The next two chapters will be shorter than most, and they won't be much to do with the story. I just figured I'd show a bit into the lives of the mutants and what happened after the sentinel incident.

Thanks again to all of you that reviewed all three of ya'll. To those three readers I'm sorry this is so late.

Chapter Twenty

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Queen's Return

New York, F.O.M.E. apartment building

Zack, the mutant shape shifter Shift, slept peacefully on the couch of his apartment. The mutant he had rescued last night during the Sentinel attack, Olivia, did not trust any of the other members or S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, so she was Zack's roommate. Sprawled out on the couch he slowly rolled over falling off the couch and hitting his head on the coffee table.

He opened one eye at a time as he looked around his room and frowned; in his dream he was on an island entirely made up of naked Bailey's serving to his every whim. Anyone who knew the two mutants would know that Zack's dream was more farfetched than Logan regaining his memories back much less the same feral mutant getting a shave.

As the teenage mutant stood up he groaned at the sigh of the dawn. The day would be there soon and he hated to watch the sun rise. He thought about going back to sleep but one look at his couch bed made his head throb from the coffee table it had hit earlier. He looked over towards the fridge where an old woman materialized and smiled.

"Not now Ma," Zack said walking right through the A.I. for the apartments. He turned her from the blonde bikini woman Chance had lusted over for a woman with graying hair, bringing what he could of his family into his new life.

"Miss Kara requires your assistance, Shift." Ma stated before blinking out of the room.

"Just like the real mom, leaving before I can even be a smartass." Zack walked out of his apartment in a pair of underwear and a white shirt pausing in front of Bailey's door before deciding she wouldn't want to be awoken.

While the sun continued to rise, elsewhere in the apartment buildings housing the F.O.M.E. mutants Griffin Riley a.k.a. Knockout was sharpening his boxing skills. Inside the Dome, virtual simulations of punching bags would appear before him. Though each bag would grow heavier and more resistant to his attacks they all would fall to the same fate as the others, being destroyed by Griffin.

As yet another punching bag soared across the room a familiar feeling of déjà vu struck Griff as another person entered after he finished off a punching bag. Katie waved and stepped out of the elevator closely followed by the ever-watchful Masque.

"Katie." Griffin greeted as he switched from punching bags to a full gym, punching in a few commands on a treadmill he began to run.

"Hey Griff, have you seen Jessica? I haven't seen her since the helicopter ride and I'm starting to get worried." Katie hung her head low at the though of Jessica being in danger. Masque instinctively placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing the young girl to smile.

"Sorry haven't seen her. I'm sure she's fine though, she's a crazy bitch if you piss her off." Griffin replied and seeing his humor wasn't helping the situation decided to try something else. "Did you try calling her or perhaps tracing her phone?"

Katie ran for the elevator with newfound energy, Masque following matching her strides. "You're welcome!" Griffin called out, but his voice fell on deaf ears.

Zack had followed Kara into a car to join her on her errand. She wouldn't explain anything until they got in the car and Zack had fallen asleep anyway, in fact he had sleep walked all the way into the car.

"So you want to know why I asked for your help?" Kara asked waking Zack up from his slumber. "With all the happenings with SHIELD your useless." She states simply.

Zack gives her a dirty look "I see you know how to get people to help you." Said Zack sarcastically as he turned away from the older woman to look out the window sadly.

"Hawk needs to stay and watch the kids, Griffin is trained any many forms of attack and knows the inner workings of our little group, Paul's power levels are off the charts especially for an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Bailey's powers allow her to get into places others can't, Force is a one woman army," Kara stopped when she realized Zack was ignoring her.

Zack with large earmuffs covering his ears and a Do Not Disturb sign around his neck continued to stare out the window. "I got it, I'm useless."

Kara came to a quick stop causing the shape shifter, who was not wearing a seatbelt, to hit his head on the dashboard. "We're here." She said stepping out of the car and walking around to the street.

Zack got out of the car rubbing his forehead where a large bruise mark had appeared. He muttered a few curse words and walked up the steps of the building where Kara knocked on the door.

"Zack I need you to do me a favor…" Kara said, then whispered into the younger mutants ear.

This time the door was buzzed and a voice responded. "Yes?" a female voice asked over the intercom.

"Door-to-door porn, buy ten get sixty-nine free!" Zack replied, now in a suit and tie holding a briefcase presumably full of porn.

The door immediately swung open where a woman with black hair and a small moon tattoo under her eye stood. Once the woman saw Kara her face fell and she turned around leaving the door open. "Come on in." The woman said. "Take a seat in the living room I'll be right with you."

Paul Stevenson stood staring out of his window looking over New York, he had felt drained when he woke up but thanks to a small recharge from all appliances in Caeda's room he was good as new.

He watched, without excitement, as a green man flew by his window on a purple glider followed closely by a man in red and blue tights. His gaze drifted down below where a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents pulled in front of the apartments and each piled out forming a circle around Nick Fury. Paul had no interest in working with them he was still unnerved by the fact that Jack was missing now S.H.I.E.L.D. was their "leader".

A white stretch limousine drove down the street slowing before the apartments that housed the mutants. Paul kept a watchful eye as the door opened he was about to get an even better look.

Behind the Canadian the Australian mutant Caeda had come back for revenge for what he had done to her apartment. She let out a small scream sending Paul to crash through his window and down the to the street below. Caeda's eyes widened as she slowly backed out of the apartment and ran back to her room like nothing happened.

Paul had fallen out of his window and landed on a now crushed sedan. His head was pounding but other than that he was unscathed. He rose to his feet and dusted himself off he was a lucky SOB today. Then he saw something that would change his luck.

Stepping out of a pure white limousine a blonde woman, dressed in a white leather suit that left little to the imagination, stepped out and looked around at the apartment building. With a look of disgust she stepped forward so her bodyguard Alex Summers could step out.

Emma glanced in Paul's direction and walked towards him, trying her hardest to be seductive. With a gulp Paul nervously and shyly greeted the blonde.

"I wish to speak with Jack. Where is he?" The scantily clad woman asked.

"He's not here Emma, can I take a message?" Nick Fury replied standing in front of the door of the underground café. Emma's face immediately fell seeing the director of SHIELD in front of her.

"Nick darling, I require assistance of these mutants. I helped them a few days ago and I come to cash in on a favor."

Nicky Fury, ever suspicious of nearly naked woman, chewed on his cigar as he scanned her bodyguard with his good eye. "Afraid not Miss Frost, I know your dealings lately with the Hellfire Club. This team is not going to going to become criminals."

"I do believe this is up to them, as I recall SHIELD is not entirely mutant friendly and this team was not created for your department." Emma trailed off as her eye caught sigh of one of the FOME members getting a coffee in the café. The girls shoulder length red hair fell over her eyes and Emma smiled devilishly.

"If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends," Zack, Shift, of the FOME sang while waiting for the lady to return. He had been "recruited" by Kara because he was useless; he now knew why she was called the Manipulator. While sitting on the couch he had grown and in simple Shift fashion he had begun to sing Spice Girls.

His singing suddenly stopped and his own fist came clashing into his face. Letting out a curse or two he held his face in his hands. "Thought that would stop you." Kara said smirking.

"That was you? Oh thank god, I thought I'd have to quit my Spice Girls cover band, after all the lead singer can't keep punching himself while singing can he?"

The two conversations were cut short by the entering of the woman of the house, whose name had not yet been mentioned. She brought two glasses of lemonade and offered them to the two mutants. Zack grabbed a glass and drank from it, while Kara turned it down.

"Now what can I help you with Kara?" The woman asked pushing her black hair behind her ears.

"Rose, its Jack." Kara said simply.

This was enough, for at the mere mention of the name the woman, Rose, became gloomy. Her face fell and tears began to well up in her eyes. Zack thought for a second of Bailey and how he always imagined that the red head would do that when he wasn't around, of course if it was true and he found out he'd tease her to no end. Then of course Bailey would beat the life out of him.

"What is it?" Rose asked grabbing a tissue and drying her eyes.

"He's gone missing, I figured if he'd go to anyone it would be to you."

Rose's face didn't change nor did she offer a reply. She merely shook her head and excused herself. Kara and Zack let themselves out and entered their car.

"That was a waste of time." Zack stated as he put his feet on the dashboard.

"No it wasn't. Jack wouldn't just up and leave the team, and since he didn't go to Rose for some relations that means one thing…"

Zack began to laugh not listening to Kara; in fact she had lost him right after she said relations. "You said relations. No one says that any more. Jack went to get some loving!"

"You idiot," Kara groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "He wasn't there! That means he's been abducted!" Kara finished filling in the shape shifter with a slap to the back of his head.

"Oh!" Zack responded. "The great and mighty Jack stolen? Hah!"

"It's not really shocking, it is probably the same people who nabbed Xavier. If they can take the world's most powerful telepath then its no wonder they got Jack."

Though the mood was rather solemn Zack continued to laugh, or giggle as he called it, to the fact Kara said relations. The Manipulator opened the passenger door and pushed Zack out a block from the mutant apartments.

In a fancy restaurant Bailey sat at a table in a full-length dress, her hair put up, lipstick, eye shadow, the works put all over her face. She picked up a regular fork for the salad only to be scolded by Emma Frost. "No, no, NO! Use the salad fork for the salad you pathetic excuse for a woman!" She scolded.

Bailey grabbed the steak knife and leapt at Emma. The restaurant faded leaving just Emma and Bailey inside the Dome atop the Mutant Apartments. The knife to faded so Emma easily turned and avoided Bailey. "You're lucky Havoc wasn't here he surely would have blasted you."

"I quit!" Bailey groaned and marched towards the elevator.

"You can't quit!" Emma Frost yelled as she followed the red head. "I helped your team and you owe me!"

"Not me! I didn't want to help the X-Men and their stupid teammates, all those girls with their perfect hair, breasts, skin" Bailey continued to rant all the while Emma smirked at the younger girl. "And we could have found Katie without you!"

Bailey's complaints continued until the elevator reached the ground floor. Alex Summers who was momentarily distracted by the FOME member Force who was cleaning tables and bending over to pick up trash. When Emma stepped into his eyesight, Katie had come up to Emma to thank her for her assistance with finding her. Alex mistaking the young girls thanking as something more blasted the ground.

Masque quickly pulled Katie of harms way and was after Havoc in a matter of seconds. The younger Summers brother blasted the disfigured mutant back, causing his hood to reveal his scarred face. Masque got up again and prepared to attack but was held back by Zack who had shifted his arms into ropes to hold back the mutant.

"Easy scar face! Don't attack without a plan. It was an accident and she wasn't hurt!" Zack exclaimed struggling to keep the former Morlock back.

"Yeah? He hit Bailey." Masque replied, before he had finished his sentence Zack had released him and attack havoc, only to be blasted back. Quickly the shape shifter was up and at the blonde mutant again, and again.

"Sometimes you need a distraction." Masque said to himself as he came up behind an unaware Havoc and pinched a nerve causing the mutant to fall to the floor limp.

Zack got up again, though a lot more slowly and looked angrily and Masque. "I wanted to do that!"

"I lied, he never touched Bailey." Masque defended before taking his side by Katie.

Zack walked over to a still fuming Bailey to assess her situation. "Hey thunder thighs what's wrong?" he asked, the nickname earned him a glare and an elbow into his stomach.

"I'm trying to teach this white trash girl how to act civil." Emma replied, winking at Zack making Bailey angrier and Zack to stare at her confusedly.

The wink reminded him of that dream where Bailey beat him with a chair only this time he could have sworn it wasn't a dream. He instinctively reached to rub a bump on his head, which was there. He shrugged it off as something that happened during his scuffle with Emma's bodyguard.

"So why's the blonde slut here?" Zack asked still not understanding.

He was filled in on the reason why Emma was there. Ned Buckman was the current head of an organization called the Hellfire Club. Emma and her associates want their place in the Hellfire Club's highest ranks, the Inner Circle. Ned Buckman has a weakness for girls like Bailey, young, redhead, naive. Bailey is to act as a distraction, to keep Ned busy long enough for Emma's men to take control of the Inner Circle.

Bailey was yelling about the naïve comment and how she was to be used, however she still reluctantly went back into the elevator with Emma Frost for more lessons. Zack stood staring at the glass of the Underground Café, deep in thought. "Bailey…" He said looking back to the elevator doors.

Later on that day, at the Hellfire Club's annual dinner party, Ned Buckman was shaking hands with the rich and powerful until he noticed a short red head at the bar. He excused himself from the gentleman and walked over to the owner of the head of hair.

"Whatever she's having, put it on my tab and get her another one." Ned said to the bartender who nodded and got another soda. "A soda at this kind of event?" Ned asked.

The young woman turned to him, a shrimp in her mouth. "Can you keep a secret? I'm under age." She put her finger to her lips in a quiet motion. While she was talking her mouth was full of shrimp.

Ned smiled, underage and a slob this would be easy! "Well I'll keep your secret…if you give me something in return…"

The bartender looked at Ned with disgust, but when the man slipped him a wad of cash he turned the other cheek, against his better judgment and slipped a special something into the lady's soda.

Bailey walked with Ned into the elevator and to his office.

"No! No! All wrong!" Emma Frost yelled for the hundredth time. It was late and she was still trying to get Bailey to act civilized. This was becoming quite the ordeal for her. They'd been trying for so many hours and she was still no further than when they had started.

"Don't you have to go suck someone's blood? Or perhaps you need more silicone?" Bailey asked angrily. Times like these she really hated working for the team.

Emma looked at her watch and cursed. "Damn you! We're late! Come, we must hurry. The event is starting!" Emma grabbed Bailey's had and led her into the elevator.

The two met with Havoc and made their way to the car. Once at the door to the Underground Café the door was swung open and Zack stood in their way. Only the shape shifter wasn't quite himself. He was shorter than his normal 6 foot height, in fact he was just a few inches taller than Bailey, his hair was half red down to his shoulder, and half messy short brown, his eyes were the same grayish, lifeless colors as Baileys, he wore a cocktail dress with the strap falling off, high heels adorned his feet and he had mascara running along with makeup smeared around his face and lips.

"Zack?" Bailey asked in disbelief at the way her boyfriend looked.

"I don't want to talk about it!" he stated, before walking to the elevator, limping and walking like something had happened to his rear.

"That was odd…" Jean-Paul said watching Zack leave. He continued to clean the coffee mugs from the day.

Emma was about to usher Bailey outside when her phone ring. Groaning she pulled out her white cell phone and answered it. "Shaw this better is I'm- What do you mean where am I? I'm on my- What; no I didn't bring the girl. What do you mean we got the Inner Circle?"

Well there you are. See not as long and not much to it as much as the others. I did say though that this and the next chapter were going to be shorter or was it uneventful? Oh well either way, its done. Hope you enjoyed it, please do review and let me know what you thought.

Come on you guys and gals! REVIEW! PLEASE!