Disclaimer: I absolutely do not own the X-Men.

A/N: Here's the sequel to 'Unraveling', as promised. I suggest reading that one first for this to make sense. The prologue is very short, as is the next chapter, so I'll post them both today. Warning: This story will contain implied past child abuse and a bit of torture. Now that we have that out of the way...On with the show!

"If you do anything to betray us, Mystique..."

"The same for you, Brax."

Silenced elapsed for a moment as mutant and human stared each other down.

"So it's agreed. We don't trust each other."

Mystique smiled darkly. "Not at all."

The man nodded before picking up a photo from the table between them. A rather unhappy looking teen stared back. Her two-toned hair made it easy to recognize her. "You came to us, Mystique. I assume you have a plan to capture the target."

"I do. That is if you can handle it."

The photo crumpled as he closed his hand into a fist. "We can handle anything."