Storm gazed down into the danger room at Logan stretching and warming up. She pressed one long finger to the intercom switch, and announced into the room:

"Are you ready for a challenge, then?" From the observation deck she saw Logan nod his head vigorously in the danger room. Then he screwed his forehead up in consertation. She heard his voice through the little speaker in the control panel.

"What do you mean? I've already beaten everything you've got!" came the tinny little shout through the speaker.

"Yes, on level one. It goes up to level eight."

Logan gave another grin.

"Be serious, Logan, this is training. When we run into Magneto's goonies again we have to be ready."

"Yeah, yeah," Logan grumbled through the little speaker, and sighed. "Well, give me a challenge then."

"How much of a challenge do you want?" Storm asked, smiling, teasing Logan. She heard his laugh through the speaker, and knew he still wasn't expecting the difficulty of the higher levels.

He would learn.

"Give me the best you've got," came Logan's reply.

With a small shrug, Storm tapped the keyboard, and turned the simulation up to the highest and toughest level.

A feminine laugh filled the padded room.

Storm pitied Logan.

* * *

Logan whirled swiftly at hearing the evil laughter. He came face-to- face with an image of Mystique. It flew at him almost instantly, knocking him backward and winding him badly.

He grunted loudly as he hit the floor. Logan coughed, and thought, Why do I do this to myself? He attempted to rise, but Mystique delivered a painful kick to his stomach. He had had no idea that it would feel this real! Just like she had really hit him.

Logan allowed his claws to explode from his knuckles, and he swiped at her legs. One claw made brief contact with her blue, scaly skin, cutting it. To his surprise, a small stream of blood flowed from her wound.

As she stumbled back, Logan rose and looked up at Storm in shock. The last images hadn't bled, why should these ones?

Storm smiled, easing Logan. It was obvious that she had adjusted it to make it even more life-like.

Mystique flew for him again.

* * *

Rogue sat outside the main doors to the mansion, waiting for Bobby to meet her for lunch. She had a bottle of water ready, but she wasn't hungry so she hadn't gotten any food.

"Hi," an unfamiliar voice called to her. At first, she thought the voice was not addressing her, but then a shadow came over her. She looked up to see a girl with black hair that was a little curly, who was smiling down at her.

"Are you Rogue?"

Rogue nodded, and replied quietly, wondering why this stranger was talking to her, "Yeah. How did you know?" She had to admit, she was curious to find out as much as she could about this girl.

"You're the one who came into the Professor's office. Plus you're the only one around here who wears a body stocking." She sat next to her, and turned her head. "I'm Jubilee."

"Hi," Rogue said, facing her. This girl seemed quite nice, and Rogue had learned to accept friendship wherever she found it.

"So," Jubilee began, and cleared her throat, "what's your link with this Cyclops guy?"

Rogue fiddled nervously with the top on the water bottle. "He saved my life once."

"Really? How?"

"Logan crashed his camper, and I got stuck in the seat. This other mutant attacked him, and the camper caught alight. Logan got knocked out, and then Cyclops and Storm showed up. He broke the seat so I could get out." Rogue exhaled heavily. "If he hadn't done that, I'd probably be dead." She looked Jubilee in the eye.

Jubilee simply nodded.

Rogue knew she didn't understand.

Suddenly, something caught her eye over by the trees.

That's not possible!

* * *

Serena laughed, hidden in the trees, and said, "You are so cruel!"

"I know. But it's fun." Mystique looked to her, her face, body and voice changed completely into that of Scott Summers, dressed in leather jacket, maroon shirt and black combat trousers. The shift had been amazing, and the turnout was even more amazing. If she didn't know any better, she could've sworn it was really Scott Summers standing there. Mystique had even created rose-tinted sunglasses.

The thing that surprised Serena most was the fact that she suddenly found the man attractive. He obviously looked a lot better when he hadn't been tortured. But then, anyone would. She decided she wouldn't tell anyone about it, especially not Warp. His jealousy was surprising.

Mystique leant against the bench in front of her, watching the young girl stare at her. She smiled.

Serena had to admit that she did feel a little sorry for the girl, but there was nothing better to do, so it was surprisingly entertaining.

"When do you think they'll find out that we messed with their programme?" Serena asked the professional Mystique, who was still disguised as Cyclops.

She half-turned to her, smile still present, and replied, "What, the training programme? Oh, it won't take them long to find out what we did. But, someone will probably get hurt before they figure it out."

Serena had to admit... Mystique was good at this. She could sneak in and out of a guarded facility without being detected, and sabotage the most complex of programmes. Apparently, she had done it the year before. She had pretended to be the boy named Bobby to persuade the girl Rogue -the one they were taunting now- to leave, and then had accessed a machine named Cerebro and sabotaged that too.

In the distance, the girl stood.

* * *

Rogue couldn't believe what she was seeing... or more to the point, who she was seeing. Could it really be Cyclops standing there in the trees? Could he have escaped from Magneto's clutches somehow?

But, if that was true, then why was he standing so far away, as if frightened to approach?

None of it made sense. But still, it undoubtedly looked like Cyclops, so what doubts could she possibly have?

Too many questions, and not enough answers! she thought angrily.

There was only one plausible solution. She had to go over there and see if her eyes were betraying her or not.

She stood.

Jubilee copied her actions, and followed her continuous gaze. "Who's that?"

"I'm not sure," she replied, quietly, voice a little unsteady. "Stay here." She began moving toward the familiar figure.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Jubilee inquired.

Without turning, Rogue answered her, "Would I tell you to stay there if I wanted you to come with me?"

She hadn't meant to be so rude... she just hated it when people didn't understand what she was telling them. It was quite clear. She had probably just put this new friendship on the line all because of her own damned curiosity. But she needed to know, desperately.

* * *

Mystique, now finally feeling comfortable in her new form, watched the cursed girl edge slowly closer. And the girl was most definitely cursed, unable to touch someone for fear of killing them. But this was war, and in most situations, death was necessary to aid the cause. Mystique liked to kill. It relieved a little bit of her inner torment each time she broke someone's neck, or beat them to death. It just felt so good sometimes.

Maybe, just maybe, she would kill this brat now.

* * *

As she neared the distant tree line, the figure became clearer, and she could see the sunlight reflecting off the rose-tinted sunglasses.

This can't be right, she told herself, this just can't be happening!

But it was. Cyclops was standing about ten feet in front of her, smiling at her! Her mind chattered wildly about what could be going on here, but none of it made sense.

"Scott?" she mumbled, loud enough for him to hear. He stood to his full height, and neared her, looking briefly to his right.

"Rogue," came his simple reply.

"But we thought you'd been-"

"I got away. Sabretooth is a little sloppy these days, stupid son-of- a-bitch," he laughed.

Now that definitely wasn't right! she shouted inside. Scott had cursed right in front of her... a student! Something was amiss, that much had been determined in her mind.

"But where have you been all this time? We were worried." Might as well keep up this complicated charade as long as it took to collect some answers.

"I've been hiding out. You know, keeping out of sight for a while."

"For nearly four days?" She had raised her voice, and instantly gave herself a mental slap. This wasn't Scott at all; the language he was using, and his attitude were different.

Could Magneto have brainwashed him somehow?

"I couldn't contact you, he might have been listening in. They're watching all the time you know." He gave another glance over his shoulder to the place where he had first looked.

Rogue gave that spot a close look... there was someone there!

She gave Scott a disgusted glare.

"Rogue, what's wrong?" he asked, genuinely sounding concerned.

Without any sort of reply, she turned and began to move away.

"Rogue?" he called.

She didn't stop walking.

"Rogue!"

A hand clasped around her shoulder, and spun her round. It was Scott -or whoever was pretending to be Scott- and he looked angry.

Making sure to be as careful as possible, she removed the long glove on her left hand, and dropped it to the ground.

"Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you, you little brat!"

She was angry, and certain that this wasn't Scott... so she brought up her hand and slapped him around the face. Feelings and power flowed into her for a split instant during the contact. But the power was not that of laser-sight... but that of transformation!

Oh my god!

He turned back to her, sunglasses now gone, and laughed quietly. His eyes were a shocking blue.

Then someone emerged from the trees, a tall blonde-haired woman, whose limbs seemed a little longer than they should be. She too laughed to herself.

"Get away from me!" she shouted at them. Scott moved closer to her, grabbing her around the arms, pressing them to her side firmly. She was unable to raise her hand to defend herself. All she could do was scream.

And she screamed.

"Go ahead, scream all you want," he told her, evil filling his voice. "You'll remind me of Cyclops." He laughed and his blue eyes changed to a frightening shade of yellow.

Mystique!

She screamed again.

Bright lights flared around them.

* * *

Serena only noticed the other girl when she was too close to be stopped. Bright lights flared all around them, and one stream of energy nearly struck her.

"Mystique!" she cried. "Let's go!"

But then Mystique was hit in the right arm by energy. She gave a cry, still in the masculine voice of Scott Summers, and then turned to Serena.

They fled.

* * *

Rogue began to sob uncontrollably, as she dropped to her knees on the grass.

Jubilee came to her side instantly, rubbing her covered back. "Ssh, it's okay."

Hands trembling like a building in an earthquake, she replaced her dropped glove, and replied, "No, it's not." Jubilee had no idea just how wrong she was. Everything was far from okay. Mystique had intended to kill her, and if Jubilee hadn't come, she just may have succeeded. It was a terrifying thought, but it was true.

"We have to find Logan."

* * *

The blows just kept on coming, as Logan was pinned to the floor by Sabretooth. The roar he gave was almost deafening, and it hurt his aching skull. The hologram gave another blow to his stomach, this time claws and all.

It was then -and only then- that Logan realised something was terribly wrong. He felt the knife-like talons slip into him, and blood begin to flow.

He gave a cry.

"Logan? Are you okay?" Storm asked through the speaker.

As Sabretooth withdrew his claws, he cried out to her, "Shut it off! Shut it off!"

After a few desperate moments, Storm announced, "I can't! The controls won't respond!"

Sabretooth picked him up, and punched him again, claws stabbing him once more. More blood flowed from the wounds, and Logan grabbed at Sabretooth's arm, which was wrapped tightly around his throat. He gave a small choked cry.

The beast threw him back and against the wall, knocking the remaining air out of him. He coughed, and deep-scarlet blood was released.

"Logan!" he heard Storm cry in desperation.

The image came up to him, and grasped him around the throat, lifting him high into the air.

Unable to think of another way out, Logan slid out his menacing blades, and jammed them straight into Sabretooth's exposed jugular.

The image flickered wildly, and then vanished, allowing Logan to drop to the floor.

Logan couldn't find the strength to hold back the darkness, and it enveloped him.

The last thing he heard was Storm's cry through another speaker.

"Jean, we need you in the danger room. Now!"

* * *

A/N: So there you have it. Another chapter, another dilemma. Just so you know, Jubilee is based upon the actress who briefly portrayed her in the original movie, Katrina Florece. Gambit is based upon a taller version of Scott Caan, Bryan Singer's first choice for the role. Colossus can be imagined as a much older version of Daniel Cudmore. Serena is your typical tall leggy blonde, and Warp is based upon a bland Anson Mount. Thank you again for your attention, and I hope you will return. Thanks!