(A/N: I know I don't usually do these at the beginning, but it took me awhile because I wanted to submit these two chapters together. Action sucks, I know it does, but *shrug. Lots of new characters coming into play. Lots of view points, most are short but that's because they keep well…can't give away everything.)

FYI:

~Personal Thoughts~

~"Inner Voices"~

ESP

%The Written Word%

[Flashback]

"Normal Conversation (Duh)"

* Com Link or Telephone *

SHADOWCAT

"You're like kidding right, 'cause Petey this is like so not funny." I knew better, Piotr never joked especially if it was something this serious. "I like still can't believe Remy would go back to work for Sinister." It was the next afternoon and Piotr had just gotten the chance to tell me what he'd found out from John without an audience.

"We have to tell Betsy. She must know."

"Betsy! How can you like worry about Bets' mission when it's Rogue's heart that's like on the line?!?!" He stared at me blandly as he sat on the edge of my bed. I stood to the side glaring at him. ~How could he possibly be worried about Sinister like when there is some serious relationship troubles here.~

"Sinister must be up to something if he needs Remy's help."

"Like listen to me, Petey. Remy's a dead man if Rogue doesn't hear the truth and soon."

"An' what truth would that be?" I turned around to see Rogue leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. "Um…well…" ~Great, how much did she hear? What do I tell her?~

"John might know where Remy has gone." Piotr spoke up quietly breaking my thoughts.

"What?!?! Why didn't he tell meh earlier?" She looked more surprised than angry.

"He is afraid of what might happen to him."

"Well, he should be more worried 'bout mah wrath than Remy's right now."

"He is not worried about what Remy will do to him."

"Then who?" She was starting to look frustrated at how Piotr kept stepping around the truth. Even he looked unsure of how to tell Rogue where Remy had gone.

"Sinister."

"Remy's gone back ta Sinister? Mah God, why would he do that? Ah mean, he knows Bets is here ta beat him, so why in the world would he do that?" Betsy appeared behind Rogue in the hallway and looked surprised to hear her name being mentioned.

"Something I should be included on, luvs?"

"Remy has gone back to Sinister." Piotr finally put it bluntly and Rogue sat down on her bed trying to hold back anymore tears.

"Did I just hear you right, luv?"

"Yes. John told me reluctantly that Sinister has threatened to kill Rogue again if Remy does not do another job for him." Rogue looked up and choked down a sob.

"Mah God, that man is sick."

"I have to find Sinister then. I only hope I don't have to hurt Remy, but I have to do my job." Rogue looked at Betsy shocked then her face turned to stone determination.

"Ah'm comin' with ya then. An' don't even try ta talk meh outta it."

"Luv, this is one thing you can't come with me on. I'm only allowed to take Brian, Strike rules." She shrugged as if this should be an answer to anything.

"Since when did any of us start listenin' ta rules? This is a load of shit an' we all know it. Ah'm goin' ta find Remy an' ya can either come with meh or not." She stormed out of the room and down the hall.

"Well, I'm not going to work against her. Might as well go with her and make sure she doesn't kill somebody in the process other than Sinister." Betsy left as well leaving a very stunned Piotr and me.

GAMBIT

"It's dis way, homme." We had been walking t'rough de sewers for a long time and Sabertoot' was acting like a small child by constantly asking 'are we dere yet?'

"You better not be leading us in circles, Gambit."

"Gambit's not."

"Well, if you are, I'm supposed to tear you apart limb from limb. Trust me, I'd gladly do it after you told me to jump off a mountain and then left me buried beneath the Sphinx." ~Me and my big mout'. Why'd I ever tell de hairball t' do dat? Knew it would come back t' bite me in de butt.~ I turned one last corner t' reveal a large underground room. Several mutants sat 'round or were talking. ~Not much different from de X-Men except de fact dey live in de sewers.~

"What are you doing here, Gambit?" One of dem came t'wards me and I recognized him as Stormy's nephew, Spyke. I looked behind me t' see dat de Marauders were no longer behind me. ~Merde, walked right int' de lion's den.~

"Remy's not here looking for any trouble." ~Gotta get him t' trust me somehow.~

"Why should I believe that from the enemy?"

"Remy's not de enemy no more. He's wit' de X-Men now."

"I know Proff likes to hand out second chances, but some scum don't deserve them." ~Dat hurts, dat really hurts.~ "So why are you here?" He looked at me suspiciously.

"T' warn y'. Start running, homme, before t'ings get bad." I felt somet'ing hit me in de back of de head and everyt'ing went black.

PSYLOCKE

"Luv, you can't do this alone." I followed Rogue to the locker room where she was putting on her uniform and a pair of leather gloves.

"Ah will if no one is gonna come with meh." Her face was set in determination.

"Then give me five minutes to get Brian and the three of us can work together. I won't let you do this alone."

"Ah'm goin' now…" She collapsed to the ground holding her head in her hands. "Make it stop…damn it, Remy, make it stop!"

"Luv! What's wrong?!?!"

"Pain…there's so much pain. Ah can't make it stop…Remy please!" She was pleading to her psyches making her look to any outsider like a crazed loon but I knew different. Psyche Remy appeared placing his hands on her shoulder and elbow trying to help her stand but she kept down in a kneeling position holding her head.

"Cherie, Remy can't do anyt'ing. Remy can't stop it."

"Please, Remy…please." I stood there not knowing what to do when I felt a wave of psychic energy flow through the room towards Rogue. Suddenly she released her grasp on her hair and stood up slowly with Remy holding onto her elbow for support.

"What just happened, luv."

"The professor he…he made it stop somehow."

Rogue, Betsy in my office immediately. I stood there blinking stupidly still trying to figure out what happened as psyche Remy faded away into nothing.

ROGUE

"Sit down." Bets an' Ah both sat down, while Logan, Ororo, and the professor watched us carefully. Ah could still feel the pain throbbin' through mah head but it was a lot fainter then it had been in the locker room. "This is important Rogue, do you know where the pain you felt came from?" Ah looked at him tryin' ta concentrate on where it had come from. ~There had been so much of it but where did it come from? It almost seemed ta come from beneath meh, but then it wasn't beneath meh but beneath Bayville.~

"Ah think it came from the sewers. Ah don't know it just seemed ta come from beneath the city so Ah guess it was the sewers."

"The Morlocks." Logan's answer seemed ta make sense but why would they all be feelin' pain like that?

"Dear God, Evan, he's down there." Ororo lost her cool for the first time that Ah had ever seen. She looked panic-stricken at the thought that Evan might be feelin' the pain Ah had sensed with Remy's empathetic powers.

"We are not certain that Evan is hurt. We will send the X-Men down to the Morlocks to make sure that they are all right. ~Ah got a bad feelin' 'bout this. If it is the Morlocks in trouble then there must be somethin' really big goin' down for meh ta sense all that pain so far away.~

~"Dat's what Remy t'inks t'."~

~Great, so all we know is that somethin' bad is happenin'. No clue what though.~

The professor called tagether the X-Men an' gave everyone a quick discussion that there was somethin' happenin' in the sewers beneath Bayville an' that we should be cautious in our approach. The usual type of pep talk before we went inta a fight with anybody. Ray looked nearly as concerned as Ororo did back in the professor's office. That had been almost twenty minutes ago, now we were all enterin' the sewers ta begin our search for the Morlocks. We had split inta two groups one was lead by Logan an' Beast an' the other by Storm. Ah was in Logan an' Beast's group with Bets, Sam, Kitty, Colossus, Bobby an' Ray. The rest were on Storm's team except Jamie who'd stayed with the professor in the Velocity. Ah felt bad for the kid, always bein' left behind 'cause he was ta li'l or ta young. ~Ah shouldn't be doin' this. Ah should be out lookin' for Remy an' stoppin' him from doin' somethin' stupid just ta save meh. Let meh worry 'bout mah own life, Ah can take care of mahself, Ah don't need him ta protect meh from Sinister.~

"Ready, luv?" Betsy was behind meh as we started ta walk through the sewers.

"As ready as Ah'll ever be. Ah don't think Ah should be here though."

"I know what you mean, luv. I'm this close to finding Sinister and yet my moral responsibility tells me I should be down here crawling in the muck trying to do the right thing." Ah sighed, she was right as usual. ~Worry 'bout Remy later, right now ya gotta worry 'bout the Morlocks.~ Ray led us through the sewer tunnels expertly. Why shouldn't he have, since he'd once been a Morlock himself? Bets an' Ah remained quiet as we continued ta make our way through the maze of tunnels, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

After walkin' for quite a ways, Kitty let out a small squeak. "Kitty, what is it?"

"I like think…he's…" She was pointing ta a body that leaned up against the wall of the tunnel. It wasn't moving an' when Ray ran over ta it he shook the man's shoulder an' hit the wall of the tunnel angrily.

"Sparky…" Logan talked in a low voice that could barely be heard through the ringing echoes that had been caused by Ray poundin' the walls.

"He's dead. Whoever did this is going to pay." When he turned 'round his eyes flashed an eerie electric blue sendin' a shiver down mah spine.

NIGHTCRAWLER

Storm led us zrough ze sewers tovards ze Morlock's living space. We'd been down here once before vhen ve'd first gone looking for Evan but zis time ze search seemed to be more frantic.

"EVAN!!!" Ve valked past a small fall of vater from a large pipe overhead. I looked at ze vater falling down and realized somezing was wrong.

"Iz it me, or iz zat vater red?" Storm spun around to look at ze fall az vell.

"No…" She lifted into ze air and disappeared into ze pipe above. "NOOO…EVAN!!!" I teleported into ze tunnel az vell to see vhat vas vrong. All I saw vhere bodies lying mangled in ze water. Ze redness had been zeir blood. Jean had lifted herself and ze ozers into ze tunnel az vell.

Brian had carried Amara up vith him as he flew into ze tunnel and touched down lightly beside me. He looked around at ze scene before us in pure shock. "How could this have happened. This is horrible."

Storm vent flying zrough ze tunnel before us leaving us to try and catch up. She continually called out Evan's name but a movement along ze side of ze tunnel caused me to stop. One of ze Morlocks vas moving and trying to stand up. "Vait, let me help ja." I teleported to her side and put an arm around ze voman's vaist to support her. I recognized her zen as Callisto one of ze more powerful of ze Morlocks. "Vhat happened?"

"We were attacked by a group of mutants."

"But vhy?"

"I don't know. Evan confronted the first of them and was told to run. But the rest of the attackers knocked out the first and began the fight. Most of the mutants here are trying to escape the fighting, but it seems that not even the sewers are safe enough for them."

"Did ja recognize any of zem?"

"All I know is that the one who tried to warn Evan had glowing red eyes. The one that knocked out him was extremely tall and almost animal-like in his movements." ~Gambit and Sabertooth! Meine Shweister, she could be in serious trouble!~

"Come on, ve have to catch up vith zem! Can ja valk?"

"Yes."

GAMBIT

Pain just throbbed through my head as I tried t' push myself up off the ground. ~Is dat my pain or de pain of all dese…dying Morlocks? What de hell is going on? Sinister said not'ing 'bout killing dem or else I'd refused.~

"Ya okay?"

"Cherie?" I looked up t' see Marie pulling me up by my arm. "Y' ain't mad at me?"

"No, Ah'm extremely pissed at ya. But now's not the time. Ah'd like ta see ya make it outta here alive 'cause killin' ya is an honor that Ah think Ah deserve."

"Dat's sweet, real sweet, Cherie." I stood up and looked 'round me t' see dat de room was just littered wit' dying Morlocks. "Mon Dieu, dis wasn't supposed t' be like dis."

"What's that supposed ta mean, Swamp Rat?" I glanced at her quickly before taking off down a tunnel t'wards shouting. "Answer meh!" She was following me closely, determined not t' let me outta her sight.

"Sinister told meh he wanted ta lure Bets out, but I didn't know he was going t' try and kill all de Morlocks."

"Ya led the Marauders down here ta capture Betsy?!?! Ya scum, how could ya turn on her like that?"

"I did it for y', Cherie. Didn't want t' see y' dead. T'ought maybe I'd be able t' warn y' and de Morlocks but t'ings went wrong."

"Ah'd say so." We came t' the end of the tunnel and I listened carefully t' tell where de shouting came from. ~Left, I'm sure of it.~ "Where ya goin' anyway?"

"I need t' find Betsy before she walks int' a trap." She blinked at me as if she couldn't quite understand what was going on yet. "Dis is all one big trap for Sinister t' kill Betsy. If we don't find her first she's going t' walk straight int' it."

"Then we're goin' the wrong way." I stopped and looked back at Rogue who was starting t' run in de opposite direction.

"Why'd she go away from de fighting?"

"Logan had her an' Kitty go look for survivors. Anyone who wasn't already dead that we might be able ta help. Damn it, why couldn't Ah have absorbed Peitro or somethin'." She looked frustrated as I quickly caught up wit' her at de end of anot'er tunnel. She turned anot'er right and before long we'd caught up wit' Kitty.

"Kitty, where'd Betsy go?" Kitty looked up dumbfounded t' see me.

"Like how'd you get down here?"

"Later, Kitty, where de hell is Betsy?"

"I really don't know, she said she'd keep going…" She stopped talking as she looked behind us at somet'ing, her eyes widening in fear.

"Thanks for leading me to the X-Geeks, Gambit." I turned around t' see one of de marauders, Harpoon, standing behind us. Kitty gaped at what he said and Rogue looked murderous.

"Y' tricked meh, Swamp Rat."

"Non, I didn't…" Harpoon wasn't waiting for Rogue and I t' settle our argument and t'rew one of his energy spears at Rogue. I jumped at her knocking her down and outta de way, but Kitty was still standing behind her stupidly. She phased trying t' avoid de shot but de energy spear struck her anyway causing her t' stay in a phased state. ~Mon Deiu, could t'ings get any worse?~ Harpoon left again wit' an evil smile playing across his face.

"Like this is so not cool. What am I going to do?!?!" Kitty was nearly beside herself as she tried t' solidify again. She was just struggling t' stay above ground and dere was no way for Rogue or I t' help her.

"This is all ya fault."

"Mon fault! I told y' I didn't know dat it was going t' be like dis!" She ignored me as she tried once again ta help Kitty.

"There's gotta be a way. What if Ah phase as well?" She closed her eyes in concentration and began t' use Kitty's powers. In her own phased state she was able t' hold ont' Kitty's elbow and help her walk. "We gotta find Betsy, before she gets hurt ta."

WOLVERINE

* Chuck, this is bad…really bad. * I was talking to the professor over a com link as I searched the tunnels for Sabertooth. I could smell him even over the stench of all the blood.

* I know Logan. Try and pull the teams together and get out as quickly as you can. *

* That ain't possible right now. Nearly everyone has been split up. *

* You must try anyhow. I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to one of the students. The hospitals refuse to treat mutants and the med bay is much to small to handle all the Morlocks as well as our own students. *

* Trust me, Chuck. There aren't going to be that many Morlock survivors. * I walked past another dead Morlock as I continued my search. * Besides can't you call on that friend of yours? What's her name Emma…Frost, isn't it? * (A/N: Ten points for those who can figure out who she is!)

* If it comes to that, I might need to. * I stopped to sniff the air and took a left turn. ~That's odd, why do I smell Gumbo down here? And that's Rogue's scent with him. I can even barely smell Half-Pint and Psylocke but they must have been down her a while before them.~ * What's wrong, Logan? *

* I smell, Gambit. He must be down here. *

* I fear for the worst then. * ~That's really comforting to hear from the leader.~ I shook my head and continued to follow their combined scent.

SHADOWCAT

"We'll like never find Betsy in all this!"

"Would ya try an' be ya usual bright ray of sunshiney self."

"I'm like so sorry but I'm going to like phase right through the center of the earth once my powers in you wind down." Rogue sighed as she adjust her grip on me and kept trudging ahead. "I'm sorry. I like didn't mean that."

"Ah know. Ah just wish we'd find Betsy soon." All the while Remy was walking along behind us quietly. He looked guilty for what happened and he should, it was all his fault.

"I can't believe you like just led the Marauders down here thinking that nothing was like going to happen." He shook his head but remained quiet.

"Kitty, Ah think he's doin' a pretty good job of kickin' himself right now. Maybe we should just let it go for now." I looked up at her stunned. She had been so eager to kick him while he was down earlier.

"Fine," I grumbled as we kept moving on. We finally reached a large open area where I spotted Betsy crossing towards another tunnel. She was holding a small girl in her arms as she walked. "BETSY!" She turned around and stared at us as though she couldn't believe it was really us.

"Luvs, I thought I'd never find anyone else down here again." She watched as Rogue and I approached her slowly and she squinted her eyes to make sure she was even seeing us right. "What happened, luv?"

"I like got hit by some energy thing and I can't like unphase."

"That's really not cool. You need to get back to the surface for help." She was simply stating the obvious as she glanced at Remy. "What are you doing down here? I thought you were working for Sinister…Sinister's behind all this isn't he?" Remy refused to look in Betsy's direction and made a feeble attempt to change the subject.

"Petite, y' should probably take Kitty back up t' de surface. Cherie and I will look for de others."

"There's no way in hell, I'm leaving now. I'm supposed to bring down Sinister! If I would have down it by now this wouldn't have happened."

"Non, Petite. Y' can't. Sinister's just waiting for y'. Dis was all a plan t' capture y' and I'm not going t' let dat happen."

"I have a job to do and you're not going to get in my way!" She shoved the girl into Remy's arms and ran off down one of the tunnels. The girl began to cry immediately even though Remy tried his best to comfort her.

"Shh…it's gonna be okay. Remy's got y'. What's y' name, Petite?" The girl looked up at him scared but blinked back her tears as she answered.

"Sarah." (A/N: Fifty points if you can figure out this one. It's kinda tough.)

"Dat's a real beau name, Sarah. Now y' t'ink y' can go wit' dese girls t' de top? Dey gonna get y' some help." She nodded solemnly as he put her down.

"Remy, Ah ain't leavin' ya."

"Y' don't have a choice, Cherie. Y' gotta get Kitty some help, and now dis li'l girl needs y' t'." He turned and ran in the direction Betsy had gone in.

"Damn that Swamp Rat!" She sighed. "Come on, Ah think we need ta go this way." Rogue reluctantly turned and walked in the opposite direction that our two friends had gone in.