Sanctuary Part 5:

Vanished!

The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center NY

"Welcome to the Xavier Institute and Sanctuary," Jean smiled as she looked at the ten newest faces to join their growing family, which made fifteen new residents in all. Some of them she knew very well, like Polaris and Dazzler while others were complete strangers to her, like the older man who only referred to himself as 'The Arm' or the beautiful woman that only identified herself as Madame Drache. The others who had already arrived in the past twenty-four hours had been mostly teleporters or fliers. She suspected a lot more people were on their way.

"Are we gonna get rooms or are you gonna make us camp in tents out on the grounds?" One of them asked. His name was Calvin Rankin, he had once been an X-Man, the first to join after the original five as a matter of fact. It hadn't taken him long to part ways with them on bad terms. He had always been strong-headed, had always been a troublemaker. Jean was going to keep her eye on him.

"Well, as of right now there are more than enough rooms for the refugees that have arrived, but we can't promise that will continue to be the case. In fact, as a way to make sure there is enough room for everyone we are asking for you to pair up and find someone you know or get along with as they will be your roommate. If you can't find someone then we will choose a roommate for you." There were numerous groans in the audience. Those that had arrived last night had gotten their own rooms but had been informed it was only temporary.

"While you are all trying to figure out who to room with please feel free to make yourselves a plate from the lunch items in the dining room next door. I'll be back in less than an hour."

There was a lot of murmuring as the crowd slowly dispersed. It was amazing to Jean how people who were getting a free room and board could complain so much. Sure it wasn't ideal conditions but the alternative was so much worse.

"Dazzler, oh my God, how are you?" Jean cried out as her former teammate approached with arms wide for a hug. "It has been so long! I'm glad your latest album came out before all this nonsense."

"You're telling me."

"I'm surprised you don't just barricade inside your Hollywood mansion and wait out all this nonsense there. It would be so much more comfortable I am sure. Sleeping in your own bed, no roommates."

"I would, but I'm not even sure I can trust my own bodyguards at this point," Allison Blaire, known as Dazzler to her former teammates, said. She was absolutely gorgeous, as pop stars often are, and wore maybe just a little too much makeup for the occasion. "You know, I spotted one of them cheering on in the guard shack while he watched an innocent mutant get brutalized and arrested by the police. Scared the daylights out of me."

"What did you do?"

"I fired him, of course, but he's buddies with all the bodyguards and they seemed to turn cold after that."

"Sounds like you were lucky to get out of there."

"I was," Dazzler agreed. "After the Professor's timely message I immediately chartered a private jet and flew out here."

"Well, welcome back home," Jean said with a large grin and turned to a waiting Lorna Dane, otherwise known as the X-Man Polaris. "Lorna! What a surprise to see you so soon!"

"I was just in Boston, it wasn't much of a trip for me, plus I have been wanting to come to visit for forever."

"I'm glad you could finally make it, no matter the circumstances," Jean hugged her old friend. They hadn't always been so friendly, with Lorna's ties to their archnemesis Magneto clouding the waters, but now was a time for new beginnings and healing. They would need all the positive energy they could get.

"Ms. Grey!" a familiar-looking woman called out to her. The woman was a bit older than Jean. "My name is Evangeline Whedon, I'm a lawyer for the Mutant Rights Coalition."

"It's a pleasure to have you with us, Ms. Whedon," Jean said, scanning the room for one of the new arrivals she needed to talk to.

"I'd like to offer my legal services to help in the coming days," Ms. Whedon frowned a little when she noticed Jean wasn't even looking at her. Jean breathed out slowly, she needed to make sure that everyone felt welcomed and not just her old friends.

"That is wonderful," Jean said, making sure to look directly at Evangeline. She had to remind herself that she was now playing diplomat, something that Xavier had been grooming her for several years. She couldn't afford to offend everybody, they needed all the help they could get. "I'm sure we'll need it."

"So am I," Evangeline said. She was about to say something else when another new arrival approached.

"Jean Grey?" the woman approaching was someone that Jean actually remembered meeting.

"Doctor Reyes, isn't it?"

"With all the people you X-Men meet I am surprised you remember me," Doctor Reyes smiled and shook her hand. She was a Puerto Rican woman they had a couple of years back. She was a trauma surgeon and a mutant.

"I thought your reputation and your excellent record would have shielded you from the worst of this," Jean told the woman.

"So did I. I mean, I was doing so well for the last few years. I had such a good success rate that the mutant thing never even came up. I thought they had learned to look past my labels. I thought I had done something to open their eyes and their minds to our kind. I was wrong. Hours after the President was assassinated I got a call. It seems the rich white men who actually own the hospital had already decided that I was too much of a risk to continue my employment." Jean could hear Cecilia's voice tremble a bit recounting her story.

"Oh God, Cecilia, I'm so sorry," Jean was earnest. Ms. Whedon, upon hearing the emotional and unjust story, actually seemed to become more interested in Doctor Reyes.

"They fired you simply because you were a mutant?" Ms. Whedon interjected. "They had no other reason?"

"I've got an excellent success rate," Reyes answered shortly. "I can't see any other reason for it."

"You and I should talk, I'm a lawyer for Mutant Rights."

"Do you really think we have a case right now?"

"We could tangle them so far up in legal fees and court dates that they will wish they had never let you go."

Doctor Reyes was quiet for a moment and turned back to Jean. "Just two things and I will be out of your hair."

"Whatever you need." Jean laughed.

"I just wanted to say that if any of the new arrivals need my kind of help then please don't hesitate to get me. Also, is Hank still living here?"

Jean smiled, she had forgotten that Cecilia and Hank had gone on a few dates not long after they had met. "He is taking the other five new arrivals from yesterday on a tour but he should be bringing them back here any moment."

"Thank you so much, Jean, it was good seeing you again. Now, Ms. Whedon about tangling up those crusty old rich dudes. . ."

"Call me Vange," the lawyer told the doctor, and Jean just knew there was a joke just waiting to be made from that, but she had never had the knack for those like Hank or Bobby.

"Well the hell is your problem, old man?" a loud voice rang out and all other conversations stopped.

"My problem?" the man who called himself the Arm shot back.

"Calvin!" Jean barked and marched toward the hulking winged man that had long ago been her teammate. Where was Logan when you needed him, she wondered. Calvin rolled his eyes, but the Arm, he had the good sense to walk away as she approached. This whole sanctuary thing wasn't going to be easy.

Location Undisclosed

Mystique woke with the worst headache she'd had in years. She didn't even want to open her eyes but her survival instincts were much stronger than the pain. She opened them and saw that she was still in the same cell, all the water had been drained out of it somehow. She slowly got to her feet, scanning for any guards but finding none within view.

She glanced around, quickly surveying the cell to see if anything had changed. No, there was still nothing in there she was going to be able to use to escape. She was going to have to think and trick her way out of this one. She grabbed at her power-dampening collar, it chafed her neck, not that anyone would care that it did. She wasn't dealing with the usual pushovers.

"You can stop looking for a way to escape," a voice echoed out of a speaker hidden somewhere over her head. It was that damn Agent Fox. "I can assure you that the only way out is through me."

"Then I'll go through you like a bullet," Mystique hissed loudly to make sure he could hear.

"I know you would if I ever afforded you that opportunity, Raven," Fox sounded like he truly did believe her, but it didn't bother him. "I think you will find that I am very thorough, especially where my own life is concerned. I will never give you that chance, Ms. Darkholme. Never."

"What do you want from me?" Mystique bought herself time as she continued to look around despite Fox's little promise.

"I told you before, I want you to grow wings and fly away free," she could hear Fox smiling.

"And what if I told you that I couldn't?" she asked.

"Oh, Raven, how I wish I could believe you," Fox said with far too much pleasure in his voice. "But I could never just take the word of a known terrorist, that wouldn't make me a very good interrogator now would it? I'm afraid I will just have to reassure myself in every way possible before I can accept that."

Mystique shivered at the sound of his hollow regret. She wanted to scream at him, how pathetic he was to think that humans could ever stem the tide that was mutant-kind. To think that he, a nobody human government tool could ever hold her when so many better men and mutants had tried.

She didn't say anything, she didn't want him to know that he was already fraying her nerves. Usually, she was much calmer and more collected than this. Cool, on top of it, those were things normally said about her. She was a mess now, a pounding headache rattling her skull as her oxygen-deprived brain struggled to focus itself. She was far worse off than she would like to admit to herself, but she was a pragmatist and so she admitted it to herself. She was shaken and she needed to regain control or this tiny-dicked weasel of a human was going to get to her. She couldn't let that happen. Ever.

"I'm afraid you were out so long that I am expected back at the White House," Fox sounded like he truly regretted that. "I'll just have to come back when my shift is over. Meanwhile, you enjoy this lovely spa day that my men have planned for you. Every two hours they are going to flood your cell and help you exercise by letting you tread water for an hour, then they'll empty your cell and start the process all over again. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Mystique truly was at a loss for words as she heard water slowly trickling into her cell once more. She glanced around or a foothold or something that she could use to help keep her head above water. Nothing. She shuddered again, she wasn't sure how long she could survive this.

"Bye-bye now, Raven!" Fox's cheery voice echoed in the cell.

"Asshole!" Mystique muttered fiercely under her breath, hoping he didn't hear it. He must not know he's getting to her. Her feet were already covered in cold water and it was rising rapidly. She focused and kept her breathing calm. She had to survive this so she could choke the life out of that annoying Agent Fox and watch his eyes slowly fade as the life drained out of him.

Marine Barracks, Quantico

Gyrich sat in the only office in the building, the man across from him was Steven Lang. They had worked together on the Sentinel project last time before it was brought to an untimely end. He would have used Lang as the director for the revitalized project but the president has expressly forbidden it. She didn't want people to think this was the same Sentinel project as last time and the best way to do that in her eyes was to change up the leadership.

"I was snubbed when it came time to reinstate the Sentinel project, why should I help you all now?" Lang asked, a bit of bitterness in his voice.

"You know how it is, Lang, it's politics, it's all bullshit but the President wasn't trying to snub you, she was saving you for this project."

"The Mutant Response Division? What exactly would I be responding to?"

"Any mutant that acts out in any way will be handed to your MRD to handle. You will capture them, imprison them, and will be allowed to do research on them, to secure humanity's future."

"Then what will the Sentinels be doing exactly?"

"The Sentinels will be sent after high-power, high-profile targets, ones that you and your boys shouldn't have to be dealing with. Mutants like Magneto, or teams like the Brotherhood or X-Men."

"Will we have full autonomy?"

"No," Gyrich answered honestly. "You will, of course, have oversight, it would never get passed otherwise, but I will be that oversight. You will answer directly to me, and as long as you are capturing mutants then I don't care what else you do with them unless you set them free. That I will not stand for."

"You won't have to."

"I know Steven, that's why you were chosen to lead the MRD. You understand what is at stake here."

"Tell the President she can count on me."

"I knew we could," Gyrich smiled widely. It had been over a decade since he had such power at his fingertips. "You've got over seventy-five Marines assigned to you as well as several specialized agents."

"I wanted to pick my own men."

"Those are just the grunts," Gyrich dismissed. "You will be free to bring in your own leadership for the program, just stick within your generous budget and you will be fine."

"When do you expect us to be ready?"

Gyrich reached into an inner pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out an old school flip phone. Lang hadn't seen one like it since the mid-two-thousands. The light on its monochrome screen flashed.

"This is Gyrich."

Lang knew this must be important so instead of objecting at being ignored he stood up quietly and exited the office to give Gyrich some privacy.

"What is it, Doc?" Gyrich asked.

"We've had another success, sir!" Doctor Abraham's voice came blaring through the phone.

"What do you mean, another success?"

"X25, sir, he's outside his incubator and alive! He survived the process, just like X23 did."

"How's its mind?"

"He is definitely aware sir, but we haven't performed any tests yet," the Doc blurted out.

"And what of X23, is it back to normal, or is it still having an emotional reaction?" Gyrich refused to acknowledge the gender of the experiments. It humanized them, made it easy for his doctors to empathize.

"She's back to normal," Abraham didn't sound completely confident in his statement. Gyrich didn't care if she had truly recovered from the incident; he only cared if she was ready to be deployed again.

"I want the next target taken out as soon as possible, we can't let this fervor die down," Gyrich pressed.

"Do you want to be here when she deploys?" Abraham inquired.

"I don't think I'll have the time, Doctor, I have several other projects I have to get started. Just deploy her as soon as you can."

Miami, FL

The docks were in surprisingly good condition. Of course, these private docks were exclusively for the very rich, so they could arrive from their private little island neighborhoods and get into their car before the paparazzi or protestors could spot them. Because they valued their privacy so much once you were out on the docks the security was very minimal. Getting into the docks, whether by land or by sea, was nearly impossible for anyone who wasn't wanted. There was one man, however that couldn't be kept from anywhere he wanted to be.

The Vanisher, a mutant with teleportation powers that far exceeded those of the X-Man known as Nightcrawler. He didn't even know if there were limits to how far he could teleport. He'd managed halfway across the world with ease many times before. It made him nearly impossible to track or catch and even harder to keep.

He stood under a light right next to an enormous personal yacht he had his eye on. He was expecting somebody, he rarely stood alone outside in the dark but he was intrigued by the message he had received. I know a treasure only you could retrieve and all I want from it is a single personal belonging of little value. Then it proceeded with the instruction to the docks and where to meet this mystery employer. Normally he would have never gone for something like this but when he read where the mystery person wanted to meet he knew that they must at least be someone of great wealth to get inside the docks. In fact, this bit of knowledge kept him a bit too at ease, he wasn't as on alert as he normally was. He was going to pay for it.

"Ow!" Vanisher slapped a hand to the side of his neck and felt something cold and cylindrical. He pulled on it and saw a dart with an injecting mechanism with a small vial inside. He closed his eyes and . . . nothing. His body may have glowed for just a second but he should be miles away by now. He tried again with the same results. Something was stopping him from teleporting.

"You might as well stop trying to teleport," a rough voice that the Vanisher knew all too well came from the shadows. "That's Isotope X, it temporarily suppresses your X-Gene, I stole that from the government. It was their only known sample of it. Lucky me, it works."

"What do you want, Wolverine?" Vanisher's mind was racing. He had to get out of here. Normally a do-gooder X-Man wouldn't have gotten him too concerned but Wolverine was known for not having the same compunctions they did about killing and maiming their enemies.

"A favor," Wolverine walked out of the shadows into full view.

Vanisher grabbed two handguns strapped to his sides. Before he could even finish drawing them two large metal blades thudded into the wood of the dock in front of him. He froze.

"You really didn't want to do that anyway," Wolverine said, amusement clear in his voice. "You woulda just pissed me off, you know that."

With a bit of wind, the source of the blades landed right behind Vanisher, the X-Man Archangel. There had been a time that Vanisher would have laughed at the sight of Warren Worthington, he had been the joke of the X-Men's villains. Apocalypse had changed all that. When he had changed unimpressive Angel into the deadly Archangel of Death he had given the man recuperative abilities almost on par with Wolverine and those metal wings were made of feathers that worked as blades as well, not just for Archangel to slash with but he could also fire them at will. No one laughed at Warren Worthington now.

"What kind of favor?"

"I need you to steal something for me."

"Isn't that against your ethics or moral code or something?"

"That's why you're gonna do it."

"Where do you want me to steal from, Fort Knox?" Vanisher was trying to bide time, he wasn't sure how long this Isotope X lasted but the longer he stalled the better his chances were.

"No." Archangel said with no emotion.

"The White House," Wolverine told him as he advanced on the Vanisher.

"I don't think so!" Vanisher turned to dive into the warm waters of the Atlantic. A rough hand grabbed him and yanked him back toward the docks. Then something cold circled his neck with a clicking sound. Vanisher looked down, it was a suppressor collar, the damn X-Men had the gall to use one on him.

"Oh, I think you will do exactly as I say," Wolverine told him, holding up a smartphone. "See this account? Do you recognize the account number?"

What was the furry little asshole getting at? Vanisher looked confused at the number until his eyes lit up in shock. "It's mine." His voice trembled and his knees went weak.

"That's right and just to ensure you stay cooperative I am going to transfer all twelve million into a secret account."

"No!"

"Yep."

Vanisher struggled against Wolverine's grip but the man was all muscle and gristle and there was no way he could overcome him, besides, Archangel stood, just waiting for a reason to put a feather blade through him.

"Fine." He finally relaxed. "What is it you want me to steal?"

"First," Wolverine nodded at his teammate. "You are going to go for a little ride."

Archangel suddenly took off then swooped down and grabbed him by the arms. "No! I'm afraid of heights!" Warren didn't even react.

The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center NY

Sam and Storm were stuck in the mansion's entryway. Ready to greet any new mutants who might show up. Sam sighed, so far no one had shown since he started his "shift" and hour ago. He wanted to complain about how bored he was, how it was unfair that he had to take a shift even though some of his classmates didn't. He couldn't bring himself to complain.

"Professor Munroe, do you know if they have made any progress in the search for Bobby?"

"I'm sorry to say that I do not, Samuel," Ororo Munroe answered sympathetically. "I do know that the Professor is the world's most powerful telepath, Wolverine is on the world's best trackers, and Hank is one of the world's most gifted intellects. They will find Bobby."

"Ah know, Ah'm just worried is all. The way he vanished without a trace, Ah mean how do you track a teleporter?"

"We've done it before, Sam, we can do it again."

"How?"

"Well, for starters they have a teleporter like me on the lookout for your lost classmate," a new voice confidently.

"Charles Little Sky!" Storm got to her feet and spread her arms wide for an embrace. "I had heard you had arrived but I dared not believe it! You haven't changed at all."

"Should I?" The man Ororo had identified as Charles Little Sky was a short but broad middle-aged Native American man. He was in excellent shape, so whatever he did for a living it wasn't sitting at a desk.

"Never!" Ororo said dramatically and the two embraced while chuckling about their little joke. "What are you up to? Why does it look like you're already leaving? You haven't picked up smoking again, have you?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I am leaving, but I will be right back. I am going to go get a friend I picked up . . . elsewhere, I am sure she doesn't have anywhere else to go."

"Sounds like me may have just found Madame Drache a roommate after all," Storm smiled to herself.

"Don't follow me," Little Sky said pointedly, looking at Sam. Sam just shrugged his shoulders, wondering why the man would even say that. Did he know that Sam had followed Professor Worthington? The mansion was like its own small community and like most small communities rumors spread faster and hotter than a wildfire. Logan and Worthington had both sworn him to secrecy, if the news was somehow getting out about it Sam was sure he would take the blame.

"Why would I?" Sam finally, hoping to see if the man said something that would tell him if he knew or not.

"Cuz you're a kid. It's dangerous where I am going."

"I'm not a kid."

"Charles just go now and quit antagonizing Sam, he's a good kid," Professor Munroe laughed.

"See ya later, kid!" Little Sky chuckled loudly as he raised a hand. Before their eyes, pink and yellow energies appeared and began to swirl in a circular motion until they formed a round portal just taller than Little Sky.

"I told you I'm not a k-!" Sam barked back but the portal disappeared before he could even finish his sentence.

"Don't let him bother you," Storm smiled gently at him. "He uses his sense of humor when he is deeply worried."

"What do you think he is worried about?"

"His friends, his family, his own life, his fellow mutants, the same things we all are," Storm said honestly.

"Yeah, I just wish Bobby were here to worry with me."

"He will be soon, Sam, we'll find him."

Without warning bright pink and yellow energies appeared in the middle of the room and again formed a circular portal. Charles Little Sky came leaping through the portal carrying someone. Immediately he laid the person, the woman, down gently and raised his hand again, closing the portal. Sam could have sworn he had heard screams coming through the portal and they had been getting louder.

"Get a doctor, quick!" Little Sky screamed out, his voice rough. "It's Switchback, she was attacked by a mob of mutant-haters!"

Sam saw now that the woman was bleeding from her mouth, her nose, and her temple. One of her arms lay at an awkward angle and there were scuff marks all over her face and arms. This woman had been brutally beaten.

"Sam! Run and get Jean, I will stay here, I know some first aid."

Sam was still looking at the pitiful, beautiful broken form lying silently on the floor. A tragedy.

"Go!" Storm shouted, waking from his reverie. Sam turned and bolted down the hallway, screaming for Jean.

Story: X-Men Vol 1: Sanctuary

Chapter: 4. Sanctuary Pt 4: Calling All Mutants

From: The Vulture Queen ( u/2733710/ )

This fic is answering questions I probably should've asked a long time ago. Because the X23 miniseries were written after she was introduced/a teenager there's the little conundrum of why no one outside of Kingpin / Captain America ever seemed to notice that there was a prolific assassin on the loose. Good on you for answering what should have been an obvious question I never really asked.

I'm glad that I was able to clear up a few things for you, but I want to also say that some of my fic's details are made up for this fic specifically as I plan on going my own direction with the mutants. Specifically in the case of X23 while she was created by a part of Weapon X(Plus) I do not believe Gyrich was specifically involved in her creation and she also never killed the President of the USA. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and review my fic. I hope you enjoy this newest issue.