Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their creators and associated companies. I make no profit off of this whatsoever. I write only for my own fun and for whatever enjoyment others might get from reading it. Therefore I would recommend against trying to file a lawsuit against me as I can guarantee you'll wind up spending more than anything you could make off of me.

Four Days Later, Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Morning, Xander's P.O.V

"Is there something you want to tell me, Doc?" Xander asked as he looked down at the new costume the Sorcerer Supreme had just mojoed onto him. "Maybe something about your Saturday morning activities?"

He had contacted Doc Strange about four days ago with the news that his old armor had been blown to bits and he either needed it repaired or replaced. Naturally the mojo man had already been aware of what had happened due to a pulse in Kung Lung's energy and, while upset, had eased up once he'd learned what had happened. The man had promised to begin working on replacement armor immediately and said that it would be ready soon. He'd been a bit surprised since he'd figured he'd have to wait a month before new armor was ready but Stephen had said that things had quieted down a bit on the sorcery front so he had some free time. During the last four days he'd done his best to keep his usage of the Black Dragon King's powers too a minimum so as not to allow the beast's infection to spread but he has been glad when, early afternoon yesterday, Dr. Strange had called him to say that his new outfit was ready.

He should've known something bad was going to happen when he got there.

It had started innocently enough with Wong meeting him at the front door to the mansion and letting him in. He made a little small talk with the manservant as they made their way to the room where the Sorcerer Supreme was waiting for them. When he'd walked into the room though and caught his first glimpse of his new suit he almost turned right back around while telling the Doc to call him when he was serious about his new outfit. However the guy with the white hair at the sides of his head must have anticipated this because, before he had any time to act on his impulses, Wong slammed the door behind him before sealing it with a spell of some kind. With no way to safely bust loose, he'd resigned himself to his fate.

The fate of wearing an outfit that looked like a cross between Karate-1 from the cartoon Bionic Six and the Silver Surfer.

The main piece was a bodysuit that was a mix of black, grey and white with the dragon symbol from his last uniform placed squarely in the center of his chest. Gloves and boots were there, too, but without the hidden claws like his power ranger suit had. There were straps at certain spots on his body with what looked like equipment slots attached to them. To top it all off, he had a mask on that covered all but his eyes and mouth. If it had been just this he wouldn't have minded all that much. However, two things had him wanting to chuck this thing and fight his enemies naked rather than suffer the humiliation of someone else seeing him. First was the fact that every single article of clothing had a shine to it that would blind people through its reflectiveness alone. While having some strategic potential, it backfired big time since it'd blind his allies along with his enemies. The second was the fact that skin-tight wasn't the word to use when describing the nature of his outfit. It was like the entire thing had been painted on him with only slight imperfections allowing him to keep his dignity as well as leave something to the imagination. He just knew that he was going to get heckled and cat-called the moment he was seen outside of the Sanctum Sanctorum wearing it.

"I do not have the slightest idea what you are talking about," Strange replied with a dismissive look on his face. "I merely took into account the weaknesses of your original suit and made the necessary corrections. Allow me to explain.

"First, as you've no doubt noticed, the material that your uniform is made out of his highly reflective. This is not merely for show because it will reduce the effectiveness of direct energy attacks on you by dispersing and deflecting it away from you. This should prevent a repeat of your encounter with that cerebrate," explained Doctor Strange, taking on a lecturing tone of voice. "While the material is not quite as durable as what your previous uniform was made out of, it is impact absorbent and possesses many of the same properties as Vibranium, albeit at a level fifty percent less than the element itself.

"The equipment compartments can be used to store a variety of things but I made them primarily to hold your diluted Dragon's Bane potions. They are fairly strong so anything placed within them is unlikely to break or be crushed by an outside force." Stephen said, continuing to point out the suit's features. "I've also enspelled your boots so that they will make no noise whether you run or walk with them. It should help with stealthy movement. As for the mask, it will obviously serve to conceal your features but it also has two other features. Focus your will on your mouth and you will see."

A little wary still, he did as he was told and, as though a living thing, the fabric that made up his mask flowed over his mouth and the lower half of his nose before solidifying. Looking over to a mirror that was in the room, he saw that he now had a plate over his mouth that reminded him a lot of what the actor portraying Scorpion wore in the Mortal Kombat movie. The only real difference was that it looked more like the front bottom half of the helmet his previous armor had with the dragon teeth carved into it.

"Not only will this serve to distort your voice but it will also act as a filter for various harmful gases and substances while at the same time providing a source of breathable air in emergencies," Strange explained while the vessel of Kung Lung continued to look in the mirror.

After hearing all of the features his outfit, now had he had to admit that it was pretty good and he was almost willing to forgive it's ridiculous appearance.

Almost.

"Well, I hope you liked designing this one because the next time I lose a costume, I'm going to someone else for the replacement." He said, willing the costume to disappear and like its predecessor it did so in a flash of light.

"Hopefully there won't be a next time Alexander," Dr. Strange said, sounding mildly offended at having his creation critiqued in such a manner. "I have done what I can to create it and I hope that you will do what you can to keep it in one piece for as long as possible."

"I'll do what I can but I make no promises," he replied, knowing that the life of a costumed adventurer rarely kept your wardrobe intact.

He was about to say more when he heard a beeping noise coming from his back pocket. Pulling the disk with the black X emblazed on it, he pressed a few spots on it, causing it to change into a weird looking cell phone device.

"Yeah? What's up?" he asked as he put it next to his right ear.

"Prepare for immediate pick up, Dragon Knight," ordered Professor X over the communications device. "We'll meet you over Dr. Strange's home."

This surprised him somewhat since, as far as he knew, things were pretty calm back at the X-Mansion with no big crisis hanging over their heads. Something must have happened since he left for New York.

"I'll be ready! Dragon Knight out," he said before shutting down the communicator and tucking it back into his back pocket. "Looks like I'll be giving your new outfit a test drive sooner than I thought."

"Trouble?" Stephen asked, almost as though he'd offer his aid if it was serious enough.

"Sounds like it but Prof X wouldn't say what." He replied as he willed his new costume back on. "Just said that they were on their way to pick me up and that they'd meet me over your place. Sounds like they're picking me up in the Aurora."

"Time must be of the essence if they're refusing to wait for you to return to the Institute." Said the Sorcerer Supreme, "You'd best be on your way."

"Right." He said before deciding to go all the way and command the plate to once again cover his mouth.

With nothing more needing to be said, he exited the room, the door thankfully unsealed by Wong, and made his way to the back door of the mansion. He knew there was probably a way to the roof that didn't require climbing up the side of the building but, if there was, no one had thought to tell him about it. Then again, things were so weird inside the Sanctum Sanctorum that he'd probably get lost forever if he didn't have one of the residents escorting him to where he wanted to go. Such was par for the course when dealing with the home of a mojo user.

Once he was outside, he used the power within him to both increase his strength as well as his speed. When he felt he was ready he leapt at the wall opposite the door and began to ricochet back and forth between the walls of the mansion and the building opposite it in order to propel himself to the rooftops. He landed and, just like the designer of the costume said, his feet didn't make a sound when he landed.

Cool! He thought as his mind was already coming up with ways he could use this to his advantage.

Some of them were somewhat… naughty in nature and would get him in serious trouble with people of the female persuasion but then what could you expect when dealing with someone still in his teens?

Hearing a slight whine in the air, he looked up and with sharp eyes spotted the Aurora approaching at a decent clip. It slowed down soon after he spotted it and, a minute later, hovered over his position as the entry ramp lowered to allow him access.

"Get your ass in here, dragon-butt!" Came Marrow's rough and demanding voice, "We don't got all day!"

Using the last of the strength he'd gained from Kung Lung's power, he leapt onto the ramp and swiftly entered the jet proper so that they could get underway.

It was a bit cramped inside with most of the seats occupied but he managed to find one just the same between Rogue and Gambit. He fidgeted a bit as he saw them take in his new outfit and quickly tried to think of something, anything, to take their attention away from his costume.

"So what's the big crisis?" he asked, hoping that a briefing would require enough brain power and focus to distract them from making any comments about his new look.

"The Acolytes have returned." Professor X replied from his position in the co-pilot's chair.

Flying Towards Hudson Bay, Two Hours Later, Marrow's P.O.V

"…the band of mutant terrorists identified only as 'The Acolytes' struck again last night at a genetic research laboratory in central Minnesota," blabbed the upworlder woman on the plane's TV. "This is the fourth such incident in the last two days and is a marked contrast to their past preference for isolation. Their motives remain a mystery but their pattern has become tragically predictable and they have left nothing but decimation in their wake…"

She tuned out the rest of what the cow was saying as it didn't really matter to her all that much. All she knew and cared about was that there was some sort of upworlder mutants raising some hell and baldy wanted them to put a stop to it. She'd heard about the group of surfaceworld muties before, the attack dogs of the high and mighty Magneto, but they were a bunch of damn hypocrites as far as she was concerned. They went on and on about fighting for mutant freedom and creating a better world for mutantkind but never once did she see one of them down in the Morlock tunnels helping her people out. Much like Xavier, Bucket Head only went after the powerful mutants or the pretty ones and ignored those that really needed help. That was all the excuse she needed to make a few cracks in their craniums while at the same time letting them know just what she thought of them.

I wonder what says 'I hate your guts' more: a bone spike to the kidneys or one rammed right down their throats... She thought as she debated how she'd get her point across to the Acolytes.

I would prefer, Marrow, if you exercised a bit more restraint when dealing with them. Came the voice of Prof X in her head. While we must undoubtedly stop them, there is no need to do them irreparable harm.

Get out of my head or I'll do you irreparable harm! She thought loudly at him, making it clear she didn't approve of his sticking his brain where it wasn't wanted.

Once she was sure that baldy was no longer in, she tried to regain her train of thought but was… distracted…,as her eyes landed on one person in particular that was doing his best not to look uncomfortable.

Xander.

She had been doing her best not to look at him because, whenever she did she, either blushed like a weak surface girl or stared with this goofy look on her face (at least that's what Pryde called it). Now, though, she couldn't help but look because his new outfit might as well have been painted on with a brush with how… tight it was. All those muscles only served to remind her of that night that they'd shared together and how it had surpassed any expectations she might have had before then. It had been a night of firsts for her but, in the afterglow that existed the following morning, she made a promise to herself that she'd to make sure there'd be seconds as well as thirds sooner rather than later. She almost grinned at that thought but had done well to keep it from showing on her face by making sure it went no further than her mind.

In the days and weeks that followed, she tried to figure out what the next step should be for her, how she'd go a step further towards making him hers and hers alone, but her lack of experience was a nearly insurmountable obstacle. Down in the Morlock tunnels, you never thought about such things. Survival was the priority above all else and any mushy thoughts were pretty much useless living in a place surrounded by upworlder filth, so she'd stooped to watching upworlder TV at night and 'borrowing' some magazines from some of the ladies in the mansion. They weren't a lot of help and often made no sense to her whatsoever, but they'd had a few tricks that she thought could help her out.

She'd stumbled a lot when trying to use them but, at the same time, she'd seen him smile at her and not in a way that implied that he was mocking her. That was some progress… right?

The question then became: what to do now?

"Magneto's technology has long eluded traditional scans and Cerebro's ability to identify the mutagenic signatures of any passengers concealed within the Acolyte's ship." Prof X said in response to an inquiry from Wolverine.

"There is a pattern to their movement, Professor." Windrider said as she flew the plane through the air.

"Yes, Storm. They are heading north." Prof X stated with his fingers steepled before him.

"Any way t'figure out their next hit, Chuck?" Wolverine asked sounding like he was getting impatient.

"You heard him, Wolvie." Rogue said from her seat next to Gambit, "We can't track them."

"Why not just get where they're going before they do, Rogue?" She asked, managing to tear her eyes away from Xander.

"Narrowing down the potential targets of genetic research firms to merely a dozen, Marrow?" Colossus asked rhetorically, pointing out the flaw in her plan.

"I will admit, Colossus, that I would prefer to be more proactive in our approach." Ororo said without taking her mind off of the task at hand. "We have been three steps back since a faction of the Acolytes attacked us last night at our home."

"So let's skip the middle-men and go straight f'r Magneto himself!" Wolverine growled, not liking the amount of work that lay ahead of them in order to confront the Acolytes.

"First one who didn't trust Joseph, say 'I told you so!'." Gambit said before muttering, "I told you so."

Indeed from the first moment that the de-aged Magneto had first joined the X-Men the Cajun had never trusted him and had always said it'd only be a matter of time before the powerful mutant reverted to type. Even after the revelation she'd heard happened in the land of ice and snow, Remy still insisted that Joseph would betray them one day. Xander had once said it was just jealousy on the part of card-wielding mutant because of the bond that had been forming between the magnetic mutant and Rogue.

"All I've heard since I joined was how dangerous Magneto was to everything we're supposed to stand for," she said, trying to straighten her thoughts out. "So how are we doing our jobs by letting his feebs go postal on the flatscans?"

"The rookie asks the tough ones, Kurt." Said Pryde in a playful tone of voice.

"Ja, Kitty… and silence is our answer." Nightcrawler said, obviously incapable of coming up with a decent answer.

"Head meet sand? Is that how you used to lead Excalibur, Nightcrawler?" Gambit joked, making fun of the tailed mutant's words.

"Gambit, that was uncalled for. You are understandably frustrated by our situation, as I am," Prof X reprimanded without looking behind himself. "Arguing will get us no closer to a solution. Agree to disagree. For now, we follow them and hope to capture them in the act. If Joseph has reverted back to Magneto and is leading the Acolytes again… we will deal with that soon enough."

It bored her how baldy always played peacemaker whenever the least bit of friction popped up around him between two or more people. It was like the man honestly thought that everything could be solved with words. For someone who was supposed to be smart, he stupidly thought that reason could solve any problem. She wasn't any older than Xander and she already knew that once you crossed a certain line, words were worse then useless: they were a hindrance. Sometimes there was just no substitute for kicking some ass and knocking some heads together.

"So Marrow…what do you think of Xander's new look?" Pryde asked with a playful tone of voice, "Easy on the eyes, eh?"

With a grunt she looked away from the brunette both to deny her conversation and to hide any reaction she may have unconsciously made at the reminder of how Xander looked now in his new outfit.

"Got that right, sugah," Rogue said, getting a little playful herself. "If ah were just a few years younger…mmm!"

"L-let's talk about something else, okay?" Xander asked, sounding uncomfortable about being the new topic of discussion, "Like… how about the weather?"

Everyone got a bit of a laugh out of that, which, of course, only made Dragonboy more uncomfortable but at least it got everyone's eyes off of her and onto him. Now all she had to do was keep her mouth shut and not do anything to direct anyone's gaze back her way.

Simple.

Remote Chemical Procession Lab, Two Hours Later, Kitty Pryde's P.O.V

"Tight formation until we target them." Ordered Kurt as the eight of them descended on the lab that currently was ablaze.

Using her ability to walk on air by carefully manipulating her ability to phase through solid objects, she followed the rest of the team down. As he was still relatively new to the team, she couldn't help but let her eyes stray to the winged form of Xander Harris, aka Dragon Knight. Not the coolest of codenames but, given what his powers were, it was pretty appropriate. His wings weren't quite as pretty as Warren's but they did have a certain beauty about them if you looked at the leathery appendages just the right way. It had been fun to tease Marrow about Xander's new look, too. It had been so obvious that she had a crush on the Californian but her tough Morlock 'tude was getting in the way of Bone Girl pursuing it. She'd heard from the others that they'd seen the two together a bit more often then usual but hadn't commented on it all that much.

I wonder if I should offer her some advice. She thought as she tried to picture the two of them as boyfriend and girlfriend. She smiled with approval at the image her mind produced.

"Shouldn't be too hard to find'em, Elf." Wolverine said as he landed on the ground, "Just follow the mess to the smoke an' fires."

Doing as Logan suggested once they'd all landed, they'd followed the path of destruction until they reached the green flames caused by the chemicals that had been ignited.

"Subtle they are not, I agree with you, Wolverine." Kurt said as the group began to look about the area for signs of the enemy.

"Fires're pretty bad, Kurt." Rogue said from her floating position in the air, "Should we split our efforts up?"

"Half work on the fires, the others flush out the Acolytes?" She suggested, fleshing out Rogue's suggestion a little.

"Don't bother, X-Men," came a familiar face right before a form shot out from the shadows and clocked Rogue in the face.

Everyone turned and saw that their ears had not deceived them one bit.

It was Cargill of the Acolytes.

"Cargill! If you hurt Rogue with your sucker-punch, you're dead!" Gambit growled as he threw a volley of charged cards to prevent any follow up attack on the Southern Belle.

However, instead of blasting the woman out of the sky, they passed right through her thanks to the abilities of the Acolyte Neophyte. This, unfortunately, allowed the African American woman to kick the Cajun from the sky and it was a good piece of luck that Rogue was able to cushion his fall a bit.

"The X-Men aren't the only one's who understand the concept of teamwork!" Frenzy said, coming in for a landing from her kick.

Fortunately she didn't have to endure a long gloating speech from the follower of Magneto as Kurt quickly teleported in close to Cargill to deliver a teleporting flying side-kick.

"A shame, fraulein, that you waste it on acts of terrorism!" Nightcrawler said as he pushed off his enemy's body.

Her smile at the blow faded though when the Acolyte Kath charged the two fingered X-Man's position with hostile intent clear in his movements. The bearded man however didn't get to do much more than bring his fist back for the blow before Xander blurred into existence in his path and delivered a punch that sent the old man to the ground.

"Not very honorable to attack an enemy from behind, Acolyte," Xander said in a disapproving tone of voice.

As the rest of the team moved to back Xander up, the servants of Magneto began to pull out in a rather showy fashion while springing a trap that no one saw. Without realizing it, the entire team had been led to the foot of a bunch of pipes that led directly into a tank a good fifty feet above. That by itself might not have been too bad but the fact that the tank held quite a bit of coolant did change things a bit.

"We were so stoked to stop these guys we walked right into it!" Marrow growled as though blaming everyone but herself for not picking up on this.

"Let the trap be sprung," Peter said, still confident and it was then she figured out why he wasn't more upset.

The fastest way for the fires to be put out and innocents to be spared was to let Kamal topple the tank and empty its contents onto them. It would then quickly flow to the fires, putting them out and preventing further damage to the lab as well as preventing any potentially poisonous fumes from spreading very far.

That didn't mean it was at all pleasant to suddenly find herself up to her neck in a liquid so cold that she reflexively used her powers to take away the chill. The rest weren't quite so lucky and, by the time the majority of the tank's contents had flowed away, the Acolytes were already back in their aircraft and flying away. This left the majority of the team soaked and not in a pleasant mood.

"I don't mind cooling off every now and again but this is ridiculous!" She heard Xander mutter as he rubbed his arms in order to warm up a bit.

"They were ready for us. Almost as though fighting us was more important than whatever they were after here," Kurt said as he watched the Acolyte craft got smaller and smaller.

"That was no fight, 'Crawler!" Wolverine growled out in anger. "They made idiots out of us!"

"Question then is: why?" Marrow asked, sounding like she was in the same mood as Logan.

There is not time to ponder that, my X-Men. Came the thoughts of Charles Xavier in her mind, Now that we have the Acolytes in sight, we cannot allow them to get away. Return to the Aurora.

As a group, with those who could fly carrying those who could not, they returned to their aircraft before Storm set it on a pursuit course for the Acolyte's craft.

Reaching for one of the compartments, she pulled out a blanket that they kept stored there for emergencies and began to dry herself. She might have used her powers to keep from being submerged for as long as the others had but she had still gotten quite wet in those first few seconds. The others were doing the same except for Xander, whose new outfit apparently didn't soak up liquids and so all he had to worry about was warming up his body. She almost considered maneuvering Sarah into a situation where she could use her own body heat to warm him up but decided against it. They had met the enemy and had entered into a serious situation. All of their attention needed to be on the task at hand not on some partially formed relationship.

We're all going to need to be at our best if this really is Magneto, she thought, recalling her past experiences with the self-proclaimed Master of Magnetism. If not then we're all going to get out asses handed to us.

Approaching the Artic Circle, Hours Later, Xander's P.O.V

"Have we maintained a visual lock on the Acolyte's ship?" Storm asked as he kept an eye on the craft that was barely more than a basketball in size through the cockpit window.

"Yes, Ororo. They have a substantial lead, but, while linked to a satellite relay, our long-range camera systems are keeping track of them." Professor X replied as he worked the console in front of them, "But why have they maintained a consistent speed rather than pulling away?"

"If they're asking to be caught, let's oblige!" Marrow declared showing impatience.

"It's probably another trap of some kind. Trying to lure us far enough so that we don't have a chance of getting out alive." He said, putting in his two cents on what was going on.

"Perhaps, but there is still the question of why the Acolytes want us to follow," Xavier asked without moving in his seat. "You're theory is plausible, Xander, but it is not the only possibility."

"Only two reasons f'r baitin' someone, Prof: either to lead us into something—" Remy said before Marrow surprisingly picked up the statement where he left off.

"—Or away from something." Said the Morlock girl with her left arm resting on the back of Charles' chair.

"Cajun's right. Better to find out which sooner than later." Wolverine stated with a feral smile that was an omen of violence all its own.

"Indeed. Everyone get into your crash-harnesses," Charles said before giving a commanding look to Storm. "It's time to end this game."

"Crash-harnesses? You're expecting this plane to crash!" He asked, not liking the sound of that one little bit.

"Of course it is not my intention that we crash to the ground, Xander, but considering the fact that this aircraft does not possess any sort of external armaments nor protective armor, I believe it would be wise to take certain precautions." Professor X replied in a perfectly reasonable tone of voice.

"When we get back to the mansion, I'm going to have to have Beast do something about that." He muttered to himself as he strapped himself into his seat, "What kind of a superhero team are these guys that they don't have a proper fighter slash transport aircraft?"

"The kind that don't want all that expensive gear turned into scrap facing someone capable of turnin' the Eifel Tower inta a pretzel." Logan replied, letting it be known that he'd heard every word.

"Don't you have like two rich guys one the team that make more money than God? You'd think that you could spare a couple hundred thousand outfitting a ride like this." He said deciding to continue voicing his dissatisfaction.

"The bulk of my assets are currently tied up in legal matters left over from my incarceration and brief instance of being presumed dead." Charles Xavier explained as Storm increased the speed of the Aurora, "As for Warren, there is only so much he can skim off his wealth to aid us. After all, he cannot let it be known that he funds a group considered by the world at large to be terrorists or, at the very least, outlaws."

As they flew in the Aurora closer to their prey, he had to admit that it made a sort of sense. While Warren to have been seen with the X-Men a couple of times, he imagined that PR spin teams could minimize the damage for the most part to Worthington Industries. Still there would be limits to what the company's board of directors and, while the winged wonder did have controlling interest of the company, he couldn't go too far with his activities helping the X-Men.

He had just decided to let the matter settled when the Aurora shook suddenly and a bit more violently than he'd usual label as turbulence related.

"This cannot be a good thing," he muttered as he directed his attention to Storm, who was fighting with the controls of the plane slightly.

"Something is very wrong. The very air screams inside of me! This occurrence is unnatural!" Ororo said with tension in her voice as she piloted the plane.

"But the Acolytes don't seem to be having any trouble." Kurt said as he pointed to the odd-looking aircraft that was moving along as though everything was normal.

"Their ship operates on a gravimetric pulse, Kurt," Storm explained while piloting the Aurora got progressively harder for her to do. "Our systems are severely hindered by this electromagnetic interference!"

"Why do I get the feeling those guys are running back to their boss and trying to get rid of us at the same time?" He asked out loud as he looked at the odd storm clouds coming up fast.

"Probably because you're right," Logan said before every electrical system in the aircraft blew at once, showering sparks in all directions.

All stability was gone from the Aurora and, with the shit hitting the fan, he barely heard Storm give the order for Nightcrawler to take the controls while she, Rogue and Colossus tried to make sure they landed in one piece. However when the words 'assume crash positions' came from the weather witch's lips, he knew things had taken a turn for the worse. He had thought that while a lot of the systems had been shorted out that they'd at least be able to glide or something and come to a slightly bumpy landing on the Aurora's landing gear. Now it was looking more like it'd take everything the X-Men had just to make sure it was only the aircraft that got torn apart and not them.

Quickly he crossed himself and said a quick prayer. While he wasn't a big backer of the Almighty considering all the shit He or She let happen, he wasn't going to say no to a little divine help at this point. He was reasonably sure that the combination of Doc Strange's new outfit and Kung Lung's powers would allow him to survive the crash but that wouldn't make it any less painful. Plus he didn't want any of the others to get hurt, so pray he did.

The waiting was terrible as he tried to predict when precisely they'd actually impact the snow covered-ground and just when he thought that maybe he'd get his smooth landing after all it happened. With all the tenderness of a PMSing Queen C they hit the ground and his seat was just barely managing to stay attached to the wall of the aircraft. Some of the others weren't so lucky and, judging from the prolific swearing coming from Logan, it was safe to say that Mr. Claws hadn't been as securely strapped in as the others had been. It took about ten seconds for the Aurora to finally reach her final resting place and it was where the aircraft would likely stay for a long while. True, it looked like the main section of the plane was still more or less in one piece but, with all the fried electronics, they'd have to gut the thing first before they could even begin with the hull.

Colossus then made sure that this would never happen by using his immense strength to tear an opening in the hull so that the X-Men could exit the craft.

"Someone is gonna get hit a lot!" Wolverine growled, sounding like he had not had a fun time during the crash.

As they were exposed to the elements, though, they soon found that they had slightly more important things to be concerned about as the frigid environment made its presence known. He was somewhat alright thanks to the properties of his uniform and Kung Lung's powers but it was still not someplace he wanted to spend any sort of time lingering.

"It's…freez…freezing…" Marrow managed to say between the chattering of her teeth.

Looking over at her he had to admit that her usual fighting clothes weren't exactly made with cold weather in mind. Without really thinking about it he walked over to her in order to wrap an arm around her so that perhaps his body heat might warm her up a bit.

"Wait! Xander—" exclaimed Shadowcat as she tried to stop him.

It was too late, though, as his arm pulled Sarah closer to him and passed on a little body heat to warm her up.

"What?" he asked, not sure what the commotion was about.

"You should have given her a shock," Kitty replied, sounding somewhat baffled. "The magnetic storm we're in makes metal a good conductor for electrostatic energy. Your outfit looks like it's got a ton of metal in it, so…"

"Must be something Doc Strange did when he made it," he replied, looking down at his gloved hand. "He did say that it'd deflect and disperse energy attacks. Guess it works on this stuff, too."

"Guess so." Marrow said, almost imperceivably snuggling closer to him.

"Alright! Enough chatter," Wolverine said as he looked up at the Acolyte's ship that hovered above them in a sphere shaped energy field. "We're down here and the Acolytes are up there. Worse than that is the fact that we can't move without them seein' us do it."

"Then why don't we make sure they can't see us?" asked Nightcrawler with a smile that implied he had an idea.

"Time for a quick 'port, Elf?" Logan asked catching onto the idea quickly.

With an explosion of smoke the two of them disappeared but something must have messed up Kurt's aim because, instead of getting into the ship above, they appeared outside of it. As he watched them plummet, he wondered why 'Crawler wasn't porting them to safety when he realized that if something was messing with his teleport powers it'd be too dangerous to try again. Letting go of Marrow, he willed his wings to spring from his back and, with a powerful push, he launched himself into the air to aid his teammates. At first it looked as though he was going to make some progress but the terrible winds caused by the magnetic storm were actually turning his wings against him. Seeing Kurt and Logan getting closer to the ground, though, he knew he couldn't let something shapeless as wind keep him from doing what he'd set out to do. With determination he flapped his wings hard and willed his speed to increase while staying on course.

Due to the degree of his focus, he didn't notice the tiny wisps of flame dancing on the surface of his black wings.

All he knew was that he wasn't about to let Wolverine and Nightcrawler have a rather nasty impact with the snow-covered ground. While powder could cushion the blow somewhat, after a certain height its ability to absorb impacts would be pretty much nullified. It was a close call but he managed to snag both of them just in time and, without further delay, he swung around to bring the three of them back to the rest of the group. He was almost blown off course a couple of times but he managed just the same.

"Well, Chuck, at this rate, we're all going to be stiffs unless we think of something fast." Wolverine said as they touched down on the ground safely.

"The storm is beyond my weather-manipulating power to control," Ororo informed them as she lowered her arms, ceasing her efforts to bring some calm to the storm that existed all around them.

"So what're we going to do now?" Marrow asked, moving quickly to resume her bodyheat cuddling position.

"Stay alive would be my suggestion," he said, deciding a little levity might be helpful at the moment.

The rolled eyes at his comment made him consider it a half success.

A Makeshift Tent, An Hour Later, Rogue's P.O.V

Ah hope that the Professor has some luck talkin' them down. Rogue thought as she waited with the others in their makeshift tent.

A part of her was skeptical about whether or not Xavier's plan would work but there was enough proof on the man's side for her to give him the benefit of a doubt. The founder of the X-Men had helped several of the Acolytes in the past and that good karma might be just the thing to make them listen to reason. Whatever their beliefs when it came to the whole mutant destiny deal, holding the world ransom was not the way to go about it. It would only get people's shorts even more in a knot and give the more ambitious mutant haters all the backing they needed from the scared normal folk. The Prof's way might not have been as quick but it was more likely to take in the long run. Looking over at the man's body as his mind tried to persuade the Acolytes to either aid them or at the very least step aside, she wondered what sort of luck he was having.

The exclamation of pain as though he'd been struck was her answer.

"Charles?" Storm exclaimed as he rushed to his side.

"Turned on the charm, huh, Professor?" Gambit asked rhetorically in response to the bad results of Xavier's efforts.

"They are so conflicted, confused, about what course they take." Charles stated as he attempted to recover from his experience.

"Boo-hoo f'r them. Pardon me but it's hard t'get all sympathetic while they're nice 'n' cozy in their little ship!" Wolverine growled from his spot a little ways from the camp. "You took a shot, Chuck. We gotta get a move on. We head north 'til we hit the shoreline. It's a better chance of findin'… something!"

"I'm with Wolverine. Better to die on our feet!" Marrow said from her position close to both the fire and Xander.

"You will not find Magneto by recklessly charging into the unknown, Logan!" Xavier said, trying to dissuade Wolverine from any reckless actions. "Our best hope for survival is to work together—"

"So we hug each other while Mags is wreckin' the world AGAIN!" Asked the Canucklehead with anger in his voice. "After what he did t'me you're still holding back? Doing nothing!"

"Whoever said that I was doing nothing?" Asked the Professor with a knowing look. "When Scanner struck me I was able to plant some telepathic suggestions in her mind, as well as a few of her comrades, without anyone realizing it. It should not take too long for them to take effect and then we shall be on our way."

"What? Ya planted the suggestion ta switch sides and help us?" She asked, wondering if that was what the founder of the team meant.

"Not exactly," Xavier replied before falling silent and not elaborating.

She could tell that some of the others, especially Logan, wanted to know more but nothing really came of it beyond mild glaring. They all knew that when the Professor knew something he'd tell them when he felt they needed to know it and not beforehand, especially if it was mission related. It drove them all to frustration sometimes but the man had never failed to provide a valid reason for his actions and so they trusted him.

After ten minutes they began to wonder when their leader's suggestions would take effect when a sound got their attention. Looking up, they watched as two shapes flew across the sky at great speed for a spot far ahead of their current position and, before they could speculate on what it was, a bright light filled the sky.

"That was a NUKE!" Wolverine exclaimed, stating the abundantly obvious.

"Yes, and I would estimate we have less than two minutes until the shockwave hits us." Xavier said, holding up one hand to block some of the light.

"Time t'make the donuts!" Gambit said as he began to use his charged cards to start digging a trench.

She joined them, along with Colossus and Xander, as they collectively used their superior strength to toss aside the snow and ice. As her mind ticked off the seconds until the shockwave was due to hit them, she felt the pressure rise but, thankfully, after this long as an X-Man, she had experience with high pressure situations.

"How deep we should go?" Colossus asked as he continued to move the ground beneath their feet.

"Australia sounds about right," she said as they reached the three foot mark.

"Actually, when you think about it, since we're in the Arctic at the moment, we'd be digging straight through to the Antarctic," Xander said has he continued to help. "Not really an improvement."

"It comes." Storm said as she rose into the sky, "I can try to deflect the initial waves."

"This is ridiculous! We can't just stay here!" Sarah yelled, not liking the situation one bit.

Couldn't say she disagreed with the girl on that point.

"Not much choice, Sarah." Xander said as the trench reached a depth of five feet.

"You aren't giving up, Xander?" She asked the young man in surprise. "Does the X-Men manual say to do that?"

"One of the hardest lessons you learn fighting the good fight Marrow is…" Xander said as he pulled the concerned Morlock girl into the trench. "Shit happens."

With those words the shockwave hit their position, tossing them about even with the trench to take some of the force away. Like leaves in the wind they were tossed about with little to no way to control where they went. Despite her ability to fly under her own power, it was near impossible to gain any control over the direction her body was going in.

Play dead! Don't fight it! Came the thought of Professor Xavier with an urgent commanding tone in his voice.

Not knowing what the older man had in mind, she almost decided to defy him but then the memories of the past came up in her mind. In the past he had led them well and never failed to show her that the well-being of his students was one of his top priorities, if not the top priority. With her trust in him strong, she went limp and allowed the force of the shockwave send her where it would while at the same time hoping that the landing wasn't too painful.

This ain't going to be pleasant. She thought as she saw the ground coming up to meet her.

Twenty Minutes Later, Same Place, Marrow's P.O.V

Arise, my X-Men. Came Baldy's thought, interrupting her rather pleasant moment of lying on top of Xander, Maintain telepathic communication only.

Charles, your message right before the shockwave hit us-? Came the Windrider's thoughts next.

'Pretend to be dead'? Nice thing to say when you have a nuclear shockwave knocking you all over the place. Pryde thought with a bit of sarcasm in her thoughts.

True, but it's better than hearing him say 'oh dear'. Trust me when I say it's never a good thing when your go-to guy says something like that. Xander thought from his position beneath her as he began to move to get up.

She had to frown at this since she'd been quite happy just laying there with him, despite the frigid temperature. Nevertheless she quickly pushed such thoughts and emotions aside since it seemed like they were all mind linked now and she had no intention of letting them know about such things. Putting her game face on, she got to her feet along with the others.

Prepare for an Acolyte attack! Xavier yelled in their minds.

With that the first wave of Acoyltes attacked and she was glad because that allowed her to focus on something she was much more used to: fighting for her life. However, as she fought, she could both see and hear from the background thoughts that were passing through her mind that the X-Men weren't fighting as hard as they normally could. It was almost as though they were holding back for some reason but that didn't make any sense to her. When you're fighting an enemy, you go all out. These weren't some weakling surface worlders!

No, they're not, but I think I've figured out what the Prof's gameplan is. Xander thought at her as he backed her up against Cargill, It's basically to trick the Acolytes into emptying their ship so we can steal it from them. That won't happen if we trounce the ones outside too quickly.

Fine. She thought right before being knocked on her ass, But they better empty that tin can soon or I start introducing my bone spikes to their organs in alphabetical order!

As much as it went against her way of doing things, she had to admit that it was a good plan and added just the right mount of humiliation at the end to make her feel alright about the punches she was taking. Not that it happened often with Xander watching her back, but she got introduced to pain often enough that her willingness to go along with the plan continued to decrease with ever passing minute.

On and on it went with the X-Men managing to keep the stalemate with the Acolytes going quite nicely without tipping off the fanatics. However she needed to remind herself a few times not to go for the kill since it wasn't exactly in her nature to hold back or show mercy. Those sorts of thoughts got a Morlock killed down in the tunnels and they weren't exactly smart on the streets, either. However, smart wasn't something she often used in the same sentence as the X-Men.

It was a few minutes later that the plan hit its first hitch as two more of the Acolytes left the ship but then the craft began to rise up into the air away from the battlefield. Cursing words she'd learned listening in on a couple of upworlders through a storm grate, she began to press harder against Mellencamp. Xander was duking it out with Cargill nearby and, while she couldn't be sure with most of her attention on the freak before her, she believed he was pressing the attack as well.

Professor…your plan's breakin'…down. Rogue said in between trading blows with Kamal, They're taking off.

By unspoken agreement the X-Men immediately changed their strategy and went on the offensive. It was truly something to see because, almost at once, the Acolytes began to lose ground as the followers of Xavier did their best to defeat them in time to make a dash for the departing ship. She had to grin at this since the battle became less of a bother and more like a good time. However, their intentions eventually became clear to the enemy causing the Acolytes to redouble their efforts to put things back in their favor.

Colossus wasn't about to let that happen.

In a daring move the musclebound X-Man decided to use the effect the storm had on his metallic form and call down the mother of all lightning bolts. The onslaught shattered the Acolyte counterattack and left a big ass opening for them to make for the departing ship. Rogue and Pryde were already on their way with the others heading for the most likely landing spot for the ship. She and Xander were taking up the rear position and she figured that that was because he wanted to make sure none of the still-conscious Acolytes tried anything. Not that she thought they would, considering the force that was behind the lightning bolt Peter had brought down.

Nevertheless she kept her senses open as well for any sign that they were about to be attacked from the rear.

Once she was on the Acolyte's craft, she smiled internally as the cold of the outside slipped away and a decidedly warmer temperature wrapped itself around her like a comforting blanket. Her inner Morlock, though, was complaining that she was getting soft and that, while cold, she'd faced worse living in the tunnels below New York City. She paused to think of this and admitted that maybe she was getting a little too used to the comfortable conditions at the mansion. She never wanted for food and she had a comfortable place to sleep whenever she felt tired. Very different from having to either steal food from upworlders and find some reasonably clean sheets in someone's trash to make a bed out of. Still, it had been a point of pride for her people that even with the worst the world had to offer they could still survive and in some cases prosper.

Therefore it was a sign of weakness for one of them to cling to luxuries and comforts that they could very well do without.

Well, none of those weaklings are around and Callisto was the one who sent me to the X-Men in the first place. She thought angrily shoving aside any more of the 'you have gotten weak, Marrow' voices in her head, She's the leader of the Morlocks! Besides…Xander is here.

That thought alone quieted the voices that criticized the direction her life was currently heading in.