On the other side of town, Kitty Pryde sat in the kitchen of the Xavier
Institute, eating her own breakfast. She had gotten up early to avoid the
morning rush that was so common at the Institute. She took a sip of her
orange juice and savored the silence of the kitchen, knowing that it would
soon be disrupted. Sure enough, the rest of the Institute's inhabitants
quickly rushed into the kitchen, which came alive in a jumble of activity.
Soon, all the mutants were sitting at the table, eating and talking loudly.
Kitty glanced over at the one empty chair that Evan Daniels had formerly occupied. It seemed like forever since he had left and joined the Morlocks, even though it had only been about a month. They had not heard one word from him in all that time, and Kitty knew that Storm was as worried as ever about him. She sighed and sipped her juice again as Professor Xavier wheeled into the room, carrying the morning's paper.
"What's in the news today, Professor?" Jean asked him as he wheeled up to the table.
"Something interesting," he said and spread the paper out on an empty corner of the table. The headline said, "Mutants Suspects in College Student Kidnapping,"
Jean and the others leaned in and took a look at the front page, which showed a grainy picture of two figures that appeared to be dragging a woman into an alley. The image was from a store security camera, and they could not make out the smaller of the kidnappers, but the size of the second one was unmistakable.
"Sabertooth," Scott grumbled.
"So it seems," said Xavier.
"Why would Sabertooth be kidnapping somebody?" asked Rogue.
"Hard to say, but this definitely bears further watching," said Xavier.
"It says the FBI is investigating the case," Kurt pointed out.
"Maybe we'll finally get to see what this new Mutant Activities Division actually does," Scott said.
"That Simons guy, like, totally creeps me out," Kitty said. She shuddered at the thought of their own experience with the M.A.D. Walter Simons and his agents had come to the Institute to interview Xavier and the students a few months ago. It took a great deal of explaining to get the message across that Xavier was not running some kind of terrorist training camp, but the mutants weren't convinced that Simons and his agency didn't still consider them to be some kind of threat to public safety. It seemed like somebody had been watching over their shoulder ever since.
"I just hope this doesn't make people in Congress want to try and pass a mutant registration act again," said Jean. The public outcry against mutants was still very fresh in all of their minds from the first time that they had been exposed to the world. Several senators had tried to get a mutant registration bill passed shortly afterwards. The bill had been defeated, but by an uncomfortably slim margin.
"I understand your concern, Jean. Crimes like this could tip the balance of opinion in Congress against mutants. Hopefully Agent Simons will not jump to any rash conclusions," said Xavier.
"I hope so too, Professor," said Jean.
X
Agent Walter Simons scowled as he looked at the enlarged photos of Gambit and Sabertooth sitting on his desk. Since he had been appointed as head of the FBI's newly-created Mutant Affairs Division 8 months ago, he had had mixed feelings as to what the purpose of his job actually was. He had plenty of information on one group of them living in Bayville, New York, under the care of Charles Xavier, as well as loose bits and pieces of data on the other rogue mutants living in that city, but he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do about them. So far, they hadn't committed any kind of crimes or significant disturbances to warrant their arrest. Even if they had done so, he didn't have the authority to really do much about it. He was essentially a governmental babysitter, the head of an office created with little forethought and less funding. He personally didn't see what all the fuss was about mutants, but his superiors had let him know in no uncertain terms that they viewed the mutants as a threat to society, and that they merited observation, and that it was his job to do it.
"Paranoid bastards," he grumbled to himself, taking another look at the photos.
"Excuse me, sir?" Jan asked, still standing at attention in front of his desk.
Simons looked up. "Mm, nothing," He glanced back at the pictures, then glanced back at her. She was still standing as rigid as a statue.
"You can relax, Jan,"
Jan's shoulders dipped slightly in response.
Simons picked up one of the photos. "Do you know anything about the identity of these two mutants?" he asked.
Jan pointed at the picture. "We have no information on the shorter one, sir. The other one is well known to us, though. His name is Sabertooth, and he's been sighted several times in the Bayville area in the past 2 and a half years,"
She handed him another picture. "From what we've been able to determine, Sabertooth has some kind of vendetta against this mutant, one of the residents of the Xavier Institute, named Wolverine. We can't determine the nature of this feud for certain, but it has been going on for several years. Sabertooth has spent much of this time in the service of a mutant named Magneto,"
Simons played with the name Magneto in his mind, trying to make a connection. A sudden image jumped into his mind, a picture of a man in a red cape being crushed by a giant robot. "I thought he was killed back when Trask set that giant robot loose in New York?"
"We've never been able to confirm his death, sir. If Magneto is dead, then Sabertooth and this other mutant may be engaged in some kind of freelance operation, or they might be working for somebody else,"
"Or they could just be committing a common criminal act," Simons added. "But since these ARE mutants we're dealing with, it looks like we've got to do something about it. Can't have the folks upstairs getting even more worried about this 'mutant threat'," he said sarcastically.
"With all due respect, sir, I think you should take these mutants more seriously. It's bad enough that we have people with all sorts of strange powers running loose. Now it seems like some of them are committing criminal acts. If you ask me, Congress should have passed that registration act months ago. Then we'd have a lot easier time keeping track of these people,"
Here we go again, thought Simons. It wasn't the first time this argument had come up. "Jan, you know my thoughts on this matter," he said. "We can't go eavesdropping on every single person we think looks or acts a little differently. That would be violating people's civil liberties. Now, I know our attorney general may not give a damn about that any more, but I still do!" he finished, his voice getting excited.
"Then I guess we'll simply have to agree to disagree," Jan said coldly.
There was an awkward silence as Simons and Jan stared at each other. The tension was broken by the phone on Simons' desk ringing. He picked it up and listened as a voice on the other end told him about an unusual vehicle parked at the airport.
When the speaker finished, Simons hung up and then turned to Jan. "Get your coat," he said. "We're going to La Guardia. Seems these mutants may have left a bit of a trail for us to follow,"
X
Electra and Mindbender walked off the plane and into the terminal of Berlin's Brandenburg International Airport. Electra was very glad to finally be in Germany and was excited at the prospect of seeing her uncle again. She smiled at the two men waiting by the limousine. One was tall and thickly built. The other man, whose red hair looked like it was on fire, looked like a twig in comparison.
Mindbender introduced Electra to the two men and they got in the back of the car. The taller of the two men got into the driver's seat and soon they were on their way, cruising down the German autobahn.
Electra looked up at the red-haired man in the passenger's seat. "Do you work for my uncle?" she asked.
The man turned around and smiled. "Yes, I do" he said in a thick Australian accent.
"What all do you do for him?"
"You could say that I take care of things when the situation gets hot," he chuckled.
The two of them settled into conversation as the car drove through the German countryside. She tried to ask the driver a question, but the man only said something in Russian and continued driving.
"A bit touchy, isn't he?" Electra asked.
"Sorry, dear. He really doesn't like people talking to him when he drives," Pyro responded. "Now, where were we?"
After about an hour of driving, the car pulled up the front of a castle settled in the middle of a mountain valley. Electra got out of the limo and gazed in awe at the large gothic building.
"This place is incredible!" she said excitedly as she walked up to the gate of the castle.
Magneto had observed their arrival from the top of the castle. He was very relieved that they had arrived without incident. Now he was one step closer to his own evolution. He walked downstairs to greet his new mutant-to-be.
Electra's face lit up as she saw the gate open and Magneto step through the entrance. "Uncle!" she cried ecstatically and rushed up to him, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace.
Magneto grinned as he returned Electra's embrace. "I'm very glad to see you, Electra," he said, smiling.
Electra beamed enthusiastically, and then her eyes went wide in shock as Mindbender jabbed a needle into her neck. There was a quick hiss of air, and Electra crumpled to the ground.
"Take her inside and prepare her for the procedure," Magneto ordered. "If what I have seen is true, we have no time to waste,"
Colossus picked up Electra and carried her inside the castle. Mindbender approached Magneto apprehensively.
"What have you seen? Is it Mesmero?" he asked.
"Yes," Magneto said. "He is getting close to finding the final key. If we do not act quickly, he will unleash Apocalypse upon the world, and we will be powerless to stop him,"
They turned and walked back into the castle. There was a loud hum, and the gate slammed shut.
X
Kitty glanced over at the one empty chair that Evan Daniels had formerly occupied. It seemed like forever since he had left and joined the Morlocks, even though it had only been about a month. They had not heard one word from him in all that time, and Kitty knew that Storm was as worried as ever about him. She sighed and sipped her juice again as Professor Xavier wheeled into the room, carrying the morning's paper.
"What's in the news today, Professor?" Jean asked him as he wheeled up to the table.
"Something interesting," he said and spread the paper out on an empty corner of the table. The headline said, "Mutants Suspects in College Student Kidnapping,"
Jean and the others leaned in and took a look at the front page, which showed a grainy picture of two figures that appeared to be dragging a woman into an alley. The image was from a store security camera, and they could not make out the smaller of the kidnappers, but the size of the second one was unmistakable.
"Sabertooth," Scott grumbled.
"So it seems," said Xavier.
"Why would Sabertooth be kidnapping somebody?" asked Rogue.
"Hard to say, but this definitely bears further watching," said Xavier.
"It says the FBI is investigating the case," Kurt pointed out.
"Maybe we'll finally get to see what this new Mutant Activities Division actually does," Scott said.
"That Simons guy, like, totally creeps me out," Kitty said. She shuddered at the thought of their own experience with the M.A.D. Walter Simons and his agents had come to the Institute to interview Xavier and the students a few months ago. It took a great deal of explaining to get the message across that Xavier was not running some kind of terrorist training camp, but the mutants weren't convinced that Simons and his agency didn't still consider them to be some kind of threat to public safety. It seemed like somebody had been watching over their shoulder ever since.
"I just hope this doesn't make people in Congress want to try and pass a mutant registration act again," said Jean. The public outcry against mutants was still very fresh in all of their minds from the first time that they had been exposed to the world. Several senators had tried to get a mutant registration bill passed shortly afterwards. The bill had been defeated, but by an uncomfortably slim margin.
"I understand your concern, Jean. Crimes like this could tip the balance of opinion in Congress against mutants. Hopefully Agent Simons will not jump to any rash conclusions," said Xavier.
"I hope so too, Professor," said Jean.
X
Agent Walter Simons scowled as he looked at the enlarged photos of Gambit and Sabertooth sitting on his desk. Since he had been appointed as head of the FBI's newly-created Mutant Affairs Division 8 months ago, he had had mixed feelings as to what the purpose of his job actually was. He had plenty of information on one group of them living in Bayville, New York, under the care of Charles Xavier, as well as loose bits and pieces of data on the other rogue mutants living in that city, but he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do about them. So far, they hadn't committed any kind of crimes or significant disturbances to warrant their arrest. Even if they had done so, he didn't have the authority to really do much about it. He was essentially a governmental babysitter, the head of an office created with little forethought and less funding. He personally didn't see what all the fuss was about mutants, but his superiors had let him know in no uncertain terms that they viewed the mutants as a threat to society, and that they merited observation, and that it was his job to do it.
"Paranoid bastards," he grumbled to himself, taking another look at the photos.
"Excuse me, sir?" Jan asked, still standing at attention in front of his desk.
Simons looked up. "Mm, nothing," He glanced back at the pictures, then glanced back at her. She was still standing as rigid as a statue.
"You can relax, Jan,"
Jan's shoulders dipped slightly in response.
Simons picked up one of the photos. "Do you know anything about the identity of these two mutants?" he asked.
Jan pointed at the picture. "We have no information on the shorter one, sir. The other one is well known to us, though. His name is Sabertooth, and he's been sighted several times in the Bayville area in the past 2 and a half years,"
She handed him another picture. "From what we've been able to determine, Sabertooth has some kind of vendetta against this mutant, one of the residents of the Xavier Institute, named Wolverine. We can't determine the nature of this feud for certain, but it has been going on for several years. Sabertooth has spent much of this time in the service of a mutant named Magneto,"
Simons played with the name Magneto in his mind, trying to make a connection. A sudden image jumped into his mind, a picture of a man in a red cape being crushed by a giant robot. "I thought he was killed back when Trask set that giant robot loose in New York?"
"We've never been able to confirm his death, sir. If Magneto is dead, then Sabertooth and this other mutant may be engaged in some kind of freelance operation, or they might be working for somebody else,"
"Or they could just be committing a common criminal act," Simons added. "But since these ARE mutants we're dealing with, it looks like we've got to do something about it. Can't have the folks upstairs getting even more worried about this 'mutant threat'," he said sarcastically.
"With all due respect, sir, I think you should take these mutants more seriously. It's bad enough that we have people with all sorts of strange powers running loose. Now it seems like some of them are committing criminal acts. If you ask me, Congress should have passed that registration act months ago. Then we'd have a lot easier time keeping track of these people,"
Here we go again, thought Simons. It wasn't the first time this argument had come up. "Jan, you know my thoughts on this matter," he said. "We can't go eavesdropping on every single person we think looks or acts a little differently. That would be violating people's civil liberties. Now, I know our attorney general may not give a damn about that any more, but I still do!" he finished, his voice getting excited.
"Then I guess we'll simply have to agree to disagree," Jan said coldly.
There was an awkward silence as Simons and Jan stared at each other. The tension was broken by the phone on Simons' desk ringing. He picked it up and listened as a voice on the other end told him about an unusual vehicle parked at the airport.
When the speaker finished, Simons hung up and then turned to Jan. "Get your coat," he said. "We're going to La Guardia. Seems these mutants may have left a bit of a trail for us to follow,"
X
Electra and Mindbender walked off the plane and into the terminal of Berlin's Brandenburg International Airport. Electra was very glad to finally be in Germany and was excited at the prospect of seeing her uncle again. She smiled at the two men waiting by the limousine. One was tall and thickly built. The other man, whose red hair looked like it was on fire, looked like a twig in comparison.
Mindbender introduced Electra to the two men and they got in the back of the car. The taller of the two men got into the driver's seat and soon they were on their way, cruising down the German autobahn.
Electra looked up at the red-haired man in the passenger's seat. "Do you work for my uncle?" she asked.
The man turned around and smiled. "Yes, I do" he said in a thick Australian accent.
"What all do you do for him?"
"You could say that I take care of things when the situation gets hot," he chuckled.
The two of them settled into conversation as the car drove through the German countryside. She tried to ask the driver a question, but the man only said something in Russian and continued driving.
"A bit touchy, isn't he?" Electra asked.
"Sorry, dear. He really doesn't like people talking to him when he drives," Pyro responded. "Now, where were we?"
After about an hour of driving, the car pulled up the front of a castle settled in the middle of a mountain valley. Electra got out of the limo and gazed in awe at the large gothic building.
"This place is incredible!" she said excitedly as she walked up to the gate of the castle.
Magneto had observed their arrival from the top of the castle. He was very relieved that they had arrived without incident. Now he was one step closer to his own evolution. He walked downstairs to greet his new mutant-to-be.
Electra's face lit up as she saw the gate open and Magneto step through the entrance. "Uncle!" she cried ecstatically and rushed up to him, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace.
Magneto grinned as he returned Electra's embrace. "I'm very glad to see you, Electra," he said, smiling.
Electra beamed enthusiastically, and then her eyes went wide in shock as Mindbender jabbed a needle into her neck. There was a quick hiss of air, and Electra crumpled to the ground.
"Take her inside and prepare her for the procedure," Magneto ordered. "If what I have seen is true, we have no time to waste,"
Colossus picked up Electra and carried her inside the castle. Mindbender approached Magneto apprehensively.
"What have you seen? Is it Mesmero?" he asked.
"Yes," Magneto said. "He is getting close to finding the final key. If we do not act quickly, he will unleash Apocalypse upon the world, and we will be powerless to stop him,"
They turned and walked back into the castle. There was a loud hum, and the gate slammed shut.
X