Disclamier: All of these characters belong to Marvel (well most of them) and are borrowed without permission with no profit made.

December 1998

WARNING: This issue is weird.
VC cools you down on those hot December nights with:

REVENGE
Santa Claus: Tom

The plane settled soundlessly o the landing patch, it's noise redactors reducing the normal sound that would
be made by this sort of machine. Few moments later the doors opened with a loud squeak and a man
appeared in the doorway. He was holding someone in his arms, who due to the long hair could be credited
as a woman from far away. Once closer, you could notice that this was indeed a woman, and that she was
not in the conscious state. The man that was holding her up didn't look much better either. He had long
brown hair which obviously had not been washed for quite a long time now. His face was unshaven, his eyes
blood shot, and it was apparent he had not slept for some time. His clothes not only presented some strange
trend which seemed to be rubber but also were torn in various places, exposing his bruised and injured
body.

The woman he was holding didn't move, which yielded the thought that she was unconscious. She had long
purple hair, and unusual factor, and her skin had a strange shade of yellow, and from her face, Asian features
could have been made out. She had no apparent injuries, except for few purple patches under her skin
where she must have been violently hit. Her clothing represented yet another strange style similar to the one
the man holding her had. She was wearing a sort of a one piece blue bikini, tied with a red belt at her waste.
The bikini came together with knee high boots made of same material as the bikini, and arm bands. This was
a strange combination but this woman was no ordinary person either. Same went for the man. They were in
no ordinary place either, everything about them, was extraordinary.

***

Remy began walking down the stairs on to the floor, swaying under the weight of Betsy in his arms,
remembering how he was walking down these stairs not so long ago, heading for Matuso's house. How
many things happened since then... He closed his eyes for few seconds, trying to shake away his feelings for
a while, he still had to get Betsy to Hank's lab, then he could have some of his well deserved rest. As his foot
touched the ground he heard someone walking inside, and looked up to investigate just who that was. Out of
all people it had to be...

"Cyclops.." mumbled Remy to himself as he walked the length of the landing area. He really did not care
what Scott thought about him, or about his little filed trip. Not now.

Scott had a angry expression on his face, and from the first sight Remy knew it wasn't a good sign. "Where
have you been Remy ?" he asked in a stern voice.

"Out on a little filed trip." Remy mumbled back trying to get pass Scott. He stepped in Remy's way and
looked down at him. "Don't mock me Gambit, I want to know why you stole the Blackbird and went god
knows where, and did this to Betsy." he said pointing at Psylocke.

"Why don't you ask your wife to read my mind, I'm sure she'll get a good story out of there."

"You better wish you hadn't said that, LeBeau." Cyclops spat out through clenched teeth.

Remy turned his gaze at Scott and looked him straight in the eye. "What are you going to do about it ?"

A surprise grimace swept over Cyclops's face, he hadn't expected Remy to fight back so fiercely. "One
more word Remy, and you'll regret it. Now tell me where have you been ?"

"And who'll make me regret ? You've too worn out from running after your wife." Remy retarded ignoring
Scott's last sentence.

"SHUT UP CAJUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN !" Scott shouted at him, loosing his temper.

Remy turned around, pretending to walking away from Scott but then he just placed Betsy on the floor, and
with one move, which lasted no more than a second he turned around punching Scott in the face. He was not
prepared for any kind of onslaught, and the blow took him by complete surprise. He took few steps
backwards examining his bleeding his nose and then he looked back at Remy, who was standing frozen,
awaiting his next move.

Scott began charging back swinging his fist at Remy's jaw, when suddenly a big hand came down on his
shoulder yanking him back.

"With all due respect my fearless leader I think that's enough calorie burning for today." Hank said. Scott
looked around staring Beast straight into the face. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Wolverine
approaching as well. "Now care to tell me what this all has been about ?" Hank asked in a concern voice
eyeing both Remy and Scott.

"Nothing." said Scott trying to break out of Beast's grip.

"Nothin'" Remy repeated, picking up Betsy. "We have to go now mon ami, Betsy needs your help." Beast
looked around and then decided Remy was right, he had no time to waste, he or whoever could deal with
this later.

"Okay, let's go Remy." Beast said heading towards the door. Remy walked behind him, not looking at Scott
even once. Logan remained looking at the sitting Cyclops. When the three were out of the room he walked
up to Scott.

"Don't mind the Cajun, he's got a loud mouth but he'll forget it tomorrow. Besides whatever happened to
him, must have pulled on his nerves a bit."

Scott didn't say anything.

"So what's wrong ?"

"Nothing is wrong."

Logan chuckled lighting up a cigar. He took a long puff and almost coughed it all back out but he managed
against it. It hadn't been long since he got off the medical table. His healing factor finally got his body back
into check, but still the few weeks he spent in the bad condition didn't quite help him either.

Wolverine walked around Scott and sat down opposite him, looking at him from under his eyebrows. "Don't
lie to me Scott. I know you as well as myself."

Scott looked at him, choosing his words carefully. "It's just... the pressure, and what happened to Charles,
what's happening to X-Men right now, I don't know how to handle it."

Logan smiled. "It's Jean isn't it ?"

"NO !" Scott answered nervously. "Look Wolverine, I appreciate you trying to help, but I must deal with
leading X-Men myself." he said getting up. "Thanks anyway." he said walking out of the room, as casually as
he could.

^Gotta talk to Jean.^ Logan thought to himself getting up and heading in the opposite direction of Scott.

***

The big blue furry doctor spun in his chair facing the handsome red eyed cajun.

"She'll be okay Remy. Of course she won't be able to go to the Metallica concert in town tomorrow but she
should be ready for Lollapalooza in summer." he said a grin on his face.

Remy laughed.

"But seriously. She hasn't broken anything, but she must have received many hard blows though. In fact it's a
miracle she didn't get a internal bleeding. But she's strong, she's been through much worse than this, so she
should be fine. How about you Remy ?"

"I'll be fine too mon ami." Remy answered shortly.

"I should examine you."

"Nah no need Henry. I just need to get some sleep, and heaps of it." Remy said getting up from his chair and
heading for the door. Hank's next words stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Remy what happened ?"

"Uh, it's a long story. I don't think I'm ready to tell it yet. Besides it's not my story it's Elizabeth's. She will tell
you, once she awakes."

"You understand that won't do, don't you Remy ?" Hank asked.

"Oui. Not now mon ami, later I promise. Okay ?"

"Yes of course. Sweet dreams cajun, you're let off free from working at the construction site tomorrow."

Remy looked back at him, a glance of irritation on his face, and then he smiled. "Good night." he said
walking out.

Hank spun back in his chair facing Betsy again. He could not help to notice the red mark gone from her eye.
^I ran some test for any trace of Crimson Dawn in her body, and it turned negative. Which of course would
explain the absence of the red mark. But how was it all possible ? Drainage of Crimson Dawn ? It's not a
solid, nor a liquid, it is a negative essence, which can not be either drained or infected. Then that totally
disagrees with the way Betsy received the elixir.^ Beast bit his lip. ^I am so behind on my research, I don't
have time for anything. If I didn't have to supervise the building I bet I could figure out how this happened,
and if it's possible. Heck, maybe I would even see Trish once a year. She must be angry at me, for not
calling. I must do that, first thing tomorrow, I have gone through too much to get back with her, to destroy it
all again.^

***

Senator Robert Kelly twiggled the pen in his hands nervously staring at the president before him. This was a
very hard meeting, one he had not looked forward to, but knew that had to happen. The president had been
cooperative, but it had taken a lot of skill to convince him of his ideas.

"So Mr. President, in conclusion; Bastion had turned out to be a traitor, or at least a man of his own vision
which collided with ours. I would have taken the pleasure of firing him myself but he has died during his
confrontation with X-Men in Texas we believe. Due to that fact Operation: Zero Tolerance has turned out to
be a large flop. We have decided to close the whole thing down, and maybe take a different approach.
Maybe we don't need to fear mutants so much. We had already agreed on running the Reach Out program
this summer, and to be honest I think that might bring very satisfying results, but unfortunately there are still
many Prime Sentinels running around, which brings me to my next point."

Senator Kelly looked at the president who obviously did not like the way everything turned out. This was his
chance, of convincing the president about it. "I had been thinking about government getting it's own team of
superpowered beings. With X-Factor believed dead, we need a new team not to only protect our country
but to deal with such things as those Prime Sentinels for example. The Avengers and Fantastic Four are long
gone, and we have no one. We need a new group."

"What are you suggesting Senator Kelly ?"

"That we reassemble Freedom Force."

The president looked at him, shocked, not sure what to say. "Freedom Force ? But they're all mutants. How
will the public react to that ?"

"I had been thinking about that too, but we must remember that last time Freedom Force existed the public
loved them. Besides I wouldn't think of them as the kind of heroes that would live up to a Avengers
standard. They would still be working for the government. And the fact that most of them are mutants would
most likely help our Reach Out program."

"You're walking a very thin line Senator Kelly."

"I know Mr. President, but with the death of Professor Charles Xavier, we don't have anyone official to
stand up for mutant rights."

The president turned towards Senator Kelly. "Charles Xavier is dead ??!!"

"Yes... haven't you heard sir ?"

"No.. I knew he was missing, but I never knew he died. How did it happen ?"

"Well it turns out what we thought possible for such a long time, that Xavier was a mutant himself. Bastion
got this information and killed Xavier in Texas, before being attacked by X-Men. We have heard this from
many guards in there, but also we used the latest technology we have to find Xavier and all test turned
negative."

"You understand that this complicates matters even more."

"Yes, sir I took that into account when I planned this thing out."

"What about the X-Men themselves ? Are they of any threat ? How will they respond to Freedom Force ? It
is important you know that they don't do anything that could trigger even more anti mutant rage."

"You can be sure that the X-Men won't get in the way sir, in fact they will help." Kelly said. "I have already
told their leader about the plans for Freedom Force and while he noted they didn't get on well in the past he
promised that he would make sure this time it was better. And he said, he would keep his team out of
trouble. The way I see it, we need heroes, we also have X-Men."

"I'm not sure that the public is ready for X-Men yet."

"But they're not ready for another Onslaught yet either are they ? We need heroes sir, Freedom Force is
one group but X-Men will always be important. I'm sure they will be willing to participate in some extent of
the Reach Out program, it is after all their reputation." Kelly took a deep breath looking at the president. His
words were sinking in. "It's going to work sir, Reach Out, Freedom Force and X-Men being allowed to do
some good for once, it will end the mutant problem."

The president stared off at the wall, making his decision. "Okay, Mr. Kelly, you will start reassembling
Freedom Force as soon as possible. But remember it was all your idea. I don't want any more flops like with
Operation: Zero Tolerance. You have convinced me of this, you make this work. And make sure X-Men
keep out of trouble. Understood ?"

Kelly nodded. "Thank you sir."

"Let's just hope it's for the best Robert."

***

New York

He leaned back in his chair, putting his legs on the desk, remembering the comfort this brought. He had long
lost that comfort, and longed for it every day, but it took this to realize it. He opened a medium sized white
box which he held in his hands, flicking through the papers in it. He had found it last night, under the bed in
his apartment, he honestly had forgotten about it, forgotten that it ever was there. But last night, by accident
he had found it, and inside he found many interesting documents. When his company went bankrupt last
time, he took all the important stuff and threw it in the box, hoping to never see it again. How glad he was
now, that he for some reason stored the box in his house, instead of the mansion. It had everything, from
names to phone numbers, to references. Like a gold mine.

He pulled out a large sheet of paper, which turned out to be a application form, filled in by his last secretary.
She had worked for them for one year before they finally went bankrupt, and she was the one that he was
sad to see go, and felt guilty of taking away her job. He had promised himself to check out on her, maybe
find her a job somewhere but he never did. Her phone number was clearly written on the page, and it didn't
take much hesitation to dial it. It rang few times and then a woman's voice picked up. He could almost see
her amazement when he introduced himself. It took her a while to answer, but finally she greeted him back,
and quickly asked what was the reason of his call.

"You see Jennifer, I started up my company again, after as you know it collapsed, and I needed a secretary,
and well I found your phone number so I thought I'd give you a call and see if you're still available."

No answer.

"Of, course if... if you're busy or already have a job then that's okay, I'll find someone else, but I just wanted
to...."

"No, no it's okay." she interrupted. "I was just not believing my ears and it took me few moments to believe
it."

"So you would be able to take the job ?"

"Yes of course, I mean thank you sir, thank you very much. Ever since the company bankrupted a year ago,
I couldn't get a stable job, it's very hard to get a decent job now. I'd be more than happy to be your
secretary."

He smiled. "That's great !"

"Thank you again sir... what would you like me to do now ?"

"Just come up to my office, is today alright ?"

"Today's fine."

"Come up today, then we're still in the same place. It's a bit of a mess with renovating going on but we will
be able to talk everything out. So is it a deal ?"

"Yes, I'll see you in an hour then."

"Good bye Jennifer."

"Bye."

He hanged up the phone and smiled to himself.

***

Africa

The woman known only as Lukin for now, looked at the crowd gathered beneath here. There were all sorts
of people there. A normal African village would have been dominated by blacks but this was no normal
village either. While blacks took up about forty percent of the population, the rest was white. They were
obviously not a part of the village for a long time, as their clothes were still in European style. Many of them
were deformed, some even had inhuman parts of their bodies. It had been obvious that the white people
were slowly getting used to this life, but still struggling with it, and therefore could not have been living in this
place for long. Which suited Lukin more than perfectly. When they all became silent, she began talking
slowly.

"Listen to me, people. You must understand that I have not come here to kill any of you. As long as any of
you will mind your own business and behave like you always do then none of you will get hurt. Is that
understood ?" Everyone nodded silently.

Suddenly, a man rose from the crowd. With fast, long steps he crossed the distance between the crowd and
Lukin. When Lukin noticed him, he was already charging at her with a knife in his hand. He screamed some
words in his language and threw himself at Lukin. She ducked and began moving away, the knife just missing
her right arm. The man landed on the ground with a loud thump, but was up for another try in no time.

Lukin rolled on to her feet, gold energy glowing around her as she prepared for the fight. She could feel all
the eyes on them, silently watching the fight. The man charged again but this time Lukin was prepared. The
knife bounced out of the attackers hand when it came in touch with Lukin's body, landing on the ground
behind her. While he stared at it in disbelief, she grabbed his wrist and pulled on it flipping him to the ground.
He got up with one quick move and then began a fist fight.

That too, Lukin ended in no time punching the man straight in the nose, and while he was distracted she
dragged him by the throat, lifting him up. He began gasping for air looking at her with eyes scared to death.

"What were you thinking you idiot ? Didn't you understand what I said ?" the man's face began to turn purple
as he started running out of breath. "Leave me alone, and nothing happens to you ! Is that so hard to
understand ?! I... I COULD JUST KILL YOU NOW !" she shouted. She looked at the man, who seemed
to be living the last minutes of his life.

The meaning of her last words reached her mind and she looked at him in terror. "My God..." she whispered
to herself. "I was going to kill him." She dropped the man to the ground and turning around, ran away
without a word.

***

INTERLUDE 1:

The strong wind blew her hair everywhere, as she looked down at the tombstone in front of her. ^Oh
brother, why did it had to end this way ?^ she thought to herself. ^We had such a wonderful dream, such a
noble dream... We went through so much to make it happen. And then when it did you flipped and betrayed
us all. Oh Fabian, what have you done to yourself, to us.^

She wiped away a small tear from her eye, as she remembered her brother, missing him, the asshole he was.
He was her older brother after all, she had looked up to him ever since she could remember. That was the
only reason she went along with his dream in the beginning, because she believed in her brother, and he
disappointed her in such a way, even let her die.

^You could have been a good man, Fabian. Why did you turn that way ? Suppose you got paid off for what
you did, killed like that, you died like a scum goddamnit.... I'm... I'm just angry it ended that way, and now
I'm all alone in the world, because you left me. You should be ashamed, then I suppose you had no shame
after what you've done.^

^You don't deserve this.^ she thought placing a red rose on the grave in front of her. ^But no one else want
to remember you. Mom and pa, pretend you never even existed after what you've done. And they're
probably right you know. I shouldn't be here in the first place. It's just that.... well I still love you, brother. As
horrible as you were I loved you as my only brother, but now that you're gone I suppose I miss you, in some
strange way. I can't tell the others, they would think I'm a traitor or something, and they're right. God look at
me, I'm arguing with myself.^

She kissed the tips of her two fingers and touched the tombstone. ^Goodnight brother, I hope you at least
find some peace wherever you are now.^ A tear appeared in her eye, and then another, and another, until
she was fully crying. She turned away from the grave and began walking to her car slowly, tears running
down her face in streams.

The still blew hard and tampered with the rose with all of it's might. Finally it succeeded, breaking it in half.

END INTERLUDE 1

***

INTERLUDE 2:

A flash of white light disturbed an otherwise quiet night on the SHIELD helicarrier. When it disappeared,
two people stood in it's place, a man and a woman, but due to the lack of light, their features could not be
made out. "C'mon lets go." whispered the man to the woman as they began moving along the corridor, trying
hard not to be seen.

After few minutes, still undetected, they entered a room on the left. Closing the door soundlessly, they
quickly looked around, checking that they had entered the right room. That ensured, they locked the door
and quickly sat down in front of a computer. The woman began typing something while the man looked
around nervously.

"I'm in." the woman said before continuing to type.

"Hurry up." the man said stressfully.

The woman sighed, but didn't answer and she typed Magneto and the computer began searching the
database. A file popped up and she smiled at her own skill. She began loading the information on to a disk,
tapping her fingers in impatience.

Suddenly, someone began banging on the door. They both turned their heads simultaneously, as someone
from outside began ordering to demolish the door. "Hurry up !" the man screamed at the woman.

"Never shout at me Andreass, or I will blow you to pieces. Understood ?!!" she shouted back looking at the
screen. It had about thirty seconds to go. She wasn't sure if they had that long. "C'mon you stupid
computer." she whispered to herself. She glanced back at the door, and she could already see the hinges
coming out of the wall.

A loud beep from the computer announced that it was finished, and just as the woman pulled out the disk,
the door was ripped out of the doorway and fell to the floor. A unit of SHIELD soldiers could be seen
outside.

Andrea Stucker, grabbed her brother's hand, getting up from the chair.

"You have three seconds to put your hands on your heads and surrender." said the leader of the SHIELD
unit.

"We are FENRIS , you idiot."

"Three."

"We don't surrender."

"Two."

"See ya later suckers."

"One. FIRE !"

About a dozen of soldiers fired their guns in the direction where Fenris were standing, but they were too late
and Fenris were replaced by a flash of white light.

END INTERLUDE 2.
THE END
Merry Christmas to everyone !
NEXT ISSUE:
"Invading."
Prepare for the preparation of the most important saga ever in VC (Nah OZT doesn't count ;)). Yep you got
it, #25 is coming at us very quickly, and accidentally so is our 2nd Year Anniversary. It's a story I've been
planning to do since #1, and now I finally get to tell it. Can you imagine how happy I am ? ;) It all begins
here, in this issue, and believe me when I say this story will set up the biggest shake up in X-Men since the
formation of Blue and Gold teams. And I mean that... What's the story about ? I ain't telling but if you read
the next issue, you'll most likely find out. Or, even if you read this one carefully you'll know. Aside from all
this exciting stuff, there's some more *gasp* exciting stuff. Like Storm finally tells the team that she is going
back home. But the question: Who is going with her ? Plus some more *gasp* exciting revelations for Sam,
Marrow, Warren and Logan. Face it, it's just exciting ;)