X-Men Alpha Mission Debriefings

After returning to the mansion, Clayton met up with Roach and began discussing all the "in's" and "out's" of this "job". Roach seemed all for it. He headed for his room to unpack while the others all spoke with Clayton. Clayton said "You guys have done a good job and deserve a reward. Tonight you can go into town and have some fun. Come back by here before you leave so that I may give you some money for expenses. They all headed to their rooms to get some rest and then to get ready for their night on the town. Everyone took their time getting ready, Bedlam relaxed and took a nap, Bangle showered and dressed in his expensive clothes, Kingdom fiddled with his illusions then showered and dressed while Roach unpacked his stuff. At 11:00 PM, the team headed to Clayton's office and received their money...all but Bangle that is since he already has money. Clayton gave them $500 a piece and the young team headed into New York for a night of fun.

The team went to New York. They headed into the club area and stopped at a place called Heaven, Hell, Earth. The club was two stories high at ground level. Once you stepped inside, you stepped right into Earth. This was a mix of rock and dance music, hardcore but light. On the left of the club there was a set of stairs heading down and above the entrance was a red sign that said "Hell". On the right, there was a set of stairs heading up with a white sign that said "Heaven". Bedlam headed straight for Heaven. He really wasn't in the mood for hard core stuff. Heaven was playing all dance movie. Basically it was your typical club. He sat down at the bar, and bought a drink and just sat there and drank. Roach, Kingdom and Bangle all headed for Hell. Hell was were all the drug addicts sat and got fucked up. Roach just sat there and listened to the music play. Bangle and Kingdom both headed back up to Earth and were immediately grabbed by two girls and were taken to the floor. A few hours went by, Bedlam still on the top floor drinking, Roach in Hell taking all the drugs he could find, and Kingdom and Bangle dancing the night away, then suddenly through the front of the club, this giant figure came crashing into the dance floor.

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11/02/01 - After awakening at the mansion, the young mutants rushed to the Blackbird to return to New Orleans to find out how long they had been missing and what their next move was. They all climb into the Blackbird and discovered that the front windshield had been broken out of the plane. Kingdom placed a telekinetic field over the front so that they wouldn't get any wind in their face. The plane lifted off and they flew back to Clayton's house to see what was going on. At New Orleans, they received a message over the comlink of the plane. Clayton said "Meet me downstairs." then it turned off. All confused about what he meant, they began to circle the hut and saw something that they never thought they would see. Out from the water, a pillar began to rise, water dripping off the top and sides. The top began to open revealing a tunnel leading down into darkness. Kingdom began to manuever the plane over the tunnel and landed in it. They traveled deep into the opening, lights coming on at times to light the way and when they were deep enough, they saw the top close off and began to descend. Confused and astounished, they kept going until they landed in what seemed to be a hangar. They young X-Men exited the plane and looked around. Bedlam saw two doors and began to walk towards them. The others began to follow. They walked down a corridor and saw three doors. One of the doors had a red cross on it. They all knew that it was a medical bay. The door on their right led to an open room. They all had an idea of what this room was. That left the one in front of them. Bedlam opened the door and knocked. "Kindof ironic to open the door then knock." Clayton said. "None of you know what is going on right now. You're missing a team mate and a week has passed and you don't remember any of it." "Well...." Kingdom began to say. "Shut up." Clayton replied. "If all of you had been acting like a team instead of individuals then you would still have your other comrade. Before anything else, you are to come with me." Clayton got up and began to walk out of the room and enter the Danger Room. Everyone followed into the room. "Stand against the wall." he said. "What does it mean to be an X-Men. You." he looked directly at Bangle. "To help others." he replied. Clayton then looked at Bedlam. "To unite humans and mutants." Clayton then looked at Kingdom. "I don't know." Kingdom said. "So, we have one who said it's about helping, one who said something that he think I wanted to hear and the other he just doesn't know. This isn't a team. This is a washout group of teenagers. Cause that's what you are. We've got one only thinks with his fist, one who acts like a 14 year old and the other who thinks he can't talk. None of you are fit to be an X-Men. And until you begin to work together, all your going to get is failure." "But......" Bangle began to say but was stopped by Clayton's foot at his throat. Everyone looked in shock at how quickly he moved and how he got his foot up to an eight foot tall guy's throat. Clayton put his foot on the ground and said "I'm going to begin a simulation. You are to take out two Sentinels within five minutes. If you

work together, you will be able to defeat them in enough time. If you don't then you will either get killed or destroy them after the five minutes. You have ten minutes to come up with a battle plan. Begin." Clayton walked out of the room and in front of the young mutants, a clock appeared and began to count down from ten minutes. Kingdom, Bedlam and Bangle all began to come up with some plans as time ticked away. Kingdom finally came up with a battle plan that worked for all of them. He said that Bangle should leap at the Sentinel and hit it to make a hole, the Bedlam should fire one of his blasts at the hole to fry it's insides while he protected them from any blasts. Bedlam then added that while Bangle was attacking the first Sentinel that he would distract the second one. The plan was a good one. They all went for it and then just waited for their ten minutes to run out. Ten minutes was up and they waited to see what was next. The room began to shift into a grassy plain, and two Sentinels were approaching in the distance. Seeing they had the advantage they all attacked, Bangle lept at the

first one but it did no good, the Sentinel fired one of it's blast at him and knocked him back. Bedlam fired a blast at the second on hit the shoulder, smoke rose from the metal and a hole revealed wires and metal. Kingdom used his telekinetics to pull the wires from the giant robot but was unable to grib that many wires. The Sentinels began to attack the team. The first one fired a blast at Bangle but missed. Bangle's cat like reflexes made him to quick for the robot. The second Sentinel fired a blast at Bedlam. Bedlam stood there hoping to absorb the blast but the only thing he absorbed was the damage. Smoke poured from his chest where it had hit him. He stumbled back a little from the impact gripping his chest. Kingdom said to Bedlam "Fire another blast at the hole you just made!" But Bedlam saw a better idea. He fired another blast at the hole he just made but aimed slightly down from one of the corners. The blast made the hole bigger allowing for more space to Kingdom to attack. Bangle lept at the first Sentinel again. He hit with all his might and flew through the Sentinel coming out the other side covered in wires and bits of metal. The Sentinel toppled over. The attack was too much for the robot to withstand. Kingdom used his telekinesis again but grabbed too much for him to pull. The damage the Sentinel was taking shorting it's circuits and it was unable to fight back. Bedlam fired another blast but aimed at it's head. He blew off a chunk of it's head off, revealing wires and metal weaved into one. Kingdom used his telekinesis again but instead of being unable to pull anything, half the Sentinels head was ripped off and flung to the ground. The Sentinel fell to it's knees then shut down. The room returned to it's normal state and they all stood their wondering what would be next.

Clayton called them to the main room. "To find out what happened while you were gone, I am going to probe Kingdom's mind and what he saw." Kingdom's eyes got big and tried to speak with his actual voice but all he got out was ".........hurt.......". Everyone looked at him, eyes full of shock. He spoke again but with his telepathy, "Is this gonna hurt?" "Very much." Clayton replied. From the ceiling, a helmet came down, it looked exactly like the Cerebro unit at the mansion. Kingdom sat in the chair and Clayton lowered the helmet onto him. Clayton pressed two buttons on the sides of the helmet and two needles embedded themselves into Kingdom's temples and Bangle and Bedlam began to see everything that happened through Kingdom's eyes. They watched in shock as their team mate chose to stay with the enemy. They looked at each other in shock. "Well we know what to do next." Bangle said. "Yeah," Bedlam said, "Get our team mate back and find out what they are upto." "I'll put the coordinates into the plane so that you can get to the island. Now leave." Clayton said. He pressed the two buttons again and the two needles removed themselves from Kingdom's temples. He stood up from the chair, slightly dizzy and with a huge headache. They helped Kingdom the the Blackbird and preparred to take off. "Well, what do we do next?" Bangle asked. "We sneak in." Bedlam replied. "How?" Bangle asked. "I have an idea, but I'll tell you when Kingdom gets more active." They played the tape of what happened for Kingdom as the flew towards the island. So what's the plan?" Kingdom asked. "Well," Bedlam replied. "We're gonna land on the beach a little ways down from the village and I'm gonna turn myself invisible and put a hologram on you guys so that you look like someone else." "Cool." Kingdom replied. They landed the plane and opened the doors. Bangle made sure the cloaking device was on so that no one would know that the plane was their. Bedlam walked up to Bangle and Kingdom, "Now I have to be touching you two for this to work so I'll be walking behind you alright." "Yeah ok." Bangle said. Bedlam stepped behind his team mates and placed a hand on Kingdom's shoulder and one on Bangle's back. A glimmer of light went around Kingdom and Bangle as their from began to change. Bedlam began to turn himself invisible and they began to walk towards the village. As they passed through the village, they waved at the children playing in the sand, keeping up the appearance that they were already here before. The walked through the village up to the entrance of the Watch Tower. Kingdom placed his hand on the key pad and read the coding from it. He pressed each of the keys and the doors began to open. They walked up stairs and down corridors until they reached an intersection. To the left of them was stairs going down, in front of them was a long hallway, and to the right of them was stairs going up. They all knew that up would take them to Link's chambers so they decided to go straight. They walked down the hallway and found themselves at a deadend. Bangle opened a door and say that this was basically a bunker. They went back to the intersection and took the stairs down. They followed the path until the reach another corridor and walked down it. They found three doors. They walked up to the door on the left and opened it and found someone they would not have expected. They found Gauss, tubes and wires coming out from him, leading to computers and a cylinder, filling with liquid metal. Bedlam walked over to one of the computers and pulled up the notes on the experiment. The notes read "The experiment to extract the metal from subject: Gauss was a success. The metal will be used on another mutant and the subject will no longer retain this ability. Life expectancy: 10%." "What the hell are we gonna do?" Bangle said. "I don't know." Kingdom replied. "Well let's get him out of here before we get caught." Bedlam suggested. As the took Gauss down and began to head for the door, it opened and revealed Badger standing there with a mutant in shackles. He looked at all of them and stepped into the room. "I suggest you leave now." Badger said. "And if we don't." Bangle replied. "Then the lady of the house will want me to dispose of you." Badger said. "Can we take our friend with us?" Kingdom asked. "Yes. And you can take this one." Badger said as he unlocked the shackles on this unknown mutant. He began to walk down the corridor and up the stairs. Everyone looked at the young man and wondered what to do. "What's you name?" Kingdom asked. "Everyone calls me Roach." he replied. "Alright then. Let's move people." Bedlam said. Everyone began to walk towards the stairs but Roach decided he would see what was in the other room. Bedlam walked back to him and was about to stop him when Roach opened the door and saw a man sitting meditation style in the center of the room surrounded by candles. "Whoops....sorry man. My bad. I'll just let ya be." Roach said and as he began to close the door, the man began to stand up and approach the entrance. Roach tried to close the door quickly but the man had already began to open the door. Bedlam stood there ready for whoever was on the other side of the door. Kingdom had already been heading back to help when Roach let go of the door and Bedlam was standing there looking at the face of Reign. The two fired a blast at each other, knocking them into the rooms, into the walls. They both slid down the walls, Reign did a ki-up and was back on his feet, Bedlam got up and headed for the door. He fired another blast at Reign but he was too quick. Reign fired another blast back at Bedlam and hit him in the throat. Bedlam was flung into a backflip and wouldn've landed on his chest but Kingdom had grabbed him with his telekinesis. Bangle had reached the door and entered the room. He looked at Reign, ready to strike. Reign looked at his enemies as if he were sizing them up. Bangle attacked with his sound wave. He clapped his hands with all his might, creating a tremendous wave. Reign dropped to his knees, blood dripping from his ears. Suddenly, around Reign, his aura began to get bigger. It began to fill the room, the candles were knocked over and were crushed. Everyone rushed out of the room and closed the door behind them.

The hurried up the stairs and discovered Badger laying there, blood and oil dripping from wounds. The all stood over him in shock. "Who could've done this?" Kingdom said. "Don't know but let's get him out of here." Bedlam said. Bangle picked up Badger along with Gauss and they headed for the entrance. At the entrance, all the lights were turned off. Bedlam light up the entrance and they saw in front of them a huge site. A beast was standing there, crouched over with a giant chain coming from around his neck, ending at the wall. Horns came from out of it's forehead and it's blood red eyes looked at everyone. When it looked at Bangle, it's eyes got bigger. Bangle put Gauss and Badger down and looked at the beast. It backhanded Bangle into the wall, then began to step forward. "Whoa, wait a minute big guy. We didn't do that. We found him like that." Roach said. He looked at Roach, then looked down the corridor. He picked up Badger and walked into the darkness. Bangle stood up and picked up Gauss, then looked at everyone, "Well we leaving or what." he asked. Everyone stepped out the doors and saw another man. He stood in front of them and touched his throat. Kingdom looked at him and realized that he wasn't able to speak. He opened a link to the man. "Where's Badger?" he asked. "The big guy picked him up and headed into the darkness." Kingdom replied. "You had better leave. Something has gone wrong." he said. "Do you need any help?" Bedlam asked. "Help is always welcome. My name is Plasmite." he replied. Bangle used to comlink to call the Blackbird over, and placed Gauss inside along with anyone left on the island. They all rushed inside and found Badger and Mastodon laying on the floor, both in serious need of medical attention. "Let's get them out of here." Bangle said and as he stepped foward and tentacle came out from the ground. "You are going no were." a russian voice said. "I have been hired to dispose of anyone who is a problem and you are a problem." The tentacle let go of Bangle's leg and out from the darkness a man stepped out.

He had pale white skin and yellow hair. His armor was blood red and covered his body. He stood 6 to 7 feet tall. Everyone looked at him in astounishment. How did one man defeat Badger and Mastodon. "Who is you champion?" the man said. "He's down stairs in a room." Bedlam replied. "Good. When I am done killing all of you, I shall kill him." The man said. "You don't need to kill us, we were just leaving." Bangle said. "Yes I do. You all smell of Logan." Everyone looked around in shock. How did he know that they knew Logan. The closer the man was, the more they all felt woosey. Plasmite dropped to the ground and was out cold. "I, Omega Red, will kill you all." Omega Red said.

Bangle was about to pick Badger up when he noticed that Badger was only playing possum. He noticed that Mastodon was also doing the same thing. He whispered to Badger, "Can you fight?" Badger replied, "Yeah." "Now let's begin." Omega Red said. "You guys go, I'll hold him off." Bedlam said. "But....." Kingdom replied. "No buts just go!" Bedlam shouted. The others grab Plasmite and headed for the door. "So....you wish to take me on by yourself." Omega Red said. "If that's what it takes." Bedlam replied. Omega Red took a step foward, Bedlam took a step back. Omega Red took another step foward and Bedlam stepped back again. Running through Bedlam's mind was "What do I do, What do I do." The others soon showed back up. "Now let's rock!" Bedlam yelled. With that Badger and Mastodon both got up. "So you think you have me outnumbered. We'll see about that." Omega Red said. Omega Red began his attack, he lept at the young mutants and extended a tentacle out. Everyone moved out of the way, but Roach jumped at Omega Red. Around Roach, a darkness appeared. It swipped at Omega Red with what looked like claws and hit. I piece of cybernetics flew off his face. "You were lucky." Omega Red said. "Well let's just see how lucky I am." Roach replied. The battle was fierce, everyone was getting their shots in. Bangle was fighting ferociously, Kingdom was skillfully using his telekinetics, Bedlam was manuevering quicker, and Roach was distracting him. Mastodon and Badger attacked but the Russian was too quick for them and had already figured out their fighting style. Then something went wrong, Roach had gone for an attack but moved to late and Omega Red had wrapped his tentacles around Roach's shield. Bedlam attempted a body blast but Omega Red used Roach to block. The impact knocked Roach's field off and knock Bedlam to the ground. On impact, Bedlam turned back to human form for a mere second. Kingdom and Bangle looked in shock. Bedlam stood up, dazed and confused. Omega Red began to crush Roach but Kingdom had a better idea, he used his telekinesis to fling Omega Red into the wall and on impact he released Roach. Seeing an opportunity for payback, Roach used the impact as an advantage. When Omega Red let go, Roach flew into him with his claws out and dug them deep into Omega Red's chest. Roach quickly moved away but left his darkness field around Omega Red. Everyone saw a chance to finish the battle. Kingdom picked up Omega Red with his telekinesis and flung him at Bangle, Bangle kissed his fist and hit Omega Red towards Bedlam, Bedlam fired one of his blasts at Omega Red and knocked him into the wall. Omega Red hit the wall and and slid to the ground. Badger walked over to Bedlam. "Good work. I thank you for the help. I suggest you leave now before anything else happens. We can take it from here." "No problem. If you need any help at all, just let us know." Bedlam said and then handed him his communicator. "Let's get going. We have a lot to do." Everyone walked out to the Blackbird. All the people got off and headed back to their huts. Plasmite slowly got up and headed into the tower. "Thankyou for the help. I appreciate it." He thought to Kingdom. "Anytime." Kingdom replied. They all got in the plane, everyone hurt but confident that their next battle would go the same. The flew back to the mansion instead of heading to Clayton's place so that they could bury their fallen comrade at his home and inform Beast of what was going on.

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Twilight - Time had passed as it usually did. I had spent a lot of my life on the streets learning to survive on my own. I did that by stealing. It was the only way I could survive. Everyday was fun. I got chances to steal from rich people and those who weren't as rich. It was how I lived. One day, I went to a stadium for some new victims. This was the easiet place since everyone here usually had a lot of money for everything that they had here. Heading for the locker rooms, I bumped into a strange man. I gave my usual line but he just stood there. When I looked up into his face, I saw my reflection. I started to head off to do something else but I heard him talk. "Neil Resnor, I need you to come with me." I turned around and looked at him. No one had ever called me by that name except my parents and I didn't even think that they were still alive. I headed towards him curious of what was going on. "Who are you?" I asked. "That will be answered in time. Then I blacked out. When I woke up, I looked around to see where I was. It looked like I was in some sort of dungeon but outside of the cell was futuristic. I popped my wrists out of joint along with my ankles so that I could remove myself from the shackles that were keeping me in place. I headed for the door and looked down the hallway. There was no one in sight. I headed to the sidewall and felt the stone. It was cold but when I pulled my hand away, it fell apart and revealed metal. I walked over to where my shackles had been bolted in and picked up a screw. I approached the lock and began to pick at it but instead I dropped the screw and it rolled down the hallway. I went and got another screw and began to pick the lock again and managed to unlock the cell. But I already knew I could do that. I headed to the doorway and listened on the door. The only thing I heard was breathing. I opened the door slowly making sure that it didn’t make a sound and peered into the room. I saw a huge chain leading from one side of the wall to the other. The other end led up to a collar that was around this huge beast. It had horns and was hairy. It seemed to be asleep. I tip toed over to the other door and began to pick the lock. When the lock was picked, I think he heard it cause he woke up. I began to open to door and suddenly he was right behind me. I looked back and his blood red eyes were like mirrors. He put his hand on the door and closed it. I tried to open it again but he just looked at me and closed it again. So I figured it would be best for me to head back to my cell. As I closed the door behind me, I could hear him say something under his breath but wasn’t quite sure what it was. I decided to sit there and wait until he was asleep and try again. After a short time I heard the other door open and that same voice that was at the ballpark say “How is our guest doing?” Then the beast growled, “He tried to escape.” “Oh really now,” the man replied. “Well I’ll just have to check on him then.” I hurried back to my cell and closed it. I slid my hands and feet through the shackles and put them back into the wall and waited. “My friend out there said you tried to escape. That’s not very nice, ” the man said. “Well I figured since you have me here like a prisoner that my stay was over.” I replied. “The lady of the house would like to see you now. Will I have any trouble from you?” he asked. “No” I replied. “Good” he said. I slid out of the shackles and walked over to him. “You will have to put these on,” the man said. “Alright” I replied and let him put the shackles on me. We walked out of the holding cells and through the dark room. In the corridor, I saw two doors and some stairs at the other end. We started to walk towards the stairs and heard voices coming from the room on our right. “We need to get him out of here.” one of the voices said. Another said “Why? He turned against us.” Then there was a slight pause and the first voice replied, “I know that but he was still a part of this team.” The man opened the door and I peered in behind him and saw three men standing there. One of them was huge, one was made of light and the other had some sort of armor on.

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10/05/01 - Time passed in the mansion as it normally did. Everyone was back to their usually cheerful self. Everyone goofing off as usual. Doing their studies and training incase anything happened. It had been 6 weeks since the attack by Stigmata and everyone tried not to mention any of it to anyone else. The new team had been training hard on new moves and on adapting to their new powers. One day while training, Scott called them up to the office. They sat there waiting to see what he had to say. "It has reached my attention that all of you have been doing quite well in using your powers. I congragulate all of you, but I have some bad news. i no longer have the strength to lead you as headmaster." Scott said. "What?!?!?!" Bangle said, "But why?" "With the recent events. Finding out that our beloved benefactor was the one who tried to kill us has wagered heavily on my heart. I can no longer follow the dream. It is beyond my abilities as a leader to do so." "So you're going to give up...is that it. Cause you can't hack it as a headmaster, you're leaving." Bedlam snapped. "Yes. It is because the man I believed was a hero, is now the one who would have destroyed it all. This is why I have asked all of you here. I have a new headmaster in mind. His name is Clayton Macabre (pronouced Ma-cob). He was once a member of the X-Men when it was first created. He will be a suitable headmaster for you all. He lives in New Orleans, in the bayou. You need to go there and recruit him as your new headmaster. I will program the coordinates into the Blackbird so that you will not have to pilot it. I hope that he will be a better teacher than I was. You are dismissed." They all walked out of the office and headed down to the War Room to make a plan of how they would go about things. Everyone stepped into the room and as Bedlam stepped in, he turned from his light form into his regular form. Everyone looked at him with a weird looked. "What?!?!" he said. "How come you look normal now." Gauss said. "Oh yeah this. Well it's not my real form just a hologram." replied Bedlam. "Anyways." Kingdom said, "Well we know where Clayton is now, so how exactly do we get him to join." "We need to convince him that we need him and that he would be helping out mankind." Bangle said. "Right. So how exactly do we persued him that Xavier's school is the right place." Bedlam added. "Well we don't. We need to pray that he won't need convincing." Gauss replied. "Alright then. Let's head out and take this plan for a spin." Bedlam said. With that the young group headed off to the Blackbird. Everyone boarded the plane and the took off towards New Orleans.

In New Orleans, the X-Men were heading for the bayou, hoping that their plan would work. Upon approaching the coordinates, the saw a small, ricity old shack on wooden posts. It looked as if hit by a hard enough breeze, the whole thing would fall down. They saw a dock which lead to the porch and decided to land there. The landing was a little rough but it was good enough for all of them. They all unstrapped from the seats and headed for the exit. As they stepped out onto the dock, it looked as if all the boards were ready to fall out. It creeked as everyone stepped onto it. When Bangle stepped onto the dock, it bowed where he stood. His weight was almost too much for it too handle. They walked to the door and knocked, but there was no answer. Bedlam knocked again and still know answer. Kingdom decided he would try to scan and see if anyone was inside and when he did, he was knocked right back into his mind. Everyone looked at him as he jerked back when returned. "Well atleast we know someone is home." Bedlam said sarcastically. "What do you want?" a man said. "We're looking for Clayton Macabre." Gauss said, "Do you know where we might find him?" "I am him. Who are you and why are you here.?" Clayton said. "We're from Xavier's school. We're here to see if you will become our new headmaster." Bangle said. "Why do you need me as a headmaster? Don't you have one. Isn't Xavier your headmaster." Clayton replied. "He is...or was. He is no longer our headmaster. He's dead." Gauss said, "We would like for you to become are new headmaster. My we come in to discuss this further." "No you may not. Well I am sorry to hear that Xavier is dead but I cannot help you. There is no reason for me to help you." Clayton said. "But you were recommended by Scott. He said that you would be a better teacher than him. He said that you would teach us better than he ever could." Gauss replied. "That I could boy, that I could. But there is nothing there for me. I wish to no longer follow in the dreams of a man who doesn't believe in them himself. You are wasting my time. Please leave now." said Clayton. "But..." Gauss said. "Come on Gauss. Let's go. We don't need a wash out anyways. He's just some old coot with nothing better to do than sit around in a shitty old shack. Let's go." Bedlam said. "So you think I'm old now do you. You think I am a wash out. Well now that's more like it. I have an offer for you." Clayton said. "What is it?" asked Bangle. "To get me to join, all you have to do is get a young man to join you. His name is Napalme. He is a part of the Assassin's Guild here in New Orleans. If you convince him to join, I'll become you're headmaster." Crayton replied. "What does he look like?" Gauss asked. "He is about 5 foot 9 inches, bald, rather built and he is black." Clayton replied, Are you still up for it?" "We'll do it." Bedlam said, "This'll be a sinch." "Oh one more thing. You have 3 hours to find him. Have a good day." Crayton said. "Oh great. This'll be fun. How are we supposed to find someone in New Orleans who is a part of the Assassin's Guild in only three hours." Bangle said. "Look realy hard." Bedlam replied, "Let's get going. We only have a few hours to do this so let's get busy." As they walked down the dock, they all wondered why it was this man who Scott said would be a good teacher. They didn't really notice anything special about him at this time. With this in mind, they all boarded the plane and headed off towards the city.

As they flew towards the city of New Orleans, they kept the speed down so that they could regroup and decide on a new plan of action. "Well, maybe we should check out any areas that have warehouses. It gives them a much more better place to house a underground organization." Bangle said. "Yeah that gives us a start. I think we should split up though. It'll give us a chance to cover more ground." Gauss said. "Let's check out the projects first. They might know where we could find him. Someone must know of the Assassin's Guild there." Kingdom said. "Well luckily for us some of the projects are right next to some abandoned warehouses so that gives us a bigger area to look through." With that idea going through the heads, the made sure the Blackbird was cloaked and headed off towards the warehouses that Bedlam spoke of. They hovered the Blackbird over some of the warehouses and looked over the surrounding area. Kingdom noticed a group of people standing around. One guy was at one end of the block and the other guy was at the other end and two guys were in the middle. He probed one of the guys mind and found out that it was a drug deal going down. Gauss headed for the ground to look around, hoping that he could find out some answers. Bedlam changed his form into a bum, making sure that no one would be able to tell he was a mutant. Kingdom and Bangle went down also and looked around. Gauss approached one of the men standing off from the others. "Excuse me, I was hoping you could help me. I am looking for someone." he said. "You stupid cracker. You wanna get capped. I outta cap you for just being here." the man said. "Please I mean you know harm. I was just hoping you could help me." Gauss said. "Yeah I'll help you....help you into the hospital. Now step off." the man said. Gauss slowly backed away from the guy and headed off towards the others. Bedlam sat down on the ground waiting to see what Gausss had to say. "Well what's the deal?" Bangle asked. "I didn't get anything from him. He said if I didn't leave than I would get shot. I wonder what his problem was." Gauss said. "You are three white guys in the projects. Plus there is a drug deal going on right now and we're watching it. Maybe that is the reason that he had such an attitude towards you." Bedlam said. "I mean Bangle stands out more than all of us." Everyone looked at Bangle and saw that he was 2-3 ft. taller than everyone else. "You know, he does have a point." Kingdom said. "Look, I am going to go and call my old boss and see if he can help me out. Maybe he knows something about the Assassin's Guild." Bedlam said. He headed off towards the closest payphone that worked and put in 35 cents and began to dial. When he held the phone up to his face, his image began to dissipate. He was no longer able to hold his image in that spot. Then it began to do the same to his hand that was holding the phone. Even with all his concentration, Bedlam couldn't keep his form. Bangle watched as he saw his friend start turning back into light. "Hey Bangle, can you push the numbers for me and hold the phone while I talk?" Bedlam asked. "Sure no problem." Bangle said. He started to push the first number and crushed the phone with just one finger. Even though he had been training to use his powers, he still wasn't able to master his new strength. The people around where they were standing began to stare and say things like "Oh my god. He just crushed that phone." "They're mutants. Let's call the cops.". "I think we had better get back to where the others are." Bedlam said. "Yeah I think you're right." Bangle said. They rushed off to regroup with the others, running as fast as they could hoping no to make anyone else notice them. "What happened?" Kingdom asked. "We had a little problem." Bangle said. "More like a huge problem." Gauss said, "Bedlam what happened?" "I don't know. I was just about to call my old boss and all of a sudden I lost control over my powers. I don't know what happened." Bedlam said. "Stay low. We don't want to draw anymore attention than we already got." Gauss said. "Too late for that." Bedlam replied, "I'm scanning the buildings for something." "Bedlam wait, you....." Before Gauss could finish what he was saying, Bedlam was already flying towards the apartments. He flew through all the buildings and between them looking for something that stood out. He flew between two buildings and suddenly a net flew out and snatched him. It kept him in place, kept him from moving too much. He tried to phase through it but it began to hurt him as he passed through. He managed to make it through and looked around for the person behind the attack. He saw a group of people running towards the warehouses, all of them dressed in black. He flew after them, hoping to catch them before they got away. The others were soon behind him. They two saw the people in all black running towards the warehouses. They all saw them jump into the dark water of the bay. Hoping to find where they might have gone, the all searched for a secret entrance of some kind or even a sewer entrance hoping that it would lead them to Napalme but they found nothing. "Great. Back at a dead end again. Now what." Bedlam said. "Well, I could always go a use Cerebro and see if I might be able to find him. I can do a scan for all mutants and then narrow it done from there." Kingdom said. "Alright then. Do that. We'll keep looking here. Maybe we can find out what really happened to them. Now we only have two hours left so let's move people." Bedlam replied. The team then split up and went their ways. Kingdom headed for the Blackbird and rushed off towards the mansion in hopes that they find Napalme before their time was up. Bangle, Bedlam, and Gauss all walked around New Orleans. The decided that the next best place would be in the sewers. It's under the city plus has a lot more places to enter and exit. They removed a manhole and began their search in the lowest place they could think of.

Meanwhile back on the Blackbird, Kingdom was on his way back to the mansion. Over the comlink Clayton spoke, "I need you to come back to my place now. It's urgent." "Alright," Kingdom said, "I'm on my way." Kingdom turned the plane around and headed back for Clayton's place. Suddenly, on the front of the plane, a man dropped down and dug his hands, which looked like blades, into place. He cut into the metal of the plane like his hands were a hot knife through butter. He shattered the front windshield as if it were a cup. His masked gleamed at Kingdom as he looked over the young mutant. "I think it would be wise to come with me." a feminine voice said as a sword touched the side of his throat. "What? How did you get in here? Who are you?" Kingdom said. "That will be answered soon enough. Now come with me and your life shall be spared." she said again. Kingdom could tell she had an mexican accent and without resistance surrendered. "Alright I'll go." he said. "Good. Now let's be off." Suddenly, around them a cloud of mist appeared and they were gone. They ended up standing on a dock off of an island. The sun shine down on Kingdom as he looked around. The three of them walked down the dock towards the island. "Myst," the man said. "Watch him. I'll be back." "Alright." she replied. The man walked into a cloud of smoke and was gone. "So what are we doing here and who do you work for." Kingdom asked. "All of your questions will be answered soon enough. Now keep moving." Myst replied. They walked through a small village were Kingdom saw children running around. He saw little kids playing with each other. By looking at some of the kids, you were able to tell that they were mutants but everyone else looked normal. They walked through the village and up the side of a volcano, towards what looked like a tower. "Wait here. If you move, I'll kill you." Myst said then she disappeared.

Back in New Orleans, Bangle, Bedlam, and Gauss were searching the sewers for Napalme. "This is Clayton. I need you to return to my place immediately." "We're on our way." Bedlam replied. "Well looks like this is postponed for now." Gauss said. "Yeah looks like it." Bangle said. "Let's get moving before he decides to call again." Bedlam said. They headed back to the entrance. As the walked to the bayou, they saw the Blackbird fly over head towards Clayton house. "Nice of him to stop and offer a ride." Bedlam said as they waded through the water. "Join the X-Men, he said. See the world, he said. Be a hero, he said. I don't know about you guys but this isn't what I signed up for." Bedlam said. "Well sometimes life throws you a curve ball." Gauss replied. "Shut up and keep moving." Bangle said, "I don't know about you guys but I just keep hoping that a gator will pop up suddently." The others looked at him like he was crazy. As they walked throught the marshy water, Bangle's senses picked up heart beats of Bedlam and Gauss, and a third. He knew that Gauss' was fast due to his metabolism and that Bedlam's was a normal heart beat but his one was rather steady. He lept up onto a tree to see if he could get a better view through the foilage but it did no good. The bayou was just to populated with trees. Bangle slid down from the tree and looked at the others. “What was that all about?” Bedlam asked. “Nothing. I just thought I heard another heart beat that’s all.” Then out of the marshy water, without making a sound, the same man that landed on the front of the Blackbird was behind Bangle, but instead of his hands being blades, his fingers were individual blades. The whole time he came up from the water, he made no sound whatsoever. Bedlam’s eyes got big and Gauss froze in his tracks. The utter shock of something sneaking up on Bangle was hard to swallow. Bangle saw the expressions on their faces and knew what was up. He turned around and as he did, he went to punch the attacker. The man merely moved his head back and allowed Bangle to miss him. Bangle’s fist flew past the man’s face and as his head moved by, the man smacked him on the back of the head, knocking him into the water. The other two stood there in shock. “Come with me or die here,” he proclaimed. Then in all their heads they heard Kingdom say, “It’s a trap. Run.” With that phrase Bedlam went to fly off so they could regroup. “Reign, get him.” the man said. Out from the brush, a blast of energy flew towards Bedlam, hitting him in the back, knocking him down. A man stepped out from the brush and walked over to Bedlam, then took off flying. “Who wants to be next?” the man said. Bangle and Gauss saw no other choice but to surrender and see what the man had planned. A cloud of mist soon appeared through the bayou, thicker than what was there. The two mutants soon found themselves standing at the edge of a dock, looking onto an island full of people.

Kingdom stood in the spot where he was left, waiting for something to happen. Then Myst returned behind him. “Keep moving,” she said and pushed him to move forward. He began walking towards the tower, doing as she directed. The approached two giant doors, which must have been 15 ft. tall and weighed 600 lbs apiece. She the walked over to a key pad and began punching in a random set of numbers. Kingdom tried to see what she was doing but it was no good. She blocked his view. He used his psychic powers to remember what she was doing and what keys she was hitting. “Maybe that way,” he thought “I’ll be able to get us out of here.” After she inputted the key code, a scanner opened and required her hand print along with her retinal scan. This kept anyone who was not welcome from entering. They walked into the tower, up flights of stairs and down corridors, until they reached a doorway. The doors opened and sitting on what seemed to be a throne, was a women dressed in a black gown. Her hair was short but not too short, 10 loops of earring filled her eyes, a train came down from the back of her gown and onto the floor. “Good, you’re here. Now we just have to wait for the others to arrive,” she said. “Who are you?” Kingdom asked. “You’ll find out soon enough, Mr. Thaft, now please, have a seat,” she replied. Gauss and Bangle walked down the dock. Stepping carefully as they didn’t know what exactly was wanted of them. “Care to tell us what’s going on here, or do you plan on keeping quiet the whole time,” Bangle said. The man merely followed behind them, making sure that they walked in the direction he wanted. They passed through the village of people. Looking at all the kids playing, Gauss patted one on the head as he passed by. They walked up towards the volcano towards a tower that stood tall. They entered and walked up stairs and down corridors until they reached the same room that Kingdom had come to. "Ah Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Powell, I've been expecting you. Please have a seat." as the woman said that, two metal chairs rose up from the floor. They sat down in them and waited for what was to come next. Bedlam awoke to find himself in a room that had nothing more than a bench to sit, a sink and a toilet. The entire room was made of metal, the lights were the standard hologin lights you would find in an office, the door had no door handle on it whatsoever. The only thing on the door was a glass window. "Hmmmm.....I don't like this very much. Thing I want to know is how that guy hit me so quick. Better make an escape and find the others now," Bedlam thought to himself. He started to walk towards the door and then slammed right into it. "Damn," he said, "I guess that my phasing only works when I need it too. Oh well.....better make my own exit." Bedlam took a few steps away from the door, took his stance, and fired one of his blasts at the door. The metal pealed back like it was nothing, the glass shattered and flew all over the floor. Bedlam stepped out of the room and began to walk down the hallway. The hallway was filled with other cells like his, only, the cells were empty. "Maybe this was a temporary holding cell," he thought, "Maybe this is just a place to put them until they wake up." As Bedlam walked further down the hallway, a man stepped out from the shadows. He was dressed in a uniform similar to the two that attacked them. He looked at Bedlam and jestered him to follow. Bedlam looked at him as if he was sizing him up for a fight, then followed. The walked up stairs and down hallways until they reached the doorway that the others had entered. Bedlam walked in and saw his comrades sitting in chairs and the woman who had spoken to them. "Please, have a seat Mr. Alexander." she said, and a chair rose up from the floor. Bedlam sat down and looked at Bangle. "What's going on here." he said. "Well we don't know. She told us to wait until you got here." Bangle replied. "You've all been brought here for a reason," she said "The society you live in is corrupted. My company has taken it upon itself to bring mutants to this island and ask them to join us and live here or take on the task of finding others." "Who's in charge and who are you?" Gauss asked. " My name is Link, and I am as far as you are concerned." she replied. "Well I'm not deciding until I speak to the one in charge." Gauss added. "As far as you are concerned, I am the one in charge." she said again. "If you choose not to remain here, then you will undergo surgery and have all memories of this place and my people removed psychically and physically." "What?!??!?" Bedlam yelled. "So you mean to tell me it's either join are get swiss cheese brain! I'm not buying the deal1" Kingdom began to scan Link's mind to see what she had planned but he only got darkness. "It's not nice to probe peoples minds uninvited." she said. Kingdom's eyes got big as he was shocked that she even knew what he had tried. His total recall was getting all of this. He decided to send images to Clayton with what was happening at this moment. "Well I'm not going for it. I'm bustin' out of here!" Bangle said. He ripped his chair out from the floor at threw it at the wall. The chair imbedded itself deep into the wall. "Right, let's move people." Bedlam said. He fired a blast right next to where Bangle threw his chair. The hole that he had made had become charred and was about the size of a peephole. "Guys come on. Why don't we think about this? I mean the offer is pretty good." Gauss said. Everyone looked at him in shock. "Are you crazy?" Bedlam said. "Work for a lady who just told us if we choose to leave she's gonna cut parts of our brain out. I would like to be able to tie my shoes later on." "Well let's see what the odds are." Gauss replied, "Excuse me miss but what are the odds in coming out ok." "About 80%." she said. "Fuck it." Bangle said. "I'm bustin' out" He began to walk over to where he had thrown the chair and pulled it from the wall. The chair had warped and bent from the force that Bangle threw it. He pulled his fist back ready to strike the wall when suddenly scorpions and spiders appeared all over him. He began to claw them off his skin. Everywhere the bugs bit him, he had cut himself and was bleeding. "What's happening?!?!" Bedlam yelled. "GET EM OF ME!!!!" Bangle screamed. Kingdom scanned Bangle's mind and saw what was happening. He tried to create an illusion of the illusion that the Link created so that Bangle would calm down, but the illusion was too powerful for Kingdom to overcome. "If he stops fighting back will you stop what you are doing?" Gauss asked Link. "Yes." she said. "Bangle...if you stop fighting back, she'll stop what she's doing." Gauss yelled. "Yeah...I'll stop!" Bangle yelled. The illusion dissipated from Bangle's eyes. His body was covered in blood and his own claw marks. "So do we have a decision from all of you?" Link asked, "Have you decided to stay or leave?" "Well I choose option three." Bedlam said. "What's that?" Gauss asked. "To walk the fuck out of here." Bedlam said as he stood from his chair and walked to the doors, "You guys with me?" "Yeah!" Kingdom replied. "I'm goin' too." Bangle said. "Well I am going to stay here and think about it." Everyone looked at Gauss like he was crazy. "What do you mean? You're actually buying this shit!" Bangle said. "Forget it. We'll leave without you." Bedlam said. "That's right. Go back to your pathetic lives. Go back to working at Blockbuster. Or playing football and sitting around with your only friend, your butler. Or go back to your pathetic life of working on cars." Link said. Bedlam stopped where he was, Bangle stood in his place. The young mutants all stood in their place, heads down. Links words had hit them hard. Then Bedlam lifted his head and said, "Atleast I'm free." and walked towards the doorway. The doors opened and in walked the same man who had first attacked them. He was holding a chain, which led into the darkness. Bedlam walked towards him. As Bedlam approached the man, he dropped the chain and walked forward. "Ah good Badger. Maybe you could help me persued them to understand." Link said to the man. "Out of my way." Bedlam said. "I can't let you leave." Badger replied. "If you choose to leave by force then I shall take you down and do the surgery myself." Badger lifted his hand, and one of his fingers turned into a blade. Bedlam looked at him in shock. "Still going to stay, Gauss." Bedlam asked. "Yeah." he replied. "Then we'll leave you in your new home.....Traitor." Bedlam said. Everyone looked at him, their eyes staring at what Bedlam had said. To think their own teammate siding with the enemy. Bangle yelled, "Well you'll no longer have a leader than!" He lept at link claws ready to dig into her. Gauss ran into the line of attack and backhanded Bangle. "I won't let you harm anyone." Gauss exclaimed. The hit knocked Bangle back towards Bedlam. Everyone stood there looking at Gauss, stunned by what he had done. Bangle stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth. "Well let's get going." Bedlam said. He began to step past Badger and walk towards the doorway. "I wouldn't take another step if I were you. Badger said. Bedlam thought to himself that it must be a trick, then the sound of breathing came from the hallway. Kingdom scanned the darkness for someone but couldn't find anything. Bedlam used his ability to see in other spectrums of light to see what was down there but only got the outline of something big. "Do you still want to pursue this choice of you walking out of here?" Badger asked. "Fine," Bedlam said, "I'll go through with the surgery." Everyone looked at Bedlam, wondering what he had planned. "Put your arms behind you back." Badger said to Bedlam. He did and Badger put a set of mantacles on him, locking his hand in place. "What about the rest of you?" Badger asked. "Yeah I'll go. Bangle said. "I surrender." Kingdom said. Badger put mantacles on the other two and walked down the hallway to the medical lab.

The young mutants awoke in the mansion. It seemed like days had passed by, but they retained no memory of what had happened or where the teammate had gone. "What happened?" Kingdom asked. "I don't know" Bedlam replied. "All I remember is that we were looking for Napalme." Bangel added. "How many days has it been?" Bedlam asked. "I don't know." Kingdom said. "Let's get back to New Orleans and find out what happened. They all rushed down to the Blackbird and found that the front windshield had been busted out by someone. They stood there with the jaws wide open. "What happened to the plane?" Bedlam asked. "I couldn't tell ya." Bangle said. "Let's hurry though. We need to see what happened and how long we've been gone." Kingdom said. The all boarded the plane and began to power it up. Kingdom placed a telekinetic field over the front so that the air wouldn't rush in on them. They flew down to New Orleans, hoping to find out the answers to their questions. What had gone on between now and the time in New Orleans? How did they end up back at the mansion when they remembered themselves being in New Orleans? What happened to their friend Gauss?

The group walked up to the headmasters room and saw Scott sitting behind the desk. "My young mutants. I know everything is hard right now and that I am not Xavier but I do ask that you show me the same respect. I have noticed from you're training and debriefings that all of you don't quite act like a team yet. That's fine for now but it's time that you start acting like one. You also don't have an official leader yet, but that takes time also. One of you will stand out above the others and show your true colors. But enough of that for now. I need to know something. I know you all have names but I would like to know what to call you."(coughing)"You all have much potential at this school and assuming that you stay.....you have become the new team. It is time you pick your names." "I shall go by the name...Gauss." Eddie said. "Bangle is my name." Josh said. "Kingdom." Eric said. "Bedlam." Jacob replied with a smirk. "Wraith." Vanessa said. "Good. I see that you all already had something in mind. That's good. Now it's time to fill you in on why I asked you here." Scott said, "In New York, there has been a disturbence. I need you to go there and look for whatever caused this disturbence. If an attack does begin....make sure that the people are safe before you let loose. We don't want innocent people to get hurt while we protect them. Head out now. You're dismissed." With that, the young group of X-Men rushed to the hangar, suited up for a battle, boarded the Blackbird and headed for New York. With the Blackbird, the X-Men were able to get to New York in no time. They approached Central Park, seeing that it would be the best place to land. Eric was preoccupied with something else though. He kept hearing in his head the phrase "Stigmata". Then suddenly he heard it. "Land in central park now!" Kingdom exclaimed. "Why???" Bedlam replied. "Because the guy who was in my head is standing down there right now." Kingdom said. With that, Bedlam landed the plane at the edge of Central park and they began walking into the open area. As the got closer to the center, Stigmata echoed through their minds, getting louder and louder. Then, from the center of the park, screams filled the air, people began running towards the exits. The as if their souls had been pulled from the bodies they dropped to the ground as if nothing was wrong. Their lifeless bodies covered the ground. The new X-Men headed for the center of the park, attempting to keep quiet even though their powers tried to do otherwise. Suddenly in the sky, they saw the Avenger's plane flying towards the center of the park. He was hit in midair and crashed close by them. They rushed over and found only a wrecked plane. The searched for the bodies of the Avengers but found none. Then out from some of the wreckage came Captain America, half his faced burnt from the crash. "Where are the others." Gauss said. "Not sure. I was the only one that I know of." proclaimed the injured Avenger. "We need to stop this madman before anyone else gets hurt." Capt said and with that, they rushed to the source. Captain America kept his distance in the woods. They lost him after a little while but they knew that he would be able to fend for himself. As they ran towards the center of the park, they found the same man that had Kingdom had described to them at the mansion. He hovered over the crowd like he was some kind of god. "I see that you have made it here. Good. Now we shall see how strong you actually are." the man said, then from out of the woods, Captain America's shield came flying out, hit the man in the head, and flew off into the distance. He dropped to the ground, placing his hand on the cut that was left by the shield. "Still alive I see. Not for long." and with that, Captain America's body fell limp. "Weak. Is there no one who is worthy enough for me." the man proclaimed. "Yeah. We are!" Bangle yelled. "You are Xavier's students. You are not worthy to fight me. You are like all the other ones that I killed in his mansion. Weak, pathetic, a waste of my time." he said. "Do you actually think that it was Magneto who attacked all of you. Do you think that Sinister was the one who captured you. NO! I was the one who did it all. I merely made you think that it was them. I was the one responsible for the destruction of the mansion." "You did that. It was you!" Gauss said. "You'll pay for that!" "I think not. I have some help to aid me in your destruction." The ground began to shake beneath them. The earth cracked as if something was huge was coming, then from out of the ground, a beast emerged from the earth. It was Guru, only he was about 4 stories tall. He was hiding in the subway waiting for his chance to get the mutants who hurt him back.Everyone looked at him with awe and fear. "We'll take psycho there and you and Gauss take on Guru." Bedlam said to Bangle. "Alright." said Bangle. The battle lasted for minutes but the time seemed like hours. The attacks by Kingdom and Bedlam were weighing weak on the man but they seemed to be helping. Bangle and Gauss were wiping the floor with Guru. His size gave him a disadvantage against the small mutants. They fought with all their might and finally Guru fell to his knees, he was defeated. They immediately turned their attention towards the man who they now name Stigmata . They had to help their friends who were fighting hard but striking weak. "It is clear that I am out numbered but I shall not be defeated." Stigmata said. "How can you do this? How can you attack innocent people?" Gauss said. "Because.....the dream of a puny man shall not be the way that I bend this planet to the will of mutants. That dream is dead. Now only I reign supreme." Stigmata proclaimed. Everyone looked at him in shock. How can someone know so much about a man that he has never met. Then it hit them. The only way that he was able to know so much about Xavier was if it was Xavier. "Xavier?!?!?!?!? Is that you?" Gauss asked. Stigmata looked at him with an evil glare and gave him a smirk. "So you know already. Well it is no loss since you will not survive to tell anyone." Stigmata said. He attacked them all, striking at Kingdom first since he was a psychic. They fought will all their might and finally he fell. He lay on the ground, his body aching with pain. "I may be defeated but you are short one teammember." Stigmata said then used his psychic powers and crushed Wraith's heart. She dropped to the ground. Bangle rushed over to her picking her up and holding her in his arms. "Remember me always." she said, then passed away. Bangle's screams filled the air as Gauss approached Stigmata and picked him off the ground. "You're not Xavier. He wouldn't have done this. You are nothing alike. How can a man filled with so much love become one with so much hate. I should put you out of your misery right here, right now." "Wait Gauss. If it is Xavier then maybe we can help him. If you kill him then you're no better than he was. Remember Xavier's dream. He wouldn't want you to do something like that." Bedlam said to Gauss. "Fine." Gauss said and dropped Stigmata on the ground. Bedlam walked over to him and hit him to knock him out. "Hopefully that will keep him out of our heads until we can get him back to the mansion." Bedlam said. He picked up Stigmata and carried him towards the plane. Gauss picked up Wraith from Bangles arms and followed Bedlam. Bangle walked over to Captain America's shield and picked it up. Kingdom waited for Bangle and the two followed the others. Though they had won a great battle, it was a great defeat for them all.

Arriving back at the mansion, Beast was waiting for them in the hangar. "Oh my god! What has happened here?" he said, looking at Wraith and the man in Bedlam's arms, "Who is that?" "It's Xavier, in one form or another." Bedlam said. "WHAT?!?!?!?!?!" Beast said in shock, "How is that possible? Xavier is dead." "No." said Kingdom, "He planned the whole thing. From the time that we first joined, till now, he was behind it all." "He killed Wraith." said Gauss, as he walked towards the Medlab. "I see that. Take Stigmata to the psychic chamber. It will keep him from using is telepathic abilities." Beast ordered. Everyone split up, doing their own things. Bangle sat on the roof, hoping that he would wake up from a dream and be back in his house with Jeeves bringing him a beer for the morning, Kingdom trained in the Danger room, attempting to use his powers in a more efficient way. Gauss was in the backyard, digging up Xavier's grave, hoping that he will find his body in his coffin, while Bedlam walked down the hallways, down stairs, to the bottom floor where he found a door. He opened the door and placed Stigmata on the ground then shut the doors back on him. He leaned up against the wall and stood there thinking of their next move. "Stigmata" was the last thing that Bedlam heard as he walked away from the cell.

"So you are Xavier's new mutants. Pathetic. I'll just have to do something about that." he said. "Who are you?" Josh asked. "I'm your nightmare." he replied then stepped into the shadows. "I have someone for you to meet. I hope you enjoy the company." The door closed and then one on the other side opened. Sabretooth stepped into the light. He was holding a chain that lead back into the darkness.

Shortly after Sabretooth and Guru left the room, the door opened again and a small pale white man came into the room. "Looks like you need a little doctoring there now don't ya." he said to Josh. Josh looked at him like he was crazy. The little pale man pulled out a needle and some barb wire and began to stitch the wound that Guru gave him. The barb wire connected with the flesh, tearing it as it brought the wound closer together. Josh screamed with agony. "All done." he said, then left. Time passed slowly as it seemed. They stayed in the room, dozing off sometimes and other times just staring into no where. Suddenly the doors open. "I don't think this is the way out." said a woman. "Why is that?" the reply came in a man's voice. "Well there are more people here. Let's free them. Maybe they can help us escape." she said. "I don't think that's a good idea. For all we know this could be a trap. You know how he likes to play these games." he said. The two people stepped into the light. The man was dressed in a black leather trenchcoat with black jeans and combat boots. He had long black hair and appeared to be of asian decent. The woman was dressed in a white suit with a cloak over here. The hood was down so that her face could be seen. "Come on Knight, let's free them. The probably know the way out." she said. "That's right we know the way out." Josh replied with enthusiasm. "You sure we can trust them, Tempist." "Well you could always leave us here to die." Jacob replied. "I mean I have things to do, places to see. So why not be a good little boy and let us out." Knight glared at him, then he began to free everyone, looking for a point on the manticles and striking there, until Jacob was the last one left. "Ok let's go." Knight said. "He wait a minute here." Jacob said. "Knight." Tempist said, in a "that's not funny" tone. "Alright." Knight said. "Weak point is here. Nope that's not it." pause "Weak point is here. Nope that's not it either." Knight said. "Come on Knight!" Tempist yelled. "Alright. Weak point is here." Knight began to unlock the manticles. It appeared that he was able to find the weak point in various structures. Jacob didn't find this too funny. They all began to walk out of the room. As soon as they stepped from the light, everyone's powers began to turn back on. Josh pulled the barbed wire out from his chest and let it heal naturally. "Does he always do that?" Tempist asked Vanessa. "Nope not all the time." she replied. Then the lights turned out and a voice of a child began to speak. "Wanna play?" it asked. Fear entered the young mutants eyes for they knew who it was. Guru had decided to play with them. "Vanessa, can you get us all out of here." Jacob asked. "Only one at a time. It takes too much to even do that, plus I might loose one of you guys in while porting." she replied. "Then take Tempist and leave. Don't worry about coming back. Make sure she's safe." Knight said. "Alright." said Vanessa, then she disappeared into a cloud of darkness with Tempist and was gone.

With Vanessa and Tempist gone, the others were able to fight without the fear of one of them getting hurt. With Jacob lighting the way, they began to walk down the corridor. Suddenly something was coming towards them. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, until it came into the light. A doll's head rolled into the view of the young mutants. It was covered with dirt and one eye was missing. "Wanna play doggy?" said the little girls voice. "That's sick." Josh replied. "He killed that little girl." "You think this is a game." came from behind them. The voice sounded like Josh. "Here Guru, Guru, wanna fetch. Fetch the stick boy." coming from in front of them in Jacob's voice. Then coming from all around them, "Tonight, all of you shall die." Guru said, his voice echoeing through the hall. "I'm going to try and probe his mind." Eric said. "Are you sure that's wise." Knight said. "Yeah, I'll be ok." Eric replied. He sat down and began to concentrate. Eric entered a dark room. He walk through meat hung from the ceiling, but Eric looked closer. The horror overwhelmed him. It wasn't meat hanging from the ceiling, it was bodies. Innocent people hanging from the ceiling. others stuck on pikes coming from the ground, organs missing, some strung out from the dead. In the center of the room he found Guru, holding the doll head in his paw. "You shouldn't have come here. This is my place, my domain, and you have disturbed it." Eric flinched back as he got images of what Guru was going to do to them all, and was back in the hallway with the others. "Oh my god. We gotta go. Now!" Eric said. His face pale white, fear filling his eyes." "Right let's move now." Josh said. They began to walk to the hall. The voices getting louder, sounds of claws stratching the wall beside them and behind them pushed them further. Suddenly, Knight was gone. Eric, Josh and Jacob became histerical. "Where did he go?" said Josh. "I don't know." Jacob replied. "We gotta find him." Eric said. They began searching the walls for panels and doors hoping that they would find something somewhere. Josh suddenly heard something behind him, breathing. Something was breathing behind him. He felt the breath on the back of his neck. The hair there began to stand up. He turned around to see nothing. "Wanna play." the little girls voice echoed. "Let's get out of here." Josh picked up Eric and put Jacob on his back, and ran down the corridor. He saw a light, getting closer and closer. He stopped and put the others down. "It must be the exit." Eric said. "It's got stairs leading up. It's gotta be our way out." Josh said. Then suddenly, feet began to step down. Guru stepped out from the stairs, teeth gleeming in the light, claws to the side of him covered in blood. "You aren't ready yet. Not strong enough. Waste of time." Guru said, and began walking back up the stairs. "Oh yeah well we don't think so." Josh said. Eric suddenly fell over, grabbing his head, blood began to stream from his nose. "Eric!!" Josh yelled. Jacob began screaming. Josh looked back at Jacob. His flesh ripped from his skin, muscle pulling itself apart, light shining through the cracks of his muscle. Josh suddenly felt intense pain. His bone began to break in every part of his body and reform stronger. The agony was too much. He dropped to the floor. They screamed with agony, their bodies changing into something they feared was the worst. Seconds went by and the young mutants looked at each other. Josh had gotten taller, Eric didn't appear to have anything wrong with him, but Jacob's outer structure had become pure light. The hallway lit up like it was sunlight coming into the hall. Everyone looked at each other wondering what was going on, then Sinister stepped down from the stairs. "I see that my work has taken affect. Good." he said. "Let's head back the other way and try to find Knight." Josh said. He ran down to the area where Knight had disappeared and looked for a secret panel. "Ah hell, this isn't going to work." he said. Josh began to punch the wall, not knowing that his strength had become supernatural. He punched through the wall and into a room. The walls were covered with blood and bodies. It poured down the walls like it had just been put there. Then Josh saw something that he wished he didn't. There on the floor lay Knight, gutted. His stomach had been ripped out and flung across the room, his heart was missing a piece out of it, his intestines pulled out from his body. Eric and Jacob hurried down the hallway, Jacob firing blasts at Sinister, hoping to slow him down. Josh looked for a way out. He saw a vent on the ceiling of the room, he pushed it up and climbed in. "Guys lets move. We got things to do." Josh said. Eric was already at the room, calling to Jacob to hurry up. Jacob retreated from attacking Sinister and in a blink of an eye was right behind Josh in the vent. Eric climbed up into the vent and put a force field behind them covering their tracks. The further they got into the vent the closer the force field got. The suddently arms came through the ventilation shaft and pulled Josh down. It was Sabretooth and Guru. The two had picked up their scent and followed them here. Josh grinned, "Alright. Now I get to try out some new things." Josh lept at Sabretooth, claws ready to strike, tasting the payback that he wanted so much. Sabretooth didn't move fast enough to dodge and found himself began clawed and punched by a younger pup than him. Jacob jumped into the room. "Looks like it's just me and you cutey. " he said to Guru. Guru merely smiled, ready for a fight. Jacob attacked with a blast at Guru but unfortunately was unable to do much damage to the now augmented beast. Guru swipped Jacob and grazed his chest. "You were lucky that time, not anymore." Guru said within a growl. Sabretooth attacked Josh, pushing him into the wall, then leaping through the eye with his claws ready to tear into him. Josh didn't move quick enough to dodge the attack. Sabretooth's claws dug deep into his chest. "I just healed that, bitch." Josh said. Sabretooth grinned. Eric took his chance attacking them both. Using his telekinesis, Eric picked the muscle bond Sabretooth and slammed him into Guru. The force of the impact imbedded the two in the wall. Confident in the new changes, the three young mutants began to attack with more confidence than they had before. Sabretooth, aching from the last attack, pulled himself from the wall. Outnumbered, Sabretooth smiled. The odds are against him, that's just the way him likes them. Sabretooth lunged towards them claws extended, ready to strike at the closet target, Jacob and Josh. The two were standing there waiting for the next attack, but Sabretooth was too quick for them. He struck to two mutants with all his might, digging his claws deep into their skin. They screamed with agony. Sabretooth smiled as he licked the blood from his claws. He looked up at Eric, "You're next little one." He lept at Eric, but before he was able to strike, the room filled with darkness and the three mutants found themselves inside the mansion. Vanessa was standing over them, her body now in a form of darkness. "Well," she said, "looks like I'm not the only one who's different." Beast walked into the front of the mansion. "My dear god, all of you are back. Thank goodness. You've been missing for four weeks." Beast said. "Four weeks!" Josh exclaimed. "And you haven't done a thing about it. When did you get back?" "Well about two minutes after I got off the comlink with Jacob." Beast replied. "Well the good thing is that all of you are back here....more or less. Why don't you all go get some rest and in the morning, we'll regroup. I want to hear about what happened while you were missing and I also want to run some tests on you all." With that, they all went to their room and slept the night away.

"Where's Wolverine?" he belowed. "He's not here. You gotta deal with us." Josh replied. An evil grin appeared over the man's face, and Josh seeing the opportunity to take him out quickly, hit him across the jaw. He turned his head back and smilled again and leaped at the group of young mutants. The young mutants took their guard. Josh took the opportunity to test his skills while Jacob, Eric, and Vanessa took the rear seeing it better to add some cover during the attack. Jacob called to the computer, "Open a comlink to the Excallibur Headquarters, we need to reach Beast." "One moment." the computer replied.

After a nights rest, the new mutants were woken up by Scott. Each of them dressed in sweats that were given to them for the time being. When the guys entered the hallway, they saw a young female standing there that they haven't seen before. She was dressed in the same sweats that they were. The young woman introduced herself as Vanessa. Everyone introduced themselves and Scott then began the tour. They toured the mansion and underground areas, learning where everything is and what everything does. Scott explained to them why they were here and what they are striving for. "What is that?" Eric asked. "That's cerebro. It allows us to find potential candidates for the school. Only a strong willed psychic is able to use it. Let's head up to the first floor of the mansion. now." They followed Scott to the doors of the mansion. "Each of you get $500 to acquire what you need in town. There is a small town to the south of here that has a few outlet malls and such. You can take the van. Try not to get into any trouble while your there. When your done, head back here. Dinner will be ready at about 6:00 so don't be late. Beast is cooking tonight and he is about being prompt. Be careful guys." The young students headed into town to get some things that they needed. Everyone stared at them wondering if they were a part of some gang. They each went their own way, looking for what they wanted and what fit their taste. After few hours, everyone got back together and left for their temporary home. The drive was long and boring, then something in the van starting beeping and a button started to flash. Jacob pressed the button and a radar screen appeared. On the screen there were multiple signals heading towards them at high speeds. Joshua looked outside the van and saw these huge things coming at them. Vanessa stepped on the gas but the giant things kept coming closer towards them. Five flew off towards the mansion while one stayed behind the van. Eddie grabbed Eric and headed towards the mansion while Jacob, Josh and Vanessa stayed behind to fight the giant robot. Josh climb onto the roof of the van and dug his claws into it so that he could secure himself. The robot fired a blast towards the van. Luckily it was a miss. The robot fired again, but instead just hitting the ground, the blast knocked the van over onto its side. Josh got up, pissed at what happened. The giant robot landed, "Target mutant acquired. Mutant unknown. Level One defenses online." Josh jumped at the enormous robot, clawing and slashing at whatever he could. Jacob and Jessica backed him up but their attacks did no good. The robot saw it fit to hold Josh in place with his foot but Josh didn't like that very much. He used much of his strength to lift the heavy foot off of him and continued to attack. Jacob fired blasts at the robot aimed for any thing he thought to be a weak spot. Wraith teleported to the head and stabbed it with a black sword but it did no good. Josh jumped at the robots head, fist pulled back ready to hit, and slammed the robot in the face with a powerful punch, knocking a hole in its head. The young mutants, exhausted from the battle hurried to the mansion to help their friends against the other five.

Meanwhile, Eddie and Eric hurried to the mansion. Eddie, using his speed as an advantage, got to the gate quicker than the robots. At the end of the woods, they looked towards the mansion with astounishment. Their new home had been attacked. It lay there burning. Eric saw it fit to get off at this point since he could get there on his own. Eddie rushed through the gates and ran towards the mansion and about five feet from the door, he laced his outer structure with metal. He burst through the doors, looking for the one responsible for the destruction. He ran to the Professor's office. He pushed the doors open and discovered Xavier in the grasp of Magneto.

"You pitiful mutant. Don't you see that it is futile to fight me. Surrender to me and I shall spare the life of your teacher." "Never!" Eddie replied. "Fine. Guru, I have someone for you to play with." Out of nowhere a giant dog appeared, his teeth dripping with blood. The beast attacked, Eddie quickly moved to the left, changed from his metal form and punched to the side of his head, creating a sonic boom with the quickness that he attacked. Guru dropped to his knees, whimpering, blood pouring from his ears. "Appears that you beast can't hear anymore." Eddie said with a smirk.

Soon after, Eric appeared and saw what Eddie had already done. He saw Magneto with Xavier in his grasp. Eric, ready for a battle, turned on a type of armor that covered his upper half. He held a staff in the hands and took to the right of Eddie. Gauss leaped at Magneto ready to hit. Magneto raised his hand and Eddie stopped in mid-air. "Foolish boy. With your power, you have more iron in your blood. I own you now. This is the price you pay for disobeying me." Out of Eddie's pores came metal. It slowly streamed out in every direction. Eddie's screams filled the halls of the mansion. Josh, Jacob, and Vanessa soon showed up at the office and stood still in horror. "You all have a decision to make now. Join me or Xavier's life shall be ended." Hoping to trick Magneto, Josh replied, "Go ahead and kill him." With a smirk, Xavier's neck was snapped and his body was dropped to the ground. He lay there lifeless and Magneto's laughter and their screams filled the halls. "You are not worthy of being a part of my army. I leave you here to tend to your pathetic lives." With that, Magneto left the mansion with his robots. Eddie dropped to the ground. Slowly, the metal returned from where it came. He lay there in shock of what happened. Everyone just sat there in their defeat, trying to tell themselves that it wasn't real.

No one knew how much time had passed since they were sitting there. Eddie was feeling better and with that they decided to search the mansion for survivors. They all headed to the front doors. Once there, they searched through the rubble and found Beast. Eddie searched the other side and discovered Cyclops, laying there motionless. Jacob went downstairs to search for more people. He went into the medlab and found Gambit on the flow, gutted. His chest was ripped wide open. Jacob froze in shock, then rushed to the sink and began to vomit at the sight. Suddenly a scream came from down the hallway. Everyone rushed there to find Rogue hunched over Jean, crying. No one could do anything for her. Her body had been crushed by rocks that had fallen from the ceiling. Eddie went to touch Rogue, so that she would know that others were still alive, when she grabbed him by the throat. With her hands exposed, her power kicked in and Eddie became unconscious. Rogue burst through the rest of the group and was gone. Eric took Eddie to the medlab while Josh and Jacob split up and went to look for more people. Josh went upstairs and looked on the second floor, when out of nowhere came Wolverine. His body and been ripped into. Part of his stomach was exposed, along with part of his lung. "Good to see that there are others still alive here." He walked past Josh and went to the front doors. Jacob went towards the Danger room and took a turn towards the locker room to see if someone might be there. He walked towards the end of the lockers where he found one leaning on the wall. Upon opening the locker door, he found Colossus crammed into the small area. His body had been twisted so that he would fit. Jacob rushed back to the other side and slid down the wall and sat on the ground, not moving. Eric, after leaving Eddie in the medlab, went down towards the Danger room. He opened the doors and for the first time, froze at the sight. On the other side of the room, Bishop was against the wall. It looked like Magneto had opened the wall and held Bishop in place with different pieces and then shoved a metal post through his mouth and out the back. He saw Psylocke laying on the floor, body lifeless. She had been beaten to death. He walked closer towards her, knelt down and felt wetness on this pants. He stood up and saw a puddle of water and blood. Iceman, he thought to himself. He approached Bishop, hoping that it was just an image the Danger room was producing but it wasn't. He pulled the post out of the wall and Bishop's head fell off his body and onto the floor. Eric jumped back and dropped to his knees, vomiting at the horror that he saw. His mind consumed with what had happened here. Josh searched through the house looking for others. He found Angel on the second floor, feathers everywhere as if his wings had been ripped out. His body lay there limp. Josh went downstairs to the front doors and sat next to Wolverine. Wolverine handed him a cigar and they began to contemplate their next move. Vanessa appeared in front of Jacob. "I think I found someone. Will you come with me." she said. "Yeah." Jacob said under his breath. "Close your eyes. You don't want to see this." With that she took his hand and teleported. Jacob opened his eyes for a quick peak at where they were and saw demons and ghosts everywhere. This world was like something out of a horror movie. They soon appeared at the top of the mansion. Storm's garden was burnt down and in the distance, he saw her. Storm was there, shot with something. Her body had been seperated by the blasts that she took. Jacob rushed to the side of the garden and vomited. The horror of everything was too much for him to handle. Eric recovered from his shock and began to head out to find the others when he saw above the doorway, Nightcrawler hanging there by his own tail. He rushed out the doors, heading towards the main entrance. The others soon appeared there. Everyone sat there with grim faces. Beast stood up in front of them and spoke "It's time we began to bury our dead. I need to be in the medlab. Scott needs to be in surgery. His lower legs have been crushed and I need to see if I can repair the damage. I don't know how long it will take but I will do my best to fix his legs." With that, Beast went to the medlab and began to fix the damage down to Cyclops' legs. Wolverine, who now was fully healed, got up and headed off to be by himself. Josh also did the same. Jacob, Eddie, Vanessa and Eric all sat there on the front steps waiting for the next thing to come.

With hate and sorrow weighing on Eddie's heart, he went to the back of the mansion and began to dig graves. Scott's screams filled the halls of the mansion when sounds of crunching and snapping occurred. Jacob, Eric and Vanessa all waited patiently for Beast to come out of the medlab and give them the good news but hours went by before they even heard a thing from him. After seven hours of surgery, Beast finally came out. The grim look on his face noted that things were not as good as he had hoped. "He still needs a lot of work. A majority of the bones in his legs were broken. He will be able to walk, but not for a while and he will need to use a cane." Beast said. "Everyone get some rest. You're going to need it." With that Beast returned to the medical lab. Eddie remained outside, digging graves for those X-Men who did not have family. He dug for hours, taking his time in order to deal with everything that happened. The rest of the group decided to end the night and headed off to bed.

The next day, Josh returned from where ever he had gone the night before. Everyone dressed for the funeral, dressing in the traditionary black attire that everyone does. Jacob saw it fit at this point to climb out his window and do his own thing. Everything was overwhelming him. Seeing so many dead people everywhere. Seeing demons and ghost in a place that he never knew existed. He headed to the town, making sure that he wasn't seen when he left. Eric knocked on his door, wondering what was taking so long for him to get ready. Upon speaking to him, he sensed that Jacob was no longer on the mansion grounds. He rushed to the others telling them that Jacob and ran off. They quickly piled into one of the vans and headed off to town. Eric sensed him getting close, then they saw him, walking down the road. They all jumped out of the van, attempting to talk some sense into him. Josh spoke "Well if he's not coming on his own then I'm gonna take him by force." He picked Jacob up, and began to head off to the van. Jacob didn't struggle much so it was assumed that he was going to go. "Put me down." he said. Vanessa saw it fit to knock some sense into him with a light slap. The sound of it echoed through the town. "Why don't you stop brooding and get your act together." she said. Everyone looked at her shocked that she did that. Jacob was even more amazed since he had never been hit that hard from a girl before. After that, they all got into the van, Jacob keeping his distance from Vanessa, and headed back to the mansion. At the mansion, everyone waited for the guests to arrive and give their respects. Spiderman, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, were some of the guests there who came to see their friends one last time. Upon the viewing, Josh approached Xavier to pay his respects when his hand moved. Josh looked at it like he was seeing things but he thought to himself, "This must be Eric's doing." and went on his way. After the viewing and actual burial. Everyone sat around thinking of what to do next. Jokes came, then stories of what everyone did the day before. But everyone knew that this meant a new beginning for them all.