Little Lost Phoenix

She woke up in the alley. It was cold and snowy but she did not feel the cold. Rachel looked around. There were buildings around her. "Where am I?" She stood up and started to walk around. Several dozen stray thoughts swirled around her as she walked out of the alley and looked at downtown Bayville. "This is…It can't be. It looks just like…like before…"

Her mind tried to remember things from before the Sentinels took over. There were some long forgotten snippets of memories of her going into town with her mother. She then remembered pictures from videos and books of how towns looked like before things changed. Before the Sentinels had enslaved the world. She walked down the street, oblivious to the looks people were giving her. It hadn't occurred to her that a girl with short red hair and four dark tattooed lines on her face wearing a studded red leather outfit and high heels was a bit conspicuous.

In fact it attracted some unwanted attention. "Hey, look what came from the circus," Duncan Matthews said to four of his cronies.

"Careful Dunc," One said. "That could be a mutie. I mean she looks like one."

"Even better," Duncan leered. He and his FOH pals followed her then surrounded her. "Well what do we have here? You look like some kind of mutie hooker."

"Hey I'll bet you could really get your freak on with her," One FOH follower snickered. He reached out to touch her.

Rachel could sense their perverted thoughts and grew very angry. She grabbed his arm. "Hands off!" She used her telekinesis to toss him into a wall. She then raised herself into the air and her body began to glow bright red.

"Uh oh…" Another FOH gulped. "This is not good!"

"It is a mutie freak!" Duncan went to punch her, but Rachel used her telekinesis to hold him in the air.

"You are…" Rachel growled as her eyes changed color and looked like they were spewing fire. "Beneath me…"

"You know you remind me a lot of someone I used to date," Duncan said. Then Rachel telekinetically threw him across the street into some garbage cans. "YEOWWWW!"

"We gotta get that freak!" Another FOH idiot snapped.

"Just try it…" Rachel snarled as her rage returned.

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"I can't believe you made me wear this ridiculous thing," The Alternate Magneto grumbled as he looked at the black X-Man outfit he was wearing.

"You wanna be arrested as the most wanted mutant on the block?" Logan snapped as he parked the X-Van. Ororo, Hank, Xavier, Jean, Scott and Rogue were with them.

"It might be a good idea to give you an alias as well," Hank remarked as they exited it.

"We could call him Metal Man," Morph suggested. The Exiles and the Misfits had followed the X-Men in the van in other vehicles.

"That makes him sound like Colossus yo," Todd said. "How about Magnar, Lord of Steel?"

"Sounds like a bad cartoon to me," Lance said. "How about Magnus?"

"You can't call him Magnus! I'm Magnus!" Magnus snapped.

"Oh yeah," Fred scratched his head. "How about Magnus II?"

"Great make him sound like a sequel!" Pietro threw up his hands.

"As long as I don't have to call him Father I don't care what we call him," Wanda shrugged.

"Mr. Attractive?" Xi asked.

"That makes him sound totally gay yo!" Todd groaned.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Sunfire bristled.

"Since I'm not gay, yes it does!" Alternate Magneto snapped. "Are they always like this?"

"No, sometimes they're worse," Jean sighed.

"Captain Amazing?" Fred asked.

"That is way too corny," Arcade. "How about Destructo?"

"You think I'm being corny?" Fred asked.

"Oh lord, I do not believe this…" Alternate Magneto winced in pain.

"Look it can't be that hard to give him a name," Althea said. "How about something more subtle? Maybe something like Samus or Sauron or some other fancy name?"

"Yeah something really cool," Arcade said. "I mean you can't call him Joe or something like that."

"Well the Joes call themselves Joe, or Joes…" Fred said. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"I didn't say that!" Arcade protested. "Just something fancier than that would work for him!"

"You're right," Pietro said. "He's definitely not a Joe."

"How about a Joseph?" Xi asked.

"Joseph," The Alternate Magneto sighed. "Fine, call me that! Anything! But can we get on with this now?"

"I believe the person we are searching for is over there," Hank pointed.

"Yeah I guess a chick wearing leather and on fire tossing around a bunch of FOH jerks in the middle of the street is a good clue," Todd blinked.

"YEARRRRGGHHH!" Duncan screamed as he was tossed into a wall.

"Well at least she's easy to find," Lance remarked.

"We have to stop her!" Xavier shouted.

"That's a plan," Morph said. "Any ideas how?"

"I don't know if we'll be much help yo," Todd noticed. "I mean she's doing a pretty good job of trashing the town. Look how she just sent those cars into the wall there!"

"Good thing there was no one in 'em!" Fred said. "But that's impressive how she got that water main to break and douse water all over those FOH people. Is that Duncan she's currently hosing?"

"Why am I not surprised?" Scott groaned. "We'll have to take her hard and fast."

"Wait!" Joseph said. "That might not be the best idea! Provoking her might make her even angrier! It might end up having her to cause real damage!"

"More than this?" Hank winced as a fire hydrant exploded as well as a few empty cars. More FOH came to fight Rachel only to be tossed aside or chased with several objects.

"So what do we do?" Lance asked. "Let her trash the town? Although personally I'm kind of sympathetic to that."

"I could fly up and try and touch her skin," Rogue said. "Drain some of that power."

"No that would make things even worse," Mimic said. "Trust me on this."

"Yeah when you tried that in three other dimensions, you blew up several cities and one continent," Morph told her. "Well not you specifically, the other you…Rogues…You know what I mean…"

"We should try to contact her using telepathy,"Mimic told them. He concentrated only to be thrown backwards into a wall. "She's…not listening."

"Maybe not to you…" Jean thought. She flew towards Rachel.

"Jean! Wait!" Xavier protested.

"Let her try Charles," Joseph said. "This may be our best chance."

"Rachel," Jean floated before her. "Rachel, please! Stop this!"

"You…You…" Rachel stopped. "You can't be…"

You know who I am. Open your mind to mine. Let me help you…Jean used her telepathy to link her mind with Rachel's.

"I think it's working," Scott said.

"Yeah Summers not as many cars are flying around," Pietro quipped.

"I'm going to help…" Xavier attempted his telepathy only to shout in pain. "She…shut me out!"

"Who Rachel?" Magnus asked.

"No…Jean…" Xavier blinked in astonishment. To his amazement Rachel powered down and fell unconscious. Jean caught her and brought her back to the others in her arms.

"She's quieted down," Jean told them.

"Well she's the only one," Wanda remarked as she pointed to the angry townspeople on the sidelines.

"Oh goody," Morph groaned. "I remember these happy people…"

"I'll take care of this,"Mimic closed his eyes and used his telepathy. Immediately everyone on the street stopped and stood still.

"What did you do?" Scott asked.

"I altered their memories,"Mimic told them. "They'll think these FOH jerks just got drunk and started a fight. And a water main broke."

"Is that a good idea?" Scott asked.

"You guys just had a few bad riots in this dimension,"Mimic looked at him. "Do you seriously want another?"

"He has a point," Xavier sighed. "I suggest we hurry back to the mansion."

"I have a faster mode of transportation," Blink grinned. "And now I can move your vehicles too. My powers have gotten a bit stronger lately."

Thanks to Blink they teleported away just minutes before several police cars showed up. "All right what happened now?" Officer Toody got out of the car.

"Uh…There was a fight…" One passerby blinked. "I think…"

"Yeah, those guys over there were fighting!" Another man shouted pointing at Duncan and his FOH buddies.

"Why am I not surprised," Groaned Toody. He walked over and grabbed Duncan and hauled him up. "All right you! You're coming to the station for disturbing the peace!"

"Hey aren't you Duncan Matthews?" Officer Muldoon asked.

"This…This isn't my fault!" Duncan shouted. "Mutants did this! I think…"

"Did anybody see any mutants here?" Toody shouted.

"As much as I'd love to blame 'em I didn't see any of 'em!" A woman shouted. "But I did see these bozos fighting!"

"These guys burned down my cousin's store and he don't even like mutants!" A man shouted.

"Yeah these idiots trashed our town along with the mutants!" Muldoon grumbled. "Friends of Humanity huh? With friends like you, who needs enemies!"

"But the mutants started this!" Duncan screamed as he was hauled away. "They must have done this!"

"Uh, Duncan you did throw the first punch," One FOH member muttered. "I think…"

"SHUT UP!" Duncan screamed as he was carted off to jail with the others.

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"She seems to be responding to the treatment," Hank told Xavier and Joseph as Rachel lay on the medical table. "She's malnourished and has minor injuries but they'll heal in time."

"It's her psychological wounds that I am worried about," Xavier looked at her, then at Jean and Scott who were by her side. Rogue was there too assisting Hank.

"What's with those lines on her face?" Rogue asked as she put down some medical equipment.

"Those are marks they branded on her," Jean told her. "When they brainwashed her to…" She stiffed. "Let's just say it wasn't her choice."

"There are evidences of scars on her body as well," Hank said.

"Whipmarks mostly," Jean's face grew cold. "And trust me, that's not the worst of it. I went through her thoughts. She's been abused in every way possible."

"My god…" Scott shook his head.

"Take a good look at her," Joseph warned. "Should you fail this could be your future. And the future of all mutants like her."

"Not if I can help it," Jean growled.

"So what happens now?" Scott asked.

"Normally the Timebroker sends the Exiles off on another mission as soon as they have completed one," Joseph said. "I assume that is what they will do once they have returned me to my own dimension with Rachel."

"Normally yes," A figure materialized among them. "But this is a special case."

"Who are you?" Scott readied his visor.

"Easy Scott," Xavier motioned. "I take it you are the Mysterious Timebroker?"

"Yes I am. I'm afraid I need to ask you for a favor Professor X," Timebroker said. "A big one…"