The Midnight Runner cut across the night sky, the jet's engines purring at it soared towards their goal. Kitty sat in the pilot's seat, her knuckles white on the controls and her expression grim as she focused on what might lay ahead of them "It isn't necessarily connected to Excalibur having been based there," Rogue said to her gently from the co-pilot seat. "You just know me way too well," Kitty sighed softly. She looked over at Rogue with a wry smile, "It's just that I lived out on Muri Island for a long while, and someone attacking it feels awfully personal to me, somehow." With a little smile on her face Rogue asked, "So how does it feel to be in charge, boss?" Kitty made a face at that. Storm had decided to split the team, keeping some of the group in Australia in case something else happened. She put Kitty in charge, and sent Sage, Bishop and Rogue along with her to Muir Island. Bishop came up from the back to ask, "What's our ETA?" Kitty smiled up at him, "Five minutes left." Bishop whistled softly, "This thing is as fast as you said it was." Quietly Kitty asked him, "So how's Sage taking my being in charge?" When Storm handed out the orders there had been such an odd look on the pale woman's face, and she had been almost deadly silent on the trip out. A very amused sounding voice came from behind Kitty, "I'm done pouting, thanks." Sage put her head up between the seats to say quietly to Kitty, "I'm sorry." She looked over at Rogue seriously, "Are we near enought to contact Muir Island?" "It's worth a try," Rogue shrugged. She efficiently brought the communication system on line, "This is the Midnight Runner and the X-Men, calling Muir Island. Can you read me?" There was a bit of a crackle of static, "This is Cecelia Renes, from Muir Island. It's nice to hear your voice again, Rogue." "Been a while, Cecelia. What's the situation down there?" Rogue asked. "We've got the scene sealed off to preserve any evidence," Cecelia reported, and the former X-Man hesitated, "but you should also know that there's a represenitive of the Weird Happenings Organization out here as well." "What?" Bishop blinked. "No, WHO," Kitty smirked. "No comedy routines today, please," Rogue snickered. Into the communicator she said, "We'll be there in less than five minutes." "We'll be waiting," Cecelia answered. It was actually less than three minutes before the Midnight Runner's vertical take-off and landing system brought them straight down on the landing pad. A man stood there, dressed in a black suit, the wind whipping his overcoat backward. Kitty hesitated a moment, seeing him, then efficiently shut the engines down and locked down the various systems. Rogue looked at her worriedly, "Is something wrong?" "It wasn't who I was expecting to see," Kitty admitted. All four of them disembarked from the jet, striding out on to the landing pad together. The man took a last puff of his cigarette before crushing it out under his shoe. He pushed his black hair back, looking almost nervous as they walked towards him. He smiled slightly and once they were near enough Pete Wisdom said, "It's been a while, Pryde." "Pete," and there was a catch in her voice as Kitty offered her hand, "I knew that you were too nasty to have died." Pete smiled slightly as he shook her hand firmly, "You know the old saying, 'reports of my death have been greatly exagerated' and all that." Rogue cleared her throat, and Kitty smiled, "I'm forgetting my manners. I'd like you to meet my teammates Sage and Bishop," and there was a pause, "and my lover, Rogue." 'And didn't that make for an interesting reaction,' Kitty noted. The dark eyes widened slightly, but Wisdom still offered his hand to be shaken. Wisdom and Rogue visibly assesed each other, even as they moved on into the island facility. "Is there any security footage of the assault team?" Bishop asked. "A few images before they took each system off-line," Wisdom reported. He made a face, "The computers have been trashed, some kind of virus we think." "Send Kitty and Sage after that," Rogue smiled, "I bet they can handle it." "Wouldn't be surprised," Wisdom smiled back. They reached an area surrounded by yellow ribbon, and a african american woman looking down at a burnt floor in the floor. "Cecelia," Kitty smiled at her cheerfully. Cecelia looked back, nodding respectfully. She wore a lab coat, obviously back in her doctor mode once again. "Good to see you all," she smiled. She gestured to a melted hole in the floor, "Take a look." Kitty knelt down beside the hole, looking at it thoughtfully. "Some kind of focused thermal ability," she mused. She looked up at Sage, "Does the signature resemble anyone's known powers?" Sage studied it for a moment thoughtfully, "There is a remarkable similarity to Havok's recorded abilities." "Too bad he's MIA," Bishop noted. His eyes widend as he picked up a piece of metal, bent oddly by powerful magnetic forces. "Polaris," he mused softly. "She was spotted on one of the few good images we got," Wisdom reported. "Intentionally, I wonder?" Rogue mused softly. "That's a good question," Kitty admitted. "Well, let's see where they went," she leapt into the hole and dropped down to the floor below. The others quickly followed her down, though Wisdom grumbled a bit. "Not as young as I used to be," Pete muttered, but he was smiling slightly. "I seem to remember you keeping up with me in Excalibur," Kitty noted. "I really don't like to see them together," Rogue muttered to Bishop. Bishop smiled slightly, "Notice the way she keeps a distance with him? And how akward he is? I rather doubt you have much to worry about." "Maybe," Rogue sighed. Another level down and a short walk later, the group found themselves standing by the cold storage vault for genetic samples. Sage brought one of the computers nearby online, "Badly corrupted data, but it should be fixable." Sage typed away briskly, working with astonishing percision. Kitty looked over her shoulder a moment, the logged on to a nearby station to assist her. They worked together smoothly, in near silence puncuated only be an admiring, "Nice code," from Kitty. "Thank you," Sage bowed her head in reply. "Got it," Kitty exclaimed. The vault door opened, and certain storage slots slid open. "According to the inventory system, materials were taken from these slots," Kitty said. "Nate Grey," Sage read, "Rhane Sinclair, Logan, Douglas Ramsay, Kitty's, Rogue's, Alex Summers, Scott Summers, Jean Grey..." she trailed off, leaving even names more unread. "Is this the only place they hit?" Rogue blinked, "What about the Xavier Protocols?" An odd look crossed Kitty's face, "Think about it, love. The Protocols are out of date by now, but these samples... in the wrong hands, they could be deadly." "Mr. Sinister's, maybe?" Wisdom offered. Sage looked thoughtful, "Did any images of Hank McCoy come up on the security footage?" "Yeah, when they broke in," Wisdom blinked, "I thought it was someone using an image inducer or something." "McCoy," Bishop growled, "the Dark Beast." He shook his head, "He was an expert on enhancing mutants with the DNA of others." "Which elevates this from a simple break in," Rogue said grimly, "to a major crisis." Sage returned to the computer console, typing thoughtfully. "Kitty," she said softly, "something else was put in here, other than the virus." "What is it?" Kitty walked to her side. "A message, with a lock keyed to your palmprint," Sage accessed the message. Kitty lay her hand against the screen, and an image appeared. "Sakura," Kitty recognized the assasin almost immediately. The white haired woman was standing in front of a blank background, giving no clue to where she recorded the message. "X-Men, you've just had your first encounter with the Brotherhood. There will be others," Sakura said simply. A slight smile appeared on her face as she said, "I look forward to our next encounter. Catch me if you can... Kitten." With that, the message ended. "Friend of yours?" Wisdom asked dryly. "Tried to kill me once," Kitty sighed, "and obviously she has some other agenda as well." "And she knows a hell of a lot about us," Rogue frowned. Sage raised her eyebrow, and Rogue added, "Kitten is what Storm used to call Kitty. If Sakura knows that.." "What else does she know?" Sage nodded thoughtfully. "We're going home," Kitty said grimly. She met each oth their eyes, "Sage, get a dowenload of all the security footage they have. Bishop, time to play cop. If you can find any evidence about who was behind this, I'll kiss you." "Hey," Rogue exclaimed, pretending to be upset as the two other X-Men headed off. "Platonically, of course," Kitty smirked. She smiled at Rogue, "Do a fly-by of the island, try to trace their route inland. Look for any traces of who else might be with them." "Got it," Rogue nodded. She kissed Kitty on the cheek and whispered, "What about you?" "I get to grill Mr. Wisdom," Kitty whispered back, "I get the feeling there's more going on than he's telling." The stepped apart, and Kitty smiled, "Good luck." "C'mon," Wisdom smiled at her, leading Kitty outside to look at the sea. "Why are you here, Pete?" Kitty asked him quietly. Wisdom looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "You know that Hand cadre that attacked you guys in Australia? They've been wiped out, literally in a matter of days," he said simply. "Sakura?" Kitty raised an eyebrow. "That'd be my guess," Wisdom nodded. "We didn't even have a name to attach to her until your little message, but Interpol had a few images. There's been some interesting deaths of polititians, arms sales, and other activities, but nothing they could firmly pin on her," he admitted. "Think she's working for McCoy?" Kitty asked. "From what little security footage I've seen, it looked more like he was working for her," Wisdom shrugged. "The assasinations and arms sales," Kitty narrowed her eyes, "were they generating political unrest or causing wars?" "Yeah, why?" Wisdom blinked. "Guess it makes sense he wouldn't lay low forever," Kitty murmured. "Who, Pryde?" Wisdom demanded. "Stryfe," Kitty said grimly. Sakura looked up to meet Stryfe's gaze, standing in his chambers beneath the Australian outback. She shook her head gently, "No, thank you, sir." A slight smile, "I would prefer to defeat Shadowcat without physical enhancements." "As you wish," Stryfe smiled. "There is another's DNA I am interested in, however," Sakura gently drew a different vial out of the container. Stryfe read the name and nodded thoughtfully. "As devious as ever, Sakura," he said admiringly as he returned the vial marked 'Douglas Ramsay' to it's slot. "I'll send McCoy to you, sir," and with that Sakura left silently. The Dark Beast came in a few moments later, a broad, cheerful smile on his face. Looking at him, it was easy to forget the cruelty McCoy could be so easily capable of. "You rang?" he asked. "I want you to map my DNA structure," Stryfe ordered, "then compare it with another." "Who's?" McCoy asked. "Nate Grey," Stryfe answered simply. "The X-Man lacks the protective limiting factor on his powers that I and Cable possess. I would be interested if you can determine the genetic factors that caused this, so that I could gain that power," he said cooly. "I'll get right to it," McCoy smiled. He paused, "You do realize that you'll risk burning out like our young Mr. Grey, right?" "If I could destroy the Summers clan and crush the dream," Stryfe smiled at him bleakly, "it would be worth it."
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