Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this in the future. I write because it's fun and because some people enjoy reading my stories. Therefore all I can say is that any lawsuit sent my way would in no way cover the legal fees of the people instigating it.

Secret Underground Multivex Lab Complex

Alexia's POV

"Delilah!?" she exclaimed recognizing the woman who Misty and Gambit had apparently been fighting.

"You know her?" Gambit asked with mild curiosity even as the purple clad henchwoman continued to exchange blows with She-Hulk.

"Not personally. She's an assassin for hire and will probably do other jobs if the payday is high enough." She replied trying to figure out what he should do now, "Worked for The Rose as his right hand woman slash enforcer back around the event we're investigating first happened."

"Anything useful to know?" Misty asked looking like she was trying to find an opening in the fight to fire a shot.

"Mmmmmm...she's about as strong as Spidey, can take hits that'd kill a normal person in one blow and I think has a half-assed healing factor." He replied trying to remember everything he'd seen in the issues leading up to the ill-fated Halloween, "Nothing even close to Wolverine's but enough it'd take more than a couple of lucky shots to put her down for good."

It was then that something occurred to her.

"Where is Wolvie anyway?" she asked with mild curiosity, "Rachel and I tried to make contact telepathically but he just said to get out of his head and buzz off."

"He slid under the blast doors to the target wing." Iron Fist replied walking back up to rejoin the group looking none the worse for wear, "If he's not in a talkative mood then I'd say he's probably run into trouble as well."

"Then we need to get in there and back him up." She said as she began walking for the blast door, "Hey Shulkie! Think you can keep your dance partner entertained on your own?"

"No problem!" Jen Walters replied after blocking a combo of kicks fired off by Delilah, "Go pull Logan's ass out of the fire!"

She could tell that Delilah didn't take kindly to the idea of being looked down upon based on the expression on her face but dismissed it as an issue. As good as the assassin was she wasn't in She-Hulk's league and even assuming the jade giantess let her guard down or paid the price for pulling her punches the cousin of Bruce Banner would come out on top in the end.

Arriving at the blast door she gave it a once over before turning to the best person to create a new door.

"Think you can make us a new door Fist?" she asked looking at the martial arts master.

To this the man with the bandana mask didn't say anything but instead brought his fist back to deliver a punch even as it began to glow with a golden light. Then with an impressive martial arts cry punched the blast door dead center leaving a sizeable fist sized dent and while his initial response was disappointment a closer look revealed tiny cracks through which the other side could be seen. Another chi-punch and Danny managed to successfully go through to the other side all the way to his elbow. It was then though that she realized that they had a small problem: while Danny's fist was powerful when powered up he wasn't strong enough to pry the metal wall apart on his own.

Guess I better start adding my own power to the mix. She thought as she reached out with her power of telekinesis to grasp the edges of the hole.

As she began to pull in opposite directions she was reminded that while she had come a long way from the forest her grasp of her powers was still barely above that of an amateur. Still she had brought the others into this by hiring them and that meant it was her responsibility to make sure each and every one of them got out alive as well as relatively unharmed. Thus she pooled all her will into what she was doing and much how like you could feel the strain in your arms if you were lifting something near their limits so too could she feel the effort her mind was exerting. Nevertheless her effort was rewarded as the sound of tearing and bending metal filled the air even as the hole began to gradually increase in size. With time being a factor she didn't bother trying to make a hole as tall as she was but rather attempted to make it just big enough that they could all squeeze through without too many thin thoughts.

Two and a half minutes later the hole was large enough and as expected Iron Fist was the first through followed by Misty. While she might've once felt slighted by this she didn't now because they were the more experienced heroes and therefore better suited to face the brunt of what was on the other side giving her time to come through in a support position. One final look back at She Hulk to confirm that she was holding her own against Delilah and she squeezed through the hole soon joining the other two as they ran towards the sound of Logan fighting. Between the three of them the distance disappeared in less than a minute and what they came upon was as far as she was concerned classic Wolverine. Though his costume was in tatters and blood decorate his body he was still on his feet looking very much like he'd keep on fighting to the very last ounce of strength he had.

As for the X-Man's opponents the presence of the Scriers confirmed that they were connected to the company itself and raised the likelihood that little May was here significantly. The fact that the Scorpion was also here was a bit of a surprise but not enough to make her think that they'd been expected. Perhaps Osborn had put them here in the event that Peter for some reason came knocking in order to keep Spidey from reaching the most valuable occupant of the wing they were in. Whatever the case they needed to end the confrontation swiftly in order to search the wing for the one they sought before they wound up biting off more than they could chew.

With a stroke of her right arm she established telekinetic grips on two of the present Scriers but before she could throw them into a wall they vanished only to reappear in completely different locations. Teleportation? Possible. One thing that'd come through loud and clear during her many hours of comic book reading was that in the Marvel Comics universe teleportation technology was not merely theoretical but established fact. The only limit was that it was expensive both to purchase as well as to make if arrived at technologically rather than as a result of magic or superhuman ability. Considering how mystical and magical the Scriers tried to look it made sense that they'd try to add it to their repertoire of tricks.

Let's see then how they handle a psi-bolt. She thought before firing off two strong enough to drop your average person to the ground.

The fact that she hit them successfully only brought partial satisfaction because instead of dropping them to the ground it merely staggered them backwards a couple of steps. This implied that they had some manner of psi-protection implanted in them that while not offering them full protection from the attack did blunt the edge of it just the same. In any case the others had by then launched attacks of their own with Misty aiding in pushing back the remaining Scriers while Danny pitted himself against Scorpion.

"Having fun Logan?" she asked as she went to his side.

"Where's Marvel Girl?" Logan asked ignoring the question with an all business tone.

"Up top keeping the public safe security busy." She replied relaying what she'd seen Rachel doing before they'd parted company, "It'll force the guy in charge to only send the shadier hired guards down after us rather than the nine to fivers."

"Better get a move on then." Logan said before taking off towards the northeastern corner of the wing.

"What do you mean?" she asked not entirely sure why there'd be a need for increased speed in response to what she'd just revealed.

"A powerful mutant, an X-Man, tossing around 'innocent security guards' is gonna wind up on the news sooner rather than later." Logan said as they proceeded down the hallway, "Two guesses what's gonna happen next but you'll only need one."

It took a couple of seconds of her mind going through the likely domino effects of what seeing Rachel in the news would do but when she settled on the one with the highest probability…

"Cyclops and the others'll come to investigate. Probably read us the riot act for not thinking things through more or letting them help." She said laying out how she thought things'd go if they didn't wrap things up quickly enough.

"Right." He said before stopping to take an experimental sniff, "This way!"

It took a little while longer but they finally arrived at a door that looked like many of the others that they'd passed by except for one thing: this one had some sort of body scanner in front of it. Based on her intuition she believed that a person was meant to stand on it in order to be scanned from top to bottom and it was likely that if the person didn't match what was on file admittance would not be given. Seeing as how she sincerely doubted that that either of them had been granted entrance clearance by Osborn or whoever had been placed in command of the company he wondered for a moment how they'd get in.

SNIKT! SNIKT!

Sigh…should've known it come to this. She thought with a roll of her eyes even as Wolverine cut through both hinge and lock with his Adamantium claws.

While she was tempted to make some comment about the man's lack of subtlety she knew it wouldn't have any affect so she remained silent. With a clang the door fell to the floor and as a pair the two of them entered the room to behold a single large liquid filled tube firmly integrated into the ceiling as well as the floor. Arrayed in a circle around the tube were three curved consoles with holographic screens positioned just right for an operator to use them in order to perform their assigned task. Against each wall were tables upon which various lab equipment were located ranging from the recognizable to the bizarre but clearly possessing specific purposes.

Being the most visible object in the room her eyes naturally gravitated towards it but what was inside the tube was not what she'd been expecting. She'd been expecting to see a child of only a few years inside hooked up to numerous wires, tubes and other things you'd expect a submerged lab specimen to have attached to them. After all while Osborn might have plans for little May putting them into action should have been years away at the very least. Instead floating motionless inside the tube was a young woman that by her estimate had to be roughly fifteen years of age with long reddish brown hair floating this way and that on unseen currents. The top half of her head was covered almost completely by a helmet of some kind that had numerous wires attached to it coming down from the top of the tube. She could only presume that it was some sort of teaching mechanism meant to imprint knowledge onto a person at an accelerated rate impossible using conventional methods.

"This what you were expecting?" Wolverine growled in inquiry even as he made his distaste of the lab plain to the naked eye.

"Nope but we've come too far just turn around and leave." She replied before walking over to one of the consoles surrounding the tube for something that looked like it could be used to get a blood sample.

It took awhile but eventually with a bit of experimenting she found one and that is when she took out of a belt pouch the portable scanner Beast had made for the purpose of positively identifying the child of Peter and Mary Jane Watson-Parker. Putting the part that was supposed to receive the sample beneath where the blood was supposed to come out she pressed the button that her instincts told her was the right one and watched the red liquid drip out. It was only a few drops, most likely meant for microscope slides or the like, but it was about what McCoy had told her the device would need to do its job. Once the last drop fell in and no more looked to be coming out he pressed the activation button on the device causing the single display to begin cycling through sets of letters she presumed belonged to the possible DNA strand compositions. Seconds ticked by as one composition after another was compared to the sample gained from the tube but the results were not positive since the red light on the device indicated a negative match.

Nevertheless she refused to let thoughts of failure intrude upon her mindscape as she waited for all the possibilities to be compared to the blood sample.

Her luck must've changed somewhat in the last while because just as the last possibility was brought up instead of a disappointing red light it was instead the green light that turned on. Surging with hope she ran the test one more time to make sure it wasn't a bug or a bad part or something but once more the device cycled through the compositions with the last one coming up green once more. There was no doubt any more! This was May Parker, daughter of Peter and Mary Jane Watson-Parker, and she had finally been found!

"It's her!" she exclaimed with joy as she turned to Logan who'd been sniffing both literally as well as metaphorically about the room, "Lets get her out of there."

"Not so fast Red." Logan said in a tone that urged patience, "Osborn wouldn't let it be that easy. I'm betting there's a trick to getting her out alive and I'm betting if we get it wrong even once none of us'll live long enough to regret it."

As much as she hated to admit it she agreed that Osborn was the sort of person that'd sooner destroy what he possessed rather than let it fall into someone else's hands. Killing the rest of the rescue team would likely just be the icing on the cake to the mad Green Goblin. The question was: what was the trick to freeing May? Was there some sort of hidden buttons arrayed about the room that needed to be pressed? Was there a voiceprint match that needed to be made or a password that needed to be input from a specific console?

They needed Remy's expertise.

Remy! If you're done playing with Scorpion we need your thieving skills in here. She thought telepathically at the thief, We got a lock that needs picking and Logan thinks it's booby-trapped.

Be there tout de suite! Remy thought with a bit of exertion in his mind, Dis guy is jus' about done.

BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!

BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!

CCCRRRAAAASSSHH!

This place is going to need some serious remodeling after we're gone. She thought imagining Gambit somehow bringing down the ceiling on top of Scorpion.

Wolverine's POV

"Yer late Gumbo!" he growled at the Cajun as the man entered the room looking only a little roughed up from his fight with Scorpion.

"Pardon moi but it seems our pasty faced friends didn' want ol' Remy leaving the party so soon." Gambit said coming to a stop, "Alexia said somethin' 'bout a lock that needed picking?"

"Yep. Beast's scanner confirmed it's our target but I'm doubting it's gonna be as simple as breaking the glass and lifting her out of that thing." He replied looking about the room in case he missed anything, "My sniffer's good but this needs a thief's touch."

"Say no more." Remy said before he began to look about the room occasionally using his fingers to feel around inside the gaps where they existed.

He only watched the Cajun work for a bit before he began to think on what they'd likely have to do once they got Pete's kid out of the tube. It was likely that the girl was currently under sedation and remembering how swiftly the web head had bounced back from injuries in the past she'd shake it off sooner rather than later. Depending on what sort of mind job Osborn had done on her it'd probably be prudent to make sure she couldn't stir up a fuss and that'd mean having Rachel lock down her body telepathically until they got back to the Institute. As for opposition he was pretty sure they'd have all the local trouble unconscious soon enough but that still left the question of who Osborn might send in to ensure they didn't get away. There were no end of mercenaries both super powered and otherwise who could be hired on short notice to get in their way and even with all of them working together victory was far from assured.

Speed was the key.

They had to be outside of the territory Osborn controlled before his reinforcements arrived if they wanted things to turn out for the best.

"How's it look Cajun?" he asked beginning to show signs of impatience.

"Osborn be one paranoid man." Remy replied turning away from his inspection of the room, "There be more than five hidden mechanisms attached to the tube. Any one of them could be bad."

"So there's no getting her out?" Alexia asked sounding angry at the possibility.

"Now I didn't say that!" Gambit replied with his trademark cockiness, "We got one thing in our favor. All of these triggers need to be able to send signals to the tube to beat us. We stop that an' we stop them."

With that the card throwing Cajun began to walk about the room taking out cards from their holster, giving them a kinetic charge of his powers and then placing them at specific spots around the room with the tube at the center of it all. He'd seen Remy pull a trick like this before, priming several cards but somehow keeping them from detonating right away, but never with so many cards at once. By the time his friend was done over half of his card deck had been used up before he walked over to stand by him and Alexia. With a smug smile on his face he used the fingers on his right hand to count down from give and once he reached zero he made a fist. Precisely at that moment all the cards that had been spread out in the room detonated leaving jagged holes in the where they once were about the size of your average person's head.

"And THAT my friends is how you do it with STYLE!" Remy said sounding quite pleased with his efforts.

He grinned a bit at that but when he looked to see the improved mood on Alexia's face he was somewhat puzzled to find it no better than before Gumbo's plan had been put into motion.

"What's wrong darlin'?" he asked hoping it wasn't something serious.

"I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop." Alexia replied looking at each display in the room in turn even though some of them had been burned out by the power surge the exploding cards had caused.

"C'mon my petit soeur!" Remy said playfully never once losing his smile, "Have a little faith in ol' Remy!"

"It's not about faith Gambit." She said not stopping in her survey of the room, "It's the way my luck tends to go. I think we've beaten the final level and then…"

"WARNING! CONTAINMENT TUBE SECURITY COMPROMISE!" a digitized voice said through the room's intact speakers, "FAILURE ON COUNTERMEASURES BOTH PRIMARY AND SECONDARY. INITIATING TERTIARY PROTOCOLS. ERIS PROGRAM INITIATED."

"…Something like this happens!" she said rushing over to the consoles by the tube even as new information began to scroll up it.

He didn't know whether it was simple coincidence or if the girl had good instincts but there was no mistaking the fact that matters had taken a turn for the worse. He wasn't a big reader like McCoy was but he knew enough about Greek mythology to know that Eris was the goddess of chaos and no program named after someone like that could be a good thing.

"I can't ready half of this but what I can is SO not of the good." She said even as she moved to the next console in the circle surrounding the tube, "Looks like the system is prepping to force feed her some kind of berserker program that basically dumbs down to 'kill every living thing you see'! We gotta stop it!"

Immediately he went to one of the free consoles surrounding the tube and tried to use what limited computer now how he possessed to at least slow down the program if not stop it. Peripherally he could tell that Gambit had done the same but if the fluent cursing he was hearing was any clue Remy wasn't having much luck. Things weren't much better for him since while he was better off than most civilians in these matters he was a lot better at trashing things than making them do what he wanted them to.

In the end he decided to stop wasting time.

"We need Marvel Girl down here NOW!" he declared turning to look at Alexia, "We can't stop this on the outside but we might be able to manage it from the inside somehow!"

"There's no time!" Alexia said with great irritation, "The upload's gonna begin in less than ten seconds! Only one thing to do now!"

With that the girl darted around so that she was standing in front of the floating form of Parker's kid and then something all too familiar happened. He might not be able to see telepathy when it was in use but he could feel it 'cause the hairs on the back of his neck always stood up straighter when Frost or Jeannie tried something. It usually varied depending on how much telepathic power was being used but right now he'd lay good odds that Alexia was putting forth a significant effort. While not worried considering the reports Rachel had sent back on the results of every other lesson were mostly positive he was concerned about Jeannie's teenage twin. Was she skilled enough telepathically to thwart this Eris program without damaging the mind of the young woman in the tube? He wasn't sure and that bothered him.

Reaching down to the communicator in his belt he pressed the transmission button and said "Marvel Girl! Quit playing with the locals and get down here. Your prized student probably needs your backup right about now."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked sounding both surprised and concerned, "You know what? Forget it! I'm on my way!"

Mentally he grinned a bit at the signs of a big sister slash teacher mindset taking hold in the girl from a future time. Up until Alexia showed up Rachel had never shown any real interest in teaching any of the Institute's students and seemed content to just do her part as an X-Man while living her own life on the side. Now though it looked like she was interested and even when she judged Alexia competent enough to train on her own it might be a good idea to put her on the Institute staff as an alternate to Frost.

He predicted quite a few students would request transfers into Marvel Girl's class if that happened.

Indeed he predicted that things would become quite entertaining if Frost and Rachel wound up competing with one another for student approval.

May Parker, Daughter of Spider-Man's Mental Landscape

Alexia's POV

O-Kay! I'm in her head…what the hell was step two? She thought looking about the mindscape of not-so-little-May.

All that it'd taken for her to telepathically enter May's mind was the fact that if she didn't try then the mission would likely end up in failure. Either the girl would become chaos incarnate never to reclaim the life that was taken from her or she'd become so dangerous they'd have no choice but to put her down like a mad dog. She'd refused to accept that and since trying to block the nefarious program from outside wasn't working she'd gone with the only other route available to her.

Telepathy.

She'd learned already had to make contact with another person telepathically and had managed to bring her team into a mental construct of a briefing room back in the Danger Dome so that was all the confidence she needed to dive into May's mind. She'd been prepared to interpret the signs of an unfamiliar mindscape since Rachel had taught her that not everything inside someone else's mind could be taken at face value. However the mindscape before her was unusually rigid resembling the sub-level she was physically on but with an almost digital precision to it. Did this mean that May had never been let out of the tube and had been fed information digitally through the helmet she wore? In any case this helped her since it meant that the mental representations of the entry points of the dangerous would be fairly easy to find. No longer restrained by the rules of the physical world she willed herself to fly through the corridors looking in every direction for something that looked a delivery door or a telephone or something that implied a way to receive new data.

She didn't have long to wait for soon she noticed what to her mental eyes were crimson humanoid ghosts coming through doors that only existed on the left side. There was no definition, nothing to give her any further information, but recognizing it as a threat she struck with her telepathy manifesting it as streams of fire that incinerated the humanoids they struck. However even as her attacks had the desired effect she knew that there had to be other entry points from which they were coming. Somehow she had to strike at all points of entry at the same time in order to prevent even one from successfully delivering the program.

Time to see if doing this is as easy as they make it look in the comic books. She thought before she applied her will to her only hope.

Flowing out of her body like after images concentrations of fire emerged before taking on the form of clones of her that flew away from the site of the battle down the path she'd been going on up until then. It was a strange experience, getting input from multiple sources, but she treated it as no different from trying to keep track of three different conversations at the same time. Difficult but not entirely impossible and thanks to her ability to understand Willow babble she was managing to control the duplicates reasonably well. So long as the crimson humanoids didn't display any real skill in countering her efforts she'd be able to cremate them before they could infect May's mind. For a time she truly thought that her plan would work out as she desired but then something happened that she had not anticipated.

From behind her she was struck and it was enough to send her to the ground of the mental floor disrupting both her efforts and those of her clones.

Willing her connection with her copies to regain strength she turned her telepathic body to see what had attacked her only to see something she really should have anticipated. Standing before her wearing clothes she'd associate with a female character from a slightly futuristic black ops themed videogame was none other than not-so-little May Parker. A positive ID was all she had time for before May's mental representation attacked her forcing her to telepathically manifest a barrier in defense. This proved sufficient for the most part but that wasn't to say that she didn't feel the power behind the blows May was raining down on her barrier. Much like how Rachel had told her when you were inside someone else's mind they had the home field advantage and so the owner could draw strength from that.

Blows could be more potent.

The owner's defenses could be stronger.

Not that she had any intention of fighting or attacking May no matter what happened since it would run counter to what she intended. Creating a wall from ceiling to floor in the mental hallway he resumed her efforts to wipe out the foreign humanoids attempting to irreparably warp the mind of Spidey's daughter.

She wasn't sure how long she kept trying protect herself from May's mental self while at the same time keeping the mindscape free of intruders but when the young woman's mental self began to warp worry spiked inside of her. It only got worse when this distortion began to manifest itself in the environment and her mind raced to determine a cause. In the end the only thing that made sense was that despite making copies there were still more entry points admitting crimson humanoids. Instantly she tried to create even more copies to plug the holes but she only got as far as creating two more before a surge of pain caused everything that had been created so far to waver in stability.

Am I at my limit? She thought even as she reigned in her telepathy to the point where the stability of the copies was restored.

"Need some backup?" came a voice she'd been hoping for but at the same time hadn't been expecting anytime soon.

Looking in the direction of the voice she smiled seeing Rachel in her mental form creating telepathic restraints that pinned May's mental form to the wall.

"Yeah. I'm trying to keep the program from taking hold in May's mind." She said before banishing the barrier she'd made, "The problem is that there are too many ways in for me to plug."

"You're making this harder than it has to be." Rachel said with a smile even as she waved her right arm in the direction of the humanoids causing them to disperse like leaves in the wind, "Yes this looks like a hallway and yes it looks like you're in your own body but that's just how you see it. You can do so much more. Watch."

Kneeling down on the floor her instructor in all matters telepathic reached out with her right hand and pressed it against the floor. A moment later psionic energy that she'd seen numerous times during training flowed outwards from the point of contact like an overflowing drain spreading everywhere even in defiance of gravity as it reached the ceiling. More and more it spread then she watched with amazement as the signs of warping and distortion began to recede like a sand castle being blown away over the course of an hour. She was in absolute amazement at this show of power wondering just how powerful Rachel really was when a grunt of exertion caused her to look back at her teacher.

"Working…with psionic constructs…is a good start." Rachel said with visible signs of strain, "But if you use a bit of imagination…you can do some pretty crazy stuff. Still…when you get right down…to it…you have to be mindful of your limitations. I think I've just about reached…mind. Guess it's me…that needs a hand…this time."

"Don't even need to ask." She said as she kneeled down across from Rachel and mimicked what she had witnessed as best she could.

She knew it was sloppy and unrefined but the fact that the strain Marvel Girl was lessening and the distortions were beginning once more to fade away. It wasn't long before there were none to be seen and with that the possibility of victory was once more shining in her mind.

"Okay. We're keeping the program from getting inside but how do we keep it out for good?" She asked without letting up on her efforts to protect May's mind.

"Logan and Remy are working on shutting it down on the outside." Rachel replied sounding much, "We just have to hold out until then and keep May's mind shielded and safe."

"They weren't having much luck before." She said remembering the moments before she'd dove into May's mind.

"They're…taking the more direct approach." Rachel said with a bit of hesitation, "No hardware equals no software after all."

Thinking on that for a moment it didn't take long to figure out what Marvel Girl meant by that and it made her hope that the destruction didn't wind up sending a surge through the wires connected to Peter's daughter. Still there was nothing she could do on that side of things so on a whim she decided to try talking to May's mental self so as to get it out of the way.

"Sorry for barging into your brain without an invite May." She said as she turned to look at the bound teenager, "You were in trouble and I just wanted to protect you."

"What were you trying to protect me from intruder?" May asked in a manner that was too…rigid sounding to come from a human being.

"A program called Eris that was intended to make you go out of control in the real world destroying your mind in the process." She replied figuring that being straight was the way to go.

"Why would you wish to protect me?" May asked as though it was a serious question.

Obviously Osborn never imprinted concepts like compassion and nobility onto May's mind. She thought with a frown before replying, "Because it is the right thing to do and because I would see you returned to your parents."

"My…parents?" May asked with an expression that implied that she was unfamiliar with the word as well as what it meant.

That BASTARD Osborn's gonna pay for this! She thought making a mental note to take the asshole out should an opportunity present itself.

Consequences to herself be damned!

Rachel Summers' POV

It's like a variation of the Hound conditioning I went through. She thought as she watched Alexia talk with May, She doesn't understand that she's a human being not a thing.

Indeed while her memory of those times weren't the clearest she did remember how she saw herself during those days and it greatly mirrored what she was seeing now. It fueled her anger towards Osborn and made her wish there was some way to get payback but she knew that for the time being the priority had to be with getting away with Spider-Man's daughter. She knew from the time she'd left the surface that while most of the corporate security people had been knocked for a look it'd only be a matter of time before local law enforcement got involved. Given the obvious presence of mutants and super humans it was possible that any heroes that called the country home might also choose to get involved.

Time was not on their side.

"Yes. Your parents." Alexia said sounding like she was having some difficulty keeping calm, "You're human. Humans are born when a man and a woman decide they wish to have a child. You were taken from your parents without their knowledge or consent. My friends and I have come to take you back to them."

For a time the young woman said nothing and even seeing her face she couldn't figure out what the teenager was thinking. The silence only lasted a minute after which a decision had apparently been made.

"If you speak the truth then I will go with you." May said with the finality of a bullet.

Not the joyous response I'd been hoping for but I'll take what I can get. She thought with a slight roll of her eyes.

It was about then that she felt a tapping on the back of her neck and recognized it as a signal from Logan that the destruction of the lab hardware had been completed. While the majority of her mind had been focused on helping Alexia keep May's mind safe she'd left a connection to her physical body's sense of touch. Before taking the plunge she'd told the man to let her know when he and Remy were done by tapping the back of her neck in a specific pattern. Now that that had happened she reached out with her telepathy to ascertain the status of the Eris program. Had it indeed been terminated through the efforts of Gambit and Wolverine or was it still attempting to enter and shape May's mind according to its rules? Inch by inch she inspected the domain her powers had control over to find that there were no new data coming in and all that remained were bits of code that was slowly disintegrating in the presence of her telepathic power.

"Looks like Wolverine and Gambit have done their jobs." She said looking Alexia in the eye, "Any more party crashers on your half of the field?"

"…No. Just a bit of trash needing to be swept up." Alexia replied after looking like she was listening for something for a moment, "Think it's safe to pull out?"

"Yes. The signal Wolverine used is one I told him telepathically." She replied with a nod of her head, "He wouldn't use it if he didn't think it was safe for us to get back into our own bodies. Let's go!"

With that she released the hold she had on May's mental self and flowed like a river back along the link to her own body until with a literal blink she was no longer in May's mind but in a thoroughly demolished lab. Looking over at Alexia's body she watched as it blinked and then turned its head to look at her.

"Woah. Can't say they're not thorough can ya?" Alexia asked after taking in the ruined lab.

"When I do something petit soeur I do it well." Remy boasted with a smile even as he watched for incoming enemies.

"No shit." Alexia said before turning to the tube holding May, "Let's get her out of the tube. I explained things to her and she's agreed to come with us without a fight."

"You sure you can trust that?" Wolverine said sounding like he was a bit skeptical, "If Osborn really planned on turning her into a weapon then tricking people is part of the package."

"Having the skills for it and doing it are two different things." Alexia said with strong belief, "I…I don't think that Osborn's people have finished programming her. There aren't any directives for her to follow, no orders to carry out, so all that's left are the skills and the know how. As long as we don't do anything to set her off everything should be okay."

"Real comfortin' considering we don't know what'll set her off in the first place." Remy said with a bit of sarcasm.

"You all trusted me enough to come this far." Alexia said with serious honesty, "Let's at least see it through to the end."

"Never said we wouldn't Red." Wolverine said with some reluctance in his voice, "Just hope you're ready in case it all goes pear shaped."

"We can handle it." She said confidently as she reached out with her telekinesis to grip both the tube as well as May herself.

Once she was ready she steadily increased the pressure on the glass second by second until cracks appeared and began to spread all over intersecting in some places while only coming close in others. When it all reached critical tube crumbled letting the fluid that'd been inside flow outwards kept away from the team members thanks to Alexia setting up a TK wall. Once it was all gone she guided the glass fragments away from those that mattered and slowly lowered May to the ground gently. She knew that May wouldn't wake up anytime soon but that was no reason to be mean to her. With careful telekinetic precision she disconnected or removed every wire and tube connected to Peter's daughter.

It was then though that she realized that an important detail had been overlooked.

"Um…anyone know where we could find her some spare clothes?" Alexia asked with a bit of discomfort in her tone, "I don't think she'll mind going around in the buff but I doubt Spidey'd like it very much."

"I've got that covered." Misty said walking into the room carrying what looked to be one of the robes the Scriers wore.

With a single toss May was partially covered by the robe.

"Think you can weave something a little better out of it Rachel?" Alexia asked looking to her for a little aid.

"Easily." She replied as she put her telekinesis to work.

With a visible flow of energy the cloak began to change it until it was a form fitting bodysuit the same color as the cloak it'd been made from. May was successfully covered from her ankles to her neck leaving only her feet, hands, hands and head exposed. While still a little eye catching it wasn't any worse than then what most of the costume crowd wore fighting the good fight every day.

"Good enough?" she asked looking for approval.

"Yep. Now let's scram." Alexia replied figuring they'd probably outlived their welcome by this point.

Without a word Wolverine scooped up May and as a group they began to make their way back to where She-Hulk was since the hole she'd created was their most direct route to the surface. Glancing around as they went she was pleased to see that all of the Scriers and Scorpion were flat on their backs either unconscious or very much dead. In either case they wouldn't be getting up anytime soon reducing the number of obstacles between them and escape increasing the odds of escape. When they made their way through the hole in the blast door her optimism only improved when she watched She-Hulk successfully KO Delilah with both of them looking like they'd gone all out in their match.

"Have a little trouble with her?" she asked with a bit of humor in her tone.

"Nah!" Shulkie replied with a grin on her face, "Just figured I could have a little fun and keep her off your back at the same time. Time to go?"

"Yeah so it's time to fly." she replied before syncing up with Alexia with her telekinesis.

They'd discussed this previously when the possibility of everything going down the tubes was brought up and all agreed that just getting into a car and driving off wasn't an option. Automobiles and the like were limited by the streets they went down and hindered by unexpected moments of traffic congestion that'd slow them down neither of which would work in their favor. Flying? Flying was only limited by their TK stamina and the flaw of being a little easier to spot than one car among many. Still they'd figured that if they could last until they were outside the city they could acquire transportation there and then make for the border before it got locked down. Misty had scoffed at the idea of Osborn being able to affect a lockdown of the country but nevertheless had agreed in the end to place a suitable vehicle outside the city for them.

Now they just had to get to it.

With focus and will honed through hours of practice in the Danger Dome the two of them lifted the entire team plus one into the air managing a swift and steady ride. They started out slow until they hit open air and then the two of them kicked it up three notches causing the group to shoot into the air like they had the latest jetpacks on. A telekinetic barrier in front of them kept the wind and the air friction from being an issue so all Alexia had to do was work with her to get them to the vehicle.

"So what do you think's going on in Osborn's mind right now?" Danny asked with unexpected seriousness.

"I'm thinking anyone that opens their mouths is going to get their ticket punched on the spot and anyone telling him things he doesn't want to hear will get the same." Alexia replied as the city flew by beneath them, "In other words he'll be pissed off at us and even if he manages to get May back we each probably have some payback coming our way in the next year or so from him."

"In other words business as usual." Gambit said sounding like being on some big bad's hit list was nothing new.

"Pretty much." she said thinking about how that always seemed to be the case when you were a superhero.

"Don't worry guys." Misty said with a smile on her face that implied something good, "While the two redheads were brain diving and the guys were indulging in their destructive tendencies I was doing a little snooping. You'll never guess what I found. It's JUICY."

An Undisclosed Location

Norman Osborn's POV

"You disappoint me." He said from his chair looking out at the darkness filled night, "I don't think I need to remind you that I don't like being disappointed."

"O-of course n-not…Mister Osborn." The quivering man in an expensive suit said as he tried to maintain his composure, "I have every information source at my disposal looking for them as we speak. I'll find-"

"Don't bother." He said with irritation at the futile efforts, "Video security confirmed the presence of at least one experienced telepath and a man who'd smell them coming literally a mile away. Cease all pursuit. I will handle this myself. Leave."

With that the man whose name he had never bothered to remember bowed in a broken manner before rushing out as swiftly as he probably thought was possible while retaining his pride.

The fool.

Pressing down on his intercom button he said "Miss Nance? Tell the employee regulation department that a red slip has been assigned to the man leaving my office right now. Inform them to wait until he has completed his task before delivering it."

"I'll pass on the orders Mister Osborn." Miss Nance said with her usual professionalism.

It was one of the reasons why he'd accepted her as his secretary.

It didn't matter what he asked her to do because she still did it to the best of her ability.

Whether it was something ordinary like bringing him files or informing the trash men in employee regulation to kill someone he no longer had a use for she did both very well.

With that matter tended to he turned his mind to the thieves that'd seriously compromised his primary plan for getting his revenge on Parker. It had been a brilliant plan but then what else could it have been coming from his mind so any enlightened person would be impressed by it. Abduct Parker's child without them being aware of it, obscure it with the sort of fight Spider-Man anticipated and then begin preparing the infant for her role. She would become his deadliest warrior, his ghost enforcer, and when the time was right he would order her to destroy Parker's life one loved one or friend at a time. THEN when the final confrontation occurred he would wait until Spider-Man succeeded in striking his enforcer in just the right spot before triggering an implant that would deal a fatal internal injury. Oh it would be well disguised to the point where any coroner would mistake it as the result of Parker's attack but it would be all him. It would be then that he would appear and reveal to his hated foe that the girl he'd just killed was in fact his long lost daughter. He would take delicious pleasure it laying out every inch of his plan to Spider-Man until the fool's meager intellect would have no choice but to accept it all as truth.

Then while the fool was overcome with his weak emotions he would deal the final fatal blow ending their long struggle once and for all.

Now though his grand design had gone astray and could potentially fail altogether if he did not act.

According to the fool who would soon be dead the infant had been artificially aged to the point where she would be able to carry out her duties and had been imprinted with the knowledge and skills needed. He had chosen the top specialists in their respective fields and hired teams to gather every speck of information on those specialists in whatever form it took so that it could all be poured into his enforcer. Once all the relevant data had been collected it had been forged into an efficient pneumonic teaching program that would be inscribed, metaphorically speaking, directly into the recipient's mind. All that had been left had been the installing of control programming as well as hidden security subroutines that would ensure that she could never turn against him or defy his orders.

It had been scheduled to begin tomorrow.

Needless to say he was less than pleased that his little killing machine wasn't firmly under his control.

Now the question becomes what to do next. He thought as he reviewed the enemies now in his crosshairs, She-Hulk, Iron Fist, Misty Knight, Gambit, Wolverine, Marvel Girl and unless I miss my guess the rumored Dark Phoenix. A formidable team to be sure but if my spies are correct their respective teams were not informed of this little operation.

That meant that he had a window of opportunity before any reinforcements could leave their respective headquarters never mind cross the Atlantic Ocean to aid their comrades.

If he acted quickly enough there was still a chance he could reacquire his chosen tool of vengeance and the only remaining inconvenience would be the fact that her existence would be revealed to Parker. Attempting to deceive the worthless hero once more into believing that his child was dead would likely be more difficult and he was not quite ready to make that deception a reality. He had invested significant time and resources into making her his weapon of choice. Until he was certain that reacquiring her was no longer worth his time he would refrain from terminating her since she was by far the most appetizing method of making Peter suffer for his many slights against the Osborn family.

Sending more security forces would be pointless nor would any human law enforcement organizations achieve results. He thought as he considered his options, Hmmmm…I would need a way to completely get the attention of the 'heroes' while at the same time swiftly making off with the target.

Turning to the computer built into his desk he began to peruse the list of operatives he considered worth hiring for those that stood the best chance of accomplishing their roles in the coming confrontation. None of the incarcerated operatives would work since it'd take too long to affect their escape by either legal or illegal means. It was then though that he recalled a bit of information that had crossed his desk recently regarding the current whereabouts of a group of people who once formed a team of heroes native to Italy. They had apparently shown promise for a time until a terrible encounter with a demon called Nosferath cost them the life of their team leader's foster father. They had not been seen since then but he always made sure his intelligence gathering operatives keep an eye out for promising cannon fodder. He was sure that if he promised to resurrect their fallen friend or trick them into believing that they could once again be heroes they would do whatever he asked of them.

They would be the force that would occupy the thieves of his property while the second wave acquired and exited the combat zone.

Whoever the second wave turned out to be would need to be someone skilled enough to knock anyone in close proximity to his assassin off balance and swiftly neutralize her since he could not be sure that she would come back willingly. As he went through the list of possibilities, paying close attention to their last confirmed location, he came upon one that had him smiling since it seemed that Fate didn't favor just heroes. One VERY qualified operative just happened to be calling a quaint town home for the time being and it was right in the path of one of the potential routes the target group was predicted to take. He knew that the man would require but a nice round number of cash in order to agree to the job and money was one of the things he had more than enough of at the moment. He wouldn't allow himself to be taken advantage of but he doubted that it'd come to that.

Masters was too much of a professional to make such a foolish move.

With a plan in mind he began to flesh out the details with all the speed a genius intellect such as his was capable of leaving no room for mistakes.

They were rare but they had been known to happen from time to time.

A Random Italian Gas Station

Wolverine's POV

"I don't like it." He growled even as he waited for Gambit to finish gassing up the vehicle.

"Don't like what?" Alexia asked after taking a sip of her soft drink.

"It's been two days since we busted Spidey's kid out of Osborn's lab and aside from a few checkpoints we haven't seen a bit of pursuit." He replied even as he continued to keep watch on the area for trouble, "He's got to know what's happened so why isn't he doing anything?"

"Maybe there's too big a spotlight on the area right now." Alexia proposed as she tossed her empty bottle into a nearby trashcan, "There can't be a lot he can do right now without the wrong people asking the right questions."

"There is if he controls the ones asking the questions." He pointed out remembering his few clashes with the likes of Wilson Fisk and other powerful evil men.

If Osborn had even just the ones running the investigation under his control then he could steer it wherever he wanted so long as his pawns had sound arguments to support their choices. So long as the men or women didn't give orders that were plainly intended to allow the 'fugitives' to be taken out without interference by an unknown party all would proceed as Osborn wanted.

"There's no way that he has every cop and agent on his payroll. All it'd take would be for a few of them to do something inconvenient and any sneaky plans would blow up in his face." Alexia said refusing to believe in the darker possibility, "He'll wait until we're outside of Italian jurisdiction 'cause that'll probably be when the pasta lovers'll send out an APB to their neighbors to look for us."

"You sure we shouldn't just call in a Quin or X-Jet to come pick us up?" Misty asked looking lazy but actually fully aware of the environment around her, "They're both rigged for stealth right? Should be a simple swoop and scoop."

"The fact that Frost hasn't tried to make my brain implode trying to read me the riot act means the X-Men're taking the wait and see approach. Either they're trying to figure out what we're doing or they're hoping a better chance to come get us shows up." Rachel said sounding like she was still expecting Frost to try death by cerebral implosion, "Same for the Avengers. We've stirred up a hornet's nest and if they make the wrong move at the wrong time it'll backfire on them big time."

"So no brain popping right now but probably some later." Alexia said making it sound like she was talking about the weather, "I say we count our blessings while we can and keep going. Once we're at least two countries away from Italy we can hop a flight back to America no problem."

"You don't think they'll have our photos at every airport in Europe?" Walters asked having shrunk down to her human form to draw less attention.

"Who said we'd be going by public plane?" Alexia asked rhetorically with a sneaky smile he couldn't recall ever seeing on Jeannie's face, "One of you guys gotta know someone with a private jet that we could use in exchange for a favor at a later date. Right?"

She wasn't wrong there.

He'd been around long enough to make quite a few acquaintances, a group of friends and a few people he considered family. It was probably the same for the rest of the team so it'd just be a matter of determining which were closest and who they wanted to owe favors to at the end of the day. He knew of a few shady operators who while not squeaky clean weren't shady enough that he couldn't possibly trust them with their lives. If they were still operating out of the same airfield he remembered then it'd take maybe another day of driving before they got there.

"You've thought a lot about this haven't you?" Jen asked sounding a little impressed by Alexia.

"Ever since Rachel told me the comics in my head match what really happened pretty closely." Alexia replied with a proud grin, "I'm no expert and I let you guys steer things since you've probably done this but I wanted to be more than a psionic fire hose. Besides I've got some experience thinking on the fly."

"You'd make a good thief petite soeur." Remy said with a smile, "Maybe Gambit show you a few tricks when we get home."

"Please don't try to contribute to the corruption of a minor when I'm around." Jen said sounding like she was trying to forget what she'd just heard, "I am a lawyer after all."

"Pardon moi Shulkie." Remy said with a little genuine regret before pulling the gas pump nozzle out of the car, "Tank is full. Let's get going."

It was then though that a smell managed to penetrate the stench of gasoline even as his ears picked up sounds soon followed. Quick enough to give him whiplash he turned towards the direction both were coming from but it still took a moment to spot the black dot getting larger on the horizon. It wasn't until a few seconds passed that he identified an aircraft approaching at high speeds but even with the details he could make out he couldn't match it against anything he'd seen before. Nevertheless it was heading in their direction and since there was no airfield anywhere near here he decided to err on the side of caution.

"We've got incoming!" he declared even as he took up a ready stance and popped his claws.

The others were slower to react since they didn't pick up on the roar of the plane's engines until it was almost on them but fortunately they had the experience to get ready in the blink of an eye. Clothes ripped as Walters pumped up into She-Hulk. Wind whistled as Gumbo extended his telescoping staff and gave it an unnecessary twirl. Misty slipped fresh clips into her guns before cocking the hammers on both. He could feel the odd sensation in the air that told him both Rachel and Alexia were heating up their psionic abilities in preparation for a fight. The one thing he didn't expect though was for their rescueee to get ready as well.

It had been a little over twelve hours after they'd escaped from the underground labs where they'd found her that she'd woken up. Parker's kid had still been sluggish in her movements and a little weak but that had gone away soon after. Still from what they'd been able to discern she hadn't been taken out of the tube in some time and had apparently used functional electrical stimulation to keep muscle atrophy from getting too bad. In combination with the low level healing factor Spidey had and it only took a day for her to be able to walk around without wavering or dropping from exhaustion. She hadn't said much since she'd woken up but had seemed to defer to Alexia whenever asked something she wasn't familiar with.

Now though there was no hesitation.

Not surprising considering Osborn had programmed her to be his chief leg breaker and throat slitter.

However with no weapons to speak of all the girl would be able to do was rely on hand-to-hand combat unless she somehow managed to 'borrow' a weapon either from friend or foe.

It was a little odd when the aircraft didn't slow down and begin landing maneuvers but then he realized what the intent was.

Drop off.

They were planning on disembarking from the aircraft while it was still flying fast in the hopes of hitting the 'shock and awe' target.

Good luck with that. He thought sarcastically even as he saw a hatch in the bottom of the aircraft open up.

Five people dropped out from the aircraft, two women and three men, with most of them requiring a flight pack to make sure they didn't break their own legs with the stunt. One was doing a pretty decent Human Torch impression with the flaming body while the one he had pegged as the leader had a jaw as square as Cap's. A Sabertooth wannabe, someone who reminded him of Danvers and a woman he couldn't form a comparison for yet used some sort of dark energy finished things off. He didn't recognize them from any files he'd seen pertaining to super powered individuals or teams so he figured that they'd be cannon fodder for Osborn whether they knew it or not. Either they'd be decoys, foes meant to wear them down or spin tools to make the good guys look bad. In any case until they had a clue to work with they'd keep to focusing on the foes they could see rather than the threats they couldn't.

"You have one chance to end this peacefully criminals." The Cap wannabe said as he and his team landed a little over two dozen feet away from his group, "Surrender or there will be trouble."

"Bub…you don't know what trouble is." He said not willing to back down even an inch, "But you're about to find out."

Alexia's POV

"What are the mission parameters Alexia?" May asked never once taking her eyes off of the hostile team.

"No lethal force is to be used. No permanent injuries are to be given to the enemy forces. Use only the bare minimum force needed to subdue them so we can leave." She said laying out all the rules that would keep May from stepping over the line, "Outside of that act as you see fit."

"Acknowledged." May said narrowing her eyes a bit as the rules of engagement were laid out for her.

Then with speed she had never personally witnessed the daughter of Spider-Man leapt towards the enemy, attacking the leader in order to end the battle swiftly, and while her first blow was blocked it was held back only by a hair's breath. She could see the signs of strain in the man who'd issued the surrender demand but not for very long since at that point the battle became joined with both sides pairing off according to their instincts. Misty and Shulkie took on the Sabertooth copycat, Gambit took on the woman with seemingly dark energy based powers, Iron Fist took on the blonde who appeared to have some psionic ability of her own leaving Rachel and Wolvie to handle the Human Torch rip off. While a little disappointed that she didn't have a sparring partner of her own she knew that she still had an important role to play. She was the back up, the rear supporter who'd aid whoever looked to be in trouble, while also keeping an eye out for any approaching trouble. She didn't believe for a second that a team of powered people he'd never heard of before would be a match for seasoned members of the X-Men and the NYC hero community.

They were a distraction.

Osborn no doubt planned on sending in his real operative in just as soon as he was convinced that they wouldn't be seen coming.

To that end she sat down cross legged on the ground and began to focus both her telepathic and telekinetic powers to expand on what her natural senses could tell her. She knew that there were technologies and abilities that could shield an enemy from every sense she had but she hoped that the short amount of time that had passed had led to hasty preparations. Stretching out with her telepathy she mentally took note of the positions of all the combatants in close proximity to her before reaching out even further. Rachel had taught her how to do this back in the Danger Dome but she'd never really pushed herself to see just how far out she could go before reaching her limits. Bit by bit she went waiting for the familiar sensations of her mind reaching the end of what it could do before the pain started to creep in. It took about a minute in total but by that point she figured she had extended her telepathic reach to about eight blocks before it went fuzzy despite all her best efforts. It wasn't quite far enough to detect someone intending to strike from far away but that was when she moved the second half of her efforts. She had to be subtle about this since any real abundance of telekinetic energy became visible to anyone with eyes and so with as even a match of sneakiness and speed it flowed out like fog. Sadly he could not extend her TK energy as far as her telepathic energy, her mind could simply not take the strain, but she still managed to make it a third of the way.

What was the intent of doing this?

The telekinetic energy was an extension of her mind and therefore she could feel how it interacted with everything it touched. The air, the particulates of dirt being kicked up by the fighting, the people fighting close by, the grass and the various signs hanging about the gas station. If anyone tried to get closer they'd have to come into contact with her TK fog and she'd know the second that they did. A less likely possibility was that if the unknown enemy tried to shoot from a distance she might be able to catch or at least deflect the shot away from her allies. This was the long shot but she had to at least try considering the scenarios she could come up with for a lone enemy operative taking advantage of the distraction provided by the unknown team.

It also provided her with a method of supporting her allies without giving the enemy team much in the way of visible warning.

Things like erecting a barrier to block the Creed wannabe's claws when he tried to slice through Misty's cybernetic arm or restraining the leader of the enemy group so May land a successful blow. It was likely that at most all they saw was the coalescing of the TK energy moments before it did what she willed it to do. When she sensed the flaming man in the air turn in her direction she knew that he'd somehow figured out that she was the source of the unexpected interference but by the time he fired a stream of flame at her she'd already thought a TK barrier into place.

It nearly wasn't enough.

Whatever power the guy had it was the real deal and not just a copy of Johnny Storm's super power.

"Alexia! Are you okay?" Rachel asked even as Wolverine moved to force the guy's attention back to him.

"I'm good. The guy might be hot stuff where he's from but he's lukewarm to me." She replied with a cocky grin.

"Just don't get too full of yourself or you'll end up well done." Rachel said as she turned to support Wolverine who was getting a little cooked himself.

"You got it Teach!" she said before refocusing her attention on detecting the hidden lurker who was likely the real threat in this confrontation.

Time passed but she could tell that her friends were gradually beginning to gain ground against the unknown team. Whether it was due to inexperience or battle rust the unknown team was taking hits more often than they were landing them but to their credit they weren't giving up. Just when you thought Iron Fist or Wolverine had smacked them down hard enough to trigger a retreat they came back fighting harder than before.

It was just as she was about to deliver a blow of her own that something moving absurdly fast pierced her telekinetic field and likely due to luck more than anything else she managed to get a barrier up in its path that was strong enough to stop it in its tracks. Nevertheless it was a good thing she'd succeeded because if the projectile had continued on its path it would've ventilated her skull rather messily. Turning around she used the angle and direction the shot had entered her TK field to predict its point of origin and that led to a hill just outside of her telepathy's extended range. She couldn't see who it was but she did see what in her opinion was the reflection of sunlight off of a rifle scope's lens causing her to immediately attach the label sniper to the unknown assailant.

"We've got a sniper on a hill at eight o'clock over nine blocks out!" She announced so the others could hear her, "Can't tell if it's a he, she or an it!"

For a moment it both looked and sounded as though Wolverine wanted to charge off after the shooter but then rethought the matter.

"Take She-Hulk and deal with it!" Logan ordered even as he evaded a ball of flame before lunging at his foe, "We can't risk a lucky shot taking one of us out!"

"What about running for it?" Misty asked sounding wary of handling the Sabertooth wannabe solo.

"They've got wings and we don't." Wolverine replied as his claws succeeded in piercing the flame-like body of his sparring partner, "No way we can outrun them in a rental. The fight's gonna be won or lost HERE!"

"Then it's gonna be WON!" she declared with all her conviction, "C'Mon Shulkie! Time to SMASH!"

"Right behind you!" Walters yelled as the two of them broke off from the main fight to head towards the last known position of the sniper.

She knew that if this was anything like the fictional material she was familiar with the shooter would be on the move now that his location had been compromised but unless they were a speedster they'd still be in the general area of their first shot. The real question was whether or not the person had contingencies in place for enemies closing on his position. Did they have other weapons? Had they placed mines or some other trap around their location for enemies to blunder into? She didn't know and the best she could do was put herself in the attacker's shoes and use that to predict possible moves so that she could counter them.

"Stick close to me." She-Hulk ordered as they got close enough to the nest to make out identifying details of the enemy, "You're new to this and the shooter'll know it. That'll put you first on his hit list. As long as you're close to me though you'll have one helluva shield to hide behind."

"Unless they hit us with knockout gas, sonics or something else that being invulnerable won't matter against." She pointed out remembering many an issue from his comic book collection where something like that happened.

"You're a real positive thinker Alexia!" Jennifer said with a bit of humor and ruefulness, "Ya know that, right?"

"What can I say?" she asked rhetorically even as she used her TK to put protective barriers around both her own body as well as Shulkie's, "I hope for the best but plan for the worst."

She just hoped that her plans were good enough to overcome the threat they were rapidly approaching.

She Hulk's POV

Gotta say for her first real adventure Alexia's doing pretty good. She thought as they reached what she expected was the danger zone, Still green, no pun intended, but she's further along than most rookies are when they join the hero biz.

Still she had to wonder at just how volatile the girl was considering the sort of power she had packed under the hood and what'd happen if that power came out. She'd been among those that Tony had alerted the first time Alexia had shown up but when nothing had come from it she'd presumed that the situation had been resolved. She'd been proven wrong a few days later when Iron Man had assembled a group of powerhouses at Avengers Tower to brief them on Alexia Grey. While he'd tried to impress on the group that it was all just a precaution she didn't think anyone believed him. They all knew that the co-founder of the Avengers considered the teenager to be just shy of being dangerous enough to warrant being put in a comfy cage 'for the greater good'.

The only thing that probably stopped him was the fact that the X-Men had finders rights on dealing with the Phoenix Force and the physical copy of Jean Grey-Summers. Since the girl hadn't done anything TOO worrisome in their care Shellhead didn't have the justification to take custody of Alexia and he knew Cyclops would defend her if the issue was forced. Still she figured that all it'd take would be a big incident or three before Tony would feel that he had no other choice but to take the stronger actions that the X-Men refused to take. She wasn't sure where she'd stand if it came to that but she figured it'd depend on what the big incidents were and the level of damage that was done. If there was too big a risk to innocent people if not the planet she'd have no choice but to do all that was needed to eliminate that risk.

I hope it doesn't come to that. She thought as she spotted what looked to be a fairly powerful sniper rifle and an ammo box next to it, She's been fun to be around, has a sense of humor that's weird sometimes and I get the feeling that it'll rarely get dull for those living around her.

"Looks like whoever it was bailed but why'd he leave his gun behind?" Alexia asked looking a little thrown by this illogical act.

Her mind slogged through the various possibilities but it wasn't until she got to a particularly dangerous one that her eyes widened and her body acted purely on instinct. Moving with all the speed yet also with all the precision that'd been trained into her she pulled Alexia up against her body and crouched down so as much of her highly durable body was between the teenager and harm as possible. As it was less than half a second after all of her was in position a massive explosion blossomed into existence with both fire as well as shrapnel making up its composition. Normally something like this just messed up her hair since it usually took a building busting bomb at close range to ring her bell but whoever set up the trap had something a little extra thrown in for flavor. Specific spots of pain blossomed into existence on her body but it wasn't until the blast was over with that she looked to see what the cause was.

Spikes.

Metal spikes were sticking up out of the spots the pain was coming from and for a moment she couldn't figure out how that happened. Bullets bounced off her skin. Energy blasts stung but never did any lasting damage. It took the likes of Abomination, Thor or Bruce to really do some damage so why were these spikes sticking up out of her body?

The answer came when she ran through what she knew was capable of piercing her skin.

Adamantium.

Someone had rigged a bomb with Adamantium spikes so when it went off they'd be propelled fast enough to even punch through her skin.

"AAAHHHH!" she yelled as the pain tripled now that her mind had fully comprehended what had happened to her body.

Barely able to remember to fall in a direction that wouldn't result in the spikes being pushed deeper in she landed on the ground. It wasn't that she was a wuss or anything but no one could take being spiked like this and not cry out. She didn't care how many tough guys and girls there were out there each and everyone of them would've yelled out just like she had if they'd had metal spikes sticking out of them. Shoving her pain to the side she opened her eyes and tried to assess the situation and whether or not she had time to pull all the spikes out of her body. She was fairly certain that once they were out her body's healing factor would patch up the damage in minutes getting her back in top form.

"Alexia? You OK?" she asked looking where she expected the redhead to be.

"I…I think…I think so." Alexia replied getting to her feet with a bit of a wobble.

Considering the girl had been practically at ground zero the fact that Alexia was only a little unsteady on her feet implied that just as her instincts had compelled her to shield her teammate the redhead's instincts had resulted in the raising of a TK barrier around her body. Obviously it hadn't been perfect but when you considered what most people had to deal with being so close to a blast with no protective gear of any kind…yeah it was pretty good. Still since the teenager didn't have a healing factor like her it'd probably take a trip to the hospital, some medication and probably time taking it easy to fully recover.

"Gotta admit…" came a voice that instantly had her turning her head in its direction, "…I was kinda hoping more of you'd come over here but I guess taking out two of the powerhouses is a good enough start."

Taskmaster.

It was 'I can use your moves just by watching you' Taskmaster.

While she was tempted to ask the clichéd question 'what are you doing here' it was pretty obvious once she added up everything that'd happened in the last half hour. The team of unknown heroes were distractions while Taskmaster took advantage in order to acquire Spidey's kid for Osborn. The fact that he took a shot at Alexia first meant he considered her to be the biggest threat and considering what information was likely out there about Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force it was a smart move. Also there was the presence of the Adamantium spikes that implied that Taskmaster had been told who he'd be up against far enough in advance to acquire the necessary weapons. Considering the hardware looked like the VIP section of the A.I.M weapons catalogue and she was distinctly worried.

This made it clear from the beginning that she didn't have the time to pull out the spikes and let her body heal. Alexia was in no shape to fight off someone of Taskmaster's skill and would only get killed if she tried. Not that she was suddenly his match especially considering the fact that the villain knew the moves of those who'd taught her how to fight. Nevertheless she stood the best chance of surviving whatever was thrown at her until the rest of the team came riding in like the cavalry so ignoring the pain she charged.

Predictably though the man Brought up two hand cannons and opened fire on her but unlike how she'd normally do it she couldn't evade the shots. Alexia was right behind her and with the teenager's mind dazed like it was there'd be no defense to deflect or absorb the shots. She didn't know how long she'd last absorbing that sort of damage but hopefully she'd be able to get close enough to crush a few of Taskmaster's weapons thus making it easier on the others. Even with the spikes hindering her movements regardless of her pain coping abilities she was still capable of moving quicker than even a top human athlete could manage training for speed their entire life.

Ungh…Still…Unh…hurts like…a…OW…sonuvabitch! She thought as each shot impacted her body even as she fought to close the gap between herself and Taskmaster.

A side benefit of her efforts to get closer was that in order to counter her Taskmaster was moving further and further away from Alexia.

"Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do She Hulk." Taskmaster said almost casually even as he continued to pepper key areas of her body with shots, "You're trying to protect Phoenix by moving me away from her."

"Is that a problem?" she asked even as she put more effort into her strides so that her speed would increase.

"Not really." Taskmaster replied without any concern, "Psionics in general need to be able to concentrate to use their powers. With the blast she just experienced I'm surprised she can still stand. Besides I can always pick her off once I finish dealing with you."

If I had a dollar every time someone thought they could write my obituary I'd be one very rich She-Hulk. She thought letting confident grin spread across her face, Guess I'm stuck collecting a paycheck just like everyone else.

It could be worse.