"Hank, do you think the mansion might be haunted?" Sadi asked Beast later that afternoon. The two of them were sitting in the Blackbird's engine room, doing some maintenance on the ship's navigation computer.
Sadi had both hands full of delicate computer parts, and she held them patiently so Beast could pick up each individual piece and explain its purpose to her before cleaning it and returning it to its place within the consol.
"Oh, I suppose it's as haunted as a place can get. I've heard you've had some exciting dreams lately, Sadi. May I assume that's why you're asking?" he replied, smiling kindly while dusting a small circuit board.
Sadi sighed. "That's part of it. One of the kids pointed out to me how many people leave this place and swear they won't come back, only to return in the not-so-distant future. They think the mansion's cursed, and it draws people back to it. I was wondering if there might be something to that. I never thought I'd come back."
Hank reached up to remove his glasses and wiped at his eyes. "I think you'll find as you grow older that it's not so uncommon for people to return to a place where they experienced some great hardship. Especially if their conscience tells them the reason they left was selfish, as was the case with many of the X-Men who left and returned. In your case, I would say returning may have been something of a rite of passage. The pain of losing your father subsided over the years, and you've returned to pay your respects. You're welcome here as long as you'd like to remain, but I think very few of us believe you will wish to stay for an extensive period of time. It was not your father's nature to settle for long when he was your age, and as much as some of us desire otherwise, in that way you're quite like him, Sadi."
The girl nodded, taking a long moment to think on his words. It wasn't often people told her what details of her personality came from Remy. She savored the moment, reflecting deeply on it.
The Blackbird's door opened and Cyclops entered the plane, immediately walking up to the front when he caught a glimpse of them. He was dressed in his uniform, and his face was all business.
"Cerebro just picked up on a distress signal from an X-Men communicator. How long until you can put the nav computer back together, Hank?"
Beast grabbed two parts from Sadi's hands, snapping them back into place under the consol. "It'll be at least five minutes," he said, waving her closer so he could grab another part.
Scott sighed. "All right. You'll have to come along, Sadi. Do you think you'll be able to keep yourself out of trouble?"
"Yeah. No problem," Sadi said, inching forward on her knees so Beast would have better access to the components she held out for him.
Within the next thirty seconds the rest of the active X-Men had loaded onto the plane, and Cyclops fired up the engine, manually flying the Blackbird out of the hanger bay and into the sky.
When Beast finished reconstructing the computer, he and Sadi found their seats and strapped in. Beast took the co-pilot chair, and Sadi sat down next to Logan.
Wolverine turned and shot her a smirk. "And you said Cyke wouldn't ever clear you for active duty."
Sadi only shook her head. "You know I'm not supposed to be here. I just hope whatever's going on doesn't wreck the plane, because I'm not sure how well I would deal with falling from this high," she said, her hands shaking as a splattering of memories flashed across her mind's eye.
The professor had taken away most of the pain of what had happened to her in the hours before her father died, but once in a while she could remember some tiny piece of the torture she'd endured at the hands of a maniac.
She hadn't even noticed her death grip on the arm rests until Bobby reached forward to cover her hand with his.
"It'll be okay, kiddo. It's probably just some former teammate who got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Even if it's not, we won't let anyone hurt you," Iceman said comfortingly.
Sadi nodded, but her throat remained bone dry, even as she tried to focus her attention elsewhere.
The place where they landed was a cold, white wasteland. It reminded Sadi so much of her nightmares a shiver went down her spine.
"Ain't nothin' here, Cyke," Wolverine said, looking out at the nothing that surrounded the plane in every direction. "You sure this is the place?"
"Where are we?" Sadi asked, getting up to lean against the co-pilot's chair.
"Siberia," Cyclops answered cryptically. "The signal's coming from within three hundred yards of the ship. Whatever it is, it's close. Move out, X-Men. Sweep formation Delta. Sadi..."
"I know," she said, stopping him. "I'll stay with the ship."
Scott got up, patting her on the shoulder in passing. "Lock the door behind us," he said, heading to the back to put on his thermal gear.
Sadi let her chin come to rest on her fist. "Yeah," she said to herself. "That'll really help if this turns out to be a trap. Do you think Magneto would laugh hard enough to have a heart attack if I tried to keep him at bay by locking the door of a metal ship?"
"You never know. He just might," Bobby snickered before icing up and sliding out the Blackbird's open door.
Soon they all filed out, leaving her alone once the door closed behind them. Sadi sighed, slumping down into a seat and leaning back as far as it would go. She decided to take a nap, and hoped their search wouldn't last too long.
"You know, you're utterly worthless at searching for things in the snow, Drake," Logan growled at his search partner. The two of them had walked around for an hour already, and were reaching the end of their search perimeter. The Blackbird appeared to be a dark spec in the distance.
"I make ice, I don't move it," Bobby snapped defensively. He took off on an ice chute, searching by getting himself high enough to look down on the ground.
Wolverine tried to sniff for a scent, but it was just too cold, and the wind was blowing too hard. He couldn't smell anything but Iceboy above him.
Logan's communicator crackled. "Cyclops to Iceman and Wolverine. Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, bub," Wolverine responded.
"Beast and Storm found someone. We're going to need to evac immediately to get him to a hospital. And, Logan..." Scott said, pausing indecisively.
"Still here, Cyke. What is it?" Wolverine asked, impatient. Something in Scott's voice struck him as spooky, and it put him on edge.
"It's just... You're not going to believe who it is. Get back to the Blackbird, ASAP."
"You got it. Wolverine out," Logan said, bending down to pick up some snow to fashion into a ball. He chucked it at Bobby's head.
Iceman whipped around, his chute following. "Hey, what was that for?"
"Time to head back," Logan shouted to him.
Bobby cursed to himself. "You could've just told me, you know!" he shouted, turning his chute toward the Blackbird.
Logan merely chuckled, taking off at a ground-eating lope.