"THREE LETTERS"

by Anthony Bianco

The Island Nation of Genosha

A wind blows across the island of Genosha on this night. It's a strange, crisp wind from far across the ocean, bringing with it the beginings of change. Something different along the edges of this cool breeze.

Joanna Cargill, A.K.A the former Acolyte Frenzy, stands on the balcony of her apartment, looking out at the lights of Hammer Bay. She sips at the glass of wine in her hand and is unperturbed by the cold breeze that flutters across her arms. Her mutation leaves her unaffected by changes in the air's temperature. Nothing can penetrate her steel-hard skin. Her mind is free from outside disturbances. And now Joanna Cargill is immersed in her thoughts.

She walks back into her room, sets down the wine glass, sits on her bed and reaches over to her nightstand. A black envelope, with a bright red X on the front of it stares up at her. She takes the contents of the envelope, a small piece of paper, and reads it again.

Dear Joanna -

If you are reading this letter then I have died. When you are ready and able please contact my lawyer at the enclosed address for details concerning you and the others. The rest of Factor-X should be receiving their letters as well. You have been brave, and I thank you for your employ. Please continue what I cannot.

my sincerest gratitude,
Charles Francis Xavier

"If you are reading this then I have died." Joanna repeats to herself.

The memories come rushing back to her. All the years being led around like an awestruck puppy in the service of her "god" Magneto. Never asking questions, never wondering, just believing what she was told and fighting. Sometimes she'd get so out of touch she'd forget what it was she was fighting for. Magneto's dream. Ha, Magneto's dream. The revenge of an angry child on a cold, unaccepting world. Maybe if he could win this time it would erase his helplessness in the past at the hands of the Nazi's. Magneto's dream was the world's nightmare.

That's when Charles came. Like an angel from heaven he extended his hand to her, offered another a way out of the numbness and disillusion. She accepted his offer with a tear in her eye. She saw the merit and possibility in Charles' dream of peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants. It was a path with promise and meaning. Magneto's path only led in one direction. War.

Joanna then became a spy of sorts for Xavier. She would remain by Magneto's side as a loyal Acolyte and in turn be in a position to relay important information and secrets back to Xavier, if need be. She had done this well for the past few years, reveling in the fact that she was free and no longer a slave to another man.

As of present the Acolytes are no more. If she stuck her head out the window, Joanna could probably hear the wailing of Magneto's mindless followers out in the streets and all the across the island of Genosha. They were pitiful, weak-minded and a discredit to their race.

But if the Acolytes are no more and Charles has indeed passed, then what is to become of her? She made a promise to Charles that until the day she died she would uphold the dream. His dream would also be her dream, and here now, in her hands is the letter. The beginning of a new era.

"Ah Charles", Joanna thinks as she reads the enclosed lawyer's address, " you are as persistent in death as you were in life. You showed me a better path, and I will not let that favor go unrepayed. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. This team, Factor-X, will be born!"

Joanna folds the letter and returns it back to its envelope. She finishes her glass of wine and then begins to pack for her trip to Massachusetts.

Somewhere in the Spanish countryside

Fixx watches her psionic "fairies" dances off of her fingertips, and into the night sky. They twirl in tiny circles until they seemingly touch the stars and disappear. "Go high too quickly and you explode little ones. A slow ascension, my dears, is ideal."

Fixx is sitting on a rock atop of a large hill. Her long, raven-black hair blows in the warm Spanish wind. She is dressed in a tight-fitting, black bodysuit and is barely noticeable against the night sky. The pale light of the giant full moon spills out across the trees. She raises a pair of high-tech looking binoculars to her eyes and watches down into the cavern below.

A large, silver containment cell stands alone against a stone wall. The only light is from a fire that roars nearby and a group of military clad men stand together, unmoving." Oh yes, the ever vigilant Guardia Civil" Fixx thinks." Keeping watch over a creature that they couldn't possibly begin to understand. It's power, if released, could wipe out this entire countryside. Typical the fools in the Spanish government puts them on watch instead of someone more qualified, like myself."

She's been stationed here in Spain by Charles Xavier, after the disbanding of X-Factor, for months now, monitoring the containment and care of the creature known only as Dontaine. Dontaine was a decades old mutant with earth manipulation abilities, a psychotic streak, and a serious grudge against the Spanish king. It was a growing worry of Xavier's that while under the government's supervision, Dontaine might break loose and begin a reign of destruction that could threaten the lives of thousands.

Fixx is there to make sure that doesn't happen. Although Xavier's has been dead for weeks, she has not yet left her post.

Fixx whirls around when the jumbled thoughts of her stout, Spanish assistant Ricardo begin to grow in volume at the front of her mind. She sees him as he approaches, climbing tiredly up the hill. He is waving an envelope furiously in the air. "Senorita! Senorita!" he calls out.

Fixx has a cold look on her face. She stands up from the rock and hundreds of little fairies pour from the regulator on her forehead. "What have I told you time and time again, Ricardo? It is paramount that you do not bother me while I'm working! You could easily disrupt delicate observations!"

"No. No. No." Ricardo mumbles as he hands the black envelope into Fixx's annoyed hands. "Es muy importante. Letter from the states!!" he says.

The large "M" tattooed above her right eye, raises in interest. She notices the red x stuck on the front of the envelope." A letter from the states, eh?" she thinks.

Fixx tears open the envelope and reads the short letter inside. "Well, well, well, this will prove most interesting. Ricardo!"

The man stands firmly at attention. "Si, senorita?"

"Pack my things, I am leaving for the states immediately! I have things to attend to there. I want you to call as soon as they move Dontaine from his current position. I will contact you when I arrive. Understand?"

"Si, senorita."

Washington DC

Daniel Day combs his short, pink hair into something worthy of walking outside with. He finishes with his tie and clicks his leather briefcase closed. "I'm late, late, late, shit." the congressional aide mutters in a sing song voice.

He stops short of the door to the congressman's office. Something isn't right, he can feel it. "What did I forget?"

The speech!

"The congressman's speech! Damn it all, where is it?!" He begins to ruffle through his desk of crumpled up papers until he comes across a small set of index cards. "Yes!" he hisses with pleasure before turning to run out to the waiting congressman.

Two hours later, Daniel is standing outside of the congressman's office again, speaking with a member of the house. After a few minutes of heated debate the house member storms off defeated and Daniel enters the office.

He sits down at his desk and notices the black envelope lying there. It has a bright red x stuck on the front of it. "What the hell?" he wonders aloud.

Daniel tears open the letter and begins to read. He gasps when he sees it's from his recently deceased mentor Charles Xavier and has to re-read it twice before it completely sinks in. "Charles, of course I'll do it." Daniel says as if Xavier were standing right there. " You helped make me into something more than just some thug working with a band of low-lives. I became a better man and a better person. Factor-X will carry the torch of fire that you passed down to your students."

And with that Daniel Day, A.K.A Ruckus, slips out of the Congressman's office and into the breezy Washington night.

Former Prime Sentinel Production Facility
Cascade Forest, on the Canadian Border

For a moment there is darkness.

The Prime Sentinel awakens with a jolt.

"Unit Eleven initiate," it utters as it's major and minor internal processes begin to function.

Unit Eleven sits up and surveys the area. It notices that it's been left behind in some kind of abandoned base. There are left over Prime Sentinel parts strewn about and a large computer screen against a nearby wall.

"Searching for fellow Prime units…" Eleven says as it scans or other nearby sentinels.

"No units in vicinity. These are all deconstructed models."

Eleven stands up and jerkily walks over to the computer screen. It feels around until it finds a jack in the wall. Eleven presses its hand up against the jack and plugs into the computer.

"Must learn more. Download begin."

The computer screen flashes to life. Bits of coded information scroll across the screen at incredible speeds. Eleven downloads all available information and then begins to review it in it's databanks. It scans through files of ZERO Tolerance and Bastion, all kinds of mutant information, locations, and abilities.

The Prime Sentinel unit's protocol kicks in. "I must destroy mutant life, to create a better safer tomorrow for humanity." It mindlessly repeats.

Eleven flies upward and blasts through the roof of the abandoned base. It scans across the horizon just as the sun begins to rise. "Mutants detected. Must exterminate."

It begins it's short journey towards Dressler County, Massachusetts. Ready to fulfill it's unit protocol.

Dressler County, Massachusetts
Coolridge Manor

Coolridge Manor sits on the edge of a cliff over looking a beach. From the upstairs' windows of the house you can see the lighthouses out in the ocean and even further out to the horizon. It's a beautiful site, especially in summer, when the sun sets and the first stars begin to appear for the evening. The front of the house is surrounded by tall and ancient trees, serving as a cloak from the outside world.

"This place is gorgeous!" Joanna Cargill announces with a smile, as she steps in the front door.

"I agree. This is a beautiful structure!" Fixx agrees. "Ruckus?"

Ruckus slides off his sunglasses and looks around the main hall. "It'll serve our purposes I suppose."

A short, nervous looking man wearing a gray suit and red tie walks in trailing behind them. His name is Allen Wick. A private attorney at law with a specialty in small claims and accident victims. "Well it's been left to all of you, per Mr. Xavier's request in his private will."

"Nice of him to set us up with this place. Is that all Mr. Wick?" Ruckus asks. The presence of this lawyer is not boding well on his mind. Ruckus wants to keep this operation secret and just the fact that Mr. Wick is there compromises that principle.

The shifty little lawyer reaches into his coat pocket." Not exactly. He left one more thing for all of you" He pulls out a videotape marked "Factor-X" and hands it to Ruckus.

"A tape?" Ruckus asks.

"Strange title, huh? Yeah, Xavier said that you should watch it as soon as you got settled into your new living quarters." Mr. Wick explained.

"Yes..." Fixx cut in, "Well then I suppose you should be going Mr. Wick. Thank you for your work and help, please don't keep in touch. Good day!" and while Fixx says all this with a stern coldness, she edges the lawyer out the front door and into the yard. She slams the door in his face.

Mr. Wick glances up at the house menacingly. "Good day indeed..." he says before quietly disappearing into the morning sky.

Inside the manor, the three teammates gather in the large sitting room. A dark fireplace awaits to be flamed, while two large picture windows encompass the billowing clouds that roll by outside. Joanna and Fixx take their seats in ancient looking chairs while Ruckus walks over to a large TV with the video in hand.

"I know we just got here and everything, but I think we should check out the tape Xavier left before we get unpacked. I want to see if he left any instructions for us." Ruckus says.

"Agreed." Fixx chimes.

"Yeah, play the video." Joanna agrees.

Ruckus nods and pops the tape in the VCR. A barrage of snow and static appears before finally coming into focus on Professor Xavier. He is sitting at his desk, and looking in high spirits. He smiles. "Hello, Ruckus, Fixx, Joanna, I hope Mr. Wick got you into the house alright. Furthermore, I hope you're enjoying the manor. It's a truly special home, very old as you can tell. Treat it well, it's been in my family for generations."

Ruckus sits down next to Fixx.

"Well…" The professor continues, "If you are seeing this tape, and you have received my letters, then I have untimely met my demise. Please, whatever circumstances that led up to my passing are of no concern to you right now. If I'm correct, then my X-Men are taking care of all that. No, what I need from you is to remain secret if at all possible. You three are going to take care of things underground from now on. All threats to mutant and human relations are to be treated with the utmost of caution and care. Treat my dream as a doorway, but things must change. If you have to be aggressive, then be aggressive! I hate to say this, but sometimes actions must speak louder than words. Keep this in mind. I have taught you all well, but now you have to use the knowledge that you've gained over the years and put it to use. Please take care and know that I am grateful for all the work you've done. Good luck in all your endeavors and may the dream live on in all of you."

The tape ends and the three sit in silence.

"What do you think?" Joanna asks her teammates.

"I think he's right Joanna, dear. We have to be more aggressive if we want to get our point across." Fixx says.

"But isn't that totally defeating the purpose of 'peaceful co-existence between mutants and humans'. I mean, what was he talking about some actions speak louder than words?" Ruckus adds.

"He's saying that we've gotta be more pro-active! Look where the work of the x-men has gone so far. Every time they go out there to save humanity from another psycho with super powers they get spit on. I can see what Professor is getting at!" Fixx says.

"You may be right Fixx." Ruckus tells her.

Joanna stands, looming powerfully over Fixx and Ruckus. " Well, we can discuss this later. Let's just get settled in our rooms for now. Have either of you eaten breakfast yet?"

They vigorously shake their heads no.

"Then you are in for a real treat my friends. I'll go see what I can rustle up in the kitchen! Master chef Joanna Cargill is on deck now."

Joanna heads for the kitchen while Ruckus and Fixx go upstairs.

Fixx wanders around her new room. A plush, wood, canopy bed stands in the middle covered in white down comforters and pillows. She is hanging up the rest of her clothes in the closet when something catches her eye. A large vanity mirror hanging on the other side of the room sparks her interest.

"Well what have we here?" Fixx thinks as she admires herself. She primps her hair and smiles. Something doesn't feel right however. She steps back and waits. At first, her mind tells her that it isn't real. The image of her face twists in to an evil visage and laughs heartily. The booming laugh roars throughout the room and she screams.

"I see… I see..." Fixx mumbles, as she begins to compose herself. "There's more to this house then meets the eye..."

Fixx and Ruckus sit around the dark mahogany table, waiting for Joanna to emerge with their breakfast when a loud explosion from outside shakes the house at its core.

Unit Eleven hovers above the front yard of Coolridge manor. It can sense the mutants inside and watches as the three burst through the front doors.

"A Prime Sentinel, here? I thought they were all put off-line after that ZERO Tolerance fiasco?" Joanna says.

"I don't know Joanna, but this can not be good". Ruckus responds." Ready yourselves Factor-X, we're going into battle."

"THE MINUTEMEN"

by Anthony Bianco

Dressler County, Massachusetts
Coolridge Manor-

Five minutes ago, Ruckus was about to settle down to his first decent breakfast in two days. Then the explosion hit the front yard and he, Fixx, and Cargill ran out to meet face to face with a Prime Sentinel. And now, he stands side by side with his teammates, prepared to fight.

"Alright ya mechanical bastard, let's dance!" he says.

This was not how he wanted to spend his first morning in Massachusetts.

Unit Eleven hovers above the front lawn, watching the three mutants. He begins to read off their profiles in its database. He first focuses on Ruckus.

"Daniel Day, Alias Ruckus. Posses sonic manipulation abilities that are produced from the vocal chords."

Fixx leans over to Ruckus." How should we handle this?"

"We turn it into scrap metal, that's how" Ruckus tells her. " I want you to use your fairies and hold it in stasis. Meanwhile, Cargill and I will pound it into nothing."

"You think that'll work Ruckus?" Cargill cut in." I've seen these prime Sentinels in action. They have a way of adapting to any situation presented."

Unit Eleven now turns its focus on Cargill.

"Joanna Cargill, known Aliases as Frenzy. Posses super-strength, steel-hard skin, and superhuman endurance."

"It's gonna have to work Cargill. It's our only choice for now!" Ruckus says.

Unit Eleven's focus finally stops on Fixx.

"Unknown mutant. No data available."

"Fine then, let's do it!!" Cargill agrees as she balls up a large fist.

Ruckus motions to Fixx.

"Do your thing," he tells her.

Fixx smiles, "With pleasure." she says. The round, yellow and purple regulator on her forehead glows. Thousands of Fixx's white psionic fairies begin to pour out of the regulator and swarm around Unit Eleven's body. Unit Eleven tries to move, but Fixx's fairies hold it firmly in place.

"Got it!" Fixx tells them.

Ruckus and Cargill run over towards where Unit Eleven is floating. Cargill leaps up onto its metallic body and starts slamming her fists into its chest.

"Like that you mutant hunting trash?! There's more where that came from!!" Cargill yells in as her barrage of fists continues.

Ruckus closes his eyes and listens to the sounds of the ocean nearby. The waves crashing and receding on the rocks of the beach below rise up to meet his ears. He takes it all in and when he opens his eyes, they are flashing with a white light.

"Cargill get the hell outta the way!!" he yells to her.

Cargill jumps down off of the sentinel and dives behind a tree. Ruckus releases the sound of the ocean in a powerful scream that echoes in waves. The Sentinel's arms are cleanly blown out of their sockets. Bolts of electricity pop out of the wires dangling from the holes on the sides of Unit Eleven's body.

"ughnn..." Fixx moans, her telekinetic hold on the Sentinel weakening. "Ruckus I can't hold on for much longer. It's starting to resist!"

Ruckus rushes over to Fixx's side." Just hang on a little longer!" he says.

"I can't!!!..." Fix's hold is broken and the Dentinel is free. Unit Eleven floats up higher and then dives down towards the waiting mutants. It releases bolts of energy from its mouth that knock Ruckus and Fixx off balance. On the sentinel's way down, Cargill leaps on it's back and goes flying off with it, over the house and out over the cliff. She continues pounding into the Sentinel's back, leaving deep engravings as she does.

"We have to get Cargill off that Sentinel before it drops her off the cliff. I know she's resilient but that's a pretty steep fall, even for her!" Ruckus says to Fixx.

"If you can blast that thing again, I can float Joanna back here." Fixx says.

Ruckus nods his head in agreement, and the two run out to the backyard, in time to see Cargill and the Sentinel wavering dangerously in the air. Fixx releases more of her fairies, and sends them out towards Cargill. They float around her, and finally lift her up off of the Sentinel's back and high up into the air. Ruckus, using the sounds of the ocean as his source again, gathers his power and releases another momentous blast at the sentinel. This time, the blast takes off one of Unit Eleven's legs.

The Sentinel finally falters, and shuts down from the strain. It comes crashing down to earth, and lands on the back lawn. Fixx's fairies float Cargill down to her waiting teammates.

Ruckus, Fixx, and Cargill stand over the destroyed Sentinel.

"Could there be more?" Cargill asks searching the skies.

"Doubt it, they were known for attacking in groups," Ruckus says." This one was probably a rouge or one of the leftovers. Bastion had Zero Tolerance bases
located all over the country, but for the most part they were either shutdown completely or totally obliterated."

Fixx bends down to examine Unit Eleven's steaming head."I bet I could get the information stored in there. I'm a whiz with computers, and Charles had a few systems installed down in the cellar. I could download all its files and we could see where it came from. I think we should investigate and make sure there are no other stragglers that could pull another suprise like this again."

"Good idea Fixx. Let's get on it," Ruckus agrees.

An hour later, with the combined might of the team, they are able to dislodge the memory banks from the head of the Sentinel and bring them into the cellar of Coolridge manor, where a small computer station had been set up. Fixx begins hooking wires up to the memory banks, and downloading the undamaged files into their computers.

When the downloading is complete, the three teammates watch the computer screen flash with pieces of information. The Sentinel's databanks were set-up like the desktop of a computer, with different folders for different pieces of information. Fixx begins typing into the computer, searching for anything that could point them to the Sentinel's point of origin.

"I'm not seeing anything here, but protocol and mutant files," Fixx says.

"Are you sure? Can't find anything else?" Ruckus asks.

"Hang on," she says. "Let me access it's memory banks. That might show us where it came from."

Fixx gets into the memory files, and starts running video from the last few hours. It's in the first
person view of the sentinel, and they watch as it flies high over trees and water. She rewinds the tape further until she comes across the Sentinel's escape from the base. They see a shot of the base and the surrounding forest.

"I know that place!!" Joanna cuts in."Thats Cascade Forest, right on the Canadian border. I was stationed there for a few days, monitoring some mutant activity for Magneto. Of course that base belonged to the United States as far as I know. I'm guessing Bastion probably used it for housing Sentinels."

"Most likely," Ruckus says. " Well are we gonna check it out or what?"

"It would be wise to do so, although from these video images it looks pretty barren to me," Fixx says.

"Looks can be deceiving Fixx," Ruckus says.

"But how are we going to get there quickly? We surely are not going to drive all the way to the Canadian border are we?" Fixx asks.

Cargill smiles. " You don't think Xavier would leave us hanging like that would you?" she asks. "He left us a mini-jet. It's packed away in the cliff's edge, there's a hollow there for it's storage."

"Damn, that man knows how to set a team up!" Ruckus says.

Moments later, the three members of Factor-X were getting settled into the small jet. It seated about seven, including the pilot, and was a stealthy black color. Cargill, being the only person there with flying ability, sat down at the controls without a fight and prepared for take-off.

The jet rose up from it's resting place in it's hollow and into the afternoon sky. It then blasted off, heading for Cascade forest.

Cascade Forest, on the Canadian Border-

The small jet lands discreetly in an opening of trees, and Factor-X exits quickly. Fixx pulls out a high-tech compass and begins to calculate the distance between themselves and the base.

"It's just beyond those trees," Fixx says pointing east.

They walk until the large base comes into view. It's apparent that the place hasn't been inhabited for some time. The windows are broken, and the roof is missing in some places.

"What a piece of crap. How could anything possibly be left here?" Ruckus says.

"I doubt anything is left Ruckus. Let's check out the inside anyways," Fixx says.

The door they try to get in is stuck shut so Cargill rears back and knocks it off it's hinges.

"Careful Cargill. You could probably knock this whole building off it's base with another blow like that," Ruckus says to her with a smirk.

The inside of the base is littered with Prime Sentinel parts, and computers have been ripped from their consoles. The team walks in and starts looking around.

"I heard that these places were ransacked by S.H.I.E.L.D after Zero Tolerance ended," Ruckus says. " They did a damn good job of it too. This place is nothing more than a scrap heap."

"You can say that again. Nothing but sentinel parts for miles around," Cargill says.

Fixx is kneeling over a Prime Sentinel head when a worrisome feeling creeps up on her. She sends out a fairy towards Ruckus and it enters his head.

"Ruckus..." she says telepathically.

"Yeah?" he answers awkwardly. Telepathic speaking isn't one of his strong suites.

"I don't think we are alone here. Get Cargill, fast, we need to re-group."

Ruckus rushes over to Cargill, but before he can grab her shoulder a shot comes out of nowhere and knocks Ruckus to the ground. A man steps out of the shadows and menacingly stares at the three teammates. He is an older man, with long gray braids in his hair and a long, gray beard. The beard is streaked with red. The man is wearing a long dark coat and the large plasma rifle in his hand smokes from just being shot.

"Who the hell are you?" he asks gruffly.

"We were about to ask you the same thing!" Cargill says.

"What are you doing here?" the man continues, ignoring Cargill.

"We are investigating this base. What are you doing here?!" Cargill shoots back.

Fixx finally intervenes. "Enough! This is going nowhere." She faces the man. "Please, we don't want trouble, our motives here are simply investigative. I wouldn't push us if I were you, however. I don't think you'd like the outcome."

"Don't underestimate me lady. You may be the one who doesn't like the outcome. But in the sake of interest fine, the name is Gregor, Gregor Fox. An I'm here cause' I'm waiting to kill some dangerous folks. I'd suggest you leave before they get here." Gregor motions to the door, but the team is unmoving.

Ruckus jumps to his feet, " You shot me you bastard. You're lucky I don't blow your head off right here!"

"Settle down Ruckus," Fixx says. She turns to Gregor. " Fine. Whatever, we'll be off. We're done here anyways--..."

Fixx is cut off when a large white orb hits the roof of the building. Rubble falls into the base and the team and Gregor turn to watch as a group of men jump down. There are four men, one of them very large, and they are dressed in army fatigues.

When Gregor sees them, he steps forward, gun poised to shoot. " I knew you'd come."

One of the men in front steps forward. He has spiky black hair, a patch over his right eye, and his left eye is a gold colour. There is a small cross engraved into the gold eye. The man is holding a large gun and he smiles devilishly. He acknowledges Gregor.

"Well now that you do, traitor, why don't you stand still so we can hurt you very, very badly."

"I don't think so Notch!" Gregor says charging his plasma gun.

The men step forward, while Notch continues to speak.

"We simply wanted to do our job, but you have to come and make it hard for us. Why Gregor, why? You know we're doing this for the future of the America, so why stand in our way?"

"Because your idea of the future for this country is nothing but a nightmare, a large genetic nightmare. And if I have to, I'm gonna stop you one by friggin' one!!" Gregor yells.

"What is this all about?" Fixx thinks.

Suddenly a man steps out from behind Notch. The man wears a circular white helmet and large orbs of white light glow atop his hands.

"Well I guess we're just going to have to stop you first, eh comrade?"

"Yeah Saint, I guess you are!" Gregor says.

The men start to close in on Gregor when Ruckus, Fixx and Cargill step up.

"Hey, G.I. Joe's!" Ruckus calls. " Four against one just isn't fair. Why don't we even up the odds a bit?!"

A look of surprise crosses Gregor's face, but quickly turns to graciousness. Silently, relief fills his body.

"And who are you three?" Notch asks.

"We're Factor-X, and you'd do well to never forget it," Cargill responds.

"Okay, that'll be enough. Minutemen kill them! Project X must be preserved!" Notch says.

Saint flies up into the air towards the computers on a far wall. He pops open the casing and pulls out a small computer.

"Notch I'll have the information we seek in mere moments!"

"Splendid!" Notch calls over. He motions to the other two men standing with him."Casket! Sharpe! Hold off these pathetic bastards until Saint is finished."

Sharpe, a man that looms at about six feet tall, and is built like a concrete wall steps forward with a grin.

"With pleasure, sir," he growls.

"I'll take this one." Cargill chimes in. "I've faced Colossus up close and personal, and this guy couldn't hold a candle to him, I'm sure."

She runs up to Sharpe and slams her fists into his tough exterior. Sharpe is knocked over, but he quickly gets to his feet and grabs Cargill by the neck. He lunges her across the room, and she lands in a pile of Sentinel parts.

"You're gonna regret hitting me girlie!!" he says through gritted teeth, as he lumbers over towards Cargill.

Ruckus grimaces. "Dammit! Fixx, I'll help Cargill. You get the other guy!" he says running over towards Sharpe.

Fixx focuses on the other man standing near Notch. He is shirtless, revealing metal parts where human skin should be. It runs across his shoulder and down one arm. His fingertips are crude looking claws. There is a sick look of enjoyment on his face as he slowly pounces toward Fixx.

"C'mon sweet thing," he hisses."Casket is gonna show you what pain is."

"I don't think so," Fixx responds. She releases her psionic fairies and they envelop Casket, lifting him into the air. One of the fairies enters into his head. Casket screams as Fixx begins to probe his mind.

Gregor charges his plasma rifle and lets a few shots off at Notch. Notch ducks out of the way and returns a couple shots of his own.

"You won't win this Notch!" Gregor screams, as he ducks down behind a table.

"Sir, I have retrieved the files!" Saint calls.

Notch smiles.

"I already have won Gregor! Be seeing you! Minutemen we are leaving now!"

Sharpe backhands Ruckus and sends him to his knees. As he pummels his way towards Notch. Saint releases a few light blasts at Fixx, and the distraction makes her drop Casket. A small jet hovers over the hole in the ceiling, and the Minutemen climb up a ladder and disappear into it.

Gregor shoots at the jet but it is gone already. "Dammit! Goddammit!"

Fixx clambers over to Gregor. "Who were they?" she asks with a huff.

Gregor's eyes flashed with anger as he brushed himself off. "They are part of a special government program called Project X. It was originally a military organization that were focused on creating super soldiers by drug enhanced means. However, not long after they discovered that mutant DNA would allow for these super soldiers to have all kinds of abilities,
and make them perfect for battle. So these mutant/human hybrids were born."

"Jesus Christ. The government is allowing this?" Ruckus asks. He walks over with Cargill.

"Heh, you better believe it! In fact, they want a whole unit of these soldiers before next year! That's why I was here today!" Gregor says.

"Why?" Cargill asks.

"Notch and his boys, they are the most successful creations of Project X so far. They came here because this facility has information, from Zero Tolerance, on mutants all over the country. With it they have an unlimited amount of mutant resource, and thousands of innocent mutants will be slaughtered because of it! I was supposed to stop them. I escaped the Project X base with my life and parts intact, but I couldn't let it happen to anyone else!"

"And we won't!" Fixx says. " Gregor, we're gonna stop this together. Come with us, back to our manor. We can re-group and then we can go after Project X at the source."

Gregor stops and considers this for a moment. " I'll need all the help I can get. Yes, I will go with you, Fixx."

"WINNING ISN'T EVERYTHING"

by Anthony Bianco

On the Outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada

The members of Factor-X and thier newly aquired acquiantance,Gregor Fox, sat quietly contemplating thier next move. It was no more than twenty fours hours ago they were facing off after mutant enhanced soldiers calling themselves the Minutemen. Now they were here in Las Vegas, preparing for what was to become a seek and destroy mission.

The plan was simple enough. Find the Project X headquarters, infiltrate, and blow to kingdom come. It seems easy at first glance, but there is a layer of complication spread across it's glossy surface. The last time Factor-X went up against the Minutemen, they
were taken down. The reason—the Minutemen had the element of surprise and the unknown on thier side. In a way they still did. The team wasn't fully aware of thier powers and even now an air of nervousness hung over them.

"Are you sure about this Gregor? A casino?" Cargill asked skeptically.

Gregor Fox wiped a spot off of his plasma rifle and snorted.

"Not the casino itself. There are lower levels, deep below the ground, where they do all the testing and whatnot."

"We cant just blow up a casino," Fixx said sternly. "There are hundreds of people inside at almost any given time. We will not shed innocent blood."

"Why not?" Gregor retorted rebelliously. "We all gotta do right by the greater good
sometimes, miss. It won't be a problem if a few hundred die to save a few million, ya know what I mean?"

Ruckus turned to look at Gregor.

"That attitude will get your ass nowhere. When Fixx says we won't spill innocent blood, she speaks for all of us. As leader of this team, I'm telling you we will find some way to get all those people out."

"I ain't a member of this team pinky, so you can't tell me nothing," Gregor growled. "You'd do best to remember that!"

The cockpit fell silent.

Somewhere deep below ground

The man called Notch tossed a pack of cards at the head of fellow Minuteman, Casket. He winced at the pain and rubbed his head.

"What the hell you do that for?" he barked.

Notch smiled. "Shut up, man! Get them open so we can play blackjack. I got a lucky streak going and I feel like taking all your money from ya."

Beneath the Rhinestone Casino, not very well known throughout the city, the team of government enhanced soldiers and thier leader made thier home. The levels housed the inner workings of the covert military operation known as "Project X".

Sharpe, a hulking beast of man, plowed into the ready room red-faced and wild-eyed. When he spotted his field leader Notch, he grabbed him by the collar and lifted him into the air. "You bastard! You're the one who did this to me!! I'll kill you!!!"

Notch tried to speak, but his words caught in his throat and only a hissing sound could be heard. Casket quickly jumped to his feet and tried to grab Sharpe's attention. "Put him down, Sharpe!! What did Notch do?"

"HE SENTENCED ME TO DEATH! THAT'S WHAT HE DID!! HE SENTENCED ME TO DEATH!"

Those words began rolling off of Sharpe's tongue like a mantra, steadily growing in
urgency and power.

And just as quickly as Sharpe had snapped, he was put down. There was a bright flash of light and a howl of pain from the large soldier. He fell to the ground, motionless. Casket turned to face Saint standing in the doorway. Saint's hands were steaming from the orb's of white light he had released and if he weren't wearing the white helmet, you could almost swear he was smiling.

Casket's face twisted in rage. "You killed him. You killed sharpe! When the leader finds out, you're so finished!"

"I highly doubt that," Saint said with a hint of joy in his voice. "Sharpe was dead weight and this operation will not tolerate uselessness. Besides, I was given the order to kill him."

"Given...the orders?" Casket was stunned.

Notch lifted his head up from off of the floor where he lay and rubbed at his beat red throat.

"Yep.." he began hoarsley, "...that idiot did nothing but slow us down. The Leader saw that, didn't you Leader?"

Behind Saint stood the man they knew only as Leader. For someone in his sixties, he looked as vital and as healthy as any twenty year old on the street. His dark gray uniform was outlined with a black trim and adorned with gold buttons down the front. He, too, wore a wicked smile and as he stepped into the room his bald head nodded in agreement with Notch's words.

"Indeed I did Notch, indeed I did. If you have a problem with this Casket I'm sure you wouldn't mind sharing with the rest of us?" Leader asked menacingly.

Casket favored his life so he remained silent.

"Just as I thought." Leader's smile faded and his face became stoney and serious. "Now my boys, we must begin work on opening the files you uncovered from the Sentinel Base into our computers. I want to begin the mutant hunt as soon as possible.And just remember, we are on a time frame so I suggest you get to work immediately."

Leader left the remaining Minutemen in silence.

Saint crossed his arms. "Thats my cue comrades. I'll be working on the computers in the lab while you remain here, playing cards and losing your money. I'll be elevating my status while you sit here and remain useless."

"Fuck off Saint. Go brownnose somewhere else!" Casket spat.

As Saint stepped out the door he turned to face Notch and Casket. "I'd be careful. You wouldn't want to end up like Sharpe here. Speaking of wich, you might want to clean him up. He's gonna start to smell soon."

Rhinestone Casino-oustide, nearby

Factor-X gathered closely in an alley outside the Rhinestone Casino. The sun had gone down several hours before and the bright lights of Vegas brilliantly lit up the night. Clocks everywhere teetered on three a.m. and the city still bussled busily. However, at that moment the Rhinestone casino's lights went out.

"Perfect," Ruckus mused. "Now's our chance to get in there."

"How did you know they would close at this hour?" Gregor asked.

"I didn't. Fixx used her fairies."

"So lets go over this one more time." Cargill said.

"Right," Fix began. "We get in there and plant the bomb. Place goes boom. No more Project-X."

Cargill chuckled. "Seems easy enough, right?"

"It always seems easy enough," Fixx replied. "Now let's go."

Cargill pryed open a nearby door and the group headed swiftly inside the casino.

Lower Levels

"SIR!" Saint called. "We have a security breach in the upper level. A mutant team we've encountered before, calling themselves Factor-X and the traitor have entered the casino."

Leader smiled.

"So, Gregor has come home. It's fitting he should die where he was created."

"What would you have us do, sir?" Notch asked.

"Annihilate the mutants and bring gregor to me. I'll kill him myself."

Upper Levels-The Casino

In a flash all the lights in the Casino switched on and the team was caught off gaurd. The three remaining Minutemen appeared.

"Hello again, comrades," Saint said as he raised a glowing orb above his head. " We're the welcoming committe."

"As in welcome to your death," Notch added.

"Ha ha. You folks are clever, but the only ones who are finished here are you," Gregor responded, firing shots from his plasma rifle. They just barely missed taking off Casket's head.

Cargill and Ruckus joined the fray. Fixx disappeared into the lower the levels of the Casino where she placed the bomb in an empty corrider.

Ruckus let out a peircing bang, stored up from Gregor's earlier blast. Saint was knocked out of the air and as he was released a blast of energy at him. Ruckus was knocked off of his feet also.

Cargill grabbed Notch and began to pummel in his face. She lifted him into the air and threw him across the room. Gregor powered up his rifle and let out a blast at Notch's flailing body. That was the end of Notch.

Casket joined the fight and dug his claws into Cargill's back.

"That's all you've got little soldier?" she asked as she reached around and grabbed his neck. He let out a choking laugh

"No."

He slashed at Cargill's eyes and she let him go with a scream. She fell to her knees and held her face.

"Cargill!" Ruckus yelled. He dashed behind Casket and released Cargill's scream at the highest decibel he could manage. That was the last thing Casket heard as his eardrums exploded.

Fixx burst into the main room. "The bomb is planted! Let's move it folks!"

"Not so fast, miss." Saint said throwing an orb of light at her. Fixx's fairies sorrounded the orb and sent it back at Saint. It hit him and dissappeared. "My own power won't work against me, Fixx."

"Actually, I was just getting the fairies to surround you," Fixx said.

"What?!" Saint gasped as he was lifted into the air and catapulted out of a window.

Fixx returned her attention to Ruckus and Cargill. Cargill was now blind in one eye and Ruckus was trying to nurse it.

"Guys lets get out of here! Where's Gregor?" Fixx asked looking around.

"Who knows? Lets just get Cargill out of here. She is hurt pretty badly!" Ruckus said. "You have the remote for the bomb right?"

Fixx checked her pocket. But instead of finding the remote she pulled out a small, white slip of paper. "What the hell?"

It read: "Fixx, I've gone to find the leader and make sure he is finished myself. I have
the remote for the bomb. If you're reading this then you need to exit the building now. Tell the rest of the team I said thanks.-Gregor"

"Fixx?" Ruckus called.

"It's taken care of Ruckus. Lets get out of here!"

Factor-X quickly exited the Casino and rushed far across the street. At that moment the Rhinestone Casino exploded.

Later

The team assembled back into their jet.

"Stay still Joanna, this will only hurt a bit." Ruckus said as he bandaged up Cargill's left eye. "Luckily it wasn't taken out. It'll need time to heal but i think you'll be alright."

"I don't think this is going to work guys," Fixx said.

"What? The bandage? It should be on pretty tight, I think," Ruckus said.

"No, not the bandage. Us. This team. I don't think we're gonna work out," Fixx said grimly.

Cargill nodded slowly. " I think you're right. Look at us. We're not a team. We were thrown together because everyone else was too busy."

" I don't think the Professor knew what he was doing when he picked us to do this. I know that I've got responsibilities elsewhere in the world, and they don't involve being in some "covert" group of mutants who wish they were the X-Men," Fixx said. "I think it would be best if we just went back to the manor and then went our seperate ways."

"I..." Ruckus started. "I enjoyed working together, but this is not for me right now. I've got a life that needs my tending right now. If there are threats the other teams will surely have a hold on it."

"So then it's agreed? We go back to the Manor, and then we go our seperate ways?" Fixx asked.

Cargill and Ruckus nodded.

"Fine. Hang on, then, cause we're getting out of here," Fixx said as the jet began to stir beneath them.

The jet took off towards the Manor in Massachusetts and to whatever life that lie ahead for the members of Factor-X.