-1"Hello?… Earth to Bobby! Wake up you dork!" Tabitha was bent over Bobby's prone body. Luckily, Sam had been able to catch and slow the boy before he slammed into the ground, but chances were that Bobby would have a small bruise on his head to accompany his massively bruised ego.

"Euh?" Bobby moaned, his eyes fluttering as he rubbed his head.

Tabitha smiled and shook her head. "There you go, buddy. You need to be awake when I mock you. It's no fun to accuse you of anything if you're not alert enough to deny them, you boy-band-loving, hair-product-using, Dazzler-worshipping pansy." Tabitha smirked happily. Evidently the few minutes that she had to wait in order to get that out of her system had been too long. "Amara went to get you some water, by the way. Evidently you hero survives only on coffee and liquor. She's probably a smoker too," she commented. "I've heard that helps to keep the weight down."

Glaring, Bobby sat up. "Will you please shut up," he said to the girl, deliberately and as menacingly as he could manage.

"Dude, that really was weak…" Sam said, stifling a chuckle. He and the rest of the boys were standing around, watching Bobby. All but Jamie and Logan. Dazzler wasn't anywhere in sight either.

Trying not to seem too eager, Bobby casually asked, "Hey, um… where'd Allison go? I mean, she was here when… when I…"

"When you swooned like your corset was a bit too tight? Yes, she was," Tabitha replied. "She took Logan aside to talk, and Jamie followed them like a puppy dog." She looked around at the others. "You guys need to give him a few more lessons on what it means to worship in the closet…"

The was a small silence before Roberto spoke up, saying tersely, "What did you just say?"

"Oh, come on, guys. You can't expect something like that to stay a secret! Especially when you have your meetings in the foyer, of all places."

"Who else knows?" Sam asked, sounding quite embarrassed.

"I don't know. I haven't told anyone else, but like a said, if you have your meeting in the foyer, you're just inviting people into your little secret club. If you were smart, you'd having the meeting in a closet… it would give a little more meaning to the name of your club, instead of just making it sound slightly homosexual."

Ray kept his eyes on the ground. He had never really thought the club was a good idea; it was just somewhat amusing. And now… here went his reputation. He would be a joke in Tabby's eyes from now on. "Just… don't tell anyone else, okay?" he said, finally.

"Geez," Tabitha replied, grinning faintly. "You guys are taking this a lot harder than I thought. Look, people do silly things all the time. It's not like you do this and all of a sudden you're not men anymore, right? Just, get over yourselves. If you really don't want me to, I won't tell anyone. Unless the perfect situation comes along… you know, I can't really resist that-"

"Tabby!" Bobby interrupted her, glaring even more. "You've known for a while, haven't you? You never liked Dazzler's music, but you helped Amara talk Logan into coming here nonetheless." His look suddenly softened. "Thanks…"

Tabitha looked surprised. "Um, you're wel-"

"Thanks, even though I know you just did it because you hoped it would produce some situation like this. Even though I'm sure that it wasn't good intentions that made you do it, but some evil little voice in the back of your head that makes you do… what you do."

Tabitha nodded, weighing his words in her head, and they sounded about right. But all of a sudden, she felt guilty that they were right. Her father had abused her; she had run away from the Institute; when Mystique turned her away from the Brotherhood, none of the boys had spoken up in her favor, no one had tried to help her. But Xavier had taken her back. Sure, she wasn't allowed to train for the team anymore, and she had been pressured to get a part-time job, but Xavier had shown her more kindness than her father by far. And now, these, in a way, were her new siblings. She had a chance to genuinely make connections. She was used to the superficial, to the flashy, to the relationships that progressed to "You're my best friend!" one day to "Rot in hell, bitch." the next.

Amara. Amara was a friend. Their camaraderie had started as fake as any other, but had really progressed, and Tabitha trusted that girl with her deepest thoughts… well, not quite. In any case, she felt she could be trusted with Amara's deepest thoughts.

But now here were these boys. She had something on them. Something that would be fun for her, but evidently hurtful toward them.

Making her decision, Tabitha raised her chin proudly, and said, a determined air to her voice, "You're welcome."

In an instant the boys seemed to collapse in sighs of relief. Bobby laughed nervously, while Ray smiled fully, throwing an arm around Tabitha and pulling her into a half-hug.

"Geez, 'Shocker,'" she laughed out. "It's not like I'm joining your little club or anything. In fact, I'm just going to pretend that it doesn't exist… unless you guys are doing anything cool. If you do anything cool, you have to include me, or the entire deal is off."

"Fine, fine," the boys all agreed, just before Amara's arrival, bottle of water in hand.

"You okay, Bobby," she asked, handing the water to him.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the water; very sweet. Now, let's go find Logan and get out of here!"

A little earlier

"Well, isn't that unfortunate," Allison said casually as Bobby slumped to the ground, laughing lightly despite the utter absence of a smile on her face. "You lot can look after him, right?" she asked, indicating the rest of the kids, who nodded absently, speechless in the presence of a star and befuddled by the behavior of their friend. "Great! Then your little friend Logan and I are going to have a talk, and you can come along as soon as he's… well. Don't hurry!" With that, she took Logan by the arm and steered him away, looking for somewhere more private to talk.

Unfazed by Bobby's fainting spell, Jamie followed Allison, his eyes wide with admiration. Allison noticed him as soon as they left the dressing room.

Addressing Logan, she said, "Erm, does he have to come with us. Shouldn't he stay with his friends?"

Logan considered for a moment. "I'm supposed to be watching after the kids. Least I can do is keep the youngest one in my sight. Xavier doesn't really let me keep too many secrets from the kids anyway, so you can say whatever you need to say to me in front of him.

Rolling her eyes slightly, Dazzler managed a dignified, consenting harrumph, then led him into a second dressing room, which seemed to belong to her dancers. Signaling to them, they all filed out, leaving Allison, Logan, and Jamie alone.

"Here," Allison said, handing Jamie a guitar that she had casually picked up as they were walking down to the dressing room. Reaching into her pocket, she produced a pick. "You can have it," she told him, coldly. "Why don't you go over there, into that corner, and practice?"

"Are, are you serious?" Jamie asked incredulously. He looked at his new guitar with pride, and at Allison with gratitude. He looked torn, though, between fawning over Allison and playing with his new present. When she motioned for him to move along he finally made up his mind, and skedaddled out of earshot.

"You sure are putting a lot of effort into talking to me alone," was the first thing that Logan said.

"Oh, please. Music stores give me guitars for free all the time, hoping that I'll play them onstage sometime and they'll get some good press. I could give all the kids guitars, if I wanted to." Allison then transferred from her cold, detached manners to one that were much more serious. "I thought I should let you know that you were successful. Viper is dead, finally?"

"What?" Logan replied, surprised. "You know?…" Obviously she knew. No use acting all surprised. "It wasn't me. X-23-"

"Ah, so the girl was responsible. I doubted that you had enough of a grudge against the woman to kill her. Or at least, enough of a grudge that you remembered." She smirked at that, causing Logan's eyebrows to furrow in the beginnings of anger. "Sorry, sorry," she added quickly. "It's just, you know, the businesses we've been involved with are well known for not allowing any of their operatives to leave with any kind of incriminating knowledge."

"You're involved?"

Allison nodded, barely concealing pride. "I was one of HYDRA's best operatives… right behind that bruit Omega Red. God, was he obsessed with you," she said, then paused. "Still is, from what I hear."

Logan started slightly. This was stupid, all this banter. She obviously had information for him; information that could mean danger for him and the rest of the kids. "What do you hear?"

"He blames you for everything, you know. Or, you don't know, whichever. He would go after the child if he knew that she was responsible for the death of his Madame Hydra. Do you know where she is? You should be protecting her."

Shaking his head, Logan replied, "No, she's on the run. You know how it is, I assume. You can't stop running… can't give up the head start."

"There's only so many places she can run to… they'll… he'll get her eventually, you know. You should keep her at the Institute. It would be safe for her there."

"Hey, I'm not going to tell the girl what to do. I wouldn't know where to start looking for her myself, even if I thought that bringing her to the Institute was the best thing to do."

Allison suddenly softened. "Logan," she said, quietly, "how do you think that little monster came into this world?" her eyes dropped, regretfully. "Please, don't let them get a hold of my little girl again…"

Realizing what she was talking about, Logan couldn't believe it. They had made one of their operatives… it was disgusting. Even more disgusting than the things they had done to him… or imagined that they had done to him. "I'll find her," he said, conviction evident in his voice. "She'll be safe at Xavier's. I'll make sure she gets there."

"Oh, Logan… I promise to do whatever I can, with whatever little pull I have left, to keep what's left of these people out of your life. You and the girl… you can try to have a normal life."

He let out a short laugh. "Yeah, that's not going to have. 'Specially not at the Institute. She'll be safe, but she'll never have a normal life."

"But she'll be safe, and she-"

Allison was interrupted by the door being thrown open. "Holy Moses in a matchbook, I don't think you guys could have hidden yourselves better if you tried! We had to ask all these people, and then they started to look suspicious, and I had to threaten them to get in here." Tabitha finally took a breath, and strode into the dressing room, followed by the rest of the gang.

Amara, looking a little guilty, added, "She used me to threaten them…"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Look kids, it's about time we get out of here anyway. I'm sure if you ask nicely Allison will give you all autographs.

"Cool," Tabitha said, approaching Allison. The others filed in behind her, trying not to look to eager.

"Hey, Bobby, how you feeling," Logan said, motioning the kid over to him.

"Fine, fine," Bobby said quickly. "Just low blood sugar or something. You know, the heat of a concert and all that. I'm fine."

"Good to hear. Why don't you go grab Jamie and let him know we're about to head out. He'll probably want Allison to sign that guitar."

Bobby looked shocked. "The squirt got a guitar!"

"Yeah, yeah, life's not fair, I know. Just go get him, and then save up your allowance for your own."

Not hiding his disappointment, Bobby stomped over to Jamie, refusing to look at the guitar as he told the kid that it was time to go. Making his way back to Allison, Bobby was handed an autographed portrait as Tabitha was begging to have another because she was a "really big fan."

"Tabby…" Logan warned, grabbing her by the shoulder and steering her away from the pop star. He stopped suddenly, however, his nose twitching and a low growl emanating from his person.

"Um… Badger? What's wrong."

Turning to face the back wall of the dressing room, Logan issued his commands. "Kids, get out of here, now. Get to the X-Van. Take Allison with you. Tabitha and Amara, you make sure that Jamie stays with the rest of you, alright?"

"Logan, what's going on," Amara asked, sounding worried. The others were looking a little nervous too. If Logan was getting ready to fight, which he definitely was, then something was really wrong.

"I said, get out of here!" Logan snarled, but he was too late. The wall he was glaring at intensely crumbled, ripped apart by some metallic tentacles. As the dust cleared, the shape of a large man could be made out, his yellow hair tied up on the top of his head, and his forearms the source of the tentacles.

"Omega Red," Allison whispered, barely audible.

Logan faced his opponent stoically. "Yeah, I know. Smelled him coming. You kids leaving or what?"