Quinn stood between Ink, as Caim was called; and Nightcrawler, as Kurt was called; with the rest of the X-Men and Gwen around a table in what seemed to be a high-tech board room. A hologram the building they were going to infiltrate hovered above the table.

"We'll land here." Cyclops, as Scott was known, pointed to a field a block and a half away. "I know it's farther than we'd like, but it's the safest place to land."

"Screw safe. Let's just land on the roof. We'll use the cloaking device and no one will know," Quinn said.

Cyclops looked at her and shook his head. "If something happens to the building and it collapses or something then we could potentially lose our ride."

Quinn crossed her arms and stared at the hologram, not saying anything to give Cyclops the satisfaction about being right.

"Blackout, the main energy source is here-"

Quinn had to look up to confirm that he was talking to Gwen; apparently when in mission-mode they used their codenames. She didn't get what the point was but it seemed to keep everyone focused on the mission and she didn't want to say anything that might pull them out of that.

"-so we'll try to clear the way for you to get there." He was pointing to a room in the center of the top floor. "We have others taking control of that floor while we, the X-Men, go take over the basement. The Professor thinks that Jane Kelley more than likely has our friends down there; she couldn't risk them escaping if they got out of whatever confinement she's put them in."

"What's the vent system like?" Ink asked.

Quinn didn't get his codename. Did it have to do with the fact that he liked drawing? She wasn't sure because she didn't even fully know what his powers were.

"The vent system?" Cyclops repeated.

Ink didn't pause to explain as he zoomed in on the hologram and turned it around. "There," he said, tracing a series of long rectangles. They meant nothing to Quinn as she watched her friend trace them around the building

"If we can get someone in there we can get them into the basement without being seen, unless they have motion sensors or cameras in there which Blackout will disable anyway." Ink leaned his hands on the table. "They go right into this giant central room." He pointed to what was indeed a large space on the basement floor. "That's probably where our friends are being held…"

"Where did you get that vent idea from?" Nightcrawler asked. Ink shrugged. "Movies."

"Where he got it from doesn't matter, it's a good idea," Jean said. "but Shadowcat's our smallest member and she's not here."

"Not anymore," Beast – Mr. McCoy – corrected. He gestured to Quinn and all eyes turned to her. "Nightmare here is smaller and shorter than Shadowcat."

Quinn muttered under her breath, knowing how Mark would have probably offered that same idea if he had been there.

"What do you say Nightmare?" Jean asked.

Quinn nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"Great," Cyclops said. "We'll get Blackout in to shut down the power and cameras and Ink, you'll find the vent that leads to that room and get Nightmare there. The rest of us will go in and make our way to the basement."

A chorus of agreements rang around the room.

"Leave the top floor alone," he stressed. "There are others taking care of that."

The sound of the door opening signaled Mr. Xavier's arrival. He spoke as he wheeled up to the table: "If you see Jane Kelley do not harm her," he said. "Let me know and we'll work on how to escort her from the building. Same with most of her associates that will most likely be in the building. Don't hurt anyone but the guards, and only them if you have to."

Quinn rolled her eyes; always the peacekeeper.

"Wheels up in twenty minutes," Beast told them all. "Get your gear and get in the jet." Him, Wolverine, and Mr. Xavier left and the rest of the group dispersed. Quinn stuck with Ink, Nightcrawler, and Blackout.

"What gear?" Quinn asked.

"Uniform," Ink replied. "and anything else you may want to have for the mission."

Blackout laughed and Quinn looked at her. Blackout glanced at Nightcrawler. "Hey, Nightcrawler, did the Professor keep my uniform or did he chuck it?"

"We still have it," Nightcrawler replied with a smile. Blackout clapped him on the shoulder. "Great. Well I'll see you guys in twenty." She left the room and Nightcrawler soon disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Quinn and Ink went to the room outside the danger room and grabbed their own uniforms.

When Quinn entered the girl's change room she found Blackout zipping up her own suit. Blackout looked over and smiled. "You ready?"

Quinn nodded and started to undress. "Why did you leave the X-Men?" she asked as she stepped into her tight-fitting uniform. "You seem good around these guys, and Nightcrawler and you seem close."

Blackout sat down on one of the benches and pulled on one of her boots. She stared at the ground as she replied: "Some of the people here aren't bad, and Nightcrawler really is a great guy, but I felt confined here, stifled. I was used to being able to just… wander, just walk off, and staying in one place for a long period of time made me antsy. I don't like to keep still and even though the X-Men get missions it wasn't the same. So I left, and Gabriel came with me. Noah wasn't a part of any group at the time but we were…" She trailed off. "We're like brother and sister, so he stuck with me." She finished zipping up her second boot and sat up, looking over at Quinn. "This just wasn't the place for me."

Quinn tugged the zipper on the side of her suit up and secured the collar. "You're still here in Bayville though, why?"

"Because everyone needs a home base, a place that will always be there for you to come back to, and my home with Noah and Gabriel is here. I travel elsewhere but always come back here." She stood up and stretched her arms out.

"Alright." Quinn slipped on her own boots and stashed her knife down into one of them. When she stood up she caught a knowing smile on Blackout's face. "What?" Blackout shook her head. "Nothing. Just… be safe; don't do anything stupid." She left the room and Quinn was alone with her thoughts.

She took a deep breath and settled onto the bench that Blackout had occupied. Adrenaline was already pumping through her system and yet there was a tingle of worry in the back of her mind. Mr. Xavier had been implying earlier that something extremely bad could be happening to Mark and Kitchie and Ms. Dugan and the others, and she didn't have a clue what it what. She hoped and wished with every fiber of her being that her friends were not being subjected to the tortures that everyone was talking about.