Well, got my first reviews so thank you to that loyal supporter. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
CHAPTER 3
Professor X had resumed his place behind the desk rather sooner than he liked once he, Storm and Wolverine returned to the mansion. They had found Gambit and Jubilee in the middle of relating their story to Bobby, Rogue, Kitty, Warren, Colossus and Siryn when they arrived. Their appearance had meant the pair had had to begin again, relating the story of their encounter with the two remaining Marauders. "This could simply be an isolated incident,"the professor mused. "A chance encounter?"
"In an alleyway?"Jubilee asked.
"It does seem unlikely,"Storm agreed.
"Can you think of any reason why they'd go after you?"Wolverine wondered.
Gambit hesitated. "You know I was the one who assembled the Marauders for Sinister. John Greycrow, or Scalphunter as he calls himself these days, was… a special case. He was a friend, someone I'd met on my wanderings. I knew he'd been in the army and needed money so I recommended him. I didn't realise he'd enjoy killing so much. I realised then that I never really knew him."
"What do we do now?"Bobby asked.
"I think all we can do is be on our guard,"Xavier answered.
Bobby nodded to the other young X-Men. "Guess we'd better get back to work then." He suddenly seemed to realise what he was doing and turned back to the professor. "Um, I mean…if there's nothing else you want doing."
"No, that's fine,"Xavier confirmed.
Everyone exited, aside from the professor, Wolverine and Storm. "You going to tell Big Brother about this?"Wolverine asked.
"I feel I'm obliged to,"Professor X answered.
"We need to keep the government on our side,"Storm agreed.
Wolverine snorted. "Yeah. Give them enough rope to hang us with."
Siryn had followed Jubilee into the front room. She sat down next to her. "What did it feel like? Being attacked like that?"
Jubilee thought for a moment. "Scary, I guess. Once it was over, it was kind of exciting."
"I think I can do without that kind of excitement."
Jubilee looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, last time we ran into the Marauders I ended up with a load of spikes in my chest. Gave a whole new meaning to punctured lung. I can't say I'm looking forward to going through that again." Siryn saw the concerned look Jubilee was giving her and struggled to explain. "I mean, I'm an X-Man. I still believe in all the things they believe in. It's just the whole life or death thing is starting to get a bit much for me. How long is it going to be before I get seriously hurt? Or Peter does? I mean, have you seen how many graves of fallen X-Men we've got in the garden? Scott, Jean, Kurt, that Forge guy…"
"Are you saying you want to leave?"Jubilee asked.
"I'm saying…I'm not sure how long we can go on with this."
Vertigo glared across the empty house where they'd taken refuge towards where Scalphunter was sitting. "So what exactly did we achieve with all that?"
"We nearly got LeBeau."
"Yeah. Nearly. What's the point of that? What we nearly got was caught."
Scalphunter stood up so he towered over her. "What, are you scared of the police? Or maybe the X-Men?"
"I just don't think we should be taking risks for no reason."
"Relax. No-one will find us here."
It was at that point that the wall next to them exploded.
Three large, heavily-built figures were standing in the gap that had suddenly appeared in the brickwork. One of them was wearing silver armour, another red armour with a matching helmet and the last one was wearing a black vest and trousers as if he was dressed for a wrestling match.
A short young man with bleached blonde hair pushed his way past the group and addressed the pair. "So, you're the Marauders, huh? Well, there's two of you so I guess you still qualify for the plural. I'm Pyro. This is Juggernaut, Blob and Avalanche. We're the Brotherhood."
"Are we meant to be impressed?"Scalphunter asked.
"You should be." A ball of fire suddenly appeared in the palm of Pyro's hand. He balanced it there before tossing it lightly up into the air and catching it again. "We've been lying low for a bit. Gathering our forces. See, there are certain people who seem to have forgotten to be afraid of mutants. Think they're all cute and cuddly. Time we show them they're wrong. They need to fear us. Like every animal fears it's superiors."
"You want us to join?"Vertigo asked.
"I think it'll be worth your while."
"Do we get to kill someone?"Scalphunter asked.
Pyro smiled. "I'd say it's inevitable."
"We're in."
