Sanctuary Part 7:

Moving Pieces

H Street and Union Station, DC

X-23 watched quietly as people went about their business at the bus station. Some of the people she watched, they collected tickets and guided people to the right bus, they must be the Handlers of these people. She was in the Station House parking garage, crouched between two cars. She wasn't sure why she had ended up here. She had flashes of what she thought might be memories of this place.

Her training had taught her that if she wanted to move inconspicuously it was best to disappear within a large crowd. So far since coming out of her Scent trance she hadn't seen a place more crowded than here. She planned out her movements in her head ahead of time, watching out for any cameras that might give her away, they had trained her well.

She dashed out into the busy parade of constantly moving buses, making sure to stay out of view from the handler people as well as the cameras. She spotted a large group all wearing the same shirt that said "Satler Family Reunion 2020, New York City here we come!" and she dashed among them. She might not be wearing the same shirt as them but there were a lot of them and most were larger than her and could hide her from obvious view. A few of the group were her age and younger. She couldn't stand kids her own age, they screeched and cried and generally acted illogically. If she had acted like they did her handlers would have put her through acid torture. How come no one controlled them?

The enormous family gathered around a large sleek white bus. One of the men in uniforms opened up the bottom of the bus and began throwing luggage underneath while another uniformed man began to take their tickets. X-23 kicked the long line of luggage that the man was trying to handle and it all fell over. The luggage handler turned and saw the mess she had made. While he was cursing and trying to figure out who had messed up his neat line of luggage X-23 ducked behind him and dove into the luggage compartment, settling in between two large soft bags. It was already incredibly hot in the compartment and sweat burst out on her forehead. She was in for a long uncomfortable ride. The luggage handler finished filling her compartment and slammed the door to it closed.

It was pitch black, this actually allowed her to relax. X-23 sniffed, someone had packed some food, granola bars, and fruit snacks if she wasn't mistaken. She unsheathed a claw and cut a nearby bag open. Without even looking she had been able to sniff out the granola bar box. She pulled it out from the bag and quickly began devouring them. Maybe this trip wouldn't be too bad after all.

Elsewhere nearby, at the World Resources Institute building Gyrich paced in front of a handful of agents staring engrossed at their laptops. No one made a sound except the clicking of keyboards.

"We know it was spotted in Buchanan Field near a group of children for Christ's sake. Concentrate your search in the immediate area, my guess is it is trying to escape on a bus, but it has no money or any idea how to get a bus pass."

"Sir, I think I might have spotted something," an agent said.

"You think you have spotted something?"

"Yes, sir," the agent looked frightened by Gyrich's response. Good. "She is in the middle of a large group and passes just barely inside the camera's view. I'm not certain it is her."

"Let me see," Gyrich snatched the agent's laptop. "That's her. When was this footage taken?"

"A half an hour ago, sir," the agent responded.

"Keep searching and see if you can find out what bus they got on," Gyrich handed the man his laptop back. He pulled out a walkie talkie. "Spencer, I want a full team in civvies out to Union Station, we've spotted her there. We need to move, now, before she gets out of the city!"

Gyrich strapped on a pistol and headed out the door but paused at the exit, "Keep me updated on what you find out." He looked pointedly at the agent who had spotted X-23.

"Yes, sir!"

The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center NY

Wolverine hated to be so obvious, but as far as he knew no one suspected anything, not even Xavier. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours he went to visit a woman he barely knew. Warren was waiting for him at the elevator. If they weren't careful people might begin to suspect, not only because of their visits to Switchback but also because they were spending so much time together. Logan and Warren weren't exactly friends and everyone knew it.

"Are you sure about bringing her in on this?" Warren asked. "It's not like we know her well enough to trust her."

"The fact that she understood what we needed right away tells me that she can be trusted," Logan answered. "There are very few people in the mansion who will understand what we must do and all of the rest of them I trust even less. We need someone with her skills."

"Time manipulation will come in very handy."

"That's useful too, but what I am talking about is her abilities to infiltrate systems, to survive when the world is against you, the ability to know when to cut and run but still be willing to risk your life for the right cause.

"If she is so good then why was she nearly killed by a group of normal humans?" Warren asked.

"They knocked her out before she had a chance to use her powers," Logan explained. "She was expecting anything like that to happen, Little Sky had sold our world as a peaceful and harmonious one."

"I suppose it is when you compare it to her world," Warren shrugged. "I can't imagine living in a world run by Apocalypse."

"That's why we gotta do what we gotta do," Logan reinforced.

"Speaking of Little Sky," Warren nodded his head in the direction of Switchback's recovery room. Little Sky, or Portal as he was also known, was standing yet again by the injured woman's bedside. They were going to have to get him away before they could talk frankly with Switchback.

"Coming to visit again?" Charles Little Sky noted curiously as the two entered the recovery room. "I appreciate you taking in me and my friend but I seriously hope you aren't trying to convince her to join your little X-Men group."

"If that were the case it would be Charles or Cyke that would be making the visits. I'm not exactly a poster boy for Chuck's team."

"Charles, be nice, I asked them to come," Switchback chided.

"You sure make friends fast, Switch," Little Sky noted.

"You know, I think I will take you up on that offer of getting me some roast beef from the cafeteria," Switchback said to Little Sky. "They won't bring it to me here because they say it 'increases inflammation'. I don't care, I can take a little more swelling. I just want some beef."

Smart girl, Logan thought as he stayed quiet, she was getting rid of Little Sky for them. Just a small thing but it proved she not only understood the situation but knew how and when to play the game. Every time Logan saw her she was proving that he was making the right choice.

"Are you sure you want to be left along with these two goons?" Little Sky smiled wryly.

"I resent that," Warren said, only half kidding. "I am no goon. Though I can't speak on behalf of my companion here."

"Hey," Logan growled jokingly. The two mutant refugees laughed at their little exchange.

"Okay, I'll get you some roast beef, potatoes, and carrots as I promised," Little Sky said with a grin. "You two make sure you don't stay too long, Ms. Grey said she needed some more rest."

"Charlie!" Switchback chided her friend jokingly again.

"Okay, Okay, you're getting hangry, I get it, I'm on my way."

"Okay you two," Switchback said in a serious tone. "Tell me why you left me out of the action last night."

"Angel here had to bring along an unwanted teammate who I couldn't trust to leave alone and definitely couldn't trust to bring her here."

"What about this healing you promised me yesterday?"

"He's on his way here now, he's a Morlock named Healer, he's bringing one of their kids, Leech, here for his own safety. He's agreed to help all of our injured before he leaves to rejoin the Morlocks under New York City."

"So, what are my chances of getting invited to the real party?" Switchback asked coyly.

"Look, what we're doing," Logan sighed. "It goes against the X-Men's code, Xavier has no idea what we are up to and would be furious if he did know. This is something best kept a secret."

"I understand," Switchback told them. "In my world, the X-Men I worked with was a secret team, called X-Force, we infiltrated Apocalypse's regime, we did things that no one else on Magneto's team of X-Men would dream of doing. We could never take credit for what we did either as that would destroy the secret. I understand what it is like to carry such a secret."

"Not even Little Sky can know about this."

"I owe him a great deal, including my life, but it is still my life to live as I see fit, not his."

"I knew it!" a young voice rang out in outrage. "You two are up to something bad, something you don't want the Professor to know about!" It was Cannonball. Wolverine groaned audibly and Switchback sent the teenager a murderous look. Angel looked resigned as if he had known this was going to happen.

"Look, Sam, this isn't what it looks like," Warren lied.

"There's no point in trying to cover it up," Logan told Warren, he also shook his head at Switchback who looked ready to jump up and kill the young man where he stood, despite her injuries.

"You know I am gonna have to tell Mister Summers," Sam glanced at the three angry-looking mutants nervously.

"Look, Sam," Logan held up his hands to show he wasn't going to attack. "What we're up to is trying to save the mutant race."

"By killing people."

"What?" Logan shook his head. "We haven't killed a single person while we've been going on these missions."

"Then why keep it a secret? Why are you all trying so hard to keep this hidden from Mister Summers and the Professor?"

"Because when we find the mutant responsible for killing the President we are going to turn her in. Not everybody would agree with that. We don't have time to sit and debate this, every day the world gets worse for mutants. Every hour we delay some innocent mutant is getting injured or worse just for being who they are. All because of one mutant."

"So you're lying to the Professor and Mister Summers because you want to avoid a political debate?" Sam sounded incredulous.

"No, we are going to capture her and turn her to the Government and let them do what they want from us. It's not a matter of a simple debate, Sam, if Xavier finds out there's no way he would let us turn her over."

"Ah'm not so sure, wait!" Sam looked pensive. "Her? Do you already know who did it?"

"We do," Warren said solemnly.

"What's her name?"

"That, we don't know," Logan shook his head. "We do know what she looks like and about how old she is and what some of her powers are."

"You know who killed the President and have decided not to tell the rest of the X-Men?"

"Sam, this is life or death, we can't waste this chance on a debate that could go on for years. This is what has to be done. No one has to die, we aren't trying to kill anyone, we just want to stop the legalization of anti-mutant violence."

"Except for her, whoever she is, you can't think they aren't going to kill her," Sam refuted.

"She killed at least eight other men besides the president including an ambassador, I think she should have to pay for her crimes just like everyone else has to," Switchback butted in.

Sam looked truly confused. Turning a mutant over to the American Government, especially right now, was potentially deadly, but it was her fault that they were in such a hostile situation, to begin with. He believed in being honest to his mentor and Professor Xavier but he knew that what Wolverine said made sense to him. He was torn on what to do.

"Look, Sam, I know this is a morally scary place," Warren finally spoke up again. "That's why we tried to keep you out of it. I am sorry that you got mixed up with all of this but you have to choose now what you are going to do. We need to get out there and follow a lead on our assassin, but if you have to tell Scott or the Professor what is going on then we need to stay and deal with the fallout."

They had tried to keep him out of it, it wasn't their fault he had inserted himself into the situation. Was what they were doing all that wrong when all they wanted to do was bring a murderer to justice? A knot formed in the very center of Sam's stomach but he looked at the three mutants in front of him.

"Ah'll keep quiet."

"Good," was all Logan said then looked at the other two.

"Are you sure you can trust his word?" Switchback asked the two X-Men.

"Ah don't lie and Ah don't break my promises," Sam barked angrily. Switchback held up her hands in surrender and smiled.

"If anyone is looking for us you don't know where we are," Logan growled. "You go on and go about your day. The less you know about this the less they can get out of you."

"Ah said Ah'd keep quiet."

"We know Sam, but live in a school with multiple strong telepaths, things can even be discovered by accident," Warren said.

Slightly mollified Sam glanced at the three and then turned and left. Had he made the right choice? He hoped so. He also wished that the enormous knot in his stomach would go away.

The White House, Washington DC

The President sat in the kitchen. She enjoyed being served as much as the next politician but she had made herself a sandwich. For some reason it seemed as if no one could make her sandwich correctly except her. Ms. Marvel was away eating her own lunch, the superheroine rarely left her side except during meals, top-secret meetings, and bedtime. The poor thing must be bored to tears. Whenever she was gone an extra cadre of Secret Agents was sent in to guard her. She was now flanked by almost ten Secret Agents at every strategic point possible in the kitchen. It probably looked a little excessive but considering how her predecessor lost his job she felt she was better safe than sorry.

"Madam President," Agent Fox's temporary replacement opened the door to the kitchen and came in.

"Yes, Agent?"

"Agent Ziegler, ma'am," the Agent acted as if it was the first time he had to do that for her.

"Well, what is it, Agent Ziggle?"

"Madam, Agent Fox died of his injuries about thirty minutes ago," Ziegler didn't seem to be upset by the news himself.

"I would have thought Gyrich himself would have delivered such important news to me himself," the President said before taking a bite from her turkey, only mayo, three cheese, and six veggies sandwich.

"He told me to let you know he was solving a problem at one of your projects and that also, Matthew Risman, a former soldier now retired and working as a minister, has been appointed to be Stephen Lang's public face."

"Well, I'm glad that he seems to have something under control finally. Was there anything else?"

"Yes, ma'am, we got security footage and photographs from Mystique's escape, and it turns out she had some help."

"Oh?"

Agent Ziegler handed her a manila envelope filled with large color photographs. She opened it up and immediately began to look through them.

"As you can see, it seems that it really was Angel of the X-Men who showed up on our lawn that night, not only that but they had help from a third party. I'm not sure if you recognize the bald one with the tattoos."

"The Vanisher," the President sounded surprised. "I was a young congresswoman when he stole those plans from the White House, he doesn't seem to have aged a day."

"In fact, he looks younger," Ziegler pointed to an older, more blurry photo from the time Vanisher had first made himself appear to the public eye. The agent was right, Vanisher looked younger than he had almost a decade ago.

"I wonder if it is his son," the President speculated.

"Mutants do not generally have the same powers as their biological parents," Ziegler said. "There is significant speculation in the Agency that this is actually a clone of the original."

"So why haven't we marched down to Xavier's little mutant school and taken that winged devil in?"

"That's something else I need to tell you," Ziegler. He handed her another envelope, these full of satellite photos of a large mansion and its beautiful green grounds. "It seems, that ever since the assassination Xavier has been quietly gathering a little mutant army of his own right under our noses. We have no idea what we are up against at this time. It's not just a few kids and the X-Men there anymore, their ranks have been swelling."

The President dryly swallowed a large bite of sandwich. This was very bad, a mutant army gathering behind their backs. This situation kept getting more volatile every time she had a conversation about it. Something had to be done, but she didn't want to risk an all-out war with the mutants. Not yet. They weren't ready for that yet, but they were getting there. Once the new Sentinels were online, the MRD had formed and the Legacy Virus was unleashed the mutants would be decimated before they even knew what had happened. Not yet though. Something had to be done though, and it had to be done now.

"I want you to form a squad of elite soldiers that have been trained against super-powers and see if they can find out what we are up against, and if they get the chance have them bring in Angel, Vanisher, and Mystique if they can without risking the entire operation.

"Yes, ma'am," Ziegler began gathering up his things.

"Oh and Ziggy," the man winced at the severe mispronunciation. "Have Gyrich take charge of the operation, I trust his judgment, I don't trust yours."

Ziegler flushed a deep red. "Yes, ma'am."

Boston, MA

The house was riddled with bullet holes, the door was shattered, its pieces scattered across the living room floor. Two people were inside, examining what was left of the place. It seems after the Secret Service had knocked down her door nearby hoodlums had decided to invade the place and had filled it with graffiti. Most of it was just their names or the name of their crew. Some of the "artwork" had a much more lewd purpose behind it.

"Why did you have me bring you here again?" Vanisher asked as he looked around the trashed house.

"I had something to retrieve," Mystique told him again.

"Right, because it is a big payday for you, and you're going to give me a portion of it because?"

"You got me out of that prison, I owe you at least a reward," Mystique said.

"I'm not buying it."

"Well, I was hoping that you might consider sticking around," Mystique told him.

Vanisher eyed her suspiciously. "I don't think so, I lead up my operations alone, less chance to get betrayed that way."

"Your power is rather useful and this would only be for a few operations," Mystique made her way over to the couch. The cushions had been slashed and tossed aside, a hole had been torn in the seat.

"I'm better off alone."

"Look, you and I both know that there is no way that one of the X-Men, even Wolverine, are going to turn in that little girl to the government to face her crimes. There's no way those bleeding hearts can go through with it."

"You mean, especially Wolverine," Vanisher said as he watched Mystique reach into the hole in the couch seat and frantically search blindly with her arm. "Did you see that girl's claws? How she healed from multiple wounds so fast? I don't know how but those two are definitely related."

"Great," Mystique groaned but then smiled and slowly pulled a small laptop out from inside the couch seat. "The last thing we need is a little girl Wolverine running around helping the X-Men. It's best if she goes to the US government, let them try to figure out how to kill her."

"I'm no fighter, I'd never stand a chance against a Wolverine, even a little one," Vanisher shook his head.

"No, you wouldn't need to, just get us there. We'll get our own, bigger Wolverine, and have him bring her in."

"How are we even going to find her?"

"I have a friend. She's retired from the criminal business but she has a special talent for pointing us to where we need to go before we even need to get there. I'm pretty sure I can get her to come on for a few more missions."

"You said there'll be a big payout?"

"Yeah, this thumb drive I have here is worth 5 million dollars at least, and if I'm not mistaken maybe more."

"How much would be my cut?"

"If you stick with us to the end you'll get a full million." Mystique smiled as she slid the thumb drive into a pocket.

"Where do we begin?"

"To Destiny's Paris apartment!"

"I can get us to Paris, but I don't know who Destiny is or where her apartment would be."

"Just take us to the Eiffel Tower, that'll be close enough."

They were gone without a flash or a puff of smoke, only a small almost popping sound as the displaced air from their disappearance corrected itself.

The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center NY

Kurt Wagner sat at his desk, which was hard to do properly when you had a thick prehensile tail coming from your spine. In front of him sat a young woman who was small for her age, her hair was cropped short and as she spoke to him an Irish lilt snuck its way into her words. Her name was Rahne Sinclair but her teammates and teachers also knew her as Wolfsbane. She had skipped a grade thanks to Xavier feeling it was better she stuck with her friends and teammates as long as she could keep up with the work. She had. She was very close to her teammates as she had no real family, no one that loved her and watched her back other than her teammates, the New Mutants, Sam's class.

"Mister Wagner I can't believe that Bobby would just disappear like that and not tell any of us that he was planning on leaving, and now Xi'an's siblings just up and disappear too. All of this while the world is going to hell for all of mutants. Something is wrong and no one seems to be doing anything about it!"

"Rahne, let me assure you," Nightcrawler's appearance was anything but reassuring. His skin was covered in a soft velvety fur of such a dark blue that it was almost black, his eyes were yellow and his hands contained merely two large thick fingers and a thumb. Despite his demonic appearance Rahne did seem to trust him, both of them being Catholic helped but he was also her mentor, and a good one. He checked in with her progress daily, encouraging her whenever she was feeling doubt or fear. He would have made an excellent priest if the Church had let him. "We are doing all we can. Logan was sent over to the twin's orphanage and found that the same woman's scent was there as was in Bobby's room. We are trying everything to figure out who this woman teleporter is and why she is taking our loved ones."

"I feel like the whole world is against us, like maybe even that God is against us, Mr. Wagner."

"Rahne, God is not against you. He loves you. You are his child and you must always remember that, no matter how some people might try to convince you otherwise."

Kurt knew that Rahne's adopted father, a Presbyterian minister, had often called her a monster, and beat her. The man that should have been the most loving in her life had been the most hateful. He was a God of fire and brimstone that punished and hated His children. Kurt was hopeful to someday undo the damage that wolf in sheep's clothing had done to her.

Before he could say another word the door to Kurt's office burst open and Scott Summers came striding in. "Kurt, we need your help!"

"As you can see, I am helping Rahne right now," Kurt gestured to the teenager in his chair.

"Kurt there's a group of teens that had made their way all the way here from Idaho in an old van but they got caught up by an angry mob. It's live on the news right now. We have to help them."

"Rahne, I am so sorry, but I have to go right now," Kurt told the tear-filled girl who only nodded in response. "When I get back I will reschedule this conversation with you and we will talk about this again, I promise." Rahne smiled genuinely at him and nodded again, this time more enthusiastically.

"Let's go!" Scott barked. There was a flash of light.

"Just a moment," Kurt barked back, fairly out of character. He turned back to Rahne but she wasn't there. She had disappeared. "Scott! Rahne has disappeared, she's gone!"

"We'll deal with it when we get back, we have to go if we are going to save these kids' lives!"

"Fine!" and with a puff of noxious smelling blue smoke Kurt disappeared from his office. He reappeared in the main hall, expecting to go down the elevator to the waiting jet. Instead, he found Charles Little Sky standing there waiting for him, Colossus had just disappeared through the portal.

"You're going to teleport me there?" Nightcrawler asked hesitantly. He didn't trust other people's teleporting skills.

"Unless you can do it on your own," Little Sky shrugged.

"Mein Gott!" Nightcrawler cried then closed his eyes and leaped through the swirling pink and yellow portal.

Immediately his ears were assaulted by the screams of a huge crowd of people, they were everywhere screaming and running. A huge knot of people was surrounding a van that had to have been made in the seventies and rocking back and forth, some of the windows were shattered but had been replaced with what looked like ice. Colossus was charging toward them.

"Mein Gott," Kurt repeated but this time in an awed whisper. All of those people were trying to kill teenagers just because they were mutants. It was horrifying. Kurt ran after Colossus.

The big steel mutant used his huge arms in big sweeping movements to toss four or five people away at a time, he was bellowing angrily. This was a horrifying scene but it would be so much worse if Colossus lost his temper and truly hurt some of these racist humans.

Suddenly Kurt was hit from behind, he saw stars.

"Mutie!" someone screamed behind him.

Kurt ducked to avoid yet another cowardly blow from behind. Some ugly tatted up looking older man grimaced at him and tried to swing what looked like a lead pipe at him. Kurt, despite being slightly discombobulated by the blow to his skull, was an astounding gymnast and swordsman. He easily ducked the man's repeated attempts to strike him and somersaulted over his attacker.

The man spun to face him but before he could even finish Kurt grabbed him by the shoulder and disappeared with him. They reappeared fifty feet away, Kurt's attacker had gone green in the gills and spewed vomit from his mouth. Kurt's teleportations usually had that effect on people the first time. He ported back over to the crowd. Colossus had finally reached the van and was batting people away from the back doors. He was so busy keeping the mob at bay he couldn't open the doors and help the teens escape.

Kurt ported inside the van, something he hated to do since he couldn't see inside and could have appeared with someone inside him. He looked in the back to find a group of five teens huddled in the middle, holding each other, tears were streaming down their face.

"Don't worry," Kurt said in his trademark German accent. "The X-Men are here to help you."

"What are we gonna do?" Said one of the older teens, a skinny boy in a loose-fitting green shirt and jeans. "I can't use my powers or I might lose control."

"There's hundreds of them!" said the youngest, an attractive young girl in a stylish outfit.

"If we can just clear a path I can get us out of here," Nightcrawler reassured them.

"How do we do that?" said another, a young man with very thick coke-bottle glasses.

"Well, what can each of you do?" Kurt asked, trying to ignore the angry screams and the rocking of the van.

"I can shoot cold blasts from my hands, and float," said the girl. Now that he had a chance to see them all he realized she was the only girl.

"I can change into animals, but I lose control," said the skinny one who had initially spoken up.

"I am strong and super fast, but only for a few seconds at a time," this was said by a half-Asian half-white young man who hadn't said a word until now. He was the tallest and most athletic of the group.

"I can control computers and software," said another one, he had glasses but not nearly as thick as the other.

"I can copy other people's powers," said the one with coke-bottle glasses. Kurt tried to think fast.

One of the windows that had been shattered then sealed again with what Kurt now knew was ice, shattered again. Fists came pouring in the window. The girl screamed.

"Strong one, kick open the back doors!" Kurt cried out.

"Are you insane?"

"Do it!"

The teens looked at each other then all nodded. The stronger one leaned backward and kicked the doors as hard as he could. The two metal doors went flying, one of them glanced off of Colossus' broad back. Kurt sighed with relief, the big Russian had held his position and it looked like he hadn't hurt anyone either.

Kurt grabbed the young woman and disappeared in another puff of midnight colored smoke. The pair reappeared about a hundred feet away next to a swirling pinkish portal. It looked like Iceman had just come through the portal, he grabbed the girl in his icy hands and took her back through the portal to the mansion.

More people advanced on the back of the van now that they knew it was open. Colossus tried to keep them away but it was hard to do without seriously injuring one of them. The four remaining teens gathered into a tight knot.

"You should just turn into a tiger and bolt it," the strongest one said to the skinny one.

"Yeah, screw these jerks, who cares if one of them gets hurt?" said coke-bottle glasses.

"I can't leave you guys," the skinny one said.

"Adam can rush out behind you, at his speed he should be able to get to that portal before anyone touches him." Said the one with normal glasses. "Louis can just copy your powers and follow you out too."

"Where does that leave you, Cameron?" the skinny one asked.

"Maybe I can make someone's cell phone explode or something."

"You mean you haven't tried that yet?" Coke-bottle, or Louis, asked incredulously. "Why not?"

"I don't think so-" Skinny denied.

"Hello, who is next?" Kurt reappeared inside the van, he was sweating and obviously winded.

"Cameron!" the tech-powered mutant's three friends called out.

"This is so embarrassing," Cameron groaned as Nightcrawler grabbed him and disappeared. The remaining three could see Cameron reappear and begin to retch almost immediately.

"Oh goody," the skinny one said wryly. "Louis you can go next."

With a great screech both of the front doors of the van were ripped away by the mob of people.

"We gotta go now!" Adam, the athletic one, said.

Just like Cameron had planned the skinny one turned into a Bengal tiger and leaped from the back of the van. With a burst of speed Adam wasn't far behind him. Louis was less experienced in his borrowed shapeshifting powers and he was finding it difficult to change as a swearing wave of angry humanity poured in on him from the front of the van.

"I've got you!" Kurt suddenly appeared behind him. There was a jerking sensation and Louis found himself suddenly standing next to the portal, his stomach doing flip flops.

"Is that everyone?" Iceman asked Kurt who was panting and leaning on his knees for support. Kurt nodded silently. Iceman guided the four remaining friends through the portal, Colossus was charging his way toward them to join but the mob was right on his heels.

The teens reappeared in a big expensive looking hall surrounded by all sorts of people. Kurt and Iceman came tumbling through behind them.

"Little Sky," Iceman called at a Native American who stood in front of the portal with his hand stretched out toward it. "The second that Colossus makes it through the portal I need you to close it. You can't hesitate!"

The man nodded at him and stood waiting for Colossus to come through. After what felt like an eternity to everyone in the room the huge Steel mutant came charging through the portal. Charles Little Sky closed it almost immediately. Almost. One person made it through. And a finger.

"I'll kill you!" the lone human finished screaming before stopping and looking around with a shocked look on his face.

"I don't think so, little man," Colossus said in his Russian accent. "You are in my home now."

The man who had just been angrily attacking them for being mutants looked around and saw the room full of mutants. His face drained of all color. Colossus reached over and grabbed the man none too gently by arm and pulled him along down the hall. The man struggled and screamed and kicked but it was no use. Once you were in Colossus' grasp it was impossible to escape.

"I think it is time you met the Professor," the Russian mutant said stiffly.

"Who's the Professor?" the man screamed as if it were the most terrifying name in history. "Stop! Please, I am begging you! I have a family that depends on me. Please!" The students that were assembled giggled at the man.

"Let's get you five down to Medical, we have an excellent healer here right now and he will fix you all right up," Jean said, from the singes and rips on her outfit she had been helping them too. "Welcome home."

The skinny teen teared up a bit at that. The girl hugged him and they followed Jean toward the elevator.

Next Issue: The mansion is under siege!

I have thrown a ton of characters and info dumps into this X-Men series as I want to build something special for all mutants in my story but I imagine for my readers it must be confusing who is where in this universe so I compiled a few lists for you to help clarify things.

X-Men: Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Colossus, Angel, Beast, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Storm,

Students: Cannonball, Legion, Blink, Empath, Sunspot, Karma, Firestar, Firefist, Warlock, M, Catseye, Cypher, Magma, Wolfsbane, Roulette, Wiz Kid, Copycat, Moonstar, Beef, Shadowcat, Sunpyre, Siryn, Warpath, Hollow, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Chamber, Rictor, Magik, Marvel Girl, Synch, Jubilee, Ernst, Skin, Husk, Prodigy, Icarus, Spyke,

Refugees: Switchback, Portal, Connie, Wing, Papillon, Polaris, Multiple Man, Forge, Dazzler, Forgetmenot, Mimic, Wraith, Madame Drache, Evangeline Whedon, the Arm, Dr. Nemesis, Cecilia Reyes, Tek, Iceheart, Wildfire, X, Rush,

Mystique's New Brotherhood: Mystique, Vanisher, Destiny,

X-Force: Archangel, Wolverine, Switchback, Cannonball

Missing: Sunspot, Leong & Nga Coy Manh, Wolfsbane,

As these characters vary slightly from our normal 616 X-Men I am going to include a few short bios in each issue going forward as well.

Archangel: (real name Warren Worthington) His friends call him Angel, his enemies call him Archangel. This Archangel is much like the regular universe Warren a few years after being changed into Death by Apocalypse. He was one of the original X-Men but had eventually left to take over his father's company after his father's health went downhill. He eventually came back when the X-Men needed him the most to save the Morlocks from the Marauders but Sabretooth ripped off his wings and he was pinned to the wall. The loss of his wings affected Warren far more than he could have predicted and after he angrily left the X-Men he went into a downward spiral until he was found by Apocalypse and convinced to join his cause and in return, he would get his wings back. Of course he hadn't known it would come with a side of brainwashing which he eventually overcame and betrayed Apocalypse, saving his fellow X-Men in the process. He went solo but went into another downward spiral but this time the X-Men showed up to help. It is now a few years later and he is full of anger and regret and worries that he will turn into Death again and hurt his friends. The only thing keeping him at the mansion is the fact that he needs regular sessions with Professor Xavier to cleanse him of Apocalypse's influence. Since coming back to the X-Men (unlike the main universe Angel) he has grown close to Logan, as they understand each other on a primal level that no one else on the team can. They still aren't buddies but they have an unspoken agreement in how things should be done. He is a mentor to both M and Sunspot.

Cannonball: (real name Samuel Guthrie) Class President of the soon to be Senior class. The oldest son of a highly mutant family, his parents are regular humans all of his teenage siblings (Husk, Icarus, Amazon, Aero, Discharge) are mutants, his prepubescent siblings will likely be too. Only a year ago he was sixteen and working the mines to help support his family when there was a cave-in. He rescued the other miners with the first public demonstration of his mutant powers and was hailed as a hero. Thus he was found by the x-men and placed in their New Mutants squad, first as 3rd in Command, then 2nd and finally as the leader of his class. His siblings were quick to follow until Jay, Icarus, who was forced by their mother. He sees all those at the Xavier Mansion as his family and will do anything to protect them, thus his joining of X-Force. He is determined to find his best friend, Bobby da Costa, and his teammate Karma's siblings. His mentor is Cyclops.

Switchback: (real name ?) She hails from the Age of Apocalypse and has long ago forgotten her given name, having been raised on the run in the streets. On her world she served on a division of the X-Men that focused on infiltration and spying. She was eventually captured on a mission but was rescued by a visiting Portal who brought her to our dimension and had just settled her in, with a promise of a much better life only for the President to be assassinated. Soon after that she was attacked by an angry mutant-hating mob and was knocked out before she could use her powers but was saved at the last moment, yet again by Portal. She is determined to prevent a future like her own and thus decides to join X-Force.