[Author's Note: X-Men Characters in this Chapter: Nightcrawler (Kurt), Gambit (Remy), Rogue (Marie), Beast (Hank McCoy), Stormfiregirl's character Bio-hazard (A.J.), and of course my characters the Shadow (Marcus) and Panther (Emery).]

By the time Nightcrawler and Gambit returned to the Institute, Bio-hazard had awoken. Dr. McCoy was putting A.J. through a routine check-up.

"I'm fine!" she complained.

"Under your tongue," Dr. McCoy countered, holding the thermometer up to her eye level.

"A.J. please, listen to Herr McCoy," Kurt urged from his seat beside his best friend.

A.J. sighed and opened her mouth so Dr. McCoy could put the thermometer beneath her tongue. After a minute, Dr. McCoy checked the temperature.

"Temperature is normal."

"So can I go now?" A.J. asked indigently.

"Yes, yes. You seem to be just fine. I'll let the Professor know what you remember about what happened. Why don't you go get some nutrients into your system."

"You mean food."

Dr. McCoy and Kurt both rolled their eyes. They were used to this with A.J..

"Come on A.J. let's go get you food. Everyone else has already eaten. If you eat, Herr McCoy will clear you to help me find Emery."

The two of them started out of the room.

"Whoa. Hold up. Emery is missing?"

Kurt snatched her arm and gently forced her to keep walking.

"Ja. We got back from rescuing you und the others, und she vas gone."

"Are you sure she just didn't run away?"

Kurt whirled on A.J., "Sie didn't just run avay!"

When A.J. started to tear up, Kurt's angry expression softened.

"A.J., I'm sorry."

A.J. yanked her arm away from Kurt's hand, and he let her. She stared at him a second longer and pushed past him to make her way up to the kitchen. Kurt watched her go. What was wrong with him? He'd just hurt his best friend's feelings. His emotions were all over the place, and they shouldn't be like this. He should be calm and planning on how to get Emery back. He shouldn't be taking his anxiousness out on his friends, especially when they were trying their best to help him find Emery. He just needed to stop freaking out. He just felt so out of sorts. He teleported into the cerebo room, where Rogue had taken over the Professor's position of using the computer aspect of cerebo to search for Emery's mutant-id. It didn't look like she was having much walked over and sat on the floor beside the chair. Rogue looked down at him and he rested his head on her thigh.

"We'll find her, Kurt."

"What if we don't? What's he doing to her? What if he's already killed her?"

"Kurt. First of all: she's strong. She can handle herself. Second: we will find her."

"I hope you're right," Kurt whispered closing his eyes trying to calm the panic rising in his chest.

Emery woke to find Marcus watching her sleep.

"That's not creepy at all," she said out loud.

"We're going to start training. Come on," he said and walked out the door.

Emery found that he'd unshackled her in her sleep. He was such a creeper. She rose and followed him out the door and through hallways until they reached a gym. Why he had a gymnasium in his house she had no idea.

"Um. Aren't you going to take this off me?" she asked, pulling at the collar. If he took it off her, maybe she'd have a chance of escaping.

"Not yet. You lack hand-to-hand combat skills."

"I don't need hand-to-hand combat skills. I could kill you with my brain before you even got close enough to me for me to need to know that stuff."

"I got close to you."

Emery blinked. He was right.

"And right now," he said in a sultry voice, stepping closer to her, "you're powerless."

Emery was looking up at his face, which was inches from his own. She blushed but held her ground.

"And what exactly are your powers?"

"Mental, just like yours. I prefer dealing with computers, but like you I dabble in the dark."

"What are you talking about?" Emery took a step back.

"Your dark purple plasma and such that you use." He took a step forward.

"How do you know I use that?" She took a step back.

"I watched you."

"And that's not creepy at all," she said sarcastically.

"You've been hurt. You've seen people die. In fact, you've probably killed yourself and if you haven't you will."

"Plasma isn't dark, you just use it for bad things." She took another step backwards, towards the door they had entered through. She was almost near it, she'd been counting. Marcus followed, closing the distance between them and pushing her softly against the wall. She'd miscalculated the location of the door. Marcus's hands were on either side of her, trapping her there between him and the wall.

"What have I done that's so bad? Hmm little miss?" Marcus cooed into her ear.

Emery shivered. She had to compose herself to respond. "Hurt the x-men. Kidnapped me. Whatever you did before you were sent into that other realm."

"I was sent into that other realm, as you called it, because I was grieving. And no one, no one, understood. They just saw me losing control and took me out of the picture."

"Why were you grieving?"

Marcus took a step back all of a sudden.

"It's not important."

"You lost someone you loved," Emery stated.

Marcus didn't respond, nor would he look at her.

"Why did you kidnap me?"

He looked up. "You have raw talent. I want to use that talent to take my revenge."

"What revenge exactly?"

"Enough questions," Marcus snapped. He snatched her wrist.

"Ow," she complained. He ignored her and pulled her into the middle of the room.

"We're going to start training now. The more you learn the less you'll get hurt."

She had just enough time to say "What?" before he dropped into a fighting stance and swung his leg around in a roundhouse kick. It hit her in the back of the leg and she fell to that knee, her hands on her other to support herself.

"What the hell was that for?!"

His hand came down and grabbed her throat. It didn't hurt; it didn't make it hard for her to breathe. No it wasn't that kind of grip, but it did pose the problem of him lifting her back up to her feet like a rag doll.

"Break out of my grip. Your enemies aren't going to be this nice. They're going to squeeze until you're unconscious, and then maybe they'll keep on squeezing until you're dead. Break my grip."

She tugged at his hand, trying to pull it away from her neck, but he just held on tighter.

After two minutes of her just yanking and scratching at his hand, she gave up.

"Now that's disheartening. Don't give up little miss. Try using your arms to bear down on mine. Hit as hard as you can; force my arm down away from your neck. My hand will follow."

Emery was furious with him for doing this to her, for kidnapping her, for touching her. She did what he'd said, using her anger as a motivation. When his hand was forced away from her neck, she gasped and rubbed her throat.

"Good. Next time though, try not to get angry. You'll lose control of yourself and the situation if you get angry."

"Stop playing Yoda!"

"What would you rather I do? Let you go?"

"Yes!"

"So that someday you'll get yourself or someone else killed? I don't think so."

Emery screamed in frustration. "Why do you care what happens to me?!"

"Because you're just like me!" he said exasperated.

"You don't know anything about me!"

"I know everything about you. I've been inside every nook and cranny of your brain."

Emery took several steps back. "You're lying."

"I did it while you were sleeping. I figured you wouldn't notice with the collar on to neutralize your powers, and I was right. I know all about you, and your past. We have a lot more in common than you think. And believe it or not, as terrible as you see me as, I wasn't always this way. The world made me this cold. Just like it made you cold."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah? Well let me know when you get your little spark of warmth torn right out of your chest again, just like Chet did three years ago."

Emery stepped closer to him and slapped him across the face.

"There! That emotion! The darkness you just accessed!" Marcus grinned. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. When there's nothing left of your life except that feeling, you'll understand where I'm coming from."

She glared at him.

"Come on then, let me teach you how to fight."

Emery dropped into the fighting stance she'd seen him do just minutes ago.

"Good! Good! That's right!"

And then he attacked.

[Author's Note: Whatcha think?]