Cradling his heads in his arms on a table in a New York city bar, a hooded man awoke from the sound of a slamming cabinet door.

"Matthew, you know you have to get up early tomorrow... why do you do this to yourself?" Jack said, the bartender for the day.

It was the end of his shift, and he wanted to get out as quick as he can, but he needed to get this bum out first. Bum. Funny word for a guy he's known for three years and had bunked with him in his apartment for two.

"Yeah yeah.." Matthew said, moving his head up, taking a glance at the blurry image of a man's torso in front of him.

His hood slid off of his head to reveal a rather pale face. Clear of blemishes and smooth skin, a refined jaw bone and a skinny face that was enhanced by piercing crimson eyes and framed by locks of stringy hair that reached the bottom of his nose on either side of his face. Matthew slowly stood up, stretching a little. He shook a little from the lightning that struck the ground. Strange for a clear night, if you can even see the clouds over the blocked view of the New York skyline. He slid his leather jacket on that was a few feet away from him on a barstool and stuffed his hood down into the back of his jacket. His dark blue jeans were torn in seemingly random places, and his gray hoodie was almost too big for his size.

"See you later Jack," he said, walking to the door.

"Mmmhmm.. just take care of yourself, you hear?"

"I'll live."

"Not long, mind you," Jack said in a sing-song voice.

Matthew just walked outside into the clear night air and shut the door behind him with a small laugh and headed right. The streets were empty and the air didn't have it's usual smell of car exhaust and moldy hot dog buns, but more like morning dew, even though it was only 4 o' clock in the afternoon. 23 years old and no job, an apartment that had rent way past due, and the only family in the area was his five year old daughter May, who he had moved here with after gaining custody of her two months before after a heated court room session with his ex wife. He was a mess- and he knew it. Just about everyone knew it, and that's why they made friends with him. He seemed like someone that needed help, a push in the right direction.

Three blocks from his apartment and sirens begin to blare in the distance behind him. He turned to see a fire truck speeding towards him, turn, then head down the street he was going towards- his apartment building's street. He began to walk faster, curiosity and fear beginning to settle in his mind, struggling to fight the slight buzz he had gotten from the drinks earlier. His mind racing. He hoped that it wasn't the whole building that was on fire, or even if it was even his building. He stopped immediately in the middle of a street crosswalk to look at the raging inferno that was previously his safe haven. The building seemed so minuscule compared to the massive flames licking the building's brick siding. The moment, the scene, and his life smelled like brimstone and sulfur.

His own glimpse of hell.
--
"Turning on cloaking.. now." Storm said, flicking a small button above the center console as the ship began to fade away into the daylight surrounding them, bending the sunlight in every direction, becoming completely invisible. Carefully guiding the ship through the skyline of New York, Storm had also modified the atmosphere, to create a lightning storm to cover their exit.

"Are you sure this is needed, Storm?" Nightcrawler said, looking out the main window at the building below them which apparently was a library of some sort.

"We're landing now, hold tight," Storm ordered, guiding the ship slowly downward, hovering above the ground about three hundred feet before finally coaxing it onto the roof of an outlet store.

"Alright.." Storm hit a small button underneath the console as the ship's loading ramp slid out of the hull and landed on the gravel of the roof.

Nightcrawler looked out the window at the ramp and nodded, unbuckling himself and standing. He turned the clock face on his watch a few times by the rim, his physical appearance changing drastically into several human versions. He finally settled on the regular run-of-the-mill teenager from earlier. Storm, still in her X Suit headed out of the ship and down the loading ramp with Nightcrawler tagging along.

Oh no...

Mystique had already lead Blake outside and left Pyro inside with Cody. Although Nightcrawler didn't know if that was Mystique or not, he had a pretty good idea. "The brotherhood.." Storm said, wrapping her arms around Nightcrawler's neck.

He nodded and disappeared in a puff of black smoke with a slight 'bamf' sound and re appeared in an alleyway the exact same way. Storm let go and walked out into the street which Mystique was on. Nightcrawler repositioned his watch so he was that kid again then caught up with Storm.

"Lets wait until he's alone.." Storm said, watching as Mystique leaned over to whisper in his ear then walked off, leaving Blake standing there.

Nightcrawler slowly turned into the street and onto the sidewalk nearest the main doors of the library, leaving Storm at the edge of the alleyway near the street. He opened the main doors and instantly his attention was drawn to a large flame gathering in the air above Blake's brother Cody, who didn't really look like him. He had to do something- and fast. Quickly getting on all fours, he sprinted towards Cody and Pyro. He leaped into the air and disappeared in a puff of dark purple smoke with a flat sound and reappearing in the air behind Cody. He wrapped his arms and legs around Cody and ported again, seconds before Pyro let loose the massive fireball that had been growing in his right hand.

Reappearing outside on the street where he was with Storm, he ported once more on top of the building where the cloaked X Jet was sitting. Cody brought down his arms and opened his eyes to see a lithe furry blue creature standing before him, a prehensile pointed tail flowing behind him.

"Greetings.." Nightcrawler said, bowing to Cody.

"I am Kurt Wagner.." He said in his deep German accent.

--
Holding his staff in his gloved right hand, Gambit stood in the middle of a small dark alleyway a few miles away from Nightcrawler and Storm, waiting for his opponent to strike.

"C'mon 'ya slimy toad.."

Donned in his normal gray X Suit covered by a vest and a long brown trench coat, Gambit twirled his staff and began to walk forward, deeper into the shadows, the coat tail of his trench began to sway back and forth with his movements and his dark brown hair was pulled back by a strip of leathery cloth that was part of his suit, only letting his bangs fall over his face, a dark red bandanna sat on his head, tied around his forehead and the end dangling by the back of his neck.

"Hiyah!" Toad screamed, flipping down from an emergency exit stairway and spinning into a vicious spiral, his feet forward like a drill towards Gambit.

Gambit quickly slid to the right just as Toad slammed into the ground and vaulted back up into the shadows. He heard sinister, insane laughter coming from above somewhere. He couldn't quite pinpoint the echo, but he knew Toad was around somewhere. Gambit slid his staff into it's sheath and reached into his jacket to pull out seven cards. He flayed them out on his palm and ignited them with a psionic blast of bluish energy.

Come out, come out wherever you are..

Gambit flipped the cards over in his hands and sent them in a quick motion soaring in many directions, each one planting into the brick wall on either side of the alleyway, lighting the place up like Vegas. Seconds later, a hard drop kick to the jaw sent him sprawling backwards into a dumpster. He opened his eyes to see Toad flipping into the air, resting on the rung of a fire escape ladder with his toes, hanging, watching. What Toad didn't realize, was that he was inches away from one of the lit cards Gambit had thrown earlier. With a wicked smirk, Gambit detonated the card, blowing Toad off of his perch and into the brick wall on the other side of the alley.

Bingo..

Gambit flipped to his feet and withdrew another 5 cards and flayed them out on his palm. He ignited them and threw them towards Toad, each one pinning Toad to the wall through his clothing, making Toad glow with an eerie blue light. Gambit pulled out his staff and rammed the back end of it into the back of Toad's neck, seeing as Toad was about 10 feet off of the ground, pinned to the wall.

"Talk," Gambit said, pushing harder.

"I ain't tellin' you shit."

Gambit enhanced one of the card's psionic energy, making it flare up in a blue fire, searing Toad's left forearm through his shirt.

"Okay! Okay... Whaddya wanna know?"

"I wanna know how The Brotherhood can pinpoint mutants.."
--
Looking over the security monitors of the main entrance, Forge spotted a young man, hunched over, holding his gut on the front steps, feet away from the main doors. Blood was caked all other this teenager's body and several gashes turned black from the stained blood on a torn black t-shirt. Mud and almost-dried water covered his jeans and his hair was greasy and damp from the blood coming from a cut on his right eyebrow. He looked like hell. Forge stood up from his chair and headed out of the security room. He knew he had to get to the man fast before he lost consciousness from loss of blood, and he was the only one who knew he was there. He quickly rounded a corner and bumped into Jubilee, who was walking along, headed towards the security room herself, holding a small cup of coffee.

"C'mon, someone's hurt," he said, grabbing Jubilee's shoulder and tugging her along.

"Who? Where?" She said, setting the coffee on the ground.

"The main entrance, he looks really bad.."

Forge managed to make his way through the maze to find the elevator that led up to the main floors from the subbasement. He opened up the doors via a hand print verification pad on the side of the doors and pulled Jubilee in. She shut the doors and pressed in the floor number, glancing over at a panting Forge as cheesy jazz music began to play it's soft melody, effectively ruining the emergence of the situation. When the elevator dinged, Forge and Jubilee bolted out of the door and headed full speed down the hallway, down the entrance stairs and to the main doors.

Jubilee swung the doors open and gasped a little from the bloody heap that lay on the ground before her.

"Lets get him to the infirmary.." Forge said, walking next to him and kneeling, putting his index and middle fingertips under the man's chin to feel his pulse.

"Still alive, I'll get him to the infirmary, you get Lifestream," he said, picking the man up carefully.

Jubilee nodded and ran into the mansion, passing Forge as he headed towards the infirmary which was just down the hall. He took a left and entered the first door on the right. The room smelled a lot like anesthetic and sterilizing liquid. The wallpaper was white enough to get a person dizzy and enough electronic equipment to make you go insane. Forge gently laid the man down on a small stretcher/bed as Jubilee walked in, Lifestream, or Lisa, walking beside her, donned in just a black tank top, tight bluejeans and a pair of sandals. Lisa's eyes widened as she took a look at the man on the table.

"Oh..he looks bad.."

"What are you waitin' for?"

"Go on Lisa, he needs your help," Jubilee said, giving Lifestream a bit of a nudge.

Lifestream nodded and put her hands on the man's cheekbones, running her hands down to his chest and closing her eyes, concentrating for a moment, her curly blond locks falling over her petite face. A white glow began to radiate from her hands, the white light enveloping the man's body. Within minutes, the wounds began to seal up and the blood around them began to evaporate.

"All done," Lisa said with a smile.
--

"What in 'da bloody 'ell was that all about!" Pyro said, staring at the flaming and desk before him.

"Where 'da 'ell did he go? He was about to get toasted.." He all of a sudden began to smell a lingering odor of sulfur and he noticed a fading dark purple cloud of smoke.

"Damn it all!" Pyro slammed his fist down into the computer monitor, then pulling it away and cradling it.

Didn't go as well as I planned..

He balled his right fist and aimed his left palm towards the flaming computer, drawing the flames from that, he amplified them and began hurling fireballs all over the inside of the library, igniting book cases on fire as well as computers. He was torching the place. Seconds afterwards, the sprinklers turned on, putting out all the fire, as well as his source of energy, making his onslaught stop in it's tracks.

"Oh well.." He said, turning to walk outside.

After all, I did some damage..

As he pushed open the doors, he noticed a dark-skinned woman talking to Blake. He recognized instantly that it was Storm. Strange neither of them tried to stop him from destroying the place, maybe they knew the sprinklers were going to switch on. Pyro slid to the left just as Storm looked in his direction, he hid behind a small pillar that was near the main doors. He pressed on the bud of his right earlobe.

"Mystique, all didn't go as planned, 'da bloody worm 'ported in and took the bloke before I got a chance to roast 'em."

There was a crackle over his ear piece.

"It's fine, let him go. The MCA will take him out anyway."

Pyro switched off his ear piece and stepped out of the pillar, looking towards Storm, then turning and taking off down the street in a jog, taking note of his surroundings. He took a left at the street sign and was out of sight. Next time he was going to kill that mutant. He spotted a pay phone not too far from his current position, so he headed towards it. As soon as he neared it, he fished around in his right back pocket for some loose change. He picked up a few quarters. He nodded to himself and opened up the pay phone door and stepped inside. He grabbed the phone and pressed in '911'.

"'Ello?"

"Operator. What's your emergency?"

"Yeah.. there's one of 'dose.. mutant things nearby. Pretty dangerous too.. he tried to light a library on fire..'ya might wanna send somebody out before he does anything else.."

"We'll send a few patrol cars your way, stay on the line, I want more information."

--
"What..." Cody said, looking at the creature before him in horror.

"Get away from me!" He yelled, backing up to the edge of the building.

Nightcrawler edged towards him. "Don't be scared, come with me. You need help.."

"Stay away!" Cody yelled.

"I'm not going to hurt you.. " Nightcrawler said, staying where he was.

Cody yelped as he tripped off the side of the building, falling downward upside down, flailing his arms for something to grab onto. Kurt leaped off the side of the building, grabbing onto him on the way down and 'porting to the ground. Instantly, Cody pushed away and took off running. Storm walked up beside Nightcrawler and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Not yet.." She said as Blake walked up beside her.

"So.. you're one of them.. too?" Blake said, raising an eyebrow at the blue creature that stood beside the woman he had been talking to.

"Yes.. you're not going to run off too.. are you?" Kurt said, starting to back up.

Blake smirked and walked over, holding a hand out. "My name's Blake."

Nightcrawler stood straight, reaching out and shaking Blake's hand with his own three-fingered hand. "Kurt."

Blake nodded and let go, watching his brother round a corner and disappear. "He'll come to. He isn't... as understanding as I am.."

Storm smiled a little. "I'm just glad you didn't listen to that kid from earlier.. he's bad news," she said, referring to Mystique's transformation, Freddie.

"He kinda freaked me out.. getting that close to me.. I wouldn't have believed a word he said."

Nightcrawler snickered a bit and looked up on the roof that had the X Jet on it.

"'Vell, lets head home. We mustn't keep the rest of them waiting."

Storm nodded and motioned to Blake, looking at Nightcrawler, "take him. I'm not about to walk four stories up to the roof.."

Kurt nodded and put a hand on Blake's left shoulder, facing the building. "Ready for a ride?"

Blake nodded, glancing to Storm as she began to float on a current of wind upwards.

"Always."