AN: Well, that was disappointing – either you all hated the last chapter on no one read it. Guess I should stay away from humor in the future. Tom, Heidi, Burnout, Annise, and Taz – I love you all, thanks for reading. (also thank you to those who reviewed the first chapter.

Chapter 3 - Mindbender

The moon had already set by the time Spectre made it to the Westchester County airport. Four days ago, she had stowed what little money and few belongings she had brought with her from her Hawaiian home in a locker at the American Airlines terminal. Today was the day she would need them.

Her escape from Xavier's school for the gifted had been relatively smooth and other than almost encountering a rough looking man on the second floor, she had met no one on her way out. Sighing as she neared the terminal where the locker was, Spectre remembered that she would need to be visible for this task since it wouldn't do for the security camera's to catch her duffel bag moving out of the locker and floating away on it's own.

Quickly she walked into the bathroom, waiting until she was alone to get into a stall and lock the door behind her. Calming herself, she attempted to will herself back to visibility. However long she had maintained physical contact with that man she'd awoken in bed with, it had been log enough so that the energy she'd drained off of him was still flowing inside of her.

The energy needed to move Spectre between visibility and invisibility wasn't immense, but for some reason her mutation required her to obtain that energy from others via touch. When she took the energy from a mutant, the person never noticed, unfortunately, Mutant energy caused Spetre to jump from visibility to invisibility or vice versa immediately, not allowing her to control it. A human on the other hand usually suffered some form of lightheadedness, weariness, or hunger after her touch, however a human's energy was easy for Spectre to control.

As Spectre removed her belongings from the Airport locker she contemplated checking into an actual hotel and doing things in a more comfortable atmosphere. Unfortunately, reality kicked in and she realized that it wouldn't be worth the risk or the amount of time it would take. Grabbing the duffel bag, she made for the airport bathroom, this time to change, was up, and do what she could with the few cosmetics she had.

~ ~ ~

Bobby and Colossus walked quiet through the garage below ground level. As they meandered around equipment and tools the two made idle chatter and the occasional joke at the others expense. At last, the two came upon the object of their journey – the jet.

"Man, you should've been there. It was like the whole damn world was falling apart and suddenly there was magneto – pulling the whole thing back together." Bobby used his hands to emphasize his words as he spoke excitedly about the adventure he had been a part of. Silently, Colossus noted that his was the first time Bobby had spoken about any part of his misadventure.

"Must've really been something – meanwhile I was hiding out at Roosevelt Park trying to keep everybody in the woods, survive Kitty's cooking, and not go deaf listening to Jubilee and Banshee lady trying to sing some of the kids to sleep." Colossus spoke with a mockingly reproachful tone. Holding one hand dramatically over his heart to indicate how much he'd suffered. Laughing, Bobby playfully swatted at his head – regretting it when his flesh made contact with organic steel.

"Owww!" rotating his wrist, Bobby tried to ignore the pain as he went on. "Well at least you weren't there when Professor Grey… saved us." Still unable to deal with it completely Bobby was unable to say the word 'died' changing what he had intended to say at the last minute.

Immediately sympathetic, Colossus became more serious. "Yeah, must've been tough." For a moment the two stood together in a dour silence. Wanting to lift the mood, Bobby finally cracked a grin.

"You now what the worst thing was?"

"What?" Colossus asked.

"When the professor and Scott nearly kissed." Colossus' eyes got wide and Bobby burst into gales of laughter as he recounted the moment to his friend in the most humorous light possible.

Unfortunately, the two forgot themselves and when the doors slid open, both could only stare with wide eyes like two deer caught in headlights.

"Are my ears burning?" Was the only question the professor asked.

~ ~ ~

Rogue and Livewire weren't very well aquatinted. Despite the fact that both were close friends with Jubes they had never been in a situation where they had been at leisure to get to know each other better.

Since neither girl wanted to talk about her past, both spoke about the school, their friends and other neutral subjects that interested teenage girls. As the two came ever closer to the Danger Room, the conversation topic fell to Bobby.

"He's awfully cute." Stated Livewire with an impish grin. "And he sure does seem sweet."

"Rogue giggled slightly, "He is. On Valentines Day he made me a bouquet of flowers made from ice since he didn't have any money to buy real ones. You should've seen the look on his face when he realized that they'd ruined my chem. notes when they melted… he felt so bad."

"Awww…." Livewire smiled broadly at Rogue, letting the conversation drop as the two entered the danger room. 'Whoa...' Neither of them had been here before and in the darkness it was like a giant metal cavern. Dark and immense as the light coming between the door cracks played strangely upon the wall. Smiling at each other the two sat down upon the floor and returned to their conversation about bobby.

"Must be awfully nice to have a boyfriend like that.' Remarked Livewire in an offhanded (if wistful) tone. When Rogue's reply did not come immediately, the girl peered closer at her new friend's face. "Isn't it?"

'It is sorta nice," Rogue said, " 'cept…'cept he's been kinda distant lately. Ever since… ever since Boston." Rogue looked down, and was startled when Livewire took one of her gloved hands and gave it a squeeze. Suddenly, the floodgates opened and Rogue found herself wanting to let it all out.

"The way they – his parents - spoke to him… it was awful. Even my foster family wasn't that bad. It wasn't anger or hatred in them… it was disgust and pity. Like he was some stray dog they'd taken in and he'd done something bad so now they had to put him out." Rogue shivered a little "That was pretty bad, but then John… Pyro had to go and run off with Magneto. Sure they gave each other a hard time, but they sure were good friends.

"And if that wasn't bad enough, Professor Grey had to go and get herself Killed!" Rogues tone was angry now – as if she blamed Jean for what had happened. 'Bobby can't take all that and he's gotten worse and worse insteada better and better. I just – ."

Rogue was cut off by the sudden appearance of a jungle around her, from the tress nearby, a giant boa emerged. Leaping to her feet she realized that Livewire was already up when she heard the younger girl's scream. Without warning an electric surge charged passed her only to bounce off of what should've been a holographic tree.

"I can't turn it off!" Came the wildly desperate cry of a very frightened Livewire.

Frightened, the two came closer together, backing away from the snake and the soldiers that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Slowly, their opponents inched closer and just as Rogue thought Livewire was about to pass out, it all vanished.

The door slid open, and from the darkness came Logan's amused voice. "And that, Ladies, is why you should never come down here unprepared."

~ ~ ~

As dawn broke, Spectre found herself in the sitting room of wealthy Justin Santiago, waiting for him to arise from what had no doubt been a night of drunken revelry. Lying sprawled across the red velvet upholstery on a baroque styled divan, she had to admit that the man had good taste. The entire room was decorated with red and silver and Spectre realized that overtime Justin, or Mindbender as she had always known him, had developed a sense of style.

It had been years since the two met – which was why she was both suspicious and cautious. Knowing that Justin's habits probably hadn't allowed him into bed until long after midnight, she allowed herself to doze off slightly.

Spectre was surprised when seven AM rolled by and the door to the adjacent bedroom opened. Sitting up, Specter crossed her legs and smoothed her hair leaning back as a tall slim man of about six foot one with light brown hair walked into the room. Wearing a long black robe, Justin shuffled quietly into the room and poured himself a stiff Brandy.

"Hey Mindbender, isn't it a little early for you to be drinking that?" Whirling around Justin realized that he wasn't in the room alone. His head throbbed slightly from the hangover he was already starting to feel, and that throbbing was probably what had stopped him from noticing another presence in the room.

The sitting room was dark thanks to heavy red velvet curtain's over every window and a total lack of electrical lighting. The only illumination came from candles laid strategically around the room. "Over here." Spectre leaned forward, elbows resting on her legs, her long, straight, black hair framing her pale face in startling contrast. Spectre knew that with her pale skin, red lipstick, black hair, and black dress she closely resembled a vampire – especially in the firelight. "Miss me?"

Justin put on a half smile when he saw her, surprised that she'd been able to get in completely undetected, silently he walked toward her with slow deliberate movements. When he stood in front of her, he gently took a lock of hair in his hand and ran it through his fingers. "It's been a long time."

Leaning back into the divan, Spectre cut straight to business. "Why did you want to see me?"

Instead of answering, Justin stepped back and took a long drink out of his Brandy glass, a movement calculated to perturb Spectre. Instead of acting annoyed however, she only leaned her head on her hand and yawned. Amused, Justin let out a dry laugh.

"I asked you to come here because of Yuriko's death." Immediately, the lines in Spectre's face tensed. "I cared about her a lot…" His voice drifted off as Spectre's face tightened in anger.

"Cut the crap Mindbender, you didn't call me here just to express your sympathies. What the hell are you after." Feeling the sudden shift in her demeanor. Justin reinforced his mental barriers against her rage. He wasn't an angel, most of his millions had come from one illegal source or another – but he did have a concept of honor, twisted though it was. Yuriko – (or lady DeathStriker as the X-men knew her) - was someone to whom he felt he owed such a debt of honor.

"I found out who killed her." Immediately Spectre's emotions shifted to a different kind of anger.

"Who?" In response to Spectre's urgent question, Justin pulled out dossier from a nearby desk and handed it to her. As she examined it, Mindbender tried to get a closer reading on her thoughts and was astonished to find that her mental shields had completely shut him out. That can't be right, he thought, I taught her how to build those mental shields… I should be able to get through them. Shrugging it off, Justin went on.

"I'd actually expected you here sooner, but - ." Giving him a glance, Specter cut him off.

"I did get here sooner, I've been scouting out the area and making sure it was safe for me to show." For a second, Justin looked confused. That's impossible, he thought, I've had every major airport and hotel on the lookout for her how did she… and suddenly it occurred to him that she had used the very tricks he'd taught her against him. Guess Spectre grew up after all. For the first time, Justin remembered that she was only seven years younger then him. Ten years ago, that had seemed like a lot when he'd taught thirteen year old Spectre how to take control of her mutation. Now, at twenty-three, Spectre wasn't so little – or so trusting. Suddenly realizing that she was staring at him, Justin flushed as he realized she was waiting for him to continue.

"As I said, you weren't here. So I made the hit myself. That man," he pointed at the Dossier, "is now dead – I took care of him around midnight last night. One bullet, close range."

Raising an eyebrow, Spectre gave Justin one incredulous look before breaking into a loud, mocking laugh.

End Chapter 3

Reviews are welcome as always.

BTW – if you want to see what these characters look like go to w w w_g e o c i t e s _ c o m /calliesisle/withinm_ h t m (replace the _ with a ( . ) I didn't type it in with the dot because ff.net removes URL's from uploads now. ) Anyway go have a look to see how I'm picturing these characters.