Warbird

"You're Carol Danvers? The chick Rogue thinks she killed?" Todd blinked.

"Yes," Carol replied in a very annoyed tone.

"Are you a mutant?" Jean asked. "Or are you an Esper?"

"You know about Espers?" Carol looked at her. "Oh of course, someone like you would know about them!"

"Carol's not really a mutant," Fury coughed. "Technically. It's…Classified."

"I have super strength and the ability to fly," Carol told them. "And I also get ticked off if I don't get my morning coffee."

"I'm gonna take a wild guess that you've never met Rogue. Am I right?" Wanda asked.

"No, I've never met any of you until today but I've read a lot of your files."

"You don't like mutants do you?" Jean frowned.

"In general I don't have a problem with them. Let's just say I'm not exactly a fan of psychics," Carol glared at Jean. "With good reason."

"I think you guys better start from the beginning and don't leave anything out," Fury told them.

Xavier and the others explained their situation. "So in other words you've got one of your most powerful mutants running amok and you have no idea what caused it!" Fury groaned. "Great Xavier! Just great! And to think I was worried about X23 being with you!"

"Have you ever had contact with Magneto?" Xavier asked Carol.

"Yeah, but not by choice. About seven years ago I was captured by Magneto and he managed to take some of my DNA," Carol explained. "Said he was going to use it to create a super mutant. I guess he finally did."

"So Magneto stole some of your DNA to make this serum which he injected Rogue with?" Wanda asked. "Well that explains why she has your powers now."

"But why does Rogue think that she's you? Or killed you or whatever's going through her head. It still doesn't make sense," Kitty threw up her hands.

"I have a thought," Carol frowned. "You said this character Mastermind was in the dream too right? Well sometimes psychics get a kick out of putting themselves in a dream their making their victim see."

"Not all psychics do that," Jean glared at her.

"Only the smart ones don't," Carol glared back. "But it does sound a like one of Mastermind's little tricks. He's done that before."

"Then maybe we should have a little 'talk' with Mastermind," Logan growled.

"The trick is finding him," Carol told him. "I mean last I heard he was shielded by Magneto so you can't track him by that Cerebro machine of yours."

"Oh we'll find him all right," Logan told her. "There's more than one way to track somebody."

"We'll split up into two teams," Xavier said. "Scott, Jean you go with Wavedancer, Xi, Toad, Avalanche, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Blob. Your group will find Mastermind. The rest of us will track down Rogue."

"Not that I don't mind getting another crack at that nut job, but why do I have to go with them?" Scott looked at the Misfits.

"It's more efficient," Althea said. "We need a psychic to help corral Mastermind and you two seem to work together well."

"Besides it's a good idea for our two teams to integrate better," Xavier said.

"Well then why don't some of them come over to our side?" Scott asked.

"Are you nuts?" Logan looked at him. "We'll do that next time okay?"

"Oh I am so looking forward to that," Pietro rolled his eyes.

"We're also going to need Warbird in the search for Rogue," Xavier said.

"I suppose it makes sense," Carol sighed. "Who better to understand me than me? Just keep yourself out of my head Xavier and we'll be fine."

"Whoo, and people say I have an attitude," Wanda whistled after Carol left the room.

"I'm afraid when it comes to telepaths and other psychics Warbird has good reason to be a bit…" Fury searched for the right word. "Hostile. Let's just say she's had some bad experiences with them."

"Oh, then she's gonna love this assignment," Pietro mocked.

"Maybe going with the Misfits isn't such a bad idea after all," Jean said.

Ten minutes after Scott and Jean left with the Misfits via the Mass Device the X-Men were still no closer to finding Rogue. It turned out they didn't need to look very hard.

"That's the alarm!" Fury shouted. "Bring up the surveillance videos of sector G4!" It showed Rogue in a lab knocking down several guards. "HOW THE HELL DID SHE GET IN HERE SO EASILY?"

"She thinks she's me, remember?" Carol snapped. "Now I am taking this personally!" She flew off.

"Well at least we now know where Rogue is!" Hank said as they raced down the hallway. Suddenly there was a huge tremble and the hallway collapsed behind the mutants. Several SHEILD Agents as well as Xavier were trapped.

"Oh no!" Kitty shouted. "Professor!"

"We'll try and corral Rogue," Hank said. "The rest of you rescue the others!" He ran off with Rina, Logan, Kurt and Remy.

Rogue was currently going toe to toe with Carol. They were fighting in the lab and trashing it. "You're gonna pay for posing as me!" Rogue shouted.

"ME? YOU'RE THE IMPOSTOR!" Carol swung her gloved fists at her. "I MEAN TAKE A LOOK IN A MIRROR FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

Carol missed and hit the wall instead. The entire fortress shook on impact. "Well that's why this flaming place is falling apart!" Logan shouted.

Rogue broke off a support beam and threw it at Carol. It missed her but made a huge hole in the wall. "There's not gonna be any thing left of this place if they don't knock it off!" Remy shouted as he hung onto a column as the air rushed around him. "What's with the wind tunnel?"

"The fortress must be pressurized and the air…" Hank gasped as his grasp slipped. "Oh dear…I need assistance here!"

He flew back and accidentally landed into Carol. "WATCH IT FURBALL!" Carol snapped.

"Tough luck!" Rogue laughed as she showed off a disk she was holding. She flew out through the hole in the wall.

"You stupid…" Carol swore as she pushed Hank off her and flew after Rogue. "COME BACK HERE YOU!"

Hank barely managed to grab onto something else before the other X-Men and Fury rushed in. "ICEMAN! CLOSE THE HOLE!" Logan ordered, barely hanging onto the wall with his claws.

"One plug coming up!" Bobby let himself fly towards the hole and used his powers to close it up just before he reached it. Of course this meant that his head hit the wall. "OW!"

"Everyone okay?" Peter asked as SHEILD security ran in.

"Barely…" Logan muttered as he stood up. "Rogue got away with some kind of disk."

"Warbird went after her," Hank said.

"How much did she get?" Fury asked a technician.

"She got the main data disk but the backup files are still in the hard drive," He told Fury as he worked on the machine.

"What did she take?" Logan asked. "And don't pull that classified junk on us. Spill it."

"Our research on the Bio-Pulse Stryker made," Fury admitted. "SHEILD confiscated the one from the Feds and we've been working on it."

"Why would you work on something like that?" Peter asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Rina sniffed. "So they can use it on us!"

Logan grabbed Fury by the jacket and shoved him against the wall. "Are you insane? What the hell were you thinking?"

"We were thinking that it might not be such a bad idea to have such a device to incapacitate any mutant army that decides to run amok," Fury told him. "In case you haven't noticed, Magneto's out there building an army and it's only a matter of time before he decides to use it!"

"The Bio Pulse is a weapon of genocide!" Hank shouted angrily. "Its original purpose is to kill mutants!"

"No, it's original purpose was to kill humans," Fury glared at him. "You can thank your friend Ms. Frost and her Hellions for that. All Stryker did was figure out a way to reverse it."

"That doesn't justify you using such a weapon," Xavier told him.

"We were figuring out how to modify it so it wouldn't be as lethal," Fury told him as he pulled himself away from Logan. "If it will make you feel any better it wasn't my idea. And I made sure to emphasize the research for non-lethal applications."

"No, but this will make me feel much better," Hank pressed several buttons on the computer very quickly.

"What the hell are you doing?" Fury shouted.

"Erasing the remaining data from your hard drive," Hank told him. "Thanks to a few sit in sessions with Arcade and Trinity it literally is child's play!"

"STOP HIM!" Fury ordered his men.

Almost instantly Peter, Rina, Remy and Bobby used their powers to disarm them. "Do you people realize what you're doing?" Fury snapped. "SHIELD's job is to protect the entire world from enemy threats! I can't keep bending over backwards for one particular minority!"

"We are trying to destroy a weapon of mass murder," Peter told him. "I would think that would be in everyone's best interests."

"You can always blame it on the attack and say all the data was destroyed," Remy suggested.

"I can't do that!" Fury shouted.

"Yes, you can and you will," Logan glared at him. "Beast you finished yet?"

"Done," Hank nodded. "And just in case…Shadowcat, if you please?"

Kitty phased through the computer and it short-circuited. "If there was anything left of that data it's gone now."

Fury glared at them. "I think you X-Men have worn out your welcome here. If I were you, I'd find Rogue and the data in less than 12 hours. Otherwise I won't be responsible for what happens next."

"X-Men let's go," Xavier said. They turned to leave.

"Now what?" Ororo asked.

"I think I can use the portable Cerebro on the Blackbird to track down Warbird," Xavier said. "Once we find her…"

"Odds are we'll find Rogue," Kurt nodded. "We have to find her Professor, before things get even worse!"

"Things are already worse Nightcrawler. I just hope the others are having better luck tracking down Mastermind," Remy said.

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"I hate them all," Mastermind grumbled as he stumbled out of the Scottish pub where he had been drinking. "Magneto's bad enough but Lucas? I swear one of these days I am gonna….AAHHH!" He screamed as he was grabbed and dragged into an alley by telekinesis.

"Well hello Mastermind," Fred grinned as he held him. The Misfits, Jean and Scott were in the alley. "How are ya?" He tossed him against some trashcans.

"What's the matter Mastermind?" Lance asked. "Don't you wanna say hi to your old friends?"

"Yeah we just wanna have a nice little chat," Pietro pounded his fist in his open palm. He quickly searched Mastermind. "What do we have here?" He opened up Mastermind's shirt and saw that he was wearing a strange black shirt. "What's this? Magnetowear? Must be the latest in fashion on Asteroid M or wherever my father's base is."

"That must be how he's blocking detection by Cerebro," Angelica said. "It must have some kind of circuitry in it."

"Too bad you'll never find out…" Mastermind growled.

Before Mastermind could activate his powers he was shoved in the chest by a Bo staff. "Uh, uh…" Todd glared at him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"The Professor put mental blocks in our heads so your little mind games won't work," Althea told him. "And if you even think of trying to use your illusions…"

"I will show you what Cobra trained me to do in situations like that," Xi flashed his sharp teeth. "They were very thorough in my training. But I think the Scarlet Witch here would like first crack at you."

"You have no idea how much I want to have five minutes alone with him," Wanda powered up.

"Tell you what," Scott told her. "If he refuses to talk I'll give you ten."

"How did you find me?" Mastermind gasped. "My powers are shielded by Magneto."

"Yeah but your credit card isn't Mr. Wyngarde," Pietro told him. "Arcade may not be Cerebro, but he is amazingly good at finding things on computers."

"All right, Mastermind. We want answers! Where's Rogue and what have you done with her?" Scott grabbed him and shoved him against the wall.

"I swear I don't know what you're talking about!" Mastermind pleaded.

"Listen Mastermind, we know about the implanted memories in Rogue," Jean told him. "Now are you going to tell us what this is all about or do I have to take the information out of your head myself?"

"I thought you X-Men didn't do things like that!" Mastermind gasped.

"In your case I am more than willing to make an exception," Jean glared.

"You may not have to if I get a good crack at him first," Wanda told her.

"What does Magneto want with Rogue this time?" Pietro asked. "If I were you I'd start talking fast!"

"It's not Magneto," A voice from the shadows told him. A familiar blond girl walked into the light. "It's Lucas."

"Cyndi…" Jean remembered her.

"This moron doesn't know anything," Cyndi told them. "Lucas purposely implanted his image to trick anyone who got a glimpse of Rogue's thoughts. What'd you call a red herring."

"Okay so what does Lucas want with Rogue?" Scott asked.

"He's got some cockamamie plan to get into Magneto's good graces," Cyndi told him. "He's using Rogue to do it. Come on, this way."

"How was he able to brainwash Rogue?" Scott asked as they followed her.

"Lucas is a lot more powerful than people think," Cyndi told them as they walked into a building. She secretly pressed a panel on the wall. "But I like to think I'm the real brains of the outfit."

"Huh…What…?" Scott gasped as a charged plate beneath them came to life.

"Sorry guys," Cyndi shrugged. "But you see, Rogue's not the only one being tricked. We gotta get you out of the way too."

The Misfits and X-Men screamed as a large shock ran through their system, knocking most of them out cold. "Takes more than that…To stop the Blob…" Freddy gasped.

"I agree…" Mastermind pulled out a canister of gas and threw it at him. "By the way this suit also protects me from electricity."

"They'll be fine," Cyndi said as Fred passed out. "For now anyway."

"Cutting it a little close weren't you?" Mastermind snapped.

"Hey it worked didn't it?" Cyndi told him. "Now nothing is gonna stop us."