August 19, 1992

"We're missing a few," Emma said.

Jean pulled her coat closer. It seemed colder around them for some reason.

"We have Gambit on patrol, along with some of our more advanced students," Jean said, "I know you have Boom-Boom out there too."

Emma nodded, looking placated. Scott cleared his throat.

"The first thing that we need to do is figure out a way to get the students out," he said.

Mystique rolled her eyes. Jean could see that she was in a foul mood, but then again, Magneto was as well. He was looking at Scott like he'd enjoy nothing more than crushing him. He was holding himself back though, and it comforted Jean. For the moment.

"We need to launch a counter attack," Emma said, "We can worry about your kindergartners later."

Scott glared at her and Emma gave a theatric sigh.

"The camp is fairly stable, and we can't spare anybody to move them," Emma said.

She tossed her hair.

"You should know that," Emma said.

"They're still children," Ororo said, "We're not getting them involved in this."

"They're already involved," Mystique said.

"More involved then," Ororo said.

"That's pretty rich, coming from you," Lance said, "You became an X-man when you were, what, fifteen?"

"Sixteen," Ororo said, "And that was to help me with my rage issues."

Her voice was low and threatening. From across the small group Logan raised his eyebrows. He'd never seen Ororo in her full rage, and Ororo's nerves were already stretched tight due to Warren's death. In some way Jean pitied him. There was just so much that he didn't know about the X-men.

"Moving on," Scott said, "We can't have them here. It's dangerous for them, and it's a major liability for us. In those terms, does it make more sense?"

"Not really," Mystique said, "If Sinister had wanted to use these as specimens, then he would have taken them already or put a little more effort into finding them."

Magneto remained silent, looking over them. Scott seemed to be ignoring him, and Jean wondered why he wasn't saying anything. It was almost as though he were trying to figure something out. That didn't bode well.

"Come on, where would you even put them all?" Emma said, "It's not like there's a place where they can go. It's already been proven that your grounds aren't safe."

"We might be able to help with that."

Jean's head whipped around. She knew those voices. Remy walked up, followed closely by Calvin and Clarice. They looked different from the last time that she had seen them. Calvin had allowed his beard to grow in a bit more, and Clarice's hair was much longer. She'd always kept it short as an X-man, always knowing that she was going to have to go into battle soon.

Now it had to be held back in a ponytail. However, Jean could see that her quiver was full of crystals. She was wearing clothing that allowed for freedom of movement. Both Clarice and Calvin looked prepared to go back into the war zone.

"We can take it from here," Calvin said.

He clapped his hand on Remy's back. Remy winced at the gesture, and Jean sympathized. Calvin had always put a little too much enthusiasm in his gestures. Remy had, she was sure, only heard about the Rankins through stories and photos of past X-men.

Nonetheless, Remy tilted his head at Calvin and Clarice before walking away. She was sure that he wanted to stay. He threw a curious look over his shoulder at the strategy meeting before getting back to patrolling. He knew when he needed to get back to work.

Scott walked up and grabbed Calvin's hand. The two of them had always been such good friends, ever since Calvin had roomed with him when they were all still in high school. It seemed like such a long time ago.

"How'd you two get here so fast?" Scott asked.

"Well, Banshee called. He's on his way down here now, along with Siryn, Havok, and Deadpool," Calvin said, "He said Sinister had escaped, and there was some sort of emergency."

Calvin looked past Scott and saw the Brotherhood.

"I see he was right," he said.

"The Institute's been attacked," Scott said, "The Professor, Moira, and Polaris are missing."

Calvin's eyes widened. Clarice crossed her arms across her chest, looking thoughtful.

"How did you find us?" Scott asked.

Calvin grinned.

"It wasn't easy," he said, "But we figured you guys might've gone to the Biology cabin if something had happened at the Institute. We saw that someone had been there, and then we just tracked you to the next closest emergency site."

There was a long silence. Jean could see that they didn't know what had happened there. They had been able to clean it up pretty well. Calvin's grin began to slip. Clarice brushed her hand against his and stepped forward.

"However, you're right, we got here pretty quickly," Clarice said.

She picked up one of her crystals and turned it over in her hand.

"You seem to have forgotten my talent," she said.

She jerked her head towards the camp.

"And I think that it will work well in this situation," she said, "I don't have the energy to take them back to our facility in Florida, but I think that I can make it to Washington. I believe that they will be safe there."

She patted her quiver of crystals.

"Besides," Clarice said, "we talked to Hank on the way up here. He's quite worried about his daughter. She was supposed to be at home by now."

Scott smiled, although the expression was strained.

"They got sidetracked in Boston," he said, "She's fine."

"I'd imagine so," Clarice said, "But I think that we can get the students out in shifts. She should be one of the firsts."

"You'd have a hard time arguing that," Scott said, "But I know you. There are a lot of students here. It's going to be difficult to teleport them all out."

Clarice nodded, but she didn't look deterred. Calvin began to grin again, and Jean could see that they had discussed it. He held out his hand and a pink crystal started to form there. It took a while, but in the end he held a crystal similar to Clarice's.

"We'll do it in shifts, one after the other," he said, "She'll go and I'll rest, and then she'll rest and I'll go. And as for the time factor."

His grin broadened.

"Is Kurt around?" he asked.

"Yes," Scott said.

"Kurt?" Magneto said.

Jean froze. She'd almost forgotten that the Brotherhood was there.

"Yes," Scott said.

His tone was wary. Jean swallowed. Magneto had never seen Kurt. None of the Brotherhood had before the fight in the square. Boom-Boom and Lance had obviously not recognized the similarities between him and Mystique. They had been after Azazel though, so it was possible that they didn't know.

However, the rest would. It would probably only take them seconds to realize the resemblance. She could tell that Scott was thinking about this. Calvin was looking as though he wished he hadn't said anything. Clarice's face was impassive, her old poker face still in place. Ororo looked a little tense though, and Jean knew she was the same.

"The Professor's younger son," Scott said, "He's a teleporter."

Magneto shrugged.

"It occurs to me that this information might have been useful earlier," he said.

"He's a non-combatant," Scott said, "Him, David, Sharon, and Amanda."

His tone was dismissive as he turned to Calvin, like it didn't matter what Kurt could do. Being a teleporter wasn't a giveaway in and of itself. They just needed to make sure that Kurt didn't run into any members of the Brotherhood now. Jean doubted that he was ready for what that would bring.

"I don't think he can get a lot of people to Washington," Scott said.

"Maybe only a few at a time," Calvin said, "But I won't be able to take as many people as Clarice. I can't run at her level of finesse."

He winked at her before he continued.

"But something is better than nothing, right?"

"Right," Scott said, "You should start immediately."

He squinted into the distance where the sun was just starting to come up.

"We don't know how much time we have left before Sinister makes another move," Scott said.


Charles woke up, his vision blurry. He blinked a few times to clear it. Charles tried to rub his forehead, but he found that something had been put around his head. He tried to take it off, but he couldn't.

He tried to get a better look at his surroundings. He'd been taken out of his wheelchair, although he had no idea why. The lighting was dim, but he could make out that there was someone else in the room. They'd been tossed carelessly onto the floor, and they looked limp.

Charles focused his eyes in the dim light.

"Moira?" he managed.

There was no response. He dragged himself next to her. Her breathing was shallow, but he was breathing. He pulled her into her arms and began checking her for any signs of injury. Beyond a few nasty-looking bruises she seemed fine.

A light switched on from the other side of the room. One of the walls was made of a type of glass, which led into another room. Sinister walked into it and paused next to the glass. Charles saw him press his fingers to the glass. Sinister tapped them against it for a bit, regarding him.

"Don't worry. There's no sense in hurting her," Sinister said, "Not yet."

His words made an old anger flare up.

"You saw what I did the last time you tried to take her from me," Charles said.

"Yes, I did," Sinister said, "Which is why I got that lovely little headband. It was designed for a Colonel that some of my agents were shadowing. He was trying to wipe out all mutants."

Sinister laughed.

"Well, I couldn't let him do that, now could I?" Sinister said, "Still, it hardly matters. Not in light of everything that's been happening. Everything that's going to happen."

Sinister took his hands away from the pane of glass.

"I've read your papers," Sinister said, "You're a clever man Xavier. You know what direction evolution is pushing us in. It wants us to go forwards, not backwards. It's given people remarkable abilities to survive, and yet you talk about peaceful integration. People are too foolish to let such a thing happen."

He gestured towards Moira.

"There are exceptions," Sinister said, "But life is imperfect. Now then, I believe you met my friend at the Institute?"

How could he forget?

"Who was that?" Charles asked.

"Immaterial," Sinister said, "But he told me that he sees human-mutant relationships as modern myths. Like Greek gods having affairs with mortals and conceiving the heroes of old. Very poetic."

He leaned against the opposite wall.

"I think of second generation mutants as another stage of evolutionary perfection," he said, "It's beautiful, but it doesn't always create the strongest mutants."

Charles held Moira closer.

"If you're so occupied with mutants," he said, "Let her go and keep me. She's just a human. She doesn't matter to you."

Sinister laughed, pounding one of his fists against the glass.

"Very funny Xavier," he said, "But holding her means I hold you here as well. Besides..."

He smiled.

"She has her part to play too."