ALL CRY THE CHILDREN - 8/?
By Various



In the mind of Legion - Central Park

 Majik: Casting a light circle, she intends to teleport the team to the
distant Hellfire club. However, as the circle is drawn, the sky darkens,
and the quiet pastoral park grows vividly black and red as the dream scene
changes into a nightmare. The heroes find themselves being sucked into the
ground like a rapid quicksand, and only Majik is able to fall into her
circle.
 	The circle's other side is a large ballroom decorated in a rich
Victorian style. Majik falls to the ground, she is unharmed, but annoyed.
Despite her strange entrance and the noise of her falling in eldritch
armor, no one in the room pays her any attention.
 	About the room are three people, all in similar states of inattention.
 	Seated in wide chair, sipping tea with practiced distraction is an
attractive woman with albino white hair. Her name is Emma Frost. 
	There is a TV in the middle of the room, it is silent, and showing only
static. On an ornate oriental rug, sitting lotus style, watching this
static in earnest is an elderly teenager, his hair a black sheaf sticking
up from his skull like a lunatic victim of a Tessla Coil. His name is
David Haller.
 	And last, relaxing on a crimson lounge chair, reading a mystery book, is
a red haired woman in an old, worn, lab coat. Her name is Dr. Moira
McTaggert, and she is as transfixed as the others.
 In the mind of Legion - Morlock tunnels
 The team falls down to a wide railway tunnel, which they recognize as the
main tunnel of the Morlocks. Dead bodies of Morlocks are all around, and
one of Legion's multiple personalities, Jack, has warned them that the
Marauders will be coming for them soon.
 Sam: (to himself)"Marauders, great...sigh"
 	Sam does a quick head count.
 	(Outloud) "Where did Majik get to? Ah'll head topside and see if she's
there; ah'd suggest y'all prepare to be attacked, supposin' Wayne's
tellin' the truth. Ah'll be right back." Sam blasts through the roof and
up through the ground, raining dirt below.
 Jack: "He always was dramatic."
 Banshee: (To Jack) "If the Marauders will arrive soon, will Malice be
with them and will it be the real one?" 
Jack: "No. It's usually just Sabretooth, Arclight, Harpoon, Riptide,
Scrambler, Vertigo, and Scalphunter, but it varies sometimes."
 Banshee: Flies as high as possible in the tunnel to watch out for the
Marauders approach. But after taking off he returns immediately and
demands of Jack, "Hey! Ye said Moira'd be with ye in Legion! Where is
she?!?" 
Jack: "It's a good thing your power is in your mouth, it's the only
thing you seem to use. She's safe. I've got her in a place Davey can't
touch."
 Banshee: "If she is harmed ye wi go down after Malice!!" He returns to
his watch. 
Douglock: Approaches Jack, face a mask of disdain. 
	(doug) "Hello again, Jack." 
Jack: "I know you?" Jack sneered. "Wait. Yeah, you're the one who just
stood around when Jemail was in charge. You look different." 
Douglock: Ignoring the slap, Douglock continued. "You aren't levelling
with us, Jack. You never did, much. You have... Ten seconds to start
explaining things. Like where Illyana is." 
Jack: "I don't know." 
Doug: "You seem to like that answer a lot, Jack. I think you have a lot
more control over this scenario than you're making out." 
Warlock: Query, friendDoug. Why is Linkedself talking with normal
speech patterns. Self is noticing adjustment from speech degradation
curve 
	Douglas was feeling dizzy. 
Jack: Wayne began to laugh. "Well, it's the little robot that could.
Thought you looked a bit different. And no, I don't have any control over
this scenario. Legion does. But what the hell. Legion has always had a
soft spot for you. Maybe he's trying to tell you someting." 
Douglock: Douglas fell. Out. His body came away from Warlock's. 
	Self is receiving strange readings. Friend Doug has separated from self
in physical form only. Self still can sense Dougconsciousness. 
	Doug slowly picked himself off the ground, wiping muck from his
traditional black-and-yellow bodysuit. 
Jack: Continued to laugh. "I told you. Legion makes the rules. guess he
just made a new one." 
Beast: "Curious. But dangerous. This is no place to be without a combat
mutation."
 Cannonball: Return bursts down from the ceiling. He lands with a grace
the younger Sam never had. For the first time since getting out of the
hospice bed, Sam seems alive, and himself. But something in his bearing is
different, the experience shows on him. Sam was always a leader with
doubts when he was a new mutant, and remained uncertain under command of
X-Force. This is not that Sam. Banshee and Beast are veterans, used to
professional heroes and soldiers, and they can see it in Sam. He looks
almost like a stranger to Doug, and even terrifying to Warlock. 
	"Thar's no park above anymore. It's ahll rock and mud as far as ah could
go. We face what legion's got in mind whether we want to or not."
 	"Banshee, you take out Vertigo first, then Riptide. Thar powers can hit
more 'n one of us. Your manueverahbility and ranged attack is best to ace
them."
 Banshee: "I was thinkin' ah similar lines."
 Cannonball: "Warlock, shield Doug and Jack. Take out Scalphunter if you
can. Yah should be able to counter his gadjets a faster he can make 'm."
 	"Beast, Harpoon's a loser. Take 'm an Sabretooth. Cake for an Avenger.
Arclights the highest raw power. Ah'll hit her then riptide. Watch yer
backs, they won't come all at once." 
	On cue, The subway wall explodes.
 Cannonball: "Jack, If ya can, scan for Magik!"
 	Sam flies over the rail lines, bursts through the rubble, and barrels
down on Arclight swinging with a Cannonfield-boosted punch to her jaw.
Arclight's caught in midcharge, she was rebuilding after blasting out the
wall. She slammed into the far wall as Sam sees that they are in a tunnel
running parallel to the subway tunnel.
 	Not slowing, Sam rebounds from the impact recoil with Arclight and bears
down on Riptide. Riptide backpeddles from Sam's onslaught, but without
room to wind up and fire his lethal blades, he's easily bowled over by Sam.
 	Scalphunter was Sam's next target, but the brutal hunter was already
moving through the blast hole.
 Banshee: (Thinks) "These Marauders aren't alive, but the product of
Legion's mind so I've no need to hold back."
 	He flies towards Vertigo tries to confuse the Marauders by yelling,
"Thats's the way, Cyclops! Hit their backs NOW!"
 	 Then he concentrates his sonic powers in one great, well aimed scream
at Vertigo as he flies in on Sam's coattails surprising Vertigo. She
clearly expected to be having the upper hand. The scream shreds her
costume and her skin ripples, ribs snap and violet blood wells up under
her skin in blotchy bruises as her internal organs are slammed against her
spine. 
	Riptide, not fully stunned by Cannonballs strike, would have gotten up
but Banshee finishes him off. 
Scalphunter: Fires on Doug, who was still dizzy from the separation
trauma from Warlock. Doug crumples, blood oozing from a hole in his shin.
He begins to scream. 
	Scalphunter laughed. "Now for the alien." 
	With amazing speed, Scalphunter whipped pieces off his uniform. The gun
emerging from his hands was clearly some form of energy projector. Warlock
was too caught up by Doug's wound to notice. 
Warlock: Selffriend calm. Self will protect new Douglock form. 
	Sure enough, Doug stopped screaming, but only to slip in to
unconsciousness. 
	Warlock picked him up carefully, platforming underneath him so as not to
move Doug from his position. Pulling Doug closer, his body moved to
surround him, until there was nothing of Doug visible. A small head and
legs later and Warlock turned to face Scalphunter, the very model of a
sumo wrestler. 
Scalphunter: "Too late, alien" 
	Scalphunter fired, then howled in pain as the gun blew up in his hands. 
Jack: From the back of the battlefield, Jack laughed. "Too easy. All I
had to do was Telekinetically reverse one part while you were working on
the rest." 
Scalphunter: Scowls, then turned to face the oncoming Warlock-san. Then,
he suddenly tosses off a blinding flare at Jack while yanking a cable out
of a leg compartment. Warlock makes a belly whopping dive at him in true
sumo style, but Scalphunter dodges and slams the cable and its pronged end
into warlock, causing a caustic energy surge to shock warlock out of
coherent form, a mass of techno ooze melted around Doug.
 	"Kids make the best kills, I love the way they scream"
 	Scalphunter doesn't finish his next device as Sam surges towards him and
power punches him into the ceiling. Whatever Scalphunter was creating,
exploded on impact...along with Scalphunter.
 Beast: Dodges the energy bolts from Harpoon's first two volleys as he
leaps over the Subway rails, and grabs a lost hubcap in mid spin, then
hurls it at Harpoon in a very Captain America fashion. The hubcap careens
off of Harpoon and Banshee, following Cannonball, blasts him.
 Beast: "An Avenger indeed."
 Banshee: After all visible enemies are down, he hovers awhile, alert.
No one attacks, so he lowers himself a bit and discovers Doug is gone and
that Warlock is dissolving into a pool of techno ooze. "Doug, are ye badly
hurt, lad? Lock, pull yerself together!" 
Cannonball: Flies over to Sean. "Mah field can't charge him, and we need
power fast, his glows nearly out. Beast, see if thar's power in the subway
rails!"
 Beast: "Already hopping to it!" The beast spins into the track well and
is blasted back in a shower of sparks. He lands hard, shakes, and lies
still."
 Banshee: Flies over to Beast, and while swooping over, shouts "At least
Sabretooth is still missing! Ach, what others are there? This was all went
down while I was away!" 	Banshee picks up his fallen friend, "Beast is
bad, burnt fur and shallow breath," he begins CPR.
 Jack: "Nah, I kinda like him that way. I was going to try and take you
out one by one, but I've changed my mind." Jack fires a psikinetic blast
at Cannonball, who shrugs it off, and at Banshee who barely dodges it.
Then, Douglock and Beast vanish - along with Jack. 
	Suddenly, the entire landscape shudders and falls in upon itself, and
returns back to the distorted form of Central Park. The Hellfire Club
looms on the horizon, seemingly as tall as the skyscrapers around it.
 JAPAN
 X'ian Coy Minh, once know as Karma, was silent for the majority of the
trip. Her siblings rushed here and about, tinkering, repairing, teasing,
but adopting their sisters penchant for silence.
 	Wolverine and Jubilee kept each other company. They tossed coins,
Wolverine reading the I-Ching, and disturbed by it's pattern of chaos and
harsh change. They talked about Xavier, and what he meant to them, and
they talked about family, or the lack thereof.
 	The weather was damp, foggy and slightly chilled, enough to be
uncomfortable. The fog became rain by deepest night, and they huddled in
the small cabin, while the children and X'ian barely noticed. By the soft
thrum of the hidden motor, Jubilee slept.
 	The journey ended the next night, as they pulled into a private,
secluded harbor. "Koreans." said X'ian, breaking her silence. "They will
put you up if you wish, but I would prefer if they did not. Your passage
is bound to bring retribution on any who would harbor you, and they have
endured enough."
 	Wolverine bowed, "As you wish. Have you any words to send home?"
 	"Home? That home is for mutants and their cause. My home is here. Xavier
has had his dream for unity, and I have mine; freedom for all asian
peoples. Here I will die for my dream. Go."
 	Without a word, but a mumbled epithet from Jubilee, the X-Men depart the
boat, and enter Japan.
 	
 	They walk. Jubilee expected herself to be the one to blend in the
easiest, being asian, but it is Wolverine that has the walk. The ways
slide onto him like well worn leather glove. His strut becomes a
controlled glide. His defiance becomes strong, but polite deference. His
anger, recedes, as heart uplifts. The sorrow of Mariko is their in his
eyes, but his love for Japan is even stronger, to an outsider's eyes.
Inside, Wolverine sees only sorrow.
 	They stop for food, and Wolverine comes away with small bag of rice and
fish. Jubilee passes on the fishes, and nearly gags on the rice when she
finds a reddish blob mangled in it, reeking of sour and salt.
 Wolverine: "It's a pickled plum Kitty, good for your digestive system,
and helps preserve the rice."
 Jubilee: "It's gross," she says, flinging it out of her food, and
turning up her nose at the rest, "and you called me KITTY!"
 Wolverine: "Huh?" Wolverine stops, noticing that his mind is nowhere
that he is, an dangerous thing for a hunter. "You're right, I did. Sorry.
Kitty had the same reaction when I brought her here. I hope you don't go
through half the hell that she did."
 Jubilee: "Maybe if I did, I'd get some of the respect you save for her.
Maybe the two of you should just get a room and get REAL friendly."
 Wolverine: "Jubilee, she's just a kid. Hmm. No, I guess not anymore.
But it was never that way, couldn't be, she was always too book smart for
a brick like me. She always knew I was bad news. Maybe one day you'll wise
up on me too."
 Jubilee: "Nah, I'll always be dumb enough to pal around with you. That
way, I'll NEVER be bored!"
 Wolverine: "Some manifesto on life there kid. Come on, it's time we
made some connections."
 	They sneak aboard the Sinkansen "Bullet Train" and arrive in Kyoto, the
former capital and the home of Japan's Emperor. In back alleys and side
streets of Kyoto, where information has been brokered for centuries,
Wolverine quickly assembles the puzzle with a minimum of threats and
bribes, avoiding revealing himself by means of an image inducer to
disguise his appearance. 
	He discovers that the Psylockii twins have been seen at the estate of the
Yakuza grand Assassin Matsuo. Logan's old rival, Kenuichio Yashida has
taken command of the major branches of the Yakuza by leading a cabal of
their Oyabun leaders. The Upstart, Shinobi Shaw (son of Sebastian Shaw,
former Black King of Hellfire Club), has consolidating the remaining
lesser crime families for the Clan Yashida, earning him the rank of the
highest Oyabun under Kenuichio. The consolidation seems to be in response
to the governments recent crack down on organized crime.
 	Seeking more concrete information, he decides to flush out another old
friend, Yukio.
 	Yukio is found in an ill kept bar too seedy to even bother with a
Karaoke machine. When Logan spots her, he's taken aback. She's slightly
overweight, drunk, and her hair is unwashed and unkempt. Jubilee makes a
rude comment and is nearly slapped by Logan. "Nobody speaks ill of Yukio
around me. Ever."
 	They approach, and she doesn't notice him. He removes the disguise, but
still she doesn't regard them.
 Wolverine: "Yukio, it's been too long, but I've returned, and I need
your help."
 Yukio: "My Sake speaks to me again, eh? That voice I long to hear
growling above me. But I am mistaken, he is a dream, and I am a fool, and
of no help to anyone. Go stranger, and take your diapered Geisha to
another table and let her snap her gum unseen by me."
 Wolverine: "That's enough. Jubilee's my friend Yukio, I won't let you
insult her honor, friendship or not."
 Yukio: "Honor. How I curse those words and the foul reasoning they hide
for cowards. Go away spirit, haunt me no more."
 Wolverine: Knocks the rice wine away, and leans in close, yelling
through her drunken fog. "It's me, Logan. Snap out of this."
Yukio: "Logan-san? Ah my waking dream, have we not pillowed the dragon
of death together? You know that I am drawn to you, that our warrior's
blood is drawn from the same fountain, but I can not endure your further
dalliances into my life for each time the lust of battle wanes, you become
swallowed by the mists. Haunt me no more spirit. I can not continue to
hold you and to lose you. Please go, and leave me to my solitude."
 	Several japanese men with matching red dragon tatoos get up from there
chairs and come over to them. One, the leader, threatens him in Japanese.
"A woman like her is not for you with white skin. Leave her, while you can
still walk away."
 Logan: Logan answers him in english. "Bub, you're messin' with the
wrong guy in the wrong mood."
 Punk: "Yes, the old man must be tired and we are keeping him from his
resting. We must be quiet! Perhaps we should lay him down on a nice futon
outside and show him what foreigners are good for!" They laugh, assuming
he doesn't understand them, and then as one, draw out knives.
Logan: "Jubilee, down." She ducks, and Logan's fist plows into the
leader's nose, and past it in a trail of blood. Wolverine leaps over
Jubilee and into the thick of them. Wolverine keeps his claws in, not
wanting them to be gossiped about in the street.
 Jubilee: Starts playing with a set of chopsticks, cracking her gum as
the bodies fly about. She keeps an eye on Yukio, and when she tries to
leave, she bursts a "Paff" in front of her. 
	When the fight ends, Yukio is passed out on the table. Logan picks her up
and sets out to carry her home, finding the address in her purse. Jubilee
spots one of the ruffians getting up and "Paffs" a light fixture onto his
head.
 Logan: "What are you doin' kid? No powers remember? We don't want to
attract attention!"
 Jubilee: "Yeah right, I should follow your example and just trash the
place bare handed."
 Japan
 Jodlin walked into the Thai restaurant feeling like a new man. He'd gone
shopping and bought himself a new suit, plus some other sundry items from
the numerous Tokyo shops. He'd needed new clothes since the fight the day
before; he estimated he'd lost twenty pounds and three inches because of
his energy expenditures.
 In the back room, he heard men chatting, or more correctly, he heard
Fabian Cortez and Victor Creed arguing, and Shinobi Shaw whining like a
little spoiled brat. Jodlin was getting tired of Shaw's complaints; if it
weren't for the fact that Fabian still seemed to think Shaw was central to
his plans, Jodlin would have popped Shaw one a long time ago. 
As he walked in, he felt the hatred directed at him from the direction of
Creed; ever since he'd proven his superiority over the vicious Sabretooth,
Creed had feared him, hated him. Even though Cortez had talked Jodlin into
releasing the calcification which had held Creed frozen, Creed still
feared Jodlin. 
But it really didn't matter. Jodlin felt his power growing daily. It
seemed he had tapped into some sort of power source which enhanced his
powers to a considerable extent. He felt he knew where the power was
coming from; he guessed that he was learning to feed off the bio-energies
of those around him, much like Cortez did. And more, Jodlin liked it. He
never guessed that he Cortez was actually leaking power to him, like a
drug, addicting him.
 At the moment, Creed was explaining to Cortez his sources of information.
"I hear things, is all. People tell me things, thinkin' it'll let 'em off
the hook. I let 'em talk themselves blue, then I kill 'em anyways."
 "And you say you know how we can get into Matsuo's palace?" 
Creed nodded. "Had to have a way back in, didn't I?" 
"Morning, troops," Jodlin greeted. Fabian and Creed looked in his
direction; Cortez smiled, nodding, while Creed only snarled, and turned
back to Cortez. "You were saying?" Cortez said. 
"Yeah, well, like I said, I know certain ways you can use to get inside.
The money's good, right?" 
Cortez smiled. "Do not worry, Victor. Once we have Matsuo, you will get
your money. The four of us can easily overcome what defenses Matsuo can
throw against us." 
"FOUR of us?" Creed snarled. "HE's coming along?" jerking his thumb back
at Jodlin. 
"Yes, Creed, he has to." Cortez took a bite of his Thai food. "Are you
sure this is real Thai food, Shaw? I thought it was supposed to be hot." 
"What do you take me for, your waiter?" Shaw shot back. "Don't you
remember whose castle this is we're breaking into? The _Hand_'s. We're
going to have to run the gauntlet of their cyberninjas, and they're going
to be lots better than mine were." 
Jodlin smiled. "And I took care of yours with Cortez's help," he said.
"But still, if we're going to do anything, we'd better do it fast." He
dropped a weekly tabloid on the table folded to a photo of someone
carrying a woman on his shoulders, with another girl beside him. 
"So?" he asked. "Just an itinerant worker." 
"Fabian, unless my eidetic memory is failing me, and I know it can't,
that's Wolverine in that picture carrying that girl," Jodlin warned. "They
sell these weekly all over the place. They're a weird blend of politics,
gossip, celebrities and naked women, so naturally I bought one. The
article claims the police are looking for this guy after trashing a bar
and kidnapping one of the patrons. That was two days ago in Kyoto. If
Wolverine is here, then he'll be after Matsuo too, and he's probably
looking for Betsy. If he gets to Matsuo before we do, he'll be after US." 
"If it is Wolverine," Cortez started, while handing it off to Sabretooth,
"we'll be ready for him. I have decided. We'll act tonight, before Matsuo
can prepare for us. You will be ready?" he asked of the others in the
room. 
	 Sabretooth mutters, "It is him. And the woman is Yukio, an assassin for
hire, and an ally of his. The girl is Jubilee, an X-Brat."
 Shaw nodded bitterly, "I'm in." Jodlin smiled and nodded, eager for more
action.
 	 Creed was not. "I thought I told you. I don't want into your little
group while IT's around," he said, meaning Jodlin. 
Cortez sighed. "Victor? Do you want your money or not?" 
"Money comes easy." 
	 "Then remember, a deals a deal. Do this for me, and I'll keep you on,
and then I'll get you a new telepath for your fix, one more pliable to
your needs. With my power, I can guarantee that the fix 'll be good too.
Maybe we can even rewire old Betsy here to do the job. Brits do make the
best servants."
 	 "Don't cross me Cortez. I still want the doughboy out of this."
 "Now Victor, this is probably the best way we have into the palace. I
know you are a formidable fighter, but can you take on Matsuo's legions
all by yourself and expect to make it to Matsuo himself? I think not,"
Fabian finished, over Creed's sputtering boasting. "Creed, if you cannot
act with us, then you are against us, and I'll have to instruct Jodlin to
kill you. Is that what you want?" 
Creed looked at Cortez, then --- cautiously --- at Jodlin. Creed knew the
boy _could_ kill him, simply by taking away his healing factor then
causing some sort of small brain hemorrhage. He'd never know it. And he
couldn't sense anything about the boy; Creed thought that possibly Jodlin
was masking Creed's senses with respect to Jodlin. Making him develop a
blind spot, as it were. He thought for a moment. Big Carrot, Big stick.
Death or dishonor? Well, there was always later to get his honor back.
"All right, I'm with you," he snarled, and thought you'll pay.
 "Excellent," smiled Cortez. "Then we'll start planning at once. Shaw,
take this ...food... back, it's much too mild for me," he thrust the plate
at Shaw. 
Shaw grumbled, but took the plate. As he was leaving, Jodlin shouted, "Oh,
bring me something too, Shinobi! I'm starved!" 
The Hellfire Club in the mind of Legion
 Surrounded in the silent, hypnotic trance of Emma Frost, Legion and Dr.
McTaggert, Majik tries to rouse them. She makes noise, smashes things,
pinches, even tickles, but no response. They remain transfixed by what
they are watching or reading.
 	Baffled, she snaps her fingers, expecting a light circle to teleport
over her comrades, especially the Beast. The light circle fizzles. A
second attempt fizzles. Her powers seem to be working, but something is
draining them as she uses them.
 	She yawns, suddenly feeling tired, bored. A book with strange lettering
appears on the chaise lounge beside her. The book is leather bound and
inscribed with a pentagram.
 	The writing is vaguely familiar. The more she looks at it, the more
interesting it becomes. It almost makes sense the more she looks at it....
 	Instantly, she casts a warding spell of protection, and moves away from
the book, and begins to feel a little more alert. Like her mutant power,
her spell fizzles out.
 	She quickly looks around for something that passes for a mirror. A large
vanity looking glass is on the wall. She debates taking it down or
breaking it into a smaller size. She shrugs and breaks with her hand, her
eldritch armor protecting it from the shards created. Holding a large
piece, she looks at the television Davey is starring at, the image is
disturbing. The Tv is not a TV. It's some kind of pulsating life form with
hideous tendrils snaking out from it and engulfing David. 
	She turns, and the books in Emma Frosts hand, and Dr. McTaggerts, are
similar life forms. The book that she avoided is also one of these
creatures, it's cilia waving in her direction, but fortunately it's reach
seems only to be a few feet.
 	Shuddering, she ties to try pry the book from Emma. It comes free with a
horrible ripping sound. The book shakes, flops around and then tries to
fly at her like a bird flapping its bindings. She smacks it away, and it
swarms, and she cleaves it with her Soulsword. The book screeches horribly
as it shreds into dust. A low moan escapes from Emma's lips as she
collapses. Majik catches her, and lowers her to the floor.
 	From the doorway comes a low, raspy voice that Majik would have been
happy to never hear again.
 Sabretooth: "Well well little girlie, you shouldn't be playing with
another girls toys. I Guess I'll have to punish you." He stalks her. "You
know, little girls being made of sugar and spice, and everything nice is
true. Their marrow is the sweetest I've ever sucked down."
 The Mind of Emma Frost
 How long the fog lasted, she is unaware, but she knows the time has been
long. The fog is a haze of the mind, the senses, and for the only time of
her dangerous life as a Telepath and White Queen of Hellfire, there's
silence from the voices of other minds. In this fog, she was able to move,
to rage, but nothing would happen. No ground would be gained, no sound
would be uttered, no feeling abetted. Life became meaningless. Her
thoughts shut down in time, and she slept in sweet oblivion of nothing,
trying keep out the fog of something.
 	When at last she awoke, the fog was gone. Sensation had returned. The
fog was now a hurricane of sound, thought, feelings, ideas, dreams and
nightmares. A million minds, perhaps more, more than she could imagine,
streaming though her mind uncontrolled. As a whole they are
unintelligible, but eddies of thought bounce and drift her skull, tossing
off impressions and vanishing like the burst of sparks on the forth of
July.
 	It is impossible to think above or around this white noise of humanity.
She begins to wish for the other extreme, the fog. At least then you hide
by sleeping. Under this roar, there can be no rest. Her own mind torments
her with a sudden vision that she's died and that this is her own private,
justly due hell.
 	Then comes a new feeling, a pulling of something thin and stretchy being
drawn from out of her mind, and perhaps body. She wonders if this is what
it feels like to be eaten alive. But that means of course that she is
alive, and not dead as she suspected.
 	Alive?
 	It is enough of an idea to rally behind, and she summons all of her
remaining will to discover what is going on. She stomachs the queasiness
of vertigo, and a distant jolting as the vertigo stops.
 	 "Was I falling and caught?" She wonders as the ground moves beneath
her. Distantly there is something like voices, clear but tinny and low in
volume. She can feel cold. Not icy cold, but the cold clamminess from a
drafty room. She can smell a whiff of animal, unwashed, feral, and its
overwhelmed now by the lightness of perfume, rose perfume, very close.
 	Opening her eyes is a failure. Any efforts to use her muscells fail. But
her senses are responding, if erratically. She's sure. She's alive, and in
danger. Feelings of fear, and hate float around, clear and simplistic. She
senses two minds here, one is moving towards her, the other intends her
harm.
 Yukio's Apartment - Kyoto, Japan
 It took two days to sober up Yukio. An embarrassment, she made plain.
Jubilee felt more awkward then ever, ignored by Logan, loathed by Yukio,
stuck in country where she didn't even know the language. 
	Logan would occasionally go out, seeking other informants, or perhaps to
work out his disgust and rage at how far his friend has fallen. Logan
learns that Kwannon was an Assassin and lover of the Oyabun, Nyorin. A
turf war between the Mandarin and Nyorin caught Kwannon in the middle, and
she disappeared for awhile. Gossip has it that she was replaced by an
english woman with violet hair, and easily Kwannon's equal in skill and
style. Somehow this was Betsy, and the timing corresponded to when
Revanche joined the X-Men.
 	Psylocke had claimed that she was surgically altered by Matsuo to look
oriental, and to be his assassin. She had Betsy's mind, but matched the
description for Kwannon. When Kwannon showed up at the mansion claiming to
be the real Psylocke, she had Betsy's body, but showed traits of being
Kwannon also. They were like twins. And both of their scents were odd, and
Logan was convinced now, reversed. The asian smelling english and vice
versa. They had left to confront Matsuo and learn the truth.
 	It took awhile longer, but Logan learned that a violet haired woman has
been spotted with Shinobi, and another with Matsuo. Neither reports were
good, both suggested they were drugged. Worse, an order has gone out to
have Shinobi killed, and he's been missing for two days. The assassin
matched the description for Sabretooth.
 Wolverine: "That's the lot of it Jube. Whatever's goin' down out here,
and my guess is some kind of end game in a big turf war, Betsy's caught in
the middle. Somebodies messed with her, mixed her up with Kwannon. Can't
figure out why yet, but it don't matter. We gotta get her out, both of
her. If Shaw's really out of the picture, than I'm gambling Matsuo's got
both, and is holding all the cards. And Kenuchio calling the shots above
him. They're not likely to look to kindly on me if I knock on their door
and ask for their toys."
 Yukio: Speaking for what is almost the first time since being taken
him, "Fool. You have no allies here Logan-san, only enemies. Leave while
you can. The cretins that attacked you before might have been spies,
keeping an eye on me in case you returned. Often I'm am followed, because
of you. I am sure that they were given orders to attack to draw out your
claws, and ensure it was you. Soon Matsuo and Kenuchio will come for you
as one knife, worse the knife could be Sabretooth. Please, leave while you
can."
 Jubilee: "I liked you better when you were puking on the futon."
 Logan: "Jubilee! Remember girl, I didn't want to bring you here, don't
make me send you back home in a care package to Chuck."
 Yukio: "No. She speaks truly. I am not a creature worthy of respect. I
deserve to be chastised and spit upon."
 Logan: "And that's enough outta you. You were the best. And no matter
what happens, I'll see to it you're the best again."
 Yukio: "My love for you destroyed me Logan. It took away my edge. And
not having your heart, your body, it took away what little remained. You
have been dead to me for two years, do not bleed me again with your kind
wishes, opening old wounds."
 Beneath Matsuo's Dojo - Japan
 The foursome crouched in the low tunnel, voices hushed as they discussed
their plans. Dressed in uniforms, Cortez, Shaw and Jodlin in Acolyte
uniforms, Sabretooth in his regular brown and tan. "An aqueduct," Jodlin
mused. "Clever. But there's bound to be security all over the place." 
Sabretooth grinned; Jodlin shuddered at the thought of all those sharp
teeth sinking into him. "A lot you know, snot. They can't scan the tunnel
because of the water; the water's warm from the houses so it screws up
infrared. So there's only visual and audio pickups left." 
"That, I imagine, is where I come in," said Shaw. "I can walk right
through walls and deactivate these signals, or, using these devices Jodlin
has rigged, send a false signal to the security screens above." It had
been hard to get a hold of the microelectronics on such short notice, but
Shaw had managed it. 
"Then there's the active defenses," said Sabretooth. "Robot and cyborg
ninjas who can be invisible." 
"My trick," said Jodlin. "If they're alive, I can sense them. If they're
mechanical, well, I've already boosted your senses a bit, Sabretooth," he
continued. "You should be able to detect any mechanical traps before
they're sprung, and deal with them. As for the cyborgs... well, once
Cortez boosts my power, they'll be no match for me." 
"Are we ready, then?" asked Cortez. 
The other three nodded. 
"Then let's do it."