Author's note: Thing I learned today…you stay with the people, or the things that really matter. My dog was dying, and I was too busy playing videogames too notice. Well, he's in a better place now…so, yeah. This one's for anyone who wants to see this story through. Just enjoy.

Previously on…

The Astonishing X-Men are a team of mutants, led by CYCLOPS and EMMA FROST, who fight to protect a world that has long feared and hated them. Their recent rise in popularity though, thanks in part to their recent ream-ups with the celebrity/superhero team Fantastic Four, as well as the trendy new lease on what people call "Mutant Culture", have made their lives all the more bearable. The resurrection of their long dead teammate COLOSSUS, has also improved their morale.

On the morning of September eleven, the world was horrified to witness the fall of the Two Towers, the result of two passenger airplanes getting commandeered directly into them. The death toll was flew past the thousands. After recognizing that it was an act of terrorism, the American Government and her close allies, have decided to wage a war on Terror. This was four years ago. The War on Terror still rages on.

When an American brigade find themselves under heavy attack from Iraqi guerilla, one of them, CHRISTIAN LEWIS, suddenly begins to feel the thoughts and emotions of every one surrounding him. Unable to take the enormous strain, he sees a glimpse of four women covered in blood red burqas, right before uncontrollably releasing a psychic shockwave that kills everyone in a four hundred mile radius.

When Emma Frost and SCOTT SUMMERS are contacted by the CIA regarding the problem, they remain conservative as to whether or not they should investigate the case. They spend the evening to argue about whether or not to go, even though Scott and Emma are the only ones who knew about the offer. Soon enough, they accept the offer. All the while, the women in burqas are plotting to change the world, and they plan to use Cerebra to do it. And as soon as Emma announces to the school their plans of going to Iraq, the Ring of Fatima made their presence felt. It sealed the deal. Now, LILAH GRAHAM, a CIA operative, has taken the liberty to brief the X-Men on their mission…

Chapter 5: "Not leaving on an X-Jet"

The ocean seemed to bellow beneath the black helicopter as it noisily sailed above its ice-cold reach. The waves were moving southwest, gathering their strength, surely making some surfers very happy. Kitty looked out the window, at the apparently endless expanse of blue, and felt her heart stir. Just looking at it, at the perennially wandering waves, and pondering the many, many secrets that lie beyond its surface; suffice to say that it was a moving experience. And even though Kitty has traveled on numerous worlds, and survived every crisis that threatened their existence, she would never argue to the fact that there was no place like Earth. Like home. And to see it overrun by people who don't know what they're doing, just made existence that much more frustrating. She did not suffer the Brood for a world lorded over by idiots. Maybe that's why she jumped at the chance to try and change it. And as she watched the ocean churn, she began to remember Lilah's every word.

"We do not work under the president of the United States. I just wanted to make that clear to you, X-Men. Yes, we are CIA, but there are layers upon layers of factions and organizations within the agency, each one with their own distinct agendas…so much in fact, that you can never know who you can trust anymore. That's why me being here, extending my hand like this to you people…it could literally get my head rolling. But it's a risk I'm willing to take. This war…this horrible excuse for the Government to gain more power…it has to stop. And when I look in this room, I see the means to stop it. A young woman who can walk through walls. An acrobatic genius. A master tactician. Two men made of metal. And a woman who can control minds."

Kitty turned her head, and focused her gaze on the rest of the X-Men. Peter had his head low, his arms folded in front of his chest, as if in some deep rumination. Henry was looking out the window. He locked his eyes with hers for half a second, before once again turning away. His image inducer was on, prompting him to look like a well-built, brown haired man. Even with the body of an NFL champion, he still looked like a genius. Logan was asleep. Emma was staring at Scott, who gave her a small nod before turning his attention elsewhere. Six people. Charged with ending a war by fighting it. Yes, it really was senseless. Kitty took a deep breath and looked out once more, this time, letting her eyes wander to the soft limbus overhead. Untouched.

"You are untouchable. Each one of you. That is why we chose you. If you stop their mutant soldiers, you show them that we can beat whatever they throw at us. That whatever they have, we got better. The real America, people. And after, you can go for the people who control their operations. You can march into their fortresses and their strongholds, and they have absolutely no means to stop you. You'll save lives. Right now…right now, the White House doesn't have a clue about this. They want to keep this war for as long as they possibly could, just to give their term some semblance of meaning. That's why; we need this to be a covert operation. We can't risk them trying to stop us."

Peter took a deep breath as he felt his eyes move involuntarily to the woman who sat in front of him. She was still peering outside, possibly worlds away. She had her brown hair tied back, as usual, never one to let glamour overcome functionality. Not that she wasn't beautiful of course, because she obviously was. It's just that she didn't see herself that way. Not the way Peter saw her. If there was a reason to agree to fighting, then it clearly was her. Not that he was ever vocal about it, though. He really wasn't one for too much words. Nonetheless, in his heart of hearts, there was an innocent clarity, purity, that any woman would easily fall head over heels for. A simple manifesto. Protect the ones you love.

"We need to protect each other if we want to succeed. I've pulled enough strings, just enough, so that you could get airlifted by helicopter. At least then, we wouldn't have to worry about finding a place to hide that jet of yours. You'll be dropped off just a good hundred miles south of Husaybah, which is west of Baghdad, and is under hostile occupation. The American military will not be aware of your presence. Also, keeping in line with the secrecy of this operation, we really don't think it's appropriate for you to wear your…usual attention garnering outfits. "

Peter gave his neck a jolt to relieve some tension. Like Scott, he simply opted to wear a plain, fitted white shirt and a pair of military fatigues, being the only difference is that unlike the mutant leader, Peter kept a dark green bandanna tied on his head. Logan had an open vest, without a shirt underneath, and a pair of fatigues that looked to be something he wore from his much earlier years. Emma, as inappropriate as she ever was, still opted to dress herself completely in her trademark color. Fitted white pants that blended seamlessly into her silver tube top. Granted the ability to read minds and turn oneself into organic, impenetrable diamond, could more than make up for the crosshairs that would inevitably make her way. Besides, no one in his right mind would ever pull the trigger at someone as well-endowed as Emma. She even decided to wear a white beret to top it all off. Kitty, on the other hand, opted to wear a gray tank top, and a pair of faded, cargo pants that clung extremely well to her figure. Henry meanwhile, chose to cover his large frame completely with green, military fatigues. They pretty much matched the fatigues that the pilot wore.

"You'll be flown there by a Mr. Mike Kennedy. You'll be meeting him tomorrow morning when we escort you to the take-off point. You can trust him. Like you, he's a mutant. Unlike you, he's still in the closet. Mutant-wise I mean. But still, he's been through the rough since he was fifteen, and he knows how to defend himself extremely well. If ever you need someone to watch your back, then don't think twice about calling on him for help."

"We're in." Mike declared, just as the last stretch of the Persian Gulf disappeared beneath them. He looked to be in his forties, with short, blonde hair was neatly gelled back, and a thick frame suited more for professional wrestling than anything else. There was a scar that stretched from his lower lip, all the way down to his chin. One could only imagine exactly what he suffered through to get a scar like that on him. "It'll take about three more hours before we reach home base, so I suggest you all sit tight. We'll be flying low from here on out, just pray that no Al-Qaida are on the prowl…"

"Your ETA will be at around thirteen hundred hours, by which time, the coastal guards on patrol would be the ones that we have under our employ. They'll be… turning a blind eye to your entrance. After then, it would take about three more hours before you could reach your destination, a hidden installation just south of Al Hindiya in Karbala. That is where you'll meet the man who helped shape all of this. General Major Karl Messer He'll be the one to brief you on the game plan from there on out. Don't worry about him, he may not be the world's staunchest supporter for the mutant race, but he still knows full well that it's the mission that matters above personal prejudice. And as for me…I'll be making sure that Mr. President doesn't get wise to our little plan…"

The Oval Office/12:50

The President scratched the top of his head as he found another pile of paperwork on his desk. Tress covered the sun's bright hail from entering through the windows of his famous oval office, sending only shards of light down the president's shoulders. "I'll never get through all this…" he muttered, lifting a few pages from the file nearest him. "Mr. President?" the strong face of an African American woman came into view, as she peered in before entering the oval office. She is the country's secretary of state. Much like the president, she was one who openly identified what is good and what is evil, even though she may be only looking through her own eyes. But still, that would be a topic for another day.

"Oh, hello there. Come in, come in…" the president offered, very relieved that he found a way to delay the inevitable boredom that was cluttered on his desk.

"Thank you, sir." She responded, as she made her way to a chair beside the president's desk.

"Any news on the thing that happened in Iraq?"

"Not much, sir."

"How about our man in S.H.I.E.L.D? Did she come up with anything?"

"Nothing either. Though our scientists have ruled out that this attack was viral…on account that from what we can tell, everyone died at the same time."

"…?"

"…uh, viruses infect and kill in temporal succession from where the progenitor strain was."

"…?"

"…"

"Okay… so…what else do we have?"

"Some of the other theories are going to be debated over in the three o' clock, but from what I've already heard, it's mostly theories on the EMP's polarity manipulation."

"…?"

"Uh, when you reconfigure an electromagnetic pulse to frequencies that could affect mammals on ultra- sonic levels…"

"…?"

"…"

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Damn…you know what? Batman would know what to do. We should give him a call."

"…sir?"

"Batman. You know, caped crusader, long pointy ears…he's somewhere in that city, what's it called…?"

"Batman is a fict…he's a comic book character, sir. He isn't real."

"He 's not?"

"No sir."

"Really?"

"Sorry, sir."

"Why wasn't I told?"

Military Installation, Karbala/13:00

"Okay, can someone explain to me, how the hell this is supposed to be covert?" Kitty asked with a raised eyebrow, as she looked down on the massive, steel factory that they were slowly hovering over. A quarter of its roof was a flat surface, a helipad, while the rest looked like metal parapets and spires, not unlike those found in ocean oil rigs. The entire facility had a soft, red tint, possibly made much more glaring thanks to the heat and sunlight that the its steel foundation absorbed.

"People still think it's a textile factory." Mike responded, as he began to ease the chopper into touching down. "…and the fact that its quite an off way from any of the major roads- - if you could call them major roads- -well, helps a lot."

"You mean people don't just wander in?" Henry asked, silently scrutinizing every detail of the facility even as he spoke.

"Well, actually no. No one does. Convenient ain't it? It's like our very own Chocolate Factory. Only without the weird." Mike retorted, right as they finally got on land. There were two men in suits and sunglasses, familiar men, waiting for them on the helipad. The strong winds generated from the helicopter's rotors did not seem to at all faze them.

"Those agents…" Emma turned to Scott, who kept his eyes solely on the two men. "Nolan and Cooper."

"You know those two?" Logan asked, just before the side doors slid open.

"X-Men, it's an honor to finally work with you." Agent Cooper immediately greeted, before either Scott or Emma could fill the rest of the team in on when they already managed to talk to the two agents. The rotors were already slowing down, making it unnecessary for any of them to raise their voices over the noise.

"I'm Agent Cooper, and this is Agent Nolan." He took a step back to give his partner room to wave at them hello. "We'll be joining you in the Karbala briefing."

"Okay…" Scott got up from his seat and made his way out. "Lead the way." He then said, taking a moment to notice Agent Nolan whispering something into his earpiece.

"Anything to be worried about?" Scott telepathically asked, as the rest of the team began to unboard the helicopter.

"Scrambler's shielding his thoughts , darling. But I don't sense any negative intent on his person." Emma responded, walking up to Scott and striding by his side. "So stop being so paranoid."

"Doesn't hurt to be sure." Scott rebutted, glancing back to make sure that the rest of the team were following. The agents led the team across the sizable helipad, and into the control shed that connected it to the rest of the facility. There were two men working intently working on the consoles, so much so that they didn't even pay attention to the X-Men as they strode by.

"This way, please." Agent Cooper guided, opening a door that led onto a metal catwalk, one that stretched to all four corners of the main facility as a massive cross. Looking down, they could see the five floors that extended below, each one with grated bridges and catwalks, not unlike the one that they were currently standing on. And on the very ground floor, were numerous crates and barrels, stacked atop each other like a child's play things. There were machines covered in large, white blankets, clearly not in use for quite some time, as evidenced by the thick blanket of dust that had already settled on it.

"Not much to look at…" Logan muttered, as he trailed the rest of the group.

"All right, if you'll all follow me…" Agent Cooper continued. "… it's time we meet the man in charge…"

Main Office, Ground Floor/13:04

On a small, square room with a wooden table by it's end, there sat an old man with white hair and a rather large frame. He was the type of person whom you'd know was a high ranking military officer the moment you saw him, even if he didn't wear his decorated effects. His eyes were almost as green as the jacket he wore; eyes that looked so alive it practically betrayed his aged features. Here was a man who did not look at the darker side of things. At least not for the time being.

A soft knock on his door made him look up, distracting him from whatever thoughts that swam in his tired head. "Come in." he quickly acknowledged, as he watched the two agents step into the room, the X-Men following silently behind them. "General Major." Agent Cooper greeted, not needing to keep as formal as ought to be. "The X-Men."

"Ah, X-Men. Let me be perfectly clear about this…" the general major started as he stood from his seat. "…I have no love for mutants. In fact, if ever I see a mutant hooker, I'll pay her to get the fuck out of my face. Or I'll shoot her. Then I'll bomb the street she was on so that her filth will not spread. Now, with that out of the way, how may I help you?"

"…First, we need the exact coordinates of the first attack." Emma responded, not showing any signs of intimidation. "If the mutant who did this left a trail, then believe me when I tell you that he won't be getting away from us."

"Anything else?"

"Transportation." Scott chided, keeping a step behind Emma. "We need to get there as fast as we can. We don't need any escort, just give us a map and we'll be on our way. Just make sure that the area gets cleared before we get there. We wouldn't want any innocent people getting caught in a crossfire."

"As long as it gets you out of here…" the general major muttered.

"And don't get in our way." Logan added. "It'll just get messy."

Unknown/13:12

Sultana gracefully descended a small case of stone steps, while the rest of her team waited patiently for her by what was once the house's den. "They are here." She declared just as her foot landed on the bottom rung, her green eyes glistening with expectation. "We have waited for this opportunity for so long. This is the very reason of our existence. It is time. God is with us."

Karbala/13:30

A great gust of wind blew across the empty streets, sending some torn pieces of paper dancing in an invisible loop before disappearing into the city's many corners. The glaring sun cast a yellow shadow over everything it could touch, though the fact that it was the spot where so many people died, the X-Men could not help but feel a chill run down their spines. There was a massive mosque near the center of the city, one that cast many shadows across the countless homes underneath as it stood proudly against the sky. It was what Kitty stared at as she took a moment to stop and rest.

"Katya?" Peter looked behind him to check up on the young woman. The rest of the team were still moving forward. "Something is wrong?" he asked, his concern as clear as the sunlight that fell on his face.

"No, nothing, just, uh, little annoyed that the jeep they gave us broke down six miles in."

"…Okay then. We better hurry. They walk so fast, it is like they are in West Wing."

"Hey, is that your first pop culture reference?" Kitty asked with a small laugh, as she began to make her way to the man that she was emotionally attached to. With everything around the world, all the death and depravity, it was a rare moment for an X-Man to smile.

Ahead of the line, Logan sniffed his way o their destination. Coordinates weren't as helpful as they should be when it's based on a grid system. Especially in a city were one block has more than twenty houses. "We getting close?" Scott asked, as Logan turned a corner, and into a dark alley. There were large, colorful blankets that stretched across the rooftops, preventing the sunlight from peering through. It looked to have been a market once. There remained some empty wooden stalls, some of them still displaying some already rotten fruits.

"I can feel it. There's still some psychic residue lingering in the area." Emma noted, taking a look around with her hand held out in front of her. "It's very strong…"

"Scott." Henry took a step closer to the team leader, who too was already busy looking around on his own.

"Hank?" Scott turned to glance at one of his closest friends.

"You gonna let me into the loop?" Henry asked, placing an arm over Scott's shoulders.

"Loop?" Scott trailed his finger over a bullet hole etched like an epitaph on a wall.

"Please, Scott. 'One of the most brilliant minds of the 21st Century'?"

"Oh yeah…"

"People!" Emma interrupted, prompting the two best friends to postpone their discussion. She was already quite a short distance, standing beside Logan who was crouched over something on the ground. They were by the alley's end, standing behind a wall that looked like it served as cover after some firefight.

"Found anything?" Kitty asked, finally catching up wit the rest of the team. Peter followed her from behind, watching over her protectively.

"Blood." Logan responded, as he backed up, while Emma crouched in his place. "This will only take a second." The telepath commented, as she placed her middle and index fingers on the dried, red patch on the ground. "I want to see what the blood will tell…" Emma then closed her eyes as she began to concentrate.

"That's just creepy." Kitty whispered.

"…" Emma began to furrow her brows as the memory lingering in the blood began to show itself. It came to her like the sound of thunder; as she felt the gunshots fly over her head, and the smell of sweat mixed with fear invade her nose. The sound of screaming, of haunted voices, erupted from her every side. "I…" Emma was already trembling from the sudden barrage of sensations that came over her body. "I… see…" a small trickle of blood began to escape her nose, as she saw a vision of the four women in red burqas. The exact same vision that the telepath who caused all of this saw as well. It was that final image which finally jolted the telepath back to reality.

"Emma?" Scott helped the telepath back to her feet. "You okay?"

"His name was Christian Lewis." She whispered shakily.

"…was?" Henry asked.

"He's dead….the mind wipe was so powerful that it caused his brain to implode."

"So we're done here." Muttered Logan.

"…what else did you see?" Scott then asked.

"The women. The same ones that appeared in that television broadcast yesterday. I saw them. I…I felt them, reach into his mind and…" Emma shook hear head, wishing desperately that she could somehow escape the feeling of him dying.

"The women? You mean the ones calling themselves The Ring of Fatima?" Scott further inquired.

"The very ones. Granted, I don't think Mohammed's wife would take kindly that her name is being used by a group of psychotic mass murderers." Emma retorted, still clearly a little out of breath. "hey…wait…" with her eyebrows raised, she began to look around, this time looking a lot more frantic in her observations.

"What is it?" Kitty asked, though not receiving a reply as Emma suddenly dashed out of the alley and into the relatively wide street that it led to. "What is it?" she then asked Scott, who only shrugged in response, clearly just as confused as she was.

"There's…nothing…" Emma brushed back her hair, settling down from her chasing ghosts.

"No what?" Logan asked as he watched Emma return to the shade that the alley gave them.

"I'm not yet sure. But…but…you all know how telepathy isn't just psi-bolts and reading minds, right? That's just short range telepathy. There are some telepaths whose power over the mind…"

"Wait." Logan suddenly interrupted, as he titled his head back, and took a few whiffs of the air.

"Something wrong?" Kitty asked.

"…We're not alone." Logan responded, tensing his muscles, and unsheathing his claws.

"Emma?" Scott turned to his lover, who already had a hand over her temple.

"I'm not feeling anyone, Scott." She reported, after a quick telepathic sweep of the immediate area.

"I'm picking up a scent too. Like… flowers…" Henry noted.

"Alright everyone, defensive formation." Scott declared. "On attention. Peter, metal up. Kitty, don't leave his side. Hank, get on a roof, give me a visual. Emma- -"

"Scott!" Emma suddenly cried as she fell to her knees, clutching her head with both her hands.

"Emma! What's wrong?" Scott half-asked, half-yelled, as he rushed to his lover's side. Emma's eyes were shut tight, her teeth grit, as beads of cold sweat began to pour down her forehead. She was in agony. Her mind reached all centers of the planet at once, between planes and universes, temporal and infinite. It was a strain that no mutant mind could possibly hope to cope with. "Emma!" Scott shouted again, possibly hoping that his voice, if not it's sheer volume, could snap his lover back into reality. He could already feel the psychic energy gathering itself around the telepath. And as the blood began to pour from the X-Men's ears, it was then that it dawned on them. This is how all the people in here died. And now, the X-Men were next in line.

Chapter 5, End

Next Chapter – Where confrontations arise, blood is spilt, Shadowcat gets an epiphany, and the big fight-scene will blow you away…

RIP – Magu. I love you, you dumb dog.