Ultimate X-Men:

Issue 58

The Most Dangerous Game: Part 3

Scott and Bobby stood, frozen in place as they watched the six arm woman wave all her hands in the air. They weren't actually watching the hands, but the weapons that each hand was holding. They ranged from throwing stars to a battle ax.

"Holy crap…" Bobby said taking a step back from the woman. "How do you get through customs with all that?" Scott narrowed his eyes at the comment, but never took his eyes away from the woman.

He knew that she was dangerous, even if the child didn't.

The woman grunted and took a step forward, walking over Jean's body and pointed a sword to Jean's chest. "This is serious, Mr. Drake. Make one move, and I will cut out more than just the heart Miss Grey carries for your friend." The woman said slightly twisting the sword point at Jean's chest.

"How the hell do you know our names?" Scott said; letting the power behind his glasses grow. He was going to shoot the woman with so much power; her grandchildren would feel it; that is if the woman would survive such a blow.

"Don't be so modest, Scott." The woman said with a hard laugh. "The X-Men are celebrities in our world." The woman made it clear what is meant by that. "My sister left for the States years ago. She sends me clippings of all your—"

"What do you want?" Scott asked with a growl that Wolverine would be proud of.

"I wanted to leave this… this island, to go to Brooklyn to be with my sister." The woman said shifting the weight of the other weapons she was holding. Scott nocited that the woman favored if left side.

Perfect for attacking. "But when I saw your team at the airport, I realized that you were here to destroy what little I'd accomplished for Genosha." The woman finished shifting again. Scott paused, thinking about what the woman was doing. She may be trying to throw the man off, pretending that she favored one side over the other. She looked like she could wield all six weapons with no problem.

Bobby looked confused and he took a step forward. "What?" He said and looked up to Scott.

"Lord Scheele." Scott said balling up his fist. "You assassinated him." Scott wasn't asking the woman a question; he had just figured everything out. "And then you framed Arthur for his murder."

"Wait, why set up another mutant for it?" Bobby asked, confusion floating off his voice.

"You have no idea what you're talking about." The woman hissed, shifting one of her arms and pointing an ax at the duo. "Children of privilege like you can't begin to understand the complexities of a truly oppressive government, and you certainly can't—"

"Hey!" Kitty yelled at the woman who stopped talking to see where it was coming from. She looked around and realized it was coming from underneath her. "I phased Jean! Pound the freak!" Kitty shouted as she and Jean floated into the ground.

"Nice job, Shadowcat." Scott said, removing his glasses, keeping his eyes closed. "Now get her underground."

"Like I didn't already think of that!" Kitty said as she completely submerged the two into the ground.

"Lady," Bobby said iceing up and balling up his fist. "… you are so about to feel what truly oppressive is!"

"WHERE IS MY SHOW!" Mojo screamed at everyone in the room. People began to run around franticly trying anything that they could think of to get the camera feed working again.

"All of our live feeds are… missing, Mojo." Domo said placing his hands behind his back. "Our hunter is missing. And there are reports that –"

"Unacceptable!" Mojo screamed as he shook the floor with his stomps. "I want us online yesterday! Last week!" Mojo turned his attention to the television and growled. Without thinking he slammed his fat foot into it, causing the screen to creak and finally smoke.

"Sir," Domo said taking a few steps back from Mojo, he knew how the man could get. "Arcade said something about there being other mutants out there." Domo said pulling a clipboard from behind him. "The hired help are refusing to make any repairs in the field without a security escort, a union representative, and—"

"Major Domo," Mojo said, cutting the man off in mid-sentence. "If Longshot isn't back on my screen in one hour, the next thing I broadcast will be your family's home address." Mojo whirled around and stabbed a finger at Domo.

Domo shot a glare at the big man. "I'm sure plenty of bloodthirsty Genoshains would love to come a knocking." Mojo said jabbing at the man again.

Somewhere else on the island the group of X-Men that had just saved the hunted mutant had made their escape into the jungle, out of the open field. The group seemed to be pretty much okay, no major damage was done. Nightcrawler and Dazzler were standing in front of Longshot while Colossus was tying Arcade around a tree with a very large piece of steel. Bending it like it was paper.

"Careful, Colossus." Phoenix warned the man as Colossus smiled down at him. He nodded and continued working as if he had done something like this before. Peter use to work for the Russian Maifia so it wasn't beyond him.

"You guys risked your lives just to save me?" Longshot asked placing a hand on his chest. "I… I can't thank you enough."

"We should be thanking you, Herr Centino." Nightcrawler said, crouching on a rock next to the man. "Were it not for your… intervention, I believe this man vould have been the death of us all." Nightcrawler whenced and grabbed his side.

The man stole a quick glance at the red haired man who was talking with the metal guy.

He shrugged.

"The hell he vould, "Crawler." Dazzler said, mimicking Nightcrawler's accent. "I was just about to take him down before Art here got in the way." Dazzler said sticking a thumb at the blond man.

"Please, call me Longshot." Longshot held out a hand to the woman. "Art sounds so… human."

Dazzler looked at the man's hand and stuck her thumb around her pants waist showing over the cloth of her thong. "What's with you boy's and your dumb nicknames?" She said staring at the hand and not taking it. Realizing that she wouldn't take it, Longshot withdrew the offer and rubbed the back of his head. "Just start a freakin fan club already."

"I don't even know what that means." Phoenix said as he and Colossus walked closer to the group.

Nightcrawler laughed, "Don't mind Ali, mein freund. She's never met a real TV star before." Nightcrawler held out his hand and Longshot gladly took it. "I am Nightcrawler. The muscleman over there is Colossus and next to him is Phoenix."

"I like your boots." Colossus said.

"Ha, you would." Phoenix said laughing, but taking a look at his own, worn black boots.

"Oh, yeah?" Longshot said looking down at his own boots. "I guess they're standard issue for all prisoners." Longshot rubbed his chin and held out a foot, the sunlight glinting off the yellow metal. "As if being sent out here for something I didn't even do weren't dehumanizing enough…"

"I thought you weren't human?" Phoenix said staring at the blond man. There was something about him that Phoenix did not trust… something… He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"If you girls are done trading fashion tips," Dazzler said placing a hand to her forehead. "We should probably hit the road. We've got a long haul back to Angel."

"Back to what?" Longshot asked looking at the group as they turned away from him to walk through the jungle.

Back at the X-Wing Angel was walking around the beach, kicking sand as he watched the waves rush up against the shore. He was thinking of everything that had happened in the past few hours. "This was such a crappie idea…" He said aloud as he looked out over the water.

In a different time, he would have enjoyed this view. Maybe have a nice girl with him…

"God, you're so stupid Warren." He turned in the direction the wind was blowing. "The Professor's gonna kick you, maybe all of us, out of school, and then where are you gonna go? Back to dad? He probably hasn't even noticed you're not—" Something stirred behind him and Angel whirled around.

"Kurt?" He asked looking into the woods. "Guys…" He asked as he moved closer to the woods. Angel's eyes went wide as something came out of the woods. He didn't even have a chance to comprehend what had happened before the blackness over took him.

"Please." The woman with six arms said, now pointing all the weapons she had at the two mutants standing in front of her. "Don't do anything stupid."

"That sounds like fair advice." Scott said getting ready to take the glasses off and open his eyes for a huge energy beam. "Iceman, formation Echo."

"Yeah, yeah whatever…" Iceman said jumping into the air and producing an iceslide towards the woman. At the same time Scott finally let his build up of energy rip out of his eyes. The woman was ready for it however; she turned her sword in such a way that the beam hit it and bounced off. Scott stepped back in surprise and noticed that the beam hit Bobby and he flew back ten feet.

Those weapons must be made out of some kind of special metal! Scott thought as he watched Bobby land on the ground with a loud thud.

"Dammit Iceman!" Scott yelled at him. "Why don't you listen to people—"

The woman produced a hand full of throwing stars from her waist and threw them at Scott's head. Scott tried to duck, but the stars hit his glasses and shattered them. Scott fell to the ground throwing his hands to his face.

He didn't want to hurt his teammates, even if Bobby was being a stupid kid.

"I'm sorry, I never wanted to-" The woman gasped as a huge fist made of ice grabbed her around the middle, pinning four of her six arms around her waist.

The woman tried to struggle, but it was no use, she was pinned tight.

"Cool." Iceman said looking at what he had done. His entire arm spread out and his actual fist grabbed the woman. "I don't even know how I managed that."

Bobby looked at Scoot who had torn a piece of his shirt and started to tie it around his eyes. "You okay, Cyke?" Iceman asked. "If this spider hurt you…"

Scott rolled his eyes at the teenager, even though Bobby couldn't see him. He would have to reprimand the young man.

Spiders had eight legs.

"Forget about me, Iceman! Pay attention to—" Scott yelled, but his voice was cut off as Bobby screamed.

Scott whorled around to see what was happening, but in the panic of hearing Bobby's shrill voice he had completely forgotten that he wasn't wearing his visor. The woman had taken her sword and ax that she was holding in her top hands and slammed it into Bobby's fist that was holding her in place.

"That hurt!" he yelled as his hand grew back to normal size.

The woman gilded down to the ground in a shower of ice chunks. "I wouldn't do that again, child." The woman said with a hint of anger in her voice and a glint in her eyes.

"And why the hell not?" Bobby asked.

"Because I can only imagine it's hard to breathe in dirt." The woman said as Kitty slowly came out of the ground at the woman's feet. "It was only a matter of time…" The woman said as she raised one of her hands with a sword in it above her own head.

Kitty gasped for air as she slowly rose from the ground, not realizing what was about to happen to her.

The woman brought the sword down with a flash. Bobby yelled as the woman smacked the young girl with her sword. Bobby waited for the splash of blood, but nothing came. He realized that the woman had hit the girl with the blunt end off the sword. Kitty had kept her head, but the girl was going to wake up with a killer headache.

"Kitty!" Bobby yelled jumping to his feet.

"Power down, Robert… or I turn the girl "ghosty" forever."

"Are you forgetting someone?" The woman turned around at the new voice, all six arms lowered at the sight before her. The girl that she had hit first was finally awake and she did not look happy. Fire seemed to have consumed her; it was in the shape of a bird, a very big, very angry fire bird.

"Now then, let's see how many arms you need to survive."

Back on the other island:

"What was that?" Phoenix stopped walking and looked around. He had felt something… something like him, but more.

"What?" Colossus asked, stopping next to the man. Colossus looked down at his new friend and smiled. Phoenix smiled up at him and then at Nightcrawler who was being helped by Colossus.

"Vhat?" Nightcrawler said repeating the unanswered question.

Phoenix looked into the sky, the wind blowing his hair forward around his face. "I felt…" He looked back at Colossus and smiled. "Never mind." He said shaking his head.

At the front of the line, Longshot and Dazzler were talking to each other. Longshot seemed to be more interested in the woman then she was in him.

"So this Warren guy is gonna fly us all the way to the States?" Longshot asked Alison.

"You have any other ideas, jail-bird?" Alison asked moving a branch away from her face and letting it go after she passed.

Longshot grabbed the branch before it could hit him in the face and smiled.

He liked girls with spunk. "No, it's just, my life is in Genosha. There are people I care about." He looked around the area they were walking through; they had just walked across a fallen tree that let the group pass over a stream. "I have an underground mutant resistance that's small but growing…"

"You can always continue fighting for the rights of mutants alongside the X-Men, Longshot." Nightcrawler said. "Ve would velcome you to our team."

"Besides, after being on this show, you wouldn't survive an hour in Genosha." Colossus added. "There are posters of you everywhere."

"It's kinda like you're famous already…" Phoenix thought of the irony. "If only you hadn't been caught…"

"I know you're right, but it's still my home." Longshot said taking a deep breath. Longshot looked over at Phoenix and didn't answer his question, what could he say? "Even when your country hates you, it's not easy to say goodbye."

"Tell that to Deutschland, Mother Russia, and Time Dude back there." Dazzler said pointing to the three mutants behind them. "They didn't have any problem signing up with the good old U.S. of—"

Everything went quite when Dazzler stepped on something that clicked. She looked at the ground and noticed something jump up from the dirt. "What the…" She said looked at it as it began to spin.

"Look out!" Longshot shouted as he dove for the woman that the landmine was next to.

Colossus turned to protect Phoenix and Nightcrawler as Longshot and Dazzler were blown away from the blast. Longshot landed on the woman with a thud and the wind was knocked out of her.

She looked up at the guy and smiled. "Wow." He smiled back at her. "You smell just as old as you look." Alsion said trying to the man off of her.

"Are you two all right?" Phoenix and Colossus asked at the same time. Phoenix was walking around Colossus who was checking on Nightcrawler.

"No worries, P-Bird." Dazzler said as she was pulled up by Longshot. "I think I swallowed a piercing, but…"

"I meant Longshot." Colossus said bluntly. "He took most of the blast."

Phoenix looked back at Colossus and smiled. "Peter…"

"Oh, I've survived worse than that out there." Longshot said shaking his hands at the group. "I'm like a walking lucky charm, I guess." Longshot said laughing to himself.

Phoenix looked at the man and his eyes went wide for a moment. "You only have three fingers…"

"What?" Longshot said looking at his hands.

"Sorry, I just never noticed that before…"

"My mutation bothering you?" The man asked. Phoenix didn't know if Longshot was offended or just joking with him. Phoenix didn't care. He remembered something about a three finger mutant. He couldn't think about it, but it was… important somehow.

"Your probability powers still confound me." Nightcrawler said during the long period of silence. "Isn't luck a subjective term?" He looked at everyone and then back at Longshot. "I mean, shark attack survivors call themselves lucky, but if that were the case…"

"Why'd they get attacked in the first place?" Longshot finished Nightcrawler's question. "I really don't understand it myself, Nightcrawler. All I know is, things usually turn out okay for me."

"I think it's rather simple…" Phoenix said, starching his left side. Something was still bothering him, he almost felt like someone or something was touching his powers. "He can only use his "luck" when something happens to him… You're not lucky if nothing ever happens, you're lucky because you lived through it."

Everyone looked at him, Longshot nodding his head, processing the information. Colossus placed his hands on his hips and huffed. "That being said, I have no intention of losing you to a pointless booby trap, not after we've come this far." Longshot looked up at the big man and smiled. "I will take point from here on out. I want you right behind me every step of the way."

"No place I would rather be, big man." Longshot said placing a hand on Colossus's shoulder.

Dazzler looked at Phoenix who had no expression on his face. Well, maybe a little bit of an expression, a dark expression.

Back on the main land, the woman that Jean was attacking was screaming in pain. The scream was something out of this world. Scott had never heard a voice go that high, or for that long.

"If it's any consolation, you're not really burning alive." Jean said with that dark, evil voice she talked with when using this type of power. "I'm just tricking your brain into feeling it." Scott thought he could hear a slight laugh from the woman.

"Either way, the end result will be the same." The woman screamed louder as more flames consumed her. Bobby could only sit there and watch dumbfounded. He had never seen Jean act like this to anyone… no even the men she had killed.

"Bobby, what is going on?" Scott yelled through the screams. "Whose voice is that?"

"Don't be frighten, my love." Jean said turning her face to look at the man she loved. "It's me… Jean."

"No!" Scott yelled at her. "I know her voice! You are not Jean!"

"Cyke…" Iceman said placing a hand on Scott's shoulder. "It is her… I think." Or hope, Bobby added silently.

"Please!" The woman said between screams. "Whoever you are, free me, and I can explain everything!" The woman screamed through quick burst of breathes.

"Shut-up." Jean hissed. She glared at the woman who would not stop screaming and finally decided she had had enough. With just her mind, Jean slammed the woman back into a tree. With the impact of the force, the tree snapped in two.

"Sorry…" Jean said, her normal voice coming back. "I don't know what got into me…"

"God, I'm such a moron." Kitty said as Bobby deiced helped the girl to her feet. "I held my breath long enough to get Jean clear, but by the time I phased all the way back here to help you guys…"

"Don't be stupid, Kitty." Bobby said pulling her to her feet. "You did awesome."

Jean walked over to Scott to check on him. "Scott, you eyes…"

"She just scratched the corneas, I think. Nothing rest and new glasses won't be able to take care of." Scott said pushing himself to his feet.

"Until then, I can go into your mind, patch my vision into your—"

"No!" Scott yelled pushing the woman away. Jean looked hurt, but Scott couldn't see that, but he knew.

He could feel it.

"I mean… no thanks, Jean. When my powers first manifested I was afraid to open my eyes for months. I trained myself to get by without sight. To be blind." Scott said the last part like it had hurt him to learn to be blind. Jean wanted to reach out to him, but he seemed more freighted by what she had done than Jean herself.

"Don't worry about it…" Scott could hear the hesitation in her voice. She was hurt by his outburst and he thought he was going to pay for that later. "The Professor's been tutoring me in the fine art of interrogation." Jean picked up the sword that the woman had dropped and pointed it at the unconscious woman.

Colossus had taken Longshot up a few feet ahead of everyone else. They were talking about something, but Dazzler couldn't hear anything. Phoenix was a few paces behind the big man and doubted if even he could hear anything.

Somewhere along the line Alison had gotten stuck with Nightcrawler and she wanted to punch something. She did not like what was happening here. Did not like it at all.

"Hey," Dazzler looked at Nightcrawler as she helped him walk through the jungle. "You've been in this band longer than me, right? Have you ever wondered which team Pete plays on?" Nightcrawler looked up at the woman, confused.

"No offense, fraulein, but I'm not sure where someone such as you gets off questioning Peter's loyalties." Nightcrawler said as he held onto his open wound.

Dazzler laughed. "No, dummy, I'm talking about his preferences… I got Phoenix down pat, but Colossus is somewhat of an… enigma."

"You mean…?" Nightcrawler looked even more confused. "Ecch, do not be absurd. Peter is as normal as you and I."

"Normal?" Dazzler said a little disgusted. "Way to be judgmental, man. I wasn't saying it's bad, I'm just…"

"ANGEL!" Colossus was yelling from up ahead.

Nightcrawler and Dazzler were just walking out of the jungle and noticed that Angel was missing. Colossus was holding his hands up to his lips, calling for the man. Phoenix had floated into the air checking the area from the sky.

"Oh no." Nightcrawler said looking at the jet. "He's not inside the X-Wing?" Nightcrawler was looking at the jet, it seemed to be closed tight.

"Relax, War's probably just went into the bushes to take a..." Alison began to say but was stopped by a yell by Longshot.

"I found something!" Longshot said digging something out of the sound. Phoenix floated back down between Longshot and Colossus, Colossus gave him a big grin, but Phoenix completely ignored the man.

"Phoenix?" Colossus asked, but the man waved him away. Realizing that the teenager was mad about something he looked at Longshot as he bent over to pick the thing he found up. "Don't touch it! It might be another landmine!"

"No." Longshot said pushing a button, knowing what it was before he even saw the screen. "It's some kind of video recorder. Maybe your teammate left you a…"

"The mighty X-Men!" Mojo said , speaking from the screen. "What a wonderful ship you have. I considered blowing it to pieces, but my… problems are not with you." He gave off a little laugh. "All I ask is that you return the condemned to me."

Everyone looked from the monitor to Longshot. "He belongs to me. My subscribers demand their pound of flesh…" The camera panned out of the direct shot on his face and everyone could see what had happened to their missing teammate.

Angel was pinned to the wall, by his feathers, he looked to be knocked out. His head hung limp and his hair covered his face. "But, I'm sure they'd settle for a pound of feathers…" Mojo laughed a ruff deep laugh.

To Be continued.