Day 1

"Are we almost there?"

Rogue sighed from her seat next to John. "Pyro, will you zip it already? That's gotta be the thirtieth time you've said that."

"You get used to it," Gambit shrugged. "Well, kind of."

"I'd hex him if we weren't in a submarine," Wanda grumbled.

"That's just it, mate!" Pyro said, exasperated. "I don't have my flamethrowers, I'm deep underwater… it just doesn't sit well with me. I'm literally out of my element. Hey, Jean, as one redhead to another, can I please have my lighter back already?"

"When we get to our safe zone and not a moment before," Jean replied back sternly from near the front of the X-Sub. "I don't exactly feel safe with you flicking that thing on and off."

"I have control over fire!" Pyro said. "It's not like I'm gonna let it get outta hand or something!"

"To the point where the submarine implodes? No," Jean said, her attention turning back towards where the submersible was heading. "But I can completely see you burning one of us with it."

"I've also found out the hard way that my fur is highly flammable," Kurt said from his spot at the controls. "So… yah, I'm with Jean on this one."

"We all are," Wanda mumbled.

"I'm more curious by what 'hard way' Blue Boy found that out," Gambit said.

"It's a… bit of a long story," Kurt said sheepishly.

"What, we short on time or somethin'?" Gambit replied, smirking.

"Actually, yes," Kurt said, pointing out the front viewport at a faint black blob in the distance amidst the otherwise featureless dark blue deep ocean. "We're just a few miles out, now."

"So the answer to my earlier question is yes, then," Pyro sighed. "Wish you would've said that in the first place, mate."

"Sorry, I was sort of distracted by the odd readings on the scanners," Kurt said.

"Wait, what odd readings?!" Pyro said, his expression quickly turning panicky.

"It was just a whale," Kurt said, waving it off. "Thought maybe the Acolytes had their own submersibles or something for a minute there."

"They probably do," Gambit said, leaning back in his seat and stretching. "But knowing how single-minded Magneto can be, they're probably all working on building underwater infrastructure or somethin' along those lines."

"Well, once we're within range Kurt's teleporting us all out of here, anyway," Jean said. "Alright, remember the plan, everyone. We've got visual confirmation on Genosha now—that means everyone goes dark."

Rogue sighed, turning her comlink off just as the others did. "Goodbye, line to the outside world…"

"I never took you as one to care about the outside world, cherie," Gambit smirked.

"I mean the X-Men, and the… you know what I mean," Rogue said, crossing her arms. "We're on our own now."

"Just for two weeks," Gambit said. "Relax and enjoy the vacation."

"Yeah, some vacation…" Rogue grumbled.

As they closed in on the island, Jean took the momentary silence to mentally review why they were all there in the first place—thinking back to just a few days ago when they had broken into the Brotherhood base…

Jean broke off her telepathic communication with Hisako and focused her attention on the matter at hand—namely, the discussion between Mystique and Xavier.

They had been fighting the Brotherhood for so long, it was odd now, having the organization now more or less under their thumb—and in such a short time, too. The Brotherhood base had now been found out, and with great concentration, she had been able to immobilize all of the Brotherhood members for a short period of time. It had drained nearly all of her mental reserves, but it got the message across to Mystique more quickly than any break-in possibly could have—the X-Men weren't playing around this time. Although she didn't give it away verbally, it was rather obvious from brief breaks in her stern façade that Mystique now realized it, too.

"Alright, Charles. So who exactly did you have in mind for this little suicide mission to Genosha?"

"Although dangerous, it's hardly a suicide mission," Xavier said. "I'm sure that, like us, you've known for some time that Magneto has been planning something big. Although we didn't know where exactly he had stationed himself and his Acolytes up until recently, we figured it was a fair distance away from here. We also figured that, more likely than not, we'd have to infiltrate his organization covertly. Hence our… commissioning of a few unique pieces of equipment recently."

"Such as?" Mystique asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Since the originals were both destroyed, we've built a new XM Velocity and Blackbird to engage a sort of camouflage reflector technology once they're in the air, making them all but invisible to the naked eye," Xavier replied. "We've also designed and built a special submersible, the material in it capable of masking Mutant energy signatures."

"And how, exactly, did you come across this technology?"

"It was the result of a collaboration between some of us and Forge," Xavier said. "The young man really is a remarkable genius."

"So I've heard," Mystique grumbled. "So, I'm guessing the Velocity is going to take your 'X-Sub' about as close as you think is safe, and then drop off the submarine to make the rest of the trip to Genosha?"

"More or less," Xavier replied. "However, actually getting the submarine all the way to Genosha might alert a few Acolytes who happened to come across it. No, when the team is close enough, we're going to have Nightcrawler teleport the team into a safe area we've learned about within Genosha."

"So I guess Kurt is on the team," Mystique said. "I'm assuming you're putting mental blocks in all the team members to prevent any psychics on Genosha from reading their minds?"

"Absolutely," Xavier said, "Otherwise the mission would be over before it began. However, to make sure that they stay shielded, I'm planning on putting Jean on the team as well. Her telepathic and telekinetic abilities will be a tremendous boon in a mission such as this."

"Do you have any way to bypass what will undoubtedly be sophisticated security systems around the island?"

"Well, we currently have Gambit in a cell back at the Institute. We'll offer him freedom in exchange for help on this mission—I'm fairly certain he'll accept. His skills in stealth, as well as his knowledge of Magneto's modus operandi, will likely prove invaluable."

"Can I veto that decision? Gambit's not someone I trust."

"Nor, normally, would I. But I believe the animosity he shares against Magneto will prevent him from betraying any members—just as I believe it will keep you from betraying us for the time being."

Mystique scowled slightly. "Point taken. But if Gambit's going, then I'm making one of my choices Pyro. He also has knowledge of how Magneto works—and he knew Gambit fairly well."

"Alright!" Pyro laughed. "'Bout time I got to blow stuff up!"

"You are NOT blowing stuff up," Mystique glowered. "This is a STEALTH mission, you imbecile. You'll be leaving your flamethrowers behind."

Pyro just stood there in shock, open-mouthed for a moment before he responded. "Leave my-? Then what the heck am I gonna be DOING there?!"

"I already SAID what you'll be doing—telling the others about what to expect from Magneto!" Mystique shot back. "However, your powers may still come in handy. If someone like Gambit needs to break in somewhere, you can use your control over fire to put out any flames that appear ASAP so as not give away 'smoke signals' and possibly alert others."

Jean had never seen Pyro look sour before. It looked uncomfortable, like he had almost never used those particular facial muscles before.

"You mean I'm gonna hafta use my powers to smother flames?" Pyro said dejectedly. "Can I… can I at least bring a lighter, or something? Y'know, just in case?"

"Fine, a lighter," Mystique said, rolling her eyes. "And that's it."

"Toad's not coming, is he?" Wanda asked, eyeing the Brotherhood member in question.

"Of course he's not!" Mystique said, smashing Toad's hopes before he could even put on a grin. "What kind of a question is that?"

"Then I want to come," Wanda replied, stepping forward.

"I don't think so," Mystique said, shaking her head. "Normally your hatred of Magneto is a good thing, but here it might hurt the mission. I want your full attention to be on blending in, not on taking revenge on your father. No, I'm the other member of this organization that's going to be attending this little 'field trip'."

"Although I agree that with your powers, that would normally make sense," Xavier replied diplomatically, "I don't think it would be good to have the Brotherhood here without any real supervision—and I'm fairly certain by now that they won't obey any of my orders."

"Got that right," Avalanche mumbled.

"Besides, I don't want you taking control of the mission," Xavier said. "No, things need to play out roughly as I've planned."

Mystique glared at Professor X for a moment before sighing. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I? Fine, Wanda, you're going. Your hexing powers could work wonders on security equipment, in any case. Just keep. Your. Cool."

"Understood," Wanda said, bowing her head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Anyone else?" Mystique asked. "Five members seems like a good-sized team for a mission like this."

"Just one—Rogue," Xavier responded. "Her abilities would prove incredibly useful, both in gleaning information and putting any potential enemies down without a sound."

"Agreed," Mystique responded, "But we really need to cap the size at six, then."

"That's roughly what I figured," Beast said, stepping forward and handing two wristwatches over to Mystique. Jean also noticed that he had three other watches hanging from a waist pocket.

"What are these for?" Mystique asked.

"They're holo-watches," Beast explained, "Just like the one we gave to Kurt."

"Ah," Mystique said, a slight smile finding its way onto her face despite herself. "No wonder you weren't all that concerned about making me stay here, then."

"Yup," Beast said. "They're programmed with a preset configuration of features, made to look as different as possible from how the wearers really look—taking into account gender and body shape, of course. I've also reprogrammed Kurt's so that his will exhibit the same properties, as well."

"Alright, so," Mystique said, turning her attention to Quicksilver, "Where exactly will the team here be going on Genosha?"

"Alright, we're close enough," Nightcrawler said as the sub came to a slow halt in the ocean, getting out of the pilot's seat as he did so. "Jean, take the controls—keep the sub steady, above all else, or I might teleport into the ocean outside when I try to come back. It won't be long, just a minute or so while I scope out the S.H.I.E.L.D. base ruins."

"Be careful, Kurt," Jean said, taking Kurt's place in the pilot's seat. "You sure you remember where the those ruins are?"

"Yeah," Kurt said, though the tone of his voice betrayed his outward confidence. "Like Pietro recommended, I'm aiming for that old conference room we all were stuck in when Nimrod… well… you know."

And with a quick BAMF, Nightcrawler was gone. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he teleported in again in the predictable cloud of sulfurous smoke.

"Alright, everything looks deserted," Nightcrawler said. "The place has been stripped for materials, so it doesn't look like the most stable place in the world, but it's doable. Everyone ready?"

Jean took a deep breath, turning off the X-sub's controls while everyone else unbuckled their restraints and put their hands on Kurt's shoulders.

"Here we go," Rogue said nervously. "No turning back now."

"Kurt, remember in case we need to get out of Genosha quickly," Jean said as she also took a hold of Kurt's shoulder, all of them feeling the sub start to slowly sink downwards. "The sea floor's one hundred feet below us. The systems are down for now, but they've been programmed to warm up again in just a few seconds if we need them."

"Something tells me if we get discovered, any kind of escape won't be an option," Kurt gulped. "But, I'll make sure I remember that."

A microsecond later, the entire group's view of the world abruptly changed in a puff of smoke.

"Wow, they really HAVE stripped the place for parts!" Pyro exclaimed.

Indeed, Jean noticed that only the walls of the old underground S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker were left. Even the support beams were gone, although finely shaped columns of rock had been erected in their place—the odd thing was, however, that these rock columns didn't look man-made, but rather like they had just erupted from the earth itself, stalactites had merging with stalagmites.

"Keep your voice down, you idiot!" Wanda whispered. "We don't know how much this place carries echoes, now that it's empty. The last thing we want is someone discovering us before we've got our disguises on."

"I think we're pretty safe," Kurt said, pointing towards a door that had been bolted shut.

"That's the way outta here, if memory serves correctly," Gambit said.

"Right," Jean confirmed. "So they've abandoned this place completely."

"But why would they do that?" Kurt asked. "I mean, it's already here, right? They might as well use it."

"You're missing Magneto's philosophy, mate," Pyro said. "He moves on to 'the next thing' pretty easily—TOO easily, I'd say. This S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker represents the past—so it looks like it's been stripped as much as it could've been without riskin' a cave-in, and then they basically forgot about it."

"So this should serve as a pretty secure base of operations, then," Jean said.

"About as secure as you can get on an island full of unknown Mutants," Gambit said, his tone ominous despite a smirk on his face.

"Well, then how are we going to get out of here?" Kurt asked. "I'm not about to 'port outside where someone might see me."

"Wanda, can you hex the door loose?" Jean asked.

"Um… not… a good idea," Wanda said hesitantly. "The noise of something that thick coming undone from its hinges and bolts would likely attract anyone anywhere near this place."

"I could melt it," Pyro volunteered, his lighter letting out a brief puff of flame to emphasize his words.

"But then how would we 're-seal' the place at night when it's time for us to rest?" Rogue questioned.

"I think I got it," Gambit said, snapping his fingers. "The ol' bait and switch. Jean, you rip out another door from somewhere else in the compound that's about the same size as this one. Pyro, you melt this one now while there's the least likelihood of anyone seeing you, and Jean can replace that bolted door with an unbolted one that we can just put back in place whenever we leave or come back."

"Sounds good," Jean said, nodding. Glancing at her watch, she continued, "Alright, it's already almost one in the morning local time. Pyro and I will work on the door—the rest of you set up your sleeping gear, and we'll get started tomorrow."

"Yeah, as if any of us 're actually gonna sleep tonight…" Jean heard Rogue murmur as the telepath left the room, searching for another similarly-sized door while the room began to glow with a faint red aura as Pyro began to melt down the bolted entryway already there.

Day 2

Just as Rogue had suspected, she hadn't gotten a single wink of sleep that entire night. It had seemed like eons later, but according to her watch it was about six hours later when the alarms on their holowatches went off.

In fact, Rogue noticed as she stretched and got out from underneath her uncomfortable sleeping bag that the only one who seemed to have been genuinely asleep was Pyro. Hardly surprising, given how cheery the guy usually seemed to be. Still, he and Jean had gotten to "sleep" nearly an hour after everyone else, since it had taken them that long to melt down the door and "install" the new one.

"Aaand here we go," Rogue mumbled as she rolled up her sleeping bag, a knot forming in her stomach. Indeed everyone—except Pyro—seemed pretty nervous. Even Gambit had a rather blank expression on his face, which Rogue had learned a while ago was as close as he got to externally expressing fear.

"Alright, we've all read the mission briefings, but as a refresher—we're all surveying the area today," Jean said. "After we get a layout of the island, we'll assign further exploration of certain sections of the area to certain people when we meet up again tonight. Everyone—let's engage the holowatches."

Almost in unison, everyone pressed their holowatches—the six Mutants now standing in this 'secret' bunker looked like six completely different people. The only thing that was kept the same among them was their height, build, and gender.

"Huh," Pyro said disappointedly, examining his 'new look' as he pulled down some tufts of his hair in front of his eyes. "Black hair really doesn't suit my personality."

"Give me a break," Wanda said, who now looked African-American. "The point is for us NOT to remind anyone else here of who we really are."

"Great, ANOTHER color of fur I have to get used to…" Kurt said, his body now covered with yellowish-orange fur—he still had his tail, though it was more feline-like. "How come I couldn't just look like someone normal?"

"Hey, I actually have a tan," Rogue murmured to herself, examining her new form. Pulling down some strands of her hair, she found that it actually slowly shifted color, from white to blonde to brown to black and back again. "This is definitely somethin' new."

"Remember, these holo-people programmed into our watches weren't designed randomly," said a tall woman who appeared to be of East Asian ancestry, who judging by her voice was obviously Jean. "They're made to be as different from how we actually look as possible. But Kurt, since people can feel your fur if they touch you, we had to make sure you still looked furry."

"Then how come I look so freaky?" said an individual who apparently was Gambit. He looked even less like his real self than the others, however—his skin was now a deep purple, with pulsating pinkish-red veins on his hands. "This is definitely… really different."

"Remember, we're not going to be inventing new Mutant powers to go with our personas, in the likely event we have to use them," Jean said. "Gambit, your rather unique powers will make you a bit easier for someone to recognize, so changing you THAT much seemed rather necessary. This way you can still display your powers, but they appear to come from some internal energy, instead of you converting other outside energy into unstable kinetic energy. Same with you, Rogue—the Professor came up with an idea that your alternate persona absorbs EVERYTHING around you, including light, hence the changing hair."

"It's honestly a bit distracting," Rogue replied, her eyes centered on the few tufts of hair on the sides of her field of vision. "But whatever. Looks like the Mister McCoy and the Prof definitely thought these out."

"Alright, everyone," Jean said, taking a deep breath. "Let's get out there and see what we can find. Unless you absolutely can't get away from the others, the plan is to meet back here by ten tonight."

For most of the day, Rogue had tentatively been walking around the edge of the fledlging city. She got a few passing glances from other Mutants, but otherwise people just seemed to ignore her.

Which, of course, was exactly what she wanted, at least for now.

For the past several minutes, she had been watching the sun set behind the quickly-rising buildings on a peninsula on the island. The skyscrapers going up were of a very different—almost alien—design compared to the usual skyscraper in any major city. They were very rounded on the side facing the ocean, while the side that faced the interior of the island was flat like most skyscrapers.

What was more important to Rogue, though, was that the population of Genosha was nowhere near the point where there needed to be actual skyscrapers yet. Which meant there was another reason they were being built…

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"GAH!" Rogue said, jumping up and turning around at the sudden sound.

"Oh, hey, hey, didn't mean to scare ya or anything," said the newcomer, young black teenager. He was a little on the short side, with a shaved head and orange-tinted shades on. "I just haven't seen you around here before, is all."

"S-sorry," Rogue said, absentmindedly brushing her color-changing hair out of the way of her face as she tried to suppress her southern accent. "I was just—daydreaming, that's all."

"My traditional name's David," said the Acolyte, holding out his hand. "David Alleyne. Real name's Prodigy, though."

Rogue briefly checked her hand to make sure the hologram showed her with gloves on (which she actually had on underneath the façade)—it did, thank goodness. She reached out and shook Prodigy's hand.

It took a moment before Rogue realized Prodigy was waiting for her to introduce herself.

"Oh, uh, sorry, I'm kinda new around here," Rogue said. "My name's R-"

Rogue immediately stopped, swearing internally at herself for starting to give out her actual codename.

C'mon, quick, a fitting codename that starts with R….

"—Rainbow," Rogue finished, relieved as she spoke the straightforward, if appropriate, codename.

"Heh, I was about to ask about your hair," Prodigy said, smiling as they completed the brief handshake. "It's quite pretty."

"Oh, thanks," Rogue said. "Yeah, as you'd expect, a side effect of my powers. My body kinda… absorbs information from all around me, including light. It's why I can't touch you—or anybody- without gloves on."

"Really?" Prodigy said, raising an eyebrow. "Aw, that's a shame. Well, you'll definitely find acceptance and understanding of that kind of stuff here, unlike out in the rest of the world. Magneto's a really caring guy, from what I've seen. Once we're done, this'll be a true utopia, I'm telling ya."

Wow, this guy's had a full serving of the Kool-Aid they're giving out here…

"So, uh, why're you called Prodigy?" Rogue said out loud. "Is your Mutant power a super brain or something like that?"

"Eh, sorta," Prodigy said, shrugging. "I actually automatically absorb any mental information from people around me—from about a, oh, fifty-foot radius or so. Not personal information or anything—I'm not an outright telepath in the conventional sense- just general knowledge about the world. I lose most of it when those people move out of my 'range', but if I really concentrate on a particular bit of info, I can remember it. Since I've obviously been within that range of thousands of people since I got my powers, I've built up quite a knowledge base.

"Heck, it certainly made tests in high school a lot easier," Prodigy laughed.

"I'll bet," Rogue said, forcing herself to laugh along.

"Anyways, beyond your hair, the reason you caught my attention out here is because oddly, I'm not getting anything from you," Prodigy asked, raising an eyebrow.

That would be Xavier's mental block…

"Wow, really?" Rogue said, appearing to "ponder" the situation for a moment before responding. "Well, since I absorb stuff from other people, I'm guessing my powers negate yours or something."

"Ah," Prodigy replied, nodding. "That might explain it. Though if you aren't susceptible to mental powers, how are the Five able to contact you?"

The Five…? Who the heck are they? This is definitely something worth pursuing…

"Uh—I just have an intercom system in my room," Rogue lied. "I have to get my messages the conventional way, heh."

"Ah. Well, anyways, I need to get back to working on the building plans. I'm sort of in charge of a lot of the new construction, what with all the engineering and architectural knowledge I've picked up," Prodigy said, tapping the side of his head for emphasis. "Nice to meet ya, Rainbow. See you around."

"Uh—actually," Rogue said, trying to keep her lead from getting away, "I'm sorta curious as to how your work goes. Could I… could I see the construction in action?"

"You haven't been asked to participate in the building yet?" Prodigy said, a surprised look on his face as he turned back to face Rogue. "Wow, you MUST be new. Pretty much everyone who's been here over two weeks has been required to contribute SOMETHING to the construction, unless they have a really unusual mutation that prevents them from doing so."

"Yeah, it hasn't been long," Rogue replied. "So, uh, can I?"

"Well, I'm pretty busy for the rest of the day," Prodigy said, rubbing his chin. "How about tomorrow, around noon? I can show ya how our future homes are gonna look."

Yes!

"Sounds cool!" Rogue said. "Can I, uh… bring a friend? Another newbie, I mean. We both arrived here on the same day."

"Of course," Prodigy said, turning back around and slowly making his way back down the small hillock they were on. "Just be ready to work after a demonstration, okay?"

"Alright, sit rep, everyone," Jean said once everyone had appeared back at their hideout, telekinetically closing the "bolted" door behind them. "Anyone have any troubles today—did we all keep our cover?"

"'Sit rep'?" Pyro asked, deactivating his holowatch.

"Situation report," Gambit said, rolling his eyes as he also deactivated his holowatch. "And no, I managed to sneak around unnoticed today—surprisingly enough, given the ugly appearance this thing gives me. I figured out the general schedule of the place—when work begins on the skyscrapers, where the temporary homes are, that sorta stuff—but not much else that was important. Consequence of observing everything from a distance, I suppose."

"Same here," Kurt said. "From 'porting around behind the scenes, though, I think I got a more-or-less accurate estimate of the number of Mutants that are on this island—about one hundred fifty Acolytes are here, I think. Give or take a dozen."

There was an awkward, ominous silence that followed as everyone else took that sobering estimation in.

"I'm pretty sure I found a lead," Rogue piped, "But I'm going to need someone else to go with me tomorrow, see if they can help me follow up on this. There's just one problem…"

"What?" Wanda asked.

"I met this guy, named Prodigy. He's in charge of a lot of the construction going on around here—he seems to be one of the higher-ups. If I—we—get closer to him, get to know him a bit better, we could find out a lot about the infrastructure of this place—maybe even if there's any secrets we need to pass on to the Prof. BUT he has mental powers that are automatically activated—I managed to come up with an explanation given my powers, but if he sees that my 'friend' is immune to his powers too… that might be a bit harder for him to believe."

"I should go with you tomorrow, then," Jean said. "Since I already have psychic abilities, it would hardly be a stretch to say I'm immune to his powers."

"No, it can't be you," Wanda said. "Though I didn't find out much else of importance today, I was talking with one of the Acolytes around here and managed to take away from a conversation that there's five powerful psychics who keep in touch with everyone around here—it's how they get communication across the island. Any other psychic on the island is used as a sort of 'relay' for those five psychics—in other words, every psychic is well-known. Your cover wouldn't work."

"Well… hrrmm…" Jean murmured in response.

After a few moments of silence, Gambit chipped in.

"Wait a minute. My holowatch already makes me come across as looking really different from your average human—it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say it makes me immune to psychic powers, too."

"Hey, yeah, like your mind doesn't work the same way as a normal person's, or something like that," Rogue said.

"That… could work," Jean replied. "Though it would be a bit of a coincidence, I think."

"Eh, not unbelievably so," Gambit said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I think it may be our best chance, right now," Wanda interjected.

"Alright, then—tomorrow, Rogue, Gambit—you two try to befriend this 'Prodigy' person as best as you can, try to pry some secrets from him."

"And what are y'all going to be doing?" Rogue asked.

"Since we've gotten the layout of the land today, I think tomorrow's a good day for all of us to dig in a little deeper," Jean said. "I'm going to be poking around the minds of those who don't appear to have overt psychic defenses up in the chances that I can discover something. Wanda, I want you to come with me, see what we can't find out together—not to mention I'll have someone to back me up if need be. Pyro, Nightcrawler—you two team up, see what more you can find out about how this place operates. Where Magneto's quarters are, maybe where these 'five' are, that sort of thing."

Day 3

"So which one's this 'Prodigy'?" Gambit whispered to Rogue as the two—in their holodisguises, of course- made their way up to a skyscraper under construction at the edge of the Genoshan landscape, the place positively bristling with Mutants.

"That one," Rogue said, pointing towards the top of the half-completed skyscraper, where a fairly short, young black man with orange-tinted shades was shouting out orders to the other Mutants working on the building.

As soon as Rogue pointed towards Prodigy, the Mutant spotted them and waved, holding up a hand signal to wait a minute as he yelled for a telekinetic working on the building to help levitate him down to the ground.

Despite his anxiety towards the general situation, Gambit couldn't help but notice just how quickly so many Mutants, working together, were getting things done. For starters, there were ones with super-strength of various varieties helping carry and lift up the building materials. Prodigy and a few others—including one who had a superhumanly loud voice—were helping to coordinate the efforts, and some Mutants who were gifted with various means of demolition were helping to blow out a foundation about a hundred yards south for what was apparently going to be the next skyscraper to go up. There was also an enormous Mutant made of rock with one of his large hands in the ground, apparently stabilizing this current skyscraper's foundation by controlling the very earth itself, shaping it up around the bottom to keep the whole structure solid.

Wait a minute.

"Is that…?" Gambit began, pointing towards the rock Mutant.

"Wait… Rockslide?!" Rogue whispered back. "How is he here—scratch that, how is he even alive? I blew him up! With your powers!"

Gambit merely shrugged as Prodigy was levitated down in front of them.

"Hey there, Rainbow," Prodigy said, nodding towards Rogue. "Something wrong?"

"Uh, not really," Rogue said unconvincingly. "So, ready to show us what this is all about?"

"Sure thing—but, uh, who's your friend?" Prodigy said, an eyebrow raised curiously at Gambit. "I've never seen someone like him around here before."

"Like I said, another new guy," Rogue said.

"Name's, uh, Vein," Gambit said, reaching out with his purple-and-red-veined hand to shake Prodigy's. "I think it's pretty obvious why, heh."

"Why would… oh, Vein," Prodigy said, chuckling as he gave Gambit's hand a hearty shake. "For a moment I thought you meant—well, like you thought you were self-important or something. Heh. Anyways, Rainbow over there's probably told you about me. Name's Prodigy."

"Yeah," Gambit said, "She told me about your powers and all that, so I bet you're probably wonderin' why you can't get anything from me, either."

"I was noticing that, yeah."

"Well, my whole biology is different 'cause of my powers, see. My brain's kinda… one with the rest of my body. I sorta… will things to explode just by touching 'em, and then they do. I think I pump some sorta energy into them with my… well, my glowing veins, but I'm not totally sure."

"Huh," Prodigy replied, his eyebrow still raised for a second before he turned around to point at the skyscraper under construction behind them. "Well, anyways, we're working on receiver tower number twenty, here. We're aiming to have it completed by tonight, since there's a big cyclone that's supposed to come through the area tomorrow. We'll have to shut down construction for a few days while it goes through the area. After these babies are all complete though, we won't have to worry about stuff like that anymore."

After an "explanation" like that, Gambit was practically dying to know what the heck these skyscraper "relays" were really meant for, but he managed to swallow down his curiosity for the moment. Too many questions might raise some suspicion.

"So," Prodigy said, "I've got a great assignment for you both. Why don't you follow me to the top?"

After they both nodded, Prodigy made a hand motion to the telekinetic at the top who had lowered him down earlier, and this time Gambit felt a large invisible hand of force cradle him as both he, Rogue, and Prodigy were raised to the top of the structure.

Gambit wiped his brow.

It had been a long, hard day of work—and not the kind of work he was used to. He preferred the more dangerous, deft work of thievery—not this monotonous, mindless construction work he and Rogue had been assigned to.

Still, he had to admit it fit his powers pretty well.

Both of them were currently carrying hunks of plastic, metal, and other building materials outside the building, walking to a pile of them a couple dozen meters away.

Two of the Magneto's Acolytes had been dubbed "sculptors" for this building, he had learned. One, Wind Dancer, had the power to summon wind at very high, concentrated speeds, effectively like working with a fine, extremely high-pressure tool to sculpt artistic details into the building. Another—a rather unique-looking Mutant, with brown markings all over her otherwise ivory-skinned body that didn't look like tattoos—could phase through solid matter, like Shadowcat. Only for this Mutant—Loa, Gambit believed her name was?- matter crumbled to a fine dust as she phased through it. Thus she was able to literally sculpt any kind of matter with her hands. They made for an interesting team—Loa worked on most of the interior details, while Wind Dancer worked on the exterior details because her Mutant ability also allowed her to fly. Gambit had to admit they were both quite talented—the level of detail on their decorations was quite amazing.

The speed with which the team of Mutants had finished the building was impressive, too. When he and Rogue had showed up that morning, only the base structure for about three floors was laid, along with the staircases—now the skyscraper's entire base blueprint had been finished, except for the "relay" Prodigy had been talking about, which was apparently going to be added later. Apparently these "relays" were quite large, as the top three floors were all dedicated to this mechanical device—whatever it was.

"Alright, I think that's it," Rogue said as she and Gambit dumped the last of the building scrap into a pile. "Do your thing… Vein."

"Right," Gambit said, charging up the pieces of scrap one by one as Rogue took a few steps back. Since they were so small, the pieces of scrap didn't make particularly big explosions as they fell into dust at Gambit's feet—they sounded more like firecracker pops than genuine explosions. From what Prodigy had said, this dust would then be melted back together to be reused as building materials again.

Within a few minutes they were done, and as they turned around to go and tell Prodigy, they found that he was already coming up to meet them, flanked by Rockslide and a blonde girl with glowing white eyes that Gambit didn't recognize. From Rogue's expression, she didn't know the girl, either.

"Hey, guys," Prodigy frowned, crossing his arms. "Thanks for all your help."

"Yeah," Rockslide added sarcastically, plunging an arm into the soil. "Here's your reward."

Gambit knew the tone of Rockslide's words. There was no time to waste asking how or why—somehow, the Acolytes there knew he and Rogue weren't really their own. Immediately he rolled forward, just barely dodging the burst of earth and rock that emerged from where he had been standing a second ago. Before she could even react, Gambit took out his staff and hit the unknown blonde hard against the side of her head, knocking her to the ground unconscious.

Rogue hadn't been quite so quick—Gambit heard the big burst of earth send her tumbling backwards nearly a dozen feet. She grunted as she hit the ground hard—injured but apparently not out.

Time to make the most of it, while we still can.

"Rogue, heads up!" Gambit yelled, whirling his staff around in one continuous move, whacking Prodigy hard on the back and sending the protesting Acolyte stumbling forward a few feet before landing hard on his stomach.

"What the-?" Rockslide began, trying to take in what they were both doing at the same time.

Rogue quickly shook her head to clear it from the force of the landing and stumbled forward, touching Prodigy's forehead with one of her hands—and, predictably, sending the Acolyte into a temporary coma in the process.

"Oh my god," Rogue said, her expression switching to one of horrifying surprise as she apparently searched Prodigy's memories. "Gambit, those relays are for—"

"ENOUGH!" Rockslide roared, another burst of rock from the ground hitting Rogue hard on the chin—hard enough to send her flying backwards, blood streaming out of her mouth, before she hit the ground on her back, knocked out.

"Let's see how well you can pull yourself together after THIS," Gambit began, leaping forward as he attempted to touch Rockslide and blow him to atoms—only to find that he was unable to move anything but his head anymore, restrained by some sort of unseen force.

"Rockslide is right," said the blonde girl, her eyes opening again. "That is enough."

Gambit watched incredulously as the girl—a red welt on the side of her head that should by all rights have left her unconscious, as he intended—slowly get up from the ground. What was even more odd, however, was the way that she was getting up—almost like she was being pulled to her feet involuntarily, being moved like a marionette with invisible strings attached to her joints.

"How-?" Gambit began.

The girl smiled thinly before replying. "That is one of the good things about being the Five-in-One. We are all interconnected, you see. Yes, you took Esme out, but the rest of us are still able to use her body and senses until she regains consciousness."

"So you're one of the five psychics everyone's talking about," Gambit mumbled.

"Yes," Esme said. "You see, keeping an operation this large a secret from the world—it's very difficult to do without a sort of mental internet, to keep everyone on the same page, to prevent any mistakes from happening. Prodigy told us about you today, and we are able to connect the dots. Your 'immune from mental powers' excuse may have fooled Prodigy, but we know every Mutant here on this island. 'Rainbow' and 'Vein' are not among them. We help connect all of the other Acolytes on this island. If we focus on one in particular, we can tell you what any Acolyte is seeing, hearing- "

"Thinking?" Gambit guessed.

"Not quite," Esme said, shaking her head. "That's a bit too much, you see. Mutants do want their own privacy, and we're happy to afford them at least that much. Even our extensive measures now will be only temporary, until we have firmly established Genosha as a country with international recognition."

"Don't you think you're telling him a little too much?" Rockslide grumbled, taking his hand out of the ground.

"I'm only telling him too much if he's able to relay that information to others, Rockslide," Esme smirked, as Gambit felt the holowatch being ripped off his arm by her telekinesis. "However, he's far too tired to do that now. Aren't you, Gambit?"

Despite himself, Gambit managed to smirk as Esme stared intensely at him—and nothing happened.

"Hrrm," Esme said, scowling slightly. "So that's how they did it. He has a mental block installed—we can't break it. At least not yet."

"Guess we're a little smarter than you give us credit for, huh?" Gambit said.

"Not really," Esme said matter-of-factly. "We may not be able to get inside your head, but our telekinesis will still do the job just fine."

The unseen force around Gambit suddenly grew stronger and stronger—particularly on his stomach and chest, which expelled the air from his lungs. Gambit reflexively tried to suck in another breath, which only allowed the force to tighten up on him even more. Within a couple of seconds, everything turned black.

Day 4

"Alright, it's past midnight now," Pyro said, checking his watch. "And still no sign of either of 'em."

Even though he tended to be less anxious than most, Pyro's stomach was definitely churning now, and he could tell his outward cheery façade he had mostly been keeping for the past couple of days was starting to come apart.

"NOW can I say it was a bad idea to come here without comlinks?!" Wanda said, aggravated as she paced around their dilapidated meeting place.

"Something's definitely wrong," Kurt said nervously.

"Well, the cyclone we had heard about is here full force now," Jean said, nodding towards the door to the outside, where howling winds could he heard as the metal entryway rattled, the noise echoing rather cacophonously around the empty metal room. "Perhaps that's what's held them up. Regardless, Wanda, comlinks wouldn't have helped—their frequency would have been detected here. A little curiosity on the part of one Acolyte and they would've traced the signals back to us within hours."

"And you're SURE you can't contact 'em mentally?" Pyro asked.

"Yes," Jean replied. "Pyro, that was the whole point behind the mental blocks Professor Xavier installed in all of us—so that our thoughts couldn't be read by anyone else on the island. Unfortunately, it works both ways—and I can't undo the mental blocks myself, they're too strong. Only the professor could undo them."

"I should go back out there," Kurt said, standing up from his place around their small "campfire" in the middle of the room, fueled mostly by Pyro's powers and a little bit of dead foilage they had collected from outside. "I've been around Genosha enough, I know where the main buildings are, where the main square is, all that. I can teleport into one, ask around—maybe find some information."

"But what if someone sees you teleport in?" Wanda asked. "Given how useful teleporters are—and how we're pretty sure my father already has one here—I don't think anyone here would buy there being another teleporter of whom they know nothing about, especially if Rogue and Gambit have been captured."

"Well… then I guess I'll just have to risk it," Kurt said.

"Kurt, please—don't," Jean said. "You've told us yourself how many Acolytes Magneto has now. The probability of you being spotted should you teleport somewhere indoors is—it's not worth it. Besides, for all we know Rogue and Gambit could both be fine. They could have been invited by that Prodigy person to some event, and not wanting to pass up the opportunity to get more information, they could have joined them."

She doesn't exactly sound very convinced of her own explanation, Pyro thought to himself, shaking his head.

"I say we let the blue elf do it," Pyro smirked. "If he wants to risk 'is hide, let 'im. Worst case scenario—he gets caught and we have to physically walk around the isl—oh, wait, mates, we've been doing that already!"

"Pyro, shut up," Wanda snapped.

"Since when do you care about Blue Boy?" Pyro said, furrowing his brows.

Wanda stood there wordless for a second, attempting to come up with a response and failing a few times before finally responding, "It's not that I care about him, you idiot, it's that we can't lose anyone else! I want to get revenge on my father, do you understand that? And if this… this undercover spy mission is the only way that we can do it, then that's the way we're going to do it, and I'm not going to let you or anyone else jeopardize it!"

"So we just sit here and wait," Pyro said, peeved.

Kurt looked from Pyro back to Jean, awaiting a response.

After a few moments, Jean sighed and replied, "Yes. At least until the storm passes over and we give them ample time to return. This mission is too important—we can't risk exposing ourselves if there's even a small chance there's actually nothing going on. We've all got enough information on the general layout of the place, although we don't have much information on where these 'Five' are. Still, we can begin to compile some information to pass the time."

"Oh, wonderful," Pyro laughed sarcastically. "Stuck together in a rusty hole in the ground for days with only you three negative Nancys to keep me company while we type up a report."

Raising a hand, Pyro started to shape the fire in the middle of the room into a humanoid figure.

"So," Pyro said, "How about something interesting to pass the time, then? Who wants to play flame charades, mates?"

Day 7

Pyro was asleep, the fire long since out of fuel. The other three were sitting around the room, all info already compiled on a laptop they had brought, all of them bored out of their minds but far too anxious to fall asleep. Despite Genosha being a tropical island, the underground chamber—hidden away from the sun- was surprisingly cool, and the tropical storm winds outside had only made it cooler. Kurt, his eyes long since adjusted to the almost total darkness in the room, could see that both Wanda and Jean had their sleeping bags pulled full up around them, yet they were still obviously cold.

This was one of the few times Kurt was glad he had fur—it give him just enough extra insulation where he was warm, even in the present circumstances.

So long as I don't get rained on, of course...

It was just then that Kurt noticed that the howling of the winds outside the entry door—which had been blowing nonstop for over three days now, to the point where they had all gotten used to the noise—had ceased being quite so loud.

"Wait," Kurt said, his voice piercing the near-darkness and causing Pyro to snort, suddenly waking up.

"Whuzzat?" Pyro mumbled sleepily, sitting up quickly. "I'm not ready to go to school yet, mum…"

"Do you guys notice that? It sounds… it sounds like the storm's died down."

"It's about friggin' time," Wanda said grumpily, casting off her sleeping bag. "Let's get the heck out of here and see if we can find Rogue and Gambit already."

"Yeah, but it could just be a temporary break," Jean said. "Kurt, could you pop just outside and check?"

"Got it," Kurt said, and after activating his holowatch just in case, teleported himself outdoors in a puff of smoke.

Looking up at the sky, he saw that though it was still overcast, the clouds were clearly getting a much lighter gray in color. The rain was light, and near the horizon, Kurt could just make out the edge of the cloud cover.

Teleporting back in, Kurt nodded in the affirmative. "It's over. I imagine the daily routines on the island will be starting shortly, if they haven't already—we should get going, see if we can find them."

"Sounds like a plan," Pyro said, yawning, now fully awake. "I think I slept in a weird position, though. This metal floor isn't exactly good for posture, mates… my neck's killing me!"

"At least you slept," Wanda grumbled.

"Alright," Kurt said, reaching into his pack in one corner of the room and pulling out some dry, tasteless food. "I think we should eat breakfast and get… going…"

Kurt paused in his sentence as he heard a high-pitched, tinny sound behind him—about as close to BLINK! as one could reasonably assume the real world could emulate without someone saying the actual word—followed by a flash of pink light.

"Uh… Kurt…" Jean said anxiously.

Kurt turned around, and found himself face-to-face with exactly what he had been dreading ever since they had set foot on this island—a greeting party.

Standing in front of them all as the pink light faded was a lavender-skinned Mutant, flanked by a tall black teenager wearing goggles, kaleidoscopic light already emanating from the latter in some weird light show. Also present were a blonde-haired teenage girl, Rockslide (how was he still alive?!), Omega Red… and Magneto himself.

There was no time for words to be said—they both knew what the others were doing there. Pyro, cursing, immediately flicked open his lighter, an enormous firestorm erupting towards Magneto.

Rockslide instinctively used his huge body to shield his boss, the fire doing little more than blackening the surface of his rock "skin".

Meanwhile, Jean lashed out with a telekinetic wave, knocking Omega Red off of his feet, though with his tentacles grasping out to the floor and ceiling he quickly righted himself. The blonde-haired girl was also thrown back, though, hitting her head hard against the wall behind her—she seemed injured from the impact, but not unconscious.

"Everyone, gather around me!" Kurt yelled out, hoping everyone would be able to touch him quick enough that they could teleport out before the battle got particularly heated.

Not quite quickly enough, however. Wanda reached for him, only to have a huge piece of metal from the floor thrust up between them, presumably by Magneto.

"Synch, end this, quickly," Magneto commanded.

The tall, lithe black teenager nodded, the colors around him fading. "I've already linked with Jean," he said, and then with a wave of his hand, sent out a telekinetic blast right in Jean's direction.

Jean managed to counter it with one of her own, but just barely. Between Rockslide working his way towards Pyro, and Wanda trying to make her way around the metal roadstop in front of her her, it looked to Kurt like he was going to have to take the initiative himself, and quickly. They weren't going to last much longer.

Making sure he had a good mental map of his surroundings and the directions everyone was going, Kurt first teleported a few feet to his right, touching Wanda, and then teleported again, taking Pyro in his other hand. Before he could teleport over to Jean, however, the lavender-skinned Mutant abruptly blinked into existence right in front of him, punching Kurt in the face and sending him reeling back.

Kurt hit his head against the wall behind him—hard. The world blurred for a second before it came back into focus. Something felt wet, though. Kurt's hand came up into his vision and he saw that it was bloody—but it wasn't bleeding, itself. Wiping with his hand under his nose, Kurt confirmed what he thought he felt as his full awareness came back to him—his nose was bleeding badly, possibly broken.

Meanwhile, he heard Jean grunting as she struggled against the forces arrayed against her—Synch was apparently using her own telekinetic force against her, and the blonde-haired girl had apparently recovered from the blow and—judging from her own concentration and hand movements—was piling the pressure on against Jean.

"Wanda!" Kurt heard Pyro yell out. "Wanda, hex 'em already!"

"I… I can't!" Wanda said in frustration.

"Whaddaya mean you—ugh!" Pyro grunted, diving out of the way of a metal spike that suddenly shot up from the floor where he had been kneeling a mere second ago.

"Kurt, forget me!" Jean yelled out, starting to be pushed backwards by the telekinetic forces arrayed against her. "Get them—"

Jean's sentence was abruptly cut short as a rock fist hit her in the side of the head, Rockslide having gotten within range of her while her attention had been diverted elsewhere. The hard blow knocked Jean to the floor, blood starting to seep from her nose and a gash in her forehead.

"Jean!" Kurt yelled out, now in full-fledged panic mode.

"Forget it!" Wanda said, grabbing a hold of Kurt's shoulder as he felt Pyro take a hold of his other arm. "Do what she said, NOW!"

As Magneto raised a hand towards them, Kurt instinctively teleported out of the chamber.

As the puff of smoke from teleporting cleared, they found themselves in an oceanside cave, the floor awash with various flotsam and jetsam since it was covered in about six inches of seawater.

"Wh… where are we?" Pyro asked, getting up and looking around.

"A… a cave," Kurt said, shaking his head as he slowly stood up. "One I saw when I was… scouting out the island a few days earlier. Figured it might serve as a good rendezvous point in case something like this happened."

"I don't get this," Pyro said, scratching his head. "How the heck did they find us?"

"The only thing I can figure," Wanda replied, "Is that we were right—they had Rogue and Gambit in custody ever since they disappeared a few days ago. And, given that we were attacked by two telekinetics, I assume they have powerful enough psychics of their own that they were able to break down Xavier's mental blocks and find out where our base of operations was. They clearly came in prepared."

"Then… then we better get back to the sub," Kurt said, shaking his head, tears of pain and regret starting to fall down his cheeks as he came to the full realization that they had just abandoned Jean to an uncertain fate at best. "We haven't found all that we were hoping, but we've still discovered some useful information. We've got to get out of here while we still can."

"Fine mate, but first, I have a theory I'd like to run by ya, Wanda," Pyro said, abruptly reaching out and grabbing Wanda roughly by her collar. "I think I got a better explanation for why we were found out. Given that she can't even use her bleedin' powers—something she never bothered to tell us before- I think we've got a mole with us, Blue Boy. I think someone here abducted Wanda days ago, stole 'er holowatch, and has been stringin' us along ever since."

Kurt narrowed his eyes, readying himself for anything. He never expected to say this about Pyro's line of thinking, but that… actually made sense.

He didn't have to wait for along for an answer, though.

"Pyro," Wanda said indignantly, her voice deepening as she became taller, her clothes changing to black, her skin color becoming dark blue and her hair red. "Let go of me before I make the throttling you've had so far seem like child's play."

Pyro yelped, letting go of Mystique and taking a few steps back like he had just touched someone with a deadly disease.

"Moth- Mystique?!" Kurt said, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "What are you doing here?! And where's the real Wanda?"

"Truth is, she never came with us in the first place," Mystique said, crossing her arms. "I drugged her shortly after Xavier installed the mental blocks, but before we left. She's unharmed, of course—I wouldn't do that to her—but I needed to come, whether I had the X-Men's 'approval' or not. I'm sure the other Brotherhood members—and the X-Men back in Bayville—found that out days ago, but of course, all communication has been cut off between us since then."

"Fine, whatever," Pyro said, throwing his arms up in the air. "Wanda is Mystique. Let's just get the bloody 'eck outta here! Kurt, teleport us to the sub!"

"Will you think, you imbecile?" Mystique snapped back. "Magneto and the others know everything about our mission by now—including where the vehicle was that we came in. Given that they also have a teleporter, I'm certain our only way out of here was demolished before they teleported into our HQ."

Kurt put his head in his hands. This just keeps getting worse and worse…

"Alright, then," Kurt said. "Since we're stuck here in the meantime, what exactly do you want us to do? This definitely isn't as secure a location as our former base, and their own teleporter will obviously now be popping all over the island, trying to find us. It won't be long before we're discovered."

"Magneto and the Acolytes are no doubt all on high alert now," Mystique replied. "Using our— or rather, your—hologuises is out of the question. I think the best chance we have at this point is to lay low—at least for now."

"But that's suicide—they'll just find us again and finish us this time!" Pyro protested.

"Be quiet," Mystique replied. "And let me explain what I've got in mind. Just be patient. When the time's right—that's when we'll get our revenge."

Day 10

Kurt looked at Mystique as he took a hold of Pyro's shoulder.

"And you're sure this will work? We've given it enough time? And you'll be able to get the message out?"

No, Mystique thought to herself. Of course, she said the exact opposite to Kurt.

Kurt nodded sadly and teleported away with Pyro, the flash from the teleportation temporarily lighting up the night around them.

As Mystique leaned up against the side of the building and waited for the explosion, she noticed that something was nibbling at her inside; a little bit of guilt. Oh, not about lying to her son; she had lived for decades as spy, after all. Lying was simply second nature at this point.

No, what bothered her about all this was the possibility that Kurt might die. Granted, she didn't think the Acolytes had killed the members of their team that had been captured. Tortured? Almost certainly. Killed? No. She knew Magneto. They weren't regular humans, after all. He would keep those captured as hostages, possible bargaining chips.

Still, she never would have thought Magneto was capable of getting together an entire society of Mutants without the world catching wind of it, so he still proved capable of surprising her every now and then. Thus there was still that niggling uncertainty, that Rogue—and soon, possibly Kurt—would die.

She pushed those thoughts out of her head. Sure one was her son and the other her adopted daughter, but they were both X-Men as well. They had rejected her multiple times—she knew any chance they had had of really bonding had been blown when Rogue had discovered who "Risty" really was.
Revenge against Magneto was the primary factor, and that overrode everything else. She simply could not let him gain a foothold with this large a portion of the Mutant community—that was her destiny, after all.

For the past two days, they had been constantly on the run—but that had been part of the plan, she had told Kurt and John. If they were to attack immediately, it would show the Acolytes that they were still willing to fight until the last man. Instead, Mystique had morphed back into Wanda in order to keep her true identity secret from Magneto, and whenever they had been discovered by that lavender-skinned teleporter or one of the other Acolytes, they had simply teleported to some other hidden spot on the island before anything could happen. It had been exhausting—they had never gone longer than a few hours without being discovered, and as the number of "new" hiding places dwindled, they had been forced to teleport around the island more and more often while the search for them intensified—but the point was, they had given off the impression that they were now cowed, passive, merely awaiting rescue.

After more than forty-eight hours, Mystique figured that security would start to relax, albeit slightly, as Magneto and those under his command assumed they wouldn't try to directly assault the Acolytes again.

Now was the time for them to prove Magneto wrong. She had instructed Nightcrawler and Pyro to teleport to one of the skyscraper relays and blow it up. It should be fairly easy—a quick teleporting to one of the relays by Kurt had found they were full of highly combustible materials.

However, they weren't particularly heavily guarded (even when the Acolytes knew intruders were on the island), primarily because there were so many of them. Mystique guessed that because of that, losing only one wouldn't be particularly detrimental to Magneto's plans—but it would create quite the distraction, which was exactly what Mystique needed right now.

Right on schedule, an explosion bloomed near the top of the skyscraper she had been leaning against. Immediately Mystique morphed into a large parrot and flew up into the air, away from the blast. She hovered there for a bit, observing the response.

Completely predictable—within seconds an advance team of Magneto's best and brightest had teleported to the flaming husk that remained of the top few floors of the skyscraper. Although Kurt could have easily 'ported Pyro and himself away, Mystique had instructed them to take cover during the actual explosion and then reveal themselves—give the "advance team" a bit of a hit-and-run battle, Nightcrawler teleporting both of them all around the place while Pyro torched random things.

To her delight, that was indeed what soon followed. Distraction achieved.

She looked down to the other Acolytes running and flying at various speeds towards the explosion—not the "alpha team" but backup, those who had seen the explosion and had come to help. Judging from the response, only a few Acolytes were bound to be left behind at the surrounding skyscrapers—and those who WERE left behind were likely either instrumental somehow in keeping Genosha up and running, or had powers that were unrelated to combat.

Either works for me, she thought as she dove towards an exhaust vent she had spotted near the middle of an adjacent skyscraper.

She quickly managed to cut through the thin metal wires covering the vent with her sharp claws and beak, and waddled her way through the ducts, until she heard a lone voice coming from near one grate.

Moving quietly over the grate to peak inwards, she saw in the electronics-filled room below her a young male of Middle Eastern descent with a headset on, sitting in front of a computer terminal, listening intently to the chatter apparently coming in through the headset.

"So you're saying- yeah, I know that. I want to know, do you have visual confirmation that they're down? Because if they aren't, then I'll probably need to evacuate this—you do? You're sure? Alright, if Blink says it, I'd say that's trustworthy."

Even as a parrot, Mystique winced.

They've gotten Pyro and Kurt. Not that I didn't expect this, but I had hoped Kurt's constantly 'porting around would have kept the charade going for a while, at least until I had gotten the info I wanted. Better act fast, then. As soon as I get an opportunity…

"…Any sign of Wanda, though? …You know, Wanda. Magneto's daughter, the Scarlet Witch. Yes, THAT Wanda. Seriously, have you even read… Huh. Okay, I'll report this to…. yeah, but all she can do is hex stuff. …Yeah, it COULD be bad, but we can easily… Okay, let me go. I'm gonna log this in so the Five can report it to everyone. Yeah, Tower 8 out."

The Mutant sighed as he took off the headset. Staring at the screen—without even pressing down on any keys—a message began to be typed on the screen, and soon it looked like he had sent it out. Likely to wherever the Five currently were, Mystique guessed.

As he stood up and stretched, Mystique made her move. Morphing into Pyro, she kicked down the grate and fell down to the floor. Just as the Acolyte turned to face her, she somersaulted up, grabbed a hold of his head and, in one quick twist, broke his neck, leaving him to only gurgle in surprise as he slumped to the floor.

Mystique stood there silently for a second, checking for any sounds, to see if anyone else had heard the commotion.

Nothing. Good.

Mystique quickly took the Acolyte's limp body and shoved it up into the vent, morphing into the Acolyte she had just killed as she did so.

Now to hope that none of the Five-in-One focus their mental network specifically on him, at least for a while—until I get the information I need…

Mystique quickly went to the computer, confirming that the Acolyte was indeed still logged in.

Smiling, she took her time combing through the different records and menus, trying to locate the cells where they were holding the rest of the captives.

However, something caught her eye before she could find that information—namely, a file in an encrypted directory named "AUGUST 20".

That's just six days from now...

Opening up the file just out of curiosity, Mystique couldn't help but gape at the information displayed on the screen.

Any hijacking of the system to relay this information to Xavier could wait. As much as she hated Magneto, she had to admit that this… this was brilliant. She loved everything about it except—except that Magneto was in charge of it, of course.

Still, she could take care of him later. Better to keep low, keep undercover for now, see how August 20th played out. If she played this right—kept the big picture in mind, and if the plan she was currently formulating worked—she could make this a pretty big boon in the end for the Brotherhood…

Mystique smirked as she minimized the file on August 20th. Time to get herself intimately familiarized with the daily schedules of both the Acolytes in general and the person she had just killed, specifically. She was going to be here for a while…

The End
 

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