Chapter 8 Snowbird

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Marvel, except for my original characters, of course. But if Marvel wants to use them, they can. Feel free to post this, or any other Glaivester fic, anywhere, but please notify me so I can brag about it.

Nighttime, Monday.

Logan had just discovered that Tabby and Kitty had stowed away. They had kept hidden in the Blackbird, which was a mile or so out of the city. When he got close to the Blackbird, he smelled them immediately. He was berating them when suddenly a familiar smell assaulted his nose.

"Anne? Anne Mackenzie?" Logan turned around.

"Actually, I got married to a fellow Mountie. It's Anne McKenzie Thompson now."

"Who the Hell are you?" asked Tabby, with her usual tact and good taste.

"The name is Snowbird. I'm a mutant [A/N again, I remind you, I have altered her back story to remove the mystical element, in the comicverse she is a demigoddess, the daughter of Nelvanna the goddess of the Aurora Borealis and Canadian Archeologist Richard Easton] who derives her power from the magnetic currents of the Aurora Borealis. I have the ability to shapeshift into any creature native to Canada - although I am always a white color, even if the animal is not normally white."

"I used to work with her in Alpha Flight," explained Logan. "We were a Canadian tema of superheroes - some of us mutants, others got our powers through other means."

"What are you doing here?" asked Kitty.

"I've come to help take down the Red Skull. Alpha Flight is busy currently, and I was the only member they could spare."

"How're you even healthy?" asked Logan suspiciously. "I thought that there were special magnetic pulses that sustained you whose locations roughly corresponded to Canada. I was always told that if you left Canada, you'd lose your powers and then begin to age rapidly."

Snowbird smiled. "This device," she tapped her arm, transfers the energies I need to me via satellite. So I can now travel for missions abroad." Suddenly she frowned. "By the way, Logan, I found a relative of yours, I think, in the mountains. I took her to the Okenschaff Inn."

"A relative?" Logan sniffed carefully. "X23! And another smell... Slayer!"

"Yes, that's what they called her at the Inn, Slayer. But the other girl, no one at the Inn knew her name."

Logan thought a second. "They wouldn't," he stated plainly. "Kris, Raven, and Erik never knew her."

"Who is X23?"

"A clone of me, made by the government. The process was imperfect, so the clone came out as a female version of me."

"Are you certain that that was not the original intention?"

Logan shrugged. "Perhaps. I know that Slayer was intended to be female. She was made by Mr. Sinister, though."

Snowbird looked thoughtful. "Who is Mr. Sinister? Sounds familiar."

"Nathaniel Essex?"

"Yes! He was implicated in a few missing persons cases last year. But we never found him."

"He's also involved in this Apocalypse business."

Snowbird looked worried. That's what the rest of Alpha Flight is currently working on. They're checking possible sites where Apocalypse might build bases."

"Well," said Logan, "you girls come back to the Inn. Snowbird? You want to stay with us? I'm sure we can get an extra room or two. Or you can bunk with Raven and the two girls here... actually, make that four girls, including Slayer and X23."

"I suppose it would be safer."

Later that night, they were discussing the plans.

"Okay, so Castle Wulfcraft," said Logan. "Great. Thanks, Anne, that makes it a lot easier, now that we have the Red Skull tracked down. So what are we up against?"

"Upload's only offensively useful power is that he can make you dizzy when he uploads your mind,' explained Raven (Mystique). "Exchange - if he touches you and another person, he can switch your minds, so he could try to get the Red Skull to take Juggernaut's body or something. Better attack those two from far away."

Adrian Zmoloka nodded. "I'm a sharpshooter. I can take 'em out." For the only wild-type (non-mutant) in the group, he seemed remarkably at ease.

"Captain Axis," Raven continued, "is nearly invincible. And he has an adamantium shield. So I figure Juggernaut would be a good bet to take him."

"Valkyrie is like Logan, only more so, and much, much stronger. So I suggest that Logan and Slab try to take her on."

"And I," said Magneto, will make certain that Captain Axis and Valkyrie do not use metal shielding."

Gambit nodded. "And what about moi?"

Raven looked over at him. "You'll take care of anyone we don't know. The only other person we might worry about is his Chinese connection. His name is Xian Chung, he goes by the codename of Pocket. He was the one, I believe, who activated the pyramid in China. He might be coming here to make a report or something; it seems sensible to me that he would."

"He's the one that can store stuff in a side dimension?" asked Logan. Raven nodded.

"As for myself, I might as well do reconnaissance," suggested Raven. "Snowbird can maybe help with that?" Snowbird nodded her assent.

"What about the girls?" asked Magneto. "Surely Tabby and Kitty should be given a role, as they will come after us anyway." Logan stared angrily. "You know it's the truth. So we might as well get them to do something useful."

"They'll look after Slayer and X23." Logan looked at Erik in a challenging manner. "That's a mighty important job."

~Logan!~ Came the Professor's voice in Wolverine's head.

~Yes, Prof?~

~I have been using Cerebro, and there is something you should know.~

~Slayer is missing?~

~Why, yes.~ The Professor "sounded" shocked. ~But that's not what I wanted to tell you.~

~Slayer is with us. She just appeared here, along with X23. It's a long story.~

~And one I don't need to know right now. But I wanted to tell you. Wanda went missing, as did Talia, and my scans indicate that they are somewhere near where you are. Actually, that Talia is, but I assume that Wanda is with her. It appears that their powers are suppressed, so it's hard to find them, but apparently Talia's enhanced metabolism makes it impossible to completely suppress her telepathy. I can detect her whether she is actively using a power or not.~

Logan told the others what he had heard from Xavier. "Listen, everyone. We go after the elf, the witch, and the elfling next morning. So rest up."

Back in Castle Wulfcraft, the Red Skull was almost finished his preparations with Zemo.

"In a mere twelve hours," said Zemo, "the virus will be ready. We have the perfect means of transport."

"And they are?" asked the Red Skull.

"Kurt's powers are affected by magnetism. That's why he can teleport farther north and south than east and west, because he is aligned with the Earth's magnetic field. If I create a strong enough magnetic field between here and my base in Israel with my EM satellite and my magnetic devices here, Kurt can teleport there, release the virus, and teleport back in mere seconds."

"Kurt won't do it," sighed the Skull. "He hasn't been educated long enough to understand these things as you and I do."

"If he isn't responding to your lessons, why don't you just use Exchange to transfer your consciousness to him. I also need the Gypsy's power to amplify my magnetic pulse, so why don't we get Exchange to transfer Upload and her so he can do it."

"I don't trust Upload."

"Or Pocket. He will be here in the morning."

"I am worried that his experience in the pyramid makes him untrustworthy. I sense that there is some force at work there manipulating me - or trying to."

"We can't use you or I or Valkyrie. I won't be put in the body of a dirty Gypsy!"

"True," sighed the Red Skull. "Upload it is, then. But use Valkyrie in Kurt's body. Just so Upload won't try to get rid of me!"

"Agreed." Zemo went back to work.

"And when will we try Latveria?"

"We will infect the Gypsy girl in thirty-six hours and drop her off in Latveria. She can spread the illness." Zemo smiled ,but his mask prevented it from showing.

"What are the symptoms?" asked the Red Skull.

"First, high fever. Then your body gets lots of blemishes. Then you begin to dissolve. By the time you die, you look like your have already been dead for a year."

"How gruesome." The Red Skull laughed, and began planning for the genocide that was to come.