" Noriko, Ian, how are you two doing in San Francisco?"
Noriko and Ian sat facing the front camera screen on the table in front of them, on it was his mother. It had been a busy few weeks since they had last spoken, when Ian told the woman they were moving with their people to San Fran.
" We're doing good, things are going good with the construction of GrayMalkin. And so far, we've only had one group of anti-mutant zealots attack one of our people. So, considering what we're used to, I'd say that's a good step in the right direction." Ian told the woman.
" I'm glad to hear it. It's nice to see you two getting on so well." Sarah told the two.
" Thanks, Sarah." Noriko spoke.
" No problems, Nori." Sarah stated. " So, you two, any plans for the coming holidays? Ian your birthdays coming up soon. Are you going to come back and visit? Or should I get ready to fly across the country?"
" Well, I hadn't thought about it. I almost forgot it was coming up. Well, I guess we could fly out. Maybe take a vacation together." Ian told the woman. " What do you think, Nori?"
" Well, I wouldn't mind going back to New York for a bit. Especially to celebrate your birthday." Noriko told the man.
" Oh, how wonderful. I'll start planning for the party, feel free to invite your friends!" Sarah exclaimed. Her excitement was easy to see, simply from the wide smile on her face. " Oh! Sorry guys, I need to go. Nori, make sure to call me later. I have something I want to talk to you about."
" Sure thing." Noriko replied.
" Bye mom." Ian lowered the laptop, turning it off and ending the call. " Oh boy, I completely forgot, my birthday was coming up in a few months. Oh, man. That means moms is too." Ian sighed.
" Well, that's nice."
" Yeah. Yours is coming soon too. March is right around the corner. What do you wanna do this year, huh?" Ian asked.
" I don't know. Honestly, I don't care. I haven't celebrated my birthday since I left home. It just doesn't seem important to me anymore." Noriko stretched her arms out and yawned. " What are you doing today?" She asked Ian.
" Well, X-Force business, to take care of." Ian told the girl. He got up from the couch and started putting on his black and grey suit.
" I see. How long are you going to be gone?" Noriko asked the man.
" A few days. Scott wants to see what's going on with Rahne and Angel. See if they're still programmed to kill each other. So, I'm sure it won't be too long. But just in case, plan for me to be gone at least a week." Ian told the woman.
" Alright, guess I'll just hang with the others for a week." Noriko sighed.
Ian bent over and placed a kiss on Noriko's forehead.
" I know, Nori. But it needs to be done. I promise, I'll be back as soon as I can."
Noriko breathed a sigh of frustration, Noriko then stood up and hugged Ian.
" You just be careful. I don't wanna be stuck carrying the team alone." She said.
Ian looked down her in confusion.
" What team?" He asked.
" You know we're the power couple of this island. I can't be here representing all by myself." Noriko joked. Her frown had turned upside down. She now had a big smile on her face.
Ian smiled and returned the hug, wrapping his arms around her waist and squeezing her gently. He then kissed her.
.........
Later
Angel's Aerie.
" Please... Scott.... Don't do this. I don't want to hurt anyone." Rahne told the man.
" We're ready, Logan." Scott ignored Rahne and called for Logan to bring Warren into the room.
" Ignore him, Rahne. I know this is hard for you. But I promise, I'm right here if you need me." Ian told the woman. He grabbed her hand and held it gently, hoping to ease her fear at least a little.
" Come on in, Warren." Scott spoke.
Warren rounded the stairs and started walking down towards Rahne and the others.
" There has to be a better way to do this." Warren groaned.
" We like the direct approach." Logan told the man. " Look at him, Rahne."
" No... Logan please. I cannae! You don't know the evil in me." She told the man.
" That's what we're trying to figure out, Darlin. Look at him!" Logan shouted.
" Ease it, Logan!" Ian snapped at the man. He knew they needed to test whether or not Rahne and Warren were still suffering mentally. But he wasn't okay with Logan forcing Rahne to try and confront something she clearly wasn't prepared for.
Rahne took a deep breath, and then just as Warren's wings spread out wide, her eyes began to water.
" Rahne?" Ian called out to the girl, but she was completely lost.
" Angel." Rahne's eyes focused more intently on Warren and she began to growl.
" Damnit. Here we go." Ian muttered.
" GRRRRRR! RAAAAH!" Rahne exploded from Logan's grasp and lunged at Warren, smacking straight into the solid glass wall between him and her.
" No.... No.... Get back... Everyone... Get.... DIE!" Warren's skin changed, and his archangel persona emerged once more. He flapped his wings and launched a volley of razor-sharp feathers right at Rahne.
" Move!" Ian tackled Rahne to the ground, saving her from being stabbed to death by Archangel. " Logan, Scott. He's coming in!" Ian yelled.
Archangel flapped his wings one solid time and completely shattered the glass wall in front of him. The moment the wall came down, Scott blasted him in his chest and sent him flying.
" Grrr... Kill the angel... Yake the wings." Rahne growled. She bit down hard on Ian's arm and started chewing on it to get free.
" JOSH! Get in here!" Ian yelled.
Josh came running into the room and ran up to Ian and Rahne.
" Kill you all!" Rahne yelled. " Eat your hearts!"
" Rahne, sleep." Josh told the woman. He placed his hand on her head and slowly, with a whimper, Rahne fell asleep.
" Holy fuck. I guess that answers the question." Ian muttered.
" Elixir, get wolfsbane out of here. Archangel is coming back!" Scott yelled to the group.
" Where is she!?" Archangel demanded to know.
Scott ran outside as Warren came flying back and jumped into the air. He caught Warren in his arms and wrestled with him.
" I am death!" Warren yelled.
" Warren! Look at me! Warren!" Scott yelled. " This isn't you talking! It's him!" Scott said in allusion to apocalypse.
" She took my wings! She has to die!" Warren exclaimed.
Ian stood ready to defend Rahne if Scott failed.
" You're stronger than him, Warren." Scott told the man.
" She has to... She... Rahne..." Warren's breathing slowly slowed down until finally he fell to his knees on the ground.
" Anyone else wanna flip out now? Cyke?" Logan asked.
" Shut up, Logan." Scott told the man. " Warren, are you okay? Are you going to be able to control this?" Scott asked the man.
" I... I think so. Good Lord, Scotty... What did apocalypse do to me?" Warren asked the man.
" Alright, that's enough. I'm taking Rahne to bed." Ian spoke. He grabbed Rahne from Elixir and carried the woman back to her room.
Logan sighed and rubbed his head. This was just one big mess, and he knew it.
" Not exactly filled with confidence here, Summers. Time to call your girlfriend, get her in here to deprogram these two." Logan stated.
" No, Emma stays out of this." Scott responded.
" Right, cuz this is X-Force. No X-Men allowed. So, we'll just keep the angel-killer Sinclair and the fourth horseman here as ticking time bombs. Good call." Logan chided the man for his reluctance to bring Emma in on what was happening with X-Force.
" I trust Warren. He can beat this. And we'll find a way to help Rahne. But Elixir is a problem. He'll have to be dealt with." Scott told the man.
......
The next day.
" Ohhh, I do not like this. Are you sure, Josh?" Ian asked the boy.
" Yeah. I'm sure." Josh responded.
" Hey! Everyone still alive?" Logan shouted out loud as he came into the living room. But when he saw what was happening he stood frozen. " Laura? Runt? Summers? What the hell?!" Logan yelled.
" Oh shit." Ian muttered.
" Oh, good morning." Josh told Logan. He was sitting in a chair, while the three stepford sisters surrounded him.
" Summers.... Summers!" Logan snatched Scott up by his collar. " Is this who you are now?! You bring in the Cuckoos to mindwipe Foley?" Logan asked the man. " This is exactly the kind of shit we turned away from Xavier for!" Logan yelled.
" Uh, Logan, just wait a moment." Ian spoke up.
" Enemies is one thing, protecting the public, fine, but Elixir... He may be a stupid snot nosed kid, but he's one of us!"
" Are you done?" Scott asked the man.
" Go to hell!" Logan yelled. " How far are you willing to go? We're crossing a line, yeah. But how long until we're no different? How long until we don't even see the line?"
"Cyclops didn't call the Cuckoos." Laura spoke up. " I did." Laura told the man. " To help save Rahne Sinclair. The Cuckoos won't talk. They are loyal to Cyclops eve Emma Frost."
" She can read our mind individually. But together... We can shut her out." The sisters explained.
Upon hearing this, Logan began to calm down. He let go of Cyclops, but he was still questioning why they were hacking into Josh's mind.
" So, why are they jacking Foley?" Logan asked.
"Because I asked them to." Josh spoke up. " I don't want to know about this, because if I know who you're going after, I may want to kill again. Just like I did with Stryker. And I don't want to be that person." Josh explained to the man. " But I don't want to stop you from doing what needs to be done."
" Well, Hell. Now I wanna keep him." Logan joked.
" Are you sure I didn't have the Cuckoo's plant that answer inside him, Logan? Since you're keeping us honest and all." Scott asked the man sarcastically.
" What do you want? An apology?" Logan asked the man.
" I haven't gone evil, Logan." Scott spoke. " I haven't been taken over. I haven't been replaced. We're entering new territory, and it's dark. But we're still the good guys." Scott explained to the group.
" Are you sure about that, Scott? Cuz I see things differently." Ian told the man. " Don't play yourself, Scott. We're not the good guys anymore. You can play it all up and be all smiles for the cameras. Of course, you will. You're the face of the mutant race now. You now speak for every single mutant in San Francisco. If you look bad, we all do. But don't try and kid yourself. The moment you put this team together, you stopped being one of them, and started being one of us."
" Then we see things differently." Scott replied.
" That's great, Scott. Because the bad guys are making their move." Warren walked into the room and told the man. Warren grabbed the remote and turned on the tv to the news channel.
" Repeating the top story, former presidential candidate, Graydon Creed, formerly believed to be the victim of an assassination plot, is alive. We're bringing you live to a press conference already in progress." The lady on the screen spoke.
The screen changed and an image of Graydon Creed, standing with two bodyguards in front of a crowd of people appeared.
" Had been marked for death by mutant terrorists. Thankfully, with the help of the US Government and SHIELD. I and several other high-risk targets were put into protective custody and replaced with SHIELD decoys. But we cannot hide anymore. We could not sit by and watch as mankind ignores the greatest threat that we've ever known." Graydon exclaimed.
" Oh, that's bad." Ian muttered.
" Many people believe the danger posed by the mutants is a thing of the past, but it is not. They believe that because mutants have gone into hiding that we are safe. We are not. The question is not if they will strike again, but when. And we must be ready, Genosha destroyed? 16 million mutants dead? It takes only one mutant to kill millions of humans. The mutants have been confined to a government camp? Think again. They walk among us. They don't want you to know that Magneto is alive and is on the loose. They don't want you to know that mutant terrorists are creating training camps right here in the United States. They don't want you to know that a new war is coming. Mankind must defend itself. We must be ready. And if humanity is to survive... I will need all of your help." Graydon Creed spoke to the crowd. Pleading his case for support.
" Yeah, that's bad." Logan stated. " Real fucking bad."
" If Bastion is putting Creed back in Washington, we've got to assume he's putting the others back in place. That means Trask and Lang in the D.O.D. That means Sentinels." Warren explained.
Meanwhile, Scott received a phone call and walked away from the group.
" Great. So, who do we go after first?" Logan asked Scott.
Scott hung up the phone and sighed.
" None of them. We've got a new target. The Vanisher." Scott told the group.
The group all looked at Scott in confusion.
" I'm sorry. What?" Logan asked.
" Not really the Vanisher. But what he stole. The Legacy Virus." Scott exclaimed.