Alastaire approached the large computer network spread throughout the room. This network of databases and advanced programming was known as Cerebro. The two founders of the X-Men, Forge and Unus had developed the system. It had been three years since the demon lord, Belasco, killed the two most important men in his life. Alastaire hadn't been at that battle, but his wife, Polaris, and his best friend, Riptide, had been there. Now he was the leader of the X-Men. Now he had to lead them.

"You looking for her again?" Lorna asked a she walked up behind Alastaire and massaged his back. She was worried about her husband deeply. He had been feeling so much weight on his shoulder lately. Pete and Romany Wisdom were now working for Sinister, Gambit was still in a coma, and top it all off, Shadowcat was missing.

"I have to look for her babe. She could in trouble," Alastaire sighed. He hated for his wife to worry about him, but the very fact she was worrying told him a lot. Lorna was much more tender than his first wife, Domino.

"Of course she could be in trouble, but have you ever stopped to think if she wants to be found? Katherine left on her own Alastaire! You got to remember that," Polaris prodded. She didn't want her husband to be needlessly worrying. Shadowcat could survive on her own. Lorna knew that, but did Alastaire? Ever since the Kree held Alastaire and Shadowcat prisoner he had been trying to protect her.

"I know she left on her own, but she could still be in trouble. I'm worried Lorna. I really am," Alastaire said as he held his head lower. He clenched his fists tightly together. The frustration bubbling over in him was becoming difficult to handle.

"Stop hating yourself Alastaire. When she comes back she'll do it on her won. Now let's go to bed," Lorna said wrapping her arms around Alastaire and resting her head on his shoulder. The leader of the X-Men nodded his head and walked with his wife out of the room where Cerebro was held.

Libya

Kaine and Stacy X moved carefully through the abandoned military base. This place had been an old base for Bastion and his underground forces. Bastion's secret operations had protected and his many mutants until 3 months ago. That's when Black Tarantula and Vanisher wrecked most of Bastion's bases. Till this day no one was sure if Bastion was still alive or not. Kaine had worked with Bastion before. The man didn't die easy. He was still out there and probably just biding time.

Why were Kaine and Stacy X at this base? From what Alastaire had told them a tiny mutant terrorist cell was hiding out in this base. Kaine and Stacy X were supposed to eliminate that cell. What the X-Men did wasn't nice, but it had to be done by someone why not them?

"Come out come out wherever you are little X-Men," the voice of a young girl said as it echoed throughout the compound. Kaine used his enhanced senses to try the source of the voice, but it was too difficult. This base was too large and too empty. It made the sound bounce around so erratically he couldn't detect it.

Stacy X nudged Kaine in the side and whispered; "The girl is behind the load at boxes over there. I can smell her sweat a mile away. She's quite nervous."

"I'll move in and handle her. Stay here!" Kaine ordered as he leapt into the air and landed right in front of the young Asian girl. He had done all that with one effortless leap. The young girl was wearing a white gown and her hair had been cut very short. It was near a buzz cut.

"Leave me alone!" the girl yelled as she clasped her hand over her ears and Kaine fell to the ground unconscious. The girl's voice was like poison. It affected anyone who was within certain proximity of her. Kaine just happened to be in that vicinity. And the voice affected him more because of his hyper hearing.

Stacy X heard the body of Kaine hit the floor with a thud. She was about to take out the girl when she picked up on the hormonal smells of six other mutants. This was no small cell like Alastaire had said. What had he gotten them into? She was going to have to get out of this place and fast. She was going to need help. She needed the X-Men!

Slowly and trying not to be heard, Stacy X back stepped towards the entrance from which she came. Before she could even take two steps a glancing blow struck her in the back of the head. She fell to the ground and face collided with the linoleum floor. Blood tricked like a tiny stream out of her mouth.

Standing over her was a gargantuan Spaniard with long white hair. His eyes glowed an eerie beige color. This man's name was Jung. He had once been an X-Man, until he was discharged from the team for having killed the two time disruptors responsible for the slaughter of his family, Bishop and Trevor Fitzroy. Stacy x had been one of those most in favor of hearing Jung discharged.

Bending down slowly Jung grabbed a wad of Stacy X's hair and forced her head up off the floor. He whispered in the unconscious woman's ear, "This will be so much fun."

Jung let Stacy X's head hit the ground again like a sack of potatoes. He looked around at the rest of his cell and commanded coldly, "Take them. Hurt them, but keep them alive. Once the X-men realize something is up they'll be here. Then the real fireworks start amigos!"

All the mutants in the cell felt a tremble down their spines. They had never felt such anger in the voice of their leader. What could the X-men have done to Jung that was so horrible? They all had a feeling they would find out soon enough. Especially with their two new prisoners in tow. This was there first time holding prisoners because Jung rarely ordered people to be kept alive.

X- Mansion

Marrow cut through two more robots with the bone blades she was holding in each of her hands. The robots were sleek and metallic gray in color. Each one of them was about 6'1 and their armor plating lined their shoulders, chest, and legs. Marrow simply just ripped their hands off. Though to do it she had to take a couple of laser shots from the weapon's systems of the robots. That didn't bother Sarah one bit. She had needed the physical pain to keep her mind off the emotional pain. Pete Wisdom and his sister betrayed her friendship y siding with Sarah's one time torturer, Mr. Sinister. This angered Marrow to no end. Being in the Danger Room helped her vent some of her anger.

From above Marrow was being watched by Lorna and her husband. Polaris looked over at Alastaire with an immense sadness in her facial expression and she said, "She's taking their betrayal pretty hard, but I guess we all are in our own way. I still can't even begin to comprehend their reasons for leaving us for…him."

Alastaire sighed because this was not a subject e felt like approaching at the moment. He couldn't just ignore Lorna though. He had to say something to her. With a falsified sternness the leader of the X-Men said, "With the two of them gone we'll need two more members on the team."

With a look of disgust Polaris said, "I've already taken the liberty of contacting Vargas and Vertigo. They both should be here in a couple of days."

At the mention of the name Vargas all else passing through the ears of Alastaire stopped. He looked at his wife, grabbed both hoer shoulder tightly and said angrily, "Why him? You could have called anyone else, but him! Why not Kurt, Proudstar, or even Cyclops for crying out loud? Any of them would be better than him! Why'd you do it?"

Alastaire found himself flung across the room and held suspended in the air by the green magnetic shield of Polaris. Lorna knew very well the source of her husband's outburst. When Vargas had first joined the team he had an affair with her. That was years ago and any feeling she had for Vargas were gone. She knew that and she would make sure Alastaire knew as well, "How dare you grab me like that!? You think I be calling Vargas so I can screw him again? Is that it? I can't believe you! I called Vargas because the guy is one of the best fighters the X-Men have ever seen. We're going to need him! Accept that and you better do it quick."

Lorna dropped her husband on the floor and walked out of the room. Alastaire rubbed his backside wincingly. He felt ashamed that he had ever suspected what he did of his wife.

Belgium

X-Force walked out of the building that had just collapsed in on them all scarred, bloody, and bruised. The leader of the group, Magik, was the only one who had been left unscathed. On her shoulders she was carrying Magma and Maggott. Beside her Mimic only had a large gash on his head and in his arms he was carrying Moonstar.

"Do you think Electro is still alive after all that?" Mimic asked.

"If we made it out I'm pretty sure he can too," Magik said distressed because she knew exactly what that meant.

When Magik was a member of the X-Men the squad was Callisto, Alastaire, Vargas, Polaris, and herself. Electro had killed Callisto brutally and Alastaire threw him into a vat of sulfuric acid. They had all figured that would have killed the bastard, but he was still kicking afterward due to some quick saving from Sinister. Electro has had a mad on for Alastaire ever since. Magik and her team had been trying to find out who was behind the production of a new drug specifically for mutants.

With some investigation they had found out that Electro was behind the new drug and he also had some plan on the side to build these robots he called Sentinels to track every last mutant on the planet and kill them. Mimic managed to put a halt to those plans for a bit, but Electro got away and there's only one place he'll be heading. The X-Mansion.

Three Days Later

They were the X-Men. Alastaire. Polaris. Marrow. Vargas. Vertigo. Two of their teammates, Kaine and Stacy X, had been missing for three days. A videotape from an old teammate, Jung, had just informed them of the two's whereabouts.

Alastaire rocked back and forth in his chair before he said, "If I had any idea that Jung was in charge of that terrorist cell I would have never sent them in alone. It was suppose to be an in and out mission."

"No need for explanations Alastaire. What is done is done. Let's just save our teammates and rid ourselves of Jung," Vargas said as he shined his sword. The Spaniard hated his fellow countrymen with a passion. Jung and Vargas had both tried to gain the affections of the X-Man, Phantazia, before she died of cancer. She died without ever giving her affections to either man. That created an impassable wall of hate between the two men.

"I know killing Jung would just make you ecstatic Vargas, but I just don't think that's the way we should handle this situation," Vertigo said as she popped the top off her Sprite can. She had never been a person of violence like so many X-Men seemed to be. That's why she had been a botanist before the militant Church of Humanity ousted her as a mutant.

Polaris crossed her legs and with the grace and dignity she always carried she said, "I have to agree with Vertigo. Being brutal killers was never what the X-Men were about. We have to be better than that or we don't deserve to be X-Men!"

Marrow laughed mockingly, "So you mean to tell me that if Adam X and that pieface Zhi ever showed up here gain that you wouldn't kill them? Even after all they did to you Lorna?"

The whole room froze at Marrow's questions. Everyone knew the brutal history between Polaris and the duo of Adam X and Zhi. They had kidnapped her and held her captive for months. Adam X abused her physically and sexually while Zhi handled the verbal and emotional abuse. The two tortured her however they fancied. Lorna had to go through two years of therapy.

Alastaire's face turned red with rage and he leaped out of his seat. He said furiously, "Lorna won't have to worry about killing them because I will if they ever come back here again!"

The leader of the X-Men was about to continue his rant when Polaris held up a hand for him to stop. She slowly rose out of her chair and looked dead into the eyes of Marrow. With no emotion in her voice Lorna said, "Honestly I don't know Marrow, but I do know this. Ever bring up those two again and I will without a doubt kill you."

Marrow laughed again, "You still got the fire Lorna. Even after all this time. Guess you just get feistier with age."

Vertigo chimed in with her own nasty comment for Marrow, "Don't tell me you're still made over Pete and Romany leaving you? Maybe Sinister would have took you in too if you weren't so sorry. What did the Supreme Pontiff call you? A creampuff with a couple of bones stuck in it."

A bone dagger flew by Vertigo and hit the wall. It had been only inches from Vertigo's face. Shock ricocheted itself throughout the room. Alastaire was the first to comment on what had just happened, "You're out of line Marrow! We all need to calm down and get back to what we came here for. Saving Kaine and Stacy X from Jung should be the only thing on our minds. Is that understood everyone?"

"Crystal clear boss. Question is where do I sign up for this mission though," Shadowcat said as she walked into the room with a bunch of bags in tow. Alastaire's mouth dropped and his eyes went wide. His Kate was home.