"You need a light?"
Carmella Unuscione didn't turn around. She was leaning out an open stone window in the French monastery where the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was headquartered. The man behind her who'd spoken, his name was St. John Allerdyce.
"Don't tell me ye don't smoke," St. John continued. "I hear stories about sports entertainers. Even wrote a few meself. And it ain't like you have a babe t'worry about."
"If you're trying to piss me off, you're an idiot and a failure."
St. John leaned up against the wall next to the window. A lit cigarette was in his mouth, and an unlit one was in his hand, offered to Carmella.
"Oh, is that because I'm trying to boil the blood of a mate who can cut off my oxygen?"
"If you mean that I can squeeze a force field down your throat and block the passage, you're exactly right. I can also squeeze through openings a lot smaller, so keep talking."
The smiled was knocked off of St. John's face. "Okay, maybe I started this off on the wrong foot. I may be good with words when I'm just writing them on a piece of paper, but so far as saying them out loud I never seemed to have the knack."
"I've read your books. You're not good with words there, either. Just say what you want and go away."
"Fred, he's one of the best friends I've ever had. And being a famous writer I have a lot of friends. Me, him and Dominic, we've been through a lot together, the three of us. Maybe we'd joke around behind Fred's back when he didn't have a clue about you, but now he's hurting and all the fun's gone out of it."
"I'm sorry my conscience ruined your fun," remarked Carmella in a snide tone.
"That's the trouble with consciences. People listen to them at the worst time. You been honest with Fred from the beginning, sure, he'd've probably taken it badly. Not near as bad as now, mind you, and eventually he would've worked through it and supported his friend. Maybe things go from there, even. Instead you were scared, hid the truth until ye couldn't take it anymore, and now here we be." St. John exhaled smoke through his nostrils. "Which has been bloody fine entertainment, I tell you wot."
"Nice moral to the story. Be upfront or it all bites you in the ass. Unless you can turn back time, I could have gone without hearing stuff I already know."
"The point is," continued St. John, "It might take him a while longer than otherwise, but Fred'll work through it. Part of him probably knew it the whole time, it was so bloody obvious. Just the usual trust issues you dealing with here. Most relationship angst comes from trust."
"What would you know about relationships?" asked Carmella. "All the characters in your books ever did were sleep with each other."
"Just because I was lazy doesn't mean I didn't know the formula. This whole group's held together by piss and vinegar. Only people here I trust are Fred and Dominic, and yes you. Toad's off his nutter, and I don't think that Mountjoy bloke was ever on his to begin with. Vanisher and the Morlock will both jump ship the moment it gets too hot, and Mastermind's got something of her own going on I can tell. She and that Mountjoy bloke, they scare me something fierce. This is coming from a man who was ready to die just a few months ago, mind you."
"And you're saying I've gone and busted up this little alliance the four of us had going?" Carmella snorted. "In case you haven't noticed, Avalanche is addicted to the disease that nearly killed you, and lately you've been acting as crazy as Toad."
"There ain't anything wrong with finding religion," St. John replied. "Nobody's strong enough to fight the truth. You gave into it. Fred's being forced to accept it. That Mastermind's a natural liar, but even she'll face truth in the end."
"What is the final truth?" Carmella asked. She could see the sun starting to set. It was hurting her eyes, but she couldn't look away.
"We'll never be accepted," said St. John. "The best we can hope for is that they'll fear and hate us more than they already do. Those X-Men are living a lie, thinking they can achieve anything more."
Carmella laughed. "Maybe, but after lying to themselves for so long, you think they can accept the truth?"
"No, and I imagine they're pissed at us for even making the attempt."
Finally, Carmella turned from the vanished sun and faced St. John. "Well, we've also kidnapped and crippled most of them. That probably has something to do with it."
In the dim glow of dusk, Pyro and Unuscione laughed at the little joke.

Three individuals watched as darkness settled over the French Monastery that had been desecrated by the presence of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They were Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Wolverine, all X-Men.
"Pyro and Unuscione just left the window," said Wolverine. Out of the three of them, he had the best eyes. "Looked like they were having a nice little chuckle about something. Probably what they're doing to Chuck and the gang."
"It's just another thing to take note of," Shadowcat replied. She pressed the 'x' symbol on her neck. "Storm, it's all clear. We're moving in."
In a burst of dark smoke and the pungent stench of brimstone, Nightcrawler disappeared. As she sank slowly into the ground, Shadowcat turned to face Wolverine.
"If its kill or be killed…don't die on me. Okay?"
Snikt!
"I won't make promises about any of them, darlin'."

Storm was piloting the Blackbird jet, which at that moment was rocketing at nearly the speed of sound over France, invisible to all forms of electronic detection. Standing in the back of the cabin was Colossus, in human form.
"It's time, Peter," Storm said without turning around.
With a thought, Colossus had become organic steel. "Please, Storm. When we're about to kill people, we should use codenames."
"Nobody is dying, Peter." Incredibly, Storm's voice was both commanding and pleading. Nevertheless, even knowing the mind of Colossus, Storm pressed the button to open the doors. They opened beneath Colossus' feet. He dropped into free-fall.

Avalanche and Pyro were sitting in what had once been a small private chapel in the monastery. It had since been converted into a training area for close-range hand-to-hand combat. Toad had insisted on such training, saying that humans fight dirty sometimes by trying to level the playing field. Thus far, nobody had used the area for its intended purpose. The two mutants were just cutting through on their way to the common room, to play a fighting simulation video game.
"How's Fred holdin' up?" Pyro asked.
"What do you think? Guy's obviously paranoid about his sexuality, thinking this makes him gay."
"Doesn't it?" Pyro grinned, then shook his head. "Nah. Unus was always a woman I figure. The hard part will be convincing Fred of that."
"He's also under the impression that…well," Avalanche coughed. "You and me, you know."
Pyro laughed. "What, a poor man's Englishman and one of the those naked mud-wrestling Greeks? Crikey, doesn't Fred remember how we all would bloody whisper about giving it to ol' Mystique?"
"You mean the woman who can become anybody, include a guy?" Avalanche asked in reply. Then he grinned. "That blue bod of her is nice though. Of course, the only women we had to compare her with was an old broad and untouchable jailbait."
"At least until we joined the government and teamed with that milf." Pyro held his arms out, slightly cupped palms facing his chest. "Crikey, but she had a nice set on her. I wonder what happened to old Jul-"
Boom!
The entire monastery shook. The ceiling above Avalanche and Pyro's head exploded inward. Avalanche looked up and, though puzzled, instinctively disintegrated any debris crashing towards them. The only thing he didn't disintegrate, merely deflected, was the massively dense and powerful body of Colossus. The metal-skinned mutant landed into a crouch several feet from the two evil mutants.
"Oh bloody hell," Pyro cursed. He quickly raised his arms. With a flexing of muscles, the natural gas tank on his back leaked a very small amount through the hoses connected on his arms, and igniters on the ends of each hose activated.
Avalanche also had his hands raised. It was instinctive. He didn't need a focus for his power. With both their powers enhanced by the Legacy Virus, Colossus shouldn't have a chance against them.
Unfortunately, Colossus was simply the distraction. Behind Pyro and Avalanche, Nightcrawler teleported into view. Kicking out with both legs, Nightcrawler struck each in the head, and the two evil mutants crumbled to the ground mere seconds before Nightcrawler himself landed on his feet. As he stood over them, Nightcrawler quickly drew two syringes from his uniform and injected them into Pyro and Avalanche.
"They won't be getting up for a while," Nightcrawler told Colossus. "I'd better leave with them before Storm gets started. Stay with the plan, and be careful."
With those parting words, Nightcrawler disappeared with his two captives. Alone, Colossus rushed ahead, crashing through the wall. He was the distraction; something to draw the attention of the Brotherhood while the others did the real work.
Something invisible brought Colossus to a stop, and he knew that he'd caught the attention of another Evil Mutant.
"Hey! You're stealing our move!" Unuscione screamed as she tightened her psionic force field around Colossus. She'd been eager for somebody to take out her anger on. Sadly for her, Colossus was feeling the same.
"Rrrraaarrrggghhhh!" Bellowing with a mixture of pain and rage, Colossus flexed against the force field. He'd broken free of Unuscione's hold before, back when they'd both been members of the Acolytes. This second time, he didn't try to be careful.
The psionic energy shattered against the strength of Colossus. With a tortured wail, so too did the mind of Unuscione, who mercifully went unconscious from the traumatic shock.
Barely slowed down by the interruption, Colossus continued to storm through the monastery. Somewhere inside the building was Mountjoy, and Colossus was determined to make him pay.

Mastermind heard the great crash, and felt the trembling of the impact. She furrowed her brow in worry. There was still so much work to be done on her darling 'sister', Rachel, and she didn't have the energy to spare to make those intruders kill themselves.
"Mountjoy," she addressed the man sitting cross-legged in her room, who was enjoying the image of torturing the young woman of the bed. "More playthings have arrived. Go deal with them."
With a wicked grin plastered on his face, Mountjoy rose to his feet and left the room. Mastermind could feel his intentions on the edge of her mind, and his thoughts made her sick to her stomach. The things she had to put up with, she thought as she focused back on Rachel.
"The X-Men have arrived to save your mommy and daddy," Mastermind whispered. "But they're not here to rescue you. Nobody cares about you, Rachel. It's time to make them all pay. Release the fires of retribution and make them all feel the judgement of the Phoenix!"

"Please!" Masque begged. One of his arms was bleeding from a long cut. "Please don't hurt me!"
Wolverine shut up the sniveling little Morlock with a boot kick to the face, then injected him with one of the syringes he carried. Though he looked relatively harmless, one touch from Masque could alter a person's body drastically. Wolverine had read the file of what he'd done to Jean and Cassidy, and he didn't much want to share the experience.
With the deformed mutant lying unconscious and drugged at his feet, Wolverine directed his notice at the man lying on the table, Professor Xavier. He was unconscious, with wires connected to his head, most likely for suppressing his mutant telepathy. Wolverine bristled at the sight, remembering numerous times he himself had been in a similar situation. Raising one hand with claws extended, Wolverine prepared to sever the Professor's restraints.
A vicious kick to the side of his head sent Wolverine crashing to the floor. "Heheh, I was wondering when you'd show up."
Toad was crouched on the edge of the table, smirking down at Wolverine. Hovering over him, shimmering with the multiple teleportations, was Vanisher. At nearly the speed of sound, Toad's tongue shot out of his mouth to hit Wolverine full in the face.
"Whatsamatter Wolverine," Toad smirked. "Don't like getting tongued by a guy!"
Laughing, Toad leaped off the table, his body twisting through the air and his legs extended out in two directions. In quick succession, he round-housed Wolverine two, three times with each leg. Wolverine rolled harshly over the floor to crash hard into the wall. Toad landed on all floors, shot out his tongue again to wrap around Wolverine's leg, and tossed the X-Man across the room to hit the other wall.
"Oh ho! Just wait until everybody hears about this!" Toad crooned with pride. "The uber-dangerous bad boy mutant killing animal Wolverine, getting beaten around by the laughable little Toad!"
"All I see is you sucker-punching me, bub," Wolverine muttered painfully. Both sets of claws were out, and he was rising to his feet. "Let's see how you do in a fair fight."
"I have a better idea. Hooac!" Toad spat a large glob of paralytic secretion at Wolverine. "Let's not."
The secretion struck Wolverine full in the face, and hardened over his mouth, nose and eyes immediately. His clawed hands immediately went to the shell covering his face, but Wolverine couldn't peel it off with his fingers. He couldn't see or smell anything, and the only thing he heard was the sound of Toad's laughter.
Then he heard a body slump to the floor.
While Toad and Vanisher had been focusing their attention on Wolverine, Shadowcat had phased down through the ceiling. As she dropped past behind Vanisher, Shadowcat stuck a syringe into his shoulder. Immediately feeling its effects, Vanisher ceased teleporting and dropped the several feet to the floor.
"What the-?" Toad turned around at the noise, and was met with a punch to the face by Shadowcat. This was followed by a kick to his chest, and a final punch to the temple of his head. Toad fell to the ground, stunned by the quick succession of blows. He felt a sudden stab of pain in his back, and immediately started to feel weak.
"Sweet dreams, you son of a bitch," spat out Shadowcat to the unconscious mutant terrorist. She heard a grating sound, and looked up to see Wolverine stabbing himself in the face with his own claws. Pieces of hardened casing fell to the floor, along with slices of Wolverine's own skin and flesh. Shadowcat could actually see Wolverine's metal skull in places, and started forward towards him.
"I can help you with that, you know," Shadowcat told Wolverine as she approached. At hearing her voice, Wolverine stopped the panicked carving of his own face, and lowered his hands calmly after sheathing the claws.
Gently and carefully, Shadowcat placed her hand on the casing that covered Wolverine's face. "Don't move. This will be tricky." Concentrating hard on only the casing, Shadowcat made that intangible without doing so with Wolverine. The entire casing fell from Wolverines face and from Shadowcat's fingers to the floor where it shattered on impact.
"Thanks darlin," Wolverine stated. "You better look away while I heal. It won't be a pretty sight." He looked past her at the unconscious forms of Toad, Masque and Vanisher, and bristled. "Where's Nightcrawler? The less I have to look at this scum, the better."
Shadowcat tapped the communicator on her collar, then shook her head. "I'm only getting static. It could only be the storm outside." The thunder, high winds and heavy rain could clearly be heard. The equivalent of a hurricane was assaulting the monastery.
"We can't take any chances. I recognize all the scents in this place. Mountjoy, that guy from Bishop's time; he's here too. I also picked up the scent of this frail Gambit and I came across once. She claimed to be Mastermind's kid, and she's got his illusion powers to boot." Wolverine considered the unconscious form of Professor Xavier, then looked over the unconscious form of Hank McCoy. The Beast was entirely hairless and naked, and patches of his skin were scarred badly from burns. Both captives were hooked up to electronic monitors, and IV units dripped sedatives into their bodies.
"Stay here with them," Wolverine told Shadowcat. "If you can, wake Beast up. But with the Professor's mind, we can't take the risk he's been brainwashed."
"Well, so could Hank," Shadowcat pointed out.
"Yeah, but him I figure you can take in a fight. With an illusionist playing, that makes this a whole different game. I'm gonna go find Nightcrawler and Colossus before they get caught up in it. Be careful, and don't trust anything once I leave."
Shadowcat nodded that she would, and watched as Wolverine ran from the room. Then she turned her attention to Beast and Professor Xavier. As much as she admired him like a father, Shadowcat knew that Wolverine was right about the Professor being compromised in some way. There had just been too many recent examples. Turning her attention from him for the moment, Shadowcat went to work on Beast's condition.

It had taken three syringes to put Blob down, but otherwise he'd been an easy target for Nightcrawler. The large mutant had been too slow to react when Nightcrawler had teleported into the room. Once Blob had gone unconscious, Nightcrawler considered what to do. After looking at the large form and listening to the grueling storm outside, he decided that teleporting out with the passenger would be too risky. So Nightcrawler left Blob where he was, and took stock of the situation around him.
Nightcrawler was in the main computer room of the monastery. Also in the room was the electro-static memory sphere he remembered pulling Moira MacTaggert out of long ago. Inside that sphere now was Archangel, who remarkably enough had one metal wing and one natural wing. Near the sphere was a large plastic bubble filled with steam, resting over a hot flame. Immediately Nightcrawler knew who was being boiled, and moved to turn off the flame. After that, he slid open the cut-away section of the sphere to retrieve Archangel, who was mercifully unconscious. Nightcrawler laid him down on the floor of the room, and as he bent down heard an object whizzing over his head.
Bamf!
It was by instinct that Nightcrawler teleported, disappearing from his spot to reappear behind his attacker. That was complete guesswork on Nightcrawler's part. His back had been to the door, so he teleported for the doorway while hoping that his attacker hadn't been standing in the hallway itself. As it was, the man who had fired the crossbow was just inside the room, and Nightcrawler wrapped his arms around him on sight.
The whole act had taken less than a second, so Nightcrawler only caught the barest glimpse of his would-be attacker. It was a man, with long red hair, wearing an old-fashioned blue coat. Nightcrawler knew the description; recognized the man as Mountjoy. Unfortunately, this didn't completely register until after Nightcrawler had made direct contact.
"Hunh. Looks like you've got the drop on me." Though his arms were pinned and the crossbow he'd been holding lay on the floor, Mountjoy did not sound concerned. "With me all helpless, I bet you could just-"
Back snapped Mountjoy's head, colliding with Nightcrawler just above the chin.
"-eat me up!"
How does one describe the experience of a man forcibly entering him? Perhaps because of the specific circumstances, for Nightcrawler, it felt as though he were swallowing Mountjoy whole. That head with its scarlet mane slid into Nightcrawler's mouth, which seemed as though it was expanding to accommodate the main course. Blue skin tightened at the prospect of containing two grown men. Bones and muscles fused, and brain matter began to share the same space. Nightcrawler could feel the violation in mind as well as body. Mountjoy was forcing himself into the driver's seat; with Nightcrawler forced into the back seat, helpless to do anything expect stare out the windshield of two eyes.
Outside, there was a great clap of thunder. A blinding flash encompassed the window. Two bodies in one spasm as electricity surged through on its journey to the ground. The voltage may have been sufficient to kill one individual, but fortunately it was divided between two. Mountjoy took the lesser share of damage, cushioned by Nightcrawler's body.
The end result of the lighting bolt was that two men lay where before one had stood. The form of Nightcrawler was unconscious but alive, while Mountjoy was conscious but otherwise incapacitated. Struggling to regain control of his limbs, the evil mutant watched as something else came in through the window.
It was Storm, in all her majestic and dangerous glory. Borne into the room by frenzied winds, her cape billowing from behind her, short-cut hair standing on end from the electricity in the air, Storm's blank white eyes were trained on Mountjoy.
"May the goddess forgive me."
There was nothing Mountjoy could do or say. Storm withdrew a knife from her belt, and threw it side-handed at him. Propelled by winds, it penetrated Mountjoy under the chin and up through his brain. Storm heard the sound escaping Mountjoy's lips, saw the final spasms of his body, and knew that she'd killed him.
Nearby, Nightcrawler and Archangel both lay unconscious. Neither had seen what took place. With a cold heart in her chest, Storm summoned winds to take hold of Mountjoy and lift him up. Like so much dead weight he was dumped out into the raging hurricane, where his body would be torn up and thrown about, to be unidentifiable if ever recovered.
Before she went forward to help her teammates, Storm took a moment to cry, and to praise the goddess that Colossus would not suffer in her place.

Mastermind was visibly affected by Mountjoy's death. Not emotionally; she had not given a damn about that monster's well being. But she had been telepathically linked to Mountjoy, and so had felt his death in her mind.
Mountjoy had been the last. Save for Mastermind, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was beaten. No, Mastermind decided, she was never really a member of that team. Those fools had lost to the X-Men. Mastermind had to consider herself now.
What was she to do? Wolverine knew of her presence, and the X-Men were all protected against psionic attacks. There was no way for Mastermind to sneak out, not with her prize. There was only one way Mastermind could win the day.
Rachel still lay on the bed in an uneasy sleep. Mastermind was so close, but there was still so much work to be done. The work was so intricate, and if Mastermind risked diverting the bulk of her talents…but she had to.
Her eyes closed, Mastermind tied off the scenarios in Rachel's mind, and ventured out for other puppets.

In his search through the monastery, Colossus had come upon a locked door. With the strength of his steel body, Colossus smashed through this door easily, and found Cyclops on the other side.
"Rest easy friend," Colossus greeted the former X-Man. "We've come to save you all." Unthinking in his concern, Colossus grabbed the helmet over Cyclops's head and wrenched it away.
The burst of crimson took him entirely by surprise. Back out through the doorway Colossus was thrown, then the wall behind. Then he was out in the hurricane.
Elsewhere, Shadowcat had just finished disconnecting Beast from the restraints and sedatives. Much to her surprise, the now-hairless mutant's eyes opened almost immediately. Of even greater surprise was the strong backhand he greeted Shadowcat with. On instinct, Shadowcat phased, falling down through the floor.
Nightcrawler was just regaining consciousness when Storm heard plastic breaking behind her. The fire had gone out, and the bubble in which Iceman was contained had gone brittle with cold. What Storm saw when she turned around was Iceman rapidly reforming his body.
"Robert, are you all right?" Storm immediately asked, deeply concerned. She took a step towards her former teammate, but was struck from behind. Storm fell, turning as she did so that she landed on her back, and saw Archangel standing over her. His skin was still blue, but to Storm's surprise his wings were natural feathers.
"No!" Archangel was knocked aside by Nightcrawler, who leapt on top of Storm. The last thing she saw before Nightcrawler teleported both of them away was a huge block of ice forming several feet over them.
Not very far away, Wolverine had stumbled into small room, where the sound he'd been following originated. He found Jean lying on a bed, unconscious from a sedative drip. At the sight of her large belly, he paused. Shadowcat had told him earlier, but to see with his own eyes, to hear the heartbeat of Jean's baby, it was enough to nearly overwhelm Wolverine with emotion. That emotion was rage, and Wolverine made a silent promise to visit Toad later. For that moment, he just walked forward and cut away the wires connected to Jean.
The suddenly activity of her vital functions caused Wolverine to pause again, and he saw with considerable surprise Jean's eyes snap open. The only detail Wolverine managed to capture was that there was nothing behind Jean's eyes. No self-awareness at all, so that it was looking at a robot.
Then what felt like a sledgehammer struck Wolverine in the chest, something invisible, and he knew it was Jean's telekinesis. The mental force had Wolverine pinned against the wall, and he could only watch helpless as Jean Grey floated from her bed and out of the room.

The five of them gathered in the main chapel of the monastery in their bright primary colors.
"The last thing I remember was some kind of explosion at the mansion," said the young man with the glowing red eye. "Next thing I know, there's a giant man of steel standing over me."
"It would appear that we've been taken captive somewhere," added the man with the bare hands and legs, both of which were larger than normal. "My slumber ended on an examination table. The Professor was lying nearby, unconscious but otherwise unhurt."
"And you just left him there!" the handsome man with beautiful white wings loudly interrupted.
"The machines hooked up to him were most complex, and a devious little femme fatale had just vanished through the floor, supposedly to bring reinforcements. I had thought it best to withdraw, and find the rest of you."
"Good thinking Hank. So far we've got a steel giant and a woman who walks through walls. You guys see anyone else?"
"This girl met a horrible man with metal claws. The way he had them raised over me…" The pretty girl with the attractive figure shuddered. The red-eyed man moved to comfort her, but he hesitated and so the winged man got there instead.
Last to speak was the youngest, a boy who resembled a very realistic snowman. "Warren and I came across another two. One looked like an extra from a bad monster movie, and boy was there a stink when he disappeared in a puff of smoke. A woman was with him, and boy was she pretty, with white hair and dark skin. I don't care what my dad says about those people-"
"It sounds like we're fighting fellow mutants," the red-eyed man said. Clearly he was a leader. "This could be a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which means Magneto could be around too!"
The woman sniffed. "Well, I don't care how scary they are. We need to get Professor Xavier away from them now!"
The winged man nodded. "Jean's right. Come one guys, they might have gotten the drop on us, but we can take these clowns!"
A fist of snow punched up into the air. "Yeah! After all, we're the X-Men!"

NEXT ISSUE: It's the X-Men versus the X-Men! With a special appearance by...the X-Men?