PROLOGUE:
In a secreted location within New Jersey, of all places, Selene, the
life-siphoning mutant contemplates her troubles:
Moonstar will pay for what she did to me at that fair, she thinks.
After I'm finished with her, she'll wish she were dead!
She remembers the events at the desert fair in 1998, where she had
come close to destroying X-Force, had Dani Moonstar not been there. She
had succumbed to Dani's mind tricks, and her fears of growing old and
frail. The destruction of that giant metallic structure had distracted
Dani and her friends, which gave her the opportunity to get away, from both
X-Force and her fears. She remembers running as far and fast as her legs
could carry her, but the psionic manifestation of her fears Dani had
projected followed her. The actual manifestation had long dissipated, but
Selene, not realizing this, believed it was still there, following her,
trying to consume her. She was tiring, and believed the manifestation was
about to consume her. She finally gave up, fell to the ground, and, as she
turned, she saw her fear catching up to her and consuming her.
She woke up, almost a year and a half later, to a strange man,
hovering over her. He was a mutant as well, with a small amount of psionic
ability; he sensed her presence after she collapsed about a mile from his
cabin. He had taken her back to his cabin, and stabilized her mind, using
his powers. He explained to her that she had fallen into psionic shock,
where her conscious mind went into a sort of coma. He had decided to use
his powers to help her, feeding her (her motor controls were functioning,
they just needed guidance, which he provided with his own powers) so she
would not starve to death, and helping her with other.necessities. He had
also fallen in love with her during this time, as it happens in similar
situations. She was quite surprised that anyone could fall in love with
her. He did not realize that professing his love for her had spared his
life. She obviously had felt nothing for him, but used his love as a way
to get money and resources for the revenge she was already planning.
She thinks now, after everything she put up to get to the point she
is was finally going to pay off. Her plans were finally near completion,
having taken one of the X-Force brood, Sunspot. She had made him into a
Hellfire Club member, and soon, very soon, using him as bait, she would
make Moonstar pay!
END PROLOGUE On the brand-new X-Force jet, courtesy of Forge, Victor Creed sits, petting WildChild, who, due to recent events has regressed to an animalistic state of mind. Creed thought that, after getting away from the now-disbanded X- Factor, he'd never be part of a another team, let alone another one that requires that stupid X. But when cable approached him, offering him another chance, he found himself joining of his own will, and most recently even wearing that "stupid X" with a sense of respect, if not pride. Of course, he'd sooner lose a fight with that runt Wolverine, than admit this to the X-Punks. He thinks to recent events, with the runt's daughter, who hated Wolverine more than he did. He realizes that this is one of the rare occasions where he could even show a lighter, calmer side. He had realized that she could never find out what he had done 16 years ago, no one could, if he was to have a second chance. Cable, who, for reasons unknown to most, had recently taken back leadership of X-Force from Pete Wisdom, interrupted his thoughts. "Sabertooth, have you set up that meeting yet?" He stands proud in his blue and yellow costume, awaiting an answer. "I got it taken care of, Cable, you don't got to worry about it." He looks at him with an imposing glare. "Your contact had better have the right info, I don't want to be wasting time better used to find an alternate route into the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle compound." "I said I got it under control, dammit! Leave me alone!" Cable carefully stepped back as Creed and WildChild snarled at him in unison. "Fine." He walked back to the cockpit, where he notices a look of worry on the faces of James Proudstar, and Theresa O'Rourke, also known as Warpath and Siryn. In an effort to relieve their worries, he intrudes their thoughts with an unusual comment. "Hot weather today, isn't it?" Both young mutants look at him and cannot hold back a slight smile. But Theresa's face shifts back to worry almost immediately, erasing the smile from existence. "How can ye think of the weather when ye have brought almost the entire X-Force team back with no explanation at all?" Says Siryn in an angry and agitated tone of voice. "The explanation is very simple, Theresa, right now is the time for X-Force to shine. And for that to happen, X-Force must be one, united as a team, yet separate at the same time. That is why I have brought back old team members, including you, to join with the new team as one, and subsequently split the team in two squads, Black and Red. I have made arrangements so that the group on this plane, along one other who will join us in New York will go to Muir Island, where we will take on another member, who will join us on a mission in Britain. The Black Squad will stay in the States with Wisdom, they have other matters to attend to." "Britain? What's so important in Britain?" Asks the young Indian, Warpath. "Actually, James, I honestly don't know. The Prof got a call from Brian Braddock saying he needed a team to help out on a mission he and his wife were preparing for. Since both the X-Men teams were indisposed at the time, I decided that X-Force might be able to help, since we had almost brought back all the members, and the others could be brought in on the way." "Not to be questioning your decisions, sir, but why did you bring WildChild and Sabertooth to the team?" Asks Warpath, making sure to keep his voice low, so Creed and Kyle could not hear him. "Sabertooth deserves a second chance, and he has contacts that I don't. Kyle has had his own troubles lately, and he needed a place to belong and feel safe at. We are going to leave him with Pete Wisdom, he is in town, and I have already talked to him about taking WildChild to Red Squad. I want both teams to have a tracker." He waits for a reaction, but cuts in before anything can be said. "So, what's our ETA?" Still a little awe-struck by that explanation; Siryn shakes her head and looks to the console, and saying "20 minutes." Cable returns to the main compartment, and observes Jesse Aaronson, also known as Bedlam, Julio Richter, a.k.a. Rictor, Sabertooth, and WildChild, waiting for the chance to get some free air, especially the latter two. He is saddened to know that Caliban, the Morlock tracker could not be there, thanks to Apocalypse. He sits down, and awaits their descent into Central Park.
10 Die When Planes Collide Over N.J. BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J., Aug. 9 - Ten people were killed Wednesday when two small planes collided over southern New Jersey, officials said. Falling wreckage slammed into a house and set the building on fire, but the occupants escaped unharmed. Nine of the victims were aboard a private charter flight and the last was flying in a Piper Seminole, said Arlene Salac, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. No one on the ground was injured. The victims were not immediately identified. The charter was registered to Stone Air Inc. of New York, NY, the FAA said, indicating the owner was no other than renowned philanthropist Jeremy Stone. The registered owner of the Seminole PA-44 was identified as something called IC, Inc., apparently based in New York City. One of the charred bodies found was identified as Jason Smyth, one of Jeremy Stone's business assistants. He had been en route to a shareholder meeting in Maine in Stone's stead, who had other business to attend to. This fact alone is causing people to believe this to have been a terrorist attack. The collision occurred shortly after 8 a.m. ET in Burlington Township, which lies along the Delaware River about midway between Trenton and Philadelphia. Sources in the N.J. fire dept. revealed that an unidentified body was found wearing some sort of uniform with a small "X" encased in a circular badge of some sort. Many people speculate the mutant terrorist group called the X-Men might somehow be involved.
Cable, who was near Jersey two weeks ago, informed Pete Wisdom of this article. Pete decided to check out the story, so he asked Maggie, Wolverine's newfound daughter to send him a copy of the paper. He looks upon it now in worry, and asks himself if human-mutant relations will suffer from this incident. Xavier was, of course, informed of the occurrence, and he swiftly decided to act. Since the X-Men were preparing for a mission of some importance of their own, and X-Force Red was off on their mission, he decided to call in Pete's team, comprising of the remaining X-Force members Cannonball, Meltdown, Mirage (Dani Moonstar to most), and Shatterstar. He knows the decision might have been odd, but if someone were framing X-members of terrorist crimes, then X-Force Black would take care of them.
On the X-Force jet, Cable is informed that they were landing, so he looks at Creed to make sure he was on task. Creed growled at him somewhat, but moved to the exit, leaving Kyle sleeping by the seat. As soon as they were near the ground, he jumped out and went to wherever to meat up with his contact. He tells X-Force to stay ready because he could bring trouble back with him.
Pete had informed his team to be ready to go at a moments notice, and they have been on edge ever since. He finally gets the call from his Covert Ops buddies, and his suspicions are reaffirmed. He gathers X-Force to brief them of their upcoming mission.
Interlude In New Jersey, or rather, as secret location in the said city, a powerful woman sits, thinking.
I will have Moonstar and her kin for my puppets! She thinks. Thanks to my "lover" here, I know that my first plan is failing, using Sunspot as bait has not drawn Moonstar, but only a part of her brood. I will let the Hellfire Club deal with them, while my secondary plan brings Moonstar and the rest of X-Force to me. Sending those fools, the MLF to do my bidding was easier than I had thought. They planted that "X" badge on the plane used to attempt to kill Jeremy Stone, and now, with all the other X-fools busy with missions or personal matters, Xavier will have no choice but to send "X-Force Black" into the fray. End Interlude
Creed sat sown at the table, laughing at the scene he had just seen. Maggie, the punk Logan's daughter, just took his "associate" to school on how to handle a woman. He stops laughing quite fast, as he needs information from his "associate." "You should learn to keep yer mouth shut, Jimmy," he says with a low growl in his voice. "Well maybe I should, starting with the info you wanted." The young man named James Winsone, a professional spy and infiltrations expert, taunts the six-eight and feral Victor Creed, hoping to get a chance to gauge him in battle. "Ya got a sense of humor, Jimmy, good. It means I can let that pass, instead of rippin yer guts out and showin em to ya." The man known as Sabertooth shows nothing but confidence, so James lets the issue drop, keeping hope to gauge this man in battle later. "I have the information you wanted, Creed, but I do not understand why you would want the floor plan for the Hellfire Club building and its caves." He hopes to gain some information as to why Sabertooth has come to him, calling in a favor after so long. "I got my reasons, and you'd would be smart to stay out of my business, now give me the papers and get out of here." Creed hands the waitress a note to give to Maggie while James draws the papers from his briefcase. "Here, I hope this means we're-" "Square? Ya think wrong. I saved yer butt, and a few papers will not get you square for that. I'll be in touch, Jimmy." With that, Sabertooth takes his leave of the club, and catches a cab to Central Park.
After a while, Creed gets to Central Park, walks to a bench and sits down. "Ya can all come out of cloak, I wasn't followed." As Cable comes out of the cloaked plane, he looks around, all the while scanning the park for anomalous psi-activity. "Couldn't be sure, Sabertooth, you have a trait for finding trouble where you go." Creed smiles a little, "My reputation precedes me." He gives Cable the papers and stands up, and turns away from the group. "I have some business to take care of, when do ya want me to meet up with you for the raid on the Hellfire Club building?" "Wait, Sabertooth, we need to plan our-" "Ya can plan all ya want, but when it comes down to smashing through guards and walls in there, I'll be the man for the job." Without another word, he leaves, no one knowing this is the last time they will see him as an ally. "Damn." Cable turns to the group, points to the plane, and says "Everyone in. Theresa, take us up into a hover position, we need to plan." As the plane ascends, Victor looks back and realizes that the events of the coming evening might very well leave him alone once more, because he does not handle rejection well.
He arrives at the club he left hours earlier at about 4:25 AM. He waits for a half hour, but he sees that Maggie did not accept his invitation. He decides to go to her apartment and se why not. Once he gets to Maggie's apartment, he sniffs around for clues; he would not want to get caught by surprise. It is not like he was really surprised, he always knew she had a thing for the Cajun, but he never would have expected her to take it this far. He changes into his costume, not the X-modified one, and jumps through the bedroom window of Maggie's window. She wasn't prepared for the form of Victor Creed that came hurling through the bedroom window. She barely had enough time to shove Remy out of the way of Creed's dangerous claws and roll to safety herself. "So you thought that you were going to play games with me huh frail?" he snarled at her. "What games, Vic," Maggie asked as calmly as she could. "You an' me," he took a swipe at Remy as he scrabbled out of the way. "There was never any you and me, Creed, now back off!" Maggie yelled at him. She hoped to distract him till Remy had a chance to get in a better position. "Then if you're not with me, you're against me, like that looser of a father of yours and that pathetic mother you had." Creed taunted her. Maggie's world turned red with rage. Remy watched horrified as she launched herself at Creed. He desperately let loose with a throwing card that he had managed to dig out of his coat. Logan couldn't wait to get to Maggie's place to hear about last night. He fought the urge to show up, but he knew that she and the Cajun had some unfinished business to attend to. As he parked his Jeep out front he caught a familiar scent as Maggie and Creed fell from her third story window, tangled in a deadly embrace. He immediately rushed to Maggie but watched as she nimbly twisted in mid- air and used Creed as a springboard to land lightly a few feet away. "I enjoyed ripping her to shreds, Maggie. She begged me to spare you." Creed taunted her. He rose stiffly to his feet. He could already feel his healing factor kicking in and healing his broken ribs. He never noticed that Logan had crept up behind him but Maggie did. Maggie lightly danced backwards, keeping Creeds attention. He was like a freight train coming at her. She used her lighter frame to duck in and out as she opened deep gashed across his hide. Remy had leaped out of the window and began to throw cards as they keep him off balance till Logan saw the opening that he needed. Maggie wasn't as experienced of a fighter as the other two were and as her father leaped she slipped on the blood soaked ground. Creed nailed her through the ribs with his claws, and threw her to one side like a rag doll. She hit the wall with a bone-sickening crunch. Logan and Remy went ballistic. Creed knew when he was out numbered and ran to plan his revenge better. Oh, yes they would pay for making a fool out of him. Logan was prepared to go after creed, but he was brought back from his animal rage by Remy's mournful cry. "Maggie, chéri. Please petite, wake up," Remy cradled her broken body gently. Logan had enough sense to hit his emergency homing beacon. Logan knelt down next to Remy as tears coursed down his own cheeks. That was the last thing Creed saw as he turned away and ran, knowing he would never know peace again. Not after what he had just done.
On the X-Force Jet, some three hours later, Cable is drawn away from the battle plans by an incoming message from the Mansion. It was Xavier. He explained to him what had occurred with Creed, and that he should notify the rest of X-Force. Cable turns back to his team, pale and unable to speak. X-Force all bare similar visages as he explains to them what Creed had done. He turns to WildChild and sees that he is just as disturbed. Making a command decision, he leaves Kyle with the X-Men, and informs Pete Wisdom that Kyle will join Black Squad. After a while he returns to the main cabin of the jet and, knowing his team, tells them to get ready, they will be breaching the Hellfire Club building at 0800 hours.
In the X-Force Briefing Room, Pete Wisdom looks at his team, and without a doubt, he sees a group of heroes. He knows they will follow him to any righteous cause, and die for that cause, should the need arise. He thinks this, and without any chitchat, he begins the briefing. "X-Force, I believe you have all read the news article I have given you. Believe me, I am as disturbed as you are about this. Some terrorist group took out a well-known philanthropist, and we who carry the "X" get the blame. I say this is unacceptable. We must do our best to restore our reputations to the closest thing we got to "good" they got. We must also bring the murderer of Jeremy Stone to justice. We will journey to New Jersey to investigate and found out what more we can about the collision. Another thing you should know, Cable has informed me that he has left WildChild with the X-Men in Westchester for us to pick him up, it appears Kyle is to be part of the Black Squad now." The young blaster Cannonball is puzzled. "But Kyle is inseparable from Creed, how'd they get him to switch over to our Squad?" "Well, it seems there were some.difficulties with Creed, he put Wolverine's daughter in a coma." Everyone is in shock. They had come to accept Creed into their flock, and then he goes and does something like this. Meltdown is worried, she had met Maggie, and they became quick friends. "Is Maggie okay?" She asks, fearing the answer. "Maggie was fortunate, her inherent healing factor saved her life from death, but the majority of her recovery was accomplished by a spiritual trip from Gambit and Hope. She is completely recovered." He lets that sink in, and then begins to make sure everyone is ready for the mission they will be embarking on later that day.
END PROLOGUE On the brand-new X-Force jet, courtesy of Forge, Victor Creed sits, petting WildChild, who, due to recent events has regressed to an animalistic state of mind. Creed thought that, after getting away from the now-disbanded X- Factor, he'd never be part of a another team, let alone another one that requires that stupid X. But when cable approached him, offering him another chance, he found himself joining of his own will, and most recently even wearing that "stupid X" with a sense of respect, if not pride. Of course, he'd sooner lose a fight with that runt Wolverine, than admit this to the X-Punks. He thinks to recent events, with the runt's daughter, who hated Wolverine more than he did. He realizes that this is one of the rare occasions where he could even show a lighter, calmer side. He had realized that she could never find out what he had done 16 years ago, no one could, if he was to have a second chance. Cable, who, for reasons unknown to most, had recently taken back leadership of X-Force from Pete Wisdom, interrupted his thoughts. "Sabertooth, have you set up that meeting yet?" He stands proud in his blue and yellow costume, awaiting an answer. "I got it taken care of, Cable, you don't got to worry about it." He looks at him with an imposing glare. "Your contact had better have the right info, I don't want to be wasting time better used to find an alternate route into the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle compound." "I said I got it under control, dammit! Leave me alone!" Cable carefully stepped back as Creed and WildChild snarled at him in unison. "Fine." He walked back to the cockpit, where he notices a look of worry on the faces of James Proudstar, and Theresa O'Rourke, also known as Warpath and Siryn. In an effort to relieve their worries, he intrudes their thoughts with an unusual comment. "Hot weather today, isn't it?" Both young mutants look at him and cannot hold back a slight smile. But Theresa's face shifts back to worry almost immediately, erasing the smile from existence. "How can ye think of the weather when ye have brought almost the entire X-Force team back with no explanation at all?" Says Siryn in an angry and agitated tone of voice. "The explanation is very simple, Theresa, right now is the time for X-Force to shine. And for that to happen, X-Force must be one, united as a team, yet separate at the same time. That is why I have brought back old team members, including you, to join with the new team as one, and subsequently split the team in two squads, Black and Red. I have made arrangements so that the group on this plane, along one other who will join us in New York will go to Muir Island, where we will take on another member, who will join us on a mission in Britain. The Black Squad will stay in the States with Wisdom, they have other matters to attend to." "Britain? What's so important in Britain?" Asks the young Indian, Warpath. "Actually, James, I honestly don't know. The Prof got a call from Brian Braddock saying he needed a team to help out on a mission he and his wife were preparing for. Since both the X-Men teams were indisposed at the time, I decided that X-Force might be able to help, since we had almost brought back all the members, and the others could be brought in on the way." "Not to be questioning your decisions, sir, but why did you bring WildChild and Sabertooth to the team?" Asks Warpath, making sure to keep his voice low, so Creed and Kyle could not hear him. "Sabertooth deserves a second chance, and he has contacts that I don't. Kyle has had his own troubles lately, and he needed a place to belong and feel safe at. We are going to leave him with Pete Wisdom, he is in town, and I have already talked to him about taking WildChild to Red Squad. I want both teams to have a tracker." He waits for a reaction, but cuts in before anything can be said. "So, what's our ETA?" Still a little awe-struck by that explanation; Siryn shakes her head and looks to the console, and saying "20 minutes." Cable returns to the main compartment, and observes Jesse Aaronson, also known as Bedlam, Julio Richter, a.k.a. Rictor, Sabertooth, and WildChild, waiting for the chance to get some free air, especially the latter two. He is saddened to know that Caliban, the Morlock tracker could not be there, thanks to Apocalypse. He sits down, and awaits their descent into Central Park.
10 Die When Planes Collide Over N.J. BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J., Aug. 9 - Ten people were killed Wednesday when two small planes collided over southern New Jersey, officials said. Falling wreckage slammed into a house and set the building on fire, but the occupants escaped unharmed. Nine of the victims were aboard a private charter flight and the last was flying in a Piper Seminole, said Arlene Salac, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. No one on the ground was injured. The victims were not immediately identified. The charter was registered to Stone Air Inc. of New York, NY, the FAA said, indicating the owner was no other than renowned philanthropist Jeremy Stone. The registered owner of the Seminole PA-44 was identified as something called IC, Inc., apparently based in New York City. One of the charred bodies found was identified as Jason Smyth, one of Jeremy Stone's business assistants. He had been en route to a shareholder meeting in Maine in Stone's stead, who had other business to attend to. This fact alone is causing people to believe this to have been a terrorist attack. The collision occurred shortly after 8 a.m. ET in Burlington Township, which lies along the Delaware River about midway between Trenton and Philadelphia. Sources in the N.J. fire dept. revealed that an unidentified body was found wearing some sort of uniform with a small "X" encased in a circular badge of some sort. Many people speculate the mutant terrorist group called the X-Men might somehow be involved.
Cable, who was near Jersey two weeks ago, informed Pete Wisdom of this article. Pete decided to check out the story, so he asked Maggie, Wolverine's newfound daughter to send him a copy of the paper. He looks upon it now in worry, and asks himself if human-mutant relations will suffer from this incident. Xavier was, of course, informed of the occurrence, and he swiftly decided to act. Since the X-Men were preparing for a mission of some importance of their own, and X-Force Red was off on their mission, he decided to call in Pete's team, comprising of the remaining X-Force members Cannonball, Meltdown, Mirage (Dani Moonstar to most), and Shatterstar. He knows the decision might have been odd, but if someone were framing X-members of terrorist crimes, then X-Force Black would take care of them.
On the X-Force jet, Cable is informed that they were landing, so he looks at Creed to make sure he was on task. Creed growled at him somewhat, but moved to the exit, leaving Kyle sleeping by the seat. As soon as they were near the ground, he jumped out and went to wherever to meat up with his contact. He tells X-Force to stay ready because he could bring trouble back with him.
Pete had informed his team to be ready to go at a moments notice, and they have been on edge ever since. He finally gets the call from his Covert Ops buddies, and his suspicions are reaffirmed. He gathers X-Force to brief them of their upcoming mission.
Interlude In New Jersey, or rather, as secret location in the said city, a powerful woman sits, thinking.
I will have Moonstar and her kin for my puppets! She thinks. Thanks to my "lover" here, I know that my first plan is failing, using Sunspot as bait has not drawn Moonstar, but only a part of her brood. I will let the Hellfire Club deal with them, while my secondary plan brings Moonstar and the rest of X-Force to me. Sending those fools, the MLF to do my bidding was easier than I had thought. They planted that "X" badge on the plane used to attempt to kill Jeremy Stone, and now, with all the other X-fools busy with missions or personal matters, Xavier will have no choice but to send "X-Force Black" into the fray. End Interlude
Creed sat sown at the table, laughing at the scene he had just seen. Maggie, the punk Logan's daughter, just took his "associate" to school on how to handle a woman. He stops laughing quite fast, as he needs information from his "associate." "You should learn to keep yer mouth shut, Jimmy," he says with a low growl in his voice. "Well maybe I should, starting with the info you wanted." The young man named James Winsone, a professional spy and infiltrations expert, taunts the six-eight and feral Victor Creed, hoping to get a chance to gauge him in battle. "Ya got a sense of humor, Jimmy, good. It means I can let that pass, instead of rippin yer guts out and showin em to ya." The man known as Sabertooth shows nothing but confidence, so James lets the issue drop, keeping hope to gauge this man in battle later. "I have the information you wanted, Creed, but I do not understand why you would want the floor plan for the Hellfire Club building and its caves." He hopes to gain some information as to why Sabertooth has come to him, calling in a favor after so long. "I got my reasons, and you'd would be smart to stay out of my business, now give me the papers and get out of here." Creed hands the waitress a note to give to Maggie while James draws the papers from his briefcase. "Here, I hope this means we're-" "Square? Ya think wrong. I saved yer butt, and a few papers will not get you square for that. I'll be in touch, Jimmy." With that, Sabertooth takes his leave of the club, and catches a cab to Central Park.
After a while, Creed gets to Central Park, walks to a bench and sits down. "Ya can all come out of cloak, I wasn't followed." As Cable comes out of the cloaked plane, he looks around, all the while scanning the park for anomalous psi-activity. "Couldn't be sure, Sabertooth, you have a trait for finding trouble where you go." Creed smiles a little, "My reputation precedes me." He gives Cable the papers and stands up, and turns away from the group. "I have some business to take care of, when do ya want me to meet up with you for the raid on the Hellfire Club building?" "Wait, Sabertooth, we need to plan our-" "Ya can plan all ya want, but when it comes down to smashing through guards and walls in there, I'll be the man for the job." Without another word, he leaves, no one knowing this is the last time they will see him as an ally. "Damn." Cable turns to the group, points to the plane, and says "Everyone in. Theresa, take us up into a hover position, we need to plan." As the plane ascends, Victor looks back and realizes that the events of the coming evening might very well leave him alone once more, because he does not handle rejection well.
He arrives at the club he left hours earlier at about 4:25 AM. He waits for a half hour, but he sees that Maggie did not accept his invitation. He decides to go to her apartment and se why not. Once he gets to Maggie's apartment, he sniffs around for clues; he would not want to get caught by surprise. It is not like he was really surprised, he always knew she had a thing for the Cajun, but he never would have expected her to take it this far. He changes into his costume, not the X-modified one, and jumps through the bedroom window of Maggie's window. She wasn't prepared for the form of Victor Creed that came hurling through the bedroom window. She barely had enough time to shove Remy out of the way of Creed's dangerous claws and roll to safety herself. "So you thought that you were going to play games with me huh frail?" he snarled at her. "What games, Vic," Maggie asked as calmly as she could. "You an' me," he took a swipe at Remy as he scrabbled out of the way. "There was never any you and me, Creed, now back off!" Maggie yelled at him. She hoped to distract him till Remy had a chance to get in a better position. "Then if you're not with me, you're against me, like that looser of a father of yours and that pathetic mother you had." Creed taunted her. Maggie's world turned red with rage. Remy watched horrified as she launched herself at Creed. He desperately let loose with a throwing card that he had managed to dig out of his coat. Logan couldn't wait to get to Maggie's place to hear about last night. He fought the urge to show up, but he knew that she and the Cajun had some unfinished business to attend to. As he parked his Jeep out front he caught a familiar scent as Maggie and Creed fell from her third story window, tangled in a deadly embrace. He immediately rushed to Maggie but watched as she nimbly twisted in mid- air and used Creed as a springboard to land lightly a few feet away. "I enjoyed ripping her to shreds, Maggie. She begged me to spare you." Creed taunted her. He rose stiffly to his feet. He could already feel his healing factor kicking in and healing his broken ribs. He never noticed that Logan had crept up behind him but Maggie did. Maggie lightly danced backwards, keeping Creeds attention. He was like a freight train coming at her. She used her lighter frame to duck in and out as she opened deep gashed across his hide. Remy had leaped out of the window and began to throw cards as they keep him off balance till Logan saw the opening that he needed. Maggie wasn't as experienced of a fighter as the other two were and as her father leaped she slipped on the blood soaked ground. Creed nailed her through the ribs with his claws, and threw her to one side like a rag doll. She hit the wall with a bone-sickening crunch. Logan and Remy went ballistic. Creed knew when he was out numbered and ran to plan his revenge better. Oh, yes they would pay for making a fool out of him. Logan was prepared to go after creed, but he was brought back from his animal rage by Remy's mournful cry. "Maggie, chéri. Please petite, wake up," Remy cradled her broken body gently. Logan had enough sense to hit his emergency homing beacon. Logan knelt down next to Remy as tears coursed down his own cheeks. That was the last thing Creed saw as he turned away and ran, knowing he would never know peace again. Not after what he had just done.
On the X-Force Jet, some three hours later, Cable is drawn away from the battle plans by an incoming message from the Mansion. It was Xavier. He explained to him what had occurred with Creed, and that he should notify the rest of X-Force. Cable turns back to his team, pale and unable to speak. X-Force all bare similar visages as he explains to them what Creed had done. He turns to WildChild and sees that he is just as disturbed. Making a command decision, he leaves Kyle with the X-Men, and informs Pete Wisdom that Kyle will join Black Squad. After a while he returns to the main cabin of the jet and, knowing his team, tells them to get ready, they will be breaching the Hellfire Club building at 0800 hours.
In the X-Force Briefing Room, Pete Wisdom looks at his team, and without a doubt, he sees a group of heroes. He knows they will follow him to any righteous cause, and die for that cause, should the need arise. He thinks this, and without any chitchat, he begins the briefing. "X-Force, I believe you have all read the news article I have given you. Believe me, I am as disturbed as you are about this. Some terrorist group took out a well-known philanthropist, and we who carry the "X" get the blame. I say this is unacceptable. We must do our best to restore our reputations to the closest thing we got to "good" they got. We must also bring the murderer of Jeremy Stone to justice. We will journey to New Jersey to investigate and found out what more we can about the collision. Another thing you should know, Cable has informed me that he has left WildChild with the X-Men in Westchester for us to pick him up, it appears Kyle is to be part of the Black Squad now." The young blaster Cannonball is puzzled. "But Kyle is inseparable from Creed, how'd they get him to switch over to our Squad?" "Well, it seems there were some.difficulties with Creed, he put Wolverine's daughter in a coma." Everyone is in shock. They had come to accept Creed into their flock, and then he goes and does something like this. Meltdown is worried, she had met Maggie, and they became quick friends. "Is Maggie okay?" She asks, fearing the answer. "Maggie was fortunate, her inherent healing factor saved her life from death, but the majority of her recovery was accomplished by a spiritual trip from Gambit and Hope. She is completely recovered." He lets that sink in, and then begins to make sure everyone is ready for the mission they will be embarking on later that day.