When she came out of her room for dinner, Thea sensed an anxiousness in the mansion that she did not understand. Students were whispering fiercely and looking around. A few people were running through the hallways. She walked towards the kitchen hurriedly, keeping her eyes open for anyone who could give her any type answers.

Thea spotted Logan walking towards her. He looked dirty and a bit ragged, though unsurprisingly there was not a scratch on him.

"Logan. What's going on?"

"Not now, Alf," Logan replied, still walking determinedly. The nickname started when Thea had introduced herself as 'Althea' to Logan two years ago upon her arrival at the mansion. Logan thought the name was too long and obscure and instead opted to call her Alf. Thea liked Logan's rough though caring nature, and he was one of the only ones who knew and could relate to what had happened to her. So, she let the nickname go.

Thea spun around so that she was walking the direction he was. "What's going on?" she asked again, more forcefully. Though not one of the X-Men, she usually knew their activities. She wasn't a student who needed to be protected from the horrors of the world 'out there'.

Logan sighed. "Magneto's mutant army is gonna attack Alcatraz tonight. Destroy the Worthington facility," he said.

"Good," Thea replied bitterly.

"That's why I didn't wanna tell ya, Alf," Logan said softly, a sad, almost pitying smile on his face.

Thea shrugged it off. She didn't need pity. "Don't worry about it."

Logan continued, "The kid that's the source of The Cure is there. We need to get him out."

"Who's 'we'?"

"The X-Men," Logan replied uncomfortably.

Thea looked at him skeptically. "Logan, who's left in the X-Men?"

"There's me, Storm, Hank, Bobby, Peter, and...Kitty," Logan replied, his voice fading before mentioning the last name.

"Ah, shit!" Thea said angrily.

Logan sighed and just continued walking. Thea followed determinedly. They went underground to where the plane was stored. Thea had been underground frequently in the past for psychological testing and physical training, but recently only injuries. Even though she had the ability to heal, her own body did not heal quickly like Logan's did. And when she had sought refuge at the mansion, her mind was in poor shape.

Kitty was standing in the tunnel-like metallic hallway with Bobby and Peter and Storm.

"Thea!" she said, surprised.

"You didn't tell me," Thea said sharply.

"Because I know what you'll say," Kitty tried to reason.

"But that doesn't mean I'm wrong," Thea said adamantly.

"Thea…"

"C'mon, Kit! There's six of you…six against…hundreds!" Thea said, finally showing emotion.

Thea was rarely passionate, and Kitty only saw her in that state a few times in their friendship. Kitty was not too sure of how to proceed.

"Magneto's gonna kill that kid," Kitty said calmly.

Thea ran a hand messily through her purple hair. That kid deserved a happy future rather than a doomed one. But these guys seemed doomed too.

"We need to go," Kitty said firmly.

Thea looked at Peter and Bobby. At least Kitty wouldn't be alone.

"We're going to be alright," Bobby said, looking straight into Thea's eyes.

Thea trusted Bobby. She liked his crystal blue eyes that hid no deceit. She liked the fact that he was always so giving and patient and caring. But just because she trusted him didn't mean she believed a word he said.

Thea sighed, looking to the cool grey floor. Didn't they see how hopeless this was? Didn't they understand that to get out of this alive would be miraculous? They did. She knew they did.

"You just have to be heroes…" she mumbled.

Kitty chuckled. "Absolutely," she replied with a smile. Her eyes lit up. "You've had X-men training…" Kitty stated.

When Thea had first come to the mansion, Professor Xavier suggested that Thea train to be an X-man because she was too old to be a student. But her powers, as they stood, were not suitable for field operations, since they could not help her in any kind of confrontation. Later, when Professor X and Thea realized the extent of Thea's powers, Thea made the decision to not be an X-man, because she never wanted to use her power as an attack.

"Yeah," Thea said.

"Come with us," Kitty replied.

Thea's heart clenched with sadness and embarrassment because she could not give Kitty the response they both wanted to hear.

"Kitty, I can't go back there," Thea said quietly. Her eyes clearly showed her dread.

"Back? What do you mean by back, Thea?" Kitty asked, alarmed.

The door to the plane room opened, and Thea could see the stealth jet standing ominously in front of her.

"Kitty, we have to go now," Storm called to her.

Hank had arrived and Logan was now dressed in his X-Men garb.

"Go," Thea said, struggling through the stinging in the back of her throat and the dread in her stomach. She gently pushing Kitty's shoulder towards the open room.

"Thea…" Kitty said urgently. It was clear she wanted to know what caused Thea to become so emotional.

"Be careful," Thea said, her voice thick and crackling.

Kitty looked at her friend softly for a moment before running to the plane. The door to the room closed and Thea was left to stare at the gray door in the empty hallway. She leaned against the opposite wall and sank to the floor. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she bowed her head and cried.


After overhearing Wolverine speak to Storm and Hank about what was happening, Warren knew he had to go back. That Magneto guy would certainly kill his dad, and Warren wasn't going to just sit by and let it happen. His dad was a pompous jerk who thought he knew what was best for his son and refused to hear anything to the contrary, but he was still Warren's dad.

By the time he arrived in the San Francisco Bay area, it was dark and the Golden Gate Bridge had been uprooted and placed by Alcatraz. Holy shit. There was chaos on the ground of Alcatraz and Warren didn't know where to begin looking for his dad. Was he already dead? Suddenly he heard cheering and saw that many of the mutants were looking to the roof of the building. There he saw his dad being held by some mutants. They dropped his father over the edge of the roof and cheered as he screamed.

Warren swooped down quickly to intersect his dad's path to the hard ground. Catching him deftly in his arms, Warren couldn't help but feel a bit of satisfaction that his wings, the thing that Dr. Warren Worthington Jr. hated about his son, were the things that had saved his life.

"Warren?" his dad said, dazed.

"I got you, Dad," Warren replied.

Warren flew over the San Francisco's Presidio so that his father was out of harm's way.

"Warren, son, thank you," Dr. Worthington said appreciatively.

"You're welcome, Dad."

There was an awkward silence between the two men, until Dr. Worthington said, "I…only wanted what was best for you."

"I know. But you just don't see that this is what's best for me," Warren replied sadly. "Take care, Dad," he added before flying off back towards Alcatraz.

"Warren!" Dr. Worthington yelled after him. But if Warren heard, he did not respond.

Thea's questions about a mutant's obligation to society had been churning in Warren's mind throughout the flight to the West Coast. And now that he was here, he had decided that he wanted to try to help the X-Men. Granted, he didn't know what kind of help he would be. Having little fighting experience and no formal training, Warren wondered if he was being foolish or heroic by trying to help. Either way, he had made up his mind.

He landed in the middle of a fiery chaos on Alcatraz. Before having time to assess the situation, a large man was yelling and charging at him. Warren quickly sidestepped him and punched the man hard, sending the man to the ground and a spasm of pain through Warren's hand and arm. Although the man was facedown on the ground, his head spun around so that he could see Warren behind him. Warren gasped with surprise and punched the man squarely in the face again. Luckily, the man's arms did not rotate to his back as well, and with a third punch, the man fell unconscious.

Warren didn't have time to celebrate his little victory because there were now two mutants charging at him from opposite directions. One, was a tall bear-like man with sharp thick claws at the end of his brown paw-like hands. The other was a woman who had fangs in her mouth. Warren leapt into the air and kicked the woman in the face since she was closer to him than the bear-man. She fell unconscious with that one kick. All of a sudden Warren felt claws tearing through the membrane of his left wing as he was dragged back down to the ground. Crying out in pain, Warren realized that the bear-man had jumped to bring Warren down. The bear-man punched Warren in the face and swiped his claws across Warren's chest, leaving a streak of bloody claw marks behind. Warren screamed in pain and punched the bear-man in retaliation, but the punch did not seem to hurt the bear-man very much. Warren knew then that he was screwed. Nevertheless, he punched the mutant again, which only made the bear-man stagger at bit before retaliating with an angry swipe of his claws through Warren's already hurt left wing. Warren could feel the membrane rip to shreds and the bones break in his wing. He lost his footing and fell to the ground. The bear-man punched Warren squarely in the gut, and Warren groaned in pain. Just as he thought the final blow would come, the bear-man was struck by a bolt of lightning to his back that shook his body and electrocuted him.

"Come, we must get out of here," Storm said urgently, pulling the battered Warren off the ground and towards the safety of the jet. Jean Grey, as the Phoenix, was beginning to wreak havoc on everything in her path.

When he was safely inside the jet, Warren collapsed on the floor in pain.

"It's okay, Warren. You're going to be fine," Storm tried to sooth him. "Where's Wolverine?" she asked.

"He's not here yet," Kitty said, looking with horror to the bloodied, winged man on the floor. His left wing was in shreds, his chest and face were bleeding quite freely, and he wasn't standing up. "Shit," she mumbled as she strapped Jimmy, the source of The Cure, safely into a seat of the jet.

"Goddamn it, Wolverine," Storm said, realizing he was the only one missing.

Suddenly a wave of pure energy hit the jet, sending everyone but Jimmy to the ground.

"What was that?" Bobby asked.

"I don't know," the Beast replied. He looked out the window of the jet to see that there was no longer a fiery swirl surrounding Alcatraz. "I think the Phoenix is gone."

"Gone?" Storm asked. "What do you mean, gone?"

"I killed her," was the quiet answer coming from the door of the jet. There stood Wolverine with Jean's limp body in his arms. "I had to. But I couldn't just leave her…" he said, losing control of his emotions once again.

"Logan…" Storm said sadly.

"Ororo, I just couldn't save…"

"I know, no one could. It's not your fault…" Storm trailed off comfortingly.

Sensing Storm would not be flying them home, The Beast took control of the jet and they all flew off back to the mansion. In flight, Kitty was trying to help Warren while Storm was trying to console the inconsolable Wolverine. Peter and Bobby had offered to help Kitty with Warren, but she declined. It would crowd Warren to have so many people surround him.

"We should sit you up," she said to him. He was still crouched over on his knees. "You can breath easier that way."

She supported his weight as she shifted his body to an upright sitting position, careful to avoid crushing his already destroyed wing.

"Thanks," he said, cringing as bit as he tried to get settled.

"Sure." Kitty said, trying to assess his wounds. Unfortunately, she knew nothing about wounds and first aid. Thea was the expert on that stuff.

"What's you name?" Warren asked quietly.

"Kitty. Kitty Pryde. I also go by Shadowcat."

"Cool name. All you guys have cool names," Warren mumbled in a slight daze. Was he losing too much blood? He couldn't tell.

Kitty smiled. "You can have a cool name too."

"No, mine's boring. I'm the third person who has the name Warren Worthington. That's not very interesting."

"What about your other name?"

"I was thinking about…Angel."

"Angel. That's nice," Kitty replied.

He shook his head. "Kinda obvious."

Kitty smiled again. "That's okay, it doesn't need to be elusive."

"Speaking of elusive…what is up with Althea's name? Why is it Althea?" he asked.

Kitty's eyes widened with surprise and Warren wondered if he said something wrong.

"It's Greek…for Healer," Kitty explained.

"Ah, makes more sense now," Warren replied.

"Yeah, she once told me it was either that or 'Girl Who Can Save Your Sorry Ass' but she thought that was a bit too forward," Kitty added.

Warren began to chuckle, but the scratches on his chest hurt too much. He started coughing, and he was coughing up blood. Great, play the hero, cough up your insides, he thought sardonically. Just great.