X-Men TAS: Shadowcat

by a0040pc

After his ancient samurai sword is stolen Wolverine goes out to find the thief who is actually a familiar face.

Rain poured down over Westchester New York. Located here was a school unlike any other in the world. Where at most schools the students that attended were classed as being normal people with nothing too outstanding about them. This was different however, this school was the home of the world famous X-Men.

Although the world at large hated and feared the X-Men because they were mutants there were a few people who knew that they were true heroes. Not only had they saved the mutants time and time again they also saved humanity on an occasion. Never did they ask for anything in return for their heroism and they just hoped that their actions would show humanity that humans and mutants could live side by side in peace. It was a dream that their mentor Professor Charles Xavier and the X-Men were determined to make it a reality. These X-Men were Xavier's students and were considered by him to be gifted.

The team consisted of eight members, their field leader was a man named Scott Summers aka Cyclops who had optic beams fire from his eyes and he always had to wear a visor to keep people safe from them. The next was Logan aka Wolverine who had a skeleton laced with an indestructible metal called Adamantium along with three razor sharp claws on each hand, heightened senses and a healing factor that allowed him to recover from any injury. Jean Grey was a mutant gifted with telepathic and telekinetic abilities and was considered by many to be a very powerful mutant. Ororo Monroe aka Storm was next and she had the ability to control the weather, in her native Kenya she had been praised to like a goddess and for a time she even believed it herself. One of the more recent additions to the team was a man named Remy LeBeau aka Gambit, a mysterious man from Louisiana who had the ability to charge objects with enough energy for them to explode. The team's science expert was a man named Hank McCoy aka Beast who despite his blue apish appearance was a true man gifted with strength and agility to put any Olympic athlete to shame. Rogue was a mutant who was somewhat cursed by her mutant abilities, she could absorb the memories and abilities of other people through touch but unfortunately she couldn't control this power and this meant that she would harm people whenever she touched them. After an incident before she joined the X-Men she had absorbed the abilities of a heroine called Ms Marvel on a permanent basis allowing her to fly and have superhuman strength.

The final and newest member of the X-Men was a young woman named Jubilation Lee but she preferred to be called Jubilee. She could produce firework like energy blasts from her hands which she would sometimes have difficulty controlling. She was an Asian-American and wore pink and blue outfit along with a yellow trench coat, matching gloves and sunglasses that protected her eyes when she used her mutant abilities.

Jubilee had only been with the X-Men for a relatively short amount of time and due to her lack of experience would often get left behind when the team took part in any particularly dangerous missions. Unfortunately for her that was happening right now, the team had just gotten wind of the location of their missing mentor Professor Xavier and had gone to rescue him from a place known only as the Savage Land. Jubilee had wanted to come but the X-Men's field leader Cyclops decided that it was too dangerous for her to go.

Once again Jubilee found herself in the huge X-Men mansion all alone. She hated the fact that the other X-Men sometimes treated her like a child and left her out of the really important missions. She felt that she had come a long way from when she first came to the mansion after the X-Men had saved her from giant mutant hunting robots known as Sentinels. But there were still some degrees of her powers that she was still getting used to but rather than taking the time that she had to train she decided to sit down in the sitting room and watch a bad movie while eating a bowl full of popcorn by herself.

The film that she was watching was a cheesy science fiction film from the fifties where the monster was obviously a man in an unconvincing suit. It was supposed to be fairly scary but Jubilee couldn't help but laugh at it due to the special effects. She had recently gone to see Jurassic Park and was completely blown away with how real the dinosaurs seemed in that film. The monster in this film was anything but convincing, even the lead actress's screams were unconvincing.

Eventually about half way through the film Jubilee had eaten all the popcorn that she had in her bowl and at that time the film had stopped for a commercial break. She was still feeling quite hungry so she decided to get up and go and get some more popcorn while the commercials were on.

Jubilee stepped into the mansion's large kitchen and in one of the many cupboards she was able to find the popcorn that she was after. She wasn't feeling all that hungry so she only filled the bowl up half way and she began to make her way back to the sitting room she noticed something as she walked down the corridor. For a moment she thought that she saw someone. It was only brief but she knew that it wasn't her imagination and so she placed the bowl of popcorn down on a nearby table and went to investigate.

As Jubilee walked towards where she briefly saw the figure she began to think of what exactly it could be. She couldn't believe that someone had actually tried to break in, the mansion's grounds had a security system that would have alerted her to an intruder. But since it had not gone off she didn't think that someone had gotten past them and actually gotten into the mansion.

"Hello is anyone there?" asked Jubilee. She considered that one of the X-Men might have returned from the Savage Land but she was normally aware when the infamous X-Jet landed at the mansion. This only made her that much more confused.

But as Jubilee reached the staircase she could hear a sound as if someone was walking around upstairs. She carefully walked up the stairs not exactly knowing what she was going to find, she had her hands ready to blast anyone with her firework energy blasts if they thought that they could get the jump on her. She saw this as an opportunity to show the X-Men that she was a capable member and didn't need to be left behind on missions. She wanted to show them all that she wasn't a child anymore, it was something that she wanted to prove more to herself rather than the X-Men.

Jubilee found herself right next to the X-Men's dorm rooms and she could definitely hear someone inside the dorm room of Wolverine. To fully prepare herself Jubilee lowered her sunglasses over her eyes and she thought that she was ready to face this intruder. She could imagine the X-Men thanking her for stopping the intruder from stealing anything valuable and she could already imagine their praise.

But before Jubilee actually entered the dorm room she saw someone actually step out of it. But she was surprised to see that the door hadn't been opened at all and instead of seeing a male intruder like she expected this intruder seemed to be a woman. The woman was a Caucasian girl with long and bushy brown hair. She was wearing a blue costume where the shades of blue was different in some parts. The jacket that she wore, gloves, and boots were all of a darker blue while the tights that she wore were light blue and there was even an underpants kind of covering over her crotch area that was also a darker blue. The intruder also wore a blue domino mask that hid part of her face. Jubilee guessed that this woman that she was seeing couldn't have been more than a couple of years older than her and she was a few inches taller.

The intruder seemed to be as surprised as Jubilee was to see her. Jubilee could also see that the woman was carrying a samurai sword that was still in it's sheathe. She recognised it as one that belonged to Wolverine that he treasured. She couldn't remember everything that he said about the sword but it was easily five hundred years old and possibly the most valuable item that Wolverine owned. But it was not the value of it that he treasured but what it meant to him, it was not a mere sword but there was something else about it, something that Jubilee couldn't understand.

"N-No one was supposed to be here," said the woman as she looked at Jubilee in shock. She had expected the mansion to be completely empty but the fact that Jubilee was here had caught her off guard.

"Hey put that back," demanded Jubilee thinking that she would be able to convince the intruder to return what she had stolen. She thought if she couldn't convince her to put it back she could force her. The woman took a step back and Jubilee realised that she wasn't going to return it peacefully. Jubilee reacted by firing her energy blasts at the intruder and she hoped that it would knock her out and she could show the other X-Men how competent she was. But much to her surprise the energy blasts seemed to go through the intruder as if she were a ghost. "What the?"

"I'm sorry kid I really am."

Before Jubilee could fathom what was going on the woman came up directly to her and with one solid punch was able to deck the young X-Man and she hit the ground hard. The world around Jubilee went black as she faded out of consciousness. She had no idea what had just happened but all she knew was that she couldn't stop the intruder from getting away with Wolverine's prized sword.

Some hours later Jubilee began to wake up but rather than finding herself near the top of the stairs she was down in Beast's lab that also acted as the mansion's medical facility. Her cheek was sore from where she had been hit and she was still in some confusion with what had happened. But she also noticed that she wasn't alone in this room. She saw Cyclops, Beast and Wolverine there as well but for the moment they didn't seem to notice her waking up. Instead of being in their costumes they were wearing their normal clothing and it seemed that their mission to the Savage Land had been a success.

Cyclops was the first to notice that Jubilee was awake and he instantly told the others who came towards her. But rather than crowding around her bed and making her feel uneasy they decided that they should stay a certain distance away from her but as she sat up in her bed Beast did approach her but that was only so that he could check her over.

"It is good to see you awake Jubilation," said Beast as he began to check her over. "We were beginning to fear that the attack that you endured had resulted in serious injury to your person."

"W-what happened?" asked Jubilee. These were the only words that she could say as she came to.

"We were hoping that you could elaborate on that. We returned from our ordeal in the Savage Land and found you unconscious on the floor. Worse still Logan seems to be pretty upset that one of his personal effects have gone missing."

Wolverine was standing a few feet back from Beast but his main concern had not been for the sword but more for Jubilee's health. Although Wolverine acted like a tough guy deep down he did care about her. When he had found out that she had been hurt at first he began to fear the worse but when he actually saw Jubilee he could see that her injuries were not too severe. But he was also very interested to find out what happened to his sword, he knew that Jubilee wouldn't be stupid enough to borrow it for fun.

"Can you tell us what happened?" asked Cyclops as he also took a step closer towards Jubilee's bed.

"Yeah I was just watching some bad TV when I saw this figure in the corridor," replied Jubilee trying to remember exactly what had happened. "I went to look and I spotted this girl stealing Wolverine's sword. I tried to stop her but my fireworks went through her like some kind of freaky ghost."

"Wait what?" said Wolverine taking full note of what Jubilee was saying. He walked right up to her bed and he wanted to know more information. "What did she look like?" What he had heard sounded oddly familiar and he just wanted to make sure that it wasn't the same person that he was thinking of.

"She had brown hair, a little taller than me and she wore all blue. I guess the fashion police haven't caught her yet."

"No it can't be." This was the news that he had been dreading and he turned around and began to walk out of the room. "Kitty what have you done?" He said this fairly quietly but it was still loud enough for them to hear him.

When Wolverine was gone Jubilee was even more confused with what just happened. She had never seen Wolverine like this and she feared that something terrible had just happened. She even feared that he was angry with her for allowing the thief to get away with his sword. She looked over to Beast with some confusion and he hoped that he would have all the answers that she needed.

"What was that all about?" asked Jubilee in confusion.

"It seems your description of the assailant is someone that we all recognise," replied Beast. Since he was finished with his examination he had taken a couple of steps back from her to give her some space.

"Who is she?" This was something that was on the forefront of her mind and thought it would give her some closure if she knew exactly who was behind the robbery. She could still picture her face in her mind and a part of her wanted to exact some revenge on her for stealing Wolverine's sword and then knocking her out.

"The thief that you have described to us sounds very much like one of our former teammates. But you needn't worry my dear everything will be fine, all you need to do is relax and maybe it should be a little time before you see any real action."

This annoyed Jubilee, she hated the fact that although she had been an X-Man for some time now that she was still treated like a child. She thought that she would be able to hold her own in any situation and that the X-Men's treating of her is how a parent would treat a toddler. She hated this and it made her only more determined to find out more about this girl and to get back Wolverine's sword.

As soon as Beast gave her the all clear Jubilee left his lab and promised to go to her room so that she could write a letter to her foster parents. But instead she went to the mansion's supercomputer. She was allowed to access it but she was told that there were certain areas of the computer that she was not allowed to access. She knew to find out what she wanted she would have to break that rule for now. When she had seen Wolverine walking out of Beast's lab earlier she did pick up the word Kitty. It was the only indication she had so about who this girl was.

As soon as Jubilee gained access to the very large computer on the keyboard she typed in the word Kitty in the file search. The computer itself was extremely advanced and was miles ahead of the computers that many people had in their homes. It was one of the most advanced computers in the world.

Jubilee only had to wait a few minutes before the computer came back with the information that she wanted. One file in particular that came up was labelled 'Shadowcat' and she immediately accessed it. Almost immediately when the file opened Jubilee could see a picture that had a striking resemblance to the woman that she had fought with the night before. She wasn't wearing a costume but instead wore plain clothing but even without the domino mask Jubilee recognised this Shadowcat as being the thief.

But as Jubilee went through the file she found more pictures and information about this woman. There was even an audio and video file that she clicked on and straight away the video started and she could see a clip of the woman training in the Danger Room. From what Jubilee could see the woman was phasing through everything that came her way as if she were a ghost and now she was more than convinced that they were one in the same. But as the video played there was also an accompanied by an audio file and the voice that she could hear was of that of Professor Xavier.

"Student name Kitty Pryde," said the audio file in Xavier's voice. "Aka Shadowcat. Shadowcat is gifted with the mutant ability to expand the spacing between the atoms of her body so that she can phase through solid objects. She can use this ability to walk through walls and also allows her to short circuit electrical components." At that time Jubilee saw Shadowcat phasing through an electronically controlled turret gun and it immediately shorted out. "She also considered to be a child prodigy as she was taking college level courses when she was in her early teens. That along with her impressive hand to hand combat skills made her a valuable member of the X-Men." The video changed of that of Shadowcat leaving the school and waving goodbye to the other X-Men. She was wearing her normal clothing and she was getting into a taxi. She had a smile on her face and she seemed to be leaving the team in good spirits with no ill will against them. "Unfortunately Kitty decided to end her tenure with the X-Men and instead continue on with her studies. For that I wish her all the luck in the world and she will always have a place at the mansion."

The video ended there and if anything Jubilee was even more confused than she was before. It did answer many of her questions like how Shadowcat was able to get past the mansion's defences and exactly who she was. But what confused her was that from the video Kitty had left the team on good terms and everyone seemed to be happy. She couldn't figure out why Kitty would then break into the mansion and steal a sword that was so valued to Wolverine. In her mind it didn't make sense and there was only one person who would probably be able to give her all the answers. That was Wolverine himself except she didn't think that he would be in a talkative mood right now.

But instead of going to him Jubilee thought that it was best to speak to Professor Xavier himself. She had been told that the X-Men had been able to rescue him from the Savage Land and she really wanted to see him. Not just to ask him about Shadowcat but also because she wanted to see if he was alright after the ordeal that he had been through. She couldn't imagine herself being lost in a world full of dinosaurs for such a long time. She had recently watched Jurassic Park and had seen what a dinosaur was like. But that all been a film where Xavier's ordeal had been real.

Jubilee travelled upstairs to the mansion's ground floor and went to go in Xavier's office but before she entered she could see that Wolverine was already in there talking to Xavier. Rather than burst in on their conversation she decided to hang back and listen to what they were talking about. She was grateful to see that Xavier was unharmed but he seemed to have a concerned look upon his face just like Wolverine. She knew almost straight away that they were talking about Shadowcat, she had missed the first few moments of the conversation but she was easily able to pick up on the rest of it.

"Are you absolutely sure that it was Kitty who stole your sword?" asked Xavier hoping that there would be some doubt in the mind of Wolverine.

"Yes I'm sure Chuck," replied Wolverine not wanting to believe it himself. "The kid described the thief to me and Kitty is the only person who fits the description. Worse still I checked the news and a few days ago a mutant girl walked through the walls of a bank in Detroit and stole a very valuable jewel from one of the safety deposit boxes. You and I know that there is only one girl in the world like that."

"I'm afraid to see that the evidence does point the finger at Kitty. But why is she using her gifts in this manner. When she left this school there was so much promise in her and the Kitty I knew would never even contemplate doing anything like this."

"That's what worries me. She wouldn't be doing things like this if she didn't have a good reason and I want to find that reason. She's a good kid Chuck you know that." Jubilee was surprised to hear the concern of Wolverine. She had never heard him like this before and she wondered how much this Shadowcat girl meant to him.

"What are you thinking about doing Logan? I know when you get like this that you take the hands on approach and try to resolve the problem. But I heard when you infiltrated the Friends Of Humanity you used your head rather than your fists. This situation is one of those times when brains must conquer above brawn so tell me what you plan on doing?"

"I need you to use Cerebro and try and find her." There was some politeness in his voice indicating that he was asking this more as a favour in actually demanding that Xavier actually do it. "As soon as you give me a location I'm going to go and talk to her. Whatever she's going through right now I want to help her."

"That does sound reasonable and since she was a student for some time at this school it shouldn't be too difficult for me to find her."

"Thank you Chuck, you don't know how much this means to me." This was something else that Jubilee couldn't believe. She was actually hearing Wolverine say thank you to Xavier and she never thought that he ever thanked anyone. But she noticed him turn around and he was about to walk away. "I'll be in the Danger Room clearing my head, tell me when you find her."

"I will do all I can Logan."

Wolverine walked out of the Xavier's study and actually walked past Jubilee. But he didn't seem to notice her. He most likely knew that she had been listening in on their conversation but he didn't seem to care. This just showed how concerned he was about Shadowcat and Jubilee couldn't help but feel some of Wolverine's worry. She didn't know all that much about Shadowcat, only the fact that she had a punch that could probably floor a heavyweight boxer. But she decided to walk into Xavier's study and he was somewhat surprised to see her but he smiled at her.

"Ah Jubilee it is good to see you again," said Xavier as he paid his full attention to her. "I am glad to see that you are alright after what happened last night."

"Hi Professor," replied Jubilee with some dread in her voice. "It's swell that you're back from the Savage Land now but I'm sorry that I allowed that Kitty girl to run away with Wolverine's sword. Who is she anyway?"

"Kitty was much like you Jubilee, she came to us at a young age and she was struggling to control her gifts. But as her time past here she grew from an insecure teenage girl to a confident young woman, I was even contemplating having her lead the X-Men if anything were to happen to Cyclops or Storm but she decided to finish her education elsewhere and live a normal life. I didn't want to force her into doing anything that she didn't want so we let her go so that she could live her own life. This news about her that has been brought to my attention is very disconcerting."

"But why is Wolverine acting the way he is? I didn't think he would be so torn up over a sword." She knew otherwise but she was trying to make it look like she wasn't listening into the conversation that Xavier was having Wolverine.

"Kitty looked up to Wolverine like a father figure, unfortunately her own biological father left when she was a young girl so Logan seemed to fill the void. The pair were very close and I believe that she is the only X-Man that he has given hand to hand combat training. But for the moment it is best to let him be." He cleared his throat before continuing to speak. "Now let us discuss how you have been training during my absence."

A short time later Wolverine was preparing the X-Men's infamous X-Jet to fly off to wherever Shadowcat was. He was constantly thinking about her and he couldn't figure out exactly why she had stolen his sword or robbed from the bank. The girl he knew would never do anything like this and he was more than determined to find out the answers. All he was waiting for now was for Xavier to give him her location.

Thankfully at that moment Xavier himself was using Cerebro and he was using the files stored on it to locate Shadowcat. It seemed too easy for him to spot her signal in Washington D.C. He had no idea why she would be there but it was still what Wolverine had been waiting to find out so through telepathy he quickly gave him the location that Cerebro had detected. The signal was definitely that of Shadowcat, there was no way that Cerebro's scanning systems could be tricked in anyway.

Almost as soon as Wolverine received the location that he needed he boarded the X-Jet and with some ease piloted it out from the hidden bunker located underneath the mansion and he flew towards Washington D.C. He wanted more than ever to find Shadowcat and find out exactly what was going on with her.

But as he flew the X-Jet he began to smell something, something that was very familiar and immediately he engaged the auto-pilot so that he could investigate. Carefully he stepped towards the back of the seating area of the jet to where the rest room was located. He didn't even need to use much strength to open the door. Inside he saw Jubilee there with an innocent smile on her face.

"Hi Logan," said Jubilee trying to act innocently. "Nice day to go flying isn't it? But personally I prefer skateboarding."

"What are you doing here kid?" replied Wolverine with some anger in his voice. He was definitely not happy that she had snuck onto the jet.

"Well I was worried about you so I decided to tag along. Besides I want some payback on that Kitty for knocking me out. I'll show her that when you strike me down I get back up stronger."

"This isn't your problem kid. You shouldn't go sneaking on board of jets or else one of these days you're going to get yourself killed."

"Hey I am more than capable in taking care of myself and besides you can't really turn back now. You might lose her."

Wolverine stood there for a moment as he thought about his options and after a few more moments he turned around and began to walk back to the cockpit. He didn't like the fact that Jubilee was right, if he were to turn back now and take her back to the mansion he might lose Shadowcat and it might be too late to help her by then. For the remainder of this journey she was going to have to come with him.

"Sit down then and I don't want to hear any whining or complaining from you or else you'll be on the jet the entire time," said Wolverine as he continued to walk towards the cockpit. He still didn't like having to admit defeat.

"Awesome Wolverine." She began to walk up to one of the seats on the jet but there was something that she was thinking about. Something that she felt needed to be mentioned. "You know Wolverine you didn't have to open the restroom door like that. I could have been doing the business."

"Believe if you were I would have known beforehand." He tapped onto his nose before sitting down at the controls and disengaged the autopilot.

The flight itself didn't take too long since the distance between the X-Mansion and Washington D.C. wasn't all that far. He remembered that the last time that the X-Men came here was to prevent the assassination of Senator Kelly so that a dark future didn't happen. He still wasn't sure what that had all been about but in the end the Senator was saved and the dark future was prevented even though some other just as dark future had seemed to replace it.

But when the X-Jet did touch down in Washington D.C. Wolverine chose a spot not far from the Washington Monument but he made sure to activate the jet's cloaking systems so that he didn't get any unwanted attention. When the cloaking device was activated the jet was not only invisible to the naked eye but by most scanning and radar devices making the jet literally invisible.

Shadowcat's signature had been at a cheap hotel not too far from where they were and Wolverine decided that it was the best place for them to start their search. Xavier was also monitoring the area and her signature had not left the area, but there had seemed to be something that was blocking him from getting a direct reading on her. He didn't know what it was but something was preventing him from getting Shadowcat's exact location. All he could give the two X-Men were a general area.

It didn't take long for Wolverine and Jubilee to get to the hotel where Shadowcat's last definitive located. It was a hotel on the edge of the city that had seen better days and he was even surprised that Shadowcat would even come to a place like this. It was very run down and the smell of it was foul, especially since his sense of smell was superhuman. He even had to cover his nose for a moment as he adjusted to the smell.

Jubilee seemed to be no different as she covered her nose and mouth to try and block out the smell. The building itself was relatively small and since the rooms were very cheap they normally had customers, there were plenty of complaints about the smell but nothing had been done about it yet. The smell was almost more than she could take and she felt like she was going to throw up a couple of times. Thankfully she was able to hold it in since she didn't want to see her lunch again.

Wolverine burst through the door of the room that Shadowcat had been staying in. He didn't want to give her any warning that he was here since it would give her time to escape. She would still be able to escape and he wouldn't be able to do much to stop her but he thought that he had to at least try and talk to her.

But much to the dismay of Wolverine and Jubilee the room was empty. It was obvious that someone was staying there but there seemed to be no sign of Shadowcat anywhere. Wolverine began to look around to see if he could find any clues to Shadowcat's whereabouts while Jubilee kept watch on the door in case they had any unexpected visitors. She still didn't like the smell of the hotel and the sooner they were away from it the better.

"I think this place needs to fire the maid," said Jubilee as she could smell another whiff of the stench. "I can't believe that anyone would stay in a dump like this."

"I told you not to whine kid and you try being in this place with super smelling," replied Wolverine not too happy with Jubilee's attitude.

He continued to look around and on the table by the bed he spotted a picture of himself with Shadowcat, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Storm and Professor Xavier. Everyone in the picture looked to be very happy and he understood why Shadowcat would keep something like this. The team had been more than just her friends, they had been like her family and the decision to leave the X-Mansion had been tough but she had felt that it was the right one.

Wolverine himself remembered when the picture was taken. It was the X-Men's last training session before Shadowcat had decided to tell everyone that she was leaving. It was a piece of information that had greatly shocked the team but instead of resenting her for seemingly abandoning them the team had accepted her decision and wished her the best of luck in the future. Originally she had been writing back to the team every opportunity she got but her college work didn't allow her to have much free time. The letters began to dwindle and eventually recently they had stopped altogether. No one suspected that anything was amiss, they just assumed that she was very busy.

There was one other thing that Wolverine did find that would make things easier for both himself and Jubilee. On a nearby chair was one of Shadowcat's tops, almost immediately he went over to it and began to sniff it. At first Jubilee was a little shocked with the fact that Wolverine was sniffing the top that belonged to a woman. On the outside looking in it would not look right.

"You better have a good reason for doing that Wolverine," said Jubilee as he turned towards him. He had just finished sniffing the top and had put it back down on the chair.

"Sure did," replied Wolverine in a quick response. "I've got Kitty's scent and it's fresh so we can start to track her down." Although his nose was very sensitive and he would have normally been able to track down Shadowcat's scent he needed his nose to have a fresh sample so that it was easier for him to track. He began to follow the scent itself that led out of the door. "Now are you coming along or are you gonna carry on enjoying the scenery?" He already knew the answer to this.

There was one disadvantage to tracking someone like Shadowcat. Since she had the ability to phase through solid objects it meant that she could walk through a wall and the scent trail would stop dead. This was something that Wolverine was having to risk and if she did phase through a wall he would have to try and find a way around the wall and then carry on the search from there.

Thankfully as Wolverine tracked down Shadowcat's scent with Jubilee following close behind he discovered that Shadowcat was walking about like a normal person and not phasing through walls or else he would have lost her scent trail. He was guessing that for the moment she was acting normally so that she didn't stand out. Wolverine had taken this into account as well and for now was wearing his normal street clothing rather than his X-Men costume so that he also didn't draw any unwanted attention. Jubilee didn't fear about that since her normal clothing and what she wore for missions were exactly the same. It did come in handy since she didn't have to worry about changing her clothing whenever she had to go on a mission or engage in a Danger Room course.

By the time that the pair had finished following the scent trail night had fallen and the streets of Washington D.C. had descended into darkness although there were still street lamps that provided some light. Wolverine had felt lucky that Shadowcat had seemingly walked the distance rather than taking a cab because once again he would have lost the scent trail. But it was not too far away from the hotel to where the trail led them to which was outside the Public Library.

"She's in there," said Wolverine as he sniffed the air a little more so that he could make certain that his statement was correct.

"I guess she's a bit of a bookworm," replied Jubilee trying to make a bit of a joke. "You wouldn't catch me in a library. Especially at this time of night."

"She isn't here to read books." His voice was quite angry as he thought that Jubilee wasn't taking the situation all that seriously. "The library's been closed for hours and her scent trail here is fresh. There's a good chance that she is still inside."

"But how do we get in there? Unlike her we can't just like walk through the walls." She thought that the library would have pretty advanced security systems in place to prevent anyone from getting in when they weren't supposed to. She genuinely didn't know how they were going to get inside.

"Leave that to me."

A short time later carefully Wolverine walked up to one of the side doors that led into the library. Using one of his adamantium claws he was able to stab it into the lock of the door and broke it open. But rather than going in right away he hung back for a moment and began to smell the air around him. Instead of trying to find Shadowcat's scent this time he was sniffing for any infrared beams that would set the alarms off in anyone walked through them. Much to his luck there were none present so he signalled Jubilee to follow him.

Originally he had hoped that Shadowcat's scent trail would lead them to a safe passage into the library itself but as was expected the trail ended right at a wall meaning that she had phased through it. It was only a minor inconvenience for Wolverine who almost immediately went around to the side entrance.

As they walked further into the building there was practically no lighting. A couple of times the pair were even in complete darkness but Wolverine's enhanced eyesight allowed him to see in the dark while Jubilee used her own mutant abilities to make small firework bursts that lit the way. Wolverine was somewhat against her doing this but he understood that she didn't have his advantages and this was the only way that she going to see in the darkness. But it also meant that they would be easier to spot.

Shadowcat herself was actually not too far away from their position. Much like the previous night she was wearing the same blue costume. She had been able to get through every part of security in the building thanks to her phasing abilities. At one point she even spotted a guard but to make sure that he didn't get in the way she knocked him out. The guard had been much larger than her but thanks to her martial arts training he went down like a sack of potatoes. She didn't particularly want to knock him but she couldn't risk being caught, she had been taken by surprise at the X-Mansion and she didn't want it happening again.

Carefully she began to go through the library's archives that were located in the basement of the building. This was where all the extremely valuable books were located where they could be properly stored away from the eyes of the public. There were books here that were also very rare and it was one of those that she needed to take. The book itself was written in Japanese and looked to be hundreds of years old. It was not the value of it that Shadowcat was after, it was its significance and by using her phasing abilities she was able to lift it out of its protective case and place it into a bag that she had brought with her.

With her mission seemingly successful Shadowcat began to make her way out of the building but she felt very guilty over what she was doing. She had been taught better than this but she had no choice in the matter, too much counted on her for taking this book and she hoped that with this she could finally be at peace.

One mistake that Shadowcat did make was that she didn't expect to have anyone trying to find her. She had expected to be able to simply waltz out and take the book back to the rendezvous point where Wolverine's sword and the gem that she had stolen was also located. But one thing she didn't count on was Wolverine's super keen senses picking her up. She had phased her way up to the ground floor of the library and almost as soon as she did her old friend began to get her scent.

As it turns out Wolverine and Jubilee weren't actually too far away and they had spotted the guard who Shadowcat had knocked out. This was only further proof that his former friend was here and the last thing on his mind was actually fighting her, he wanted to talk and that was it. Most people who didn't truly know Wolverine would think that it was completely out of character for him to actually want to talk to someone without wanting to punch them. This was a big misconception about him.

One thing that Wolverine was surprised with was that he couldn't hear Shadowcat at all. He was able to smell her but he still couldn't seem to hear her, he thought that it was odd that he couldn't and it was something that he was going to have to find out later on. He was also happy that Jubilee was doing as she was told by not making a sound so that their position couldn't be heard by anyone.

It was only after a few more moments when Wolverine and Jubilee ran into Shadowcat. This had caught the young mutant woman completely by surprise as she saw her old friend along with Jubilee. She was almost lost for words and her head was telling her to run as fast as she could or else she might get caught. Her heart however was a different story, she wanted to run up to Wolverine and hug him, she was in a very low point in her life and she would have liked for him to help her. Her problem was that this was something that she thought that no one could help her with and that she had to deal with it by herself.

"Logan what are you doing here?" asked Shadowcat in shock. She was filled with so much emotion seeing Wolverine and she didn't know whether to cry or run up to him and give him a hug.

"I'm here for you Kitty," replied Wolverine. His voice was not his normal gruff self but more like a concerned parent. "Whatever you're going through right now let me help you, you're not alone."

"You can't help me Logan, no one can." Her voice sounded sombre and she even shed a tear. She wanted nothing more than to break down and allow Wolverine to take this heavy burden but she knew what she needed to do.

With that she ran straight through Wolverine once again like she was a ghost and she headed towards a nearby wall. Jubilee tried to stop her by using her own mutant abilities, unfortunately as was expected the blasts went right through the young mutant and she was able to phase through a nearby wall.

Wolverine was somewhat upset with what had happened, he had wanted to try and talk some sense into Shadowcat but he had failed. From the words that he used he could tell that she wasn't stealing these items just for the value, there was something or someone else behind all this, behind her actions. He didn't know exactly who or what it was but he was determined now more than ever to find out what was going on with Shadowcat.

Jubilee also felt a little down with what had just happened. To some degree she had wanted revenge of Shadowcat for their encounter in the X-Mansion but a part of her had realised that her supposed enemy was innocent. She even began to feel sorry for Shadowcat since even she could see the reluctance in her actions. She was much like a puppet and when it comes to these crimes it is not the puppet that is truly at fault but more of the puppet master who was pulling the strings.

Determined not to lose Shadowcat both Wolverine and Jubilee tried to follow her as best as they could. This was extremely difficult since Shadowcat was phasing through the walls as if they weren't there, this meant that she could run in a straight line while her pursuers had to go through doors and get past other obstacles. This was something that always gave a Shadowcat an advantage whenever it came to escaping. Unfortunately it was being used to great effect against the two X-Men.

They did have a couple of advantages however, Wolverine still had her scent and both he and Jubilee knew where Shadowcat was hiding out. Rather than outright trying to follow her they decided that it was best for them to go there so that they could confront her there. Wolverine wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do but he wanted to do anything that he could to help her.

Shadowcat herself had phased her way down into the city sewers in an attempt to escape from the two X-Men. The nearest manhole to the sewers was some distance away and she hoped that the stench down here would mask her scent from Wolverine. She still had the book that she had been so desperate to get but she was overwhelmed with guilt, especially over the fact that she had seen her good friend Wolverine and decided to run on him when he was trying to help her.

She began to wonder where her life had begun to go wrong that led her to where she was now. She had been a normal girl with an above average intelligence but when her mutant abilities manifested her entire life changed. Soon she was with the X-Men and facing threats that she had never dreamed about. She learned that her mutant abilities were not a curse but a gift instead. One upside to them was that she could always get into her home, even if she forgot her keys.

Shadowcat would have loved to stretch out a hand and ask the X-Men for help. She knew that they would help her without batting an eyelid but unfortunately this was something that she had to deal with herself. If she tried to call out for help the worst thing imaginable for her would have happened and it was something that she wanted to prevent at all costs. Only she could solve this problem and it could only be her.

Slowly Shadowcat began to make her way back to the hotel where she had been staying during her time in Washington D.C. Rather than walking on the surface she decided to stay in the sewers so that she couldn't be seen by anyone, especially by Wolverine and Jubilee. She preferred not to tangle with them again, she knew that she would most likely be able to defeat Jubilee but Wolverine was something else entirely. She would only fight them if she had no other choice.

The stench in the sewers was almost too much for Shadowcat to take but it didn't seem to be much different to the hotel room that she had been staying in. She would have liked to stay in one of the top hotels in the city but the one she was staying in seemed to be the best for keeping a low profile. Most of the people who went there didn't even use their real names, in fact she had gone under the name of Rachel Braddock. She hoped that it wouldn't attract any attention to her.

Eventually Shadowcat came near to where her hotel was and she decided to phase back up to the surface. Thankfully there was no one else around so there was no one to spot her phasing up. She had seen how some people reacted to her, some became angry over the fact that she was a mutant or were terrified because they thought that she was some kind of ghost. Either reaction didn't go down too well.

With some confidence she began to walk into her hotel room and she was surprised to find that her room was unlocked. She feared that someone had tried to break in so that they could steal something. She had purposely travelled light so that there was nothing that could really be stolen that belonged to her.

Instead when she walked in she saw Wolverine sitting on a chair while Jubilee sat on the bed. Shadowcat was surprised to see them there but in a way she had suspected it. Her brain told her to run but her heart told her to stay, she knew that Wolverine would only have her best interests in mind. He was like a father to her and was always there for her when she was terrified of her mutant abilities.

"Logan?" asked Shadowcat with some surprise in her voice. She almost dropped the valuable book that she had just stolen but she was able to keep her hands on it so it wasn't damaged.

"Kitty we need to talk now and this time I'm not letting you run away," replied Wolverine with a hint of anger in his voice. He hoped that this would show her that he wasn't going to go anywhere until he had said his piece. "I don't need to be the furball to know that you're in some kind of trouble and I refuse to believe that the girl I knew would go around using her powers to steal from people. The X-Men taught you better than that so I know that there's something else behind this besides simple thefts."

"You don't understand Logan. I have to do this." She wanted to tell him everything that was wrong but she had to keep herself back. Too much depended on her and she couldn't risk those that she held dear to her.

"You don't have to do this. In life there is always a choice and right now you're making the wrong one. Let the X-Men or at least me try and help you. You don't have to go through this alone."

"Please Logan I can't stop right now. I need to do this and nothing you can say is going to stop me. I know that you want what's best for me but believe me if I could I would stop and go back to my life. But I can't, I have come too far to stop now and everything depends on this book."

"Please Kitty let me help you." He walked up towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Tell me what's going on."

"I can't." She had a sad look on her face as she knew that Wolverine meant every word that he was saying. Nothing would have made her happier than to have him and Jubilee help her with her problem. But she couldn't risk it.

With that Shadowcat phased through the ground and was seemingly lost to Wolverine. He just stood there for a few moments as Jubilee stood up from the bed. She still didn't like the smell of the room and wanted to get out as soon as possible. She thought that this little trip had been completely pointless since Shadowcat had seemingly escaped again and they could do nothing to stop her thanks to her phasing abilities. She had gotten away with the book that she had wanted and it seemed that the pair would be returning to the mansion.

"Well this was a big waste of time," said Jubilee as she crossed her arms. "Not only did she get away again but unless you have some kind of gizmo that can zap away her mutant powers we have no way of stopping her. She can just keep phasing and getting away from us and after a while it gets old."

"We're not completely in the dark Jubilee." A slight smile appeared on his face. "When I touched her shoulder I placed one of Hank's tracking devices on the back of her shoulder. He designed it to blend in to its background so that it is very hard to see. She doesn't know it but using the computers we can track her."

"So we track her down and cut her up on the way?" She could see that there was more to Wolverine than just being a brute. She was impressed that he actually thought that up. He seemed to be surprising her almost every day.

"No Kitty would just run away again. We will follow her but instead of cutting her up we wait until she gets to wherever she's going and confront her there. There is someone else behind this and I'd bet my life that whoever it is, is making Shadowcat commit these crimes. I want to find out who it is and gut him myself."

"You go Wolvie. But what if she finds the tracker and destroys it?"

"Then we've lost her."

This didn't fill Jubilee up with that much confidence but she had to admit that almost all plans had their drawbacks. She didn't think she would have been able to make a plan that was any better so she agreed to go through with it. There was one other drawback that was minor but still annoying for the latest member of the X-Men.

The pair had to return to the X-Jet and wait for Shadowcat to stop moving. More or less after she had left the hotel she had been on the move and at the speed she was going it was most likely that she was using some kind of mode of transportation. Speed was something that was not in her power set so it was the only logical explanation. There was one other reason that it could be and that was the fact that Shadowcat could use her abilities to take herself out of sync with the planet. That meant that while the Earth spun on its axis she would remain in the same position but the ground beneath would continue to move. This allowed her to travel across long distances in a short amount of time. The only drawback to this ability was that she could only travel in one direction and since the path that Shadowcat was travelling it seemed unlikely that she was using this ability.

It seemed to be hours before Shadowcat finally stopped for an extended period of time. Wolverine saw this on the computer on the X-Jet. But unfortunately he wasn't all that practical with computers so he struggled to use it properly. Thankfully Jubilee was a little more savvy with computers than him, she wasn't considered to be a computer geek at all. She just a greater knowledge of computers than him. Wolverine could see now that there was some benefits of bringing Jubilee with him on this little mission and more and more he was regretting her coming even less.

"Now let's see," said Jubilee as she used the software on computer to target in on the tracker. The map she saw first was that of the entire United States. But with a click of a button she was able to zoom it in so that they could get a better view of where Shadowcat was hiding out. It took several more zoom ins before they had a clear view of where she was. "It looks like our buddy is in New York."

"Do you know where about?" replied Wolverine. He was getting a little edgy but he was still remaining calm. "New York's a pretty big place."

"Let me look." She typed away a little more and eventually the tracker was located at a specific building in the high end part of New York. "Ah here it is, it's in the private apartment of some kind of big shot Japanese businessman. I don't know who he is but that tracker is definitely there."

"What the heck would Kitty be doing with a Japanese businessman?"

"Hey she's your friend, I thought you'd know."

Wolverine knew much about Japan, he spent an uncomfortable amount of time in his past in that country. He was fluent in Japanese and knew most of their customs. While he had been there he had met many people that he considered to be his enemies. Especially those that ran with the Japanese organised crime syndicate known as the Yakuza. There had been a few superpowered beings that he had met while he was there. One included a man named Sunfire who Jubilee had actually met when she was enslaved on the island nation of Genosha. He had even been considered to be an X-Man at one point but his ego and stubbornness prevented him from fully accepting the X-Men's way.

It was the last time that he went to Japan that he picked up the sword that had been stolen by Shadowcat. He had spent most of his time there trying to learn to keep the animal inside of him at peace and that involved learning the art of a Samurai. His sensei had been a seemingly slave driver of a man who very rarely complimented any of his students. Despite all this he had a tender heart and would not allow any evil act in his presence go unpunished.

On his death bed the sensei had given Wolverine the sword to keep protected for the rest of his life. The sword had been in his family for generations but unfortunately the sensei had no children of his own to pass the sword down to so he had given it to Wolverine, not only for being his most talented student but because he could see the soul of the samurai within him that was still trying to come out.

That had been some years ago and Wolverine had kept the sword protected as he had promised his sensei and now that it had been stolen he did feel guilty about it. Just before his sensei died he spoke that one of his ancestors had used the great power within the sword, but it had been seemingly lost for all time.

Wolverine feared that this great power was why the sword had been stolen. He admitted that its value was astronomical but he knew that Shadowcat would most likely not have stolen it for that much. The Japanese businessman who she had seemingly gone to was most likely worth several times the value of the sword. There were even swords out there that were worth even more money that would be the gem in anyone's collection. There had to be something special about this sword for this businessman to want it. Even if he had come to Wolverine to buy it the Canadian mutant would have flat out refused.

Even Wolverine was not stupid enough to go waltzing into a place like that without some kind of plan. Just barging into the building was most likely not the best of ideas and the there was a good chance that there was something, or someone extremely dangerous there if they could control someone like Shadowcat. This little outfit would take brains rather than brawn to solve, this was something that Wolverine would see as being difficult but it wouldn't be impossible for them.

Through some searches on the X-Jet's computer the pair did find something of use. There seemed to be a get together of wealthy individuals happening there on this night and Wolverine saw it as being their ticket to get in. It was something that was going to take some cleverness but it was still better than running in guns blazing. They needed to look like they fitted in.

"So what do we do now?" asked Jubilee just before the X-Jet was going to take off. So far Wolverine had not indulged any of his plans with her just yet but this was not because he didn't trust her, it was because she was still thinking them through.

"We go in, find Kitty and the bub who's responsible for her action," replied Wolverine cracking his knuckles. "I think I might show him just how upset I really am right now." This sounded like the Wolverine that Jubilee knew and not the cunning one that she had seen just recently. "But we're not going to walk in through the front door like this, no we need to look more presentable."

Sometime later in New York City two very large security guards were standing outside the entrance that led to the rich Japanese Businessman's apartment. It was more like a penthouse and to keep things even more secretive the true name of the owner was hidden away from the public. He was a somewhat mysterious man who had made his fortune in his native Japan and was beginning to break into the American market as well. It was rumoured that he was worth more than the world famous Tony Stark.

The two guards were being paid through the nose for their work tonight and they were making sure that no one who wasn't supposed to be there tried to get in. They were not just some low level grunts but they were intelligent themselves. They would not be easily outsmarted by most people and they would carry out their work to the best of their abilities. They had no idea just who was coming their way.

At one they were letting through a pair of invited guests when the two guards noticed Wolverine and Jubilee walking up towards them. Rather than being in their X-Men costumes they were in the grandest clothing that they owned. Wolverine was wearing the same clothing that he had worn for Cyclops and Jean's unfortunate mock wedding. Jubilee would have worn the same clothing as well but a bridesmaid dress would have looked too odd. Instead she borrowed a dress that belonged to Jean but unfortunately she was a good deal taller than Jubilee so she was having to pick up the dress so that it didn't drag along the floor. It did make her look like a princess.

"Name please," said one of the guards to Wolverine. His voice was somewhat hurried and he wanted to find out who he was as soon as possible.

"The name's James MacDonald I'm here on behalf of the Canadian Government," replied Wolverine taking the name of an old friend of his from his past.

"You're not expected."

"Did my boss not call you guys earlier? The Canadian Government is interested in a few contracts with your employer. I'm pretty sure that he would like to talk to me since these contracts could be worth billions. And he'd be pretty mad with you if you didn't let me in so that we can have our discussion."

The two guards stood there in silence for the moment as they considered what Wolverine was saying. They didn't know that he was an X-Man and genuinely thought that he was a representative from the Canadian Government. They had heard that there were some big shots from various governments coming to attend the party and although they were expecting more from places like the US and China a Canadian representative didn't sound too farfetched. They nodded and opened the doors for Wolverine and Jubilee as they walked in, she almost tripped over her dress.

"Why does Jean have to be so tall?" asked Jubilee under her breath as she tried to walk to where the party was actually taking place.

"She's not too tall," replied Wolverine in a quiet voice. "You're too short, now when we get in there remember you're my adopted daughter from Vietnam. Speak only when spoken to and if you notice anything odd or see the slightest hint of Kitty tell me immediately."

"Fine but you don't have to treat me like a child." Jubilee didn't like it when Wolverine spoke to her like this. It made her feel that she wasn't worthy of being an X-Man and that she should have stayed with her foster parents.

"For the next few minutes I will be. It is nothing against you but we need it for the act. Now if we pull this off I'll talk to Chuck about letting you on some of the more dangerous missions."

This excited Jubilee who couldn't wait to actually go on the more dangerous field missions with the X-Men. But in a sense it was good that she didn't go on the last one to the Savage Land to rescue Professor Xavier. If she hadn't of been there Shadowcat would have been able to steal Wolverine's sword without any witnesses. At least with Jubilee there she could actually identify her and if she couldn't have done that the X-Men would have had a hard time figuring out who had stolen the sword.

When they got to the main room of the apartment they could see numerous businessmen and other important diplomats. There were plenty of staff there to tend to their needs and everyone was seemingly talking to each other. There was no sign of the host so far but the room itself was huge and it had very large windows that allowed people to get a decent view of the city.

Wolverine began to sniff to see if he could pick up Shadowcat's scent but unfortunately there were too many people there so he couldn't hone in on her scent. There were too many other scents for him to block out so all he could do was try and look around with Jubilee following him. It was annoying for him that he couldn't locate Shadowcat by using his nose but a part of him knew that it wasn't going to be that easy so he was more than prepared to search the more conventional way.

One person Wolverine and Jubilee did notice was a man that they recognised as billionaire businessman Tony Stark. They had seen him in newspapers, magazines and on TV. Although he was a very famous man no one knew that he was secreted the armoured Avenger known as Iron Man.

Before the pair could properly go through their search they stopped themselves when they saw the host himself enter the room. The moment that he stepped through the doors he had everyone's attentions. He was a slightly short man with short black hair and a moustache. He was Japanese and there was something about him that Wolverine struck as being familiar. He couldn't put his finger on it but he had definitely seen this man before. Wolverine couldn't figure out where he had seen him before and he doubted it was in a magazine or on TV. No he had seen this man in person somewhere else but it had been some years ago and he was struggling to remember.

The Japanese business man wasn't alone however, he had two bodyguards right next to him and they wouldn't allow many people near him unless they invited them or they were honoured guests. They didn't look tough enough to cause Wolverine a challenge but it would create a scene and that was something that he didn't want to happen. This mission was strictly stealth so creating a scene would only complicate things and also damage any kind of fellowship between humans and mutants since many of these people at this party were some of the most powerful businesspeople and politicians in the world.

The worse thing about all this was that Wolverine still recognised the man from somewhere and it wasn't until he saw a scar on the back of his hand that he where he had seen this man before. It had been some time ago before he joined the X-Men and when he had been spending large parts of his time in Japan. He remembered that this man was called Akira Takanouchi. Wolverine had only seen him briefly once but it was still enough for him to remember.

Akira had been a student of Wolverine's sensei just before he had been taken under his wing. The first time he had seen his sensei he seemed to be having an argument with Akira over something that he couldn't entirely hear. But from what he could see Akira was very upset about something and even drew a samurai sword out and tried to attack his elderly sensei. But with the speed and grace of a true samurai the sensei disarmed Akira with just a few graceful movements. In the process Akira received a nasty cut on his right hand that developed into a scar. After that the sensei had stated that Akira had dishonoured himself and that he was no longer welcome. Akira reluctantly left but angrily stated that he would get what he wanted one way or another.

That had been so long ago and Wolverine had thought that Akira was just blowing hot air and would never actually succeed in what he wanted to do. All that seemed to change now with the fact that he was now one of the richest people on the planet and that the tracker on Shadowcat had led them here. He found it too big of a coincidence that both Shadowcat and Akira would be here like this together. There had to be a connection between the two and Wolverine wanted to find out what exactly what was going on. He hated being left in the dark and he wanted more than anything to help Shadowcat.

Both Wolverine and Jubilee moved around the party as best as they could so that Wolverine could try and pick up the scent of Shadowcat. There were many other scents here as well but he thought that if he could get close enough to Shadowcat's scent he could single it out and track it.

That was quickly halted when they began to wonder somewhere close to where they weren't supposed to go. One of the security guards blocked their way but rather than throwing them out of the party just directed them to where the party was continuing. The scent of Shadowcat felt strong near that place and Wolverine knew that they had been close. He had almost no doubts that Shadowcat was close by and he could also smell a hint of fear in her scent, this was something that got him worried. He knew that Shadowcat was a brave woman and anything that could scare her was something worth noting.

Before Wolverine could go back to the area he saw Akira himself approach him. The host had been walking around greeting the guests and it seemed to be the turn of Wolverine and Jubilee. He hoped that Akira would not recognise him, he was certain that during his confrontation with the sensei Wolverine had seen him and Akira had not seen him. Almost as soon as she saw the pair he became suspicious.

"Forgive my ignorance but I don't seem to remember your name," said Akira as he looked at Wolverine.

"The name's James MacDonald," replied Wolverine. He shook hands with Akira so that it didn't seem that there was any hate between them. He thought that it was the most acceptable and friendly action he could take.

"I don't remember inviting you." Akira was becoming very suspicious at this moment and he was on the verge of calling his security.

"You didn't I've come here to represent the Canadian Government, Department H in particular." This was a bluff and he was just hoping that he wouldn't be called into it. "My higher ups are very interested in your company. Since Stark Industries decided to back out of the arms business we have been searching for a suitable replacement and I think that is you my friend." He had done a bit of research before entering the building and had read that Akira's company built weaponry amongst other hi-tech equipment. He used this to his advantage and it seemed to have worked.

"Oh I see, excuse my impoliteness. I think that my company would greatly benefit from supplying our services for you." He bowed to show that he was apologetic as was accustomed in Japan. He then noticed Jubilee and gave her a smile. "And who is this fine specimen that you have brought with you tonight?"

"This is my assistant Heather Yang." Jubilee tried to smile back at him but there seemed to be something about him that made her skin crawl. She felt him take her hand and give it a kiss.

"I must say that you are a beautiful woman Miss Yang. I could even state that you are the most beautiful woman attending this party tonight." Suddenly one of the bodyguards whispered something in Akira's ear. "If you would excuse me I have a matter that urgently requires my attention. We will discuss more later."

Akira moved away from the pair but that was not the end of it. Thanks to Wolverine's heightened hearing he actually heard what the bodyguard had said. It was somewhere along the lines of 'It is ready.' He didn't know whether it meant something that could split the world open or just mean that the dessert was ready for the guests to have. Either way he needed to find out and unfortunately that was going to be easier said than done, security was tight here and slipping into a secure area was not going to be easy.

"That guy gave me the creeps," said Jubilee quietly. She rubbed her hand a little where Akira had kissed it. "I don't know why, there was just something about him that made my skin crawl."

"His been with Kitty." He growled a little. "I could smell her on him." The scent had not been enough to indicate that anything intimate happened between the two. It just meant that they had been in contact with each other. But there was something else that he could smell on him, he wasn't sure exactly what it was but it was definitely something that had caught his attention.

"So what do we do now?"

"We follow him and see what he's up to, Kitty can't be too far away and when we find out exactly what the heck is going on here we can put a stop to it. Whatever is happening here ain't likely to be rainbows and sunshine.

For the moment Wolverine didn't need to follow Akira as he blatantly saw him enter through a door. That was only the easy part as there were another two guards standing right by it and this time he knew that nothing he could say would convince them to let them through. This time they would have to be very sneaky since a full on assault would result in them being found out.

Where there was a will there was a way, Wolverine noticed that there was a sprinkler system fitted in the building. It was their best shot of getting through the doors but the only problem for him was that it was too high up for him to set off himself meaning that he needed Jubilee to do it herself. He didn't mind the fact that he couldn't do it himself and it made her feel more like she was needed rather than just coming along for the ride.

"Jubilee I need you to blast one of those sprinklers in the ceiling," said Wolverine quietly in the ear of Jubilee so that no one else would be able to hear him. "If that doesn't send those guys running everyone else will."

"I don't think Jean would be too happy if I got this dress wet," replied Jubilee. "Remember what happened when I borrowed her earrings?"

"I can always buy her a new dress, now show me that you've actually learned something in the Danger Room."

Jubilee looked up towards the ceiling and saw the sprinkler that was attached to the ceiling. She had a quick look around to see if there was anyone looking her way and when she was sure that the coast was clear she fired one of her fireworks up at it sprinkler. She made sure that it was only a weak burst so it didn't attract too much attention.

Her training in the Danger Room had seemed to pay off as her firework struck its target and activated the sprinkler system. There was a cry of shock from many of the guests over the sudden activation of the sprinkler systems and many of them were trying to get out as fast as they could. This was the desired effect that Wolverine had wanted but still to his surprise he could see that the two guards remained in their positions. They were getting wet and they weren't happy about it but they were still going to stay right where they were just like Akira wanted them to do. He was paying them good money and they wanted to continue to be in his employment.

Wolverine wasn't entirely too happy that the two guards had remained behind but it wasn't like he was entirely surprised either. At least now he would have an opportunity to use his fists and that always made him happier. Each time he used his fists it would be like a release for him and that everything around he didn't seem to matter, he couldn't have this feeling all the time or else he would be the animal that many claimed that he was.

Without giving it much thought Wolverine ran towards the two guards and since they were unarmed he decided not to use his claws, instead he responded with bare fists and struck both the guards. Using his own hand to hand combat skills to take down them down as if they were minimum wage mall security guards. The sprinklers had disorientated them enough for him to take them down easily.

Although both men were bigger than Wolverine he took them down like lightweights and Jubilee couldn't help but stand back and be impressed. She too was drenched from the sprinklers but when she saw Wolverine fighting it was almost like a ballerina performing their routine flawlessly.

The fight only last for a few seconds and by the end of it the two guards on the ground and they were unconscious. Wolverine chose to spare their lives since he was not a stone cold killer anymore. His time with the X-Men had taught him much about self-control and he was demonstrating it right now. He had kept his animal rage locked up inside of him so that he didn't lose himself.

With the two guards down it was time for Wolverine and Jubilee to enter the room try to find Akira and hopefully Shadowcat. One problem for Jubilee now was that she was completely drenched from head to toe and she was feeling cold. She never liked getting wet but she didn't want to complain all that much since it meant that Wolverine would most likely not want to take her on another mission with him if she had an attitude like this. She wanted to show him that she was a capable member of the team and not some whiny little kid who needed a babysitter.

As the two X-Men entered through the double doors they noticed that this room was different than the others. This room was like a museum in the fact that it had ancient Japanese artefacts in glass cases and that there didn't seem to be any sprinklers in this room so at least in here nothing was wet.

Wolverine knew that many of these artefacts were worth a serious amount of money but there was one in particular that looked like a demon mask, underneath it was a few letters in Japanese but translated it spelt the word 'Ogun'. There was one thing that was working for the pair and that was Wolverine had the scent of both Akira and Shadowcat, at first he wasn't sure if he was mistaking but after a few more sniffs in the air he knew that it was indeed his old friend that he could smell.

"She's definitely here and I can smell the scent of fear on her," said Wolverine with some concern towards Shadowcat. He knew that it would take a lot to scare something like her so he wanted to stay extra vigilante.

"What is this place?" replied Jubilee as she tried to dry herself off as best as she could. "It looks like a creepy museum."

"In a way it is and it is definitely somewhere that I don't want to stick around in for too long." He could also hear something taking place not too far ahead of them and slowly Wolverine walked towards where he could hear the noise. He was careful not to make any sounds so that no one would know that he was coming. It was a technique that he had learned some time ago and he was using it to great effect.

On the other side of the room was another set of doors and Wolverine approached them with great care so that he couldn't be heard. He signalled to Jubilee to stay where she was and he also made sure that she didn't speak a word. He placed his ear to the door so that he could try and hear what was happening inside. He could hear the voice of Akira and he could also hear Shadowcat's. Part of him wanted to burst in as soon as possible but he decided to wait for a moment to hear what was happening inside. He thought that it would be best for him to listen to what was going on before he jumped in there.

"You have the book," said Akira. "You have done well my child, I can't see why you don't use your gifts in this manner."

"I've done what you've want now give me back my parents," replied Shadowcat. The voices would be hard for Wolverine to hear properly but thanks to his enhanced hearing he could hear them very clearly.

"I could do but your gifts are extremely valuable to me. Besides you've worked well under me and I think that you deserve a reward for your efforts."

"The only reward I want is my parents back safely. I kept my end of the bargain, now you keep yours."

"I think not my American friend. Your gifts can make anything possible for me but above all in the next few moments everything that you care about won't matter. Under normal circumstances I would have been more than happy to keep my end of our little arrangement but I'm sorry to say in the next few minutes it won't even matter."

Wolverine heard what sounded like a loud bang from the room and he had no idea what had just happened. It was then that he decided to burst through the door and as soon as he did Jubilee came running up behind him to try and give him some back-up. She wasn't sure exactly what was happening but either way she was going to help Wolverine as best as she could and hopefully actual turn the tide of the upcoming battle.

The first thing that Wolverine saw as he entered the room was an office like setting but worse still was that he could see Akira holding the sword that had been stolen from him. Shadowcat was standing by a wall to the left and she was completely shocked to see both Wolverine and Jubilee. She had thought that she had given both the slip when in Washington D.C. She didn't think that they would be able to follow her and the scrambler that Akira had given her was designed so that Cerebro couldn't get a proper indication of her. It was almost impossible for him to have followed her all the way from there using only his sense of smell, she had tried to cover her tracks in that manner.

Akira seemed to be angry as Wolverine stepped in because at first he thought that it was a simple matter of his guards failing him and he knew that he would most likely be firing them at the end of this night. But when he saw the look of recognition on Shadowcat's face he knew that it wasn't as simple as he first thought. There was no doubt in his mind that Wolverine and Shadowcat knew each other and that this was most likely some sort of rescue attempt rather just a break-in.

"MacDonald what are you doing in here?" asked Akira with much anger in his voice. "And how did you pass my guards?"

"Logan?" asked Shadowcat in some confusion. His appearance had caught her by surprise and this was one of her first reactions.

"Logan, ah I see?" He realised just who he was seeing and that he was face to face with Wolverine. "So you're Wolverine of the X-Men, shame I was expecting someone taller. More intimidating."

"Believe me that is the least of your worries bub," replied Wolverine as he extended his claws. "Now I'm only going to say this once before I get real mad, drop the sword and release my friend before I show you what happens when six unbreakable adamantium claws comes into contact with flesh and bone."

"I have heard a lot about you Wolverine-san, it is how I know that you possess the sword of my former Sensei the foolish old man. I told him that it would be mine one day and here it is in my hand. I have your friend Kitty here to thank for this, without her I don't think this would have been possible."

"I'm sorry Logan," replied Shadowcat sheepish. She didn't move from where she was standing and preferred to stand there in disgust of herself. "He has my parents and if I didn't do what he told me he would have killed them."

"I still can, face it I hold all the cards and now the time is here. I have been planning this night for too long and I won't allow anything to get in the way."

He pressed a button on his desk and a nearby wall opened up and half a dozen robots came out all armed with guns mounted on their arms. They moved around on caterpillar like wheels and were made of solid steel. Normally they would be very tough to damage but for Wolverine they would not be too much of a problem.

Wolverine growled as he lunged towards the first robot while Jubilee stood back and began to blast them as best as she could but her fireworks didn't seem to be doing as much damage as she hoped that it would. She still needed more practice with them before she could truly consider herself to be in full control of them. Professor Xavier had told her just how powerful she could be and she thought that he had only been saying that to be nice to her. She began to seriously consider that what he was saying was actually true and she tried to increase her power so that she could blast through the robots' strong metal skins and get into the wiring inside of them.

Shadowcat wanted to join in on the fight and help the two X-Men. She dared not risk it however since it could lead to her parents being killed. Akira only had to make one phone call and they would be as good as dead. She couldn't believe that someone would actually put the lives of her parents at risk just to get to her. She had known some underhanded moves in her time but this was definitely one that she found the most despicable. She hoped that if there was a hell that Akira would spent eternity suffering there if anything were to happen to her loved ones.

Wolverine sliced through one of the robots completely cutting it into two. One zapped him from behind but all this did was really damage the clothing that he was wearing. The suit that he was dressed in the jacket and the top was completely ruined. All his clothing above his waist was destroyed but the clothing below was still relatively undamaged.

Akira stood back as he watched what was happening. He was surprised to see Wolverine and Jubilee still holding their own against his robots but he wasn't too particularly worried. Tales had come to him about Wolverine's resilience and ability to heal from his wounds. He still thought that there was no way that anything would go wrong.

Much like in the museum this room had also not been drenched by the sprinklers. It was on a different system which Akira had personally asked for since it was easy for the system to be accidentally activated and this was so that the clean-up bill would be too much and that valuable pieces of history and documents would not be water damaged.

Jubilee continued to blast away but one of the robots fired at her and thankfully she was able to jump out of the way of the energy bullet before it struck her. If it had struck Wolverine he would have been easily able to survive the impact. But for her it would most likely be fatal. She didn't have the same durability as him and she definitely didn't have his healing powers. Unfortunately the dress that she was wearing got a little ripped when she jumped to the floor and already she was trying to think about what she was going to tell Jean when she got back to the mansion.

Wolverine noticed that Jubilee had gone down and he quickly tried to go to her aid. In turn he was thanked by another zap to the back by one of the robots and this time it would take him longer to heal. He was more or less knocked out and it seemed that Jubilee was within moments of being overwhelmed herself. She couldn't fend off all of the robots by herself and as she stood back up she backed herself to a wall and she didn't know exactly how she was going to get out of this one.

Shadowcat finally accepted that she couldn't stand back and do nothing. She knew that she would be taking a huge risk by fighting against Akira but she couldn't stand by and watch a good friend and his companion get killed. She had been taught better than to watch people suffer and she was more than willing to put her own life on the line to try and help them. She just hoped that she could also get to Akira before he gave the order to have her parents harmed.

As Shadowcat took a deep breath she made herself intangible and ran towards the robots. Rather than trying to fight them she decided to phase through them instead. From the outside it would look like a pointless effort, but her abilities meant that when she phased through anything electrical it would short circuit. This also included the robots and as she phased through all of them they began to short circuit and shut down.

This was something that Akira had not been expecting. He thought that he had Shadowcat completely under his control, but now he saw that he was wrong and he knew that if he didn't do something fast what he was hoping to achieve might be lost. He was hoping to finish off his plan later when the party was over but the interference of these three mutants made him tip his hand early and he thought that he would be ready but there was always a factor that could jeopardise everything.

Instead of taking these three mutants on by himself Akira decided to retreat for the moment and while all three of them were distracted he hung back and went through the doors that Wolverine and Jubilee had used to end the room. He wasn't entirely running away and as he walked in his museum of sorts he smashed open the glass case that held the demon mask and took it out.

It only took Shadowcat a few moments to phase through the remaining robots and short circuiting them. If effort had not tired her at all and instead of going after Akira her first concern was to Wolverine who was still lying on the ground after being zapped multiple times by the robots. She helped him up as best as she could but he weighed a lot more than a man of his height should do. His adamantium skeleton made him heavier and it took the combined effort of both Shadowcat and Jubilee to get him back up to his feet. Wolverine was staggering a little but his body was healing fast and it would only take minutes for him to be fully recovered.

"Wait first you attacked me and now you're helping me?" asked Jubilee referring to the moment they had first met. She had heard what Shadowcat had said earlier but she didn't truly believe her since they had gotten off on the wrong foot.

"Believe me when you're an X-Man a lot weirder stuff happens," replied Shadowcat as she had Wolverine's left arm wrapped behind her neck and Jubilee had his right. "Before you know it you'll be blasted off into outta space dealing with something in a part of the galaxy that you didn't even know existed." She gave a sigh as she looked towards Jubilee. "I did what I had to do, I'm sorry if I hurt you but I made sure it wasn't anything that was going to cause any permanent damage."

"Mmm," groaned Wolverine as he began to regain consciousness. He felt that his back was on fire where he had been zapped and worse still was Akira was still loose. For the moment he didn't know where he was or even what day of the week it was. As the moments passed he could feel his memories returning and he remembered about Shadowcat and Akira. "Where is that pencil neck coward gone?" His voice was beginning to become stronger as his healing powers continued to knit him back up.

"Gone but not far Logan." Shadowcat's full attention was on Wolverine. "We can't let him escape, he's planning something big and I have no idea what it is."

"Either way this ends here and now."

"But Wolverine you're hurt," replied Jubilee in some disbelief. She knew that he could heal fast but she didn't think that even he could heal this fast.

"I'm fine." He was able to walk under his own strength and the two women didn't need to support him anymore. It almost felt funny that the fact that Shadowcat was only around five foot five and yet she was the tallest out of the three. "Right now I don't care if he's planning to destroy the world or crash the stock market. All I care about is that he hurt a friend of mine and stolen what I promised to keep safe. After tonight he won't ever be doing anything like that again."

The two women were in some awe at Wolverine's attitude. He had done things that they would never consider to do and although many people saw him as an animal in truth he was much more a man. He held his friends close to him and if anyone threatened the people that he cared about he would make sure that whoever had hurt them never walked again. In the past he would have killed them but those days were long gone. He was no animal, he was an honourable man.

It was too easy for Wolverine to pick up the scent of Akira and he was able to follow it with Jubilee and Shadowcat behind him. The two women seemed to be talking amongst each other and the more that Jubilee talked to Shadowcat the more she realised just how much of a victim she had been in all of this. Instead of finding many more differences instead she found that she was very similar to Shadowcat. When their mutant powers had manifested both girls had been scared but over time had learned to control their gifts. Admittedly Jubilee still had some way to go before she was truly considered to be in complete control. But to make her feel easier Shadowcat admitted to Jubilee that even though she seemed to be in full control of her phasing abilities there were likely dimensions to her powers that she had yet to explore. Whether she would or not depended on her dedication to learning.

The trio didn't have to move too far before they ran into Akira but instead of wearing the suit that he had been wearing earlier he was wearing a black ninja like outfit and he wore the demon mask that he broke out of the case. It was red with two small horns attached to the forehead. It seemed to look similar to Satan himself and in ancient times it was designed more to intimidate an opponent although this mask didn't seem to be a normal mask by any stretch of the imagination.

Akira was located in the museum and in one hand he had Wolverine's sword while in the other he had the precious stone that Shadowcat had stolen for him. The book that had also been stolen for him was sitting open on the ground right next to his feet. He didn't seem to be afraid of the three mutants in front of him as he stood his ground.

"Whatever you do now will not make a difference to the outcome of this night," said Akira as he looked at the trio. His eyes also looked different, instead of looking normal they looked more lizard like. "From this day forth all will bow before me as it was written centuries before any of us was born. The prophecy spoke of a man who will unite the world under an age of wisdom that will last an eternity. I am that wise man that they speak of and I have the tools to spread my wisdom to all."

"If you think you're some kind of prophet then you've got a screw loose bub," said Wolverine as he growled at Akira. "I've lived and worked with plenty of people who are wiser than you and all of them you're not even worthy to lick their boots."

"Your insults cannot harm me. I am above all of that and in just mere minutes the world will finally be at peace. No more wars, no more suffering, no more hunger. All will be right in the world as they bow to me."

"At what cost?" replied Shadowcat. She was waiting to attack but she wanted to hold back for a moment so that she could see exactly what was happening. "You can't force wisdom onto people, they need to learn it for themselves, that's how true wisdom is discovered and if you force it you become nothing more than a tyrant."

"If that is what is required then so be it."

Akira began to mutter words in Japanese which were lost on Jubilee but was understood by Wolverine and Shadowcat. The jewel in his hand began to glow along with the book, it was a strange purple glow that spread to Akira's body as well. He seemed to separate into three identical beings all holding Wolverine sword and the precious stone. The process had already started and he seemed to be ready for the fight.

Quickly the three men lunged towards the three mutants and Wolverine extended his claws to block the sword strike that came his way. The gems had been dropped and Wolverine was surprised to see that the sword hadn't shattered upon impact with his claws. This just showed how strong the sword was but he realised that he was only fighting one of the Akiras while the others were battling his two companions.

Shadowcat didn't have to worry too much about the strike herself as the second Akira attacked her. She phased through the blade easily but to attack him she needed to be solid again. She tried to kick him but he was able to slide out of the way and tried to cut her leg off. Thankfully she was able to make herself intangible before the sword touched her leg or else she would have lost it.

"You are either a very brave or very foolish girl to betray me," said Akira as he was battling Shadowcat. "You would actually risk fighting me when you know that your parents are in mortal danger."

"This is how they would want it," replied Shadowcat as she tried to punch him but he was able to dodge out of the way. "They would rather die than watch you succeed. You're forgetting one important thing, I'm an X-Man and that means anything is possible." Akira's sword came close to striking her but she phased through it and then was able to land a strong kick to his gut.

Jubilee was probably having the most difficulty out of the three X-Men. Not only because she had never fought a person with a sword before but also because she was struggling to move around in her dress. It was already ripped in a couple of places and she knew that Jean wouldn't be too happy to see it when she returned it. There was one advantage that she had over Akira that the others didn't have. That was the fact that she could fire from range rather than having to be up close to him.

She tried to use this to her advantage as she fired her fireworks right into the face of the third and final Akira. He seemed to have no defence against them as he was blinded by the bright lights and it was enough for him to drop his sword and try to rub his eyes so that he could see again. She tried to punch him but she didn't have the strength or training needed to actually hurt him and if anything she was the one that was hurt most in the attack. She was just thankful that right now he wasn't trying to kill her.

The most intense battle going between the three mutants was that of Wolverine. He continued to block the strikes with his claws and whenever he went to strike Akira would be able to dodge out of the way. He was amazed with how quickly he could move and if he didn't know any better he would have thought that Akira was a mutant himself. If he was Professor Xavier would have been able to detect him some time ago and maybe even try and recruit him to the X-Men.

He was very surprised that the blade was still not being shattered when it came into contact with Wolverine's claws. This went beyond any kind of normal blade and he figured that there must be something spiritual that was preventing the blade from shattering. He knew that it was a special blade beyond its cash value. He knew that Japanese steel was very strong but it still shouldn't be a match for the virtually indestructible Adamantium that coated his entire skeleton.

One thing that was produced from the constant impact of the blade on Wolverine's claws was sparks. Since the two seemed to be unbreakable sparks were the only results of them clashing and it was dangerous. There was a good chance that it could fall on something that was flammable and then they would be in real trouble.

The three mutants were so preoccupied by the Akiras that were fighting them that they didn't notice that there was one more left that wasn't attacking them. He was sitting down right by the open book and continuing to mutter something in Japanese. The jewel that was in his hand continued to glow and with the sword at his side he was completing what seemed to be an incantation. The clones that had been created of him were keeping the three mutants busy as he worked on his real goal. Right now that wasn't destroying his enemies but instead reaching the level that he had been trying to reach for a number of years.

Wolverine was the first to notice what was happening and with a quick jab in the belly of the clone and instead of feeling blood and guts the clone seemed to fade away as if he had never existed. It seemed by killing him it had broken part of the incantation that had made him real. This made Wolverine's efforts easier because before he had thought that they were real, breathing people. Now he saw that the clones were nothing more than glorified smoke and mirrors.

Rather than helping the two women by his side Wolverine decided that it was best for him to try and tackle the real Akira. If he was taken down this entire nightmare would end and Shadowcat's parents would be truly safe along with more or less everyone on the planet. He didn't fully know what would happen if Akira did indeed succeed but he was unwilling to find out.

As Wolverine went to slash down at the real Akira there seemed to be some kind of force field that blocked him from reaching him. It caused his attack to bounce off and it sent him flying to the ground. The effect of the force field had caught him completely by surprise but he was uninjured.

He was a very stubborn man at times and he instantly got back up to his feet and tried to strike the Akira again but a purple coloured force field would appear and block the attack. It would disappear the moment after it had reflected the attack. It made touching Akira almost impossible, Wolverine did have a plan however. Where his claws had failed he thought that the talents of another would be able to succeed.

Both Shadowcat and Jubilee were still fighting off their Akira clones and they were both having varied levels of success. Jubilee's Akira had begun to recover from being blinded and was becoming more aware of the world around him. He had even been able to pick his sword back up and he more or less intended to kill her with it. Jubilee's fist was still hurting from where she had actually tried to punch him. She had known that it was a pretty dumb move on her part since a burst of fireworks could have probably done the job. She just wanted to seem like she was capable with hand to hand combat in some kind of effort to impress Wolverine and to a certain extent Shadowcat. It had not worked at all and had placed her at a serious disadvantage.

The Akira clone was about to strike Jubilee with his sword but instead he was met with a sharp stab in the back by Wolverine's claws. Much like the other clone it disappeared as if it had been there. Jubilee looked in some manner of shock as she could see Wolverine with his claws drawn. He was growling a little as if he was angry and she feared somewhat that it was her who had made him angry.

"You know I could have dealt with him by myself," said Jubilee in an attempt to hide just how desperate her efforts had been.

"Sure you could kid," replied Wolverine. He then looked over to Shadowcat who was still fighting the final Akira clone. "Hey Kitty need any help over there?"

"No thanks!" shouted Shadowcat as she phased through another sword strike. "I just need another moment." She saw an opening and drove a phased hand right into the chest of the Akira clone and she made it solid again. This caused the clone to stop in his tracks and disappear into thin air. She had been able to see the other two clones disappear in the same manner and she realised like Wolverine that they were not real people so she didn't feel guilty about them being destroyed. "There we go, nothing to it."

"Great now there's something I really think you need to do right now."

Moments later all three of them were standing right next where Akira was sitting. The force field was still activated so it prevented them from touching him. He was still muttering some kind of incantation in Japanese and from the looks of it they didn't have much time before the incantation was complete.

"Wow wait run that through me again?" asked Jubilee as she couldn't believe what she had just heard mere moments ago.

"My claws can't get through whatever this shield is that's protecting him," replied Wolverine. "Kitty here is probably the only one here who can get through it and actually get to him. As soon as she does that we destroy everything that he is using except the sword. I promised to keep that safe and I am more than determined to keep it that way."

"There's one thing that worries me about all of this Logan," answered Shadowcat who was right by his left side. "I seriously doubt that this so called force field is technology based. I think it's magic and I'm not sure if I'll be able to phase through it."

"It's still worth a try though. If it is possible I know that you can do it."

Shadowcat took a quick breath and she concentrated on phasing. She brought her hand close to Akira and as expected the force field came up. She was able to phase her hand partially through it but suddenly she felt a sharp and agonising pain shoot up her arm and into her body. She began to scream and she dropped down to the ground. Wolverine and Jubilee instantly went to her aid and they seemed to be happy to see that she was still conscious but they were very concerned about her health.

"Kitty you alright kid?" asked Wolverine with concern in his voice. He helped Shadowcat up to a sitting position and she was breathing heavily.

"Y-yeah I'm fine," replied Shadowcat. She seemed a little dazed but other than that she seemed to be fine. "I've never felt anything like that before, it was like every atom in my body was on fire."

"What do we do now?" asked Jubilee with much concern in her face. "If you couldn't get through and neither could Wolverine then what are we going to do?"

"It's you who has to do it."

"What me but how?" She was completely taken aback by what Shadowcat had just said. She didn't think that she would have any chance of success since the others had failed.

"I've seen your mutant powers and I think it could be what we need. Akira's force field is strong but even it must have its limits. Attacking it using physical blows won't work, I think the only way we can actually get through is by using an energy attack." She looked at Jubilee squarely in the eyes. "Your energy attacks."

"But what if I can't do it?"

"I believe that you can." She slowly stood up to her full height and placed her hand on Jubilee's shoulder. "You're the only one standing between him and a new world order that will be forced upon us rather than earned. All that you know and love will most likely cease to exist, only you can save the world as we know it."

Jubilee saw much sense in what Shadowcat was saying. She looked at Akira who had not moved an inch for some time and was continuing to mutter the incantation in Japanese. She wished that she had brought her sunglasses for this but they wouldn't have gone with the dress and would also make them seem more suspicious.

"You might want to close your eyes for this," said Jubilee. "They can get really bright." She only had to wait for a moment for both Wolverine and Shadowcat to cover their eyes before she started to bombard the force field with her firework blasts. Rather than bouncing off the force field the blasts seemed to be absorbed. "I don't think this is working."

"Keep going kid!" shouted Wolverine so that his voice could be heard over the firework blasts.

Jubilee continued and the force field began to glow. The more firepower she used the brighter the shield became and she wasn't sure whether her attack was truly working or not but she kept going anyway. Too much was riding on her and she didn't want to see people to be forced into a world that they didn't want. A world where they had to look up to one man whether they wanted to or not.

The force field's glow was so intense that even Jubilee had to shut her eyes and this seemed to last for mere moments before it eventually disappeared. By this time she was completely exhausted from her efforts and almost collapsed onto the ground. Shadowcat was there to keep her from falling and she couldn't help but smile at the younger mutant.

"Did I do it?" asked Jubilee with a weak voice.

"You did great kid," replied Shadowcat with a smile on her face. "Now all that's left is the source of our problems."

As the three of them looked towards Akira they saw him stand back up to his feet. He had placed the jewel on the ground next to the book but as they watched him move they noticed that there was something different about him. His body was glowing and his eyes also glowed the same colour. He didn't seem to speak at all and for the moment just seemed to blankly stare at them.

"You cannot stop what has been started," said Akira. This time his voice sounded distorted and not entirely human. "Your efforts have been for nothing, all you have done is ensured your own deaths."

He lunged forwards towards the three of them and Wolverine went to slash him, after he did this he discovered that the slash had no effect on Akira. His claws had come into contact with him but there was no damage at all. This caught him by surprise as he felt the blade strike his arm. The wound that it had left behind was not too serious and the adamantium lacing his skeleton prevented it from cutting off his arm completely.

Jubilee even went to blast him with her fireworks but she too had almost no luck against him. His body just seemed to absorb the fireworks and nothing more would happen, Akira wasn't harmed or even blinded.

"He's unstoppable," said Jubilee. She saw Akira's blade come down towards her and she could do almost nothing to get out of the way. She expected her death to come quickly but when the strike came it went through her completely. She felt her body and couldn't feel any damage to her whatsoever. It wasn't until she turned her head and saw that Shadowcat was touching her shoulder. She had been able to make Jubilee as intangible as her well and it had saved her from certain death. "Thanks Kitty I owe you one."

"Don't mention it kid," replied Shadowcat as she moved towards Akira. She had to dodge out of the way of a sword strike before she could grab him. Quickly she began to phase them both through the floor and in moments only Akira's upper torso, arms and head were above the floor and she let go of him turning him solid once more. Instantly he gave out a cry of pain as his body fused with the floor. He hadn't fused with the ground itself since there was still a room beneath them but for the moment it seemed to work. Shadowcat rubbed her hands as if she had just pulled off a major feat, in a sense she had. "Nothing to it. There's no way he can get himself free now."

Akira began to glow again and for the moment the light was too blinding for anyone to properly see. The light only lasted a few moments before subsiding again and much to the horror of the three mutants he seemed to be free and stronger than ever. The demon mask that he wore prevented them from seeing exactly what he was expressing.

"H-how did he get out of there?" asked Shadowcat as she took a step back towards Wolverine. She was in complete shock over what had just happened. "No one should have been able to so that."

"This isn't natural work Kitty," replied Wolverine with a growl. He didn't want to admit that he was feeling a little nervous himself. "Whatever's keeping him going it certainly isn't natural."

Jubilee wanted to blast him again but unfortunately she was running low on energy. The last couple of blasts that she had done had almost completely tired her out and she didn't even think that she could create any fireworks that were more powerful than a sparkler. All three of them didn't know exactly what they were going to do to battle Akira but whatever it was they would have to think of it quickly.

Once again for a change it was Wolverine who seemed to have the bright idea. He could see that Akira was more or less invincible. None of their attacks seemed to work on him, whatever they threw at him he would be able to withstand it and strike them back with great force. The two women were also not having much luck against him and they were doing everything they could just not to be killed. He realised that conventional methods of attack weren't having any effect on him and that the most likely way of defeating him was by targeting the jewel that had helped to give him this power that he was demonstrating.

The jewel itself was still glowing and was on the verge of exploding in a burst of energy that would encircle the entire planet and bring Akira's plan in as a success. If the jewel was destroyed before it could do this Wolverine could hopefully stop his plan and hopefully he would revert back to his normal self.

Quickly Wolverine went to run towards the jewel but before he even had a chance to get there he was struck in the back by Akira and he went down in severe pain. It was like the sword had not only sliced his body but had also sliced into his soul as well. He gave out a blood curdling scream as he fell to the ground. Akira stood over his body and laughed at him in his distorted voice.

"Do you really think that I'd just let you try and destroy one of my most important items?" asked Akira as he looked down at Wolverine.

"I-I can't move," replied Wolverine in a relatively weak voice.

"Don't worry gaijin that is the least of your worries."

He lifted his sword up into the air and went to stab it in the back of Wolverine but before he had the chance he felt something strike his own back. It had been some of Jubilee's firework blasts, unfortunately due to her fatigue they weren't very powerful and weren't really enough to cause any harm. They did succeed in distracting him as he turned around to her. He was almost laughing at her under his mask.

"Is that really the best you've got?" asked Akira. He thought that Wolverine would not be a threat for some time so he began to walk towards her. One thing that he didn't seem to notice was that Shadowcat had disappeared. "You are a very brave girl for trying to help your friend, but now you've only ensured that you will follow him to the grave. A shame though, I don't normally like taking the life of a woman, but for you I'll make an exception."

"Fat chance pighead," replied Jubilee as she tried to blast away at him again. She was still very weak and her fireworks were not doing any damage. They weren't even blinding him and he seemed to pick up the pace towards her.

As he ran he failed to notice a hand come from out of the ground and grab his ankle. This caused Akira to fall and the hand belonged to Shadowcat. Quickly she phased him through the ground and he disappeared from sight. Moments later Shadowcat herself came up through the floor but there was still work that she needed to do.

The first thing that Shadowcat did was quickly see to Jubilee, since she was fine Shadowcat moved to Wolverine who was still lying on the ground injured. His wounds had already begun to heal but he was still unable to move. This greatly annoyed him as he felt helpless to stop Akira.

"Kitty the jewel," said Wolverine. His voice was a little stronger than it had been before but it was still relatively weak. "Destroy it and everything should go back to normal. Do it before he comes back."

Shadowcat took in what Wolverine had said and moved towards the jewel that was right next to the book. Both items were glowing but it was the jewel that was the most valuable part of the puzzle. She had also only phased Akira to the floor below so it would not take him long to return but it did give the trio a small amount of time.

She immediately picked up the jewel and was thinking of the best way of destroying it but Akira suddenly exploded up through the floor and landed softly on his feet. His sudden and dramatic entrance had caught her by surprise and she could hear him growling in annoyance. She couldn't see his face but she didn't have to be a genius to see that he wasn't very happy with her. She just hoped that she would be able to destroy the jewel and rid him of his god like powers.

"I have to give you credit there thief," said Akira. "You caught me by surprise you little thief but that will be the last thing you ever do, I will kill you first and then kill your parents and when they're dying I will tell them that you suffered at my hands. They will suffer the same fate as you."

"Leave them alone!" shouted Shadowcat as she punched Akira square in the face. The punch was so strong that it actually knocked him back and even she was surprised with how powerful it was. The punch had no enhancements in anyway and stemmed purely from her anger and rage. Thinking about her parents being harmed almost made her explode with rage, all she wanted to do make sure that they were safe and end the threat of Akira once and for all.

Unfortunately for her the punch didn't do all that much damage to Akira and he seemed to recover fairly quickly and he lunged at her with his sword in the air as he prepared to slice through Shadowcat. She knew that she could phase through it but she would still receive some damage and she would be severely weakened in the process. Instead she looked over to Jubilee who was still standing there. She had a quick idea as she prepared to throw the jewel itself.

"Hey kid give us a real firework show!" said Shadowcat as she threw the jewel over the top of Akira. When he saw it leave her hand he stopped his lunge and could only watch as it went over his head.

As quickly as she could Jubilee concentrated on what little energy that she had left and fired an intense stream of fireworks right at the jewel while it was flying through the air. She had practiced striking moving targets like this in the Danger Room and it seemed that her training had paid off as the blast struck the jewel causing it to explode in a burst of light and into a million pieces.

Instantly Akira began to scream in horror as the glow around him faded away as well as the glow around the book that was still on the ground. The jewel was one of the three keys that he needed to complete his plan and with the jewel now destroyed he was doomed to fail and in his distress he dropped his sword and fell down to his knees.

Shadowcat walked up to him and removed the demon mask that he was wearing revealing his true face. She wanted nothing more than to drive the sword into him and allow him to die just like he was going to do with her parents. But she felt a hand on her shoulder and when she turned around she could see Wolverine. He had recovered enough to be able to walk again and he was still concerned about her. Akira himself had a faraway look in his eyes and he was more or less in a catatonic state.

"Don't do it Shadowcat," said Wolverine. His voice was somewhat softer than it was before. "I know what you're thinking and I want you to know that it is the wrong decision."

"He was willing to kill me and my parents along with you and the kid Logan," replied Shadowcat with some anger in his voice. "This man is a monster."

"I couldn't agree more with you there but you are not a monster. You are better than him and look at him now, he's defenceless, killing him won't change anything and will only leave a dark stain on your soul. Believe me I've done a lot of things I ain't particularly proud of but I want to make sure that you don't. Leave him be Kitty and I swear that you won't regret that decision."

Shadowcat clenched her fists as she thought about what she was going to do next. She wanted to be sure that Akira could hurt no one else but she understood what Wolverine was saying. She wasn't the monster that Akira was and she would prove this by deciding to leave him alive. He was in no position to harm anyone else as he stared off into space. He was almost like a living doll and didn't seem to be reacting to anything that was happening around him. Instead she backed away from him and accepted that he was going to live, she could easily phase out one of his major organs and allow him to die but that was not her way. She had been taught better than this.

A couple of days later Kitty was standing out on the front door of the X-Mansion. Instead of wearing her costume she was wearing her normal clothing. Logan was there standing by her and she seemed to be nervous. She was very anxious and was very worried, she had been like this for the last day or so. But she felt better knowing that Logan was standing by her. He had helped her since the battle with Akira and she couldn't be more thankful what he had done for her along with the other X-Men.

"Are you sure that they're alright?" asked Kitty as she looked at Logan. "What if he ordered them killed before they could get to them?"

"Don't worry about it," replied Logan. "You know better than anyone that Xavier would have told you if anything had gone wrong. He couldn't detect anything abnormal and Cyclops and the others are more than capable of taking down a few thugs."

They watched as a black car pulled up just outside of the mansion. The back windows were tinted so they couldn't see who was in the back seat but they could definitely see Cyclops in the driver's seat. He too was wearing his civilian clothing rather than his costume. A huge smile appeared on Kitty's face and tears started to form in her eyes as she knew what was about to happen.

The back doors of the car opened slowly and both Kitty and Logan saw a middle aged couple get out of the car. The woman looked like an older version of Kitty while the man had black hair and was beginning to bald at the top. Almost instantly Kitty ran towards them crying as she did. She called out to them and called her 'mom and dad'. Instantly the three of them embraced in a hug and Kitty seemed to be overjoyed. She feared that she would never see her parents again and that they were seriously injured. Seeing them safe and sound made her overjoyed and it seemed to be the perfect family reunion.

At that point Jubilee stepped out of the mansion and stood by Logan. During the couple of days that Kitty had been at the mansion she had told Jubilee about her experiences with the X-Men. She also learned that Kitty had great difficulty controlling her powers when she first came to the X-Men and that over time she had learned to master it. Kitty believed that Jubilee would do the same and she was impressed how she had coped with the ordeal with Akira. She had performed very well and had showed that she wasn't a child and a capable woman who would more or less perform well in any X-Men mission no matter how dangerous it was. Kitty had filled her with confidence and the pair had promised to continue to contact each other. Kitty had already stated that she wasn't returning to the team and was hoping to finish off her studies.

Seeing Kitty with her parents made Jubilee very happy but there was also a hint of sadness in there as well. She began to think about her own foster parents that she had not seen in some time. Worse she was also thinking about her own parents who had died so long ago that she couldn't remember what they looked like. She was still happy to see Kitty reunited with her parents.

"So another happy ending for a fellow mutant," said Jubilee as she looked at Kitty and her parents. "I wonder if there will ever be a happy ending for all mutants."

"There will be one day," replied Logan. "Even if it is one mutant at a time, one day Xavier's dream will come true and there will be no need for the X-Men anymore." He took a quick breath that broke his little speech. "You did good kid, if you hadn't of come with me we probably would have failed."

"It was nothing." She gave him a quick smile. "Do you really think that I'd just let you go off like that on your own. No way we're a team and I'll have your back always."

"That's nice kid, but most of the time I don't need help. But I guess that it doesn't hurt from time to time."

"I know that me and Kitty didn't exactly get on the right foot but seeing her with her parents again just makes me so happy. She went through hell and back to make sure that they were safe. I don't know if I ever could have done that."

"Hopefully you'll never have to find out. But there is one thing about being an X-Man. It isn't just a team you're joining but a family and no matter where you go a part of you will always remain at the mansion."

The pair just continued to watch the happy reunion that was taking place in front of them. They were happy that Kitty had gotten what she wanted and her parents were safe. There were many more obstacles to come for both Wolverine and Jubilee but for Kitty her story with the X-Men was over for now.