Elsewhere:

            A very pale man stands in a laboratory, looking at a computer screen.  He strokes his chin as he looks down at a clipboard of charts in his hands.  "Fascinating.  Sabretooth, a word with you, if you would."

            The lumbering mutant with a necklace made of human ears walks into the room.  His easily stands above the pale man, though does not appear intimidating in comparison.  His long blond hair covers his face but does not conceal the evil sneer on his lips.  He glares down at the shorter man.  "What d' ya want, Sinister?"

            "That's Mr. Sinister to you, Sabretooth," Sinister replies.  "Do recognize this man?"

            A screen with Wolverine fills the screen.  Sabretooth roars.  "Reco'nize him?  I'll kill him!"

            "And this man?" Sinister asks, indicating the picture of the X-Man Cyclops on the next screen.  Sabretooth growls.  "Yeah.  Goody-good of the X-Men.  Saw 'em when I was playin' with the Weapon X scum."

            "X-Men, hm?" Sinister says.  "Their incredible resolve to live intrigues me.  I want them.  Alive."

            Sabretooth is very surprised.  "Alive?  Wolverine ain't gonna be captured easily, Sinister."

            Sinister turns.  "It would be easy to a group of mutants that could handle a group of teenagers."

            "You wanted discretion.  The cops showed," Sabretooth growls.  "Wasn't nothin' we could do about that."

            Sinister shakes his head.  "That should have been a simple job.  But you and your team failed.  Miserably.  Those teenagers were to be brought to me for genetic cleansing and I have had to wait three years for another chance.  Now, things are working so that all of my primary objectives will be in one spot at the same time.  Perhaps you could manage a job all wrapped up nicely like that?"

            "I'll kill 'em all…" Sabretooth snarls.

            "You do that and I'll have you mercilessly tortured and scarred beyond repair," Sinister says.  "I need Wolverine and Cyclops alive.  I'd prefer all the teenagers alive but the psychic and metamorph are the most important.  The scientist must live as well.  Bring them to me."

            "Scientist?" Sabretooth asks.

            Sinister sighs heavily.  "Are you that ignorant?  Dr. Aubrey Agee, a geneticist with the ability to cure mutations, has been captured by the Brotherhood.  I expect that the X-Men will be en route to rescue the man any time now.  That is what they do, correct?" he doesn't wait for an answer.  "One of those young Brotherhood members is one of the girls from your last unsuccessful raid.  Find her and you'll find the rest of them.  All the pieces will be in place.  I need you and the rest of the Marauders to bring them to me alive.  All of them.  No mistakes."

            Sabretooth nods curtly and leaves the laboratory.  Sinister turns back to his equipment and looks at large, human sized tubes with clearly marked labels:  LOGAN, SUMMERS, AGEE, DOHERTY, ROOK, HERNANDEZ, WINTERS, and MALONE.

New York:

            "We could be X-Men?" Liz asks.  "How cool would that be?"

            The four remaining members of the band are sitting around the X-Men's foyer, discussing their upcoming mission.

            "No way," Ian says quietly.  "I don't want to do this.  Yeah, me and Kristi were pals but there's no way I'm getting into another skirmish like the last one.  We could've died."

            Dave nods.  "But she's our friend."

            Ian sighs.  "But where is she now?  The Brotherhood.  What kind of friend would she be now?"

            Erin shakes her head.  "So what?  She got hurt.  Scared.  She blamed us.  But maybe her time away will have cooled her off.  She's obviously made new alliances so she can't be turned off to people.  You remember how she was when we first found her."

            "Slavery's enough to make anyone weird," Liz adds.  "I know I was the worst when she initially left but if we could get her back…"

            "I can't, guys, okay?" Ian says.  "My powers… I'm not even very useful unless we come across an insomniac.  And anyone truly powerful could just ignore me altogether.  You'd be better off without me as a liability."

            "We can't force you to come with us.  We'd like your back up but if you're adamant against this, I'm sure Miss Milady'll provide you airfare to get home," Erin says quietly.

            "That I will," Donovan says from the doorway.  She smiles.  "Didn't mean to eavesdrop but it's hard to not notice a group of kids talking about me."

            Ian stands up.  "I'm ready to go home.  My parents think I'm at a show out here and will start to wonder about me."

            Donovan frowns.  "Anyone else copping out?"

            "Hey, that's not what I'm all about, okay?  I'm just no good on the field.  Why let me bring the whole team down because I suck at being a mutant?" Ian snaps.

            "All right, all right.  Let's go.." Donovan leads him out of the mansion.

            "Now what?" Liz asks.  "We're down another member…"

            Dave sighs.  "Not much we can do about it at this point."

            "Why bother, though?" Liz asks.  "She left us a while ago.  Why lose our other friends when she's the one who ditched us?"

            "Because that's what friends are for," Erin says.  "Ian's right, his power isn't incredibly helpful in a situation like ours.  If this were different, I'm sure he'd be more than willing to lend a hand."

            The group is quiet.  It is just the three of them, a business mutant with only one goal in mind, and whatever X-Men Professor Xavier is willing to lend them against the Brotherhood of Mutants.  They don't talk about the fact that Ian's lack of eagerness to rush into battle with them could stem from the impossible odds they're about to face.

            "Bon jour, mes amis," Gambit's voice says from the stairs.  "De professor, he wan' see y'all now in his library.  Follow me, neh?"

            The group gets up to follow the charismatic Cajun boy, who's dangerous looking red eyes are fixed on Liz, who just grins shyly and sticks close to Dave and Erin.  They reach the library doors, which open with the power of Xavier's mind.  The trio enters and Gambit follows them.  Inside is Xavier with Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), Hank McCoy (the Beast), Ororo Munroe (Storm), Peter Rasputin (Colossus), and Scott Summers (Cyclops) all in full uniform.

            "Welcome, my friends.  I hope that this will be appropriate back up for your mission," Xavier replies.

            The trio is stunned.  "The whole team?" Erin manages.

            "Well, minus Marvel Girl, who is dealing with another crisis elsewhere," Xavier says easily.  "Is that acceptable?"

            "That's perfect, doc," Donovan says, grinning from the doorway.

            "Geez, does anyone knock around here?" Dave asks, groaning.  He's sick of everyone sneaking around doors around this place.

            "When can we start?" Donovan asks, ignoring Dave.

            "As soon as you'd like.  Keep me posted in all you do," Xavier says.  "Scott, you're field leader, of course, with Donovan as your second."

            "Mason, if you need to refer to me in battle," Donovan says obnoxiously.

            Cyclops sighs.  "I seem to remember you being considerably less annoying."

            Donovan shrugs.  "Well, being freed from the woman controlling my mind, coping with the loss of the only two girls I've ever cared about, making lots of money, and apathy all play a big part in my sudden personality shift."

            "Or you're in a crazy amount of denial," Erin mutters.  Donovan glares at her.  "So, do we need codenames and whatnot for this trip?"

            "Not particularly," Xavier says.  "If it helps make you feel more professional, feel free.  After all, you are training to be X-Men."

            "Really?" Shadowcat asks excitedly.  "That'd be so cool!  I'd have a roommate finally!" she looks at Liz eagerly.

            "We have plenty of time for that garbage on the way to the jet.  Let's get out of here," Storm grumbles.

            How about we call you Highbrow or something like that? Dave asks Erin mentally, knowing she'd hear his stray thought.  She looks at him, obviously not appreciating the joke.  Or not…

            And what we could we call you Artiste? Erin quips back.

            Dave ponders that.  I kinda like that…

            Erin sighs as she gets up to follow the X-Men.  Next thing you know, we'll be calling Liz Presto Change-o…

The Savage Land:

            "Once Magneto sees how unstable Rogue is, she'll totally be off his A-List for sure," Pyro is whispering to Sunspot when Cataclysm walks into the Rec Room.  Though the other mutants in the room can't hear them, Cataclysm picks up on it easily with her hyper sensitive ears.  She is starting to leave the room when Pyro looks up.  "Oh, hey, Malone.  What's up?"

            Cataclysm sighs.  "Nothing really.  Just looking for you guys, actually.  Um, dinner with two of the big-wigs, if you're interested..."

            "What?" Sunspot asks.  "Who?"

            "Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch," Cataclysm replies.  She is extremely nervous, though they obviously don't suspect that she'd heard them.  "Want dinner with us.  To congratulate us or something, I think…"

            Pyro grins at Sunspot.  "Great.  We'll be there."

            Cataclysm nods and leaves quickly.  She knows they're planning something but doesn't want to know what.  She practically slams into Rogue and Synch, who have just rounded the corner.  "Ow, what the—oh, hey Cat.  You find the others?" Rogue asks.

            "Yeah, actually.  In fact, I should talk to you right now," Cataclysm starts.

            "Oh good.  Hey, John.  Bobby," Everett replies.  Cataclysm groans and sees the two boys right behind her.  "Let's all pow-wow before we have dinner.  You can tell us all what's on your mind, Kristi…"

            Kristi chuckles nervously.  "Nah.  I was just gonna vent to Rogue about how nervous I am… heh… nothing important, really."

            Rogue gives Kristi a funny look.  "Well, why don't we all head to the higher ranked dining facilities, then?"

            Everett slowly puts an arm over Kristi's shoulder.  She jumps a bit and then relaxes into his arms.  She needs to talk to someone.  She giggles when fur starts to grow onto his arms.  "You're tickling me… is this how I feel?"

            "Well, yours is nicer," Everett says softly.

            "Ugh, gag, man," Bobby laughs.  "You're into the animal muties?"

            Kristi pulls away from Everett bitterly and crosses her arms.  Bobby and John are laughing very hard as Kristi forces herself not cry.  Everett is the closest thing she's ever come to caring about, besides Rogue, who's her best friend.  Of course, there had been the band.  She pushes thoughts of them from her mind.  They'd nearly gotten her killed.  At least Rogue and Everett would never let her die.

            "Back off, moron," Rogue snaps.  "She's more of a person than you'll ever be."

            John stops laughing and stares hard at Rogue.  Kristi knows that he's already plotting to do something to her and that Rogue's rebuttal did not help the current situation.  "Um, let's just get to dinner, eh?  Won't that be nice?"

            "You're screwed up, kitten," Bobby says.  They head off to dinner.

            Kristi sighs in relief and follows them a short distance behind, wondering what the two treacherous mutants plan on doing to Rogue.