disclaimer: The X-Men and associated characters are owned by Marvel Comics Group. All others belong to me, you'll know who they are.

The Three
by Dizi

Chapter 4

Now showered and changed after their Danger Room session, this time in more casual tops to fit in with everyone else's dress, Amy, Beth, and Carrie were in a hallway on the first floor. They had been wandering the mansion, physically familiarizing themselves with the layout. At the same time, they were taking in the faces of students and teachers, most especially paying attention to any X-Men they came across.

For Amy, 'men' was the important word. There was an unmistakable gleam in her eye every time they passed one of the well-formed handsome specimens. When they reached the gym with its large picture window, she let out a low whistle as she gazed inside. "My, my, will you look at that?"

In only a pair of tight cotton shorts, Kurt Wagner, the Nightcrawler, was practicing his acrobatics skills by way of a complicated gymnastics routine.

"Don't bother," Carrie dismissed. "He's in a monogamous relationship and I ruled him out last night."

"Too bad, I'll just have to make do with tall, dark, and incredibly ripped." Amy's gaze shifted to the other side of the gym where another man was lifting weights.

"Piotyr Rasputin, Peter, aka Colossus," Beth announced. "He's a painter, a very good one. It's well known he could make a fortune with his art."

"And artists are soooo sensitive." Amy fairly oozed wantonness. "I wonder if the rest of him is proportional to his hands?"

"God, Amy!" Carrie burst out. "Can't you think of anything besides sex?"

"What can I say? I like men."

"Obviously." Sarcasm thick, Carrie's voice was acerbic enough to be a clear insult. "Too much."

"Are you calling me a slut?" Amy demanded, her eyes narrowing as she took up the challenge.

"If the shoe fits!"

"Bitch!"

"Whore!"

Stepping out of the way, Beth watched impassively as her two sisters went at each other. This wasn't the graceful hand-to-hand seen earlier. They were angry and wanted a release, not to kill or maim. Not really that common of an occurrence, it also wasn't unusual enough for her to be alarmed.

Students gathered around. Not knowing who they were or what the fight was about didn't stop them from cheering and heckling. A fight was a fight which demanded they stop, watch, and take sides.

The gym door opened as Kurt and Peter hurriedly came to check out the commotion. The two men stared at the women rolling on the floor in a full-blown catfight. Incredulous at such behavior, Kurt demanded, "Vhat ist going on?"

Her expression mild, Beth responded calmly, "They had a little disagreement and are working it out."

"This is not the best way to resolve it." Not looking away, Peter was very disapproving.

"Of course not, but it happens in most families." She looked at him innocently. "You have a brother and sister, right? Didn't you ever fight?"

"Nyet," Peter's voice was terse with emotion the reminder of his family caused as they were all gone. "Our home was a farm. There was no time. Not until we were grown and away did my brother and I fight. He was... misguided."

"Ve should stop zis, ja?" Kurt interrupted, shifting restlessly on his feet.

"Only if yah want 'em tah turn on yah," Sam said, walking up. "Mah brothers and sisters fight lahke that. You shoulda seen Paige and Joelle over make-up. Ma used ta take a waterhose after 'em. They'll stop when they're ready."

"See? It happens." Beth shrugged and continued chatting with various people as the fight went on.

After going outside to smoke a cigar, Logan went to find the women for the postponed meeting as he'd promised before leaving the others. He was irritated to find the hallway blocked by unmoving students making enough noise to wake the dead. Seeing Jubilee in the back, he grabbed her arm. "What the hell's going on?"

"Um, Amy and Beth... or maybe Beth and Carrie..." Jubilee tried to explain. "Wait, I think it's Beth on the other side talking to someone... or that could be Amy... I'm not sure, I can't tell them apart."

"Jubes," he growled in warning as the noise made his head pound.

"Well, whichever they are, there're two of them fighting," she finally made clear.

Shaking his head, he demanded, "An' ever'body's just standin' 'round watchin'?"

"I'm not going to break them up." She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head at him. "If you want it done so bad, YOU do it."

"Fine!"

While Jubilee watched, Logan shouldered his way through the crowd to the fighting women in the middle. The fight had actually started winding down, so it wasn't that difficult. As they rolled around, one sister on top of the other with a hand raised in a clawed pose, he took the topmost female by the collar to jerk her away. When he did so, there was a loud rending sound as the shirt moved but the woman didn't.

Suddenly the fight was over, although not because he had gotten them apart. They had both been so shocked they had frozen in place.

In the sharp silence that followed, Kurt called out, "Zere is nothzing left to see! Everyone go vhere you are supposed to be!"

With students and the few X-Men both slowly drifting, Logan striped off his flannel shirt, leaving him in a sleeveless t-shirt. He handed it to the sister whose modesty was in danger.

"Charles is callin' a meetin' an' wants ya there." Now the students were gone or going and the irritating noise with them, Logan's expression had changed to amusement. He was very much disappointed he hadn't witnessed the fight himself. He was also sorry he had felt the need to provide cover for what he would very much have liked to see, though the hall surrounded by kids wasn't the setting he was interested in seeing certain attributes in. A handy hallway closet would be something else... "Don't know what Chuck will say 'bout this."

Having moved closer to join them now that she could, Jubilee's eyes twinkled. "In trouble your first day, I think you're my kind of people."

Softly, Amy laughed, "Oh, we can do trouble."

Brushing off her clothes, Carrie was glad hers were intact. "Of all kinds."

"Well, let's not keep Prof. Xavier waiting," Beth said cheerfully. "Amy's fine for now and can change later."

Placing a hand on Logan's arm to indicate she wanted to speak to him privately, Jubilee held back her anger and waited until they were out of earshot before speaking. "There's a meeting? How come I wasn't included? Aren't I part of this?"

"Aww, Jubes, don't go puttin' yer back up," he told her in a placating voice. "It was just a quickie."

But she insisted, "I don't like being left out, treated like a kid."

"I ain't!"

"Then I'm not talking about you!"

"Listen, darlin', ya wouldn'ta liked it anyway, listenin' ta Chuck an' Slim go on." Putting an arm around her shoulders, Logan attempted to make light of it. "Yer my partner an' I've made it clear ta 'em. Ole Chuck and One-Eye don't have ta understand, we do. Ya can come if ya want an' I'll back ya up, but I promise to keep ya up ta date, 'kay?"

Giving him a quick hug, Jubilee changed her tack, "If it's as boring as you say, I'll just stay out of it. But you better not leave me in the dark."

"Promise." Logan let out a deep chuckle. "Ya know I don't really wanna be there too, right?"

"Sure, Wolvie." Jubilee rolled her eyes. "You don't want to listen to them go on and on about whatever bug's up their ass, but you want to be near three beautiful women."

"You know it, darlin'." Grinning wolfishly, Logan patted her on the back and followed in the direction the three sisters had gone.

"Now that we're all gathered together, there are some questions we believe you might have the answers to," Charles began the rejoined meeting now with his 'guests' present.

"Uh-huh." Amy twisted around, trying to get a look at her back still covered by Logan's flannel shirt. "Does this shirt make my butt look big?"

"... I'm not sure the question..." Charles looked helplessly to Hank.

Sighing, Hank took his cue. "My dear, I am sure your present attire is more than adequate and is not the subject of our discussion."

"But Haaannnk," she whined, batting her eyelashes. "I'm supposed to be the shallow one, it's an important question."

"Lay off, Amy." Beth leaned back in the chair. "You don't have to do that all the time."

"Just staying in role." She flopped inelegantly into a waiting chair. "Besides, it's fun."

"Do you mean," Scott looked back and forth between all three sisters, "you're putting on an act? For us?"

"Let's just say we're exaggerating certain parts of ourselves to be more... approachable to different kinds of people," Carrie answered carefully. "Amy can be and often is shallow, while Beth is sweet and kind, but neither are that way all the time or to the extent they're portraying. We're pretty good actresses, comes from our mother."

"And you?" Logan raised a brow. This was going to be very interesting. "What's yer 'role'?"

"Ah now," she winked at him, "that's the question, isn't it?"

"So far, it's the hard-assed bitch," Amy muttered.

"Whatever games you are playing in the course of your investigation, I want there to be no more displays such as occurred a short time ago," Charles stated severely.

"Oh, but we learned so much," Beth protested. "The plan worked out great, if I say so myself."

"That's because you didn't have to roll around on the floor and get your shirt torn off," Amy retorted peevishly.

"You created that spectacle on purpose?" Charles demanded incredulously.

"Sure, it was Beth's idea." Carrie shrugged. "Some people say things and answer the most innocent questions during 'displays' like that which they wouldn't feel comfortable saying in other situations. Which reminds me, what did we get?"

"Sam Guthrie made mention of our little Miss Paige having fights with their younger sister, very descriptive," Beth informed them. "We'll need to check on that one, if she'll even talk to one of us. And Colossus said he never fought with his siblings at all, which I'm not sure is natural."

"How are details like that important?" Scott thought they were meaningless.

"Well, it's kinda the same way telepaths are in the clear because of the higher mental functions," Beth began.

"Specific long-term memories are on the same level," Amy continued. "The farther back they go the harder it is for a clone to remember details of those memories. Like normal people don't remember all of their childhood, usually only important instances."

"For events they didn't experience themselves, clones would have a problem remembering specifics of things that could have happened only a couple weeks ago," Carrie finished the explanation. "They'll have the jist of it, that's it."

"So," Scott confirmed slowly, "if Sam had remembered them fighting last week, say, but not anything else about it, he would be a suspected clone."

"Exactly," all three women pronounced together.

"And why couldn't we simply be told about this?" Charles deceptively even tone didn't fool anyone. It was clear he didn't like outsiders being brought in.

"Because you're all too close." Carrie was blunt in her response. "The level of suspicion necessary to suspect one of your own could put so much distrust in the air that you'd tear your teams apart. How could you, or probably them, trust each other the way you'd need to for your missions in the future afterwards? Trust is important for that kind of thing."

"We don't mind that you don't trust us," Beth inserted quietly. "It would be nice, but we don't expect it."

"And we certainly can't trust all of you." Amy met Charles surprised gaze. "Not all the way. Enough to work with you, enough to get the job done, but to bring real trust to the table would mean we could be placing it in the wrong hands. Which is why I still think everyone should be corralled, tranqed, and scanned. It's the fastest way to get any and all traitors, clones."

"Without getting any clue as to how they're communicating with the outside, without getting any idea how they're being brought in, without getting close to finding out who the ring leader is behind all this." Carrie sighed. "If we thought it would get us that, we'd have done it."

"It wouldn't be that easy!" Scott barked, angry they would sit there and state so calmly that they would, or even could, take out the entire mansion.

"Well, of course not," Beth agreed dismissively. "But it was a feasible option we discarded quickly. We could have, in fact we still could, but not and complete our full objective."

"I understood," Charles enunciated carefully to emphasize his words, "your 'objective' is to find the clones."

"Weeeellll..." Beth looked as though she shouldn't have said that, but since she had, she blurted out in a rush, "Actually, finding a clone is just a first step."

"Yes?" Charles was getting tired of this conversation. As with the Danger Room session, it was giving him more questions without fully answering the ones he already had. Also, he didn't like the idea these three rather lovely women could do all they implied.

"Don't get us wrong," Amy jumped in to assist. "We're more than willing to help you out with your clone problem."

"But that's not exactly why we're here," Beth finished..

"Charles..." Hank hesitantly spoke up for the first time in a while. "I feel I must apologize. This misunderstanding is partially my fault." He took a deep breath and released it slowly. "The ladies are not working for the X-Men, they are not here on the school's behalf. They are under the employ of Worthington Enterprises."

"Which is owned by Warren, who is an X-Man and sent them here to help us with a clone problem is what we were told," Scott prompted, unsure where this was going.

"In a manner of speaking," Carrie confirmed. "But it's only a small part of our objective."

"Which ain't the clone or clones." Logan had been content to sit back during the discussion but it was taking too long. It was time to cut to the chase. "An' I'm guessin' it ain't findin' any missin' persons a clone mighta replaced."

"No, it is not." Hank sighed, and looked to the sisters. "I was under the apprehension the lifespan of the... replicated personnel... had been explained."

"I know it was mentioned at some point," Carrie muttered.

"Ya said they ain't got long ta live," Logan confirmed.

"So it was the implication of this which was not understood, I see." Hank nodded to himself and sat up straighter in his chair. "The... 'clone problem', as it is being called, will eventually take care of itself. They will perish within a predesignated period of time set from the moment they were created. What is needed and what the ladies are here for, is to locate the personage responsible for the theft of Worthington technology. It is our hope - Warren, Forge, and myself - that by doing this, the rescue of the missing original specimens will be enabled as well as the prevention of further personnel replacement. Not only for the X-Men but anyone else who might have been replaced by a clone. We feel this is our responsibility - which we have delegated to Amy, Beth, and Carrie - due to the technology being created by us."

Though not by Hank's reasoning, Scott was confused. "So... you're not going to find the clones?"

"We already said we are." Amy snorted derisively.

"But," Beth clarified, "we're not going to apprehend them right away."

"I see." Charles was disquieted by the realization they intended to let the clones carry on about their purpose. He didn't like the idea of them roaming freely. Not at all. "I assume, which may be the wrong thing to do considering how this is going, you will inform us as to the clone's identity."

"We haven't decided that yet," Carrie answered the implied question loftily. "It's not just a trust thing, we don't think you'd be able to treat them the same way while we're watching them. We told Jubilee and I'll tell you too, letting the clones know that we're aware of who they are could be a huge mistake."

"We're treating this as a matter of corporate espionage, as it essentially is, and we don't think you really have the experience for it." Beth softened her words by smiling brightly at all four men, as though to tell them she didn't blame them for this.

"And you do," Scott said dryly. "Through your 'Uncle Nicky'?"

"You might say that." Amy also smiled. However much the face might have been the same, it didn't look anything like Beth's smile.

Logan's mind started racing and he determined it might be best to make a phone call in the near future, but he refrained from saying what he was thinking. At least about that subject. "It makes sense ta keep watch on the enemy ta find out about the boss behind it all, but ya might be takin' it ta extremes. Ya get me one o' them clones an' leave us alone fer a bit an' I'll get ya the rest." His tone made it clear he meant every word in whatever context they took them.

"Do you think we hadn't though of that?" Beth asked quietly. "It's most likely the mastermind wouldn't trust his secrets to someone who is disposable and very likely unreliable."

"Remember, the theory is that they, whoever they are, agreed to turn against their friends and teammates because they will die," Amy reminded them. "He or she can't be sure the clone won't suffer a crisis of conscience. Especially once they've been put in place and are outside their influence. Just being with the people they actually do care about could make them change back to the original's loyalties."

"All this sounds like more reasons to confront the clone," Scott reasoned. "If you're right, they could be more than willing to help put a halt to all this. And I don't like keeping them around and treating them like normal. I want my people back."

"I'm sorry but the plan right now is to discover who the mastermind is, then turn all information over to Forge and Warren," Beth stated firmly. "We assume they'll pass it along to you and you can attempt a rescue. Once we finish our part, we're out of here. I for one don't want to get further involved in your mutant wars, or rights, or whatever."

"We have lives of our own we want to get to." Amy was looking forward to it. For years they'd put their dreams on hold while they worked for the money they needed to fulfill them. They were going to be full-fledged individuals, not part of a whole. It was past time.

Feeling a strong sense of purpose emanating from all of them with those words, Charles nonetheless didn't completely understand how they could leave it that way. "Having personal goals is to be admired. However, will you really be able to simply leave at that point? It seems to me you would not have a sense of closure by going before the situation is settled."

"That's usually what happens in our work," Beth responded for all of them with Amy nodding agreement. "We're used to it."

"Previously, I advised you the young ladies here have plans they are quite eager to begin," Hank reiterated his earlier statement.

"Very true, but I've decided to stay and finish it out." Carrie glanced at Logan, meeting his eyes and acknowledging the implied commitment she had made the night before.

"What?!" Amy was aghast. "Carrie...?"

"You never mentioned that before," Beth accused.

"I know, and you don't have to stay. But I..." Closing her eyes, Carrie wasn't sure exactly how to explain. "I'm sorry, but I can't just leave. I spent more time with Forge than you did, I understand the clones better and what they're going to go through. I guess I didn't say anything to you because I know you don't like it that I think of their feelings. I can't help it, I feel sorry for them. I'm going to stay and help them if it's needed and take them down if I have to."

"There's something else, something you're not telling us." Amy narrowed her eyes.

"This isn't the time." Carrie looked significantly at the men watching in silence.

"We've never kept secrets from each other." Beth was fully aware of their audience. She knew none of them would want to air their personal problem in front of them but she was so surprised she didn't care at the moment.

"I'll tell you after the job's done." Unable to explain, not because of the men but because it really wasn't time, Carrie promised what she could. "We'll get together and I'll tell you everything. I have to do this first. It's just not the right time."

"We'll get together because we'll BE together," Amy said firmly, letting her off the hook. For now.

Beth did the same, as always understanding her sisters. "If you're staying then so are we. Our plans can wait that little bit longer."

The sisters' personal dilemma resolved, Charles thought the discussion had gone far enough for the time being. "We appreciate you offering your further assistance. I'm not sure we fully understand all the nuances as Hank put it earlier, but I'm sure we can all agree that you do have a deeper understanding of the clones and their mindset. With that said, I'll allow you to get back to doing what you need to."

The women filed out to return to work and he turned to his remaining X-Men once his study door had closed. "Your thoughts?"

"They play a deep game," Scott said thoughtfully. "I don't know that I would think of all that. Give me a straight out battle any day."

"Somethin's been botherin' me," Logan admitted. "They talked like there's more than one clone, an' we all started doin' the same. But in the car on the way here, they said it was just a possibility."

"A possibility?" Hank's brows drew together. "I regret to inform you, the possibility of there being multiple clones is strong. A better way to state the case would be that it is in actuality more than probable."

Grunting, Logan shook his head. "That's what I was beginnin' ta think. Ya think Carrie's right an' it's best not ta confront the clones head on?"

"It is my opinion, the situation is volatile and fraught with danger whichever way it is handled." Hank's head lowered, a thoughtful expression on his face. "For the moment, the current plan of non-engagement is most likely the best for our missing comrades. If all the clones are not discovered and we let it be known we are aware of only one or two of the clone's identities, why should our hidden enemy keep the original person alive? They would be of no further use."

"Then you, including Forge and Warren, think they are alive now?" This was a worry Charles had been keeping at the back of his mind.

"As a scientist, I would keep any specimens I had in my keeping for as long as they are useful. Yes, we believe they are alive. Despite the way the Shrinehold women may have seemed to be callous towards your concerns, they believe the same and are working in the manner they are in the hope they will get the information we need to bring them home. All the reasonings have been discussed thoroughly, I assure you. The women must keep a sense of distance to be effective. Our personal concerns are not being disregarded so much as not being all that is taken into account. To get back to your question," Hank raised his head and there was a hardness to his eyes none of the other men had seen before. "We will continue to believe our friends and loved ones are alive and kept in good health until we are shown beyond doubt they are not. To do otherwise would be to acknowledge it is our fault they are not as we created something that endangered them by inspiring some individual to take them from us. That would make us the same as the monsters we have spent our lives fighting."

"No it wouldn't, Hank." Charles had never thought the other man could think such a thing of himself. "It would simply mean that we need to keep fighting those monsters. We will all continue to hold the same faith that they are waiting for us to find them, and we will trust that all parties will do their best to make it happen."

Little more could be said after that. Once Charles was alone he pondered it all for a long time. The problems the triplets had brought up were valid. The reasons for them being brought in were also valid. There was not much he could do and he didn't like the sense of helplessness the knowledge inspired. They would all subconsciously suspect any bit of forgetfulness anyone showed. The trust spoken about might be damaged due to the very nature of the situation, but he had to believe it would eventually be regained.

Charles last thoughts before pushing it aside was that he had again gotten the sense one sister had been holding onto the other two. He couldn't help wondering which it was and why that might be important, or if it was even any of his business. All he knew was that it was true and had the suspicion it was related to their problems. Somehow.

to be continued.

note: This chapter gave a lot. Plenty about the triplets, clones, and the situation in general. I'm awfully please with the way it turned out. The next chapter is with my beta but I expect to get it back in time to post next week.

Which reminds me: since ffn seems to keep making me wait until Tuesday to post, I'm changing my posting day to Tuesday. Why keep fighting it?

Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi