MV1 #74 NOVEMBER Year 3

"Sinister Developments Part Two: The Center Cannot Hold"

What Has Gone Before: While Havok visited the X-Men Gold team in New York and ran a danger room scenario with the help of the visiting Quicksilver, operatives of Mr. Sinister known as X-Treme were attacked by another of his operatives, the Marauder known as Scalphunter. But the Marauders were also attacking the other X-Men, as Nightcrawler came through one of Gateway's portals and reported an attack on Muir Island, and the team has lost contact with Blue team in Australia. And mutant senator Ervin is being advised by his campaign manager Essex to reveal his activities as a mutant hero in order to secure re-election.

"Do you believe this?" Kitty whispered.

"Kitty...I don't understand," Peter said. "We have fought alongside the Avengers before, several times. Why are you so amazed?"

"We're in Avengers mansion, Pete! We could turn a corner and be face to face with Captain America. The greatest heroes in the world live here!"

Nightcrawler grinned. "She has a bad case of hero worship, does she not, Mein Fruend?"

"It's not hero worship," Kitty said stubbornly. "It's respect. These guys have been in the hero game a long time."

"No longer den de X-Men, though, Chere," Gambit piped up. "How come t'ey got all the popularity and we still the t'ing people don't like to talk about?"

None of them had a very good answer for that one.

At the lead, Scott said, "We really appreciate you doing this, Pietro. It's one thing to help out in a training session, but I know what kind of heat you could get for letting a bunch of mutants into Avengers mansion when the Avengers aren't even here."

"The Avengers are my friends, for the most part," Pietro said. "I'd thank you not to make them out as just like every other bigot the X-Men know."

"That's not what he meant," Havok said. "He just meant...well, the Avengers have to watch their public profile more than the X-Men do, don't they? Hell, even Namor got picketed when he joined up. It's not like the X-Men, where our reputation can't get much worse."

"Reputations change," Pietro said. "It's our actions that make them stick. Take me. I've got a reputation as a hothead, an arrogant boor with no use for anyone but myself. I've earned it through my actions and my manner. I've alienated my wife and child time and again, I've turned against friends, teammates and lovers."

"But you've also been an Avenger...almost one of the first," Scott reminded him.

"True. But does anyone really think of me when they think of the Avengers? My sister, perhaps, because despite all her problems, she has always been a mainstay of the team. I've been a liability as often as I've been an asset. I sometimes wonder if I have really changed that much since my days with the Brotherhood."

"I can answer that one," Scott said. "I fought you in those days, remember?"

"Yes," Pietro answered with a sardonic smile. "I'm surprised you do, though, after all the blows to the head I gave you in those days."

The three men chuckled as they reached the Avengers hangar. Inside, a Quinjet sat, fueled and ready. They were surprised to see Captain America standing next to it. Kitty in particular was surprised, as a wide grin split her face. Peter hadn't seen that look since very early in her career. It was a smile of innocent joy.

"Captain," Pietro said. "I didn't expect you to be here. I talked to Jarvis and he okayed..."

"I know, Pietro," Cap said. "He called me. I'm just here to wish you luck, and ask you if I can help."

"No thanks," Havok answered. "Much appreciated, Cap, but I'm sure you've got plenty to do. Besides, X-Men take care of their own."

Cap looked as if he had been slapped. He fixed a cold glare on Havok and the rest and walked out. "Don't let anything happen to our Quinjet."

They all watched the living legend walk out of the room, and silence reigned again as his footsteps echoed off the metal walls.

Rogue said quietly, "Maybe that's why we aren't as popular as the Avengers."

Scott turned angrily to his brother. "Alex, what on Earth was that about?"

"Scott...you've faced the Marauders before, so have I. You know that to deal with them effectively, we have to be ruthless. Captain America isn't up to that and you know it."

There was silence, and the rest of the team stared at the two brothers. Finally, Cyclops let out a deep sigh.

"You're right."

As they turned to get into the Quinjet, he said, "But by God, you have no idea how much I wish you weren't."

Fusion had changed out of his bloodied and torn X-treme uniform into a three-piece suit. He stroked his goatee and ran a hand through his slicked back black hair, hoping that he looked presentable. Miss Frost was not very tolerant of sloppiness. Especially since she had to contend with it on a daily basis as one of the mentors of Generation X. Nervously, Fusion reached out and knocked twice on the solid oak door to the Massachusetts Academy.

To his surprise, there was no answer. He pulled on the door to see if it was locked. It was. He knocked again, then pushed the doorbell in once.

Now concerned that Sinister had gotten to his ally as well, Fusion considered burning through the door. But if she was here and he did that, she'd make him pay for it. He had finally decided to go ahead and use his powers when the door swung open to reveal Emma Frost, wearing a low-cut white dress. Not quite as flashy as the garb she had worn in her days as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, but certainly something that showed off the attractive blond's figure.

"Mr. Mendoza. Won't you come in?"

As he followed her in, Fusion saw that Frost's hair was still wet at the ends. So that's what had been going on. She'd been in the shower and didn't want to look anything but perfect for her employees. No showing weakness, that was Frost all the way.

"Miss Frost, I wanted to thank you for this opportunity. My son is very excited about the Academy's curriculum and..."

"You can drop the cover, Paul. The children aren't here, and neither is Sean. They went with Xavier on a trip to Muir Island. Now tell me what's so important it brought you all the way here to see me?"

"Sinister's on to us," he said.

Frost stopped walking and turned, slowly and deliberately. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Paul had heard that she was on the side of the angels these days, but he remembered the nasty mind twisting from when she was training him in the early days. The intensity on her face made him remember that pain, and he wasn't convinced she had completely turned over a new leaf anyway. After all, she still used him, didn't she? Hell, last time she talked to him*, she referred to them as "her new Hellions" and sounded every bit as villainous as she used to be. (* In X-Men #71 - Continuity Conscious Randy)

"Then how did he find out? What happened?"

"Scalphunter came to our base and tried to kill us. He got a lot of the team, but he wasn't good enough to waste Marine and me. Archer's alive too, but just barely. He needs medical help fast."

She smiled now, a sign that she was already thinking of ways to turn the situation to her advantage. "So are you ready to tell your friends the truth? That you've been my operative for years, and you recruited them into X-Treme to serve as the new core of my Hellions?"

"I don't see any other way," he admitted.

"Good. Then bring them here. I'll take care of you. Perhaps we can pass you off as additional teachers."

Frost closed the door as he left. When she had originally begun developing Fusion as her servant, she had been a neophyte in the Hellfire Club. Then the Club had fallen to the Upstarts, and she'd been forced to adapt, even to join with Xavier in pursuing his "dream." Adapting had always been Emma's way. But now she found that more and more, the scheming face she put on when dealing with Fusion was nothing more than a mask.

Which am I, she thought? Ruthless manipulator, taking the lead to reform the Hellfire Club, or teacher, trying to build these children into the hope for the future?

Perhaps both, she realized. It was all well and good to strive for something noble, but she was a practical woman. With the beating the X-Men had taken at the hand of the Phalanx, and Sinister's operatives fighting amongst themselves, now might be the time to start the Hellfire Club again. Just as a back-up plan, of course.

The Quinjet settled down in the Australian desert, just outside the small town that Gold team called home. It looked desolate, abandoned, but then, that was the way it always looked. Havok was the first out of the ship, even faster than Quicksilver, yelling out to the empty buildings.

"Lorna? Wolverine? Storm?"

Quicksilver was on him in a flash, covering his mouth with his hand. "When going into a potentially hostile area, it's a good idea not to announce one's presence, don’t you think? Not very bright, Havok."

With that, Pietro took off, muttering, "Tell the others I'm going to run a quick recon."

Still as arrogant as ever, Havok thought. The man had sounded genuinely apologetic about his usually boorish behavior at Avengers mansion, but several hours cooped up inside a jet hadn't done wonders for any of their moods. It certainly hadn't done anything for Alex, as he had all that time to imagine what the Marauders could be doing to his friends. Most importantly, what they could be doing to Lorna.

Cyclops and the others caught up with him. "Where did Pietro go?"

"Told me he was going to do recon," Alex said. "Serve him right if he gets lost."

"Alright, people," Cyclops said. "You heard him. This place is a maze, and there could still be Marauders here. I want everyone paired with someone who lived here if possible. Colossus, you're with Shadowcat. Rogue, you and Gambit can team. Nightcrawler...wait here for Quicksilver. I'll go with Havok. Let's get moving!"

Scott looked over at his brother. "Alex...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay, Scott. My turf, but it's your team. Let's get going."

Nightcrawler waited for close to a minute before he saw Quicksilver streaking down from the butte near the small town. He was carrying something that looked like a man. As he got closer, Nightcrawler realized what it was.

Gateway's body.

Quicksilver stopped next to Nightcrawler. "I didn't find anything else up there, thankfully. Hope that means they're alive."

"Why would they kill him? He wouldn't have fought back."

"I don't know," Pietro said. "Maybe that's why they killed him. From what I've heard of these Marauders, mercy isn't their strong suit...slaughtering defenseless mutants is."

After searching for close to an hour, all the teams converged again on the main street of the town. Cyclops frowned when he saw Quicksilver and Nightcrawler burying Gateway's body.

"Whatever happened here, dere was certainly a fight," Gambit said. "Burn marks, bullet holes, blood everywhere we look. But no sign of our friends."

Kitty asked, "Why did they kill Gateway?"

"Tactical advantage most likely," Cyclops said. "We were relying on him as our means of transport. If they figured that out, they might have killed him to cut off our escape, or to prevent us from getting reinforcements."

"They might have killed him because they are butchers," Colossus said. "Cold-hearted killers who, when faced with a passive opponent, can only eliminate them."

"What reinforcements could they have been preventing?" Nightcrawler asked. "Muir Island was clearly attacked before this happened, because Gateway provided my means of escape. For that matter, how did they kill him quickly enough so that I was the only one to escape? That would mean the attacks were taking place..."

"Simultaneously," Havok said, finishing the thought. "That could explain why they didn't attack the mansion, maybe their resources were spread too thin."

"If that's the case, what's to stop them from attacking the mansion now?" Kitty asked.

"Won't do them any good," Cyclops answered. "Nobody's home, and I turned on all the security systems when we left. If the Marauders do come looking for us there, they'll be very sorry."

"Just de same, we'd better be careful when we return home, non?" Gambit said.

"So now what do we do?" Rogue asked. "Ah sure didn’t find any clues, did y'all?"

There was a general murmuring of agreement. There had been no clues to find here, nothing to indicate where the team had been taken, or how, or why.

"I might be of assistance," Gambit said. "I t'ink I can find us Sinister at least, if not the Marauders. But dere's a price involved. No asking where I got this information."

The others stared at him.

"Deal," Havok said. "If you can help us find my team, I don't care if you got it during your poker games with Dr. Doom."

"Not'ing quite that unusual," Gambit replied. "But I happen to know that Sinister has a base in Hong Kong."

Another couple of hours later, the Quinjet landed at the Hong Kong airport, using Pietro's Avengers clearance. It was made quite clear to them that they weren't welcome, Avengers or not. The team could only imagine the reaction if the Hong Kong authorities knew whom they had truly let into their country.

After the Quinjet had settled, Pietro looked outside the cockpit to see an approaching jeep.

"They've sent someone out to check on us," Pietro said. "How do we get you all out without them realizing we've brought the X-Men into the country?"

Cyclops spoke immediately. "Rogue, you absorb Kitty's powers and take Gambit out with you. Nightcrawler, you teleport Havok out and come back for me. We'll meet over in that hangar over there."

Rogue reached over and touched Kitty's cheek, and the girl fell unconscious. Rogue then reached over with her other gloved hand and took Gambit's, phasing them both into the bottom of the plane and the ground. Then it was a simple matter of "swimming" through the ground to reach the hangar. She emerged from the ground just as Kitty's powers and psyche were beginning to fade.

Nightcrawler teleported, the stench of brimstone filling the cockpit and forcing the others to choke and cough. Cyclops choked out, "Kitty, are you okay? I need you to take yourself and Peter out of here."

The jeep was close now, almost within sight distance. Pietro muttered, "Hurry up. And how am I going to explain all this smoke?"

As Kitty phased, taking Colossus with her, Nightcrawler returned, filling the cockpit with even more smoke. He grabbed Cyclops and teleported out. As they left, Scott said, "I'm sure you'll think of something, Pietro."

Pietro cracked open the window, which let loose billowing tufts of purple smoke into the air. The jeep pulled to a stop and the soldiers sitting in the back aimed their guns at the cockpit. Pietro stepped down onto the runway to see a Hong Kong man dressed in a fine black suit rushing over to him.

"What happened? Is there a danger? American, if you brought something here..."

"There was a minor difficulty with the landing system," Pietro said, coughing to get the last of the brimstone taste out of his lungs. "It's all right now."

"Where is the rest of your team?"

"I'm the only one. I'm here on personal business."

Quicksilver produced his Avengers ID card and the man grabbed it greedily, inspecting it with a wary eye. After a moment, he handed it back.

"You can go. But we'll be..."

He didn't even get to finish his sentence as Quicksilver rocketed off at supersonic speed. His eyes also weren't fast enough to follow as Quicksilver looped around behind the hangar where the X-Men had hidden and ran inside.

"Nice work, Pietro," Scott said. "Now let's get moving. Gambit? Lead on."

They soon found themselves in a dirty alley, with the bright lights of the Hong Kong business district visible in the sky above. Gambit was feeling his way along the wall carefully, pressing his face to the gray brick every once in a while. Colossus stood right behind him, ready to take any hits that came when he found the hidden door. Cyclops and Havok were at either end of the alley, covering from outside attacks, while Quicksilver, Kitty and Rogue were standing about midway between Havok and Gambit, eyes darting nervously from one end of the alley to another and occasionally up to watch for any attacks.

The calm before the fight. The X-Men knew it well, and for most of those here, there was still a twinge of nerves that came with it. Wondering if these were the last moments they would spend with their friends, if any of them were going to die this time. Cyclops was mostly thinking of Jean, and despite his bold words earlier, he worried that the Marauders had attacked the mansion and found her there. He almost hoped to find them here, as even a fight with some dangerous professional killers seemed more palatable than the idea of a temporarily powerless Jean having to fend them off.

"Heads up, mes amis." Gambit said. "I've found the catch."

His thumb was stuck into one of the mortar lines between the bricks, and as he yanked slightly upward, a section of the wall slid down and away to reveal an opening. There was a corridor there that led down, and all that could be seen down the corridor was a bright red light.

"Move in," Cyclops said. "Colossus and Gambit on point, the rest of you in the middle, Havok and I will cover the rear.

The group did as they were told, moving in. Kitty reflected on how it didn't used to be like this. The X-Men used to be more of a family, now they acted like a military unit. Personally, she blamed Cable and his ilk for that.

As they moved down the corridor, Gambit muttered to Colossus, "Good thing Stormy isn't here. Her claustrophobia would be killing her."

Up ahead, they saw that the red light was in fact a glow coming from an open door. As they moved closer, Gambit motioned for everyone else to stay still, and he softly walked over to the door and looked in.

Seconds later, an explosion filled the doorway, and Gambit came flying back toward the group, his face and chest burned. He was clearly unconscious. Colossus caught him as Cyclops moved to the front to stand beside him. He looked down the hall and saw a small metallic sphere rolling toward them.

"Grenade! Everyone move through the door!"

The X-Men moved, fast as they could. For Nightcrawler, that meant a risky blind teleport, for the rest it was running as fast as they could and leaping through the door.

They were all falling then, as the door was actually set about twenty feet above the room that it had led to. An explosion sent fire shooting out of the doorway, narrowly missing the now airborne X-Men, who were looking down at the area they'd been forced into.

The floor was glowing electric tile, looking a lot like a 70s-era disco palace. The walls were coated with high-tech machinery, reminiscent of what they had seen in their recent battles with the Phalanx. There were no structures on the floor of the circular chamber itself, merely a large open area. Standing in the area at various points were several of the Marauders; Scalphunter, Arclight, Harpoon, Scrambler, Riptide and Prism.

Scalphunter, a man in a gray bodysuit covered with parts and ammunition and wearing a mane of dark black hair and scraggly beard, aimed his grenade launcher again and fired, launching a metallic globe into the midst of the team as they fell.

Cyclops turned his head and destroyed it with an optic blast before it could get close enough to any damage, but paid the price by falling hard. He grimaced as he felt a rib break on landing. The others managed to soften their falls, rolling as they hit, except for Colossus, who simply crashed into the floor and then stood up, unharmed.

Harpoon, an Inuit eskimo in a blue uniform who carried a quarrel full of his namesake weapons on his back, held up one of the long silver blades and muttered, "Do you see, Scalphunter? The traitor has returned to us! A shame he fell so easily."

"Traitor?" Kitty said to Rogue, who had fallen right next to her. "What are they talking about?"

"You mean you didn't know?" Arclight yelled. "Gambit was a Marauder!"

Senator John Ervin took another gulp of the water next to him on the podium. This press conference had gone on for twenty minutes now, and he knew the press were getting just as edgy as he was. Wondering why he had called them here to talk about policies that everyone already knew. Wondering what the big news was.

His campaign manager, Mr. Essex, sat in a chair behind him. John glanced nervously back and Essex nodded, smiling. He mouthed the words, "It's time."

John's voice cracked as he said, "Well, I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you here."

There was silence, and John was having trouble even going on. The next words out of his mouth were supposed to reveal that he was a mutant. Essex was sure that it wouldn't kill his campaign, give him a momentary dip but also earn him some of the fringe vote. Essex had been right about everything else so far. But he couldn't make the words come out.

"Perhaps it would be easier to show them, Senator," Essex offered quietly.

The Senator nodded, closed his eyes hard, and then opened them. He held his hand out and felt his mutant powers flowing through him, lowering the gravitic pull on one of the cameramen. The press gasped as the cameraman floated into the air, and then gently sat back down.

He practically whispered his words into the microphone. "I'm Gravetix."

The name rung a bell with a few of the reporters, who had covered rescues by a costumed hero that the media had dubbed Gravetix. Monica Sharz, of the local CBS-affiliate, was the first to recover enough to shout out a question.

"Senator, why are you revealing this now?"

"I'm tired of the lies that come with so-called secret identities. There's more to this than just telling you I've been a hero," he said. His resolve was strengthened now. The hard part was over. "I'm also a mutant. I know for some of you that changes everything, and it doesn't matter what my actions have been, only where my powers have come from."

He let that sink in for a minute, then continued, his voice level rising.

"That's ridiculous. A hero is a hero, whether he was born with his powers or had them gifted by some kind of radiation accident. Being afraid of mutants makes no sense. I know that this won't get through to some of you, and I pity those few. Because mutants are here to stay, and we're every bit as entitled to participate in the world as you are. I'm revealing this to you now not just to spare myself from having it come out as a dirty little secret later, but to show you that men and women you trust, men and women you love...and I hope I fall into the former category for many of you...are mutants. We're not monsters, we're not the next step of genetic evolution bound on replacing you. We're just like you, only we have powers."

"Personally, I can't sing a note. Can't cook up a good fish-fry. Can't dance much beyond the waltzes I had drilled into me in my youth. So do I envy Sting, or Paul Prudhomme, or Fred Astaire? A little, maybe. Do I fear them? No. They've got abilities I don't, but I've got abilities of my own that others don't have. Have faith that your own special gifts are just as powerful as any mutant ability. Being able to bend steel means nothing if we can't help each other. That's all I want to do, with these abilities and my position in the Senate. I want to help people. Please, understand that. And help me to do it by voting for me in the next election. You all will understand, I trust, if I don't take questions right now? Thank you."

There was, of course, the obligatory shouting of various questions anyway as the reporters shot to their feet and thrust their microphones into the air to get above the din. Senator Ervin turned away to see Essex smiling like the cat that ate the canary, and couldn't help returning a weak grin of his own. As he walked over, Essex extended his hand to shake the Senator's.

"Well, that went pretty we...urk!"

Essex was cut off as a spear of energy cut through his midsection. It burned a six inch hole in his stomach, but the Senator was surprised to see that instead of burned intestines, there seemed to be smooth blue flesh inside the hole. Essex didn't look pained so much as extremely angry. Seconds later, before an astounded Senator Ervin and crowd of media, Essex changed form. He now looked like a larger man, dressed entirely in deep blue and black with a fringe collar, and lacking the hole in his midsection. His face was a pure white, with sharp features and deep red eye.

Ervin turned to see who had launched the attack and saw an Eskimo charging another harpoon with energy.

"Harpoon," Essex said, his voice now deeper and more sinister. "What on Earth do you think you're doing?"

The Eskimo didn't respond, instead waiting for movement from the crowd. One of the reporters, a slim Korean woman in the front, leaped onto the stage. Essex clearly recognized her, even as she tore off her wig and revealed her short black hair. Ervin was startled to realize that it wasn't a woman, but a man dressed as one!

The man swung his hand and touched Essex, causing him to cry out in pain as the wound in his stomach re-opened.

The one that Essex had called Harpoon hurled the energy javelin again. Ervin tried to reach out with his gravity powers, finally regaining some measure of composure, but the energy didn't respond and instead buried itself deep in Essex's chest. Essex screamed in agony as the fire burned through him, and in mere seconds, he had been consumed entirely, reduced to a pile of dark blue dust.

"No!" Ervin yelled. He reacted instinctively then, reaching out with his gravity powers to grab the Korean mutant. Reaching out, in a time of adrenaline and anger, a bit too hard. He heard the snap as the young Korean's neck broke, and let go in a flash, letting the body slump to the floor.

Harpoon escaped in the chaos that followed. Senator Ervin collapsed on the floor. He had just seen his political advisor revealed as a supervillain and then murdered another person using his newly revealed mutant powers. And he had done all of this on national television.

To say that the X-Men were surprised by the revelation of Gambit's past loyalties would be an underestimation of the highest order. But Cyclops knew that had been the goal. He shouted out, "Let it go! Focus on it after the fight is won!"

Still lying on the ground, he aimed an optic blast at Scrambler, easily the most dangerous of the Marauders. The young Korean had the ability to eliminate or enhance mutant abilities, making him a prime target. Prism, a being of living glass, stepped in front of the beam, however, and used his crystalline form to reflect the blast at Colossus, who went flying into a wall and bounced off. He was unhurt, but momentarily stunned.

Riptide sought to take advantage, his body twirling so fast that it looked like a mini-tornado, with only his wild strands of white hair showing. He let loose a handful of shurikens and throwing knives that then flew out at amazing speed. Those weapons had once been used to nearly kill Colossus, even in his steel form, punching through him like straws through wood in a hurricane.

Unlike the last time these teams had fought, however, Riptide was not the fastest one in the room. Quicksilver moved in amongst the deadly barrage, the speedy objects seeming no faster than a gliding paper airplane to him. He easily plucked the knives and shuriken out of the air and set them on the ground behind him, turning to run back to the assembled X-Men.

The battle joined in earnest, as Kitty phased to avoid an energy harpoon thrown in her direction. Scalphunter reconfigured his grenade launcher into a pair of Uzis and opened fire on Rogue, who dove for cover and screamed in frustration.

"Ah want mah powers back!"

Arclight moved in on Rogue, sensing her weakness. Havok was ready to cover her, but saw Prism taking aim as well and risked unleashing a burst of plasma at the crystalline villain.

"Hey, Prism. Reflect this!"

Prism was unable to reflect the white-hot plasma, and he instead cried out in agony as the plasma burned into his frame. When the heat subsided, he was melted into a vaguely humanoid icon, frozen in place, possibly not even alive.

Arclight, meanwhile, had reached her goal, a handful of bullets ricocheting from her silvery body armor as she moved into Scalphunter's line of fire. She raised her arms to pound the seemingly defenseless Rogue. Nightcrawler had teleported, arriving next to Scalphunter and landing a solid punch to his jaw that put the villain down for a moment.

Harpoon readied another energy harpoon and threw it at Havok. Alex Summers cried out as the energy burned into him, and he fell to the ground, writhing in pain as the energy worked its way through his system.

Arclight swung at Rogue, who rolled out of the way. Before Arclight could regain her balance, Rogue reached out and grabbed her unarmored hand. Arclight collapsed in a heap as her strength and memories flowed into Rogue. Rogue gasped as she got the memories, muttering, "But...why?"

Cyclops yelled in frustration as his optic blasts missed the dodging Harpoon. "Rogue! Take out Harpoon before he gets Alex again!"

Riptide was keeping up a constant barrage of attacks on Colossus, while Quicksilver continued to run interference. Colossus moved in anyway, rushing toward Riptide.

"I killed you once before, Riptide!" the usually gentle mutant yelled. "I will kill you again and again until you stay dead, butcher!"

Nightcrawler administered another punishing blow to the downed Scalphunter. Scalphunter responded by yanking something off his vest. When Nightcrawler looked down, he realized that the madman had pulled the pin on a grenade attached to his vest. He teleported just in time to avoid being caught in the explosion. Unfortunately, where he arrived was right in the line of fire of Riptide, and he cried out as a number of the blades struck his skin and dropped him to the ground. He had been badly wounded by Riptide in the same way just recently.* (*In the unseen Muir Isle battle last issue - Where did you think those cuts came from Randy)

As Rogue reached Harpoon, she yelled out to Cyclops, "They're not here for us! They were waiting for..."

"Uh uh uh," Scrambler said, moving in and grabbing Rogue. Like her, his power required flesh-to-flesh contact. The last time he had used them on her, their powers had cancelled them out, leaving them both unconscious. This time, Scrambler affected Rogue's stolen powers first, robbing her of Arclight's strength and toughness. Just as Rogue successfully grabbed Harpoon by the throat, Scrambler's powers reached Rogue's real powers.

There was a hideous scream, from Rogue, Harpoon and Scrambler, as they all collapsed in a heap on top of each other. Rogue's face was lying right next to Harpoon's, their cheeks touching.

"What is going on here?"

The voice came from the doorway above. The X-Men and Marauders alike turned to see Mr. Sinister staring down at them. His sharp teeth were set in a snarl against his pale white face, and his red eyes flashed with anger and surprise. Kitty took the time to move over and nudge Rogue away from Harpoon, hoping that she was okay. She quickly dropped back into phase to avoid any surprise attacks.

Riptide fired off a burst of weaponry just as Colossus reached him. He felt the strong steel hands around his neck and remembered how it had felt when the Russian had snapped his neck the last time. How did he remember that? Why was he even alive? It seemed as if his memories were fading by the second, it had begun right after he loosed his weaponry at the man who had been his master once. Why had he done that, he wondered?

The weapons struck their target, and Sinister laughed for a second, mocking Riptide. "I don't know the meaning of this rebellion, Riptide, but you know your weapons can't hurt...me?"

Sinister toppled and fell, crashing from 20 feet up into the floor with a sickening crack. He looked up at Riptide, who looked just as confused as Sinister did.

"Poison?" he managed to say, before letting his head drop to the floor.

As his body dissolved into a blue pile of goo, Quicksilver rushed over and knocked Riptide out with a punch. He put his hand on Colossus' shoulder. "Do you really wish to do that, my friend?"

Colossus shuddered slightly, remembering the remorse that had overcome him after he had killed Riptide the first time. He had buried it deeply, but it had been with him for a long time, and deep down, it haunted him still. It might even have been one of the reasons he joined with Magneto, trying to get away from the X-Men who had turned him into a killer.

He dropped the unconscious Riptide and instead rushed to his friend Nightcrawler. He was bleeding, but his vital signs were strong. Cyclops pushed himself to his feet, grunting as the pain of his broken rib flared again, and stumbled over to Alex to make sure he was OK.

Colossus, Quicksilver and Kitty made their way deeper into the facility. Cyclops had stayed behind to protect their unconscious friends in case anything else happened, but he told them that there was a communications facility here for sure. He had told them to find it and contact Jean at the mansion to make sure the rest of the Marauders hadn't attacked there.

Quicksilver did a quick recon as Kitty and Colossus walked slowly down the corridors and deeper into the underground base. Neither of them spoke.

A minute later, Quicksilver returned. "I've found the communications facility. Colossus, why don't you go back to Cyclops and inform him and I'll take Shadowcat with me?"

Colossus nodded and began trotting back, while Pietro scooped Kitty up in his arms and began running. After about a minute of running through winding corridors filled with blinking lights, rubber hoses and green glass chambers, the two X-Men reached a large electronics console with a screen. Pietro let Kitty down, and she walked over to the console.

It took her a minute to figure out the advanced controls, but after that, she placed a call to the mansion. The screen lit up to reveal the face of Jean Grey.

"Kitty? Where are you?"

"Hong Kong, one of Sinister's bases. Scott wanted us to find out if the mansion had been attacked."

"No, but I'm glad you called. There's something you should see."

With that, Jean's image was replaced with the image of a newscast. Monica Sharz, a chocolate-skinned beauty with short red hair, was holding up a microphone and speaking, as the byline underneath her indicated "Washington D.C."

"Roughly 2:00 today, when Senator Ervin revealed himself as the mutant hero Gravetix. Minutes later, two mutant terrorists broke in and killed Ervin's advisor, a man known as Mr. Essex."

The shot changed again as the footage rolled, and Kitty gasped as she recognized Mr. Sinister being murdered by Scrambler and Harpoon. She watched as the Senator exerted his powers and killed Scrambler.

"How is this possible?" Pietro muttered.

The camera cut away again, this time to a man in his early thirties, with blond hair and distinguished features. He looked like your average clean-cut quarterback type, dressed in a fine expensive suit and seated in a well-furnished den. The voice over indicated that "Friends of Humanity spokesperson Darryl Right had this to say..."

"Mutants are dangerous, as can be seen here. It's much like living amongst gang warfare, with various gangs of mutants bickering about whatever cause they believe in. They don't care who gets killed, whether it be humans or mutants. They don't care about lying to us if it will serve their agendas. Senator Ervin's deception, and his cold-blooded act of murder, only goes to prove what the Friends of Humanity have been saying all along."

Once again, the image changed, this time to a young woman in her early twenties, in a less-expensive but still professional attire, with only a small stud in her nose revealing a less conventional attitude. The byline identified her as Carol Weeks from the Unity Coalition.

"The Senator's speech was very powerful, and regardless of anything that happened while his life was in danger, I think the message is worthwhile. For too long, we've held up this false dichotomy of mutant-human-hero, it's time we all start to realize that we're all on the same side. Mutant bigotry is no more acceptable than being prejudiced against blacks or homosexuals. It's another example of the established institutions being afraid of change. Well, Senator Ervin clearly isn't afraid of change. Neither is the Unity Coalition. What we're afraid of are hate-mongering fringe groups like the Friends of Humanity."

Jean came back on the screen. "I think you need to get back. Obviously, the Marauders are operating in America, not Hong Kong."

"We just fought them here, Jean," Kitty answered. "Including Scrambler. And another thing, they killed Mr. Sinister here too."

"What is going on?" Quicksilver asked.

Neither woman had an answer for him.

Well, this may be the shortest fanfic run I've ever done. Shortly after starting, I realized I couldn't handle four titles. Something had to give. It wasn't going to be the Vault, which is my baby and the project that means the most to me at MV1. I still had a year worth of storylines I was burning to write on Spidey, so it wasn't going to be that one. So it came down to which team title did I love more, X-Men or New Warriors?

Warriors won out, for a variety of reasons. So I decided to drop X-Men. For right now, we've got Shawn Connolly coming in as interim writer. He'll be writing until someone else is burning to do the title, and then they may decide to request it. In the meantime, Shawn's been shaking things up with X-Force and Protect & Serve, and the direction he wants to take mutantkind is one of the best ideas I've heard in a long time. He'll be finishing out this storyline based roughly on the plots that Barry Reese and I came up with, and then heading off in bold new directions.

Maybe someday I'll return to the X-Men. For now, I'd ask that anyone who enjoyed my take on this team take a look at New Warriors, and that you all stick around for Shawn, who I think will blow my couple issues right out of the water. You guys won't even remember I wrote this title in a couple issues, I bet.

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