Chapter Seven

The SHIELD Briefing Room. Logan, Danny Ketch, and two instances of Jamie Madrox sat at the large table in the center playing cards. One of the Madroxes reached out and swept a pile of cards toward himself.

"Hey, not so fast, bub. I took that trick."

"No, you didn't."

"You played a Jack, I had the Ace."

"That was the Left Bauer, Logan."

Logan sighed. "I still don't get this Euchre shit. You sure you guys don't wanna play poker?"

"I'm still not sure that a man having his own duplicate for a partner isn't automatically considered crossboarding," Ketch said. "Don't you guys always know what the other is thinking?"

"No," both Madroxes said in unison.

"It's a damn good thing we're not playin' for money," Logan said.

The doors to the Briefing Room slid open, and Steve Rogers and Nick Fury strode in.

"This is it, Cap?" Fury said with a grimace. "I know I didn't give you a lot of time, but this is all you could round up?"

"There are two more on their way, sir," Steve said. "They should be here any minute."

"You still haven't told us who's joinin' us on this little romp, Steve," Logan said. "Anyone we know?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that, Logan," Steve replied. Then, to Ketch and the Madroxes, he added, "Would you excuse us for a moment?"

Logan left the table, and Madrox created another duplicate of himself to sit in and play the next hand, to Ketch's dismay. Steve took Logan aside, and the two men stood in a far corner of the room.

"What's this all about, Cap?"

"I just thought you should know," Steve said, calmly, "that one of the members of our team is Erik Lensherr."

Logan's eyebrows furrowed and his mouth scrunched up into a scowl. "You called in Magneto?"

"I needed a powerhouse, Logan. I don't like it much more than you do. But I think he could prove to be very useful, and if Professor Xavier has been willing to make amends with Lensherr, then that's good enough for me."

Logan's eyes darted to the side, and he sniffed the air. "Speak of the devil."

The doors to the briefing room slid open again, and in walked the Master of Magnetism himself. He wore not the cape and helmet that the public eye had come to know and fear, but rather a pair of dress pants, a button down shirt and a fedora hat.

"Hello, Steve. Logan," Erik said, pleasantly.

Logan's claws popped, almost as a reflex. "Afternoon, Erik," Logan said, trying his very best to sound civil. True, as Steve had said, if Xavier had been willing to give Erik another chance, then maybe he really was a changed man now. But just being in the same room as Magneto made Logan's bones ache with the painful memory of having his adamantium skeleton ripped from his body years ago. He'd sooner stab his claws straight through Erik's chest then even have to think about reliving that experience.

"Charles sends his regards to all of you," Erik said, removing his hat.

Fury just shook his head. "Didn't see this one coming, Cap." He took out another cigar. "Gotta say, took some stones to make that call."

"So what's this all about, anyway?" Ketch asked impatiently, growing frustrated as he and Madrox lost hand after hand to the team of Madrox and Madrox.

"We don't have time to wait around all day," Fury said. "When the final member of your team gets here, the rest of you can get him caught up to speed."

Everyone took their seats as Fury pressed a button on a small remote control. A screen dropped down from the ceiling, projecting an image of Bruce Banner.

"This is one Dr. Robert Bruce Banner. Most of you are familiar with him, having tangled with his alter ego at one point or another. As I explained to Captain America, we here at SHIELD have kept surveillance on Banner for years, trying our best to keep the boy out of trouble. After all, trouble for Banner means trouble for humanity in general. Last week, we received a call from a Dr. Leonard Samson, an associate of Banner's. Seems Banner missed a scheduled appointment with Samson, which caused him to become concerned. Our men noticed that Banner had been acting strange lately. We couldn't put our finger on it, but his movements didn't seem the same, he wasn't following his usual patterns of behavior or using any familiar aliases or hideouts. We had our men bring Banner in... a risky move, yes, but we felt it was a necessary action. What we found once we had Banner in custody was not Bruce Banner at all."

Fury pressed another button on the remote.

"It was a Skrull."

The picture of Banner vanished, and was replaced by footage of two SHIELD agents torturing a Skrull that had been tied to a chair.

Just then, the door to the Briefing Room slid open once more. In walked a man with a chiseled physique, who was dripping wet and wore nothing more than what amounted to a green pair of Speedos.

"Sorry I'm late," he said.

Fury took a long drag of his cigar. "That's quite all right, Prince Namor. But for the love of God, would you please put some fucking clothes on?"