Kitty Pryde stood outside the door to Magneto's cell at the Vault, her powers temporarily disrupted by the presence of mutant-ability dampening Leech. Two groups of prison guards lined up on either side of Kitty, their energy rifles trained on her. Then they fired.

Wild bolts of energy leapt from their guns, whizzed past Kitty, and slammed into the armored chests of the opposite guards. They all fell to the ground, unconscious. Kitty looked rather confused.

"It's alright Kitty," I told her telepathically. "I took over their minds and caused them to shoot each other."

"But . . but what about Leech? Why didn't he disrupt your powers?" she asked.

"Because I am out of his range, of course. If Cyclops fired an optic beam that passed through Leech's sphere of influence, the beam wouldn't be disrupted. He only prevents people from engaging their powers. Now, enter the code in the lock and let's get out of here."

"Well, what about Leech? Are we taking him with us?"

Leech is a young child. He lived in the sewers of New York for a time with the Morlocks. He is a rather ugly shade of green and he has the rather frustrating passive ability to neutralize other mutant's powers. Now, you all know that I just adore children, but he is a liability.

"No Kitty, just free Magneto."

"But . . but he's just a kid! It's wrong for the government to use him like this! It's like Weapon X or something. We've got to take him with us!"

"Kitty, you're being irrational. We are in the middle of a dangerous situation here. This is no time for a debate. I am the leader and you will do what I say. Now, free Magneto!" You can see why I adore children so much.

"Fine!" she spat as she furiously punched in the code. The cell door slid open and Magneto walked out.

"Well, well," he said, "the Shadowcat. Is this a social visit?"

"Hello Eric," I said telepathically. "Are you ready for a little trip?"

"Ahh, Charles. I was wondering how long you would take to effectuate a rescue. Yes, I am ready."

Kitty and Magneto made their way towards the main entrance. Unfortunately, Kitty ignored my instructions and brought Leech with her. This meant that Magneto could not use his powers to open the doors. I had to read the codes from the guard's minds and have Kitty enter them in the locks. I then had the guards enter a sleep state so that there would be no more shooting. The three of them soon arrived at our van.

"Be reasonable Kitty," I implored, "we are trying to escape from the federal government here. We cannot bring Leech."

"There's no way we're leaving him, Professor. He's one of us and we can't let the government use him like this!"

"Kitty, if my mental powers were working at the moment I would completely rewire your brain."

"I'm afraid you're out-voted, Charles, I agree with the girl. We cannot allow homo sapiens to misuse our people like this. It is an abomination."

"You do realize Eric, that we will be powerless so long as he around us."

"So be it," Magneto said with a wink.

"Fine," I said shaking my head. "But if we all get killed then it's your fault."

Against my better judgment, we all climbed into the X-Van and headed back to Westchester. Hopefully, our trip home will be uneventful.