth said reaching behind his back pulling out a pistol. His hands
were shaking as he held the pistol.

"Making it stop! Please!" Scott screamed in pain.

"Why are you doin' this, Seth? What have I done to you that was so bad?"
Paul tried to summon the strength to jerk the gun away from Seth, but he
couldn't. "Stop this! You're hurting him!" Paul said clucking Scott in his
arms.

"Why?" Seth asked, his temper flaring. "Why? You got to have everything." He
said waving the gun a little. "You got the better powers, you get to have
the friends, and..." he stopped.

"And what?" Paul yelled back. "And what, Seth?" Seth was silent for a few
moments as the rage visible built within him. "Wha..." Paul started again, but
was interrupted by Seth before he could finish.

"She loved you!" Seth yelled at Paul. "Seth LOVED you and she never loved
me." He said more softly. If Seth was crying Paul couldn't tell from the
rain.

	Paul realized what this was about. Seth thought that their mother hadn't
loved him. `But how would he know? He left right after she got really sick.'
The question raised in Paul's mind. Always love him. He's your brother. He
could hear the words coming from his mother mouth. He would be true to her.

"She did love you Seth. You just didn't stick around long enough to know it.
You left when she needed you the most. You left and your leaving came with a
prize. A prize that you had to pay." Paul said back to him.

"No, she drove me away. SHE NEVER LOVED ME!" Seth yelled back at Paul with
the gun trembling in his hands.

"She loved you, Seth!" Paul yelled back standing and taking a few steps
towards Seth. "She told me so when she was dieing. And I LOVE you Seth and I
always will. I swore it to her." Paul said closing the small distance
between them. "Give me the gun Seth."

"She told you that?" Seth asked weakly.

"Yes, and she told me to always be there for you. I'm here for you now."
Paul said taking the gun from Seth's hands and tossing it away. Seth almost
immediately fell into Paul's arms crying.

"I'm sorry. So sorry." He sobbed. The pain that was inflicting Scott had
stopped now. "I didn't mean for so much to happen. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm
sorry." Seth continued to repeat into Paul shoulder as he cried.

"Paul?" Paul heard the concern in Jean's voice.

< Can you put him to sleep or something? > He sent to her. She nodded and
walked up to them. She put her slender hand to Seth's forehead and his body
went limp.

"He should wake up in a few hour well rested.'" She said.

"Good." Paul said having trouble holding the unconscious Seth up.

"I got him." Jean said as she picked Seth up into the air. "The sentinels
have been taken care of."

"Good." Paul said. Scott had to support most of Paul's weight on the walk
back to the jet Paul was still terribly tired. The last encounter with Seth
only served to weigh on his emotions. That weight was, perhaps, as bad as
the physical. "Everyone's all right?"

"Yup, no injuries. Sabretooth, Crush, and Syphon got away, but we have the
twins." Jean said as they walked up the ramp into the jet.

"Can we please go home?" Paul asked tiredly. Everyone was on board already
and seated ready to go.

"Of course, we just have to get the chopper." Xavier said as Jean sat down
the pilot's chair and lifted the jet into the air.

	They landed in the clearing where the other craft was landed and Storm,
Scott, Paul, Bobby, and Peter got off. Along with Marie and Sam. Enough of
Paul's strength had returned so that he was able to walk on his own now.
Paul said his goodbyes to his friends and they headed into the
jet-slash-helicopter.

Before Paul knew they were it they were home and they were heading to their
rooms. The Professor said that they could put Seth and the others in the
med-bay and sedate them for now. Paul agreed he didn't really want to think
about that now.

"Paul, you wanna...um...stay in my room tonight?" Scott suggested shyly.

"Umm, yeah. Just let me get changed. I'll be there in a minute."

"Ok." Scott smiled and went into his room. Paul went to his room, changed
into some pajama bottoms and a t-shirt then went to the bathroom to brush
his teeth. When he was done with prep for bed he headed for Scott's room. He
knocked on the door and opened it up when he heard Scott tell him to come
in. Scott walked out of his closet with a pair of pajama bottoms on as well
and a pair of his red goggles.

"Hey." Scott said with a smile.

"Hey." Paul said shyly as he shut the door. They walked up to each other and
fell into a hug. Paul let all of the weight of the day fall off and just
relaxed into Scott's arms. Paul couldn't believe how good Scott's skin felt
against his. Paul could feel the tears welling in his eyes, but he held them
back. He would cry. He didn't cry, ever. Not anymore.

Scott gently ran his hand up Paul's back and that sent shivers through
Paul's body. Paul decided that he could stand to do this forever. It felt
right. It felt like if fit. They just stood there for a while and then Scott
backed off a little.

Scott was a few inches taller than Paul and he bent down just slightly to
kiss him.  Scott moved in slowly and took Paul's lips in his. Scott dropped
his hand to Paul's back and pulled him into his own body. The kiss gradually
became more passionate and Paul felt Scott's tongue brush against his lips.
Paul moaned as Scott pulled him into a tighter embrace and opened his month
slightly. Fire works started going off in the back Paul's head and he lost
himself in the kiss.

A few minutes later Scott broke off the kiss and pulled Paul's chin up a
little with his finger. He looked Paul in the eyes and smiled. "Let's get
some sleep." Paul nodded and let Scott lead him by the hand to the bed.
Paul's head rested on Scott's chest and his arms wrapped around his waist.
Paul snuggled into Scott and got very comfortable. Scott just pulled Paul
closer and took in the sweet smell of his hair. They both soon fell asleep
in each other's arms very, very content.