&&&
"Um, sir? Why did you kidnap that girl?" Number 24 asked the Monarch as they made their escape.
"Why? Just look at her you imbecile! Those wings…those antennae…those eyes…she's perfect!"
"But what about Dr. Girlfriend?" Number 21 asked.
"What about her?" The Monarch snapped. "If she wants to go crawling back to Phantom Limb, fine! I don't care! Who needs her? Not me!"
"Uh—" The Henchmen looked at each other as the Monarch continued to rant.
"—the cheap whore! I don't care if I never see her again! Never see my pookums or hear her beautiful voice…" The Monarch sobbed, then immediately shook himself out of it. "Well it's her loss! With my new Queen by my side I'll never think about what's her face again!"
"You mean Dr. Girlfriend?" 21 blinked. The Monarch buried his face in his hands and tried to suppress his sobbing.
"Just put the girl in my bedroom! And get her something sexy to wear!"
"Um right boss." 24 said.
"Sure thing." 21 agreed.
&&&
Back at the Pit, things were actually fairly calm…for the moment. Since returning from Britain and meeting the Road Rovers, the Misfits had decided to relax and take some time to do teen stuff, so while the guys were upstairs playing video games on Arcade's computer the girls were downstairs having a sleep-over.
"Did I ever tell you about the time your brother thought that Toad's slime would help cure him of acne?" Tabby grinned.
"No way!" Wanda laughed. "How'd you convince him of that?"
"Rather easily." Tabby replied. "Speedy's even more gullible than Freddy or Todd!"
"Don't make fun of my Toddles!" Althea warned. The Misfits girls—plus Tabby and Rahne—were in the living room perched atop their sleeping bags and in their night clothes.
"Heaven forbid," Rahne said as she rolled her eyes.
"You're one to talk." Daria teased. "You've got a crush on Doug Ramsey, the wussiest guy at the Mansion!"
"What?" The other girls exclaimed as they looked at Rahne.
"Doug is not a wuss!" Rahne protested. "I mean, um—" She blushed.
"Awww, little Rahney's got a crush." Wanda grinned.
"They grow up so fast, don't they?" Spyder said.
"Hey, come on. Give her a break." Angelica chided them.
"Thank you!" Rahne moaned as she put her hand against her cheek. It was as red as her hair.
"Still, you and Dougie? Come on and dish!" Tabitha urged.
"She's certainly traded up from Aiden." Althea said.
"Anybody's a step up from Aiden." Quinn said.
"My brother aside." Wanda added.
"You guys!" Rahne sighed. "It's just a little crush. It's not like I'm—I don't know—spying on him in the shower or anything!" She looked at Althea.
"Prude." Althea grumbled.
"He's a bit on the scrawny side anyway." Wanda said.
"How would you know?" Rahne demanded.
"Doug and a bunch of the other guys ended up naked in Atlantic City last Christmas, when you went home to visit Muir Island. They ended up mooning Donald Trump!"
"Oh my…" Rahne blushed.
"Hey Tabby." Wanda asked her. "There's something I always wanted to know: after you left the Brotherhood and went back to the X-Men, you seemed a little—I don't know—hostile to them. Why was that?" Tabitha looked down.
"I don't know. I guess I was annoyed at how easily they let Mystique just barge in and ruin what we had. We used to rag Scott and the others for being the Professor's toadies, but the way they acted around Mystique was even worse! And I guess I felt guilty."
"Guilty?" Wanda asked.
"Later…when I found out what the boys were put through under Mystique and Magneto…I felt bad for leaving, for being able to leave. Maybe—maybe if I had stayed I might have been able to help shield them from those two. Or maybe convince them to leave before Magneto threw Todd out of a plane or permanently screwed up Lance or—"
"Hey," Wanda said as she put her hand on Tabby's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."
"The important thing is that—in the end—they all managed to get away from Bucket-Head and the Blue Bitch of the West." Althea agreed.
"Yeah. And Wanda?" Tabby added. "I'm sorry for all the cracks I've made about you belonging in a mental institute."
"And I'm sorry I thought you went out with my brother." Wanda grinned.
"I guess Xavier and Hawk knew what they were doing when they thought up this exchange program." Brittany said. "Who knew?"
"Well if Tabby had stayed with Brotherhood she might have ended up being a Misfit too!" Spyder pointed out.
"And it's not exactly like it would be such a stretch to imagine her here full time." Rahne agreed. "No offense."
"Hey, maybe if we contacted Dr. McTaggert before you came back to the Mansion, you might've ended up a Misfit!" Angelica said. Rahne rolled her eyes.
"Such a pity that you didn't." She said dryly.
"Well it's all right. You're still cool…for an X-Geek." Spyder said.
"What are the girls doing?" Todd asked upstairs as the boys sat around Arcade's computer and watched the girls' slumber party via a secret spy camera.
"Eh, just girl talk." Arcade said. "This is boring."
"Hey, let's go to my room and get some puppets!" Pietro suggested.
"Saucy puppets?" Pyro asked.
"The sauciest."
"Are they flammable?"
"NO!"
"Let's go!" Fred said as he got up.
"You guys go. I'll be with you in a moment." Arcade said. After the others left, Arcade started typing furiously checking to see if there was anything interesting going on the internet. Arcade's arm slipped and his hand slapped a random series of keys. Suddenly the computer screen started to glow. Arcade felt himself getting sucked in.
"Guys! Help!" Arcade shouted as he was pulled in, just as the others arrived.
"What happened?" Althea demanded.
"Arcade got sucked inside his computer." Todd said.
"Typical." Althea sighed.
&&&
"Where are you taking us?" Scott asked Logan as the X-Men climbed into the X-Jet.
"I know a guy." Logan said cryptically.
"What about Lina?" Amira asked. She insisted on coming along.
"He can help us in that regard." He grunted as the X-Jet took off. "Now, you said that Monarch mentioned Dr. Venture being at some science whaddyacallit?"
"Symposium." Hank supplied. "I recall reading the works of a Dr. Venture. They were quiet brilliant."
"Well don't get your hopes up. The Doc Venture we're after is his son—Rusty: or to be more specific; the guy who works for him. He's an old friend of mine."
"Who is he? Some kind of super-powerful mutant who can help us?" Kitty asked.
"He's more dangerous than any mutant." Logan said grimly. "His name is Brock Samson."
&&&
Lina groaned as she came to. She sat up and took in her surroundings and found that she was lying on top of a large pink bed.
"Where am I?" Lina wondered as she looked around. "And why is it so cold—eep!" Lina figured out the last bit as she looked down and frantically tried to cover herself. Her normal clothes were gone, replaced with an outfit that looked like the slave outfit Princess Leia wore in Star Wars though it was—if anything—even less modest.
Lina blushed furiously and looked around for an exit…or at least something else to wear.
"Okay, Lina-Girl." She thought to herself. "Calm down. Think. The X-Men will be here soon enough to rescue you. All you have to do is wait it out until then. No big deal."
She nearly leapt out of her skin when she heard someone outside the door.
"Oh god," Lina whimpered. "I'm going to die half-naked in some nut-job's bedroom!"
Who's outside the door? What happened to Arcade? Find out next time!