The bell in the old church tower rang out five times to indicate the hour as a large group of people gathered around a grave. Everyone in the group bowed their heads in reverence for the dead just as the priest began to speak.

"Scott Summers will always be remembered for being a good husband, father, and friend," the priest said to the grief stricken group. "Now if you will, join me in the Our Father."

The group finished the prayer, and then each of them dropped a rose in the grave before walking back to their cars.

There was a lone figure still at the grave. He was cloaked in a black trench coat and wore a wide brim hat and thin sunglasses that left his eyebrows uncovered. His name was David Warden, a.k.a. Renegade. Cyclops was like a father to him. He was the reason David is here now working with the X-Men instead of in jail. He placed his rose on the pile with the others. "I owe you more then you will ever know," David stated in little more than a whisper.

The funeral was over, and Dave's limo continued steadily down the country road.

"I can't believe he's gone. It just hasn't hit me yet," Dave said as he lowered his head into his folded hands.

"Dave, he lived a full life, and helped a lot of people. We should be happy that he's finally away from this world," Ororo Munroe told her dearest friend as she put her arm around him.

"I can still remember when I first met Scott," David mumbled as his mind drifted back to that day long ago.

"It's time to get mine," a 13-year-old youth said to himself as he walked down the midnight streets of his home town in the suburbs of Seattle.

The fog of the night prevented him from seeing any great distance as he continued down the lonely road, closely gripping a brick in his right hand.

He came to a stop in front of a pawnshop.

"We'll see who's a mutie when I bust in and get all your stuff,"the boy shouted as he wound back his right arm. He pushed the brick forward with every ounce of his strength. The brick hurled toward the pawnshop's main window, until a blast of light hit it with such power that it evaporated into the fog.

"What the…" the boy exclaimed. He spun around on the heels of his Sketcher sneakers to see who or what was also on the street with him.

"I'd think twice about that if I were you, kid," said a tall man with a visor over his eyes.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm your saving grace."

"Huh?"

"If that brick broke the window, you'd be guilty of destruction of property. That's no way to start out your life before it begins."

"How…how…how did you do that?" the boy stammered as he stood motionless, staring at the man before him.

"Well, let's just say, I've been called a mutie many times as well. We'll talk more about that later, but for now let's get you off these streets. This is not the time or place for a kid to walking around by himself," the man said as he put his arm around the boy and led him away.

Dave lifted his head out of his hands and stared out of the window. "And the worst part of it all is that his murderer is still out there."

"It's not like he's free, David. He's in jail for life."

"But Scott is dead, so where is the justice in that?"

"You're starting to sound like you've given up on the dream."

"Wake up, Ororo," Dave said in a slightly elevated tone. "Seventeen X-Men have been killed in the last three years. This wouldn't have happened if we had stopped that kid with gloves and started dishing out some real punishment!"

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Ororo said as she withdrew her arm from around Dave's back.

"John Thorn and people like him deserve the same fate as they give to us."

"So you think we should start killing people?"

"Well not..."

"Once it's started, where will it end? First we kill the ones that we think deserve to die. Then what? We kill people who don't agree with us?" she said, returning his stern tone.

Dave was about to disagree with her, but decided against it and instead sat back silently in his seat for the remainder of the ride home.

Two cars behind Ororo and Dave sat four members of the X-Men Gold team. Driving was Thomas Tollefson, code name Flex. Sitting in the passenger seat was his twin sister Amy Tollefson, code name Vamptress. Sitting directly behind Amy was Jason Gemignani, code name X. Sitting next to him was Sarah Carol, also known as Psi. Amy finally broke the deafening silence.

"It was a nice funeral, don't you guys think?"

"Yeah, but Cyclops wouldn't have wanted us to go through all that trouble just for him," Tom said, trying to break the tension but failing. "So...did David say what they are going to be doing with the Gold team?"

"I asked him about it earlier today, and he said that he needed to talk to Ororo first. Then they will have a meeting in a couple of days to reach a decision," Jay said to Tom but never taking his eyes off Sarah, who was quietly weeping into her jacket.

Jay reached his arm out, put it around Sarah, and pulled her close, letting her cry into his shirt. He rubbed his hand across the small of her back, wordlessly comforting her.

State Side Rivier prison. One week later.

John Thorn sat in his cell and stared off into space. He was taken out of his trance by the sound of an officer's club tapping against the cell door. "Hey Thorn, get your ass up. You have a visitor."

The guard then led Thorn to the visitor's room. "Your visitor is down at room five. You have twenty minutes, so make them count."

John walked down the hallway, until he reached a door with the number five marked on it. He opened the door to find a tall, slender, blonde woman reading a newspaper that blocked her face. John then sat down at the table across from the blonde.

"What can I do for you, gorgeous?" John said with a heavy New York accent.

"Jonathan Thorn, convicted terrorist, murderer, and arsonist," the blonde said, continuing to read the paper that still concealed her face. "You're quite the guy Mr. Thorn. I'm glad that we have this chance to meet and discuss my offer."

"Look, lady, I don't know who you are, but unless your offer is to get me outta here, I'm not interested." John crossed his arms and leaned back in the wooden chair placed inside the containment area.

"Funny you should put it that way," the blonde said, dropping the newspaper to reveal a wicked smile. "You can call me Port or Boss. Either way I'm your new best friend."

"So then, what do you want from me?"

"Well, you already gave me one thing I wanted by putting a bullet in Scott Summers head. Now I just need your help finishing off the rest of the do-gooders," the mysterious woman said without changing her facial expression.

"So what do ya say?"

"Nehh..I guess so. Just get me out of here."

"Fabulous," Port said as she grabbed hold of John's shirt, pulled him close, and kissed him on the lips, causing both of them to disappear.

David Warden stepped out of his private bathroom after finishing his nightly shower. He then walked over to his dresser to get some clothes when a picture frame on top of the dresser caught his eye. He picked the picture up to see the Corsairs, which was the training team he started in. The people in the picture were himself, Cyclops, Agony and Dragonis (who were all dead) Mirage and Shatter (who now works with the Brotherhood of Mutants), and Kevin (He retired from the X-Men after what happened to his team). He remembered how times were so simple and happy in those days. They were a family. Here he is now thirty years later, and his family is gone. David looked at the picture quietly until the television in the background caught his attention.

"This is Jennifer Taylor reporting live from Bayton prison, where it has been reported that refuted terrorist Jonathan Thorn has disappeared. Police are baffled on his escape from the maximum security prison, but they believe that he was aided by this woman."

The screen then flashes to a picture of a woman dressed in blue jeans and a halter top with blue eyes and blonde hair.

"There's no information provided yet on the identity of this woman, but it was reported that she visited John Thorn on the night of his disappearance. The police are looking into this, however at this time there are no possible leads. In other news..."

David let out a fierce roar and smashed his dark-skinned fist against the television screen. He drew back his arm that was dripping with blood from the self-inflicted cuts while looking down at the picture he still held in his hand. "He will be avenged," he said quietly.

A taxi pulled up to 1407 Greymaker Lane. It stopped at the golden gates that led to the massive mansion behind them. The cabbie put the taxi in park, and then turned to the passenger.

"OK, 1407 Greymaker Lane. That'll be $62."

The young blonde in the back seat, who couldn't be more than 15 years old, handed the driver $80 and told him to keep the change. She stepped out, waited for the driver to pop the trunk, then took her suitcases out and stood by the golden gates as the cab drove off.

She took a deep breath and said to herself," You can do this, Becca. You can do this."

Becca went up to the gate and tried the handle, which was unlocked for some reason, allowing her to enter through the gate. Becca walked between large pinewood trees as she continued through the yard. She then passed by a peaceful looking water fountain. The mystic figure of cupid was carved into a statue that had water pumped from his mouth and into a circular water basin, the home for several Koi fish.

Becca walked by and stopped for only a moment to admire the beauty of the Romanesque statue before walking up the five steps to the main entrance. The cedar double doors had a large copper frame around the edges and were large enough for an elephant to enter the mansion. Just as Becca was about the use copper door knocker, which was in the shape of a lion's head, the door creaked open.

Becca hesitated at first, but then decided to tip-toe inside. A grand chandelier was lit up in the entrance way. A ten-foot canvas painting of a soldier on a horse with a sword held high, much like Napoleon, was placed high on the wall. The ceiling came to a curved dome point at its highest expansion of about 50 feet above the marble flooring.

As she stood there gazing at the luxuriousness of the dwelling, which looked like something out of The Rich and Famous, she could hear voices down the hall. The curiosity of the mysterious voices made her walk down the hall. The clicking of her high-heel shoes echoed down the hall as she headed towards the room.

When Becca entered the room, she saw about 25 different people who were facing away from her and looking up at the podium were an elderly black woman spoke.

"So, the gold team will be split up between the red and the green teams. Are there any questions?"

Becca saw a brunette raise her hand. The elderly woman nodded to her and said, "Yes, Sarah, what is it?"

"Well, Miss Munroe, I was just wondering what we're going to be doing about John Thorn. I mean, I read in the papers that he escaped from jail. Is one of the X-Men teams going to go after him?"

The elderly black woman seemed to have to think for a minute before she could answer. "Well, Sarah, it's not that easy. The X-Men have been asked to allow the police to handle the matter of John Thorn. As for now, we will leave it in the hands of the authorities."

"But he killed Mr. Summers!" Sarah said, standing up with a frustrated look.

"Trust me, Sarah, no one is more disturbed by that thought than me, but this is not how the X-Men work. We don't hunt people down: we stop crimes when they happen. Now, are there any other questions..."

"THAT'S IT!" a muscular, dark skinned man from the crowd cried out as he approached the podium. "I'm tired of us waiting to be hunted. I've decided to make us the hunters. That is why I am officially forming a new team. This will be a team unlike the X-Men. We will stop the bad guys by any means necessary before they can hurt again. I just need a few volunteers."

The man then looked over the faces in front of him, waiting for someone to volunteer. He lowered his head in defeat, but all of a sudden he heard a voice yell, "Count me in."

Becca and the man looked to see who the voice belonged to. It was the brunette girl who had spoken earlier. "So will I," a black haired, well-built, young man said as he stood up next to the brunette. He glanced down at another young man with glasses who was sitting next to him.

"Alright, alright, I'm in too," the young man with glasses said.

"Me too," Becca yelled out even before she realized what she was saying.

The elderly black woman then interrupted. "Enough of all of this, David, come with me. We need to talk." The elderly black woman then walked out of the room with the man who had started up trouble.

"What is the meaning of this, David?" Ororo asked, obviously angry.

"I can't do it anymore, Storm. I can't keep waiting for the next super villain to strike us. I'm forming a team to do things in a new style."

"This is not how the professor would want us to do things."

"How do you know?" Renegade said angrily." He's dead. So are Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Rouge, and countless other X-Men. Obviously we're doing something wrong, so why not try this way?"

"Even if you decide to do this, where are you going to go? And how are you going to run a team with only four people?"

"First off, I already have a house in upstate New York that I can use for a base and training center. Also, I have used Cerbro to find other mutants that I will recruit."

Storm hung her head, not knowing what to say. Finally she said something she knew she would regret later.

"Obviously, I can't talk you out of this, so if I hear that you break as much as one law, I will hunt you and your team down personally. All X-Men will then stop at nothing to bring you and your little group to justice." Storm then turned away from her former partner. "Now get out of my school."

"Are you freaking nuts?" Amy Tollefson asked her twin brother as the two ate dinner at the local mom and pops owned restaurant. "How can you turn your back on the X-Men?"

"Amy, how can you not want to join us? The man who killed our teacher and leader is walking around out there free, and you just want to sit there and let it happen?"

"Of course not, Thomas, but that's not the way X-Men do things. We don't hunt people down."

"No, we put them in jail. Then they are let go and come to kill us."

"That's still not the right thing to do," Amy said. She dropped her utensils and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, try telling that to Scott Summers," Tom lashed out as he stabbed his fork into a lettuce leaf in the salad bowl.

"Thomas, have some respect for the dead."

Amy's head was stooped down towards her soup bowl, but her eyes veered their glace upwards in the direction of her twin.

"You should have some respect for the living."

"You're the one talking about killing people."

"Amy, I'm talking about killing only the bad people," Tom said with a sigh. "I would never suggest killing the innocent."

"Killing is always wrong. Don't you remember all the lessons we learned as kids?"

"Senseless killing is wrong, but it's the right thing to do if you're saving the lives of yourself or those around you. Come with me. Let's continue working together to make the world a better place."

"You know where my loyalties lie."

"Come on, please come with me. I need you," Tom pleaded with tears welling in his eyes.

Amy finished the last bit of her soup and stood up from the table. Tom did the same.

"I'm sorry, and I wish you luck," Amy said as she embraced her dearest friend, then departed into the night.

The blonde led Jonathan Thorn down the stairwell as the song "Holler If You Hear Me" by Tupac blared loudly. John looked around the room and saw five figures working out in various ways. The first man was using a bench press, stood seven feet tall, and weighed a solid 600 pounds of muscle. In the middle of the room was a ring where a thin Latino woman and a tall black man with dread locks were sparring. The fourth figure was performing some sort of karate fighting style in the left corner. Lastly, a woman standing off into the shadows was throwing what looked like darts into a dartboard.

"Everybody listen up," Port tried to yell over the music.

No one even flinched. Port snatched the boom box and slammed it against the wall, causing it to explode and shatter into countless pieces. All five figures immediately looked up at Port.

"Wild Pack, fall in."

All five figures then gathered in a neatly formed line in front of John and Port.

"John, let me proudly introduce you to the wild pack," Port said as she approach the Latino girl. "This lovely lady is named Maria Santana, code-name Acid Fire. She has a nasty habit of well... Maria, why don't you show our guest what you can do."

Maria put her hand on the closest wall, rubbed it in a quick circle and pulled it away. At first it looked like nothing and happened. Suddenly the wall started to sizzle and the part where Maria had put her hand dissolved into nothing but a hole in the wall.

Port walked towards the next person, who was the seven-foot behemoth of man. "This is Christopher Golden. He is the muscle of the group as you can tell which is why we call him Knockout."

Knockout then let out an earth-shaking roar and threw a power punch into the brick wall that brought down the entire wall.

"I'll have to get someone to fix the wall again," Port said with a sigh as she continued to the next member.

"The next contestant is White Ninja. We don't really know his real name, but he can turn invisible. Pretty nifty power don't you think?" Port inquired.

"Yeah great," John mumbled, as he followed Port toward the next figure who was the black man with dread locks.

"This is Ron. He's not a mutant, but he is handy with a firearm."

Ron then opened up his hands as two black revolvers appeared as if out of nowhere and shot three holes in the middle of an empty beer can across the room. He then put them away as mysteriously as they appeared.

"We call him Quick Shot," Port said. "And lastly, but certainly not least, we have Jessica Simon, a.k.a. Thorn."

"How's it going sexy?" John asked as he reached out to shake her hand.

Right as she reached her hand out, Port grabbed John's hand, and pulled it away. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Thorn has spikes that come out of her skin. They are unseen by the human eye, but can paralyze you for about a minute if you are pricked by them. She can also shoot them out of her hands. Impressive bunch don't you think?" Port questioned with a smile.

As the X-J700 series Blackbird jet cut through the night skies, the newly formed team sat inside the jet talking. The talking stopped once Dave Warden sat down at the table.

"I'm sure you'll have questions and concerns, so instead of keeping them to yourselves, ask me."

Jay spoke up first. "Not to be rude or anything, Dave, but how are we going to take on the world with a team of only four members?"

"Not to worry, Cerbro has found a few other mutants that we can try to recruit for our team. Any other concerns?"

"What about a place to stay?" Tom asked.

"I have that are covered too. Xavier bought a mansion before he died, and it sits unused in upstate New York. It has the same features that the old one had including weapons, a danger room, vehicles, and our very own Cerbro. Before we get to the mansion, we will go to recruit these mutants. Jay and Tom, I want you to recruit these two. They live in different parts of New York City but I used Cerbro to get there locations so you shouldn't have trouble finding them Becca and Sarah, I will drop you off in Florida so you can try to recruit this one." David handed them the information. "Any other questions?"

"Ya," Becca, who up till now has been silent, said. "What will we be called?"

"Well, once we recruit all of the members I will come up with code name. Up till now I'm not too.." David started, but Becca cut him off.

"No, I mean what's the team called?"

"Oh, it will be called Neo-X."

"Cool," Becca said.

- - - - - END of Issue One. -