On the outskirts of London is a small building. Inside, Doctor Cecilia Reyes goes about her daily routine. A woman of Puerto Rican descent, she grew up in the Bronx. While studying medicine at Empire State University, she found an opportunity to study abroad in London. She preferred England to the United States, so she chose to make London her new home. Currently, she has her own private practice.

However, she never could have prepared herself for the sight which she discovered in her waiting room on this day. A woman with short red hair, a man with black hair almost in the shape of wolf’s ears, and a younger man with short brown hair and a golden visor concealing his eyes stood in the waiting room. Hovering in midair right beside them was a larger man with long, black hair and he was bleeding from several wounds and in the brown-haired mans arms was a young boy with pink skin and no mouth. All four of them were dressed in odd, leather uniforms of some sort.

“What’s going on here?” she demanded. “Who are you people?”

“Hiya Ceci,” said the man with the wild hair. “Remember me?”

She did, although she had never expected to see him of all people gracing her doorstep.

“Logan?”

“That’s right, darlin’,” he said. “I need yer help.”

MUTANT MASSACRE

Part IV: Vengeance

By Dino Pollard

While Dr. Reyes dealt with her latest arrivals, deep below the city of London, in the sewers which run beneath it, the remainder of the X-Men were on a mission of their own. John Proudstar, Thunderbird, currently raced through the tunnels, searching for one of his own teammates. Alison Blaire had left the rest of the group in search of the Marauders on her own.

Dazzler as she had come to be known was the leader of the Morlocks — a position she gained after defeating their past leader, Callisto, in combat. As a result, she felt a deep sense of responsibility once she came here and discovered the Morlocks were slaughtered by hired killers known as the Marauders.

Thunderbird caught sight of her and came to a stop by her side. She lay by the body of a Morlock, and Thunderbird slowly and gently put his hand on her shoulder. She nearly jumped, but regained her composure and stood to look at him.

“What do you want?”

“I came to make sure you didn’t do anything you would regret,” he replied.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“No you’re not,” said Thunderbird. “Ali, you didn’t do this. You’re not responsible for what’s happened.”

“Aren’t I?” she asked. “I challenged Callisto to that fight not thinking of the consequences.”

“You did what you had to so you could save yourself and Hank,” replied Thunderbird.

“Yeah, save him… from what?” asked Dazzler. “Now he’s probably going to die anyway.”

“You don’t know that,” said Thunderbird. “C’mon, this isn’t like you.”

“What would you prefer?” asked Dazzler. “That I just act like the old Dazzler? The ex-pop star who didn’t know the first thing about defending herself? Always in the background, always having to rely on someone else? Sorry to disappoint you, but that girl’s dead. She died when she had to fight another mutant in a gladiator-type of competition.”

“Hey, I think it’s great that you have all this confidence about yourself and your abilities,” said Thunderbird. “But don’t let it get to your head. Just what would you do if you did find one of the Marauders down here?”

“That’s easy,” she replied. “I would kill him.”

“Just like that?” asked Thunderbird.

“Just like that,” replied Dazzler.

“We’re talking about trained killers here,” said Thunderbird. “Look at how many of the Morlocks they took out — and for all we know, there were only a handful of them.”

“They got the drop on the Morlocks,” said Dazzler.

“What if they get the drop on you?”

“Look, are you gonna help me, or are you going to continue with the lecture?” asked Dazzler. “Because if you’re just going to continue with the lecture, I think I’ll pass.”

“Okay, fine,” said Thunderbird. “We’ll do it your way for now.”

“What happened to him?” asked Cecilia as Phoenix carefully set the Beast on the examination table.

“He went up against a nasty group of killers,” said Wolverine.

“I see,” said Cecila. “What are you doing in England anyway, Logan? It’s been what, ten years?”

“At least,” said Wolverine. “An’ it’s a long story, Doc.”

“Why bring him here and not to a hospital?” asked Cecila, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

“He’s a mutant, an’ we didn’t wanna deal with too many questions,” replied Wolverine. “Think you could help us out?”

“A friend in need and all that,” said Cecilia. “Although I don’t have many friends who I don’t hear from in a decade.”

“I’ve been keepin’ busy, y’know what it’s like,” said Wolverine. “We gotta get movin’, though.”

“You’re just going to leave your friend here like this?” asked Cecilia.

“We’ll be back, but we don’t have time to wait around,” replied Wolverine. “‘Sides, I know he’s in good hand.”

“In ten years, you haven’t changed a bit, Logan,” said Cecilia. “You’re still a bastard.”

“So I’m told,” said Wolverine. He turned to Cyclops and Phoenix. “C’mon, let’s move.”

The three X-Men walked into the waiting room. Cyclops set Artie down on the ground near some toys there for children to amuse themselves with while they waited on the doctor. Cyclops kneeled down beside him.

“Can you stay here and play for awhile, Artie?” he asked. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

Artie nodded his head and Cyclops stood up. He joined Wolverine and Phoenix and they walked out of the office.

“How do you know her?” asked Phoenix.

“I did some work in London ten years ago for SHIELD,” replied Wolverine. “Met Ceci — she was fresh outta med school an’ a mutant to boot.”

“She does a good job of hiding it,” said Phoenix.

“She’s got a forcefield around her that appears whenever something strikes it,” said Wolverine. “I helped her learn to control it, an’ we had a little thing goin’ for a bit.”

“‘A little thing?'” repeated Cyclops. “Christ Logan, is there anyone you haven’t slept with?”

“I’ve been waitin’ for you to give me that come-hither eye, Summers,” replied Wolverine.

“How can you make jokes at a time like this?” asked Phoenix. “People are dead while our friends are down there possibly fighting for their lives.”

“That’s just the way I am, darlin’,” said Wolverine. “Now let’s go take out some trash.”

“Nothing,” said Shadowcat. “We’ve been searching down here for hours and all we’ve found is dried blood. Not a Marauder in sight.”

“Patience, Katya,” said Colossus.

“…huh?” asked Shadowcat. “What did you call me?”

“Oh sorry…” replied Colossus. “It just slipped out. Katya basically means Kitty in Russian.”

“Katya, huh?” asked Shadowcat. “I kinda like that. It’s got a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

“Eh, to each his own,” said Nightcrawler. “Or her own, as the case may be.”

“So you’re from Russia, huh?” asked Shadowcat.

“Yes,” replied Colossus.

“I’ve never been there,” said Shadowcat. “Think I might like to go sometime.”

“It’s nothing special,” said Colossus. “You’d just be wasting your time.”

“Oh god…” muttered Nightcrawler to himself. “Please don’t tell me Kitty’s trying to flirt with a gay guy…”

“Hey, it’s like you said, you little freak.”

Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Shadowcat stopped dead in their tracks when they heard the new voice. The three of them turned to find themselves facing Riptide, Blockbuster, and Harpoon.

“To each his own,” said Blockbuster with a grin.

“It’s them…” muttered Shadowcat. “The ones from Artie’s vision. They’re the ones who attacked Hank.”

“Hank… was he one of those fucked up Morlocks?” asked Harpoon.

“He was the man you pinned to a wall,” replied Nightcrawler.

“Oh yeah, I remember him now,” said Harpoon. “Bastard got what was coming to him. He should know better than to interfere in matters that don’t concern him.”

“You were killing mutants,” said Colossus. “That means it concerns us.”

“Boo-freaking-hoo,” said Blockbuster. He cracked his knuckles and neck. “Shall we get this over with?”

Riptide launched the opening salvo, spinning around, and spikes and shurikens flew forth from the tornado which his body had become. Nightcrawler teleported away from danger, whereas Shadowcat phased through them, and Colossus simply sidestepped them. Nightcrawler rematerialized behind Blockbuster and took hold of the big guy.

“Are you seriously gonna try to take me on by yourself, freak?” asked Blockbuster.

“I’m guessing you’re the reason we found Hank with all those broken bones,” said Nightcrawler.

“You’d be right,” said Blockbuster.

“Good,” said Nightcrawler. With Blockbuster in tow, he began to teleport several times, taking Blockbuster with him each time. The strain was great on Kurt Darkholme’s body, but he didn’t care. The only thing on his mind was the image of his teammate pinned to a wall with shattered hands and ribs. Nightcrawler stopped the rapid teleportation, and Blockbuster fell to the ground, unconscious. Teleporting any one with him is a strain on Kurt’s body — but it’s even worse for the passenger. Nightcrawler stopped and placed his hand on the wall for balance.

“Bad move, kid,” came the voice of Riptide. Nightcrawler looked up to see spikes and shuriken flying towards him. Unfortunately, he was too weak to teleport away this time, and the razor-sharp bones cut his skin, the crimson blood a sharp contrast to his jet-black skin.

“Kurt!” exclaimed Colossus, upon seeing his friend fall.

“You’re next, big man,” said Harpoon. He threw one of his javelins and it converted to energy the moment it left his hand.

“Peter, move!” exclaimed Shadowcat. She pushed Colossus aside and phased just as the javelin passed through her. She expected the javelin to harmlessly move through her body, but the result was far more shocking. The energy sent pain throughout Kitty Pryde’s nervous system.

“Kitty!” exclaimed Colossus. He moved forward. Riptide moved in front of Harpoon, spinning around and hurling his weapons at the steel giant. The shurikens were sharp enough to cut into Peter Rasputin’s metal hide, but he didn’t care. He still kept moving towards Riptide.

“You really think you can stand up to us, friend?” asked Riptide. Colossus kept walking forward. When Riptide was within arm’s reach, Colossus’ hand snatched out and grabbed his neck, stopping him from spinning around any further.

“Get this, Marauder,” said Colossus. “We’re not friends.”

He twisted hard and Riptide’s neck broke with a sickening crack. Colossus dropped the dead Marauder’s body. He slowly looked up, his gaze trained on Harpoon.

“You’re next.”

“Bring it on,” said Harpoon.

He threw a javelin and it went right through Colossus’ abdomen. The X-Man cringed in response to the searing pain, but kept moving forward. He grabbed Harpoon’s wrist before he could throw another javelin and broke it. Harpoon gritted his teeth in response to the pain. Colossus threw Harpoon against the wall, hard. He moved over to the Marauder and grabbed one of the javelins from his quiver.

“So you like pinning people to walls, huh?” asked Colossus. “Let’s show you what it feels like.”

Kitty Pryde could do nothing but watch, could offer no response, could not even solidify her body. She just stood in her phased state as Colossus showed Harpoon the same mercy he and his friends had shown the Beast. When Colossus was through, he took a remaining javelin and stepped away from Harpoon. He moved over to the unconscious Blockbuster and rammed the javelin into the Marauder’s head. Colossus turned towards Shadowcat.

“Sorry you had to… to see that,” he said. He moved closer, and Shadowcat could see something was wrong with him. He moved as if he was injured. Riptide’s shurikens and Harpoon’s javelins had done more damage than either of them had realized. He stumbled and fell to the ground, unconscious.