A Spark Amidst the Ashes

"You have made a wise decision, Solitaire," Magneto said as he entered his war room with his newest recruit. Solitaire was now dressed in a black uniform with red markings. His long hair had been cut and braided into a topknot. A large sword was by his side.

"I can no longer allow any mutant to be abused by humanity," Solitaire told him. "I will do what I must to save them."

"Unlike your brother," Magneto shook his head. "Forgive me for not knowing the correct terminology for your gender or lack thereof. Is Xi your 'brother' or…?"

"Not any more," Solitaire narrowed his eyes.

"I understand," Magneto nodded.

Lorna, Cortez, Mender, Sabertooth and Amelia Voight were in the room as well. "I see we have a new recruit," Amelia said.

"This is Solitaire," Magneto introduced. "My new personal bodyguard."

"Bodyguard?" Cortez nearly spat out his drink. "What about me?"

"What about you?" Amelia looked at him. "Everyone here knows what a coward you are!"

"Actually Solitaire will be more like dispatcher who will take care of some of our human enemies," Magneto explained.

"So he's more like an assassin?" Lorna was confused.

"It is what I was created for," Solitaire explained.

"Solitaire came from the same Cobra program to create the ultimate assassin squad as our friend Xi of the Misfits," Magneto explained. "In addition to his fighting skills he also has the powers of invisibility, reading genetic codes by touch and the ability to create short range spacial distortion fields."

"Huh?" Cortez narrowed his eyes.

"He can make mini black holes to tear things up," Mender explained.

"Oh," Cortez realized. "But he's not really a 'he' is he? In fact, that thing wasn't really born, it was created in a lab! Why on earth would you even consider…"

Before Cortez could finish he was viciously backhanded by Solitaire and knocked to the ground. Cortez then found himself on the wrong end of a very sharp, very pointy sword. "Are you questioning Magneto's decision?" Solitaire hissed.

"N-No…" Cortez gulped nervously. "I would never dream of…Let me rephrase the question…Why wouldn't Lord Magneto consider one such as you to join our ranks?"

"I'm liking this guy already," Sabertooth chuckled.

"God you fold faster than one of those bloody Yugi-Oh players," Lucas strode into the room. "Personally I've got no problem with this. 'Bout time somebody with balls joined this team. Uh, no offense." He apologized to Solitaire.

"Let's just say that I can trust Solitaire with my daughter a lot more than with you!" Magneto snapped. With a dismissive wave of his hand Magneto motioned for Solitaire to let Cortez go. "Now I take it everyone has heard about the debacle at the Hellfire Club?"

"All over the underworld channels," Lucas snorted. "Boy those idiots at Cobra really screwed up big time."

"What a surprise," Solitaire said sarcastically as he folded his arms.

"I still feel bad for them. The Hellfire Club I mean. Even if they were our rivals, they were also fellow mutants," Lorna told them.

"What's with this 'were' crap?" Sabertooth grunted. "It's not like they're dead or anything!"

"Cockroaches are easier to kill," Magneto agreed. "However the fact remains their Bio-Pulse has been rendered inoperable. Which means ours is the only one remaining."

"So why do we not use it?" Cortez asked. "We know it works! We could use the extra mutants! Why do we wait?"

"Patience, Cortez," Magneto told him. "The time for us to establish our dominance over the Earth has not come yet. We are not strong enough. Although our numbers are growing, the humans are still far too numerous and more powerful than you think."

"If you use the Bio Pulse my lord…." Cortez began.

"When and where I choose to use the Bio Pulse it will be when it is most advantageous to us, understand?" Magneto glared at him.

"As you wish my lord," Cortez folded gracefully.

"Magneto is merely using caution. We cannot afford any mistakes. If you wish for test subjects I can acquire them," Solitaire told Magneto. "My powers can determine if a human has a dormant X-Gene."

"Cough! Kissass! Cough!" Cortez grunted, pretending to cough. Everyone glared at him. "Oh like we weren't all thinking it!"

"Jealous much?" Sabertooth sneered.

"That's precisely why I called Solitaire to this meeting," Magneto said. "I'm sure Sabertooth can assist you."

"Why would I wanna do that?" Sabertooth grunted.

"So you can kill those who fail the test," Solitaire explained.

"'Taire, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Sabertooth grinned.

"Our time will come," Magneto smiled. "Soon the mutant race will take its rightful position as Masters of the Earth. I shall see to that personally. And heaven help the fools, be they human or mutant that stand in my way."

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"You are an idiot," Pierce sneered at Evan. What was left of the Inner Circle and the Hellions were in an extravagant chalet somewhere in Switzerland. "How could you just hand over Sage like that?"

"They had Ms. Frost! I couldn't just leave her behind!" Evan defended.

"She's in a coma! She's a vegetable! She's useless to us!" Pierce snapped.

"But not to Xavier who could have simply entered her mind and taken what information he needed," Shaw told him as he stared at his glass of port. "And even with all Sage knows, Emma knows even more. It was a lose-lose situation. Daniels just made sure we didn't lose anymore than we had."

"We wouldn't have lost anything if you'd let us stay and protect you!" Yvonne snarled.

"Yeah at the very least we would have kept those Cobra chumps from wrecking the whole ceremony!" Bevatron agreed.

"The lad has a point," Leland admitted. "As much as I'd love to blame the X-Men and the Misfits, the real culprits for this whole fiasco are Cobra and you, Shaw!"

"ME?" Shaw snapped throwing his glass into the fireplace. "How the devil was I supposed to know Cobra would show up? Or that DaCosta's son's friends would…"

"Don't blame your failures on my son!" Mr. DaCosta snapped.

"Why not? He was fighting against us!" Shaw snapped.

"He was tied up and you know it," Mr. DaCosta told him. "I had him under control!"

"You had him under control?" Pierce glared at him. "Frost and I captured them! You did nothing as usual!"

"I didn't screw the ceremony up!" DaCosta snarled.

"That's right, Shaw did," Pierce thought. "Technically."

"It's not like I just let Cobra and those other fools waltz in there you know?" Shaw snarled. "I don't even know how they found us in the first place!"

"How much you wanna bet Selene told them where we were?" Monet grumbled.

"Who, Cobra?" Beef asked.

"No you idiot! The X-Men and Misfits!" Monet snapped.

"Obviously!" Pierce snapped. "That's another loose end you failed to take care of!"

"And how exactly do you propose to destroy a centuries old witch like her without her cursing us to the end of time?" Shaw snapped.

"Well it couldn't have been any worse than what happened to us the other night!" Pierce snarled. "Our headquarters is destroyed, the Massachusetts Academy is closed down, half of our assets are frozen and we are stuck here in this godforsaken wilderness!"

"We're hardly roughing it by any stretch of the imagination," Leland snorted as he poured himself some brandy.

"The point is that the Hellfire Club was nearly destroyed!" Pierce shouted.

"But we weren't destroyed!" Shaw snapped. "And we're not! Not by a longshot! True, this is a temporary setback…We just have to lie low for a while until our lawyers can find a way out of this mess."

"Isn't that what Martha Stewart said?" Beef asked.

"Mark my words, the Hellfire Club will rise again," Shaw told them, the flames of the fire lighting his face. "And when we do we will burn all that stands in our path. From Cobra to the X-Men! All of them!"

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"Kincaid you are so damn lucky that we decided not to throw you to the wolves it's scary," Gyrich snarled at the General. "And I don't just mean the media. I mean real wolves! To gnaw on what's left of your body!"

"As I have explained eight times, the Sentinel malfunction was not my fault," Kincaid told him. "Turns out one of my scientists was a mutant himself. He must have sabotaged the project."

"For once Gyrich is right about something," Eddington said, carefully folding his fingers. "You were lucky. Lucky that the Misfits managed to uncover evidence of the Hellfire Club being involved in Project Neverland and nothing about us."

"Perhaps I was a bit…overzealous," Kincaid coughed. "But I was ordered by you to capture those mutants by any means necessary."

"Capture, not kill…" Eddington warned. "Mutants are a resource, Kincaid. I'm a bit…disturbed at the fact that you allowed so many to die. At least before we could find out what many of them could do. In the future I want you to take more precautions handling your test subjects. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," Kincaid nodded, properly chastened. "I allowed my personal bias against mutants to interfere with my work. It will not happen again."

"See that it doesn't," Eddington warned. "From now on you will be working with Mr. Gyrich here on Project Wideawake. I expect the two of you to cooperate."

"Understood," Kincaid nodded again and saluted. "If you will excuse me gentlemen I have to tie up a few loose ends."

"See that you do," Gyrich told him. "The last thing we need is another fiasco involving the Sentinels and the Media! If there are you're a dead man, got it?"

"I assure you Mr. Gyrich, there will be no further problems," Kincaid told him. He left the conference room and headed towards his car.

In the shadows where he was sure no one would see, 'Kincaid' morphed into Mystique. "This is going to be too easy," She grinned. "I wonder if I should have told Gyrich that the good general is already dead? Oh well…He'll find out soon enough."

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"Well I guess I'd better be going," Warpath sighed. He had on a red turtleneck and jeans with a jean jacket. He had a large duffel bag with him. Xavier, Rogue, Dead Girl and Scott were there at the door of the Institute to see him off.

"So where will you go?" Rogue asked.

"I need to do a lot of thinking," Warpath told them. "About my brother, what I've done…Lots of things. Maybe someday I'll come back but right now…I've always wanted to travel around the country. Right now seems like a good time to do it."

"You're always welcome to stay with us," Xavier told them.

"Your brother would like that," Dead Girl told him. "Trust me."

"I know," Warpath sighed. "But right now…I just need some time off. See ya." He walked out the door and got on his motorcycle. He drove off into the afternoon sunset.

"He'll be back," John Proudstar's spirit spoke to Dead Girl. "I know my brother. He'll be back when he's ready."

"Just like you," Dead Girl said.

"Like me what?" Scott asked.

Obviously the others hadn't heard this exchange. "Nothing. Just thinking aloud. Gonna go listen to some Jim Morrison."

"You have a Jim Morrison CD?" Rogue asked.

"No, I'm really gonna go talk to Jim Morrison," Dead Girl explained. "We met up in the afterlife. He's pretty cool. He shows up every now and then to ask me advice about relationships. See ya." She walked off.

"She's kidding right?" Scott asked.

"I hope so," Rogue blinked. "Our lives are weird enough as it is without Jim Morrison's ghost wandering around."

"I think I'm going to go talk to Jean," Scott said and walked off to the Infirmary. He got the surprise of his life when he got down there. "What are you two doing?"

Althea and Jean were sitting there laughing their heads off. "What?" Althea asked him. "Can't two friends just sit down and chat?"

"Since when are you two friends?" Scott blinked. "Did I miss something here?"

"Let's just say we have a lot in common now," Jean shrugged. "And leave it at that."

"Frightening as it is, it's true," Althea quipped.

Scott just stood there with his mouth open. "He's in shock," Jean grinned at Althea.

"Told you," Althea grinned back.

"Well who wouldn't be in shock when Hell freezes over?" Scott told them.

"I'll see ya later," Althea got up and left the room. "You know how it is, so much of my Toddles to kiss and so little time to do it."

"Okay now that's a disturbing image that won't come out of my head," Scott groaned. He sat down and took Jean's hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Jean admitted. "So what did I miss? Althea told me about Proudstar and Sage. What about Neverland and those mutants that escaped from it?"

"The official line from the government is that Neverland was a rogue agency," Scott told her. "Especially since it was on Canadian soil. So Canada denied any knowledge of it. But of course it's being covered up so that the media will never know what happened there. Like it never existed."

"Like those poor mutants who died there," Jean sighed. "And those that escaped are hiding so there are no witnesses."

"I know," Scott told her. "It stinks but at least one good thing came out of this fiasco. The government and SHEILD now have evidence of the Hellfire Club's involvement. Sage and Warpath gave them a whole lot to work on. They may be able to hide the evidence from the press, but SHEILD isn't taking any chances. They're trying to track them down but no sign of 'em. Even the Massachusetts Academy is gone."

"Gone? You mean the Massachusetts Academy is closed down?" Jean asked.

"Yeah but don't count either the Hellions or the Hellfire Club out just yet," Scott told her. "They've probably fled to one of their other holes to hide in."

"Still having a mutant school being closed down…Even if it is the Massachusetts Academy…" Jean shuddered. "Hits a little too close to home."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Scott asked.

"I'm fine," Jean hugged him. "I think I'm through the worst of it. But you seem to be a little bit in shock."

"That obvious?"

Jean tapped her head. "Psychic link. Even when the Phoenix possessed me I could still hear you. But it's more than that that's bothering you isn't it?"

"No, I know this shouldn't get me but it does. It really bothers me is that all this time I thought we were the Professor's first students and it turns out we weren't," Scott sighed. "I mean what if Sage wasn't the only one the Professor taught? How many more mutants are there that the Professor has contacts with that we don't know about?"

"There's a lot the Professor hasn't told us," Jean sighed. "And I'm wondering if he really believes it's for our own good or his."

"His?"

"When I was…Not myself, the Phoenix managed to open parts of the Professor's mind. I don't remember exactly what I saw, but I do know there's something else about Xavier's past he's hiding," Jean sighed. "Guilt…That's what I sensed. A terrible sense of guilt. He's keeping something else from us…Or one of us. But I don't know what."

"Maybe he has a reason?" Scott shrugged. "I mean we all have stuff in our pasts we'd rather forget. I mean if I was tortured like Gambit and sold off by my own father I know I'd try to block out that memory!"

"And he's still out there," Jean sighed. "It seems like that madman has ties to nearly every maniac and evil organization we've run up against. Who knows what else he's done over years?"

"We'll get him, Jean," Scott hugged her. "I promise. One of these days Sinister will get the justice he deserves."

"I just hope that day isn't too late for us," Jean sighed.

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"So do you wanna fill in the blanks about this whole Sage thing for me?" Roadblock asked Xavier as they sat in the library drinking some tea.

Xavier put down his cup and sighed. "Not long after I recruited Storm and Wolverine to my cause, we met a young woman named Tessa. She had extraordinary telepathic abilities as well as the ability to analyze and store data in her mind like a computer. I trained her in secret because at that time the Hellfire Club was trying to manipulate my two agents and me. She volunteered to spy on the club in secret. Despite my reservations, I agreed."

"Long story short she got caught," Roadblock interrupted. "The Hellfire Club wasn't as dumb as you thought."

"I looked for her for years," Xavier sighed. "But they had hidden her beyond Cerebro's capabilities."

"And it turned out she was still fooling them," Roadblock said.

"I almost never created the X-Men due to that incident," Xavier sighed. "It was only because of Magneto's increasing presence I forced myself to put that plan in motion."

"And you feel guilty for abandoning her," Roadblock added.

"Magneto was right about one thing, this is a war," Xavier sighed. "And we've had more than enough casualties. How many more will there be?"

"What about this Phoenix Force Jean has in her?" Roadblock asked.

"It's contained, for now at the very least," Xavier told him. "It came much faster than I thought. I thought we had three years to prepare when in reality we barely had more than one. Jean's training must continue at higher levels. I only hope she can handle it, for all our sakes."

"You know something," Roadblock thought. "This whole thing may have been a mess, but it did teach our two teams something about togetherness."

"I think you're right Roadblock," Xavier admitted. "When the chips were down, both Misfits and X-Men were able to put aside their differences."

"YOU GET THE HELL OUTTA MY FACE YOU OVERGROWN SNOWBALL!" They heard Shane shouting outside. The sound of energy bullets could be heard.

"Do you want to take a look outside?" Roadblock asked. "Or should we pretend it didn't happen and hide?"

"Might as well see what the trouble is," Xavier sighed as he rubbed his head. They opened the window and looked out. Several X-Men and Misfits were on the lawn doing what they did best. Fighting.

"We broke up you idiot!" Jubilee snapped at Bobby as she threw several firecrackers at him. Then she turned on Shane. "And you! I can fight my own battles!"

"OW! OW! OW!" Shane ran from Jubilee. Bobby was right behind him as they both fled from her wrath.

"You're not good enough for her!" Bobby shouted. "And if you think I'm just going to let you use her, you've got another think coming!"

"At least I'm not stupid enough to play pranks on her and drive her away in the first place!" Shane shouted back. "OW! GIRL THAT HURTS!"

"Great!" Tabitha groaned. "Just what we need! A new love triangle around here!"

"Well the old one was getting pretty stale," Wanda admitted. Suddenly the ground shook. "Then again…"

Kitty was chasing after both Lance and Peter who were fighting each other. "Boys! Stop it! Stop it!"

"I'll stop it when this jerk knows when to quit!" Peter snapped.

"I KNEW IT!" Lance shouted. "I KNEW YOU WERE STILL AFTER KITTY!"

"Great, Lance is too stupid to realize that Kitty's the one who wants to break up with him!" Pietro threw up his hands. "And Kitty's too gutless to do so! SHE'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU LANCE! FORGET ABOUT HER!"

"Great…" Rogue moaned. "Two love triangles going on at the same time!"

"HELP ME!" A herd of Jamies ran by screaming. Trinity and Spyder were chasing them. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"COME ON STORMY! YOU KNOW YOU LOVE MY HOT BODY!" Shipwreck ran from Ororo. "YOU TOLD ME SO YOURSELF THAT NIGHT WE…"

"SHUT UP SHIPWRECK! JUST SHUT UP AND DIE!" Ororo screamed. Thunder roared and lightning crackled in the sky. "AS GOD IS MY WITNESS I WILL NEVER DRINK AGAIN!"

"Well…The X-Men and Misfits can put together our differences," Xavier cringed. "We know that…We've just seen that."

"So why can't they do that the rest of the time?" Roadblock sighed. "Would that really be such a crime?"

"They're at it again," Scott sighed as he wheeled Jean out in a wheelchair to view the madness.

"Now I know things are back to normal," Jean smirked.

"YOU WANNA FIGHT? BRING IT ON!" Shooter was shooting his energy bullets at Bobby now and he was firing back with ice blasts.

"MY CAR!" Scott screamed as his car got caught in the crossfire. "YOU MANIACS GET AWAY FROM MY CAR!"

"Things are definitely back to normal around here," Roadblock groaned. "I think it's time to go take a sip of beer."

"Yes, perhaps the worst truly has passed…" Xavier sighed. "Except for our property values."

Unseen by the others, Jean's eyes flashed bright red for a second. The shape of a phoenix could be seen in her pupils. Then just as quickly it disappeared, like a creature waiting for its time to emerge.

And that time would be very soon.

Yup, I'm done! Another monster fic! Phew!

YAYYYY! Time to do the Happy Dance! Thanks Everyone! I couldn't have done it without your support! And now here are the characters that are mine:

Althea 'Wavedancer' Delgado

Trinity (Daria, Quinn and Brittany Delgado)

Claudius Delgado (Little C)

Xi

Lina 'Dragonfly' Chakram

General Eddington

General Whithalf

Glory

Solitaire

Patch

Broadband

Lisa Lizer

Mender

Winters (Magneto's butler)

Yvonne 'Celandie' Bloom Frost (Technically she's semi-original since she was only mentioned in the limited Emma Frost comic and had no personailty or known mutant powers. It's my demented take on this.)

Let's just say there are plenty of unresolved story plots to use in other fics, including the final acts of the whole Lance/Kitty/Peter love triangle! Yes I know I keep dragging it out but no matter which way I go somebody's not gonna be happy with it, so I might as well just please myself! So until next time, have fun!