And one day, the New Mutants arrived. Sam Guthrie, a.k.a. Cannonball, led the team: Roberto DaCosta, Sunspot; Illyana Rasputin, Magik; Maria Callasantos, Feral; Allison Crestmere, Magma; Garth, Tempest; and Danielle Moonstar.

They fought hard and they won. The Ani-Mator was defeated. His slaves were freed, he fled. The animal-people could live in relative peace and safety. Or so they thought.

A little while later, a new group came to the island. This one called themselves the Point Men. They scared away a lot of the animal inhabitants. Most went into hiding. Even when Dani Moonstar and Feral of the New Mutants returned to the island, they still hid. They could tell something wasn't right.

Feral hunted two of their kind down for fun. And Dani? She was . . . different.

Since her powers first manifested they had gone through several changes. At first, her powers allowed her to bring out people's worst fears and make them experience them. Then she was able to see a 'death-shroud' around people who were going to die. Soon after she became an Asgardian Valkyrie, chooser of the Slain, during a time when the influence of any God-like beings were nonexistent at best. She was the Last of the Valkyries. It was a title she didn't want. And so, when she decided to give it up . . . her powers changed again. She could now create psionic energy arrows which could scramble a target's neural-synaptic control. And, while in close quarters, she could also form a psychic knife in her hand.

But more than that, she had gone from being one of the good guys to being one of the bad guys. In fact, so had most of the New Mutants. Bobby and Allison were both running with the Hellfire Club. Dani and Feral were with the Point Men. Yeah, Sam and Illyana were with Young Justice, but Dani knew Illyana. She knew she was struggling. And Garth? Garth was dead.

The Point Men had decided that it was time to try something knew. Humans had to be forced to accept mutants, or they never would. To humanity, they were terrorists. To themselves, they were freedom fighters.

There was the Grey Lady, their leader. She was pretty much a gargoyle with grey skin, wings, and sharp claws. Blockade was the team's muscle. He was tall, big, super-strong and invulnerable. Serpenteen was a half-man, half-lizard. His tail was just another appendage, his teeth were sharp, and his claws were poisoned. He was also rather insane. Blank Slate was the most mysterious member. It appeared her body was made completely out of smoke. She wore a sheet over her body to give her apparent form. Her full range of powers were unknown, but she could teleport. Shortcut was another teleporter, using line-of-sight for instant transportation. He was also the group's shortest member. Groundswell never showed his true form. He simply morphed into - and became one with - whatever surface he chose, allowing him to become as large as the surface area he was on. Jesse Aaronson was a new member. His powers allowed him to disrupt anything and everything mechanical. Feral was the other psychopath on the team. She had changed much since her New Mutant days, becoming more angry at the world, and more vicious. She even tried to use her razor-sharp claws to kill Cannonball.

They had launched a few attacks on government agencies working on mutant control issues.* They had gone up against Young Justice twice. The first time, they won. The second time . . . they didn't.

(*YJ Annual #1, YJ #6, and YJ #19! - Paul)

And so they retreated to lick their wounds. Retreated back to their 'home'.

"It was that other member," Grey Lady frowned, "the Phoenix one. She hit us with more power than every other member in YJ combined could have."

"It was a telepathic assault," Blank Slate spoke. "Danielle and I withstood the first salvo . . . but the second one brought us to our knees. If not for my nearly untouchable mind, I would have gone down as well. Moonstar gave the order to retreat. It made sense . . . we could not withstand much more."

"I don't do well against non-mechanical things," Jesse frowned. "I thought I was only going to be going on missions where I was needed."

"You'll go on whatever mission Grey Lady says you do," Blockade frowned.

"Like we need this little wuss," Serpenteen hissed. "He is useless."

I sit back and watch. I do this every once in awhile. I can't always eat by myself in my own private quarters. They're suspicious enough. So when I do join them, I try and stay out of their way. I just observe.

Grey Lady isn't insane. She's a tactician . . . just an impatient one. She wants instant gratification. That's probably why she keeps Blockade so close. He's probably the only other guy here who really might be sane. In another world, if Xavier had gotten to him first, we could have been good friends. But now he's just the Lady's lapdog and sex-toy.

"Quit your bickering," Shortcut frowned. "We need to plan our next move."

"We?" Grey Lady asked. "You mean me."

Their next move. After the beating we got just the other day? Yeah, sure. But with any luck, I won't need to go on very many more missions. I've been gathering a lot of information. A lot of government files on mutants. I've compiled it all. I'll get it to Muir Island soon. I've also got enough information on all eight of these guys to see that they go to prison for a long time. The trouble is . . . taking them down.

"Maybe we should let Moonie plan it," Feral hissed. "The way she likes to take charge . . . still thinks she's a New Mutant I bet."

"I only take charge when I need to," Dani replied cautiously. "I follow Grey Lady's orders."

"Yeah, bull," Feral pressed forward. "I know you better'n anyone else here. I been watchin' you. You've been so cool this whole time . . . you've been biding your time, watching us, calculating your next move. And you spend so much time alone, away from us, in some secret part of the island . . . "

"I never read any Point Men Charter that said I couldn't have time to myself," Dani replied. She's always been pushing me. Ever since we both joined. She knew something was up. Let's see how this plays out . . .

"Hey, leave her alone," Blockade frowned. "She's loyal to the cause. That's all that matters."

"But what if she ain't loyal?" Feral asked. "Maybe she's been playin' you chumps for fools . . . ain't that right, Moonie?"

"What are you talking about, girl?" Dani asked back.

"Let's just say your secret part of the island ain't so secret anymore," Feral sneered. "While I wasn't able to crack your password, there was enough material hidden around the room that I figgered sumpthin' was up."

She knows nothing. She even admitted not being able to get my password . . . and the only things I left laying around the room were . . . oh no . . . I left out the info I had on Muir, didn't I? Damn you, Moonstar, you got careless.

"Why don't you tell us about Muir Island?" Feral asked. "About their mutant prison?"

"How about . . . no!" Dani plunged her psionic knife into Feral's stomach, frying her synapses and rendering her in a state of total shock.

"Dani . . . ?" Blockade asked.

"She's turned against us!" Shortcut yelled. "I knew she would! Damn you, Grey Lady, you let a traitor into our midst!"

Jesse's probably the easiest one to take down. He's caught off guard, and a simple kick is all it takes to knock him out. I've gotta keep moving, though . . . and I need to get above ground before Groundswell decides to get involved!

Out of a pouch on her belt she pulled a pair of silver orbs. She flung them at the Point Men, which exploded with intense light, temporarily blinding them. She made a break for the stairs and got outside quickly.

But now I'm in the open . . . I won't be able to escape if they're all chasing me . . . and what's worse, I need the information in my room. I only needed a few more days . . .

"Ha!" Shortcut yelled, appearing right in front of her. He landed a kick to her stomach, knocking her back. "I learned from the last time you used that on me. I'm prepared for your tricks!"

He'll be able to keep teleporting and staying out of my touch . . . so I need to rely on my original powers . . .

Dani concentrated, pulling out Shortcut's greatest fear. She couldn't help but smile as Shortcut began to see a half dozen clowns start chasing him. He was insanely afraid, which left him open to a psionic arrow, taking him out of the fight.

Well, I guess clowns are pretty scary . . .

Mist swirled into the air as Blank Slate teleported to the fight, bringing Serpenteen, Blockade and the Grey Lady with her.

"It's over, Moonstar," the Lady said, flashing her claws.

"Make it easy on yourself," Blockade frowned.

"Howabout . . . no!" Dani yelled. She made a break for it. Gotta think, gotta think . . . Serpenteen's easy to goad into doing something stupid . . . Blockade, my only hope is my powers . . . Grey lady, too . . . Blank Slate . . . she's immune. But she is deathly afraid of electricity . . . maybe it's her weakness?

Dani kept running, approaching a cliff overlooking a beach. Serpenteen pulled out ahead, quickly catching up to her. Grey Lady flew above, chasing them both.

Here goes . . .

Dani jumped off the cliff. Serpenteen followed. Grey Lady dove down to catch her teammate. It didn't go as planned. Dani grabbed hold of the Grey Lady, landing on her back. Serpenteen kept falling until he hit the ground, while Dani glided on her former leader.

"Get off me!" the Lady yelled.

"No!" Moonstar replied. "I've been with you too long. It seems I may have learned how to kill! Just like you, huh? I infiltrated this little group so I could stop it . . . I only needed a few more days . . . but now, I guess that won't happen. So I just have to keep steering you until . . . !"

Dani leapt off of Grey Lady as she collided with Blockade.

"I'm sorry it's gotta come to this," Blockade frowned.

"Me too," Dani replied. A psionic arrow was all she needed. Blockade was strong . . . but he wasn't good at avoiding attacks. This one, he wasn't immune to.

"Die!" Blank Slate yelled as she approached.

Dani reached into another pouch, pulled out another orb, and flung it. This one was an electro-shock orb. It hit Blank Slate and she screamed as the electricity ripped through her. She imploded herself, possibly teleporting, possibly . . . well . . . anything.

I did it! I beat them all . . . oh, wait . . . Groundswell . . . he's gotta be here somewhere . . . I don't stand a chance against him . . . my psionic arrows won't be able to affect him if I can't find his consciousness inside the ground . . .

"You shouldn't have done this, Dani," Groundswell's voice boomed. "Now I have to hurt you. You know you can't beat me. You know you can't escape me. Just give up."

"Never!" Dani said. She ran to the beach and soon found herself heading into the water.

Oh god, I hope this works . . . I got a skin tight uniform for a reason . . . it'll keep out the water . . . and hopefully, protect me from what I'm about to do . . .

Groundswell became one with the water around the island. "You've just drowned yourself . . . "

"Not quite," Dani said, reaching into a pouch again. "You've just killed yourself."

She dropped her four remaining electro-shock orbs. They exploded when they fell into the water. An electric current washed across the water, frying Groundswell and much of the sea-life in the area. Dani's suit protected her, but mildly. She was badly burned.

Slowly, she crawled out of the water. That was . . . damn risky . . . but it . . . it worked. Now . . . even though it . . . hurts like hell . . . I need to gather up the Point Men . . . put them in cells . . . gather my things . . . and head to Muir.

Was this gambit worth it? . . . No, not at all. I didn't get anywhere near the information . . . I had hoped I would. But . . . I did take down . . . a terrorist organization. That's gotta count for something, right?

What would you say, Professor? I tried, right? I am trying . . . to live by your dream . . . to fight for it. And hopefully, with this victory here . . . I've made it a little more possible . . .