Disclaimer : I do not own the X-men but I do so love toying with them.

Summary : The X-men have survived the slavers, but will their new friends be worse? Find out! Part two of my Kimble series.

Notes: Rated M for language, extreme violence, and non-explicit sexual situations.

AU but only because I chose to change a few things in my dear friends' histories, nothing drastic so please forgive. I wrote this for a friend who didn't read the comics so there is a bit of back history and explanation on who everyone is and what their powers are. I've been working on this story for years so I do ask that you don't use any of my non-Marvel universe characters without my permission. I love my Siskans as I do my children.

Please excuse my bad French, I have no Frenchie or Cajun friends, I've had to rely on a French/English dictionary and the sometimes quirky but always amusing Babelfish.

Constructive criticism – good or bad – will only inspire me to continue.

ColossusR, chapter one is for you as per your request. :)

10-3-2009 ~ Just a quick note to say that I have just revised some of the material in this book since it was first posted years ago. I didn't change any of the events, I just wanted to clean up any spelling and grammar mistakes I could find and well, try to make the writing itself a bit better. I plan to do this with all of the stories I have posted but since I have such a huge collection of books, it will take me a long while. I apologize now for any inconsistencies you may encounter going forward, there will be a point where my revisions have left off and you'll probably notice it as you read along. Please forgive me. – Squeekness

10-12-13 - As some of you know I have posted a large amount of stories to this site. I've put up a lot of "books." Because I haven't published in a while, I've been away from the site and updates to the site get by me. Normally I used to break up scene changes or perspective changes by putting in a dotted line or a series of symbols to break these up so that you as readers aren't going "what the heck?" when there is a change. Well, it's come to my attention that while the site once let me use that series of symbols, it isn't anymore. Looking back over all my old chapters I'm seeing that those breaks I put in place ages ago are gone and one scene sometimes just rolls into the next, something that is probably confusing to the reader. I'm trying to find a way to do something that won't get taken away when a year or so from now the site decides to make another change. That being said, I still have to go back and somehow fix all that materiel I posted previously, a rather daunting task at this point. So, until I come up with something better, if I have an awkward transition I will be using a (break) in between paragraphs to show these scenes or perspective changes and hopefully you as readers won't be confused by it, now or three years from now. But for those of you reading these older posts, please bear with me while I go through the arduous task of fixing these older posts. There will come a point where you read past the parts I have recently fixed. If a scene suddenly changes in the middle of things, it's not you, it's the site and not how I had originally posted. SQ

(One)

"Sir, there's been a problem with the mission."

Charles Xavier sat at his large mahogany desk, eyes closed, one hand rubbing at his temple, warding off what was soon to be a killer headache. Those words had been spoken to him days ago, but they kept replaying themselves over and over again like a bad recording in his mind.

Charles Xavier was not a young man, he was in his late-fifties, bald but still quite fit for his age. He was a mutant himself, an omega telepath and possibly the most powerful mind reader on the planet. He was also bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Not one to let limitations of any kind set him back, Charles had used his wealth and his mutant power work for him in creating the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children – a fancy cover name for what was a school, but more importantly, for what was also a refuge for mutant children. This amazing institution was located on a large estate in Westchester New York, an excellent place for such a fine facility. That had been a few years ago now, and some of those gifted children had grown into outstanding men and women. With the help of those first students, Xavier next created his most beloved accomplishment, the X-men.

The X-men were not like most other mutant groups or gangs. They fought not for profit, but for peace. They most often acted as policemen against mutant terrorists or did interventions where they would seek out troubled mutants – most of whom didn't even know or even wanted to know they were mutants – but who had found themselves in trouble, harming themselves or others. The X-men would collect these wayward folks and add them to their own numbers, giving them survival skills, but more importantly, a superior education that what they might otherwise have received.

These folks then had a choice, they could stay on and help others at the school, or if they had the dedication and the guts to stand up to the challenge, they could eventually win themselves a seat on the X-men team itself. Charles Xavier, or the Professor as he was sometimes called, had many such loyal and reliable people.

The team grew steadily larger over the years, mostly by adding the more accomplished students from the Institute, but also by acquiring the occasional "walk on" like Remy. Logan they had recruited from a Canadian government agency, the first person Charles had invited this way, and it was such a success, that others had followed later. Regardless of their reasons for joining, most had worked out well, sacrificing themselves for others on a daily basis.

"They've simply vanished, Professor. Just like the others."

Charles Xavier wasn't a stupid man. In every venture there are always risks, sacrifices. It didn't happen often, but Charles had buried more than one good friend in the large private cemetery on the grounds.

This latest mission had been very different. If there had been a plane crash, one could search the rubble and bury the remains. If there had been an abduction and a claim of responsibility, one could pursue the perpetrator until he was caught and the stolen ones returned, hopefully safe and sound.

But this...

This was a vanishing without a trace – one of a series of vanishings that began a couple of months ago which hadn't even come close to being solved. No one had claimed responsibility and the number of victims had come close to four thousand in total. The abductions had all occurred to large groups of people in the city of New York. All had happened in places where young people gathered, dance clubs and the like. This is why the Professor had placed his teams there and that was why they had gotten taken as well it seemed. What a colossal turn of rotten luck.

"They've vanished without a trace and I don't know what we're going to do about it. Professor, we have no plan."

Those incredibly painful words had been spoken by the Professor's right hand man, Scott Summers. Scott was a sturdy young man, one of Charles' first students and possibly his finest. Scott's mutation was pretty spectacular in nature - his body produced a sort of destructive energy that could be released through his eyes. Due to a childhood accident, there was no on/off switch, he simply shot out beams of red energy whenever his eyes were open. Because of this, he was forced to always wear protective eyewear that controlled this deadly energy to protect himself and those around him. Charles had perfected a special visor for him, one that allowed that energy to be released at will. Scott had mastered the use of this visor and earned for himself the codename Cyclops. This terrible mutation had brought out in him a strong personal will and self restraint. He did not make alarmist statements without fully assessing a situation and checking all of his options. It had been difficult for Charles to hear the sadness and hint of defeat in the man's voice.

These three missing team members were all valuable in their own way and were already sorely missed. The one missed most of all was Henry. Beast taught many classes in the sciences and was in contact with much of the student body. His classes were the most lively and very popular. Henry made learning fun and the kids learned well from him, some of them going on to work on scientific projects beneficial to the whole Institute. It hadn't taken long for questions and whisperings about his unexplained disappearance to be heard among the students. The X-men missions were not discussed amongst the civilian students and none of them were in the know. Charles was unsure how long he could keep the kids from questioning this loss before he would have to tell them some devastating news.

Wolverine was also missed by the senior team and staff if not the students. His classes were tough and the going sometimes hard. He taught mainly self defense classes and survival training and he expected results. He was fair if not exactly lenient. Logan was primarily missed by the staff because on a risky mission he was the guy you wanted watching your back. Because he could take a beating and walk away from it, Wolverine was the first to jump into harm's way to protect another, the man was positively fearless.

Now Remy LeBeau, prince of thieves... for him there was always a special place in the Professor's heart. He considered Gambit to be one of his finest achievements. With every step he took, Gambit was a walking symbol of reform and recovery. He was the hardened criminal with the Devil's eyes who now worked on the side of the angels. It was widely known that Gambit had a checkered past and some even knew about his one most notorious crime. This knowledge had kept Remy from making many friends in the mutant community, he was shunned and scorned by most, finding peace at last in this Westchester refuge.

These three men were among the Professor's finest and now, he had no clue where they were or how to find them. He could only hope that wherever they were, they were alive and well, safe and sound.