Darwin Mayflower: History! Tradition! Culture! Are not concepts; these are items I keep in my den as paperweights! Chaos will rule the world!

--From the movie, 'Hudson Hawk'.

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After Julian and Garil…convinced…a man to give up his car, we had pulled out all the stops to get to a hideaway up in the mountains.

Ran a couple of cops off the road, but that's a minor detail.

The hideaway was nothing but a rusty old barn stuck in the middle of a valley that almost wasn't really a valley. It was covered in trees.

Daria and Buddy were seeing to Firefly. Poor kid was still in shock. His wings would grow back, as he so demonstrated when they caught on fire about a year ago, be it still must have hurt him. I imagine it's something like getting an arm chopped off and then having it grow back.

But he would be fine. Ivan was a different matter. I couldn't touch his side without him wincing in pain. Ivan hardly ever winces about anything. And his cheek didn't look all that great either. He was probably very lucky that he was still alive.

Out of respect, I didn't take off his shirt. He always wore long sleeved shirts with high necks, well, most of the time. He liked keeping his body covered. Because of his mutation.

His eyes were a bit glassy. He wasn't getting enough air into his lungs with his ribs in such bad shape. But he wasn't complaining. He could be at the brink of death with a knife in his chest and he wouldn't complain.

I hate that.

Stray had gone out and 'liberated' some medical supplies. I was busy bandaging Ivan's hands. It looked like he got into a boxing match with a brick wall.

"So what now?" I asked him quietly. He looked up at me from the spot on the floor he had deemed so interesting.

"Aren't you this group's leader?"

"We don't have a leader. And I know absolutely nothing about leading. I'll leave that to you."

"I can't get up by myself. You might want to choose someone else."

"Great."

I finished bandaging his hands. Then I sat down across from him. I was so tired. The animals had left my thoughts, but the strain of keeping a mental eye on three places at once had really taken it out of me. And I couldn't sleep. There was a sort of jumpy nervousness in the back of my mind. I didn't know what it was yet, if it was me or them.

But it was annoying. I wanted to sleep.

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"I fear…that we may have to keep out of this." The Professor steepled his hands.  "I cannot touch the minds of these mutants…but from what I have heard, they are worse than some terrorist groups. They are destroying each other from within. And the Rampage-" he paused to consider his words "-May be more dangerous than Magneto when it comes to getting what he wants."

"Then we just…let them kill each other?" Jean asked, shocked.

"Until we find some true way of stopping them, we cannot risk getting into fights. They want to kill each other. That is wrong, but it's also incredibly dangerous. They won't think twice of doing away with you if the X-men get in the way."

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Brain Wave looked out across the destruction with disgust. It figured that that little rat would get her mechanical idiot to booby trap this place. Rampage had been in a total fury. Most of the human lackeys had been taken out. Some mutants. But she had been towards the back, and hadn't got but a little dust on her.

Now would begin the mutant manhunt. Rampage had made it painfully obvious that both the rat's group and the Russian that got away were to be killed. She had no problem with that. She flipped her hair behind her shoulder and smiled.

Maybe she would have the privilege of taking out the rat herself.

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Nervous. Nervous. Can't go to sleep.

I groaned and rolled over on the hard ground. My mind was still buzzing. The animals were upset, because I was upset.

Usually I can keep a good handle on my emotions, and they won't bleed into the animal community. But this time I was having trouble. Maybe it was the massive lump in my stomach that filled me with dread. Or the fact that I was too tired to sleep. I heard that happens.

But in any case, I needed to sleep. Or do something.

I got up and walked out of the barn quietly. I walked out into the mountain woods.

Woods are always full of voices, even at night. Wolves. Owls. Bats. Wildcats. Others. I could hear them in passing. They grumbled about food, about ranging, about how there were people in the barn.

Normal things.

I didn't need a flashlight here, the moon was enough, coupled with my uncanny ability to tell where things were by listening to the voices I heard.

I sat down in a small clearing, looking at the tress as they rustled with the wind. I let my mind wander back…family…

I quickly shook my head clear. As much as I loved the family I had back then, that memory was of no use anymore. I left that family so that they wouldn't be ostracized. Besides, my eccentricities were getting to be too much for them to handle anyway.

Talking to voices only I could hear and making references to things only I knew about, sometimes wandering off for weeks at a time, the painful episodes when I first started linking my mind…it was too much. I left.

But times like these…times when I sit alone in the woods… always make me want to go back. If only just to see them again.

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Well! I know it took me awhile to update (again) but I'm trying to keep on top of it.

Ravyn Nyte: Buddy told me that it is not the chicken nor the egg, but the rice that goes good with both….That can't be right. Oh well. Oh, and thank you for the advice, I plan on using it.

Dragonet: Oops. Sorry.  A fan club? Are you for real or are you just joshing me?

Rogue77: Hee! Thanks so much! You always leave such nice reviews.

Laureate: I can't seem to steer away from that with the X-men. I'm trying, but I can't seem to get out of that rut. Oh well. They are supposed to be the spoiled children. The story is mostly focused on Underground mutants anyway. But I'm glad you liked it!

Anee: I will. I'm playing with a couple of concepts as I type. But I need to finish a fic before I start a new Reg-verse Danny.

I moved the shout-outs down…because I didn't want to put them at the top? Just changing some pace.

Brain Wave will take the reviews yet again!