People DO like stories with the X-Men et al being killed, don't they? Well, here's one where the Marauders don't have it their own way... (And yes, I KNOW it's late, but what the hell -- I number annuals for the year they came out, not the following one, okay? I'm awkward like that!)

DISCLAIMER: Excalibur and the X-Men are trademarks of Marvel Comics. This story is an unauthorised work done purely for my personal enjoyment, and is not intended to infringe on any of their rights in or their profits from these characters. But this story is copyright to me. Comments, especially (constructive) criticism, always welcomed. Please e-mail me at mshakespeare@callnetuk.com

Notes: Illyana is currently staying with Piotr and Mikhail at the Xavier Mansion. Amanda is recovering from the wounds she suffered whilst Belasco's prisoner. This is set before "Closure."

The powerful Captain Britain, the shapeshifting Meggan, the swashbuckling Nightcrawler, the intangible Shadowcat, the telepathic Psylocke, the weregirl Wolfsbane, and Lockheed the dragon. Forged in the fires of their tragic pasts, they have banded together to fight a modern day crusade against evil!

Mark Shakespeare presents: Excalibur Redrawn -- 2000 Annual

"You got a job for us then, boss?" The leading man's strong voice revealed the forceful personality contained within, but a current of trepidation ran beneath -- he knew better than to underestimate the ruthlessness of his employer.

"Indeed." The elegant man in the black cape gestured at the screens. "Behold: the British X-Men, the team known as Excalibur. You know three of the members already -- the former X-Men, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, from your encounter with them several years past, and Psylocke, a more recent member whom you have also fought. The others," he gestured to the screens, "are Captain Britain, Meggan, and Wolfsbane. The task I give you is to bring me Meggan, the blonde fey. I have plans for her."

"And the others?" The speaker was a tall, muscular woman, almost as tall and powerful as the hulking brute standing next to her.

The caped man merely shrugged, as if it was of little import. "They are of no concern to me. My only interest is in Meggan Braddock!"

And as the killers filed out again, the brooding figure of Mr. Sinister turned to regard the monitor screens once more...

The huge blond man smiled at her reaction. "I don't know, Meg. You know how Betts is about clothes -- the former model in her won't let her wear any old thing. Now, I agree it's beautiful -- but will she think it's her? I don't honestly know. That's the, um," he reached out and turned the price tag over, "two hundred and ninety-nine pounds, ninety-nine pence question." Not that price was any object to the hulking Englishman -- he was, after all, disgustingly rich.

"Oh, you!" She playfully slapped his arm, smiling. She knew he was just teasing her. It was true though, she had to admit, Betsy was very particular about the clothes she wore -- it really wouldn't do to simply buy something just because it might look good, only to have Betsy decide it "wasn't her." "Well then, maybe we should stick to what we normally get her -- her favourite cosmetics and fashion magazine subscriptions?" To be honest, Meggan was running out of ideas about what they could get Brian's twin sister that she didn't already have. What do you get the person who has everything? Something for the baby, perhaps? No, I don't think that's really appropriate -- and then, we've got something for the baby already.

Brian pondered for a while. "Well, that would be the safe option. On the other hand, it might a little dull. Perhaps we could try something like -- oh, I don't know, maybe...wait a minute! How about we get her jewellery -- perhaps antique? We know the sort of thing she normally wears, we could get her something similar, but sufficiently different for it to be something she doesn't already have! What do you think?" The expression on his face showed that he was delighted with his idea.

Meggan, on the other hand, was not so sure. "Um, that could be a good idea, Brian, but we'd have to be careful that she doesn't already have something like whatever we select. I think we should get her something like a dress, and if she doesn't like it, she can take it back later and get one she wants. Or maybe both -- jewellery and dress, matching of course." She thought for a moment. "Perhaps we could find out if she's said anything to Rahne, Kurt, or Kitty."

"Now that's a good idea, Meg! She might have dropped a few hints to them, or they may simply have noticed her going through the fashion magazines and lingering over certain pages! Speaking of the others, have you any ideas for presents for them?" With everything which had been happening since they'd reformed Excalibur, Brian had completely forgotten to get anything, until Meggan had reminded him that they hadn't yet got around to buying any presents for the others.

The blonde fey nodded, then frowned. "I'd thought of a trip to Bethlehem for Rahne, and maybe Kitty could have visited Jerusalem. But with all the violence out there, I don't think that would be a good idea right now. For Rahne, how about something Christian? A new book about Christianity, say, or a video set of some sort?"

"Such as one about the archaeology of the Holy Land?" The huge man grinned. "Sounds perfect. For Kurt, I thought of films, but he's got the full Errol Flynn collection -- so what about that new 'Zorro' film, with Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones?"

Meggan laughed. "Yes, he does love a good swashbuckler, doesn't he? I think that would..." They walked down the street, arm in arm, discussing the presents that would be the best choice for their friends and team-mates. So engaged were they in their conversation that neither of them spotted the man tailing them. Not that they would have noticed anything unusual, given his employment of an image inducer and psi-shielding.

The young brunette sighed. "Rahne, this is combat practise, and I'm trying to teach you a few more moves for when you might need them. Don't worry about holding back -- if the price of you staying alive is me taking a few bruises in training, then that's a price worth paying. Now, let's try again. Remember, keep your weight low over your hips, and use leverage to throw me -- don't try to do it using just muscle power. You might be able to throw me that way, but if you ever come up against someone a lot heavier than me, well, even in Wolfen form you don't have the super strength required to toss people around the way Brian does. Okay, set yourself, and here I come!"

Kitty and Rahne were exchanging moves, and Rahne had become interested in the difference between their styles. The American girl had explained that, whereas martial arts such as karate and jujitsu had originally had their roots in the fighting styles of unarmed peasants, their link with true combat experience had been broken in the long period of peace which had followed the ending of the Warring States period. They had become sports, codified and rigid, separate from the fighting skills used in time of war. Ninjutsu, being in any case an outlawed practise, had never undergone such a fate, and its basic precepts were true to its historical roots, and thus different from the more widely practised martial arts.

Kitty herself had begun working on the basics of ninjutsu, starting her training again almost from scratch, and Rahne had noticed the difference between the other girl's old style and her new. Hence the sparring session. The Scots girl had already learnt a number of differences between their fighting styles, such as ninjutsu advocating keeping the hips low over the centre of gravity, to give greater power to blows, throws, and counters.

Off to one side, Betsy watched the two girls with a critical eye. Normally, supervising their training would have been Kurt's task, but, with Amanda still not well yet, the blue-furred leader of Excalibur was not currently available. Besides, I have my own combat skills, so I am quite capable of supervising these two.

The purple-haired telepath watched as Kitty threw herself at the redheaded Scots girl, who caught her outstretched arms by the wrists, then spun and threw her attacker using her hip, Kitty thudding onto the long grass with an audible thump. Betsy noticed, however, that the American girl managed to get her feet beneath her and absorb much of the power of the throw. Betsy reached out her hand and picked up her cup of lemon tea -- she refused to drink coffee, now that she was expecting a baby. Her free hand rested on her belly, now beginning to show the signs of her advancing pregnancy.

In all honesty, she still had not reached a conclusion as to what to do about the baby. She knew that she had to inform Warren that she was pregnant with his child, but she had no idea how he would react. Their relationship had cooled, and now he was dating someone else -- rumour had it to be Trish Tilby, of all people, free now that Hank was seeing Cecilia.

So, I inform him of my pregnancy, then what? What if he is not interested, what if he doesn't want me to have his child? Well, I have no intention of terminating the pregnancy, whatever he might want. But when I give birth, what then? Adoption? Don't be ridiculous -- the baby of a former X-Man in an orphanage?! Not practicable or feasible at all! Should I keep the baby, and raise him or her by myself? Not by myself, of course, Brian, Meggan and the others would rally round and do their bit to help, but still, it wouldn't be the same.

Well, see what Warren says, and then make the decision. After all, it's not as if I'll be some poor single mother, having to go to work to put food on the table, is it? I can afford to hire nursemaids and nannies and whatever else I choose to have done for me. No relying on charity from the father in this case! I'm sure that the team will back me up, no matter what I decide. I remember that Kitty loves children -- according to Ororo, she rang Madelyne almost every day when the X-Men were in France, asking about the baby. And I know Kurt would be happy to have a child around.

The problem would be Brian and Meggan. They want a child of their own, and for me to have one when the father is not around might be putting something of a strain on my relationship with them -- Brian especially. Then, of course, there is the simple fact that Brian would become all protective, just as he was when we were going to rescue Amanda. Well, perhaps his concerns were justified, but I still don't like the idea of being mollycoddled, just because I'm a mother. And there again, could I really continue to serve on active duty with the team when I have a child to care for? I know that Jean tried it, but then, she had Scott to support her. A guilty flush appeared on her cheeks as she thought of the man she'd seduced.

"Naughty thoughts, Betts?" She looked up, and saw the amused face of Kitty a few feet away. The younger woman was rubbing the back of her neck ruefully. "Anyone we know?"

"Och Kitty, stop teasin' the puir woman. 'Tis no concern o' ours whit she thinks o'."

Betsy laughed. "It's okay, Rahne, I can take a little teasing. And Kitty -- I refuse to answer that, on the grounds that I might incriminate myself." The two younger women laughed with her at that. "Well, if you're done now, we can go and start getting dinner ready -- which means, Kitty, that you can go and play with your computers a bit more; Rahne and I don't want you anywhere near the kitchen." She and Rahne laughed even harder at the brunette's hurt expression. Betsy didn't mean it too harshly though -- Kitty was a perfectly serviceable cook, just not a very good one.

"Okay, but I won't be surfing the Internet just yet -- when are your telephone companies going to get round to providing free Internet access? I don't want to have to pick up the bill every time I log on, it starts getting expensive!" That was one of the things that most infuriated her about being in Britain. Back in the States, she'd been able to get Internet access for free, but over here, when she'd signed on to providers promising a free service, they'd ended up withdrawing the offer or banning her from more than a few hours free access per month. And as for when they were finally going to start providing digital services ...!

"Och, dinna make such a fuss, Kitty! The bill is no' that big, yuir Excalibur payments cover it."

"Yeah, but the cost'll start adding up when I get my online computer services company going."

The other two women stared at her, as she smirked at their stunned expressions. Betsy was the first to find her voice. "You're going into business?"

Kitty shrugged. "Well, yeah, that's the idea. I mean, I turn eighteen soon, an adult. I don't want to have to rely on money from Brian, I want to be earning my own keep. And since computers is what I know, it seems the best way for me to earn a little money, enough to be self-sufficient. Actually, I'm looking at initially providing services to people who know who and what I am, like UNIT, the British arm of SHIELD, the Intel services and so on. That way, they should be a bit more understanding if I'm delayed due to Excalibur business. And while I think of it, Betts, I meant to ask you if you'd be prepared to offer me some financial advice, maybe even act as my business manager -- I'd rather my affairs were in the hands of someone who didn't ask awkward questions, you see."

Her expressive brown eyes fixed on the older woman's purple gaze, waiting for an answer. This was something that she'd been thinking about for a while now, ever since she'd started becoming disillusioned with the X-Men and with the Professor. He'd put her on an allowance, just like the other X-Men, and it had struck her as demeaning that adult men and women had to go to the Professor every month to ask for their money, as if they were children. Even Ororo, Scott and Jean had to collect their money each month -- only Logan, Remy, Warren and Betsy had not had to abase themselves in that way, those four all having incomes of their own. She had figured it to be part of his insistence on controlling the lives of his former students and current team members. And she had had enough.

Betsy smiled at the young woman. "I would be more than happy to offer any assistance that I can. Now, let's go inside and start preparing lunch -- I'm getting hungry. It must be that I'm eating for two..."

The sound of their merriment accompanied the three of them indoors as the fading sunlight cast a ruddy glow over the scene.

"Meg? Something wrong?" She jumped a little as Brian's massive arm curled protectively around her. The huge man, though not exactly known as being the most sensitive person in Excalibur, was certainly not blind, especially not to the woman he loved, the beautiful blonde fey by his side. He could see that she was preoccupied, far more so than she had been when they had been browsing for presents for the other members of the team.

At times like this he sometimes wished that he too was an empath, so that he could understand what she was feeling. He knew that others often regarded him as being unobservant, stiff-necked and oblivious to the feelings of others, but it wasn't true. It was simply the fact that he'd been brought up in an atmosphere which didn't encourage emotional displays. He found it hard to show how much he cared for others. Only Meggan had ever really broken through his reserve, and he loved her for it. Now something was troubling her, and he wanted her to share it with him, whatever it was.

"I feel...I feel like we're being watched by someone, someone hostile. I-I can't really explain it, but -- "

"They know! Take them, Marauders! Take the woman alive, kill the man!" The shout came from behind them, and they spun to see a scruffily-dressed man, Korean or Vietnamese by appearance. Brian just had time to recognise him from the files passed to Excalibur by the X-Men -- Kim Sung, Scrambler of the Marauders -- before a wave of nausea passed over them, courtesy of Vertigo.

Blockbuster and Arclight dropped the images they'd been wearing as disguise, and sprang for Brian, as a volley of bullets ripped through the air at the huge man. Scrambler, Prism and Riptide had been given the job of capturing Meggan -- Riptide's blades had been replaced with darts coated in tranquillising agents, allowing him to subdue her.

Scalphunter's firing bounced off Brian's forcefield -- though sickened by Vertigo's attack, he'd retained enough presence of mind to raise the protective field, just in time to save his own life. He staggered to his feet as the two attackers closed in on him. His fist swung, but met only air -- his reflexes were still slowed by the nausea induced by Vertigo, and Blockbuster was easily able to dodge his attack.

Arclight swung a punch of her own, hitting Brian in the side of the head, smashing him backwards through the air to crash through the wall of the building behind him. Still dazed and nauseous, he struggled to stand, even as his would-be killers closed in on him.

Meggan had also been affected by Vertigo's attack, and, before she could recover her balance and go to her husband's assistance, Scrambler sprang upon her and touched her arm. Instantly, her powers went mad, her mystical, elemental powers reacting to his mutant power. The air suddenly turned all the colours of the rainbow, streetlights came on of their own volition, a strong wind sprang up from nowhere, and lightning crackled overhead. The Korean was knocked flying by a sudden shift of the ground beneath him, as the pavement buckled and cracked, as if by a wave of force emanating out from the blonde elemental.

Unfortunately for her, her other attacker, Riptide, needed no contact with her to bring her down -- he unleashed a stream of darts, which struck her in body and limbs, each bringing instant paralysis to the area it lodged in. Her body overwhelmed by the poisons now coursing through her system, the blonde fey fell unconscious to the ground.

"Meggan!" Roaring his anger and fear, Brian struggled to his feet, to meet the charges of Blockbuster and Arclight. The latter went flying through the air as the big man's fist struck her full in the solar plexus. Brian staggered as Blockbuster smashed a massive blow into his face, then retaliated with a blow of his own. Rage fuelled his strength, but not enough to make him forget the unarmed combat skills he'd picked up in his career, nor some of the fighting tricks that Betsy and Kitty had shown him during sparring sessions. One such trick came to him now, and, before Blockbuster could react, Brian's hand lashed out in a knife-edge blow to the side of the Marauder's neck, a karate-style strike that his sister had once shown him -- a crushing strike which, when used even by a normal person, could break bones and crush windpipes. Even with his toughness, the hulking killer couldn't absorb the blow, and went down.

"To hell with this!" Scalphunter fired again at the big man, distracting him momentarily. "Get the teleporter on her, and let's get out of here!" Scrambler pulled a device from his belt, and fixed it to Meggan's wrist.

"Okay, boss-man, let's go!" With an electronic buzz, and a flash of bright light, the Marauders were gone, leaving Brian staring distraught at the place where his wife had been.

Rahne flapped a tea towel at Kitty, scowling. "Elizabeth and I ha' been hard at work here, an' whit have ye been doing? Ye havenae been helpin' us get the food ready, that's tae be sure!"

"You both said you didn't want me in the kitchen, remember? Well, I took you at your word. Anyway, for your information, Miss Sinclair, I haven't been doing nothing since our sparring session this afternoon. Actually, I've been working on a few devices which I think could prove useful to the team." She grinned -- it wasn't often that she got the chance to blow her own trumpet, the X-Men usually took her knowledge and technical skills for granted. She held her hand behind her back, knowing that the Scottish girl's curiosity would soon get the better of her. It isn't just cats that are curious, I guess wolves must be too...

Anyone who's alive should be curious, Kitty. Only the dead have no thirst for new knowledge...

Thank you, great and knowledgeable seeress! Your wisdom enlightens us all...

Do I detect sarcasm in your "voice," young lady?

Sarcastic? Me?? How could you imply such a thing!? I'm hurt, deeply hurt!

Rahne had been patiently waiting for further information from Kitty, but when the American said nothing, she asked, with a tinge of impatience in her voice. "So, what are these devices ye've come up with, then? I hope they're no' too difficult tae understand, as the rest of us are nae so gifted in the wonders o' science as ye are, save perhaps Mister Braddock." Though she hadn't been privy to their mental conversation, the redheaded girl guessed that Betsy had initiated some kind of telepathic communication -- the pair of them had both gone somewhat glassy-eyed, as well as falling silent.

The brunette brought her hand from behind her back. In it she held a wide, grey, plastic-clad collar, the clasp at the back open to allow it to be placed around the wearer's neck. The other two women stared at it, sceptical looks on their faces. It was the purple-haired telepathic ninja who broke their silence. "Yes, very spectacular, Kitty. You've made your own inhibitor collars. Now, would you mind informing the two of us just why we should wear them? Or, if it isn't an inhibitor collar, perhaps you could tell us what it does? Or is it so secret that you feel that you can't let us in on what it's capable of?"

Kitty grinned at their bemused and irritated expressions. "I'm hardly going to give you something to wear as part of your costumes without letting you know what it does, now am I?" She opened the collar wider, and showed them the back, which was as featureless as the front. "Doesn't look much, does it? But it has a couple of very special properties, ones which could prove very useful to us when we're on missions.

"Firstly, it uses a development of the Cerebro technology which I came up with in tandem with Brian. Basically, it allows the wearer of the collar to fool mutant detection technology, such as that used by Sentinels. It has one of three active settings. The first one is to simply make the wearer not appear on mutant detectors at all. Secondly, the wearer shows up as an ordinary human -- useful if the wearer has been spotted, but his or her mutant nature has not yet been ascertained.

"And thirdly, it allows the wearer to mimic the bio-signature of a specific mutant. If, for example, we know that there are Sentinels hunting Meggan, one of us could rendezvous with her, they swap identities, then the fake Meggan leads the pursuit away from the real Meg." She looked at them, expectantly. "Well? Whaddya think? Useful, or not?"

Rahne was the first to recover her breath -- the deviousness and cunning of what Kitty had planned had stunned the other two women into silence. "Och Kitty, tha' would be sae useful! D'ye ken what the likes o' Bastion would ha' thought had he found his Prime Sentinels bein' led astray by decoys, or the X-Men penetratin' his innermost sanctum without him an' his men bein' able tae detect them! Our enemies would nae longer be able tae track us down whene'er they wished! I hope ye've made it easy fuir us tae use them!"

Kitty laughed. "Sure have, Rahney. When you put it on, a bio-sensor inside detects who's wearing it. After that, it's voice activated by the wearer, and only the wearer, you just tell it which setting you want, using the code phrase 'anti-Cerebro setting one,' or whichever you want. We intend eventually completely incorporating these into our costumes.

"Actually, Brian and I are working on a real decoy. Take a gravitically-powered drone, fit it with an image-inducer or hologram-projector, then mount the anti-Cerebro device, and program it to mimic the actions of a specific X-person. Hey, it looks like Shadowcat, moves like Shadowcat, the mutant-detector says it's Shadowcat -- it must be Shadowcat!"

"Nah!" Lockheed shook his head vigorously -- nothing could ever be the same as his beloved Shadowcat.

Betsy started laughing, hard. "Katherine Pryde, you are an evil young woman. I -- " Her laughter died, and she stared into space, a frown appearing on her beautiful face. Rahne and Kitty watched her, the feeling that trouble was brewing striking both of them simultaneously. That premonition was confirmed when Betsy gasped with shock.

Kitty gripped the arm of the Scots girl. "I think we'd better get into our battle gear. Here," she handed the redheaded girl the grey collar, "wear this while you're at it. I'll get ones for the other members of the team." Without waiting to see what news Betsy might have for them, or what might have got her upset, the two young women raced off to prepare for combat.

"Can ye an' Brian come up with somethin' that might be able tae find her? Something' which can see past tha' devil Sinister's concealment?"

The American girl shook her head, flowing chestnut locks sweeping over her blue-clad shoulders. "I can't. He's got access to tech stuff which I'm completely unfamiliar with. I might be able to understand his technology given the opportunity to examine it, but I can't help right now -- and I doubt Brian can, either.

"No," she straightened up, "the only techies I know who might be able to find a way through his shielding in a short time are Doctor Richards and Forge, and I don't know where Forge is right now. I guess his base must be psi-shielded, right, Betts?" It was a forlorn hope, that the brilliant, though twisted, Mister Sinister might have left such a loophole for them to locate Meggan's whereabouts.

The telepath shook her head. "Not a chance. Wait, here's Brian -- oh, for God's sake, I'll psilink us all!"

Betts? You still there?

Of course I am, Brian. I was just linking us all up.

Good. Kitty, I was thinking -- can the Cerebro you've got set up on your PC be tuned to search for Meggan's unique bio-signature?

Sure, it could be done, no problem. But it wouldn't work -- Cerebro searches for brainwave emanations which show the presence of the X-gene, which means that any psychic shielding will block it. Anyway, Meggan isn't a mutant, is she? So it wouldn't work. Sorry. Kitty's mental "voice" was apologetic -- she could sense, through their psilink, that Brian was getting desperate for a breakthrough in the search for his wife.

Mebbe the X-Men could come up wi' something, such as an idea as tae where Sinister might have a base.

A good thought, Rahne, and worth pursuing, but I wouldn't get your hopes up -- when I was with the X-Men, apart from Jean and I carrying out psi-searches for him, Hank tried to use the computers there to locate him -- no luck, I'm afraid. Betsy could also feel her brother's anger and desperation, and didn't want to shoot down any hopes they might have, but she was a realist. Brian fell silent.

What about...what about...

What, brother? Thought of something?

Well, if science won't help, what about...magic?

The other three fell silent as they considered his suggestion. Betsy broke the silence. Well, Amanda's out of the question, obviously. So is her mother, Margali Szardos. What about calling Doctor Strange again?

I have a much better idea, Betts. Kitty's "voice" cut across the others. Before they could voice their surprise, she went on, There's an obvious person to call on for help.

Oh? And who would that be? Betsy was curious to see what the younger woman could come up with.

Illyana.

ILLYANA?!

Kitty grinned at the perfectly synchronised outburst of astonishment. Sure, why not? She can scrye for Meggan, and locate her for us. Better yet, she's a teleporter -- when we know where Meg is, 'Yana could 'port us all in, bypassing Sinister's external defences. While we're at it, she might be able to rustle up a few X-Men to come in with us -- we could use all the firepower we can get. Well, do we have a plan?

"Greetings, my dear. I am so glad that you have decided to rejoin the living. Oh, please do not waste time and energy trying to escape, your bonds are unbreakable. In case you do not know me, I am Nathaniel Essex, though most people call me by my nom de guerre, Mister Sinister."

She knew him, of course. Though she had never met him, nor his Marauders, in the past, and though she did not spend much time poring over the mission logs of the others X-teams as Kurt, Betsy and Kitty did, she had heard of this man, the one whose minions had nearly crippled Kurt and locked Kitty into her phased state until it almost killed her. She stared at the man, light glinting from his pale form, the red diamond shape in the centre of his forehead almost glowing under the bright illumination.

She didn't know what had happened to Brian, and she wasn't going to give Sinister the satisfaction of her asking him. She dreaded to think that the Marauders might have killed him. If he was dead, then no-one else would know what had happened to her, they could have no idea that she'd been kidnapped by Sinister's pet killers. Oh, the rest of Excalibur would wonder where they'd got to, then get anxious, and, once they found out about Brian's death, they'd start hunting whoever might be responsible. But they wouldn't find her in time.

She stared into his eyes. "What do you want from me?" She was pleased that no quaver appeared in her voice, no tremble, no sign of weakness that the man in front of her might pick up on. She tried to enhance her strength in order to break free, but nothing happened, nor were her empathic powers detecting anything from the man in front of her. He must be blocking them somehow, something in the device holding me, perhaps?

"Why, I want your body, what else? Specifically, I want your DNA. I have been watching television images of Excalibur in action, as well as studying the information on the team contained in the databases of UNIT and SHIELD, retrieved for me by my servants, and I have been very interested to see that you have as many powers as you have -- flight, shapechanging, empathy, blasts of possibly mystical energies, the ability to absorb power from the area around you to become stronger -- far more than is usual for a mutant. I already have a sample of DNA recovered from Rachel Summers by my then 'associate,' Siena Blaze, as well as that of Scott and Alex Summers, and I feel that combining your DNA with that of one or more of those mutants will give me the ability to create someone who will be able to do what Nathan has conspicuously failed to do -- destroy Apocalypse, and leave the world free for me to take for my laboratory..."

Meggan glared at him. "You'll get no assistance from me, monster!"

Sinister laughed, a chilling sound, deep and resonant. "What makes you think I need your co-operation, my dear? I will have your DNA regardless of your protestations." With that, the evil mastermind strode from the room, black cloak swirling behind him. Meggan was left alone with her thoughts.

She tried to think of a way to break her bonds, but no matter how hard she struggled, they remained unyielding. Her attempts to draw strength from her surroundings proved equally futile -- Mister Sinister had obviously done his homework regarding her strengths and weaknesses, and knew that she could make herself as strong, potentially, as the Hulk. That avenue of escape had been closed to her.

Well, I can always try calling to Betsy, she might be able to hear. Her efforts met a wall of silence, and she could sense something actively blocking her calling. Well, it was worth a try, but I guess that it was too much to hope for. I wish Brian was here, or Kurt, or Kitty, they're so much better at thinking of a plan of action than I am, they'd come up with something, I know they would. Well, they're not here, are they girl? So, try to think the way they would. If Kurt was here, and he had your powers, what would he think of? I've tried the physical approach, and that didn't work. The mental approach didn't help, either -- Sinister must have some kind of device which he's using to block any telepathic calls.

What else can I do? Let me think. There's energy manipulation. I can't absorb energy from around me, but what would happen if I expelled my own energy into the surrounding area, what would happen then? Oh, but if it failed, then I'd have nothing else to give. No, think of something else...and hurry up with it. Who knows how long it will be till Sinister returns?

The purple-haired former model nodded. "The very idea of my child being at the mercy of Mister Sinister is one which makes me nauseous even to think of. And speaking of nauseous, I've been feeling sick now and then over the last week. The last thing the team needs is for me to become distracted during a fight with the Marauders. No, I think I'd better stay out of this fight, Brian. Just get Meggan back, and make those bastards pay for all the killing they've done!"

Betsy turned away as Kitty approached, not wanting the younger woman to see the tears in her eyes -- she was starting to see the baby taking over her life, and hated to think that the child would mean that she could no longer play an important role within the team. Brian turned to face the young woman, who had looked away from Betsy's face out of courtesy.

"You have one of those collars for me?"

She handed it over. "Sure have, Bri. Rahne and I have ours, and I've got a few spares -- the ones we made for Kurt, Amanda, Betsy, and Meggan. I'll take Meg's with us, so she can have it once we reach her. That leaves three spare, one for Illyana, and two more for whoever she brings with her."

"Do we know who that'll be? Did she say whilst you were talking to her?"

"Nope, but she said that Logan was out the back of the mansion, practising his fighting skills, and she thought that she could get hold of one or two more -- "

"Hi guys, the cavalry's arrived!" In a flash of light, one of Illyana's stepping disks appeared in the centre of the room, three figures being brought along by it. One of these, in gleaming Soulsteel armour, was the blonde-haired sorceress herself, Soulsword blazing in her hand. The others were Wolverine, in full fighting outfit, and...

"Piotr?!" Kitty stared at the huge man, already in his steel form. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Hello Katya, it has been a little while, has it not? I am here to help save Meggan from Mister Sinister's clutches, what else would I be here for?" That, at least, was part of the reason. He had come to care very deeply for Meggan during the time he had been a member of Excalibur, and did not want to see her hurt. Also, he had scores to settle with the Marauders, and he was looking forward to facing them in battle once again. But he also wanted to see Kitty once more -- he had not had the chance to speak to her in private since her return to Britain.

Illyana laughed. "Of course it's Piotr, who else do you think I'd bring? A girl my age should be chaperoned by her big brother when she goes to meet a strange man, right?" She grinned, knowing the cause of her best friend's outburst. Though she had never met Wisdom, he and Kitty linking up long after the child Illyana had died, she had heard about the relationship between the two of them.

Moreover, she had been there when Piotr had broken off his own relationship with Kitty, leaving her heartbroken. Indeed, she had comforted her roommate as she'd cried bitter tears of betrayal. There was still a tension between them, she knew that, but right now, she didn't have time to let them work things out between them -- there was a friend to rescue, and villains to defeat!

Kitty took a deep breath, and controlled her emotions, as Logan had taught her. "Fine, I've got cloaking collars for all three of you. Bri, could you explain to them how they work? I'll go and get something of Meggan's, 'Yana needs something to work on -- right, kiddo?"

"Right! So, what are these collars then, some new kind o' mutant bondage look?"

"Little Snowflake!?"

"Hey, I'm seventeen, okay? I'm old enough to know about such things. Anyway, do you think I could be an innocent, after my time in Limbo?"

Kitty left them to continue their discussion, as she ran through the ceiling of the living room to reach the room occupied by Brian and Meggan. "Hi Rahne, long time no see!"

"Och, 'tis guid tae see you again, Illyana!" The deeply devout girl might be apprehensive about the blonde girl's dealing with demons, but she truly had missed her New Mutants teammate. She stepped forward and pulled the Russian girl into a big hug. "I've missed ye, Illyana."

"And I've missed you too, carrot-top! Hey, you've got long hair now! Damn, now I can't ruffle your hair like Roberto used to!" The two girls started laughing at the memories that comment brought back.

Brian was eager to get on with the rescue mission, but he recognised that Kitty was detailing him to carry out the briefing, rather than do it herself, so that he had to concentrate on the matter at hand, rather than worry himself to death over the fate of his wife. The huge man had been pacing back and forth in anxiety, waiting for the others to arrive so that they could begin the rescue mission. Now he brought out the collars that he and Kitty had put together and instructed the newcomers in how to utilise them.

"Hey bub, ya don't feel like knockin' up a few fer us X-Men, do ya?" Logan growled through his unlit cigar -- he'd decided not to light up, not knowing how Braddock would respond to that, and not wishing to start an argument with someone who was obviously agitated and who could punch a hole through the side of a battleship. Unbreakable bones or not, hits like that hurt! "See, we're always gettin' the bad guys comin' after us, an' they c'n always track us. If those little things ya got in yer hand'll stop us bein' hunted every time we step out o' doors, that'll be mighty fine!"

"I don't think that'd be a problem, Logan." Brian began handing out the collars, supervising the others as they attuned their collars to the sound of their voices. "Actually, Kitty and I have some ideas for other equipment which would be of use on missions. If we get them completed, we'll let you know, and make any copies that you require."

"Decent o' ya, bub." Then the stocky Canadian did a double-take, as he saw Kitty drop through the ceiling with weapons strapped to her costume -- ninja-to sword on her left hip, a dozen manji shuriken shaped like a curved swastika fastened to her belt around her waist, and a kyoketsu shoge, a length of cord with a heavy steel ring at one end and a blade with a hook on the cutting edge at the other end, in her hands. All ninja weapons, and all potentially killing devices.

He recovered quickly -- after all, he'd seen her killing vampires with a wooden sword -- but it had still been a surprise to see her carrying such an armoury. Betsy looked a little shocked. Piotr too was staring, as was Illyana.

"What?! Is something wrong here??"

"Katya, what are you doing with those?!"

She stared back at the man she'd once loved. "Getting ready to fight the Marauders. Why, what did you think I was going to do with them, take up gardening?" She was annoyed at their unspoken criticism -- she'd trained as a ninja, what did they expect her to do when it came to a do-or-die fight?

"Whoa, kiddo! This is a side of you I haven't seen before!" Illyana started laughing. "Maybe you aren't the sweet girl we all thought you were!" Her vivid blue eyes sparkled -- she could see the expression on Piotr's face, and Rahne's too. And she found their reaction amusing. She herself had no qualms about using whatever means were needed to defeat the enemy, though she tended to refrain from using lethal force, not because it was morally wrong, but because she was afraid that, by doing so, she was giving in to the demon side of her. But if Kitty wanted to get violent, then she had no problem with that.

Logan was not so sure. Though he obviously understood that killing was sometimes necessary, he was not sure that he wanted one of his girls to start using lethal weapons in combat, not against the living, anyway. He felt that it left a stain on the soul that could never be removed. But the real reason he hated her to use deadly force was that she might start to enjoy it. That was the slippery slope that Creed had thrown himself down with such utter abandon, to become the conscienceless killer that he was. He hoped that he'd trained her well enough for her to avoid that pitfall.

Piotr was shocked. Though he knew that she was no longer the girl she had been when they'd been together, he couldn't help but still see her as the wide-eyed girl who had sheltered in the crook of his arm on cold winter nights, who had blushed when complimented on her appearance or when found by Ororo in her loft with Piotr. Now he saw a steely-eyed killer. And he didn't know her.

Kitty met their stares with an unyielding expression. "I never was that sweet girl, 'Yana. I've always had a dark side, like most people have. Anyway, the clocks're ticking. Here's Meg's tiara, the one she wore for her wedding, will that do?" She handed the blonde girl the gold band.

"That's fine, Kit. I can use this to scry for her. Back in a minute!" And with a flash of golden light, the Russian sorceress was gone.

Meggan tried to reach out with her mind, her spirit, and make the air around her respond to her desires. Nothing happened.

Fire, then. Raise the temperature of the room. Again, nothing. Earth. I can't think of anything, other than an earthquake, assuming the base is on solid ground and not flying. Water, then. Condense the moisture from the air, and make it form droplets on the metal.

Suddenly, she could feel energy coursing through her. She didn't know where it had come from, nor what it was, nor was she in any mood to wait and find out. She channelled the energy into the device holding her captive. With a flash of light, and accompanied by the smell of something burning, the machine's lights died, and the bonds flew open.

"I'm free! Now to get away from here before they come for me. I wonder, why not try something I haven't done for some time?" With that, motes of golden light surrounded her, and her body began to transform itself into a part-human, part-animal shape. She sniffed the air for clues as to where to go, then turned and raced down one of the two corridors leading out of the cell.

I have done what I can to free the earth-child. If the villain had built his stronghold on a ley line, it would have been so much easier. Ah well, praise be to the Goddess that I was able to do what little I could at such distance from Her sacred place. With that, the old druid in his white woollen robe and cloak moved back down the hillside.

Kitty swept her hand round to indicate Logan and Rahne. "One of our trackers will be with each group. We'll also split up Brian and Piotr, so we've got one big hitter on each team. So, the teams are Logan, Piotr and Illyana for one, Rahne, Brian and I for the other. Betts, Lockheed'll keep you company, just in case Sinister, or someone else, decides to attack here while we're gone -- no arguments, dragon!" She waved a finger at him, and the little alien subsided. "Okay, any questions?"

"Who's got the spare collar?" Betsy spoke up from the sidelines, and the others glanced over at her.

"Good point. Brian has it. If the other team locates her first, radio us." She indicated the throat mikes they all possessed. "Anything else?" No-one said anything. "Fine then, just to make things clear here. Our prime goal is to rescue Meggan, everything else is secondary. Get her out, alive and in one piece. Having said that, if you get the chance, cause as much damage as possible. If you see any computer equipment that looks important, for example, wreck it. Scientific equipment, smash it. Paper records, burn them. Machines, robots, or other expensive-looking hardware, trash it. One last thing, people."

Suddenly Kitty's normally soft voice had a hard edge to it, and she was gazing into Piotr's eyes with a steelly look. "We're going to be up against the Marauders here. A bunch of ruthless killers, who'd spill our blood as soon as look at us. So don't hold back, don't play by nice-guy rules. Use whatever means you have to beat them."

"Do you mean killing them, Katya?" The world seemed to shrink, until it was focussed on the two of them to the exclusion of everyone around them. "Are you saying we should hunt them down and kill them all?" His blue eyes locked onto her brown ones, as if searching for something, perhaps the girl he'd once known and loved. She met his gaze evenly.

"I mean, if the only way to survive is to kill, then be prepared to kill. If you can defeat them without spilling blood, by all means do so. But if you have to kill in order to save your life, or the life of another of us, then you'd better be prepared to go that far. Because I am. If I have to kill every Marauder in order to get you all out alive, then I swear by all I hold holy, I will. The same way you killed Riptide, way back when."

And the huge Russian found that he could no longer meet her gaze.

"You a new Marauder, sweets?"

"Sabretooth!"

"The same. So, who're you, before I tear your throat out!"

"Uh, Meggan Braddock." She made no move -- he'd take her life before she could do anything to stop him.

"Ah, the elf-girl from Excalibur! I read up on you when I had my little run-in with Kitty-cat down the Morlock tunnels. That was kinda fun, and I got a kick outta hearin' how she beat the cheap rip-off of me Sinister uses!"

"Pardon?"

The muscular killer grinned, revealing gleaming sharp fangs. "Sinister's got a clone o' me running around. Not a patch on the original, though -- how d'ya think li'l Kitty-cat beat him way back?" ("Catfight" -- Author's Note) He popped his claws, the razor-sharp tips glinting like steel. "I got adamantium again, see, darlin'? An' I've had enough o' Sinister's cheap, shoddy clone ruinin' my rep as the killer-king. After all, gettin' beaten by a teenage girl? Hardly the stuff o' legend, is it? So, I'm here ta kill my clone. You?"

Meggan was frantically thinking of what to say and do. "Uh, I'm trying to escape, actually. Mister Sinister wants to clone me as well." Then her eyes widened. She'd seen movement behind Creed, more than one figure moving in their direction. Her empathy hadn't sensed them as it was overwhelmed by the presence of Sabretooth so close by. Only her sight had detected them in time...

But, even before she could say anything, Sabretooth was moving, and she guessed he had known before she did. Spinning on his heel, he sprinted towards the two shapes that had come up on them, his face twisted in a mask of rage.

"So there ya are, ya cheap copy! Time fer the original ta kill ya!"

The other figure was Harpoon. The Inuit raised his Slayspear, which began to glow with bright white light, and aimed it at Meggan. Deciding that she didn't want to fight the Marauders, and concluding that Sabretooth could look after himself, she turned and flew back the way she had originally come, Harpoon racing after her.

Mister Sinister frowned. He hated when things started to go wrong. A planner, he wanted things to follow a nice, orderly, predictable path, the one that he had already mapped out. "No. It seems that Meggan has escaped from her holding cell. I want her brought back alive, do you understand? Until I can unlock the secret of her genetic makeup, and the powers that it gives her, I want her in one piece. Now go, and take the other Marauders with you. Find Meggan, and bring her back to me."

The two killers raced off, leaving the brooding figure of Mister Sinister still staring at his control panel. Now it showed a double helix structure -- the DNA taken from Rachel Summers, over a year ago...

"Well, maybe it's nothing to do with us! Okay everyone, you know the mission. Find Meggan, and let's get out of here!" The six heroes sprinted off in different directions, Wolverine and Wolfsbane leading their teams.

Suddenly Logan stopped and began to growl, a low, menacing rumble deep in his throat. Illyana and Piotr stared at him, and the huge steel Russian reached out a hand to grasp the stocky Canadian's shoulder. "Tovarisch? What is wrong?"

"Sabretooth!" The word was snarled from between clenched teeth, as the feral X-Man's keen senses detected the scent of his hated enemy. Colossus' hand tightened its grip.

"We are here to find Meggan and rescue her, my friend, not to settle old scores. Do you smell Meggan nearby? If not, we will proceed with the mission we came for."

The shorter man swung round, growling, but the massive young man met his gaze unflinchingly, and slowly Logan's rage began to cool ever so slightly. "Yer right, Petey. We've got a job ta do. But I tell ya this fer free, if I get the chance to settle things between us -- I will!"

There was the sound of applause from behind them, and they turned, to see Illyana clapping Logan's little speech, an ironic expression on her face. "Oh, well done the little berserker! That wonderful speech had us all trembling in our boots!" She glared at her brother and the stocky Canadian. "When you two have quite finished the macho, testosterone-fuelled posing, we've got a job to do, so let's get on with it!"

She spun on her heel, and ran off. The two men, surprised at her outburst, looked at one another, then sprinted after her.

A door opened in front of her, and the scents she'd been receiving came at her redoubled. And now she could hear the sounds of people talking, moaning, crying, babies whimpering. She flew into the room. "Hello? Who's there?"

A sudden silence descended. Then the movement monitor in the room detected her presence, and the overhead lights flickered on. The blonde fey gasped. In front of her were cells, barred cells, full of...people? Well, they were part human, at any rate. Some of them seemed part animal -- fish, reptile, bird, wolf, cat. Others had four arms, or two heads, or four eyes across their foreheads.

They cowered away from her, and the gentle empath could feel their fear, tearing at her soul. She began to project feelings of warmth, safety, friendship and comfort. "Hello. My name's Meggan. Don't worry, I don't intend to harm you. I've been a prisoner of Mister Sinister myself."

At her mention of that name, many of the "people" shied away from her, making warding signs. Some females cuddled children against themselves, using their own bodies as a living shield. Their actions tugged at her heart. It was as if they were frightened of her. She redoubled her efforts to calm them, and slowly, ever so slowly, her actions began to take effect. They began to relax, and one of them, seemingly part human, part crocodile, stepped forward.

"My name isss Grakktt. You arre Meggannn?"

She smiled, her beautiful face lighting up, and she sent waves of love and kindness washing over them all. "Yes, that's right, I'm Meggan. Who are you?"

"Failures." The words, harsh and grating, came from behind her, and she turned to face Harpoon. The Inuit had a grim smile on his face. "These are the ones the boss tried to do something with, and got it wrong. He's been trying to create a new people -- his people, his servitors. These are the ones who didn't go as planned. He just hasn't got round to destroying them yet."

The hunter raised his arm, gleaming spear pointed at Meggan's heart. "Now I get to destroy you."

*BLAMM! BLAMM! BLAMM!*

The shots pierced her lower body, and the Scots girl went down with a scream of pain.

"Rahne!" Kitty loosened her kyoketsu shoge as she ran towards her fallen friend. Now she could see Scalphunter, hiding in the darkness, the muzzle of his gun still smoking, and Blockbuster and Prism running towards them, Prism holding a tranquilliser gun which he'd brought to control Meggan, Blockbuster with only his fists -- but then, that was all he needed. "Brian, Blockbuster's yours. Prism and Scalphunter are mine!"

"Brave words, little girl!" Prism sneered at her. "But you're no killer, how can you hope to stop us?"

"Wanna bet, asshole?" Without slowing the pace of her run, she whipped her right arm, the one holding the steel ring, round in an arc and threw the ring straight at Prism's forehead. The heavy piece of metal, propelled by the momentum of her charge and the movement of her arm, flew straight and true, hitting the Marauder between the eyes. His glass-like body shattered at the impact, shards of crystal flying all directions. Without a pause, she phased through the oncoming Blockbuster and sprinted towards Scalphunter, still hiding in the shadows.

Blockbuster had no time to turn and go after her, as Captain Britain was upon him in a flurry of fists, and the huge Marauder found that he faced an opponent every bit as strong as he himself. The two began to fight, swinging punches capable of shattering trees.

And, on the floor, Rahne's wounds began to knit themselves together.

"Well, the Marauders will soon deal with them. Once they are dead, I can retrieve whatever cloaking systems they have been using from their bodies, as well as use their genetic material if I so choose. And if the Marauders fail ...well, I have other resources to fall back on..." He began to switch from one camera to another, trying to locate all of the intruders.

"I do not believe it!"

"Hades' teeth!"

The exclamations came involuntarily from the lips of the three mutants at the sight before them. Sabretooth was fighting...Sabretooth?? The two figures were clawing and biting at one another, their costumes ripped to shreds, blood splattered across the walls from the ferocity of their fight. Logan gaped in disbelief. This was a sight he'd never have expected to see if he'd lived to be...well, a lot older than he was now.

Before he could react, however, a wave of nausea swept over the three watchers as Vertigo unleashed her power on them. Piotr and Illyana staggered, less able to deal with the onslaught than the older, more experienced Logan. Arclight and Scrambler ran towards the three heroes, as Riptide released the first volley of darts from his rapidly spinning body.

Spikes bounced off Piotr's armoured hide, and Illyana's Soulsteel armour proved proof against that attack. Logan blocked most of the spikes with his claws, only a couple getting through his guard to wound him, the narcotic coating them proving no match for his healing factor.

Before he could act, however, Scrambler and Arclight reached them. The Korean lunged at Piotr, intending to set the Russian for his companion to kill, once the X-Man had been returned to his human form. Illyana, recovering more quickly than her brother, sprang forward to smash her armoured fist into the Marauder's face, breaking teeth and splitting his lips. The killer reacted by grasping at her face, his hand making contact with her bare skin.

And her teleportation power went haywire.

Suddenly, teleport disks began appearing throughout the complex, randomly and without warning. Sections of wall and ceiling disappeared, sucked through the interdimensional gateways into Limbo. One appeared beneath Logan, and the feral Canadian vanished into thin air, leaving Illyana and Piotr to face the bewildered Marauders.

The massive young Russian lurched to his feet and blocked a punch thrown at Illyana's skull by Arclight. His counter hit home, smashing the woman backwards into a wall, her armour dented. Stunned, she slid down the wall, her eyes glazing over.

Scrambler desperately threw himself at Piotr and made contact, the young man instantly reverting to his natural unarmoured form. Riptide, sensing victory, grinned as he threw another volley of spikes at the two heroes--

Then another glowing disk appeared underneath him, and he too vanished.

The Inuit merely grinned, and charged the floor under her feet instead. It exploded upwards, throwing her backwards, stunned and unable to defend herself any longer. He stepped forwards, a smile of triumph on his face. Then he paused. "The boss said you were to be taken alive. Lucky for you I remembered, isn't it?"

"Indeed it is, Harpoon. You would do well to remember my orders at all times." Sinister's voice crackled over the intercom system, and the hunter looked upwards. "Now, bring her to the laboratory, then join your companions in hunting down and slaying the rest of Excalibur. They have managed to infiltrate the base, presumably to rescue her. Prevent them."

"Sure thing, boss." The stocky Inuit bent to pick up Meggan's limp, unmoving form. "You don't get away from the boss that easily, sweetie. Unluckily for you -- you probably won't like what he does to you..."

He raised his adamantium claws in an instinctive threat reflex, as his battle senses kicked in instantly upon detecting the unfamiliar smell -- something in his animal instincts warning him of a threat. He sniffed the air, to get the best possible fix on the source of the smell, then set off towards it, moving silently from shadow to shadow. Though he didn't know it, he was half a mile or so from where Meggan had found Sinister's experiments -- the base was one of the more important ones that the geneticist had built around the world.

It took him a few minutes to track down the source of the scent, but find it he did. In a darkened room, deep in the bowels of the base, he found a large computer bank, and several cages containing what could only be described as monsters. They seemed to be the blasphemous couplings of humans, reptiles, and things not of our earth, grotesquely twisted nightmares given life.

As soon as they sensed his presence, they went berserk, throwing themselves at the cage bars, screeching for his blood, howling their challenges to him. As their heavy bodies slammed into the bars, a red light over the front of the largest cage began to flash a warning. He stared at them, his teeth bared in a snarl of hatred. "That bastard Sinister! What the hell is he up to here? Breedin' sick critters like this fer fun?!"

"Do you not like my children, Wolverine?" The words came at him from the darkness, and he stiffened. Gazing into the darkness, he could now see the source of the words -- a set of speakers in the walls. "I have bred them for killing -- as a cheap, replenishable source of soldiers for when my Marauders might not suffice, numerically speaking. In case you are wondering, the possession of six limbs is to allow either the use of four legs for stability at the same time as the upper arms are in use, or else to facilitate the simultaneous use of four weapons whilst bipedal. The hide, of course, is crocodilian, and the regenerative capability is that of the lizard, greatly enhanced. The body is that of a mountain lion, for agility and retractile claws emerging from the back of the human hands, whilst I replaced the crocodile's teeth with those of the great white shark for added killing capability.

"They are, of course, quite unintelligent -- their purpose is not to breed, or to serve, but simply to kill. I have trained them to recognise certain commands uttered by myself alone. Would you like a demonstration of how good they are at killing, Wolverine?"

With that, the front of the three cages rose, and the monsters emerged, their yellow eyes fixed on him. Logan raised his claws, poised himself for battle -- and attacked.

Brian glanced over to where Kitty faced Scalphunter. The merciless killer had quickly reconfigured his gun, even as she'd taken down Prism, and now he kept trying to shoot her with bullets which hummed and glowed with a bluish radiance. The slender brunette had avoided his shots, whilst forcing him to duck as she swung the heavy steel ring at his head or tried to trip him with it. "Go on, Bri! Rahne and I can take care of these two! Go and save Meggan!"

He nodded, though she couldn't see the action. Then he tried to picture the beautiful woman who was his wife, and tried to sense where she might be. It was something he had never tried before, but he remembered his otherworldly counterpart, Crusader-X, telling him that he had used such an ability to locate Nightcrawler, who he had thought was a servant of the Kaiser. It was worth a try, he figured.

For nearly a minute he concentrated, as Rahne and Kitty fought their battles. And then, at the edge of his consciousness, he seemed to hear her voice, crying out for help. And suddenly, he knew where she was. Without a backward glance at his two teammates, he flew off towards his wife.

Arclight had read about the girl, from Sinister's records on Inferno, and so she expected the sword to pass harmlessly through her. It didn't. It cut through her armour as though it were tinfoil, and slashed across her abdomen, cutting deep. Her intestines began to spill from the cut, as the Marauder staggered back, her face a mask of shock. Then she slumped to the ground, red blood pooling around her, eyes wide in a death stare.

"Do you like the modifications I made to my sword, bitch? Effective, aren't they?"

Scrambler, with a hiss of rage, reached for her throat. His hand never made contact, as Piotr's massive fist smashed into his face. The huge Russian might not be in his armoured form, but he was still stronger than any normal man, and the Korean was lifted off his feet and slammed against the wall by the force of the blow, broken teeth sliding down his chin in a bloody froth, his nose squashed flat by the mighty punch. Then Piotr stared in shock at the figure of Arclight, lying dead in a pool of her own innards, blood smeared across the wall and floor. ["Illyana?! What have you done?!"] (translated from the Russian)

["Killed the bitch. Why, what did you think I'd do, brother?"] The blonde girl looked up from the corpse to see her brother resuming his armoured form as Scrambler's influence wore off. She shook the blood from her sword and looked around for Vertigo, who had decided that the better part of valour was discretion.

Piotr said nothing, but simply stared at her. This was a side of her he'd hoped never to see again, the part of her that loved to inflict pain on others, the part that loved to fight and destroy. He knew that it was a part of her, just as it was of his Katya, though he hated to have to acknowledge it. But his sister, his "little snowflake" -- to see her give in to her dark side was something he had sworn, when she had returned from the grave, that he would never allow to happen again.

He would talk to Logan, he decided. Though there might still be tension between them, ever since he'd joined Magneto in Avalon, the older man was still the best person to talk to Illyana about the need to resist the siren call of evil -- after all, he still had to struggle with his own beast, every day.

Mikhail fell into evil, as did Illyana once. There must be some weakness in our family, I think, that we fall when confronted with the seductiveness of power without moral restraint. But I will not let it happen again! Never again!

Och, if t'weren't fuir the skills m' teachers ha' taught me, t'would ha' gone verra badly today. I'll have tae thank them when we return home. She ducked under another almighty punch, and tripped the Marauder using his own momentum.

Kitty and Scalphunter were still circling one another. He'd fired a number of times, but she'd used her speed and agility to avoid the glowing bullets. She didn't know how they worked, or how they were supposed to harm her -- and she had no intention of finding out. They circled again, warily eyeing one another. He aimed the gun -- she positioned herself, in preparation to avoid the attack. But when he fired, and she dodged, she moved so that she could swing the ring to hit Blockbuster across the back of the neck.

The hulking killer roared, and spun to meet her -- just as Scalphunter fired again, Kitty dodged, and the bullet hit the massive Marauder in the chest, blowing a hole in his armour, and throwing him back against the wall. Sensing his momentary weakness, Rahne was instantly upon him.

Kitty and Scalphunter continued to try to outwit the other, to get the decisive advantage, even as the Scots girl launched a furious assault on Blockbuster. Then another trick using her weapon came to the young American girl. She threw the ring out once more, this time deliberately slowing it down somewhat. The murderous killer facing her took the bait, and reached up a hand to snatch the steel circle from the air. "Hah! So much for the deadly ninja, girl! What now, bratling? I've got your--"

"Try this, loudmouth!" And with that, she snapped the cord, sending a loop whipping along its length to wrap around his right wrist. Then, before the dumbfounded murderer could respond, she braced her body, and pulled with all her might, yanking him forwards off-balance, then backhanded him with the knife end of her weapon, cutting his throat.

The silence that fell was deafening, and Kitty turned to see Rahne staring at her, wide-eyed, Blockbuster unconscious on the floor. "Kitty? Ye...ye killed him?"

"Yeah., I guess I did. Just like Prism." She wiped the blade on her costume.

"But Kitty, 'tis wrong tae kill. X-Men dinna kill, remember? I know we aren't the X-Men, but even so--"

"Rahne." The word was said with sadness, but also firmness. "There was no way for me to beat them otherwise. I don't have super strength or reflexes. I have to use whatever means will keep me, and those I love, alive. If it's kill or be killed, I'll kill. I won't enjoy it, but I'll do it. And believe me, I didn't enjoy it, I take no satisfaction in having killed, only in helping to save Meggan from whatever fate Sinister had planned for her."

She looked at Rahne, and saw that the shorter girl was still troubled. "Rahne, I'm not turning into Creed, I promise you. I'm just doing what needs doing. Now, let's get after Brian."

--and a massive fist caved his skull in. The corpse dropped like a stone, and Brian reached out to pull the Marauder from his wife's unconscious body.

"Meggan? Are you all right?" He spotted the collar around her neck, guessed it was some kind of device to keep her sedated, and crushed it in his fist. The correctness of his guess was demonstrated when Meggan's eyes flickered, and she looked up at him, a dazed expression on her face...

"B-Brian??"

"I'm here, love."

"Oh!" With a gasp, she threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. They stayed like that for several moments, then Meggan murmured, "I knew you'd find me, I knew you wouldn't let Mister Sinister harm me."

"Never, Meg. If he had done, I'd rip his head off and use it for a football." She giggled at that image. He held her for a few more moments, then stood up, bringing her with him. "You ready to go, love?" His blue eyes were fixed on her face, as if he were memorising every curve of her features, fixing them in his memory. She flushed at his warm regard, then stiffened. "What is it, Meg? What's wrong?"

"Sinister! He's got a lot of people in cages, people he's modified into a new race. People he's breeding to act as his own personal slave race. We've got to save them, Brian! We can't leave them alone in his clutches!"

"No, of course we can't. Can you locate them, Meg?"

"I'll try." With that, she closed here eyes, the better to concentrate, and reached out with her empathic senses. She found rage -- Wolverine -- and anger mixed with fear -- Piotr -- and then a large concentration of fear, overwhelming fear and misery. "Yes, I've got them, Brian. Below us, in that direction. Come on, we'd better find the way there."

"Why not take the direct route?" With that, the huge blond man smashed his fist into the floor, and proceeded to rip it up as if it were paper. Then he held out his hand to Meggan. "Come on love, some prisoners need rescuing."

Think, ya stupid bastard! What haven't ya tried yet, that might stop these ugly sons o' bitches! Well, there's always cuttin' their heads off, see if they can regrow their heads. What the hell, go for it!

He waited for the next monster to come at him, dodged its attack, and slashed the razor-sharp blades on his arms across its belly to distract it, then neatly decapitated it with his left hand.

"Ah, the little X-Man finally comes up with a working strategy." Mister Sinister's voice crackled through the speaker. "It is about time, Logan. You are supposed to be the oldest and most skilled fighter of all of the X-Men, yet my little pets have kept you busy for some time now. Good. I can use the data from your fight to devise a better version for future use." The speaker crackled once more, and fell silent.

Logan suppressed a grin. Whilst Sinister was watching him, the members of Excalibur had a good chance to find the kidnapped Meggan, rescue her, do as much damage as possible to the base, and get out.

Then he was sent flying backwards by a claw that ripped open his face, spilling hot blood down his costume.

Ya silly bastard! Lettin' yer guard down in a fight is as good a way of bookin' yer own funeral as there is! The monsters were frightening in their bloodlust. They were almost as fast as Logan, a lot stronger, they could heal as fast as he himself could, and they had claws that could rip a man to pieces in seconds -- four of them, if they stood in a bipedal mode, though that allowed the feral Canadian to trip them up. And they were as full of killing rage as Sabretooth. Logan's healing factor was the only thing keeping him alive, and even that was starting to reach its limits.

["Sure have, big brother."]

["Good, then I will call up the others and see how they are doing in their search for--"]

["Starting with Kitty, perhaps?"] There was an evil grin on the face of the blonde sorceress. Though Piotr might make out that he was over Kitty, and that he accepted her choices, he didn't fool his little sister. She could read him like a book. She always had.

["Um...perhaps better to start with Brian? As it is his wife who has been kidnapped?"] He couldn't bring himself to meet his sister's eyes, as he knew that he would give himself away. He thumbed the throat mike on his costume. "Brian? Are you there?"

"Right here, Piotr. Just to let you know, I've got Meggan with me, safe and sound. Over." The sound came loud and clear -- it seemed that Sinister had not built radio-jamming devices into his base.

"That is good news, Brian! Where are you now? Over."

"Meggan encountered some of Mister Sinister's experiments when she escaped earlier. They're intelligent, and afraid of him. We're going to rescue them from the lower levels. How are you three? Over."

"Two, actually. Scrambler touched Illyana, and her teleportation disks went mad. One took Logan somewhere, we do not know where. We are about to go and look for him. Over."

There was a short pause, as though the man on the other end of the connection was thinking. "Contact Rahne, use her tracking skills. We'll get these 'people' out, and they can come with us. Out."

"Out."

The Scots girl looked surprised. They were going to split up even more? That seemed a rather risky strategy to take, though the American girl must have some reason for making her decision

Kitty could see the question in the eyes of her friend. "Simple, Rahne. I want everyone collected in one place, ready for 'Yana to 'port us to safety. Logan can lead the others to wherever Brian's got to. I'm going to look for Sinister's main computer, which, from previous experience, we know he usually locates deep in the lower levels, for safety. I'll get anything that looks interesting or useful, then destroy the system, and hopefully any information it contains." She pressed her throat mike. "Illyana, you there, girl?"

"Here, Kit, Piotr and me. Logan's been teleported somewhere, we don't know where. We've heard from Brian, he's found Meggan, and they're going to rescue a bunch of people Sinister genetically manipulated. Over."

The two girls exchanged glances. They hadn't known about this before. Not that it changed much. "Understood, 'Yana. You don't know where Logan is, at all? Over."

"Nope. My teleport disks went haywire, and he got shunted somewhere else. Sorry. Over."

Kitty paused, thinking. "Okay, fine, change of plan. Rahne'll come and find the pair of you, then you all go and link up with Brian and Meggan, free these 'people' Meg found, then you, Illyana, can teleport all five of you plus them to safety. Over."

There was the sound of shocked gasps, though it didn't sound like they came from Illyana, a guess proved correct when Piotr came over the air. "Katya?! What are you saying, that we should abandon you and Logan?? You cannot expect us to--"

"Quiet! Piotr, that's enough! What I'm saying is, the first priority is to evacuate the non-combatants and Meggan, the person Sinister seems most interested in. Logan and I can look after ourselves. I have to destroy the computer systems, and make sure that Sinister doesn't get anything useful out of this little escapade. When you've got the others to safety, Illyana can scry for the two of us, teleport in, grab us, and get out again. I'm not prepared to argue, Piotr! Right now, in Kurt's absence, I'm acting team leader, and I'm giving you an order! Over and out!"

Kitty was relying on the fact that Piotr had always had difficulty disobeying orders from whoever was team leader at the time. They didn't have time to waste -- Sinister might be preparing a new attack at that very moment. She looked at Rahne. "Off you go, Rahney! I'll catch up with you later!" With that, she dropped through the floor. Rahne looked after her for a few moments.

"Aye. I'll see ye later, Kitty. Dinna get yourself hurt...sister." She turned, sniffed the air, and began to run.

"Heelllppp?" "Helpp?" "Help?" The word came from a dozen mouths, all different in tone and timbre. Brian stared at them in astonishment.

"My God! What the hell was Sinister planning?!" At the sound of the name, the "people" shrank back in fear, and the big man's eyes narrowed. "Got you all terrified of him, has he? Why am I not surprised?" With that, he reached out a massive hand and tore the front of the holding pen down with one almighty rip. "Right, out you come, you're free!"

The "people" looked at one another, almost as if they didn't understand the very concept of freedom -- which, thinking about it, was probably true, Brian reflected grimly. "You're all leaving. We'll get you to safety, and then we'll see about getting you familiarised with the world -- right, Meg?"

The gentle empath had said nothing since her first words, concentrating instead on projecting waves of trust and kindness. The "people" stared at the two of them...then, one of them, a snakewoman, stepped forward cautiously, through the opening that Brian had torn, staring about her, as if expecting to be struck dead for her temerity. The other creations of the mad geneticist watched her, and watched the two strangers in their midst, as if waiting to see what they would do.

Brian smiled encouragingly, as Meggan redoubled her efforts to reassure the "people" of their good intentions. All the time, they both waited for Mister Sinister's next move.

Then an alarm went off, the alarm connected to the holding pens on the lower levels, where he had been creating his very own, obedient servitor race. With a scowl, he switched his attention to that location instead -- only to see Captain Britain and Meggan freeing his creations from the cells where they were being held.

"They dare?! I have worked hard to create those slaves, and they dare to take them from me?! I think not." He reached out to press the switch that would flood the room with sleeping gas -- just as the monitor screen went dead.

["Want to talk about it, Piotr?]

["About what, little snowflake?"]

["About whatever's stopping you from looking me in the eye."]

He turned to face her, his face serious. ["Very well then, my sister. I am uncomfortable with the way that you were so casual about killing. Please, let me finish."] He held up his hand to stop her from interrupting, as her face grew angry. ["I do not claim that I am innocent of killing myself, Katya reminded us all of that. Nor am I unhappy that a Marauder is dead, they are murderers each and every one. No, Illyana, I am concerned because you seemed to enjoy the act of killing. I am concerned because it is a path you walk that may lead you to fall once more into evil."]

["Quite finished?"] Illyana's beautiful face was flushed with rage. ["Understand this, big brother! They needed to die, for everything they've done before. Don't interrupt! They're murderers the lot of them, and I was happy to kill Arclight before she could kill you! Got it?"]

Piotr shook his head. ["You misunderstand me, little sister. I am not sad over Arclight's death, and I am glad that I am alive and well. My concern is that you may begin to like killing in and of itself, just as Creed does. I know that Katya said that she would kill the Marauders if necessary, but I do not think that she will have enjoyed doing so. I do not want to think that you might have enjoyed the act of killing--"]

"There ye are!" They turned, to see Rahne racing towards them. "Come on, we've got tae meet up wi' Brian and Meggan!" She turned, looked over her shoulder to see that they were following her, and began to run in a different direction to the way she'd arrived.

The two Russians began to run after her, not saying another word to one another, too engrossed were they in their thoughts.

UH UH BUNKIE, I'M AFRAID YOU AREN'T IN CONTROL OF YOUR COMPUTERS ANYMORE. NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE RESUMED IN DUE COURSE. NOT!

-- SHADOWCAT

Her slammed his fist into the console, denting it.

--just as a tawny fury of claws and hair landed on its back and smashed razor-sharp claws through the back of its skull into the brain. The hand retracted, taking the brain with it. The last monster slumped, dead. And Sabretooth grinned at Wolverine over the dead body.

"Long time' no see, runt. Not since Madripoor, anyway."

The stocky X-Man faced his old nemesis. "What're you doin' here, Creed? Still workin' fer Sinister?"

The hulking killer laughed, a throaty belly-laugh. "Me? Nope. I'm finished dealin' with the big man's shoddy clone o' me, that's what." He stood, grinning at Logan. "I got places to go, and things to do. Don't worry, 'bub,' we'll meet again sometime." He turned to run into the darkness, then paused, looking over his shoulder at the shorter man. "Oh, and give my love to your li'l darlin' Kitty-cat!" With that, he vanished.

Logan growled, but this was not the time to settle old scores. He sniffed the air, and grinned as a familiar scent came to him. He began to run towards its source.

"Found ye!" The Scots girl resumed her human form, figuring that she was less likely to scare the strangers in her normal shape. The beings stared at the newcomers, as if not knowing what to make of them, or perhaps expecting to be attacked and hurt by them. Rahne turned to Illyana. "Can ye teleport this many in one go?"

The beautiful blonde sorceress made a quick count -- there were about sixty of them. "No, better make it a couple of trips. Where to, the Braddock place?"

Brian looked up at her, and nodded, a smile on his face. "Betsy will be so pleased to receive unexpected visitors..." His voice trailed away, as he frowned. "Though I doubt we'll be able to put them up there indefinitely, the place really isn't big enough for this many. But we'll think of something." He put his hand to the throat mike. "Kitty, are you there?"

"Reading you loud and clear, Brian. Go ahead, over."

"Rahne and the others are here now, so we'll get them out now. What's your situation, over?"

"I'm down below, with the secondary computer systems, memorising a few schematics. Once I'm done here, I'll find his genetics database and wreck it, just to be on the safe side. Over."

"Fine. We'll be back shortly, once these people are safe. Out." He turned to look at Illyana expectantly. "Okay, ready when you are."

--and gasped in fright as she came face to face with a strange figure immediately behind her. Then it spoke.

"Gotta remember ta watch yer back, darlin'."

"Logan! You bastard! You've taken years off my life!" She hit him playfully on the shoulder. "Do you know what the alarm's about?"

"Nope, but I'd guess your trashing that computer's released some more of Sinister's critters. Better get going, Kit."

She shook her head. "Not yet. I still want to destroy Sinister's genetics database, if possible. Who knows what he might have there."

Logan didn't bother arguing. He knew her too well to believe that he could dissuade her once her mind was made up. It had always been one of the things that he'd liked about her, that she could argue her cause to anyone, even the Professor.

After all, he reasoned, you had to be pretty stubborn and hard-headed to be an X-Man at thirteen ...

About thirty or so of the hybrid people had appeared from nowhere, brought by Illyana's teleportation disk. Lockheed looked at them for a little while, then, seeming to understand that they were scared and feeling theat they'd been torn away from the only existence they knew, he launched himself into the air and flew over to where a small group of children were huddled together. They stared at him, not knowing how to respond to the little purple alien. One of them tentatively reached up to touch his snout, and Lockheed immediately licked the child's face enthusiastically, bringing squeals of delight from the little girl.

"Sorry, sis, we can't stop and explain, we've got to go and get the rest of these people, then we'll go back and get Kitty and Logan." Brian looked apologetic at dumping all of these strangers in his sister's lap (metaphorically speaking!). He went on, "Meggan, you'd better stay here, they're comfortable with you -- besides, we don't want Sinister getting his hands on you again, do we?"

"No!" The stunning blonde fey shook her head vigorously. "You and Illyana go, we'll stay here." With a flash of light, Brian and Illyana were gone. Meggan turned to face Betsy, a smile on her face. "I suppose you'd like an explanation now."

"I think that might be a good idea..."

Kitty grinned, though Logan couldn't see it as her side was towards him. "There wasn't anything on genetics in the secondary computer system. Now, the main one might have had, but let's be realistic here, Logan; Sinister's a geneticist, you think he won't have a fallback system in case the main one crashes?"

She phased them through another wall, and there it was -- the scientists's main genetics research laboratory. She threw him a cheeky grin and he scowled at her, though he wasn't really annoyed.

"You get any useful info then destroy the system. I'll keep guard."

"Roger that, bub." With that, she set to work, her fingers flying over the controls. The genetics system was obviously independent of the main power generator, as it responded immediately. Logan listened to the klaxon going off, the sound being heard throughout the complex. He didn't know what the cause was, but would hazard a guess that some of Mister Sinister's other creations had got loose when Kitty had inadvertently scrambled the main control system. Then he heard Kitty gasp. "What's up, darlin'?"

"See for yourself!" She gestured at the screen, which showed three double helices slowly rotating.

He peered at it, not understanding what had shocked her so. "It's DNA, so what?"

"Now see who it's from!"

He looked at the inscription underneath, and suddenly he began to get an inkling of what the problem was. "Madelyne Prior, Jean Grey, and Rachel Summers!"

Kitty's hands touched another control on the console, and a genealogical family tree appeared, with the names of the three women low down on the tree, all highlighted in green, and the names of Scott and Alex Summers similarly detailed. Most of the others had been left blank, though other names shown, in blue, were Meggan Braddock and Magnus Lehnsherr. At the very bottom was one word -- PHOENIX.

"What the hell?! Is he tryin' ta breed a bloodline from 'em all or somethin'?"

"Effectively, yes." The words came from the darkness, and Logan kicked himself for dropping his guard. Mister Sinister stepped into the illumination from the overhead red emergency light. His bright red eyes were fixed on Kitty's face, as if seeing her for the first time. "A bloodline which will give me absolute mastery of the Phoenix Force. My congratulations, my dear. You've managed to break into my systems quite quickly, and done a great deal of damage to my researches here. I suppose that you were also responsible for the release of some of my experiments when the main systems failed?"

She grinned evilly. "I cannot tell a lie, it was me."

He stared at her, thoughtfully. "I suppose that I am at fault. I underestimated you, as I did the rest of your team. I did not expect you to be able to break in as easily as you did, especially whilst bypassing my security systems at the same time. Would you be so kind as to enlighten me as to how you managed to locate Meggan? I had thought that my shielding was sufficient to prevent detection."

"Brian and Meggan have a soul link which works even through psychic shielding."

Logan didn't look at her, though he knew she had just told a lie to Mister Sinister. He knew the reason -- if he knew that they'd used magic, he would have the time and opportunity to find a way of blocking detection by scrying. The X-Men, or Excalibur, or one of the other X-teams, might need to be able to call upon that method of locating Mister Sinister in the future.

"Ah. Another facet of Meggan's powers which I no longer have the opportunity to study. However, I still have the two of you here." He smiled as the two heroes stiffened at his words. "You will make excellent additions to my research database."

"Research database?" Kitty suddenly turned and ran through the computer system, which exploded in a spectacular fashion. She ran out the other side, and turned to face the now angry Mister Sinister. "I see no research database."

He glared at her, but, before he could make a hostile move, a glowing golden disk appeared from nowhere and a huge fist struck Sinister on the side of the head, knocking him flying, though doing no real damage.

"Come on, you two!" Illyana grinned at them. "Time to go home!"

"Said Zebedee," muttered Brian cryptically, as the four heroes vanished into thin air. Mister Sinister picked himself up, looking around him at the smoking wreckage of his genetics research system.

"It seems that I must pick up the pieces and start again. A pity. Still, I have all the time in the world. I will activate the self-destruct systems before I leave -- there is no point in leaving anything for the members of Excalibur or the X-Men to use." And he stalked away into the darkness of the ruined base.

"A bit." Then the young American looked around at the Neo-Men, as they'd decided to call them, Sinister never having named them. Lockheed was playing games with the children, getting them yelling with delight at his antics, and generally causing chaos -- much to Kitty's amusement. "And now we have to decide what to do about them. They can't stay here forever, there simply isn't room. But we can't just send them away, they wouldn't last five minutes -- they know nothing about the outside world, and with anti-mutant feeling on the increase even over here, it'd only be a short time before some racist group went after them."

She looked around for agreement from Betsy, Brian, Meggan and Rahne -- Logan, Piotr and Illyana having departed for home -- knowing she'd get it. And did.

"And we can't hand them over to someone else to look after, either. Remember what happened to the Warpies." That was a particularly sore point with Brian -- he'd been one of the small group who had originally saved the Warpies from the RCX, then he and Excalibur had rescued them from Cloud Nine, only for them to be killed and dissected by Black Air.

Never again. I'll never again let something like that happen to someone who I've rescued. The grim looks on the faces of Meggan, Kitty and Rahne showed that they too remembered the way that Excalibur's trust, and that of Alistaire Stuart, had been exploited by the ruthless people in charge of Black Air.

"Well then, they'll have to stay here for the immediate future, until we can make permanent arrangements. But does anyone have any idea what we can do?"

"Well, they'll need tae be educated. An' they'll need tae be socialised. Och, tha' sounds like the reason the Professor set up the school at the mansion. Mebbe we could ask him fuir advice." Rahne flushed at the smiles the others sent her.

"Good idea, Rahney. Once we've got them settled in, we could visit the mansion, and ask the Professor for advice, maybe Sean -- perhaps even Emma, if we're desperate--"

"Kitty, she's reformed, you know that."

"I know, Betts, but that doesn't mean that I'm exactly a fan of hers, reformed or not. Anyway, we can ask for advice about starting a school for the Neo-Men over here, as well as catch up on gossip with our friends. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go and load some info into my computer." She grinned at the groans from the others -- her obsession with her computer was something of a standing joke amongst the team.

"The schematics you mentioned memorising earlier? What are they?"

"Sinister's cloaking fields for his bases. I figured that, now we've got the designs, we can devise some countermeasures for future use." With a wave, she was gone, through the ceiling -- much to the amazement of the watching Neo-Men.

Brian, Meggan, and the others laughed -- trust Kitty to come up with something like that! Then Brian threw his twin sister a wicked smile. "So, Betts, is there enough dinner left for everyone?" Then he ducked as she threw a cushion at him.