March 15, 2002. Ides of March.

The purring wound through her meditations as she floated, completely open. She was so open she dissolved. She was formless and without thought, invisible.

Her body was in a crate on a cargo plane that hefted itself high enough to pass over the sharp peaks, headed deep into the mountains to an isolated mansion.

He searched for her; at some level she felt that. But she would not be found. She was not there to find. She was everywhere and nowhere, she was everything and she was nothing. She brought with her the death of many, gently enfolded in the gossamer of nothingness.

Not yet time to unpack.

Vaguely she sensed a touch on the pilot's mind; his 'HUD' flickered to life. Not long now.

Far from where she was dispersed, her body smiled. The ninja woman was ready.

xXx

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Geraint murmured. Xavier waved his concerns away.

"Geraint, after all the ninja training you have observed, you should know the First Rule," Xavier said. "Leave nothing living. Now order the evacuation of the base. Four of our ninja and four of our students will stay. You must take the others and evacuate the facility."

"The danger," Geraint said, shaking his head. "I can't accept the danger you place yourself in."

"The guards, soldiers, all the others would not make me any safer," Xavier explained patiently. "The ninja women that are coming will kill everyone between me and them. No matter what. So I wish to preserve life by letting them come right in."

"You are awfully confident," Geraint said, "or bored with life."

Xavier's eyes narrowed, and Geraint felt a ripple from the incredibly powerful telepath. "Do you doubt me?" Xavier asked gently.

"No sir, I don't," Geraint said as sweat beaded on his scalp. A most uncomfortable sensation.

"Then trust me," Xavier said. "You have little time. One is coming on the supply plane. I cannot pinpoint her, but she is there. She must be on the plane. The other is coming in from the mountains. They will be here in an hour. I want you out of here before then."

"Yes sir," Geraint said. It seemed there was nothing else to say. He left.

Xavier closed his eyes and smiled to himself. Come to me, he thought, beckoning them. I will wait for you here. The others are of no consequence.

Come to me.

They drew near.

xXx

Both planes had droned into the empty sky, and Lock quietly waited in the shadow of the house. She did not need her psionics or her ninja senses to know that the house was almost abandoned. So they were expected. This gave her a cold chill. They should not be expected. She had only spoken with one person about this mission, and he was not going to tell anyone because he forgot they ever talked; she had seen to that.

Silent would not have tipped her hand either, Lock was sure. Closing her eyes for a moment, she felt Silent moving through the snow, so near now…

Silent hunted, the cold irrelevant. Now it was light flurries, the chill too deep for the fallen snow to stick to the pale blanket already on the ground. Every puff and gust of wind slithered a knee-high mist of snow around her legs as she stalked down the side of the mountain towards the mansion.

Yes. This is a good place for an ambush. She felt their hearts, slowed by the cold. She felt their minds, numb and silent. They waited. They waited for her.

So she was not surprised when they burst up through the crust of snow.

You have not yet learned, she thought to them. Your techniques are sloppy, because I can do this—

The shuriken glanced off her forearm, and she leaped into the air, her short sword whipping free and lashing through the ninja's neck. She landed behind the corpse, and the shuriken that fired towards her hit the dead meat with rapid thuds. Simple, she thought, you are so slow. Her sword whipped out of her hand and caught the other ninja square in the chest.

Surely you can survive that, she thought, moving towards him and touching him here, there, there.

The shattered ninja collapsed. She retrieved her sword and twirled it once; it was clean.

She moved on, and the snow hissed over all traces of her passing.

Lock let her eyes drift open, back in her body. She shivered again, wondering about her new ally. What Lock could have been. Then she moved to the doorway, through it, into the mansion.

No security cameras. Well, that figures, she thought. When he is home they are not needed, and when he isn't, why bother.

She moved into the chilled mansion, and it felt warm after the howling wind. Elaborate woodwork, stained glass, carpet on the floors. She slipped in and moved to an alcove as she sensed the approach of a guard.

His mind flitted ahead of him, and behind; he was Aware. His paces were slow as he walked down the hall, his eyes half shut, looking for her with his other senses. She quickly dampened down, but just from watching him move she knew he was accomplished in combat. The submachine gun he carried was nothing. His long hair obscured half his face, fanning out over his shoulders.

She became invisible.

He walked past.

She moved silently behind him, towards the door he had passed through.

Sloppy, came a thought. Leave nothing living.

I have passed him, she thought back. He is not a danger.

The First Rule, came the thought. The First Rule is more important than your judgment.

Then she heard the snak of steel through flesh and bone, felt the quick hot spurt of death.

Silent had entered the building.

It doesn't have to be that way, Lock thought.

Yes it does, came Silent's thought, fast and urgent. Can you not feel him, gloating and malignant? He must be silenced. I have sought him as he has sought me in dreams. I must still his laughter, his endless laughter, bring silence to his power. You have shown me the way.

I feel him, yes, Lock thought. He has controlled me before.

Then Lock turned and saw her, standing in the hallway, her blade bright. She was a dark thing of breathtaking beauty, death hovering around her like hair shrouds a face underwater, coiling with power, asleep and more alive than a mortal should be.

Did you like it? Silent thought scornfully.

He must be stopped, Lock nodded firmly. I do not think we should kill him.

Silent took three steps and was out of sight.

Do what you must, came a thought, and Lock was not sure whose it was.

xXx

Like moving through deep water; like a dream, where you cannot run. Lock found herself in a well-appointed chamber below the mansion. A window looked out from the cliff face. The secret room was armored and independent. She faced Xavier, as she could only remember doing a handful of times. Her mind was on high burn keeping the weight of his presence at bay. A drop of blood trickled out of her nose.

Then Silent was beside her, and the burden eased somewhat.

Now is the time for you to die, Silent thought.

I have long waited to bend you to my will, Xavier replied easily, his articulation and thought clear and sharp in their minds; Lock blinked.

Gasped.

Crushing weight slammed into the two ninja, and they bowed beneath it; Xavier reached into their minds.

But Silent was protected; she was empty; she could not move at him, but she was not his. Her eyes flared, her nose bled, and a smile twisted across her face. She became something deeper. She had prepared for this—

Next to her, there was a Moment of Truth. The truth was ugly.

Lock took a step to the side and lashed out. Silent blinked, startled. Looked at Lock. Silent looked into her eyes, she saw Xavier looking back.

The battle was quick and foregone. The psi knife was through Silent's forehead in a flash.

Silent lay on the floor, her breathing shallow, and Lock stood slowly swaying back and forth, her nose freely bleeding.

How, thought Lock, deeply submerged.

A backdoor into your mind, my dear, replied Xavier. Standard procedure for those who work for me. I knew you were coming, and how. I knew you would bring Silent; indeed, without her I never would have allowed you to leave in the first place. Your link to her was my link to her. The Hand will be most pleased that I have done what they could not and taken, alive no less, their rogue pupil. When I am finished with her, Xavier smiled, she will keep none of her secrets. And as a bonus, you have given me a rogue lab monkey from Extechops, this time with no property damage.

Damn you. Damn you.

Xavier gestured, and she collapsed unconscious. His breathing was calculated and even.

He steepled his fingers. "Hans," he called. One of his scientists stepped into the room. "Take them to the containment chambers."

"Yes sir," Hans said. "Shall I summon the plane back?"

"Not yet," Xavier said, sweat beaded on his domed forehead. "Not yet."

xXx

Franc and Hans pushed the gurneys with the ninja women on them. They exchanged a glance, then turned and opened fire on the door into the dining room.

Their guns clattered, furiously loud in the hallway, punching holes in the solid door. A retreating shadow left blood on the other side of the door.

"Dammit!" came a shout. "Fine, you wanna play it hard," snikt "we'll play it hard."

As the door exploded into kindling, Hans snatched at the intruder's mind and tried to halt him—got something-else—then Hans grabbed at his face as blood spurted out his nose and he reeled.

As for Franc, he just kept shooting.

Neither of them stopped him.

Loan whirled around the bullets and snapped his claws through Franc's face, tearing his head in half. "Keep yer lobes to yerself, Fabio," he grunted to the other scientist, hurling Franc's body at him. They went down in a tangle of limbs.

"Didn't like my head?" Logan asked. "Sorry it's a little messy, but that's what ya get for droppin by without callin first." Shunk.

The fight was over.

Logan snipped the restraints off Lock. Then his arms swallowed his claws again. "Come on, girl," he whispered, rubbing her hand. "Let's get outa here.

She blinked, slowly, and yawned. He grinned at her. "Sight fer sore eyes, Bets," he said.

Her hand shot out, and a finger punched into each of his eyes. His head snapped back, the shock of pain incredible. Her other hand shot into his sternum. Her leg whipped up off the table and crushed into the side of his neck, taking him off his feet.

"Whu" he managed before she dropped, momentum and body weight smashing her knee into the side of his head, cracking the floor with his skull.

He faintly felt her fingers jab him in three places, then he was unconscious.

xXx

"Touching, really," came a voice from very far away, on the other side of the pain.

Logan raised his head blearily, trying to blink but failing as his eyes had not grown in yet.

"Yew must be Xavier," Logan managed. He was not tied or restrained, but he was kneeling on the floor.

"Very good," the cold voice said. "Doggy gets a biscuit."

"Yeah," Logan said. "Like I've never heard that before. You can do better'n that, Mister Nancy Pansy Psychic."

"Gracious," Xavier said under his breath. "Ms. Braddock, please take this poor creature and the woman ninja to the restraining chambers. I'll be along directly to help you into yours."

"Yes sir," her voice said, distant.

"I got somethin ta say first," Logan growled, his voice broken with pain.

"Very well," Xavier said. "Say your piece."

"I just wanted to tell you I aint stupid," Logan said. "I knew the odds and I came anyway. I just wanted you to know that."

"Honestly," Xavier said, his voice amused. "I don't care about your intellect."

"Figgered you wouldn't. For all the experimentin people do on me, they never ask me what I think. So before we get back to that, or before the big check out, I want to tell you what I think."

"This won't take long, will it?" Xavier said, glancing at the clock.

"I'll keep it short," Logan said. He felt his eyes growing back in with an unbearable painful itch. "A wise man once told me that you aint really livin until you got something you'd die for. For me, that's my friends. Once you make it into the circle of my friends, there aint much I wouldn't do for ya. That's because I got honor. Honor aint about winnin and losin. Honor is about where you draw the line you will not cross. Its about what you'll live for and what you'll die for, and without it you don't really live and you die a little every day." Logan cleared his throat.

"Finished?"

"Almost," Logan said. "I wanted to tell you all this in case nobody ever did. Even if you win today, and tomorrow, and get the whole enchilada er whatever yer fightin for, when it comes down to it and you're in the dark at three in the mornin and the doubt comes, and the fear comes, and the regret comes, you gotta have somethin to push em back with or it's all fer nothin."

"Thank you, that was very kind. And now—"

"One more thing," Logan said, the floor coming into focus. "I got one more thing to say."

"My patience wears thin," Xavier said.

"Now," Logan said with a grin as he finally saw the floor.

"Now?" Xavier echoed, puzzled. Then his eyes widened—

A muffled tearing crack and a gust of brimstone erupted next to Xavier's chair, and a shadowy figure darted out a hand holding a spray canister, firing a mist at Xavier. The powerful psycher raised his hands, but he was too late. The gas danced over his eyes and through his sinuses. His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped in his chair.

Trespasser stepped through the curling mist of his teleportation and sprayed some more in Xavier's eyes and nose just to be sure. Then he turned to where Logan was standing and Lock swaying, ready to fall.

"Ta sum up," Logan said with a ferocious grin. "One. I aint stupid. Two. I got friends. Kurt, here's yer tracker." Logan took a small black device that looked like a pager out of his pocket and tossed it to the newcomer. "Thanks a million."

"I believe that makes us even," Kurt said.

"Yeah, and you can also look around," Logan said, gesturing. "Lotsa secrets around here."

"You are too kind," Kurt said, and he moved out of the armored room and down the hall.

"My head," Lock said faintly.

"I know the feelin," Logan said, rubbing his scalp. "You are a nasty woman, you know that?"

"I really am sorry," she said earnestly.

"I knew what I was getting into," he said with a shrug. "This is the way it had to go down. But the story aint over."

Lock looked over at Xavier's slumped form. "No, it isn't over yet. And while he lives it won't be over." She looked back at Logan. "He didn't see your plan in your mind," she noted.

Logan shrugged. "Too lazy," he grinned. "He coulda poked in, but like he said, he didn't care what I thought. An I got some noisy headspace. How'd he get you?"

"He had a back door to my mind," she said sourly. "Put it in while I was being trained at the Institute. Just waltzed through his personal Belgium and evaded my Maginot line completely."

"Can he do it again?" Logan asked quietly.

"No," she murmured. "No he can't. But there's only one way to be totally sure."

He watched her. "So what now?"

"Well," she said slowly, "the First Rule is to leave nothing living. That would include Xavier."

Logan waited.

Lock's forehead wrinkled with thought. "He is a powerful psychic. I don't know if I'd be able to track him down again. This could be the only opportunity to rid the world of his evil."

Logan said nothing, patient and present.

She looked at him. "What do you say?"

He slowly shook his head. "I just don't know," he replied. "I don't know if the greater crime is to let him live so he can wreck more lives, or to kill him and accept the responsibility of his death. I usta know more than I do now; seen too much, I got too many of my own questions for me to answer this for you. You gotta do what you feel is right, then you gotta live with it."

"What about you?" she said. "If I let him live, you'll just walk away? After seeing what he can do?"

"It's about trust, Bets," Logan said. "I trust your judgment. You've been in his head. You decide."

"What if I don't want to?"

Logan looked at her closely. "You don't decide this now then you'll have to make this decision over and over the rest of your life. It'll ghost you, Bets. Believe me, I know about puttin off decisions. You gotta go head first into it and accept the consequences. Preferably before he wakes up."

She bowed her head for a moment, then raised her chin to face the slumped figure. "He will live. I am not a ninja, never wanted to be a ninja. Their talents and abilities were forced on me, but I choose to remain human." She faced Logan. "It is better to walk in the light than to be chained to shadow."

He grinned, with no words to say. He gave her a quick hug. "Okay, let's get outa here," he muttered.

The First Rule. Leave nothing living. Lock hesitated, her eyes widening.

Her link to Silent was diminished to a vestige, either by Silent's choice or Xavier's will or her decision to turn from the path of the ninja. Still, through it, she saw what Silent wished her to see—

Xavier unconscious, so Silent slipped easily from her restraints. Armory. The mansion had an armory. With C4 explosives, with detonators—through the house—enough to—

"Logan!" Lock said urgently. "Now! We leave now!"

"What about him?" Logan asked, pointing.

"He'll be safer here," she said quickly. "His people will return shortly, and this room can withstand almost anything. We are not so lucky," she added as they sprinted through the halls of the Chateau. Then they were outside, running, running.

Kurt, run, Lock thought to him. The house. She showed him. There was a sharp crack, she lost him.

The mansion exploded, blasting into the sky, collapsing outward, shredded and gutted with the uncontrollable explosions that tore through it. The crashing rumble loosened the mountain, and an avalanche swept down to bury the remainder of the site.

Much further down on the slope, a hand punched out of the snow followed by a damp and irritated man. Lock joined him.

"I suppose you pranced along the snow and didn't fall in," Logan muttered.

She suppressed a smile. "Something like that," she agreed.

"Is Kurt okay?" Logan asked.

Her eyes unfocused, then she covered her mouth and almost giggled. "He's so testy when I find him. He's fine, and moving away now. Silent is clear too," she said in a more subdued voice.

"How about baldy?"

"His people are on their way back even now. He'll live, and they'll dig him out."

Logan grunted and managed to stand. "I swear, Somethin about me is just death to buildings." He dusted himself off. "I should warn Stark that if I'm there for long Stark International is gonna be a crater. He should start working on Plan B right away."

She looked at him. "When I called to you earlier, you didn't tell me you were bringing backup."

He shrugged. "Figured if I did, then you'd know. Better you not know, then you can't give it away. I didn't tell you I was gonna check Stark's satellite photos of the area to find the house, either. Or that I was comin in on snowmobile after you ladies had a head start."

"Fair enough," she shrugged. "You handled that very well," she added.

"Thanks," he said. "It's nuthin, though. I mean, that's what friends are for." He grinned.

"So that's what friends are for," she observed, unable to suppress her smile this time.

"Well," he said, heading down the slope, "that and ever now and then, if yer lucky, makin you a good plate of franks n beans."

Hardly feeling the cold, they left the steaming and shattered mountain slope and headed back towards civilization.