NOTE: This issue takes place before the events in Generation X #1

Kitty Pryde stripped off her blue and gold X-Men uniform, throwing it to the corner, and stepped into the shower. As the X-Man known as Shadowcat, she had the ability to phase through solid objects, as well as people.

She sighed as the warm water ran down her body. It felt good to relax. Professor Xavier has been working them nonstop ever since they returned from the Arctic. Magneto was now in control of Genosha, and Joseph, Magneto's clone, was dead.

It's not like she could really express any true regret, since she never met the man. But still, he was an X-Man. And that was more than enough to mourn his passing. Worst yet, he was just a copy of Magneto.

She had heard a lot about him. And she could tell that he meant a lot to Rogue. He also represented the man Magneto might've become had he not become so embittered with rage.

It all seemed so unreal. And now that the Professor was working them harder than ever, it really made her wonder if Kurt, Peter, and her had made the right decision by returning to the X-Men after Excalibur disbanded.

The thing that concerned her most was the Professor. Everyone was worried about him. Out of everyone who had attended Joseph's funeral, fifteen X-Men remained--Storm, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Marrow, and herself--who had essentially been the X-Men up to this point. The others who had stayed were Cyclops, Phoenix, Beast, Iceman, Angel, Psylocke, and Quicksilver. It actually didn't seem that bad when she thought about it. This way, perhaps the Professor would be able to calm down a little bit and let the X-Men take care of things for a while. Like they had been ever since he left in the wake of the Onslaught crisis.

Although no one would admit it, the feelings were all mutual throughout the mansion.

Everyone was afraid that Onslaught was returning.

Psylocke leapt through the air, driving her psychic knife into one of her attackers. Another came up behind her. She instantly turned, cutting him down to size with her katana. The mark of the Crimson Dawn glowed brightly over her left eye.

More of them came at her. No time to get out of harm's way. The Crimson Dawn mark glowed ever brighter as she slipped into a shadow portal she created.

"Wow, what great form."

"Watch it, Hank," Warren Worthington III, otherwise called Angel, warned. "She's mine."

"Calm down, my aerial ally," the Beast replied. "You know I'm just kidding around."

"Well, Professor?" Cyclops asked, ignoring his two old friends. "What do you think?"

"I think it's too risky to place Psylocke on active duty," Xavier replied. "After she used her powers to contain the Shadow King*, I'm worried that she may be risking releasing him by using her telepathic abilities. I'm amazed she was able to use her psychic knife just now."

(* back in Marvel's Psi-War storyline - Dino)

"So far she seems to be doing fine," Warren said. "She's handling herself against these simulations pretty well. Professor, you don't think that the Shadow King will be returning anytime soon, do you? The danger isn't that great, is it?"

"Unfortunately, it is," Xavier said.

"So far, her thought patterns have remained normal," Hank interjected. "I believe that minor use of her powers, such as using her psychic knife, or light mental scans, won't be enough to release him."

"It could be a malfunction," Xavier said. "Right now, it's too risky to put Psylocke on active duty. She is to remain with me in the Mansion while I try to purge the Shadow King from her mind."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Cyclops asked.

"Are you questioning my authority, Scott?" he asked.

"Not to be disrespectful sir, but yes," Cyclops replied, the light reflecting off the ruby-quartz lens of his visor. "There's the risk that during your therapy, the Shadow King could possess you. And it would be much more difficult to--"

"If the Shadow King is able to posses me," Xavier began. "Then I expect my X-Men to react in kind. You held back when I became Onslaught. If you hold back like that again, it will be the death of us all."

"Professor, are you sure you're--"

"I'm fine, Warren," he snapped. "I want you to take a run through the Danger Room, next."

Warren looked to Scott for support. The X-Men's field leader shrugged.

"Warren--I'm waiting."

Marrow waded through the sewers that were once her home. Although she no longer had to live here among the other Morlocks, she still felt the need to return to her roots at times.

Something didn't seem right, though. It felt as though she were being--followed?

She disregarded it as paranoia and continued on.

A sound.

Marrow spun around, drawing bone daggers from her back.

Another sound.

She glanced around, constantly on alert.

"Ahh, my dear Sarah. How valuable you shall be to me."

"Who's there?"

"I am your salvation."

She looked to see a--creature walking out from the shadows. He was somewhat humanoid, but covered with gray fur. His hair was short and curved up, almost like ears.

"Beast?" Marrow asked. "What the hell game are you playing this time?"

"Such a simple-minded girl," he said, with a grin. "No, I am not the Beast--rather, not the Beast YOU know. I am simply known as McCoy. My associates and I have an offer that you quite simply can't refuse."

"Well, you can take yer offer and shove it up yer furry ass!!" Marrow exclaimed. "I'm not interested. If you've got an objection, here's the complaint department."

She grinned as she brought her daggers up.

"Such passion, such rage," McCoy said. "You simply are too good to be true. But I digress."

He snapped his fingers.

A concussive blast hit her in the back. The last thing Marrow saw was McCoy, grinning at her. Then, it all went black.

Quicksilver raced across the Mansion grounds for what felt like the hundredth time. While he stayed here after his wife Crystal seemingly sacrificed herself to destroy Onslaught, he had become quite familiar with the layout of the Mansion. There was not really much to do right now. He was unbelievably bored.

"Pietro!! Report to the Danger Room immediately!!"

Quicksilver stopped short.

"Xavier... in my head..."

He turned and raced towards the Danger Room.

Xavier felt a gust of wind blow past him.

"Not bad," he said. "But you could have been faster."

"Is that the only reason you asked me here?" Pietro asked, folding his arms across his chest. "Simply to time me?"

"You have no idea how much you resemble your father," Xavier said, looking over the control panel.

"I have a good enough, idea," Pietro coldly replied. "But that's not something I prefer to discuss. Why did you call me here, Xavier? Your message sounded urgent."

"I believe the time has come to evaluate your skills in the Danger Room," Xavier replied. "During your brief stay in the Mansion, I was not around to test you. So now, I believe the time has come."

"I have spent my entire life training," Pietro said. "I require no more. Nor do I need you to 'evaluate' me."

"You wanted to become an X-Man, Pietro," Xavier said. "And as one of my X-Men, you will abide by the rules all my X-Men abide to."

"You don't own me, Xavier," Pietro replied.

"I am the instructor here," Xavier snapped. "And you are in dire need of testing. Welcome to my world, Quicksilver."

Gambit leaned against the wall of the Mansion, watching Rogue hovering there in the air.

Joseph touched her--in a way Remy never could. He still recalls the day he saw Joseph hovering outside of Rogue's bedroom window and challenged him to a "no powers" fight. Rogue wasn't too pleased.

Now, he was gone. Absorbed into the Earth's EM field.

"Y'know Cajun, ya can't keep pretendin'."

Gambit looked over to Wolverine, squatting by his side. He was decked out in his old brown and gold uniform.

"Goin' back t' old threads, no?" he asked.

Wolverine shrugged.

"Don't matter much," he said. "You been tryin' ta avoid her. Don't take hypersenses ta notice that."

"Remy don' t'ink you de best person to confide in."

"Fine with me, Cajun," Wolverine said. "No skin off my nose."

He turned to walk off when he almost ran into Cyclops.

"Gambit, I've been looking for you," he said.

"Why's dat, Summers?" Gambit asked.

"The Professor wants you in the Danger Room," Cyclops replied. "It's time for your evaluation."

"Den dat's jes' too bad," Gambit said. "My whole life's been a Danger Room. Don' need some old guy ta tell me how t' use my powers."

"Look, I know the Professor has been on edge lately," Scott said. "But you have to realize--"

"'--that we need ta give 'em space, and not make things worse,'" Wolverine interjected. "We've already heard this speech, One-Eye. All it means is that the old man's off his rocker."

"Look, you should just realize that this kind of stress should be dealt with light--"

"X-Men, report to the War Room immediately!!"

"That's the Professor!" Scott exclaimed.

"An' f'r once it ain't de Danger Room..." Gambit muttered under his breath.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Phoenix asked.

"There's a new threat we must face," Xavier replied. "We're missing someone. Where's Marrow?"

"Sarah frequently leaves without explanation," Storm explained. "She's probably visiting the Morlocks."

"Very well," Xavier said. "The thirteen of you will be suitable for this mission."

"Thirteen?" Iceman asked. "I think you miscounted, Prof. There are fourteen X-Men here."

"True," Xavier replied. "But Psylocke is not currently on active duty."

"What do you mean?" Psylocke asked. "Why are you keeping me off the team?"

"Use of your psychic powers risks a resurface of the Shadow King," Xavier said. "You are to remain here in the Mansion with me while we try to purge him from the confines of the prison you created for him."

Psylocke looked around at the rest of the team. No one said anything. Her eyes fell on Angel, her lover.

He shrugged. There wasn't anything he could do.

"Here is the problem," Xavier said. "There is a group of mutants terrorizing downtown Manhattan. It was just shown on this news broadcast a few minutes ago."

He pressed a button on a console and an image came on the large screen. The screen was fuzzy, and the reporter's voice could barely be made out. But one thing was for sure--there were mutants behind this attack.

Xavier turned off the monitor.

"That's when the transmission was lost," he said. "I expect you to be there as soon as possible."

Cyclops looked to the other X-Men.

"All right," he said. "We have a job to do, so let's get down to it."

"Wait a minute."

The entire team looked over to the man who spoke those words.

"Is there something you have to add, Warren?" Xavier asked.

"Yeah," he said, his eyes locked with Psylocke's. "I don't think it would be best to leave you and Betsy here alone. There's a chance the Shadow King could posses you. And then we're all in trouble."

"Warren is correct," Storm said. "It would be a better idea."

"We might as well split up the team then," Cyclops said. "Jean, Warren, Rogue, Hank, and Kitty will stay here with Psylocke and the Professor. Ororo, Logan, Kurt, Peter, Bobby, Remy, and Pietro will come with me."

McCoy watched the Blackbird departed from the Xavier Institute on one of the many monitors he had set up around his subterranean lair. Deep within the Morlock tunnels.

It was child's play to set up a working laboratory.

"Hey, lemme out of here!!" his captive demanded.

McCoy grinned, stiffening a chuckle. He turned to face her. She was clamped down on an examination table, a large light above her. There was a device on her head which was attached to some machinery.

"Well, my dear Marrow," he began. "I won't be doing that just yet. You see, while my associates handle your so-called 'friends,' I will be enlightening you. I shall shine light on the darkness of the Mutant Massacre, when the Marauders slaughtered the Morlocks."

"I know enough about that," Marrow said with a growl.

"Ahh, but do you know the whole truth?" McCoy asked. "For the truth involves your fellow teammate. Remy LeBeau, otherwise known as Gambit."

McCoy turned to his computer set-up, typing in a few commands on the keyboard. An image of Gambit came up on one of the monitors.

"That device on your cranium can extract images from your mind," he said. "Now, shall we begin the truth-telling?"

The Blackbird landed effortlessly on the ground. Within minutes, the X-Men debarked, prepared to face their new threat.

"Cyke, these mutants..."

"I know, Logan," Cyclops replied. "I recognize them, too."

"Well, well, well," one of the mutants said, turning to face the X-Men. "Looks like the boss was right."

He was dressed in a yellow and red uniform with what appeared to be a gas tank strapped to his back. He wore a mask with red goggles.

"Pyro!!" Wolverine exclaimed, his bone claws extending.

"An' company, runt!!" an obese man exclaimed.

"The Blob too," Storm observed.

Another man, in a white shirt and black pants, with what appeared to be branch-like fingers, turned towards the X-Men.

"Isn't this ironic?" Black Tom Cassidy asked with a grin, his left eye glowing red. "Well, you already recognize the Blob and Pyro. Also along for the ride is the Toad, Avalanche, Random and Fatale. We're the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!!"

Looks like McCoy is back stirring up trouble, and this time, he's targeting Marrow!! Be here in 30 days to see what he has planned as well as the X-Men vs the All-New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!! Also, check out Uncanny X-Men #2 for more on the Shadow King!!