"It's gone . . . all gone."

Everett Thomas couldn't help the depressed tone of his voice, or the sad look on his face. It had been raining for two days straight, and he was soaked to the bones. He didn't know which would be worse: Dying of hunger or dying of hypothermia. He wasn't alone, no . . . but he might as well be. He and his friends had been abandoned.

He stood on the property 1427 Greymalkin Lane in Salem Center, Westchester County, New York State. Just days ago it was his home. It was Professor Charles Francis Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning, also known as a "school for the gifted." He was gifted. He was a mutant.

And Professor Xavier had attempted to slowly gather young mutants to his school in hopes of both protecting them and teaching them to control their powers. But that school didn't exist anymore. It was destroyed.*

*(X-Men Secret Files #1)

The teaching staff were mutants. The press had recently dubbed them the 'X-Men'. Mutant super-heroes . . . but now they were dead. Killed by a group of mutant terrorists lead by someone named Magneto. The human students had made it out. They returned to their families . . . no one really knew what had happened . . . and there had been no investigation as of yet.

So Everett and his five fellow mutant students took refuge in their former home. Among the rubble and debris, they found marginally warm and dry spots to serve as shelter. But food was scarce. They'd have to move soon . . . but where? None of them really had family to go to . . .

Jubilation Lee was a foster child. She never really lasted in one place for very long . . . she had hoped the school would do it for her. She should have learned not to hope by now.

Katherine Pryde's parents were divorced. They fought . . . a lot. And she hated to be in the middle . . . but maybe this time, she needed to go back?

Adam Berman was a teenage genius. He probably could have gotten into any school in the country . . . but he came to Xavier's to deal with his own personal problems. Could he go back home? What would his friends say? His parents? If he could even find a way back home . . .

Julio Esteban Richter didn't have a home to go back to. Well, at least not in his opinion. In Mexico, his family was rich. But only because of their illegal dealings with drugs and guns. He knew very little about the full scope of his family's involvement, but he knew enough to not want to go back.

Frances Kane definitely didn't want to go home. When her mutant powers first began to manifest, her mother was convinced she was possessed by satanic forces and wanted to have her exorcized. Her mom, well . . . she was a few french fries short of a Happy Meal.

As for Everett, his mom was all he had . . . and she was never home. Getting the 'scholarship' to Xavier's was a dream come true to her. It meant she wouldn't have to work two jobs anymore just to support them. Could he really go back and disappoint her?

Everett made his way back towards the ruins of the mansion. He found himself coming out to the hill in the back every day before dawn. It gave him a sort of . . . perspective.

Yeah . . . that's one way of putting it.

Everett knew they couldn't go anywhere looking for help. Even before he knew he was a mutant, he knew what prejudice was. He was black. And just because of the color of his skin, cops would give him a hard time. The Professor offered him another way . . . a place where he could be accepted. And now it was gone . . . all gone.

A flash of lightning broke across the horizon. Thunder rolled shortly after it.

Two days, he thought. Two days straight . . . it's really not helping the situation. I swear, if Jubes didn't have the terrible fashion sense to wear a plastic jacket year round, she'd've killed us by now. Doug was lucky. He got out just in time.*

*(He's talking about Doug Ramsey, another young mutant from the school who moved to Muir Island in X-Men #2 - Paul, who writes Doug in Excalibur)

But they weren't so lucky. Or were they? After all, they survived. Ms. Grey, Mr. Kent, Professor Xavier . . . they weren't so lucky.

Well, after all this . . . at least things can't possibly get any worse . . .

And as Everett continued to walk back to the former mansion and school, he failed to see a pair of eyes watching him. It's understandable. After all, the pair of eyes belonged to one of the most skilled people alive. Of course, skilled at what is the true question.

Everett Thomas failed to realize that it was just about to get worse . . .

"I can't take much more of this," Kitty frowned.

"What're you talking about?" Julio asked. "You're intangible, chica . . . the water doesn't even touch you."

"It's not exactly easy to stay intangible for very long," she frowned. "Jubilee's got the weather ready clothes . . . Adam seems to love the rain . . . and Frances can use her magnetic powers to deflect the rain off her . . . Everett can get in synch with her powers and protect himself, too."

"Yeah," Julio replied. "And I've got nothin'. So quit your complaining."

She frowned. "Hmph."

"I'm hungry," Jubilee whined.

"We're all hungry," Frances answered.

"So when're we gonna do something about it?" Jubes asked.

"We've got no money," Adam replied.

"So?" Jubilee continued. "We've got powers . . . we can take what we need."

Kitty frowned. "That's not what the Professor was trying to teach us."

"Newsflash, Cat," Jubilee snapped, "Baldy's dead."

"Killed by mutants who used their powers for evil!" Kitty yelled back.

"There's a difference between evil and necessity!"

"It's a line we can't cross!"

"Girls, please," Everett said, rejoining the group. "Fighting isn't gonna help anything. We have to stick together . . . and figure out a way out of this mess."

"We should all just . . . go home," Adam frowned.

"No way," Frances said. "I'm never going home."

"Well, what are we gonna do then?" Adam asked again. "We can't just stay here forever!"

"We need a plan," Julio shrugged. "And we need to keep it legal."

"We're worried about keeping it legal?" Jubilee asked. "Puh-lease. Let's just find us a nice cozy mall and live there forever . . . we could be a team! Defenders of Justice . . . the Mallrats!"

"Or not," Kitty frowned.

"Y'know, I've had enough of you lately, 'Princess'," Jubilee glared at Kitty. "All your 'Holier-Than-Thou' attitude and BS . . . "

"I'm sorry for trying to be responsible!" she angrily argued in her defense. "Maybe if you'd shut your mouth and stop saying stupid things--!"

"That's it!"

Streams of lights burst from Jubilee's gloved hands. Kitty was still phased, letting the blast pass through her. Unfortunately, the blast hit a piece of a still standing wall, causing it to crumbled and fall.

"Smooth move," Kitty called.

"It's your fault for phasing!" Jubilee answered.

"Both of you knock it off!" Julio yelled. "I can't take this anymore . . . the constant fighting . . . both of you just shut up and separate, or I'll do it for you!"

"Did you hear that?" Frances asked.

"Yeah, that was Julio blowing a lot of hot air," Adam said.

"No, not that . . . "

"Thunder?" Everett asked.

"No, it was something else," she said. "Low pitched . . . almost like a growl?"

"Y-you mean like a wolf?" Kitty asked.

"Cut it out, Fran," Jubilee said. "Quit tryin' to scare us, 'cause it won't work."

"I'm not trying to scare you," she replied.

Adam's skin changed. He slowly shifted, using his mutant power to turn his skin into hard scales. "I'll go check it out . . . "

"Me too," Everett said. "If Jubes doesn't mind me getting in synch with her powers?"

"Whatever floats your boat, Ev," she answered.

"Don't wander too far," Kitty said.

"Scaredy cat," Jubilee smirked.

"What do you think, Adam?" Ev asked after the two had moved out of sight of the others.

"It could be a lost dog or something," Adam shrugged. "Or it could be a --urk--!"

In the blink of an eye, an unseen force grabbed Adam and threw him over against a weakly standing wall, cracking it in two.

"Wh-what?" Everett asked, but he was too late. A hand reached out and grabbed his neck, lifting him up off his feet. The grip was strong, and the fingers seemed more like claws. The arm attached to it was big and hairy, and the face was as frightening as any nightmarish monster.

"It's nothing personal, y'know," the creature said with a twisted grin. "You're just in the wrong place at the wrong time, kid. Any last words?"

Everett's eyes were wide with fear as he realized death was upon him. But then, instinct took over. He fired blasts of light from his hands, powers he had taken from Jubilee. The contact sent his attacker back a few feet, startled and caught completely off-guard. Everett then did the only thing he could: run!

As he stumbled back to the others, they all stood up with fright, hearing a loud howl from behind him.

"What is it what is it?" Frances asked.

"Where's Adam?" Julio asked.

"Omigodomigodomigod," Kitty panted.

"Run!" he managed to yell. But it was, once more, too late.

The creature was already on top of them. He leapt onto Everett, tackling him to the ground before leaping at Julio and Frances, tackling them as well. He stared down Jubilee, flashing his claws.

"Say g'night, girlie . . . "

The creature pulled back its arm, preparing to deliver the fatal cut, when another man leapt from the shadows!

"Now, Creed, is dat any way t'treat a lady?" the second man asked, jump kicking the creature across the face.

"Like you'd know, LeBeau," Creed snarled.

"Leave dem outta dis . . . it's between you 'n' me, chere." The man stood tall, with a long trench coat hanging heavily on him, soaked through by the pouring rain. His eyes were blood red, glowing against the black where there should be white. With a flick of his wrist he produced a bo-staff in his right hand.

"Your funeral."

Creed leapt at LeBeau, who easily swung his staff and deflected the assault. "Dat da best you got?"

Creed sneered. "Hardly."

The kids gathered, watching the battle in horror as the two traded blows. They all realized that if the man in the trench coat fell, they'd be dead. Though their brains screamed 'run!', they couldn't help but sit and watch, paralyzed in fear.

Another attack, and LeBeau dodged . . . only this time, not enough. The claws ripped across LeBeau's right side.

"You got first blood, chere," he called. "I'll get last."

"Not if you keep callin' me 'chere'."

"What would you prefer?" LeBeau asked, standing straight despite the pain. "Woman?"

Creed growled and leapt on top of Gambit, tackling him to the ground and keeping him pinned. "You made one too many mistakes, LeBeau. Took one too many gambits. When you crossed Sinister, you crossed the last line. I'm here to collect."

"Sorry to disappoint, Sabretooth," LeBeau said. He had quietly slipped a playing card from his sleeve into his hand. While Creed was threatening, he used his own mutant power, charging the card with kinetic energy, causing it to glow pink with energy. "But I won't accept de charges."

A flick of the wrist launched the card at Creed's head with explosive results. The man howled, falling back and grabbing his head. Though blood poured for a few moments, the wound began to seal itself, Sabretooth's mutant healing factor having kicked in.

"Before I was gonna kill you quickly," he said. "Now, you'll suffer for hours!"

"Raaa!" Adam Berman leapt at Sabretooth from behind, grabbing his neck and hanging out, trying to tackle him. It was a wasted effort; Sabretooth grabbed him with both arms and flung him straight into LeBeau, knocking him down once more.

"Thanks kid," he sneered. "You just volunteered yourself to die first!"

"No one's dying here, monstruo!" Julio yelled. "Except maybe you!"

With that, the young mister Richter cut loose, using his vibratory powers to unleash an intense earthquake aimed right at their attacker. As the ground shook, Creed could feel his own insides start to tear itself apart. The insane killer decided it was better to flee and try again later than to stay and risk dying. Sabretooth fled.

As he did, the remained ruins of the mansion collapsed before Ric ended the quake.

"Nice one, kid," LeBeau said.

"You saved our lives!" Frances exclaimed.

"De name's Remy," he shrugged. "Dat villain was Sabretooth. It was me he was after . . . sorry you kiddies got yourselves involved. Tanks for de help an' all, but he ain't dead. I should go try and make sure he is."

"You're just . . . just gonna leave us?" Kitty asked. "We helped too, y'know!"

"Please, sir," Everett said. "We've got nowhere to go . . . and we've got nothing left. Can't you help us?"

"I'd better not, I . . . " Remy started, looking about at their faces. They all looked on with puppy-dog eyes and pleading faces. Well, except Jubilee.

"Please?" Frances asked.

Remy sighed. "I don't have much t'offer."

"Anything's better than this!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Alright," Remy reluctantly agreed. "I can take you as far as New Orleans. Dat's where I'm goin'."

"That'll be fine," Frances said.

"I'm gonna regret this," Remy shook his head as he lit a cigarette.

"Y'know, smoking's bad for you," Jubilee frowned.

"Yup, regrettin' it already . . . "