Alright, so, I've decided to give in to Wolverine's blackmail and stage another Amazing Mutant Race. Yes, I could have simply altered his thoughts but I'm a little concerned all my prior meddling may have resulted in his odd fascination with Strawberry Shortcake dolls.

The Race will be run at this new blog - http://amazingmutantrace3.blogspot.com/

Anyone can play. If you'd like to participate, visit the blog. There is a link there to an e-mail address you can send an invite request to.

Each player will select an X-Men for their partner. Detailed instructions will be at the Race site.

Once you've accepted the invite and joined that blog, post a comment claiming the X-Men you will be using for your partner. So far I don't see any conflicts in anyone's choices, but the first to call a particular mutant has priority.

Good luck!

"What's up, Chuck?"

groan "Hello Logan," I said with a sigh as I closed my laptop. No reason for Wolverine to see what I was working on. It would take too long to explain why I host a Vampirella fan site.

"You got a minute?"

"For my star player? Of course. What can I do for you?"

"Now that Wade's little game is over, you got to do the Amazing Mutant Race again."

"What?" I said with a start. "I'm not doing that again."

"You got to. You said once Deadpool did his thing, you would do another Race."

"No Wolverine. What I said was that I wouldn't do it while Deadpool was doing his game. Just to clarify, I also won't do it when he's not doing a game."

"Oh sure! You get to go off and do that cool Last Gladiator show, leavin' me an' Storm in charge a this school."

"Belive me Logan, if I had any idea you wanted to go, I would -"

"And last year you let non-mutants play! That little green fortune cookie an' the hot soldier chick won! They ain't even mutants! The title says Amazing Mutant Race! You owe me!"

"Logan, do you have any idea how much work putting on one of those things is? I really don't-"

"Damnit, Chuck, I'm the back-bone of this team! All these teams! If you don't do it, I'm gonna join the Avengers full time!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me."

The evil snarl on his face left me little doubt as to his resolve. " . . fine. I'll do another Race. But after the holidays."

"Fine. An' no non-mutants."

"No. The Race will be open to anyone who wants to play, mutant, human, alien or whatever."

"But it's the Amazing Mutant Race!"

"I'll have to think about that."

As I absently watched Illyana and Canonball put on the finishing touches on my office's repairs, Colossus walked through the new door. I had sent him to collect the money for damages from Henchman. The total repair bill from the Destroyer's visit came to $4,735.

"How did it go, Peter?" I asked brightly.

The giant Russian hesitated, his eyes cast downward.

"Did you find him?" I asked with a trace of concern in my voice.

". . da," he finally answered.

"Well what happened?"

"I be finding him in his union hall. Da Rhino was dere and tried to be making problem, but I be tossing him out window and no more problem."

"Well done. And Henchman? Did you get the money?"

"I told him it be in his best interest to be paying monies. He said there being larger issues beyond the money."

"Larger issues? Nonsense. He owes me money. That's the only issue."

"He went on to explain. He be talking for quite a while."

"Yes? And?"

"Professor, do the X-Men have dental insurance?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well . . we be risking our lives on da missions you send us on. Gambit broke dat tooth in da fight against Dr. Doom last month and now he be talking funny."

"Gambit always talks funny! Oh forget it. Just get out of here."

This is just great.

I sat transfixed, staring at the mysterious picture that was sent to me yesterday. What could it possible mean? The school was deserted. Several of the students had gone home for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. The rest had been taken to some local museum by Storm and Cyclops.

As I continued to gaze at the image, I could feel my consciousness slowly slipping away. Through the fog that enveloped my mind, I was vaguely aware of some kind of horn blaring. A black van crashed through the remains of my office wall.

As if in a dream, I lifted my eyes up and saw a weird looking man in a green jump suit somehow standing in the van.

"Do nah be lookin' into tha' picture, Professor! It be a trap!!"

My eyes could barely focus, but it looked like this odd stranger had a gun. I couldn't focus my mind enough to call for help.

After leaving the Civil War wrap party, I headed back to the school. I immediately went to my chambers and looked around for my wallet. Where on Earth had I put it?

During the course of my hunt I found a rather mysterious message. It was attached to an eerie picture. The message said - "Can you figure out the secret to this image? Does it move or does it not? Your life may depend on the answer."

How odd. Here's the picture. Any help is appreciated.

At Spider-Man and Fade's party celebrating the end of the Civil War, I decided now was the perfect time to have a little chat with the Henchman, a would-be super-villain who stole my girlfriend, Maggie, while I was off-planet performing an heroic mission with Jon the Intergalactic Gladiatior at the request of the Queen of the Galaxy.

"Listen, gramps," he started as I approached him, "if I even think I feel you trying to get in my head, I'll show all the fun Maggie and me have had."



I supressed my laugh. As if he could ever detect my use of telepathy on him. "Now look here, Henchman. There's no need to take that tact."

"Oh yeah? Well I'll take whatever tact I want, Baldy. If you don't watch your step, I'm going to fry you up and have you for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

"Er . . I'm not quite sure what the means."

"It means whatever I want it to!"

"Okay, look Henchman, just calm down a moment. All I want to-"

"You don't tell me to be calm! I'll be whatever the hell I want to be!"

"This is obviously going nowhere," I said. "Perhaps I'll try again when you're feeling a little more relaxed."

I turned my chair around and rolled away. I heard a loud squeel behind me. Apparently I had rolled over his foot by accident. In a furious blur, Henchman jumped in front of me and grabbed my jacket collar.

"That does it!" he roared.

Everyone at the party stopped to look at us. Most of them were allies of mine. Several heroes moved closer to help me. Not that I needed it. Henchman has no real defenses to a psionic attack.

"Ok, Cue Ball. You're a friend of Maggie so I'll forget it this time. But - Do - Not - Piss - Me - Off." He released my jacket and I fell back into the chair. "Jerk," he muttered.

He and Maggie left the party shortly after that. I know it was petty of me, but I placed a mental block in his subconscious. For the next few days, he's going to have a very hard time . . well . . let's just say, having any more fun with Maggie.

"You left Kodiak in the void dimension that you teleport through?" I asked Nightcrawler.

He looked rather sheepish. With his eyes cast down, he answered, "I am very zorry, Profezzor. I tried to bring him back vith me, but I could not."

"We are going to have to rescue him," Iceman answered.

Cyclops held up a hand. "He's pretty mad. I think we ought to let him cool off for a while."

"I'm not quite sure how we are going to get into the void and then how we can bring him back. I want Beast and Forge to get to work on this problem. In the mean time, I have some important business to attend to. Iceman, you worked in that accounting office. I want you to draw up an assessment of the repair bills for the damage done by the Destroyer and have that served on Henchman."

Once the team had dispersed, I went to my rooms and changed for Spider-Man and Fade's party. When I was ready, Cyclops drove me to the gathering.

Entering the ballroom he had rented, I was rather surpised to see the odd collection of super heroes and villains assembled. I knew the fete was suppose to celebrate the end of the Civil War, but I hadn't expected them to take the idea of reconciliation so seriously. The biggest surprise was to see Henchman and Maggie there.

I quickly checked my psyche to see if there was any sign of a re-emergence of Onslaught. I could detect nothing. Perhaps I really am finally free of that beast.

I glanced over at Henchman and saw that he was staring at me. This was going to be the perfect opportunity to give him a piece of my mind. And perhaps take a piece of his. Heh heh.

Kodiak loomed over me, his might fists curled into sledgehammers ready to deliver their death blow down onto me. "Xavier's is dead!" he roared into my face.

But he hesitated. I could feel the conflict within him. While he had been battling the X-Men I had been able to pinpoint the mental interference that I had sensed in his mind. While being careful to not expose him to my power so that he would not develop an immunity to it, I was able to discover that energy pulses from a microchip embedded in Kodiak's neck were influencing his sub-conscious thoughts.

While he paused in his attack, I seized the opportunity. First I had Colossus rush him from behind. I had hoped Peter could hold him in an unbreakable grip but in his feral mode, Kodiak was able to strike first, sending Colossus soaring across the yard.

Then I had Nightcrawler teleport directly in front of him. He then quickly teleported back out again. The noxious fumes from the thick black smoke that are an unavoidable byproduct for Kurt's mutant power left Kodiak momentarily dazed and his heightened senses overwhelmed.

Seizing the advantage of surprise, Psylocke leapt in from behind him, sinking her energy blade into Kodiak's neck, precisely at the point where the microchip lay buried. With that now destroyed, Kodiak was free!

Unfortunately being stabbed in the neck also had the effect of triggering his beserker rage. It didn't take much of a probe of his mind to see that he was now hellbent on slaying all the X-Men. He whirled on Psylocke and swung his mighty arm at her. She would have been instantly smashed to death but Nightcrawler responded to my mental command and teleported onto his back. Then he teleported Kodiak far across the school grounds.

Or at least that was the plan. Nightcrawler did not reappear. Normally his teleporting is instantaneous. I quickly scanned the grounds and could find no sign of him. Several minutes later, he finally teleported back. Without Kodiak.

He collapsed, gasping on the ground.

"I am zorry, Profezzor," he said. "Kodiak became immune to my powerz. I could not bring him back. He iz ztuck in zee empty dimension I teleport zru."

I quickly dashed off an RSVP to Spider-Man and Fade's party and then returned my attention to the battle raging outside of my still demolished office. Damn that Destroyer. I know who was in the armor to and you can bet I'm sending Henchman a repair bill.

All the available X-Men were forming a line between the out of control Kodiak and the school. Cyclops, enraged beyond the point of rational thought by Kodiak's senseless destruction of his beloved car, unleashed a furious blast of unyielding optic energy right into his chest. It had the desired effect. Kodiak went flying.

I had tried to stop Cyclops though but he ignored my mental commands. Kodiak you see has the rather useful mutant gift of being able to neutralize a mutant power that has been used against him. I could already see his skin adopting ruby quartz properties that would greatly weaken Cyclops eye beams when he used them again against him.

One thing Kodiak can't neutralize however is sheer force. Specifically, blunt force trauma. Colossus ran up to the staggered feral warrior and smashed him with a double fisted blow right in the back. Kodiak went flying.

I informed Cyclops of his error and warned the others to hold back on using their unique powers. While Kodiak picked himself up, I had Cyclops dig a deep trench with his optic blast. Then I told Iceman to lay down a slippery sheet behind Kodiak.

Psylocke charged him with her sword but Kodiak dodged out of the way. Cyclops fired off a pin-point blast into the sword, shooting it suddenly forward. The energy blade dug into Kodiak's shoulder. He howled in pain and jumped back. The ice under his feet sent his legs flying over his head. Kodiak fell back into Cyclops' trench.

Bobby quickly generated a ton of ice on top of Kodiak. We had trapped him and no one, other than Cyclops' car, had gotten hurt.

That is until a few moments later when Kodiak burst straight up through the ice and landed a foot in front of me. "Xavier's dead!" he shouted in my face.

The battle was growing heated. Kodiak was hell-bent on killing me. The X-Men stood in a line between me and him. I could see that some outside force was having an influence on him, but I wasn't able to sever it. The connection was elusive. I would need some time to get a clear grasp of whatever bond it was that had enslaved Kodiak. He wasn't going to be giving me that time.

Cyclops howled in rage. Kodiak had destroyed his new sports car. I was actually glad to see that Scott had gotten angry. Before Fade's efforts in toughening him up, Scott would just have gone fetal at this point. Instead he was unleashing his full-force optic blast at Kodiak.

The best efforts of the X-Men didn't seem to be slowing the feral savage Kodiak down much, though. As he made his way through my troops back towards my office, there was a strange knock on the remains of my doorway.

I spun around to see a young man dressed in a brown button downed short-sleeve shirt and matching shorts. "Delivery for Professor X!" he called out.

"Just leave it!" I shouted back to the UPS man.

"Sorry, you got to sign," he replied, hurrying over to me with an outstretched pen.

With a sigh I took it and signed his form. I quickly tore open the envelope and found this inside.