"Addison, a word," Cyclops said as the jet headed back to the Institute and the Grey King nodded and linked the two of them psionically.

~What was that all about?~ Scott said. ~I was expecting something a little more confrontational~

~You've brought me and my people here for a purpose. I'll keep the peace, and I'll do it my way. It's what you hired me for~

~You tweaked the thoughts of Hank, Alison and Sam~

~And you'd have done the same. Remember what you said to me when you contacted me? That once upon a time Charles Xavier would use his powers to alter impressions, make people forget and do what he had to do? I'm doing the same. You want a fight with the others, I'll get them back for you and you can slug it out to your heart's content. I just thought we had better things to do here~

~Don't do that again without my permission~ Cyclops said. ~Remember who's in charge here~

~Oh, I do,~ said Addison. ~And you remember that we're here to make the hard choices~ He glanced at Emma Frost. ~But you know that already, don't you?~

~Yes~ Cyclops answered.

~They're not going to buy your excuses forever as to why she's here, and they're certainly not going to buy what you're planning to do with me and the rest of my people~

~It's not a case of buying it or not~ said Cyclops. ~It's a case of them doing what I tell them to do. Magma, Radius, Emma... they'll be fine. Jubilation, though may be a problem~

~She's an interesting one~ Addison said. ~There's a lot of anger and rage in her. She may kill the White Queen, given half a chance~

~Which is why we're not going to give it to her... May kill her?~ He had seen the anger in Jubilee's eyes and he had known that when she had exploded Emma's hand it was to show her that she could get her any time she wanted and Emma would never know when or where it would happen. It gave Jubilation the power over her, the power Emma had taken away when she had killed Paige.

~She's got the anger, she's got the will to do it and she's got the capability~ Addison answered ~But there's something else, something I can't quite pinpoint~

~Interesting~ Scott mused as he looked at her. They were his X-Men, for what he had in mind and there was a lot to do, which meant he had to get back to the matter at hand. He didn't like the Grey King, or his methods, but he needed him to do certain things, things Cerebro had set up, things the X-Men couldn't do. ~So, tell me about the people you've recruited...~

I could kill her. Quickly, easily.

Killing's always easy, girl, the shade said to her. Logan teach you anything?

He told me about revenge, about the need to avenge those you care about.

He also told you other things as well, that you're not him. I owe him enough to keep an eye on you, and other reasons as well.

What if I don't want to be one of the Chaste?

Who said you got to choose? You thought any of what's happened in your life is coincidence? Consider how you found the X-Men, how the portal was opened just long enough for you to go to Australia. The role you played in Hong Kong with the Mandarin. How you were one of the ones who turned the tide in Genosha in a small way? What about being there for when Xavier had the use of his legs after the assassination attempt by Stryfe? Your adventures with Wolverine and how you kept his mind off things as he healed when he had the adamantium ripped from his body? You were there for Illyana when she was dying of the Legacy Virus, you faced Sabretooth and survived, you faced the Phalanx and made it through, you were a prisoner of Bastion and you got away from him, something even Xavier was unable to accomplish. You saved the X-Men's lives that day, and you know it.

It's all been planned?

Guided. That's the purpose of the Path, Jubilation. Gateway knew it all the way back then, and I'm seeing it now, girl. Don't give in to the anger, the death because that's how you lose yourself. Remember Onslaught, remember Magneto. Logan's fought the need to kill all his life. He's not a cold-blooded murderer. He has been, but he's not that way.

I don't like the idea of being destined for something.

Sucks to know there's no control, doesn't it? I'm gonna show you the ways of the Chaste, the teachings, but if you kill her, then you'll have betrayed everyone and everything you've ever believed in and who believed in you. You're going to be an X-Man, Jubilation Lee, possibly the greatest of any of the X-Men, greater than Xavier himself.

I'm scared. What if I'm not good enough?

Fear's good. Keep's you alive. That's the second lesson.

So what'd do I call you? Sensei? Master?

Stick's good enough.

"I can't believe Alpha Flight hasn't asked for this back," said Jared Corbo as he handled the controls of the jet. He'd been trained to fly it by Department H and he knew this was the one that had been stolen by Elektra a little while ago.

"That's Canada for you," said Allison. "Never in the mood to start anything."

"Don't count on it, sweetheart," Jared said, and flashed her a smile, but she shook her head.

"You'll need to be a much better type of man," she said. "I go for a certain type..."

"How is Empath these days?" Emma chimed in and Magma tightened. When she had believed herself to be Amara she had fallen for Empath, but on discovering her life was a lie and she was not the daughter of a hidden Greek village, but an woman from England who had been used, she had left him, believing that if her life was a lie, then her love was a lie as well. She'd come to realise how wrong she was but Empath had met someone else, gotten over her and she had nothing.

"I wouldn't know," she said, her voice cold and Emma smiled. These children were easy to manipulate, that was certain and she would find a way to free herself from this devil's bargain that she had made with Cyclops. Sean's Agency was not the benevolent organisation he was leading people to believe. What they had done to her... she had been sued before and she was not adverse to using her body to gain power, but she had thought that Sean had cared about her, once at any rate.

Apparently not.

So when Cyclops had given her the chance to join the X-Men, she had been cool, calm and she knew it was her only chance to get out, but what he wanted from her was as much the same as what the Agency wanted, just in a different guise. They wanted her body, he wanted her mind, her contacts, her ability to get in to places that he could not, and all the while keeping her on a very tight leash. She had not been formally charged with any crimes, because the Agency were not... an open organisation and as such her reputation was still clear. Cyclops was no fool, he knew he couldn't trust her but he had found a way to control her, and as soon as she removed that obstacle, then things would change. The X-Man was playing with fire and sooner or later he was going to get burned.

Then there was Jubilation and as she thought of her, she rubbed her hand that she had forced to recrystalise. That was one of the few things the Agency had been good for, examining her and putting her powers to the test. But Jubilation... she was strong, powerful. Emma had seen the potential of her abilities long ago, and had considered her for the Hellions, but she had lost track of the young mallrat before she'd had chance, and when she had resurfaced she was with the X-Men.

Jubilation Lee was determined, had a keen brain and her powers, though originally small in scale had the potential to be so much more, and Emma had always hated that about Xavier's, that they didn't make students all they could be. How long had it taken Iceman to realise what he truly was? Jean Grey had been the first to realise her potential and she had been assaulted by her own, and that seemed to be Xavier's way - be powerful, but not too powerful. In her opinion, that was why he had died. A telepath assassinated? Especially after what had happened with Stryfe? Xavier had been a fool.

However, he was gone and that was that and Emma knew that Jubilee was the biggest threat to her of any of these new X-Men. She knew her better than she knew anyone else on the team, better than most people would ever know her, but she could not read her and not for the first time she missed her psionic abilities. She would have to deal with the young woman at some point, to show her that it was Emma Frost was not someone you could intimidate without reprisals. Yes, she would bide her time, find out what was going on see how she could use it. She was no longer the White Queen in name, but she would always be the White Queen in nature.

"We're about to reach the Institute," said Radius, letting the others know they were almost home.

"Thanks," said Cyclops. The fight with Juggernaut had been too easy, and it wasn't as satisfying as some of their other confrontations had been, but that was beside the point. The real test of his X-Men came now.

Gateway watched as the jet appeared on the horizon and he nodded. Stick was doing his part, as were all the others. Elektra was out there, trying to make sense of things but it was not her job to make sense of things. That was Gateway's task. He knew what was happening, what would happen, how things could play out and he sat there, silently.

Things were coming together, falling in to place. They would all be ready for the approaching storm. Everything was starting to work out just as he wanted.

Toad looked at himself in the reflection on the surface of the lake. He had no idea about himself, about where he was, about what he was? He didn't know how he'd gotten to the hospital, why he was there. He had jumped, covering vast distances until he was certain he was safe and free, and now he rested, regaining his sense of self, as much as he could.

Questions plagued him, words haunted him. Brotherhood, mutant, Magneto… He closed his eyes, trying to focus on what it all meant and he found he couldn't. Whatever had happened to him had been terrible and profound to enact such a loss of memory. All he had was his name.

But what kind of name was Toad, he wondered? What kind of man was he? He wished he knew, that he could tell what was going on, but there was one thing that plagued him more than the other questions combined.

Why was it that when he saw his face he didn't recognise the man staring back...

"Now," said Cyclops, as he looked around the war room at his assembled X-Men, all in their civilian clothing. "We did well out there today, and I'm pleased, but Addison ensured it was a little too easy for us." Falk shrugged his shoulders. "So don't expect it to be that easy again."

"There a point to this, boss?" asked Jared.

"Yes," said Cyclops. "The first thing we're going to talk about is the mission of the X-Men. That means I talk, you listen."

"Now wait a minute…" started Jubilee and an optic blast flashed by her shoulder.

"What did I just say?" Scott said. "I talk, you listen. I don't have the advantages Charles did, knowing what was in our heads, being two steps ahead. I'm just trained by him to do the best I can, and I know what to do."

"We're listening, Scott," Emma said and Cyclops nodded.

"The world's in a mess," Cyclops said. "It was pointed out to me recently just how badly I've let things slide since Charles' death. Every problem has been a crisis, and I've let the tensions get to me and for a little while they shut me down. The X-Men stopped being X-Men when they split in to two factions. Alpha cannot exist without Omega, and they cannot work separated. Omega's gone now, so is Alpha and there were no X-Men." He paused to look at them all, and he could see that he had their attention.

"So now I'm starting again. You are the first of the next generation of X-Men, a new breed of X-Men for a new era. Our old enemies have become lessened. Magneto rules a country and has no time for the actions of old. Apocalypse is dead. Exodus trains mutants. The Hellfire Club has become a pale shadow of what it was. There are few left but they're nothing compared to the others."

"The X-Men have to change as well. In the last few months there has been more genocidal activities than has ever been recorded against mutants and nobody has done anything. Mutants died, good or bad, because we did nothing to stop it. That changes. That changes here and now. We are going to stop this civil war between mutants, we will lead the charge to survive. The X-Men are seen as outlaws. That will changes as well."

"How?" asked Magma. "Let's be honest, it's not worked well so far. For anyone of us."

"Because before we did not have advance warning of what was going down," Cyclops said. "This time we will. Emma has many contacts in the outside world, business associates, people in power whose secrets she knows and we're going to use those secrets. She also has a lot of connections thanks to the Hellfire Club, which we're going to use to set up a network. Yes, she is a teacher and a survivor, but she's a manipulative bitch and that's what I need her to be, to use her influence and name to get us information and get us in to places we might not normally get in to."

"Thank you, Scott," Emma said. "Nice to know what we think of each other."

"Emma, you're capable of killing anyone who gets in your way to get what you want," Cyclops said. "You've been an enemy of the X-Men longer than an ally, and even then it was a reluctant one because you knew the X-Men had more to offer you than anyone else. That's why you left us the Massachusetts Academy if you ever became incapacitated. I trust you just enough, and the rest I have under control." Emma said nothing, much to the puzzlement of the others. Just what hold did Cyclops have over her? "However, Emma's job is only slight in scale, compared to what I have Addison working on. He, as the Grey King, is assembling a team, a covert strike force. A team I'm calling the Brotherhood."

"You can't be serious," said Jubilee. "The Brotherhood as in…?"

"Yes," said Cyclops. "As in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, though we'll drop the evil part. Addison's team were seen in public as X-Men not so long ago, doing things the X-Men would never do. So let's use that. The Grey King will lead the Brotherhood to attack military installations, taking on those people who would attack us with sentinels, with weapons of mass destruction, those like Bastion, the US government…"

"Hold it," said Jared. "I've grown up hearing about the X-Men and that's not what we're about."

"No," said Scott. "But it is what the Brotherhood is about. And if they go too far we step in and stop them."

"X-Factor," said Emma.

"Exactly," said Scott. "A variation on a theme. When we formed X-Factor we were outlaws, hunted by the X-Terminators, who were also ourselves so we could find and train mutants covertly. The plan failed because they were humans who stopped the mutants. This time it'll be mutants against mutants."

"I hate this idea," said Jubilee. "X-Factor didn't work, why will it work now?"

"Because I've done my homework," said Scott. "And Addison is the kind of man who will make it work."

"Oh yes," said Addison. "My Brotherhood will blaze a trail and the X-Men are more than welcome to try and stop us."

"I really hate this idea," Jubilee muttered.

"Then you'll hate this idea as well," said Scott. "Your codename? Jubilee? Not going to work out there, because combining your names is a great nickname, but you're going to be a warrior."

"I get a say?" Jubilee asked, not happy. "I kind of like the name I have?"

"Yes, you get a say," said Cyclops. "How about Genesis?"

"After what he did to Wolvie? No chance."

"Then it'll be FX because your powers are special effects made real. They were fireworks, but now they are so much more, as you showed us earlier."

"That sucks as a name."

"As I said to Thunderbird, get over it. That's your codename, get used to it."

"And me?" asked Emma. "I assume you'll want to change my name as well? The White Queen won't inspire a great deal of faith if we're fighting a Grey King."

"Yes," said Cyclops and he smiled. "Seeing as how you're powers are now diamond in nature and your name is Frost, I believe Ice is good."

"The Ice Queen, how apt," Jubilee muttered.

"Quiet, FX," said Emma and Jubilee glared at her. "Are we done now?" she asked.

"Not quite," said Scott. "Cerebro?"

"About time," the sentient computer said. "I assume it's time for the unveiling?"

"Yes," said Cyclops. "Bring her in." Cerebro flicked a hand and the door opened to reveal Penance strapped to a table. She was lying motionless and Emma gasped. It was the first time she had seen her since being taken in to custody.

"You never told me…" she said, her eyes fixed on Cyclops.

"Don't," he said. "You'll not win a staring contest with me. Cerebro, play Xavier Protocol Six Three Eight." A holographic light shone in the room, displaying Penance and Charles Xavier's voice echoed around the room.

"Protocol Six Three Eight. Penance, also known as Yvette. Penance was delivered to the Massachusetts Academy by Gateway for reasons unknown and he stated Penance as a word, whether a name or not. Her powers to absorb negative emotion and energies from her environment, internalising them in order to atrophy her physical body into a razor sharp and diamond hard state, and making her invisible in shadow is a secondary mutation, as discovered by Moria MacTaggert.

"In order to understand Penance, we must also understand Monet St Croix. As examined in Protocol Six Three Three, Monet is almost perfect, but prone to distraction. She also shares the same DNA as Penance, which was at first considered an after effect of Penance's time with Emplate. However on closer inspection of Monet it appears her powers are due to the fact she is not one person but two. I believe her to be in fact Claudette and Nicole St Croix, and Penance in fact the original Monet. How this transformation occurred, I have yet to establish, but if Penance has become a danger to herself and others then transferring her to her original form will render her vulnerable for a few moments in which she can be eliminated…"

"Off," said Cyclops and the image faded. "Charles created the Protocols with the express purpose of killing his students if they became a threat."

"Incredible," said Emma, amazed at what Xavier had been capable of.

"Impossible," said Jubilee, her heart breaking.

"Xavier was never that harsh," said Magma. "Not the man I knew."

"It's staggering to consider," said Addison. "I assume this was in the lead up to Onslaught?"

"From what we know, it was previous to that," said Cyclops. "Maybe it was not the purpose of these files originally, but we'll never know."

"So, let's get this right," said Radius, not really caring about Xavier and what he may or may not have done. "That girl there is really another girl, who's being impersonated by her sisters, amalgamated in to one."

"Yes," said Cyclops. "Tonight, using a technique devised by Xavier himself, Penance will die and Monet St Croix will be reborn."