It wasn't Pete Wisdom's favorite place. Of course, his favorite place happened to be a little bar on the southside where the beer was cheap, the cigs were pure, and the bartenders were petite little girls in tight, revealing clothes. And they talked dirty. But that's another story.

Not like I got much choice but ta keep movin'. Bloody hell, how do I get myself into these kinds of situations? I'm on the run from Black Air, officially gone rogue...and if I go to any of my usual contacts, they'll probably try to kill me. Nothin' personal...just business. Crock o' ^#$% that is.

He turned a corner and a tossed a quick look over his shoulder, checking if anyone was following. To the average eye, it wouldn't be determinable. It just seemed like a normal crowd of people. But Pete Wisdom wasn't an average man. He was one of the finest of Black Air. Former, that is.

This is my own good chance. Tangerine an' I go back a long ways. She's got nothing to do with Air...and she's one of the few people I might actually trust. 'Course, that could be 'cause she's a bloody telepath.

He turned a corner and ducked down an alley. Picking up the pace, he quickly slid into a doorway. He hesitated a moment. If anyone was following him, they'd more than likely get themselves caught right then. Another moment...nothing.

{What're you waiting for?} the call echoed in his head. {It's open and waiting for you.}

I hate when she does that... {I heard that.}

He mumbled a cuss or two under his breathe and made his way inside. "You're sure I wasn't being followed?"

{Even if you were, no one could get past my telepathic blocks and get inside here.}

"Awful confident, gel," he frowned. "Confidence gets you killed."

"I'll have to remember that." Tangerine stood in the doorway to her bedroom, her orange hair hanging down, her eyes covered by her ever-present sunglasses.

Despite his ever raging hormones, Pete had long ago stopped visiting her for his aesthetic pleasure. She would be considered beautiful and sexy by any other man.

"What're you into this time?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"I ditched Air."

"...You're a damn fool, y'know," she shook her head, pulling out a cigarette. "You can't leave Air unless you're dead."

He flicked a lighter for her, giving her what she needed. "I'm trying to be a trendsetter."

"Every Air agent in the city's probably out after you," she said after a long drag. "What happens when they send Scratch? Or, God help you, someone better?"

"I'll deal with that part o' my life," Pete frowned. "What I need from you is information."

"Why, mister Wisdom," she grinned, "information's my specialty."

"I need to know about the Hellfire Club. London Branch specifically, maybe the others. I need to know about something called the Neo. They're a people...if you can find anything, anything at all, it'll be a help..."

"Anything else while I'm at it?" she asked.

"Actually, yeah," he said. He took the cigarettes from her lips and took a drag himself.

She frowned. "Anything real?"

"Just a word: Excalibur."

Brian Braddock was home. After nearly a week in London, he was back where he belonged. Where he had friends...a beautiful girlfriend...and relative safety and comfort.

He walked into the island's med lab. "Moira."

Doctor MacTaggert spun around in her chair to see the tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. "Welcome back, Brian."

"It was too bloody long," he replied. "Xavier's got me in deep."

"What have you learned?"

"The London Branch of the Hellfire Club has almost no ties to the New York and Tokyo branches," Brian explained. "This branch has a slightly different set-up of its Inner Circle than the others. It's a single-sided group of the color red. And they're all powerful, deadly mutants."

"Names?"

"Selene, Mountjoy, Banshee, Rook, Queen, myself, and a Scribe that writes down all that happens. The Rook and Queen have gone by no other names than those since I was there."

"Objectives?"

"They're keeping me slightly out of the loop. I'll have to...earn their trust. But I figure it's something big."

Moira nodded. "We can look at a more detailed briefin' later. In the meantime, go find Meggan. The poor girl's been worried sick."

He smiled. "You don't have to tell me twice."

The phone rang. Meggan leaped on top of it.

"Brian?" she asked eagerly.

"Er...no," a woman's voice answered. "My name's Amanda Sefton..."

"Oh," Meggan frowned.

"Yesterday you came and talked to Kurt here."

"Kurt? Oh, right! The Fuzzy Elf in Germany!"

"Yeah," Amanda said, laughing at the 'fuzzy elf' comment. "Well, I'm Kurt's...well, girlfriend, I guess you'd call me...I'm a mutant as well. And we were wondering...if the offer was still up for Kurt, and if you would be interested in extending it to me as well?"

"Oh...I..." Meggan began to think, but suddenly got interrupted as a man walked into her room. She dropped the phone and flew across the room, jumping onto him. "Briiiiiian!!!!"

"Meggan," he managed to begin a reply, but soon found words unnecessary when lips could be used for a different form of communication. After a few heated minutes of kissing, Meggan suddenly broke off.

"One second!" she smiled, grabbing the phone.

"Hello? Hello?" Amanda called.

"I'm here, sorry!" Meggan answered. "The answer is definitely yes. We'll send someone out to get you immediately!"

"Alright," Amanda replied. "Thank you."

"Buhbye!" Meggan replied, hanging up the phone. She soon found herself in Brian's arms.

"Now..." he smiled, "...Where were we?"

Doug Ramsey and Rahne Sinclair sat side by side as Doug scanned a computer.

"It says here this place houses criminals," he frowned.

Rahne nodded. "We double-function as a rehabilitation facility for...um...'evil' mutants."

"How many criminals are here now?"

"Just one," Rahne replied. "We just shipped out Spoor, an' just got Copycat..."

"Spoor?" Doug asked. "Wasn't he some crazy, psychopathic murderer? And wasn't Copycat involved in some major drugbust gone wrong or something in some weird country? By some Aztec temple or something?"

"I dinnae ken 'bout that," she shrugged. "But they've been arrested for crimes, and they're here for help."

"Maybe I'll visit Copycat?"

"Thas' nae a good idea," she shook her head. "Doctor Campbell's workin' closely with her...she's nae tae be disturbed by others."

Doug shrugged. "Okay. So, Rahne...what is it, on Muir, that we do for fun?"

"Yuir sure ye can handle it by yuirself?" Moira asked nervously.

"Positive," Piotr Rasputin replied. "I have been learning to fly the Moonlight Flit for months. I'll handle her with care. Besides, it's only a short flight to Germany. What could go wrong?"

"I could get Brian to accomp'ny ye," she said.

"I'll be fine, Moira," Piotr smiled.

"The Flit's me baby," Moira said quietly. "Take good care of her?"

"Of course," Piotr nodded. "I will be back in a flash."

The Moonlight Flit medical ship touched down just outside the circus just over an hour before we join the scene. Piotr met and introduced himself to Kurt and Amanda, who had packed their bags and were ready to take their first steps into a new life.

"I've never seen anything like her," Kurt said, admiring the ship as he boarded.

"She's a medical ship," Piotr replied. "Designed by Brian Braddock, another mutant at Muir, as the main mode of transportation and of aid for anything Muir is invested in. There is a helicopter there, as well as another jet. Different from this one...slightly larger, yet faster."

"Is that your mutant transport?" Amanda asked with a smile.

"Something like that," Piotr nodded. "Buckle up...we're about to liftoff. Next stop, Muir."

Amanda grabbed Kurt's hand and smiled. "Our new home."

The Moonlight Flit began its merry trek back to its home.

"We should be arriving soon," Piotr said. "Forty-five minutes to go. The island is very pretty on a night like this."

"I look forward to it," Amanda smiled. She lowered her voice. "What's wrong, Kurt?"

"I don't know..." he shrugged. "I know that this could be a great thing for me...for us...but I just can't shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen."

"Oh Kurt, nothing bad's gonna happen..."

"That's strange," Piotr said from the small cockpit.

"What is?" Kurt asked.

"Well, our Cerebro scanning system suddenly went crazy," he replied.

"Cerebro?" Amanda asked.

"It's our mutant locating device," he answered. "It detected several mutants moving in a scattered pattern...then it shut down...and now we've lost autopilot...and I'm reading a fuel leak."

"Nothing bad's going to happen, eh?" Kurt asked.

"Are we okay?" Amanda turned to Piotr.

"We should be," Piotr replied. "Hold on, let me--"

The cabin suddenly shook as the roof blew apart. The plane was hit by a blast of energy. The engines cut...and it began to descend, spiraling quickly towards the ocean below.