Chapter 7 Nastiness

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except Krull, which belongs to Columbia-Tristar

Ruckus was the de facto leader of the Nasty Boys. He was the one who would receive the harshest punishment should something go wrong, and Mystique escaping would definitely qualify. Sinister might lock him up here in what he referred to as "the Black Fortress," unless he could do something to impress Sinister and to prove his worthiness.

Nonetheless, he had his orders, and would have to clear any plans past Ms. Dexter.

"So you're saying she escaped with someone who was disguised to look like you?" The female version of Ruckus' boss asked.

"That appears to be the most rational explanation. Perhaps a relative? He did have shape-shifting ability, unless he looks just like me." The pink-haired former rock star shifted in his seat.

"Hmmm..." Ms. Dexter ran some diagnostics. "A power fluctuation. It's my fault that I did not catch it. No, Ruckus, someone was using a hologram to get in here. It cannot be considered your fault. Which is good, because we have uses for you."

Ruckus didn't like this. Ever since "Urgo and the Magnificents" had broken up, he had always been more or less a free agent with the new crew he had picked up. The idea that his employ for Mr. Sinister would be anything more than a temporary gig worried him.

"So how do we get the little blue demon-girl now?"

"We set up our own bait. Summers must be aware now of his 'daughter.' Perhaps we can pretend that Lyssa Summers is a captive rather than a follower and have them try to rescue her. Then we can nab the baby."

"Or maybe..." Ruckus suddenly had an idea. "I could provide a distraction in town. Then the rest of the gang could sneak into the X-Mansion and kidnap her! Maybe we could use one of Boss-Man's teleporting devices."

"No," Ms. Dexter shook her head. "Those devices can only send you to areas where beacons have been planted. Teleportation is strictly defensive for us. Otherwise we would have been able to use it already."

"Well, they can sneak in if... wait a second. What if we use our automated defenses here? We have a few small robots that could delay the X-Men for a while."

"I'm not certain I understand what you mean."

"Sorry," said Ruckus. He realized that he had been formulating a plan, and had assumed that Ms. Dexter understood the whole thing before he had explained most of it. "I was thinking, what if we do a double distraction? We can use Slayer as bait, and also attack Bayville. If we use the robots to delay the X-Men in breaking in to the base, we'll have distracted enough of them presumably to let Ramrod, Gorgeous, Slab, and Hairbag get the girl."

"We'd need to reveal the location of our base... but then again, they must know by now anyway. Good plan."