Cyclops is such a pathetic worm. Try as I might, I find it hard to sustain my anger against him. He really is nothing more than a typical example of man. Just about all of them are completely hopeless. Spider-Man is a good example.

You should have seen his face as he floundered, trying to get help for whatever task he has set himself for. While Cyclops stuttered his way to uselessness, Kitty and I hatched a plan. She use to date Spider-Man, you see. I am sure it was just the product of a girl's crush on her mysterious hero. There really is nothing compelling about the man. However, I was enjoying the idea of making him and his snotty woman stew, so I played along.

The surest way to get Cyclops to shut up is to ask him to make a decision. That's exactly what happened when Spider-Man asked who could help him fight his dangerous foe, apparently some sort of negative composite of Spider-Man called the Anti. With Scott frozen in lock-down, I told Spider-Man that Kitty and I would accompany him. The look of panic on his face was priceless! And that sow girlfriend of his was livid! It was all I could do not to burst out laughing.

Perhaps best of all, Colossus saw the whole exchange. And he knows Kitty's history with Spider-Man. Sometimes it is important to remind your partner just how they feel about you.

Yes, the mission shall be a lot of fun. Heh heh heh.

Sigh. I had just grabbed the latest issue of Cosmo and was on my way to the bathroom when the front doorbell at the school rang.

"Is somebody going to get that?!" I shouted.

The bell rang again.

"Hey! Isn't anybody going to get the door?!"

The bell rang a third time. Great.

I hurried down stairs and opened the door. Standing there was some punk kid, a really, really old lady and a totally hottie. I would have put the moves on her but I was pissed about interupted during the middle of an important mission.

"Who are you?" I shouted in my most authoritative voice.

"I'm Peter Park-" the young punk started to say before the old bag cut him off.

"I'm May Parker, this is my nephew, Peter, and his wife, Mary Jane."

I recognized the name almost immediately. Spider-Man. We've tangled with him a few times in the past. He seems like a good kid but I keep hearing he's really a criminal. I was about to send him packing when Storm came down and gave them the keys to the house. Damn that woman always usurping my authority. Someday . . bang zoom to the moon!

Apparently somebody had agreed to let these three humans stay at the mansion for awhile. I think they're on the run from the law. I decided I'd better keep my eye on Spider-Man. I offered him a tour of the place.

"I thought you were still on the Astral Plane?" he prompted as I showed him around.

"Oh, uh, yeah. We got back."

"What happened?" he persisted.

"Well, we went to help Professor X and Gaia in their battle on the Astral Plane. Then the Martian Manhunter got taken over by the Shadow King. Then he took over Rogue, too."

"What happened next?"

"Um . . well . . you see . . I, uh, got knocked out at that point."

"By who?" Spider-Man asked.

"Wolverine," I mumbled.

"But isn't he on your team?"

"He's on every team, I think. Anyway, I heard that Super-Man showed up after that."

"Super-Man?!"

"Yeah, he's this guy from a Different Continuum. He-"

"I know who he is. We fought once. I totally kicked his butt."

I looked at Spider-Man skeptically. I don't think he could tell because of my large visor. "Anyway, Super-Man tried to stop Rogue but she had already absorbed power from Kodiak and Colossus so the Shadow King was able to grab him too. Rogue started to drain him. I think she absorbed Warbird's power, too."

"Oh man! She must have been invincible! What happened then?"

"Apparently that Manhunter guy has some psionic powers. While the Shadow King was playing psychic pinball, bouncing around between various people, the Martian attacked him mentally. He was somehow able to force the Shadow King out from whoever's body he was in."

"Where did he go?"

"I'm not really sure. Maybe he's consciousness got dissipated forever."

"Yeah right," Spider-Man said sarcastically.

"Anyway, that's the tour," I told him. "Now I have some very pressing business I've been putting off a little too long. I've got to run."

And with that, I headed up stairs at a trot.

Oh man, this wasn't looking good. Shadow King had taken over the Martian Manhunter and the Professor said we couldn't attack him. Not without killing him anyway.

"So what's the problem with that?" Wolverine growled, popping out his claws. "Leave him to me."

Yeah, maybe that was a good idea. Let Wolverine kill him. I looked around at the others, seeing if anybody had any other ideas. My brain was really starting to hurt. Sensing Jean was his only threat, the Shadow King let off a powerful energy strike at her. A pulse of pink light shot out from her head, spreading into a force filed around her just in time to stop the blast. She launched a psionic counter-attack but they seemed evenly matched.

I glanced over at Wolverine to see why he hadn't attacked yet. Warbird was talking to him. She turned and addressed the whole team. "Alright guys, let's focus. Now Scott . ."

Damn her. First she humiliates me by luring me into her shower while I was all distracted by this crisis and then she goes and tells everyone that I'm not really a man! Ha! I'll show her what a man I am!

I marched over to Warbird and grabbed her shoulders. I pulled her close to me and planted a big wet kiss right on her lips. I rammed my tongue into my mouth and wiggled it around for a while. Just to let her know I'm there, you know? I could feel her melting against me. Then I pushed her away. That'll show her.

"As I was saying," I told everyone, "I'm the leader. And Logan, stay away from my girl."

He just kind of shook his head for a second when a giant hand suddenly reached down and grabbed him. The Shadow King! He was filling Logan's body with an unbelievable amount of energy. Oh man, this sucks!

Kodiak ran over to Rogue. "What would happen if you used your power on the Manhunter right now?"

"Ah don't know," she answered. After a moment's thought she nodded and flew into the air. Stripping off her gloves she swooped around behind him and plunged both hands against his shimmering back. The Shadow King let out a ferocious howl and dropped Wolverine. Rogue, who was still rather large from absorbing some of Kodiak's power earlier, started to glow with a dark energy.

The Shadow King thrashed violently under her touch. We all stared in amazement as his body shrunk down smaller and smaller until he was just man sized. "Get out of my head Martian!" he yelled. The Manhunter must have been fighting him from the inside as Rogue absorbed his power.

Then Jean blasted him with a final psionic onslaught. The Shadow King was driven from the Manhunter's body. J'onn stood there, breathing heavily and waved his thanks.

Then Rogue started laughing in the most evil and twisted way I have ever heard.

Our team stood there stunned, kind of a like a herd of deer in the headlights of a big spaceship, watching as the Martian Manhunter changed his shape. His green body grew and morphed into something . . . else. I knew he was a shapeshifter but I don't think he was doing this. His body became black and translucent.

"It's the Shadow King!" Professor Xavier shouted.

"Oh man, where's the exit?!" cried Private Hudson.

"No don't go panicking everybody," I said, trying to use my vast leadership skills to create some calm. "Maybe he just wants to talk."

A loud ghostly voice boomed from the thirty foot tall jet black demon standing in front of us. "I shall kill you all for what you have done to me!"

"Yeah, good call Cyke," grunted Wolverine.

"Game over, man!" Hudson wailed.

"Pro-fess-ar, can't you all do somethin'?" Rogue asked.

"I drained all my strength driving the Dark Phoenix from Jean! I have nothing left for this battle!"

Great.

"Well I'm not drained!" Jean yelled as she unleashed a ferocious barrage of energy at the Shadow King. He stumbled back, recoiling from the assault.

Just then Warbird like a flash took to the air and swung around him from behind, smashing hard into the back of his legs. The giant fell back, crashing into the misty semi-substantial ground. Everyone else leapt to the attack too. Not wanting to be left out, I zapped the Shadow King in the head with a full blast optic beam.

Kodiak grabbed his right arm and used all his strength, twisting it back in a most unnatural way. Hudson got into the swing of things, letting his rifle run on full auto, repeatedly blasting the monster. Wolverine jumped onto his chest and sunk his claws deep into his heart. The Shadow King let out a terrible howl of pain. His powers must have been only partially formed or else he wasn't able to fully join yet with the Manhunter.

"Stop! Stop your attack!" the Professor called, growing in size and moving between us. "Your killing J'onn!"

"Who the heck is J'onn?" I asked.

"That's the Manhunter, you idiot!" yelled Wolverine.

Well how am I suppose to know that?

"The Shadow King has no body! The remains of his consciousness have possessed J'onn's mind but that is his body you are attacking! You have to stop now or you'll kill him!"

Great. Then how the hell are we suppose to beat him?

As the hazy purple horizon of the Astral Plane took shape around us, Rogue grabbed my elbow.

"Quit it!' I yelled, jerking my arm away. You see Rogue was now like 8 feet tall and really burley. Ever since she and Kodiak tongue wrestled, she has been half hot chick, half Sasquatch. She had grabbed my arm way too hard.

"Oh, Ah's sorry 'bout that Scott," she said in a deep bass voice. "Ah don't quite know mah own strength. Ah should be back tah normal in about an hour."

"That's great," I replied. "Thanks for the update. Now if you don't mind, we've got to find the Professor somewhere in this soup. I thought the Martian was suppose to be homing in on him telepathically?"

"That's what Ah wanted tah tell ya, sughar," she replied in a deep growl. "That Martian is sayin' all kinds a crazy stuff."

I walked over to J'onn and heard him babbling something about a crisis and a dog. Then he started howling. Before I knew it he went stiff as a board and fell over unconsciousness. I was about to try and check him out when I heard this high-pitched shriek coming from behind me. We all whirled around and saw Hudson frozen in terror.

I looked over at Warbird who was standing next to him. "He was saying all this silly macho stuff about dropping the H-Bomb on the bad guys. Trying to impress me I think," Warbird said with a snort.

Hurrying over to Hudson I could see that he was trying to mumble something. I leaned in close, putting my ear right next to his mouth.

" . . buh . . buh . . behind you . . ," I heard him say. Behind you? What could he mean by that?

"Cyke," said Wolverine. "Over there."

I turned around to where he was pointing and saw a huge giant 60 foot tall head hurtling towards us. I felt my knees go weak and I think I squirted a little bit of pee.



"Isn't that Xavier?" Kodiak asked.

I looked again and realized that it was the Professor's face. As it approached, it got smaller and smaller until it was normal sized. Before I knew it, the Professor was standing there between all of us. Jean, in her regular colored green Phoenix outfit, flew down out of the sky and landed next to him.

"Oh, uh," I said.

"What took you so long Scott?" the Professor asked. "I had to solve this Dark Phoenix thing by myself."

"Oh, well, we uh, rushed and, um, everything but, uh . ."

"No matter. I'm glad you're here. You can escort Jean back to the school while I return to Hacknor where my body is. Only my astral self is here which is why I can change my shape and form. Jean and the rest of you are here in your physical forms, so you are more limited."

"Oh, uh, sure, I knew that," I said. "We'll take Jean back." I looked over at her but she was staring at Logan, her eyes slowly running up and down his body. I felt my cheeks getting red.

"Aarrghggghhh!" said the Martian.

We all turned around. He was floating over the ground, such as it was, and strange tendrils of black energy were swirling around his head.

"Oh no!" shouted the Professor. "I'm sensing a presence that I thought was gone forever!"

Well this can't be good.

"Where the hell of you been?" Sage demanded. She and Hank were standing next to a large mechanical archway. Crazy bolts of electricity were zig-zagging all across the thing.

"But you told me to get the team togeth-I mean, I went to get a team together. See?" I turned around and waved at the group behind me. Wolverine (of course), Iceman, Warbird, Kodiak, Rogue (who was looking rather large and hairy after her long liplock with Kodiak) and Private Hudson. It looked like Kodiak was trying to avoid Rogue. I know I wasn't able to meet Warbird's eye. I'm going to have to show that girl what a real man is made of. Somehow.

"What about Storm and Pantha?" Sage asked.

"Yeah, we have to hurry up before they come back."

"What are you talking about?"

"I have them warming up the X-Jet."

Sage looked rather perturbed. "But we don't need a jet to get to the Astral Plane. It's a parellel dimension."

"Duh! I know that. That's why we're here. Let's go!"

Sage just shook her head. "Fine. Hank and I are staying here to operate the arch," she said. "The Manhunter is going with you. We can communicate with him telepathically."

"Then let's go kick some bug butt!" Hudson whooped. With a loud cha-chung, he pumped his energy rifle, just to emphasize his point. Hudson smiled at Sage, nodded his head a few times and winked at her. Sage just rolled her eyes.

Beast pushed the big red button and the arch sparked and crackled. A weird purple swirl formed in it. "Alright Xmen!" he shouted with glee. "Extricate the Professor from whatever peril he faces!"

We all jumped through the archway. I could feel my body becoming less substantial as the physical world melted around us. Soon all we could see was the strange other-worldly smokey realm of the Astral Plane.

"The Professor is in the Phantom Zone?" I asked in surprise.

"No you idiot!" shouted Sage impatiently. "It's the Astral Plane. You've been there! The Phantom Zone is in a Different Continuum."

"Oh," I said in as knowledgeable a tone of voice as possible. "So . . what do we do?"

The Martian Manhunter spoke up. "Clearly we have to come to the Professor's aid. I can track his psionic signature but I am unable to move between dimensions. Do you have some means to travel to the Astral Plane?"

"Yes," said Sage. "Hank and I have developed a mass transporter based upon Reed Richards Dimensional Transference Warp Initiator. I can calibrate the lower registers to allow permeation of the astral barrier."

"Um . . so that was a 'yes', right?" I asked. In answer, Sage just shook her head and started down to the lab. "Why don't you put a team together and meet us in the lab?" she suggested.

"Hey. You don't tell me what to do. I tell you what to do. I'm in charge here. Now I want you to go down to the lab and get that thingy ready and I will go and get the team together."

Sage stared at me with a totally blank look on her face. Yeah, she's obviously super intelligent. She shook her head again and left with the Manhunter.

Okay, so who do I pick for the team? Well, Wolverine obviously. It's in his contract to go on any and all missions involving mutants. Storm? No way. Iceman. He's reliable. Except I think he was the one that made that ice patch that ruined my moves with Warbird. Maybe I'll just see who's in the living room.

I walked into the main hang out area just in time to see Kodiak plant a big wet one on Rogue. Whoa! My jaw hit the floor. I stared in disbelief as Kodiak continued to kiss her. For some reason, he didn't collapse into a lifeless heap. That is, not until Rogue pasted him with a vicious uppercut.

Kodiak went flying back into our giant screen high def TV, shattering the thing into several pieces. Rogue got all hissy and stomped off. I still couldn't believe what I had just seen.

Maybe I should step in. Do something leader like. Ahh, they obviously worked it out. I've got to get the team together.

Man, this Justin Guarini guy is pretty good. I was dancing with Warbird and really getting into it. Yeah, she was into it. Gay am I? I'll show them. I grabbed Warbird around the waist and pulled her to me. A big smile crossed her face. Our bodies were pressed against each other, moving as one. This was it. I moved in for a kiss.

Suddenly my feet went flying out from under me. I landed hard on my butt. Under my butt was a patch of ice. The unmistakable sound of wild laughter could be heard over the pounding beats of Guarini's music. I glanced over from where the sound was coming from and saw Iceman giving Beast a highfive. Nightcrawler was doubled over holding his stomach. Great.

I looked up at Warbird and she was laughing too. Great. Thanks a lot guys.

The moment ruined I decided to go answer the front door, since no one else was doing it. There was a hot looking lady I didn't recognize in a Princess Leia slave outfit.

"Uh, this isn't a costume party," I told her.

"I'm not wearing a costume," she told me. "My name is L. Tart. Is the Professor here? I was hoping to get some one on one time." She winked at me.

"I'm afraid not. He's participating in a reality game show off-planet at the moment. If your a friend though, you are certainly welcome to the party. We are celebrating out triumph over evil."

"Congrats," she said as she walked into the ballroom and grabbed Bishop. She pulled him onto the dance floor.

As I turned away, I noticed a pretty girl standing next to a table with two guys I didn't recognize. My eyes were slowly working there way up the girl's body when I realized she looked exactly like Lindsey Lohan. She was giving Jubilee a very nasty look as she was trying to talk to the short guy with the dark hair. The other man was snickering. I was about to go find out who they were when a loud whooping sound distracted me.

"Hey ho everybody, the H-Man is here! Let's get this party started!"

I was going to go over and say hello to Private Hudson but before I could, he jumped up on the stage and grabbed the microphone away from Guarini. He started to sing "Play That Funky Music White Boy." Unfortunately the karaoke machine was still playing Guarini's R&B song "I Saw Your Face." The two really didn't go well together.

I was about to go over and unplug the machine when a hand slapped me on the back. After stumbling forward a couple of steps, I recovered and turned to see Kodiak standing behind me, smiling.

"So did Beast tell ya he figured out why I do that hibernation thing?" he asked me.

"Uh, no."

"It's 'cause my body needs time to recuperate if I grow too fast."

"Unh huh. I'm glad you figured that out. Falling asleep in the middle of a battle isn't really a good tactic."

"Well if ain't the master of the obvious," a surely voice growled from behind me. Wolverine.

"You know Logan, back at the White House I was about to blast you instead of Magneto. You know, since you were threatening the President."

"Well then, you made the right choice Cyke."

Wolverine put his hand on Kodiak's shoulder and lead him over to the keg. I noticed Elixir and Dust hanging out near the keg, trying to look nonchalant. I was about to go over and remind them that they are underage when the doorbell rang again.

Opening the door, I found a muscular looking guy with tall spiky black hair and a small group of people. "You were that guy that attacked Wolverine down in Washington," I said. The man looked at me defensively and nodded. I reached out my hand and gave him a big smile. "Very nicely done. You're Vegeta, right?"

"Yes. This is my wife Bulma," he said, indicating the rather hot looking woman with blue hair and skimpy clothes. He didn't bother to introduce the other people with the funny looking hair with him. They all headed for the food table. I was about to escort them there when Sage came up to me. The Martian Manhunter was with her.

"Scott, we have a problem," she told me. She turned to J'onn and nodded.

"One of my abilities is telepathy," he told me. "I received a telepathic message sent here to the mansion from Charles Xavier."

"The Professor? What did he say?" I asked.

"He has been pulled into the Astral Plane and is in trouble."

"Martian Manhunter? Why do you call yourself that?" I asked.

"Well, I'm from Mars for one thing."

"You mean Mars, Arizona?" Angel started rolling his eyes for some reason. I shot him a nasty look.

"No, the planet Mars. You know, next one out from the Earth."

I looked at the tall green man for a moment. Obviously he was still delusional.

"Can I ask you something?" Sage said to the Manhunter. He nodded. "If your weakness is fire, then why do you wear a costume that is just suspenders? You leave quite a lot of your skin exposed."

The Manhunter looked at Sage like she was from Mars. "I spend three hours a day in the Watchtower gym lifting weights to get my body this buff. Do you really think I'm going to cover it up? How would anyone know how great my build is?"

Sage looked over at Angel and he just shrugged. I was about to say something, I'm not quite sure what, when the alarm sounded that the X-Jet was landing in the hanger. I went to check it out.

Iceman, Beast and Shadowcat were just disembarking as I walked up. "So, did you slackers have a good time at Disneyland?"

"Oh dude, it was terrible," Iceman said. "There lines a mile long. Poor Hank was getting swamped for autographs everywhere we went. We only managed to get on Space Mountain like 3 times."

"Yeah, that's terrible," I said in my most sarcastic voice. I was about to chide them for going off to an amusement park during a major battle when I heard the front door bell ring. I'd have to save the leadership thing for later.

On my way up to the front door I bumped into Nightcrawler. "Zay Cyclops, did you book zee singing act for zee party tonight?"

"Why yes I did, Kurt. One of the hottest talents around."

"Zen I zink zee agency sent you zee wrong guy. Zee guy here iz a total lozer."

"They didn't send Justin Guarini?" I asked.

"Oh. You mean zis guy you booked on purpose? No, zhen zhey zent ze right guy."

Nightcrawler walked off shaking his head. What's wrong with these people?

I met Mr. Guarini at the door and showed him into the ballroom. Colossus, Gambit and Jubilee were already setting out the food there. Checking the kitchen I found Elixir and Dust mixing the punch.

Oh yeah, this is going to be a great party.

"Good evening, America. This your President, George W. Bush here. Given the recent events surroundin' the release of the mutie cure and how riled up everyone got, I have decided to issue an executive order calling for the immediate suspension of the cure program. Why? Because I'm the Decider and that's what I do. So as of right now the cure will no longer be available. It's all going to be gathered up and stored some place safe. That's it. That's all I had to say. You can turn the cameras off now."

I clicked off the TV. You could feel the mood in the room brighten. Even Storm had a smile on her face.

"Hey Cyke, has there been any news about Jean and Gaia yet?" Rogue asked.

"No, they're still MIA," I said. "The last anybody saw, Jean was flying into Gaia's trap and they both disappeared. But at least we know where Bobby and Hank are."

"Yeah, Disneyland," Elixir said. "I am sooo jealous!"

"Kitty's taken the X-Jet to go pick them up. Hopefully they won't give her too much trouble about -" The vibrating of my belt buckle distracted me. I detached the communicator.

"Cyclops here," I said.

"Yeah, just thought you should know our green skinned alien guest is finally waking up."

Sigh. "Warren, follow the protocol," I told him.

"What?"

"The protocol. You're suppose to say 'Angel here'."

"But you know who it is."

"You've got to follow the protocol!"

"Whatever." Then the line went dead. Damn it.

I rushed down to the med lab to give Warren a piece of my mind. If you let them get away with anything, they'll walk all over you.

The door to the lab swooshed open. "Look Warren, this isn't Vietnam you know. There are rules here!"

"Alright Lebowski. Simmer down. People are watching."

Warren pointed to the green skinned man with the pointy head. He turned towards me and smiled. Warren said, "He was a little feverish and was mumbling some delusional stuff in his sleep, but he's alright now. I explained that his companions disappeared at Magneto's lair and that he's here at the school in New York. I also told him that you're out leader." Warren was snickering for some reason.

"Hello," the green skinned man said. "I am J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter.

The blackness started to slip away as a warm vibration filled my body. Opening my eyes I saw Elixir kneeling next to me, touching my shoulder, healing me. Nightcrawler was standing next to him, shaking his head. Using my vast leadership training, I quickly glanced around the battlefield to take an assessment of our situation.

It looked like things were starting to go pretty well with the battle against the Brotherhood. Jean had fried Magneto pretty good, though I didn't see him anywhere. Vegeta gave Magneto's partner, Captain Comb-over, a real drubbing and then he somehow managed to move the Blob. Wolverine sliced off Henchman's arm. Kodiak was standing over a very still Avalanche. And best off all, Storm was still dazed from Jean's attack.

I could see that Jean was losing it though. Or losing it even more, at any rate. Looks like it was going to be up to me to try and talk her down. Seeing what I was up to, Vegeta unleashed some kind of green ray on me and I started floating. Maybe that guy's not so bad. He doesn't like Wolverine so he must be alright.

As I floated up to Jean, I bumped into Fred the Fox, standing on the roof of the White House.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Look Fred, I don't have time to talk to you right now! I have a team to lead!"

"It looks to me like your team has no intention of being led by you at the moment," he said, gesturing back down at the lawn.

I glanced down. Storm was up and around and barking out orders to the X-Men. My X-Men! And they were listening to her! Why does she always do that?! She's some kind of control freak! I'm the leader and they will listen to me! Damn!

I swooped down to Storm at top speed and blasted the ground near her.

"This is it Storm!" I shouted, landing in front of her. I raised my finger and wagged it in her face. "We settle this now! I am the leader!"

"Don't you think you have more important things to worry about?" she asked with that icy condescending voice of hers. "Like your wife?" She pointed up at Jean.

We both looked up and saw Jean talking to the fox. She seemed to be getting madder. Suddenly Jean started to fly away, right into some trap Gaia had set up. Before she did though, she threw a ball of fire straight at me!

"Holy crap!" I shouted, frozen in fear. Storm rushed at me, slamming hard into my chest, knocking the wind out of my lungs and sending me flying down onto my butt. She was lying on top of me as the blast exploded in the spot I had been. We lay there a moment, our noses almost touching and stared at each other.

"Uh, thanks," I finally said.

"So do we kill each other now?" she asked.

A loud crash from the White House made us turn our heads. In the now open doorway stood Magneto, Captain Koma, the First Lady and the President. The First Lady was holding a gun behind the President's head, though he didn't seem to notice. As we watched, the First Lady turned into Mystique.

Storm and I stood up and everyone on the lawn stopped fighting. All eyes were on Magneto. I could see all the news media set up around the battlefield were focusing their cameras and mikes at him now too. Then he spoke.

"Homo Sapiens, hear my words. By instituting this so called "cure" you have declared your intention to commit genocide on mutantkind. This will not stand! We shall rise up and defend ourselves as is the inviolable right of all living creatures. We shall not let ourselves be exterminated to allay your fears! If you wish to wage war against us, then so be it! The first casualty shall be your Command in Chief!"

Magneto turned to Mystique and nodded. She pulled back the hammer of the gun and held the barrel against the back of the President's head. With a strange howl, she raised the gun into the air and fired, just missing the President. Everyone gasped. The look on Mystique's contorted face was one of intense pain. Her body crumpled to the ground, revealing Wolverine standing behind her, his adamantium claws dripping with blood.

Then Wolverine lashed out at Magneto. His arm was stopped in mid swing though, just as the razor sharp claws were about to cut his head off. With a mania I have never seen before, Magneto gestured at Wolverine, forcing his arm towards the President. The tips of the claws drew closer and closer to his vulnerable neck.

I opened my visor wide and blasted Magneto full in the chest. He was sent crashing back into the building, unconscious. Wolverine, his face dripping with sweat, slid his claws back into the housing in his forearm. The President turned and saw his outstretched hand and shook it. With a big smile, he turned back and waved to the cameras.

Leaning back towards Wolverine, he whispered out of the side of his mouth, "Hey, where's Laura?"

Captain Koma took one look at the situation, fiddled with something on his belt, and then he, Henchman and the remains of his robot girlfriend vanished. As the authorities started putting the cuffs on the Brotherhood who were still standing, Private Hudson suddenly materialized in the middle of the ruined lawn. He held some kind of giant rifle in his hands and he was screaming.

"Ooh raaaa!!" he yelled, waving his gun around at the confused looking survivors.

"Stop! Stop" I cried, running over to him.

"I'm here to help Cyke! Let's blast some bad guys! Just tell me who to shoot!"

"It's over, it's over," I told him.

"Did we win?" he asked.

I nodded. We won.

Things erupted almost instantly into battle once the Brotherhood appeared. I knew we had to buy some time for Gaia, Storm and Rogue to talk Jean out of her Dark phoenix phase. Fortunately Kodiak had woken up and would be able to help us.

Before we could reach Magneto and his team though, Captain Koma had somehow teleported in that AIM reject, Henchman and his "friend" Constrictor. A loud crash from behind made me turn around. I saw the grey Hulk and that little spiky hair guy jumping on Wolverine. Oh great, that's all we need. Like having this battle on the White House lawn wasn't bad enough.

I was about to blast the Hulk, Fixit I think he calls himself in this form, when Avalanche sent a shock wave through the ground knocking me on my butt. Again. My cheeks were getting pretty sore. Where did that damn kid, Elixir get too? I need him to lay hands on me.

I looked up at Jean just in time to see Storm throw lighting bolts at her. Damn! What was that psycho thinking? She wasn't going to talk the Dark Phoenix down that way. Gaia and Rogue seemed pretty surprised. Jean seemed pissed. She blasted Storm hard. The she started blasting everybody else.

Jean fried Fixit pretty good but he was able to struggle through it. Pyro was shooting his flames at the Secret Service agents, but Iceman was able to get to him quickly on his rolling ice sled and encase him in the deep freeze again. I was about to congratulate him when Colossus slammed into me.

I managed to lift my dazed and confused head off the ground and saw the Blob standing on the grassy knoll, laughing at us. I was passing out I saw Jean zap Magneto. He was engulfed in flames. Well that's something at least, I thought to myself as I started to pass out. As the world black, I could swear I saw Elixir rushing over to Magneto and heal him. Now why would that little traitorous bastard to that?