A/n: The misspellings are made on purpose to match character dialect.

Enter the Hellfire

John gazed deeply at the burning fire he had long since started. Everyone in the X-Jet new he needed to be alone. Whoever created this Pseudo-Magneto was incredibly ingenious, he had his voice, power, even his helmet that he couldn't track down packed. The person or persons obviously new them somehow, long before their secret was exposed. The silence was killing Logan, they were watching him for an hour and he still hasn't even moved. Not since he gathered everyone and cremated them.

Logan felt his pain, if anyone knew how he felt it would Logan. He casually walked up and sat down next to him. "So, what're you gonna do, ya can't possibly hang around here all day."

John sighed, "I'm gonna scrounge whatever I can, pack up, and I'm gonna look for James."

"Aren't ya going to even think about the Professor's offer?" Logan asked.

Now he was mad, "Look Dammit, I don't give a damn about your school, your sob story, or your precious little X-Men. I want my little brother and I'm gonna find him." John was pissed, but Logan couldn't blame him. If anyone had a right to be, it was John.

"What if I tell you we can find James, find who's holding him..." Logan started.

John stopped him, "How!" he'd do anything for his brother.

"Chuck here has this machine that can find different mutants, that's how he found all of us, and you. Look, if you want, at least let us take you to our place. Eat, wash up, get some rest, then we can go find him. Whattaya say?"

John thought for a while, it was too much to bear. If seeing his tribe gone and his brother missing isn't enough, some stranger is giving him a hand. He didn't know who to trust. But he didn't where to turn so he did the only thing he could. "Fine when do we leave?"

One week later in Boston

Emma Frost was the headmistress for the Massachusetts Academy, which is similar to Xavier School for gifted youngsters; but it was far from the dream of Charles Xavier. What she did was different, would use any means necessary, any means. Currently she is preparing for a meeting with Sebastian Shaw, the Black King, and the other inner members of the Hellfire club. Emma was definitely in trouble, recruiting didn't go as well as they expected. Now, with the failure of John Proudstar she was really in for it.

Emma desperately wanted out of this whole Hellfire Club, but she was stuck. They funded her little school and it was harder and harder to meet Shaw's every demand. That's when he burst in, "Ms. Frost the meeting will begin shortly, have you obtained your reports?"

"Yes Sebastian." Her teeth clenched with every word.

"Good, then you have five minutes, don't be late," he said with his usual smugness. Emma quickly gathered her bearings, and braced for impact. It wouldn't be pretty.

For the third time in her life, she was afraid. She was in front of five of the richest and most powerful men and women in America. Sebastian Shaw being the richest, he was a mutant, like herself. His power was the deadliest though; Emma merely cringed at the thought of what he could do.

"Are they ready Ms. Frost?"

"Yes, the reports of the recruitment are going slowly than expected."

"Go through the X-Men first!" Shaw rapped sharply.

"Yes, most of the X-Men are under the protection of their mentor, Charles Xavier. The mutant known as Cyclops is untouchable, as is Rogue. Both are orphaned and under the custody of Xavier. We can't get them without revealing ourselves and right now, discretion is the utmost importance here. "Kurt Wagner, a.k.a. Nightcrawler, we also can't get. Apparently his mother leads a traveling Circus known as Der Jarrmacht in Germany, due to the fact that his guardian was not legal, and that it was an unofficial circus we also can't obtain his skills."

"So what about the Grey woman?" asked the shadow in the background, the man known as Jason Wyngarde.

"Yes, Jean Grey, though she has an upper middle class family, she is eighteen and can make her own decision on where to live."

"Okay," struck Shaw impatiently, "Which of them can we get?"

(Yes, good news) thought Emma. "Only one, Katherine Pryde, she's perfect."

"Isn't that the one who can only walk through wall, what use is that?" replied an older, more heavyset man.

"More than you think, her power also allows her to short circuit any type of electrical device. Also, if any of you even glanced at my reports, she is also a clinical genius. If you don't believe me then check her age. She is a fifteen year old taking junior classes." Emma bit back.

"What about the Maximoff twins?" asked the fat man.

"Well, Pietro was no trouble, nor were the rest of the Brotherhood. Unfortunately the girl, Wanda, has since begun living with Xavier. Also, having her would be a severe liability. Her rage is uncontrolled as is her power. She could waste us all without a thought." They all thought deeply, Emma sensed it; she let her mind flow to see if she was convincing them, and she wasn't doing a bad job. She gave a small sigh of relief and continued on.

"The Jones girl was not a problem at all; Angelica Jones has just recently come to her power. She has the ability to cast microwaves, which manifests itself in different ways. It can give her advanced strength, flight, and can fling fiery projectiles. As a side effect, she is immune to radiation as well. We also were able to get a boy named Manuel Alfonso Rodrigo de la Rocha. His father is a current member of our little club and he will be here next week.

"The next member is Jennifer Stavros; her power can create disks that alter probability into anyone's favor. Her father is a dealer at a casino and she herself has spent time around street gangs. All we have to do is send daddy a weekly stipend and her future is secured." She watched them all nod in agreement and were all pleased, so far. Now for the bad news.

"The Proudstar brothers are a completely different matter. We have the younger brother James, but John, with the aid of the X-Men, defeated the Magneto robot. John is currently with Xavier to find James."

She saw someone from the shadows stand up and walk towards the front, as the figure stepped out she was relieved to see it wasn't Shaw. It was the man who accompanied her on the Camp Verde trip, Donald Pierce. Donald took center stage, "The fault was mine at that point, clearly I underestimated their power and John's strength. When he ripped apart the android he disabled the self healing program." Pierce stopped he knew it was no use lying, especially with Emma standing there.

"Thank you Donald, you may sit down." Shaw calmly replied. He turned his head to Emma, who was counting her blessings. "Anyone else?"

"Yes, we plan to enroll Rahne Sinclare, Danielle Moonstar, Xi'an Coy Mahn, Douglas Ramsey, Warren Worthington III, and Roberto Da Costa. Warren is legally an adult but has ties with the X-Men. Roberto on the hand maybe somewhat easier, his father is a high ranking official here and is next in line for the inner circle."

Emma let out a huge sigh of relief, she was convinced it blood bath in there. If one thing Shaw didn't tolerate, was failure. If Pierce decided to keep quiet, she probably wouldn't be here right now. But she knew something wasn't right, he is a coward, and they never got along. Whatever it is, she will find out what Donald Pierce is up to.