Adrian: Well, howdy-doo! Here's Chapter Two! ...Actually, chapter one, but that rhymed... So, this character brings in our very favourite X-Men, with our not-so-favourite Scott Summers at their head. But with our wonderfully-favourite Rogue in the midst of them all. Do I smell Romy? I think I do... BTW, I'm going to go easy on the accents, they're just not my thing when it makes it hard to read. Except, maybe, Gambit's. But I'm still deciding on that one.

Also, this chapter may or may not introduce John and Wanda, my other all-time favourite couple, like, ever. And votes are out on who Kitty gets paired with: Kurt (everyone's favourite fuzzy blue elf), Lance (everyone's favourite misunderstood teen), or Piotr (everyone's favourite Russian Acolyte). Read and Review! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I still don't own X-Men in any way, shape, or form, but I may or may not own Remy...

ONE MORE THING! I just want to give everyone a quick reminder about time-zones. Seattle and Nevada are three hours behind New York. Just so you know.

CURRENT LISTENING: Beat It, by Fall-Out Boy; Lie to Me, by 12 Stones; Holiday, by Greenday

Out of the Frying Pan


Chapter One: Omega

Bayville, New York:
June 12 – 1:00 A.M.

"All X-Men report to the War Room immediately. All X-Men report to the War Room immediately."

Throughout the mansion of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, groans echoed loudly as teens pulled themselves out of their bed, wondering why they were being assembled at one in the morning. It had been a long day of fighting the Brotherhood, training with Logan, training with Storm, training with Logan again, and (did I mention?) fighting the Brotherhood, and now the X-Men wanted to do nothing more than sleep. However, it looked like they weren't even going to be lucky enough to do that now.

"Just when Ah finally got to sleep," Rogue groused, plopping herself down in a seat next to Kitty. "Couldn't the Professah leave whatevah mission he has for us 'til the mornin'? 'Cause it's one in the mornin', we've had a long day, and Ah wanna sleep."

"We're all, like, tired, too, Rogue. And I'm sure the Professor wouldn't have called us all together at this time of night if it wasn't something, like, uberly important," Kitty replied, somehow still perky despite being woken from her beauty sleep.

"Yes, mein schwester, she's right. It is probably very important," Kurt grinned as he bamfed into the empty seat next to Rogue.

"Y'all are way too optimistic for me," the southern girl groaned. "All Ah know is that if this turns out to be some stupid mission for some stupid reason, Ah'm gonna hurt someone real good."

The conversation died as the other tired X-Men slunk into the room, very unenthusiastically plopping into chairs around the long table.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're all looking cheerful," the professor smiled, light reflecting off of his bald head.

"Not to be rude, Professor, but...why did you wake us up?" Scott questioned, sounding somewhat annoyed. He did, after all, have a huge exam that he had to take first-thing in the morning.

"Ah, yes, I do apologize for waking you all up at this time," the professor paused, "not that you were all sleeping in the first place..." Bobby and Sam laughed nervously at the looks everyone gave them. "All the same, I know you've all had a long day, and I assure you that any and all training for tomorrow will be cancelled due to this unforeseen task that has arisen. You all can sleep all day tomorrow if you so wish."

"Chuck," Logan rumbled quietly to the man.

"Ah, right. Thank you, Logan. The reason I've called you all here is that Cerebro has detected a new mutant in the Seattle area."

Rogue jumped up and banged her fist down on the table, splintering the wood. "That's why you called us down here? Because there's a new mutant! And what part of that couldn't wait until the morning!"

"Sit down and listen, Stripes," Logen growled, popping out a claw. "It's important."

"Whatevah," the girl snapped, sliding back down into her chair.

"As I was saying," Charles continued, "Cerebro detected a new mutant. This mutant has some of the strongest, if not the strongest, telepathic shields I've ever encountered, so we couldn't gather any danger as we normally would. All we know is that he's powerful, he's dangerous, and he's out of control."

"Well, what are we waiting for? We should totally be going, like, right now!" Kitty exclaimed.

"I don't think he's done briefing us yet," Jean said.

"No, not quite. I need you all to be careful because Cerebro also detected several other mutants in the area. I have reason to believe that they're after the same mutant that we are."

"Magneto's goons?" Jubilee asked excitedly, cracking her gum.

"Trust me; these other mutants have nothing to do with Magneto. And they're decidedly more dangerous than any enemy you've encountered thus far...not including Apocalypse, of course." The professor then turned to the new girl, her long black hair twisted into a bun. She had joined them about two months ago, after what the students referred to as the 'Carol Danvers Incident'. "Tessa, I know you're not officially a part of this team yet, but I believe you would be an asset in finding our mutant."

Tessa, the mutant known as Sage, nodded her acquiescence. "I'll go."

"Good. X-Men, you may go."

As the X-Men filed out, Wolverine moved next to Xavier. "Why'd you lie to 'em, Chuck?"

Charles Xavier turned to look at Logan. "As much as I hate lying to them, I can't let their pre-determined biases get in the way of helping. It's safer for everyone involved that they don't know who they're dealing with. This...this may be an Omega-class mutant we're dealing with. We can't let power like that run around uncontrolled and unchecked, and we also can't afford it to fall into just anyone's hands. If they knew the truth, well...that's just what might end up happening."

Logan nodded, continuing on his way to the door. As he reached for the doorknob, the feral mutant stopped, and turned his head back towards the paraplegic old man. "So, who is it anyway, bub?" he growled, a grin on his face.

Xavier gave him a sly smile. "If I wouldn't tell them, what makes you think I would tell you? You'll have to find out when you get there, just like them."

Wolverine barked out a laugh. "That bad, huh?"

The professor nodded. "That bad."

"S'long as it's not Sabretooth, I'm good," Wolverine muttered under his breath, still chuckling, as he made his way out of the room. After all, they had a mutant to catch.

Seattle, Washington:
June 12 – 12:00 A.M.

A collective groan echoed through the Blackbird as it made landing. The whole group was completely and totally wiped out. The short two-hour rest they'd gotten on the trip had left nothing to show for it except for sore backs from odd positions on the seats.

"You do realize," Jean spoke up, "that it's three in the morning, right, Logan?"

"Actually," the gruff mutant began, a creepy smile on his face, "it's only midnight." He received five glares for that statement. Everyone else was just too tired to care.

Somehow, though, Scott managed to pull himself together to take charge of the team. "Okay, guys, we don't know who or what we're dealing with, we've just got the coordinates the Professor gave us. Sage will take us there, and then we'll split up into two groups of five each to scour the area for our mutant. Based on what Professor Xavier said, we'll know we're close by the amount of destruction at hand."

"Well, gee, that's a real good way to figure it out," Sam drawled. Rogue smirked and Bobby snickered. Sage rolled her eyes.

"Are we just going to stand around here cracking jokes or are we going to actually get moving? Because I, for one, want to get to sleep sometime tonight," She growled.

"Sage is right, we should get going. When we get there, Rogue, Shadowcat, Cannonball, and Sage, you're with me. Jean, Iceman, Jubilee, and Nightcrawler, you're with Wolverine. Any questions?"

"Uh, yeah, I've got one," Bobby tried. At the eight glares he received, the Iceman shrunk back. "...Nevermind."

With not a distraction more, the ten drained X-Men made their way from the jet, not knowing what destruction awaited them...

Desert of Nevada:
July 11 – 10:30 P.M.

The defeated Marauders warily made their way through the large underground complex, not looking forward to the welcome that awaited them. Scalphunter, especially, was nervous. He was their leader and he had failed. He was the one who was going to have to report the bad news to Mr. EssexHe was H. He just hoped that Mr. Essex would be in a forgiving mood tonight, else that would be the end of him. And the Native American mutant really didn't want to die. At least not tonight.

"Well?" Essex questioned as soon as the black-haired man entered the main lab. "Where is he?"

"He, uh...he got away, sir," Scalphunter replied, beads of sweat trickling down his face.

The red-eyed man turned to face his lackeys, a frown crossing his face. "He got away?" Scalphunter nodded. "He got AWAY?!" the doctor roared. "This is COMPLETELY unacceptable! He's a barely-out-of-his teens mutant with NO CONTROL over his powers and you're telling me that FOUR OF YOU were not enough to CAPTURE HIM!?"

"He brought a twelve-story building down on us! If we hadn't gotten out of there then, we would've been killed."

Essex appeared to calm down slightly. "So he brought a twelve-story building down on you, you say?"

Scalphunter nodded.

"Then you should've stayed there and died. I have no use for lackeys that can't even do as their told in the face of a frivolous amount of power."

"He decimated a—!"

"Twelve-story building, yes, you said. And if you think that's power, you're better off to me dead. That is not even a fraction of what he could do had he control. He is an Omega-class mutant. Do you understand what that means? It means he has the potential for limitless power. Limitless. I want his power and I WILL have it. I will not accept failure. Lucky for you, though, I happen to be in a forgiving mood tonight. I will give you one more chance. Don't mess up."

Scalphunter could've fainted in bliss, he was so relieved. "Thank you, sir, we won't let you down."

"No. You won't. And this time, take all the Marauders."

"Will do."

Seattle, Washington:
June 12 – 12:38 A.M.

Rogue stared out at the destruction in front of her, a glower on her face. "This is the place where we're supposed tah start lookin' for the man?" she groaned.

Logan had a peculiar look on his face as he sniffed the air. "This is the place, alright. And if I'm right, he ain't gone nowhere, so we don't have to split up." Nice one, Chuck, he added mentally, sure that Charles was still tracking them from the other side of the country.

'I figured you'd appreciate it, Logan,' came the almost-instant reply. Logan grinned. This annoyed him to no end, but he could see where Xavier was coming from.

"Wait, wait, wait," Jubilee cried. "You mean that our mutant is buried somewhere underneath all that rubble?"

"That's right, Bubble-gum," Wolverine responded. "So you better start digging."

"I am so not getting paid enough for this," Scott groaned as he shifted to start moving debris.

"Here, here," Rogue agreed, moving to the larger, heavier rocks to start lifting. It was only times like these that she was thankful for the "Carol Danvers Incident". At least now she wasn't completely helpless while everyone else did all the work.

Shadowcat and Nightcrawler moved through the rubble, Kitty sliding right through it and Kurt teleporting to whatever empty space he could find in order to better locate their mutant.

"Kitty! Over here!" Jean cried. Kitty ran over to her. "I think I sense something down there. It's coming through like static, but it's got to be someone's mind."

Shadowcat nodded and slipped down into the rubble. A moment later she popped back up, excitement on her face. "There's, like, someone down there! I think we've found our guy!"

"Okay, then, people, move on outta the way," Rogue declared, cracking her knuckles as she walked up to them. With barely any effort, the skunk-haired girl began lifting the heavy boulders out of the ground and throwing them to the side. Jean got rid of any side rubble.

"Okay, it's, like, just a few more feet down. Okay?"

"Yeah, Kitty, we got it," the southern girl grunted, hauling another boulder out from the hole she was digging. Another few minutes, and there was a break in the debris, with soft red light glowing from inside of it.

"Jean, can you get the last of the stuff?" Rogue asked.

"Got it," the red-head replied, hauling the rest of it away with her mind. Rogue jumped down into the hole, carefully coordinating her landing with her fairly new powers of flight. The southern girl winced when she saw the body in the air pocket. This whole area was lit up with a soft red light that was emitting from the prone body in front of her. Just being in it stung at her skin a bit...and she was invulnerable.

"This had so bettah be worth it," Rogue growled, kneeling next to the man on the floor. She turned him over...and froze. "Logan!" she called up.

"Yeah, Stripes?" he shouted back down.

"You sure this is the right place? Where the Professah said?"

"Yes, this is the right place!" Sage snapped down, taking offense to that. After all, part of her mutant powers was her ability to remember everything.

"Why?" Logan hollered back, ignoring Sage's comment.

"Because...because this here is Gambit!" Rogue shrieked back. "That two-bit, low-down, thievin' Cajun kidnapper!"

Logan smirked. "Then we've got our mutant!" he replied, ignoring the shocked exclamations of everyone around him.

TBC...

Adrian: Well, there we go. Gambit entered the story. As for why Storm and some of the other X-Characters aren't in it yet, well, I have a plausible explanation which may or may not be explained in the next chapter. But, I hope you enjoyed. Please review.

And sorry if anyone (cough:Sinister:cough) seems out of character. I'm trying to get the hang of things, but, you know what, if anything, I'm sure we can blame AU.

Also, about ¾ of what I say about Gambit's powers will be loosely based off of that whole "New Sun" arc in the comics. And Jonda might be making their appearance next chapter...but don't hold me too that.

AND DON'T FORGET! THE VOTE FOR KITTY'S ROMANTIC INTEREST IS NOW OPEN!!

REVIEW!!