33 Talks and Assaults

Devin knew that he now had a powder keg on his hands with the arrival of The Brotherhood. He knew that at the best of times the two groups had a very fragile truce and at the worst they were trying to murder each other. Knowing that there was a chance that something might go down at any minute as well as there not being enough room in his house for everyone, he decided to move this gathering to the backyard. Once everyone was settled Devin finally took a look at who had showed up.

Behind Magneto was the ever present usuals of The Brotherhood. There was Mystique, Blob, Toad, Pyro, Avalanche, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch. The one and only oddity was the presence of another woman with her dark hair pulled into a bun at the back of her head helping to display an omega/trident tattoo on her left cheek. She also had a piercing through her bottom lip and a choker around her neck. Her leather outfit consisted of a jacket, corset top, and pants along side a pair of low-heeled combat boots. She looked familiar to Devin, but he couldn't quite place his finger on where he knew her from.

"Let me introduce my fellow brotherhood mutants. This is..." Magneto began before Devin interrupted once again.

"I know who the majority of you are. The only one I'm unfamiliar with is the lady with the facial tattoo." Devin said as he waited for her name.

"My name is Callisto, dick!" the now identified Callisto replied seemingly upset that Devin knew everyone but her.

"Ahh. The mutant that is able to sense other mutants as well as their abilities on top of having high-speed movement abilities. Interesting." Devin said and it was interesting as Callisto wasn't an original member of the Brotherhood. She had joined Magneto in the third movie and had eventually died at the hands of Storm.

"What! So you know my abilities, but don't know my name?" Callisto demanded now upset.

"Oh, I know your name and your abilities, but I had no idea what you looked like." Devin said as he waved off her indignance with his hand like it didn't matter. This caused Callisto to take an aggressive step forward but was stopped by Mystique.

"But..." Callisto started but was shushed by Mystique.

"We're here for a purpose. Don't forget that." Mystique said as Callisto looked away.

"I apologize about that. We are here to give an invitation to the two newly awakened children to join our brotherhood where they will be welcomed with open arms." Magneto said.

'He's just as bad as Xavier.' Devin thought as he then heard one of the X-men snort.

"You mean to turn them into your henchmen and killers." Cyclops said as he folded his arms.

"No better than the hypocrisy of what Xavier teaches all of you." retorted Avalanche.

Before the two sides could escalate their aggression any further a loud bang was heard as Devin slammed his hand flat on the surface of the table he had placed in the backyard for him and the two mutant leaders to sit around. This had the effect that Devin was looking for, in that everyone stopped and looked at him. Some in shock while others in interest.

"Remember where you all are standing. This isn't your mansion or the Savage Lands so behave." Devin growled out as he looked from Cyclops to Avalanche with his best human glare. Just because Xavier and crew knew that he wasn't exactly human didn't mean that he had to tip his hand to Magneto and crew.

"Who do you think you..." Avalanche started before he was silenced by Mystique as well. Cyclops seemed to be slightly better as he gritted his teeth before calming down some.

"Now, before I have to repair my property because someone shot their mouth off I want to get down to brass tacks. I assume that you are both here for the same reasons for the most part. To try and recruit my two charges to your causes before the other can and I have already told Xavier so I'll tell you the same thing Magneto. The choice to join or stay is up to the two though I would strongly caution them from joining your little group." Devin said as he interlaced his hands in front of his face as he glanced from one mutant leader to the other before leaving off on the Master of Magnetism.

"And might I ask why you would be so biased against me and mine?" Magneto asked as he raised an eyebrow in intrigue nonplussed in what was said.

"Besides the blatant supremacy vibes of your group as well as the numerous assassination/homicide plots and genocide attempts on top of how you treat those who follow you. Hmmm, beside all those minor things there is the blatant hypocrisy that you believe in considering your background." Devin replied with dripping sarcasm before turning completely serious with his last words. In return Magneto didn't try to deny those accusations in the least.

"Those were merely actions in response to the mistreatment of us and our fellow mutants. As for the supremacy portion, Homo Superior is as the name states superior to mere humans." Magneto replied as easily as talking about the weather. A snort from Devin had the two leaders looking once more at the younger man.

"There was another man in Germany roughly half a century ago who claimed the same thing and look at what happened to him. How is what you are spouting any different?" Devin asked as he looked Magneto in the eye. This finally broke the elder mans calm demeanor.

"They are completely different!" Magneto gritted out.

"Sure, another part that I have a problem with concerning the children going to your side is that they still have an elder sister that hasn't shown any mutant possibilities and I doubt you have family visiting time." Devin stated causing the kids to frown at the thought of never seeing their cherished elder sibling ever again. Then Devin turned towards the Xavier camp as he could just tell that they were on the verge of commenting so as to capitalize on that last statement.

"I am also hesitant to let them join your group either. Though you are slightly better than The Brotherhood, you still have plenty of strikes against you." Devin stated as he looked at Xavier as well as some of the senior members.

"Could you elaborate a bit?" Xavior asked as some of the X-men looked quite offended at his words.

"Sure. Yes, you do provide education to your students as well as competent training but the problems that I have are how many team members and students have you had to bury since forming the school? How many enemies do you all have that would see not only your team, but also the entirety of your school obliterated. Would Izabela and I have to worry that an enemy from your past or some new enemy looking to make a name for themselves would show up and after the dust settles having to bury one or both of the kids? You see what I am getting at?" Devin said as he didn't sugarcoat anything which had two reactions amongst the X-Men. Some looked down in sadness and shame of those lost for varying reasons, while others got angry that Devin would dare state that they would possibly put their students in harms way.

"Now before everyone gets themselves riled up anymore I will admit that I can't claim that I can keep them 100% safe either, but for the most part I don't have anyone gunning for me either and I won't be forcing them to do anything that is illegal or against the morals that they have. Again it is their choice but I have said my piece here so I will talk to the two and see what their decision is." Devin stated before standing up from his chair. After a couple steps Devin stopped once more.

"And Xavier?" Devin said over his shoulder.

"Yes?" Xavier replied curiously.

"It is their decision so you and Miss Frost should keep your minds to yourselves." Devin said as he leveled a knowing look at the bald man before flicking his gaze to the platinum-haired woman next to Cyclops. He then gathered the siblings and walked towards the back door.

The four were a mere dozen feet from the sliding doors when Devin picked up the sound of a gun slide being racked from far off. On instinct he pulled the three siblings down and hollered for everyone to hit the deck at the same time that Wolverine did them same. The release of small objects peppered the ground and surrounding area as a couple dozen armed men charged out of the tree line of the surrounding forest in full tactical gear. Devin pushed the siblings towards the house as he made a pistol appear in his hand and returned fire, hitting a couple of the soldiers before having to duck behind one of the decorative walls that surrounded the patio.

The other groups were in a worse position as they were out in the open when the opening volley had been released. Devin could see a few of the members of both sides had been downed but seemed to be breathing which confused Devin. It was then that he noticed that the rounds that were fired weren't bullets but small tranq darts with a small payload of some kind of clear, yellow liquid. So far the only ones the X-Men that were still up were Cyclops, Wolverine, Emma Frost, and Colossus while Kitty was helping move the rest of the downed team, including Xavier, to a safer location. Rogue was up in the air, but could only dodge bursts of rounds as she became a minor distraction.

On the brotherhoods side only Magneto, Mystique, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Callisto managed to avoid getting knocked out, but this didn't last long as Devin observed Scarlet and Callisto taking rounds to the arm and neck respectively. It was then that Devin saw a large object fly out of the woods towards the downed mutants. It looked like the mech from Aliens with two pincer-looking claws on its arms which was followed by a second. It was at that moment there was another explosion and a scream coming from the house that sent a chill down Devins spine.

'NO!' Devin thought as he raced low to the ground towards the house to avoid getting hit. Upon bursting in he found the front door had been blown open and the unconscious forms of Henric and Yana in the grasp of another mech while Izabela futily thrashed in the arms of two armed men before a third hit her in the jaw with the butt of his gun. It was at that point that Devins vision turned red and an inhuman roar ripped from his mouth, causing the men to cover their ears. As Devin leaped forward his mind blanked and the last sounds he heard were the screams of dying men.

***

Devin regained his faculties a short time later, but how much later Devin was unsure. As he took stock of his surroundings Devin noticed a few things, his house was destroyed. Fixtures broken and furniture overturned or destroyed and in pieces. He then noticed the blood splattered around the room and the pieces of their assailants that were mixed in with the savaged furniture. It soon came back to him what had been the cause of his black out.

'Izabela, Henric, Yana!' Devin thought as he began his search. He soon found Izabela in a corner of the room still unconscious, only a nasty bruise starting to form on her jaw as the only indication of her being hurt. Devin continued to search but found no trace of the younger children. Turning to the back doors Devin raced outside to find that there were several members of each team missing as the ones who were left checked on those still unconscious.

"Has anyone seen Yana or Henric?" Devin asked as Kitty walked past. This caused a few of the X-men to look nervous. His question wasn't answered by them however, but by one of the few remaining Brotherhood members, Mystique.

"They were taken along with Xavier, Magneto, Frost, and Scarlet Witch." the azure woman replied which made Devins heart thud in his chest.

Yana and Henric had been kidnapped.