Bobby Drake

Bobby, the Iceman, fell to his knees with a halfhearted sob. "Up..." he coached himself. "Stand up..."

"C'mon kid." Something pulled on Bobby's sleeve and he looked at it. There was Lance, looking as weary and worn as Bobby felt. "We'll do this together. C'mon. You said you'd die standing up, right? So let's go, X-Man." Lance pulled Bobby to his feet.

"You came." Bobby whispered.

Lance grinned. "Yeah, Kitty's waiting for me. Keep up or we'll lose our guide."

Bobby looked around. "Guide? What guide?"

"Evan. Or maybe Phoenix. Depends on your point of view. Moving..." Lance plodded forward, taking a step with every word, almost as if he was walking through sheer will power. "We are ... moving. C'mon Bobby. Walk with me here." A fierce gust of wind caused the feather to double back, circle the two mutants and continue forward. "Work walk... Am I making any sense?"

"No," Bobby laughed weakly. "But it's better than nothing."

Suddenly, it hit Bobby how cold and tired and hungry he was. Why were they following a stupid feather? Why were they chasing the wind? Bobby stopped, overcome by the weight that had choked him for so long. Lance didn't even pause. Even starved, freezing and possibly insane, he was still stronger than Bobby, and simply dragged the smaller mutant along, steadily muttering nonsense to himself.

"Look, there's the feather. Follow the feather. The feather is your friend. Friend feather. "Cold. Ferry ferry cold. Very. Wait." Lance lurched to a halt and let go of Bobby.

Bobby shook his head. "But, you said..."

Lance growled. "And I changed my mind again. I don't wanna walk anymore."

The wind stopped and the feather dropped to the ground in front of them. Bobby, confused by Lance's sudden change in positions, tugged on Lance's sleeve. "But Lance-"

"Fine shut up." Lance cracked his knuckles. "We're walking, see." As if on cue, the wind lifted the feather like a carrot on a stick and led them forward.

So it went. The two of them followed the feather, one laborious step at a time. Once again a strong breeze picked up. It blew sand and ash into the mutants' eyes, but they kept going. Momentarily blinded, they slowed down and, ludicrously, Lance called for the feather. "Feather friend?"

Bobby wiped his watering eyes. "I think we've finally lost it."

Lance coughed up soot. "We'll find him again. I know we will." He grimaced and resumed calling the feather.

"I'm not talking about the feather," Bobby muttered.

"Oh. Wait, feather!" Lance stumbled forward and grabbed it.

"Pardon, but do you mind letting go?" A strange voice asked.

Lance dropped the feather, which was actually a handful of white feathers, and backed away. "Yeah, I think we lost it too."

A dim light appeared before the two mutants. "Hey, are you lost?" The light illuminated a boy, no more than thirteen years old with bright blue eyes.

"Bobby?" Lance asked and looked at his companion. "Are we lost?"

Bobby gritted his teeth, suspicious of the strange child. "Uh, yeah, very lost."

The light grew brighter and the two mutants finally noticed the silvery-white wings on their savior's back. "Bobby? You are Bobby?" The stranger grinned like a maniac. "How fortunate! I've been looking for you. Now that I've found you, we can go back and I won't get in trouble."

"What?" Lance stared at the kid.

The boy stepped closer to Lance and Bobby, nodding his head enthusiastically as he spoke. "I am K'mas-ten nec Glive. You should come with me. Lucifer is waiting for us. Isn't he incredible? He said I'm not supposed to tell any of the others about him, he's supposed to be a secret, but since you already know about him it's okay."

The boy's speech was broken by strange pauses that reminded Bobby of something important. "Are you that guy who was talking to me earlier?" He asked.

"You mean yesterday? Yep, that was me. You must have wandered too far for me to reach you anymore because all of a sudden you went quiet." Glive looked from one mutant to the other. "Say, let's get you two in the city. Then I can talk to K'vas nec Hiva and we'll go get the rest of you guys."

Lance blinked twice and then sat down on the dirt. "Feather?" He looked up at Glive as if his heart had been rendered in two.

"No feather." Glive said as he knelt by Lance.

Lance struggled to catch up. "Feather friend gone?"

Glive gently tugged Lance back to his feet while quietly murmuring something foreign. "Yes." He finally answered Lance, "The feather is gone. You can have one of mine if you want."

Lance swayed like a sapling in a storm and then violently shook his head. "Okay. So what are we doing?" Bobby's stared at the kid in bewilderment.

Glive smiled brightly. "We're going to get you some help."

Lance nodded and stroked his chin. "Help... help is good."

"Yep," Glive agreed. "But I'm better. If you can walk just a little bit further, I can get help for you."

Lance seemed to shrug off his exhaustion and started forward. "Hell, why not, we walked this far. But you have to promise we'll go back for the others." Lance glared at the kid. "Or else."

"Or else what?" Glive asked, genuinely curious.

"Or else I'll dump you back in that hole and bury you in the dark forever."

Glive laughed. "It is agreed then, vicious human, I shall not deceive you." He and Bobby followed Lance to what looked like a blank expanse of stone.

"Damn straight." Lance growled. "Cause once I get better, someone's gonna have hell to pay for this mess."

The rock face twisted into a stair case. "Someone always has to pay." Glive agreed philosophically. "Maybe you'll get lucky and find someone to pick up the bill." Glive smiled. "Or else you better have really deep pockets."

Bobby snorted. "Who's side are you on?"

Glive's smile disappeared. "I'm on the side that's going to win, because whichever side I'm on always wins. Don't worry about it. We'll take care of you."

Bobby and Lance shared a glance as they ascended the stairs. "Do we really want that?"

Glive's laugh tinkled through the empty air. "Do you have a choice?"

Scott and Todd

The skatepark was, to put it bluntly, indestructible. It had existed since before any of the X-Men, or even the Brotherhood had realized they were mutants. Rumor had it that Professor Xavier used to skate there before he had lost use of his legs. The skatepark was one of the only places in Bayville where you could honestly say that no one cared if you were a mutant or not. Scott Summers, Haiden Malcolm and Kurt Wagner had never set foot in the skatepark.

The concrete construction wasn't so much for skating as it was for extreme sports. No one just skated... they competed. It wasn't uncommon to see rollerbladers racing skateboarders on any number of obstacle courses that could kill an amateur. No one got on the field if they weren't an expert. Newcomers had to pay a fee- to whom was one of the mysteries of the place, and were admitted by invite only. Sometimes, a few brave, or foolish, souls decided to fight. They were thrown out and refused entry whenever they tried to return. No one was allowed to enter if they were drunk or high- no alcohol or drugs of any sort were allowed either. There were no guards or security to check people, but it was generally understood that anyone who saw someone breaking the rule should tell someone else or throw the offenders out. There was no gang rivalry within the confines of the skatepark. The denizens of the skatepark were a gang.

Scott, Haiden and Kurt didn't know this.

All they knew was that they were being surrounded and were in no condition to fight back. It was a very bad feeling.

Evan walked up to the tallest of the humans surrounding them and held out his hand for some age-old handshake that the skateparkers used to identify one of their own. "Hey, what's up, man? I hope its okay that I brought a few friends with me."

The tall human stared at Kurt for a moment and then at Scott. "This time, it's cool. There's not really anyplace else to go and this place could survive Armageddon. We could use some financial help though. You know, with things being the way they are."

"Meaning what, Beam?" Evan's voice took on a slight edge.

The guy known as Beam shrugged. "Meaning that it costs money to feed and house a damn army of mutants, especially an injured one."

Scott's eyes narrowed behind his visor. "Who said anything about an army?"

"So you're just gonna let that scum get away with this?" Beam gave Evan a skeptical look.

Evan took it as a challenge, and fiercely responded with "No."

"I thought as much." Beam yawned. "Besides, we know about your little army. I've already sent someone to let them know where we are. They should arrive soon. Until then, you guys should probably look at this. We think we know where the monster came from." Beam turned towards a door that had numerous warnings on it. "And we think we know how to stop it as well."

The mutants glanced at one another and headed for the doorway. Once past the threshold, they paused in the darkness beyond while Beam shut the door gently behind them. The only light was a faint red glow coming from Scott's visor.

Two sets of eyes glowed in the darkness, one gold and one red.

"Hey, are you a mutant?" Kurt asked and his golden eyes narrowed in the silence.

"Think about your situation, mutant, and answer that question yourself."

Haiden turned around in the dark. "Wha-"

Kurt watched his body fall and it suddenly occurred to him that the others couldn't see at all. "No fair..."

Beam, or the creature that looked like him, laughed. "It needn't be fair, mutant. As long as I win, it's alright. Master Valzinameku will not care enough to be pleased, but stories of how you walked right into this trap will amuse him."

"Kurt." There was a slight flash of red light to Kurt's right. "Let me handle this." Kurt followed the voice and smiled. Haiden was still on the ground, so Kurt merely put his hands on Evan and Todd's shoulders and pushed them down. He had just hit the dirt himself and covered his head when a blinding red light filled the small room.

In the silence that followed Beam's tortured howl, the four mutants on the ground heard Scott crack his knuckles and clear his throat. "You guys can get up now. I hit him."

"Wow. That was incredible. You know, you can go first if you like. All this guy's friends are still out there." Haiden wheezed as he stood. "Bastard got me right in the stomach. If I stumbled right before he hit me, I'd probably never stand straight again."

"Well," Scott said thoughtfully, "there's no rush. We need to come up with a plan." His visor glowed faintly.

"Hey, can you see?" Kurt asked.

Scott looked at Kurt. "Of course."

"I mean, in the dark."

Scott's eyebrows rose. "It's dark? I didn't know that. Anyway, we have a minute to breathe so let's do that. What do we know about these people?"

Evan sighed. "Well, I thought they were good guys, but that shows how much I know."

"Not necessarily." Todd muttered. He was still sprawled on the floor. "It just means that someone we thought we knew turned out a little strange. Is he dead?"

"He shouldn't be." Scott answered.

Todd gave a half-hearted 'hmm' and shifted position. "Well, assuming the worst, those people out there are going to try to kill us. Assuming the best, they don't know what's going on in here with Beam going nuts on us. If that's the case, we have nothing to worry about so it doesn't matter. However, if they mean to hurt us..."

"Then they'll come in here in a little while to see what's taking so long. And the Vulgates are in danger as well." Scott followed Todd's logic to its conclusion.

Todd agreed. "Yes. So, assuming the worst, we'll have to either kill or disarm everyone in the skatepark. We'll lose a lot of time doing that."

"But if we can avoid a fight, we can avoid those losses on both sides." Scott offered.

"No dice. We'd have to handle them sooner or later. I'd rather get it over with when our people are feeling something close to human. Or whatever species they are."

Scott shook his head. "People will die, Todd, I can't allow that."

Todd snorted. "People will always die. Think about it this way. We've got no place else to go. We need to hit them hard enough that they get our point."

Haiden cleared his throat. "Our point being..." he let the sentence hang.

"That they can join us or die." Todd supplied. "We don't have to kill all of them, Scott. Just enough that they get afraid and stay out of our way."

Scott was silent for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was strained. "Todd. That is not acceptable. We will not kill anyone."

Todd stood up. "Then let me do it. You X-Men don't have to get involved."

Scott shook his head, forgetting that only Kurt could see him. "When I say 'we' I mean all of us. Until we find the rest of the mutants, we have to stick together."

Todd laughed derisively. "You mean we have to present a united front while we get torn apart internally because you and I really can't agree. How about a compromise? You find a way out of here that avoids getting anyone killed and I'll play along. As soon as you turn your back, I'll run off, slaughter half the people in the skatepark and run to catch up. You ask me where I was, I say I turned around and you were gone. You shrug it off, I don't say anything about it and you guys never find out. How's that?"

Scott's voice was tired. "Todd. No."

"Then what's your idea?"

Scott took a deep breath. "Why don't we just stop and think about what comes after that?"

"Hmm? We leave." Todd shrugged. "What's so hard about that?"

"And where will we go? What will happen when the others show up and see the mess? They'll think we've been possessed and the next thing you know, we'll all have six inches of adamantium shoved down our throats. If we kill these people like it's nothing, what's going to stop us from killing others. The difference between us and them," Scott jabbed a finger at the door, even though Kurt was the only person who could see him. "is that we can solve problems without killing anyone."

"The others?" Todd laughed again. "You talk like anyone else survived." Todd stopped laughed as the atmosphere in the room grew more tense. He sighed. "Scott, do you see this uniform I'm wearing? Tell me how many times you've seen me in it before."

Scott looked at Todd's new uniform. Through the red tinged haze that defined his existence, Scott looked at Todd. The uniform was different. Sleeker, more armored, in fact, the whole get-up seemed a lot more...dangerous.

"I've never seen that uniform before." Scott admitted.

Todd laughed. "Of course not. No one who's ever seen it lived to tell the tale. Scott, I'm at least as smart as you. Mystique didn't pick me up to kill people because I was too stupid to do anything else. If these people stay alive then they'll end up killing more people. All I have to do is kill a few people and the rest will either join us or scatter on the winds."

There was silence as Haiden, Kurt and Evan waited for Scott's response. "And that is supposed to convince me because..."

Todd was losing his patience. It was so like an X-Man to preach about the value of life when their only option was to kill or be killed. "Scott. It's them or us. None of us have Logan's healing factor or immortality. Either give me options, or shut up about moral integrity."

A knock on the door cut off any reply Scott had.

Evan glanced nervously at the direction of the door. "Okay, once this has been handled, what are we going to do? What comes after we get out of here?"

No one answered. "Hey, what are we gonna do? If we have to split paths, we have to have an idea of where everyone's going to be headed." Silence was Evan's only answer. "Please? You guys have been in charge all this time, please..."

Everyone heard a groan as Beam started moving again. Scott ground his teeth and finally answered. "We'll look for the other mutants. Bring them all together and meet... back where it all started. Fort Braddock." Everyone could tell by the faint light that Scott was staring at the door.

"Alright. Sounds like a plan." Todd muttered. There came another knock on the door, this time more insistent. "Open it, Kurt."

Everyone watched Kurt's golden eyes travel across the small room and look back at them. Kurt tugged on the door.

"Uh-oh. It won't open. It's locked." He glanced at the others. "Why are they knocking if it's locked?"

Before anyone could answer, there was a piercing screech. Kurt yelped and stumbled away from the door clutching his left cheek.

"What was that?" Scott yelled and dragged Kurt towards him, while Haiden and Evan spun in a circle looking for the source of the sound.

"Where was it?"

"What happened?"

They heard the noise again and Scott pulled the rest of the mutants away from the door. He crouched in front of them and waited with one hand on his visor. There was another ear-shattering screech and suddenly they could see. Light shone from four jagged tears in the metal door that stood between them and whatever was outside. As they watched, a set of evil-looking claws slipped through the holes and hooked over the torn edge of the door.

"Scott." One of the mutants whispered and clutched his arm.

"Shhh." Scott gently dislodged the hand and focused on the door.

The claws flexed and pierced the metal door. The hand pulled and the already long tears in the door lengthened.

"Scott."

"Shhh."

The claws slipped back out of the door and the mutants held their breath. The dagger of light disappeared as whatever was outside leaned down to look through the door. Scott kneeled slowly so that he was eye level with the hole in the door. He eased his hand to his visor, and prepared to shoot his optic blasts directly at the hole- and, he hoped, at whatever monster was lurking beyond.

The creature outside shuffled to the side and a thin strip of light reappeared. Scott held still. There was a sudden flash, like light glinting off metal before all the light faded once more. Scott held back his fire, wondering whether the person- or creature- outside was a friend or enemy.

It didn't matter because a second later, the claws punctured the door again, this time near the handle. The hand jerked up and down a few times and the mutants heard a faint pop. The claws retreated and the monster backed away.

The mutants were quiet for several minutes. Finally, Scott sighed. "Maybe it hurt itself and went after easier prey."

"Scott." Kurt whispered. "I... I think I'm bleeding."

"What?" Scott whirled around. Kurt was leaning weakly on Evan and clutching his face. "How bad is it?"

"Not very, but if that's an animal out there..."

Scott nodded. An animal would smell the blood, and probably not leave unless it found something a lot easier to catch. Before he could respond, though, he noticed a line of bright light traveling across the room.

"Scott," Haiden whispered. "Do you see..."

Scott spun back around, bringing his hand to his visor, only to be knocked to the ground by something heavy. He landed hard and awkwardly. Scott barely had time to register the terrified screams of his friends before the world went dark.