Chapter Forty-One

Sniffing the air in an effort to find him was a pain... Literally. Running through the sewers Logan attempted to track a man he hated to the bones. He honestly couldn't fully remember why he hated him so much only flashes of a brunette with olive skin and a kind smile.

His memories had more holes in them than swiss cheese. Every once in a while, he would get flashes or have an emotional reaction to a person or thing, but there is nothing worse than having a negative reaction and not understanding why. But with Victor Creed, he never really needed much of a reason to hate him… there was always a gut reaction to split the ferocious beast from nose to navel rather than look at him a moment longer.

Logan sniffed the air again attempting to get a location on where Sabretooth was. The one thing about the sewers in upstate New York that is consistent with any giant city… the underground was a maze that not many fully understood. People, or rather creatures like Creed could crawl inside and it might take hours if not days to find them. Logan had an advantage that most did not though. With his senses heightened to that of a hound locating any random street rat wouldn't be an issue. But… Creed wasn't a normal street rat. Sabretooth's senses were almost at the same level as Logan's which means. Logan can track Creed but Creed will also know Logan is coming.

As long as their abilities cancel each other out and one wasn't more powerful than the other it would just be a matter of time before Logan caught up. So why was Creed running away when they both knew all they wanted to do was rip each other apart? The answer came soon. It was a trap.

There were several other men stationed around the tunnels in random positions. They seemed well trained keeping out of sight for the most part, but not many would able to fool his nose.

Logan briefly considered backing off. The professor was depending on him more than in the past recently, with Summers benched, and Jean an emotional wreck only Ororo was a supporting figure. And Ororo had duties to her people, she was a semi-full time member but there was still a distinction between the two.

Deciding against giving up, Logan shook his head. He was close now. If he could grab the snake Creed and get some information out of him maybe they will know what Magneto was planning. These soldiers weren't much of a challenge anyway. Although it had been brief, his time working for SHIELD taught him one thing… Normal soldiers were no match for most mutants.

He himself could battle an entire regiment without much of a sweat. Deciding to chance it he hopped through a tunnel he sensed Creed had recently used. Coming out of the other side Logan spotted Sabretooth running across an open space. Jumping out and towards his target's back, he kicked creed to the ground, scrambling to his feet Sabretooth began attempting to climb up a manhole cover to escape. Releasing his claws, he sprinted towards the latter Creed placed his foot on when…

A sound of metal scraping across something hard made Logan lookup, a floating metal drain grate flying directly at him. Before he could do so much as cover his face. The metal then morphed into a cage him binding him in place long enough to see the mocking smile Creed was sported as he climbed up to the manhole above.

Growling Logan rips through the flimsy metal with his claws shredding it to pieces in moments. As he takes a few tentative steps closer a blinding light appears in his vision, making him stop briefly unable to fully understand what was happening.

He hears a quiet voice say the word 'fire' as balls of slime shoot out of metal tubes he had just noticed. Attempting to backtrack to get away he realizes something. These guys had no intention to kill him. Their plan was to capture him the entire time.

Quickly Logan is encased into an amber liquid and his movements are completely frozen. Whoever these people are they have done something not many have been capable of doing. Caged the Wolverine.

---

"I'm sorry professor, I've lost him," Jean said panicked.

"What do you mean you lost him? Without Logan, we cannot find Creed, and without him, we will never know what Magneto has planned!" Xavier said emotionally.

"Professor, I should have never been the one using Cerebro. I've only practiced with it four times and after losing Ben…" Tears welled up in the redhead's eyes as she looked down at her hands. Jean had lost people before and it tore her up inside each time but Ben was different. It wasn't like she was in love with him, but she cared for him a lot.

"I'm sorry Jean, something else must have happened. A… unforeseen circumstance."

Jean nodded; she had noticed the Professor acting strange lately… Almost completely unlike his usual self. Harsher training sessions, benching Scott and an unusual obsession with defeating Magneto. While benching Scott for his rash actions was necessary, and harsher training sessions was inevitable since they had lost a team member, Xavier has always been calm in any situation. Which makes it stand out when he has emotional outbursts.

The sound on Cerebro notified Xavier and Jean of an incoming message. Pressing the red blinking button Xavier accepts the call.

"Yes, Henry have you found anything?"

"We managed to find a metal grate completely shopped to pieces with unnaturally warped grooves."

"I've seen this kind of effect before…"

"Magneto…" Xavier whispers placing his chin on top of his hands in contemplation.

---

"That is so lame. How does he expect us to last through a session like that?" Rogue said walking out of the Danger Room while waves of smoke billowing out behind her. She sat down against the wall looking at her uniform still covered with washable paint in frustration.

"Well, at least you managed to last longer than we did… It was like what? Five minutes before we got our collective butts handed to us." The other teens beside him nodded in affirmation looking depressed.

"Well, that's little consolation…" Rogue grumbled. "No offense. You guys are new at this and if this is the new expectation, then I'm not even sure I will be able to stay on the X-men much longer."

---

Inside the Danger room, Kurt and Amara climbed on top of a cliff to attempt to locate their objective. Lightning was striking around them and billowing clouds were obscuring their vision, but finally, they managed to see it. A suit of armor similar to what Magneto wears when he does his bad guy thing stood a few rock formations away completely out in the open.

"There he is!" Amara yells surprising Kurt beside her.

Without much warning, a drone flew out of nowhere and aims a blaster at them both.

"You're up Magma!" Kurt says attempting to stay calm.

Using her abilities Amara gathers a fireball and blasted the drone's gun before it could launch a shot at them. Unexpectedly the gun port shifts on the machine and another blast was shot out towards Amara before she could block. Acting out of pure instinct Kurt shoves the smaller girl out of the blast's range and takes the hit himself. Stumbling out of the way Amara falls off the cliff she was standing on and manages to get back to the team.

"What happened?" Scott demanded. It had really only been a day since he had been allowed to train with the team again. He had taken no time in attempting to manage the team even though it was officially Jean's duty now. Jean didn't seem to mind much; she was still dealing with her own issues much to Xavier's agitation.

"Quit stalling Cyclops, make a decision or… relinquish control to Jean." Xavier's voice boomed through the PA system. Scott's face hardened into a harsh frown and he seemed to make a decision.

"We're going to rush him."

Ten minutes later.

"… by surprise? Magneto is always at least two steps ahead Scott. You would never be able to take him by surprise! Ever!"

"What I was afraid of has been proven correct… You guys are not strong enough to take on someone at this level. As for the rest… I simply cannot risk using you." Xavier pinched the space between his eyebrows in frustration.

"My only option left is to bolster your ranks…" He paused and behind him the elevator doors opened and five people walked out.

"Quicksilver, Toad, Avalanche, Blob and…" Scott stopped talking when he saw an unknown girl dressed in red with short black hair but quickly recovered when they started walking towards them.

"Professor, what is the meaning of this?" Scott said sounding angry.

---

Screams were the only things anyone was able to hear as Gwen jammed away on her drum set, the beats vibrated the walls with each pound of the bass drum. The guitar was keeping easy time with each beat and the lead singer's voice was mesmerizing, it was apparent that The Mary Jane's were on fire at the Midtown High school prom. It had been a surprise that they were even hired to play at a school-sanctioned event, though Gwen wasn't going to complain she happened to need the money. She kept giving apologetic glances towards her band-mates for being late for the millionth time today.

Mary Jane was singing lead slash band manager, and she ran a tight ship when it involved participation in practices, which she had been having problems with lately. Luckily she and Em-Jay had been friends for years. So, although Gwen was on a thin wire she was still hanging on to her position for a little longer. It did help that Em-Jay knew she had been different since she lost Peter last year. Even then it might have been still an issue if she didn't happen to be the best drummer available that was willing to play for the small-town band like themselves.

Gwen bit her lip as she took brief glances at her bag laying beside the stage which held the white and black spider suit beneath her school books. Still, she tried hard to keep her mind away from wandering as she played through their current set.

She knew Em-Jay really disliked having to play cover songs at a small place like this, she had been really working hard to make music that was original and yet catchy at the same time. It was kind of a bummer that the school had an approved song list, but they were still rocking the high school gym much to the frustration of the teachers on duty.

Out of a small amount of revenge, for every glance, the staff gave her she secretly kicked up the tempo since the drummer sets the pace even the pop songs everyone hated seemed to be given a new life. After two songs and a glare from Em-Jay, she finally settled down and played normally.

During a break she was walking through the prom to get a drink from the punch bowl (yeah that had been spiked), she barely escaped getting hit on by a few seniors. She'd much rather have been out in the city putting the smackdown on some random burglar or jewelry store thief, but she had made a promise and if her father taught her nothing else... Promises were something you kept.

Blowing off pests at the dance easily she passed a display with pictures of the last few years of science fairs, and that was all it took to be back on that rooftop holding on to Peter as he said his last words… "I just wanted to be special. Like you..." She had made a promise to herself then... Every day she fought to keep it, and every day she wondered if she had already failed.

College hadn't been easy at all without him there, and with her dad barely speaking to her now. She felt a crushing loneliness she wasn't aware was actually even possible to feel. If it hadn't been for the Mary Jane's and strangely enough the kingpin constantly sending assassin's to either kill her or recruit her. She'd probably have gone insane at this point.

Even so, sometimes she's so overwhelmed she doesn't know where to turn… She believed that if he was still here… he would have the perfect joke or pun to brighten up her world. Consumed by the pain and grief of the loss she was slowly wallowing in the overwhelming feelings.

Without warning, a thunderous boom shook the room drowning out the soft music they'd set up to play on the band's break. The entire gym was stunned when a split in space appeared in the middle of the dance floor. Glory, Betty, and Em-Jay dropped their instruments stunned and confused by its appearance.

"Everyone, get out of here!" Gwen yells as flashes of light erupted blinding them all.

As the lights began to cut out the crowd started to run towards the exits, and soon the tornado disappeared and a man with a red costume and blue hoody lay on the now empty dance floor.