This might not be the best time to start this, with a couple of very full Bank Holiday weekends coming up, but what the heck. The same rules apply as for the preceding fics: This follows on from the original trilogy, ignoring all sequels and prequels.

CHAPTER ONE

Bobby ran. He wasn't sure what else there was to do. Explosions were ripping the ground of what looked to be a post-apocalyptic wasteground, casting bright ligh across the night sky. He looked round to make sure the rest of his team were there and counted them off: Rogue, Dazzler and the two youngsters, Dani and Doug…or Moonstar and Cypher, as he supposed he should call them now.

Then a figure stepped in front of him. Juggernaut. The evil mutant sneered. "Well, well, what do we have here? One of the X-Boys. Give it your best shot."

Bobby tensed, knowing his best shot wouldn't be enough. But then Dazzler generated bright lights around their opponent's head. Juggernaut may have been tough but even he needed to see. Bobby blasted him in the chest with a stream of ice that pushed him backwards. Then Rogue flew past him, swooping at the Brotherhood leader and pushing him still further away.

Bobby looked round. Dani had generated a psychic spear and was sparring with Avalanche. Her opponent sent a concussive charge through the ground underneath her and she leapt into the air. Bobby generated an ice chair to cushion her fall and she was up and fighting again in a moment. Meanwhile, Cypher was taking on Blob, ducking and weaving around the bigger mutant so he was unable to land a telling blow. Then Juggernaut came bowling into the battle. He swatted Doug aside, then picked up Blob and threw him at Moonstar and Dazzler, flooring them both. Bobby looked round and saw Rogue on the floor, temporarily out of action. He was the only one left standing. Then Juggernaut came charging at him. "End Danger Room!"he shouted.

The three Brotherhood members disappeared, as did their surroundings. Bobby glanced up at the observation gallery. Bishop, who had been controlling the Danger Room, gave him a wave back.

Bobby ran to Rogue's side but she was already on her feet, dusting herself down with a wry look on her face. "I need to remember that being strong doesn't mean I can't get hurt,"she remarked ruefully.

Bobby gave her a reassuring smile before heading back to Dazzler, Moonstar and Cypher. "Well, not bad for your first Danger Room session but if we were out in the field, you'd all be dead."

"I should have offered more support, shouldn't I?"Dazzler sighed.

"Well, the aim of the exercise is to make us work better as a team."

"Watch out for each other,"Rogue told them. "And watch out for yourself as well. Don't focus so hard on one opponent you don't notice any other danger."

"And I'm usually so good at reading body language,"Cypher sighed.

"Thanks for the soft landing,"Moonstar added.

Bobby smiled. "No problem. Maybe you'll do the same for me next time."

The line of memorial stones at the back of the mansion had grown uncomfortably long. Angel stood in front of the latest one: Katherine Pryde. He spent a lot of his time there. It was all he had left of her. Perhaps all he had left in his life.

"They missed you in training,"Jubilee remarked from behind him.

Angel barely gave her a look. "You're not there either."

"Said I'd come and find you. What's going on?"

Angel glowered. "I'm not going to help them train up more kids to get slaughtered trying to convince the world not all mutants belong in death camps."

Jubilee lowered her eyes slightly. "That's not fair."

"Isn't it?" Angel turned round angrily. "It wasn't an evil mutant or a deranged would-be god or a mutant-hunting robot that killed Kitty, she survived all of those. It was just a man, a man who thought we should all be wiped off the face of the world."

"He killed Gambit too,"Jubilee reminded him.

Angel looked at her scornfully. "Yet you're all right with that."

"No, I'm not. I miss him all the time but that doesn't mean we should just give up. Gambit and Kitty were X-Men, same as us. They believed in all this."

"Yeah? Well, maybe I don't." Angel turned away. "Just leave me alone."

Storm stood on the balcony of her room, looking down at the scene on the grass below. "He's getting worse."

Wolverine stepped up behind her and followed her gaze. "Yep,"he confirmed.

Storm shot him an irritated look. "Is that all you've got?"

"You pretty much summed it up."

"I just think that we should do something for him."

"You think there's anything we can do?" Wolverine gestured to the line of memorial stones. "We've all lost friends. People we loved. Wing boy's just going to have to work through it in his own way."

"Could you talk to him?"

"I could try and get him drunk, see if that makes him any better. What about you? You're Mum around here."

"I don't tend to handle that sort of thing very well. Storm clouds are a feature."

Professor X was also observing Angel, from the french windows of his office on the ground floor. "Sometimes I think I ask too much of you,"he sighed.

Cable, the only other person present, looked at him curiously. "Professor?"

"This was supposed to be a safe haven. A place where mutants could learn to use their powers in peace. Maybe I've lost sight of that over the years. I've focused too hard on the goal of a mutant superhero team, of showing the world that we can be their protectors, that we're not all menaces. And I forgot to keep them safe."

"Would you rather stand by and ignore those in trouble?"

Xavier sighed. "No. But maybe I should offer more of a choice."

"We're still here. We've made a choice. Perhaps what people really need is a problem to solve, something to take their mind off things."

At that moment, the sky lit up above them. A ball of fire, spinning through the air. It crashed to earth in the distance, sending up a cloud of smoke.

Xavier looked at Cable, amused. "Did you perhaps inherit precognition from your mother?"

"Perhaps."

Xavier sent out a telepathic message. "X-Men, it seems I have a job for you."