Uncanny New X-Men

Chapter 25: Madness in Madripoor- Part 1

By

The Uncanny R-Man

Disclaimer- 'I want a bloody costume!'- Bullseye

The Xavier Institute For Higher Learning-

Morning had risen at the home of the team of mutant heroes known as the X-Men. Most of them were already up and about, however the mutant fire-wielder known as August Gallio was still in bed.

'Mmm, don't want to get up…' The raven-haired woman groaned into her pillow. 'Too comfy…'

August didn't even look up as somebody walked into the bedroom. That someone was Kurt Wagner, the fuzzy blue teleporting elf also known as Nightcrawler.

'Wakey wakey, sleepy head.' The fuzzy elf said as he gave August a poke. 'Come on, liebe. Get up. You can't just stay in bad all day.'

'You just watch me.' August retorted as she snuggled up in her bed.

'Well, you brought this upon yourself.' Kurt shook his head with a sigh. The fuzzy blue mutant grabbed the bedsheets that August had wrapped around herself and gave it a yank, pulling them right off the bed, making the pyrokinetic yelp in surprise.

'Give me the sheet back, Kurt…' August warned as she tried to grab the sheets. 'Or I won't be held responsible for what happens.'

'You wouldn't hurt me.' Kurt grinned mischievously. 'If you want the bedsheets so bad, then why don't you come and get it?'

'I'm not joking, elf.' August glowered. 'Give me the sheet back. I need my beauty sleep.'

'I think you are beautiful enough.' Kurt responded.

'Aww, you're so sweet…' August smiled dreamily before she remembered that she was supposed to be angry at him. 'Hey, shut up! Don't try to charm yourself out of trouble this time!'

'I'll make you a deal…' Kurt offered. 'You can have the sheets back if you can catch me.'

'Fine, it's a deal.' August sighed as she tried to make a grab for the sheets. Unfortunately for her, Kurt was too quick and teleported away with the sheets.

BAMF!

'Oh, you are going to pay for that, fuzzy.' August grimaced as she waved her hand in front of her face in an attempt to get rid of the sulphurous smell that Kurt left behind whenever he teleported anywhere. 'You are going to pay…'

A little later-

Thankfully, it didn't take August very long to calm down. The raven-haired mutant had decided that she might as well have a shower and get dressed. She could get even with Kurt later.

August was heading down the corridor to get something to eat and she saw Logan walk towards her.

'Hey Logan, you look even more peed off than usual.' August smiled in greeting. 'Did somebody raid your whiskey stash again?'

'There's trouble in Madripoor again, Sparky.' Logan explained. 'I'm headin' out to make sure that nothin' comes of it.'

'Do you want me to tag along?' August enquired. 'The more the merrier, right?'

'Sounds fine to me.' Logan shrugged. 'I was just about to ask the elf myself. You ain't seen him anywhere, have ya?'

'I think Kurt's trying to avoid me this morning.' August told him. 'I kind of swore vengeance on him after he stole my sheets.'

'Heh. That sounds like the elf, alright.' Logan chuckled. 'When ya find him, try not to hurt him too much, right?'

'Oh, perish the thought.' August smiled in reassurance. 'I'd never do anything too bad to Kurt. He has his uses, if you catch my drift.'

Later-

August had managed to find Kurt hanging out with Gambit and Rogue. The fuzzy elf had sought sanctuary with his foster sister. They had tagged along with August to head off with Logan to see what was going on in Madripoor. Storm was looking after little Marie while her parents went off on their latest adventure.

'Hey Logan, I hope you don't mind, but Rogue and Remy are tagging along too.' August said as she walked into the hangar where the Blackbird was kept. 'Oh…'

It was then that the raven-haired fire-wielder noticed that Logan had gathered some back-up of his own. He had managed to convince Colossus and Jubilee to tag along as well. Armor, real name Hisako Ichiki, one of the Institute's students, was trying to make Logan agree to have her tag along.

'Kid, this ain't no mission fer students.' Logan told the young Japanese girl. 'Madripoor's dangerous.'

'Hey, I went to Madripoor plenty of times back in the day.' Jubilee chipped in. 'And I wasn't all that younger than what Hisako is now.'

'Not helpin', Jubilation.' Logan gave his former sidekick a withering glare.

'Look at it this way, Logan…' August added her two cents. 'You need another plucky sidekick now that Kitty and Jubilee are too old for that now.'

'Not to mention that her powers could be pretty useful.' Rogue added. 'She can take a beatin' with that psionic armor of hers.'

'Fine, you can tag along.' Logan sighed heavily. 'But it ain't gonna be my fault if ya end up getting' killed.'

'Oh Mr Logan, you're so awesome!' Hisako grinned as she gave the feral mutant a big hug.

'And another thing, kid…' Logan growled. 'Don't ever hug me!'

'Aw, don't worry about it, Ichiki.' Jubilee grinned, grabbing Logan in a hug of her own. 'He's really just a big softie deep down.'

'Jubilee, you really ain't helpin'.' Logan groaned.

High above Madripoor-

The Blackbird was flying high above the small Asian nation known as Madripoor. Logan could often be found there whenever he went off on his own.

'You got any idea why we're goin' to Madripoor, mon ami?' Gambit looked at the feral mutant in the pilot's seat as she shuffled his cards. 'Or is it supposed to be a surprise?'

'I got a contact in the Madripoor branch of Stark Enterprises.' Logan replied. 'He couldn't really say what was going on, just that an old friend was in town.'

'Well, that's just lovely.' Rogue rolled her eyes. 'Your friends never end up comin' into town just to hang out, they always wanna cut your heart out.'

'You do seem to have that affect on most people, tovarisch.' Colossus chuckled. 'Most of the people you know wish to kill you.'

'Yeah, Deathstrike, Sabretooth, Omega Red, I could go on for hours.' Jubilee chimed in.

'They're in for a fight whoever they are.' Nightcrawler grinned as he and Gambit started to play cards. 'Don't they know that Madripoor's protected?'

'Talking of protectors, whatever happened to the Silver Samurai?' August frowned to herself. 'Didn't he used to use Madripoor as his base of operations?'

'Ol' Kenny never could decide whether he was fightin' fer the good guys or not.' Logan replied. 'I'm bettin' that he's got himself into a spot of bother again and needs us to bail him out.'

'Is that who your contact was, Mr Logan?' Armor blinked in curiosity.

'I don't know who it was, kid.' Logan shook his head. 'I ain't even seen him face to face before.'

'I hate to be the one to be stating the obvious…' August said. 'But this could be a trap and you're walking right into it.'

'It would be nice to know who's setting the trap for us.' Jubilee added. 'It'll most probably be Sabretooth or somebody.'

'Creed isn't smart enough to spring a trap like this.' Rogue told her. 'He'd just try to attack us at home.'

'Well, it'll be a nice change if it wasn't somebody like Sabretooth or Deathstrike.' Kurt sniffed. 'Fighting the same people over and over must be boring.'

'It could always be the Mandarin.' Jubilee suggested. 'That guy never could forget a grudge.'

'You fought the Mandarin?' Armor gawped in surprise. 'When was that?'

'Aww, years ago.' Jubilee explained. 'I blew his house up real good. It must've cost him a pretty penny to rebuild.'

'If the Mandarin is behind the trouble in Madripoor, should we not tell Iron Man?' Colossus asked. 'Would he not wish to know what his enemy is up to?'

'Well, if Logan's contact works for Stark Enterprises, there's a fair chance that Iron Man already knows.' August nodded.

'Aww, yeah!' Armor punched the air in glee. 'We're gonna have a team up!'

TBC…

Next: Madness in Madripoor-

Iron Man guest stars as Logan and the others try to find out what's going on in Madripoor.