He looked up at the empty house. He knew Amanda would be leaving any minute, but it wasn't her that he wanted.

BAMF

Loke eased through the kitchen door and glanced up and down the hall. He heard Amanda come down the stairs and jumped easily onto the ceiling. Barely thinking, he scuttled along it to the lounge, then eased himself down. He pulled open a drawer and removed a polished box.

Opening the lid, Loke smiled.

So every experience did have its perks.

#########====#########

"Wanna bet?" he hissed, raising his hand.

Mystique stared at it for several moments. That was… that looked wrong in his hand. Especially since everything from his stance to his expression assured her he was going to use it.

Black, well oiled and sporting a silver engraving: 'Sefton', it was a gun, pointed straight at her heart.

He smiled cruelly. "To hell with blood lines and pretty conversations, Rach. Mystique's a sinner, and I don't want you to ever redeem yourself."

#########====#########

Wanda and Pietro stopped shouting at each other and stared. They looked at Fred, who gaped at Lance, who stared silently at the ceiling. Suddenly Todd appeared in the doorway, white as a sheet and shaking. "Guys? I- I- was that… a gun?"

Wanda and Pietro looked to Lance. They didn't know. They'd had (or thought they'd had) happy-go-luck, wouldn't-have-a-clue-about-unanimated-violence, upbringings. Lance swallowed hard and stood up.

Todd shook his head in disbelief. "He did it… he actually did it…"

"Who did what?" whispered Pietro.

Wanda stared. "You mean- that- oh God!"

Still staring upward, Lance started moving toward the door.

BAMF

"Avalanche!" cried Loke, catching him by the shoulders. He grinned proudly. "You weren't going anywhere, were you?"

His eyes flicked to Wanda. "Sorry, miss. You're a little too powerful." Quicker than anyone could see, he released one of Lance's shoulders and shot her. The force of the bullet sent her flying back into Pietro's arms. Todd screamed and Loke laughed.

"Man, that felt good!" he cackled. "Do you know how much it sucks to be beaten by a girl?"

Lance and Fred were staring, disbelieving, at Wanda, her blood slowly seeping over Pietro's spotless clothing. He was staring blankly at the gun, which Loke was now waving as he danced.

"You- you-" Todd started forwards, his voice low and trembling in pain. "You- ARGH!" He leapt for his throat, but Loke easily sidestepped him, grabbed his ankle and swung him around, into Lance. Both Brotherhood boys fell in a tangle on the floor.

Loke ported over to the twins and bent down to look at Wanda's head wound. The front was just a small hole, but the back, he could assume, would be huge. He put a hand on Pietro's shoulder, who finally seemed to snap back to reality.

"Did you know head wounds bleed the most?" he said, as if discussing maths. His head snapped back in pain and he found himself looking down the barrel of the gun that had been in his hand.

Pietro glared at him, teeth clenched shoulders shaking. "Burn in Hell." He said, and pulled the trigger.

= click =

He blinked and tried again. =click click =. He looked past the gun at Loke's smug expression. "Aw, did I forget to mention? I only loaded it for the girls… Silly me."

Pietro tried to run, but was jerked back by a blue whip around his throat. He bared his teeth at him. "Let. Me. Go."

"Um… how about… no."

Pietro lashed out with all four limbs and Loke snarled, tightening his grip. At the same time all the other three rushed the pair, so he teleported outside. Lance ran into Fred and Todd had to perform some pretty acrobatics to avoid them. They blinked.

"Where'd he go?" demanded Lance. Todd hopped to the back window and gasped as a scream ripped through the air.

He slammed his fist on the window. "PIETRO!"

"What happened?" cried Fred, running back.

Todd turned slowly, pale. "Well, he'll live… if he doesn't kill himself first…"

"What?"

"You know how the freak can move around with other stuff too?"

"Yeah…"

"He moved Pietro's foot…" he whispered.

Lance took a step back.

BAMF

And disappeared. Todd leaped from one window to the other, staring out at the road. Loke was fighting with Lance like they'd never seen him move. He was slashing with his nails, biting and whipping instead of punching. Lance didn't have the time to use his powers, and it had never been their greatest priority to have physical strength.

Loke spun away for an instant and grinned at the sight that greeted him. He teleported again, cracking Lance across the head, and disappeared. Lance tied to stand and looked behind him. It sounded like a…

Loke had teleported the driver out of an incoming car, leaving the vehicle to speed toward the Brotherhood leader.

Lance gritted his teeth and ran at the car, jumped onto its hood, over its roof, then fell onto the boot. He hit his head and blacked out as the car veered off the road into a random fence, throwing him into the garden.

Todd turned to Fred. "W- Wha- How- what WAS that thing?"

"Wasn't Nightcrawler, I can guess that…" muttered Freddy. Then he yelled out as a puff of smoke appeared between them. At least, that's what Todd thought he was screaming about, until he saw his face.

It was scrunched up in pain and Loke laughed. "That doesn't hurt, does it?"

Todd glanced down to see… it looked like half a lawn gnome was glued to Fred's stomach. Then it hit him. He didn't know that was possible…

"You son of a-"

Loke grinned over his shoulder, then both he and Fred vanished as Todd leapt forward.

Todd looked around, breathing hard. He couldn't hear Fred, but he could hear Loke laughing… in the kitchen.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt. Hey, when you get out, send me a memo on how exactly that feels…"

Todd weighed up his options, then started running for the back window, gaining speed and momentum. He jumped off, his strong mutation's leg muscles sending him straight through the window. That was it. He picked up a screaming Pietro and grunted, then started beating his way out of there.

Much as he hated to admit it, this was something they needed the X-men for.

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