Chapter 1 Unknown Factors

2 years after the death of Jean Gray.

Things change, things forever stay the same. That's is what the world felt like.

Life had been difficult after Scott lost Jean, it seemed to stop completely for a while and took a long while to start up again.

He wouldn't have bothered at all if it hadn't been for his friends. That of the X-men.

Now here they were on another mission.

They had just landed the X-jet and were making there way to a sentinel factory- to destroy it. They had received an anonymous e-mail. Usually they didn't pay any attention to those. But there was something to the wording, somehow it seemed genuine.

So there they all were, the night darkly ominous, making there way through a densely populated tree area. Branches sticking out everywhere and leaves covering the ground. Scott was leading the group, his now long hair pulled back into a ponytail.

He was surveying everything through his special eye wear, ones that attached easily over his visor and made it possible to see in the dark with just a flick of a switch.

Bobby, and Rogue as well were wearing special night vision glasses, but not Storm or Wolverine who were capable of seeing in the dark well enough without them.

Wolverine was beside Scott, sniffing and eyes narrowed, taking in everything around him. He would occasionally look behind him at Rogue, always keeping an eye on her.

Scott turned his head and looked behind him as well. Storm's white eyes shimmered in the darkness, her concentration absolute. She was providing them an extra cover of thick fog so that they could reach their objective unseen. Her hair was now cut short, but it suited her. Soft bangs touching her forehead.

Bobby who's cold breath could be seen in the dark night, was watching his girlfriend Rogue, with an expression that Scott couldn't quite make out, but somehow felt he understood.

And then Rogue, who had her eyes on Wolverine. Wolverine always watched out for her on missions and she always followed his lead.

She had her hair pulled back into a pony tail and some of the white pieces had somehow managed to come loose. Rogue smiled softly at Scott when she noticed his gaze. He returned it and then turned around. And stopped.

They had reached a clearing. Pulling out a pair of binoculars, turning the knob so they reached maximum magnification, he looked around him.

Finally done with his surveying , he put the useful gadget back into the hidden pocket on his uniform.

"I don't like it!" Scott whispered loudly as he turned around to face the group "It's too quiet, there aren't any guards or sentinels and, well, something seems off." He turned to Wolverine. "You hear anything?"

"No, and that is the problem." Wolverine started to look frustrated "I'm not one that usually agrees with you Cyke, but it is too quiet around here."

"Are we sure we can trust the e-mail that we received?" Storm asked her bright eyes staring into Scott's.

"No, we aren't, but the Professor said we needed to check this one out anyway."

They all knew that Xavier hadn't found anything with Cerebro, but that could just mean the area was shielded or was located far underground.

"Storm do you mind?" Scott asked her, indicated the sky with a nod in that direction.

"Of course not," she said, her eyes becoming brighter. She lifted gracefully off the ground. "Give me 2 minutes to check the parameter."

A couple minutes passed in silence until Storm returned. The second she landed she shook her head.

"Nothing, there's no one here."

"Are you sure?" Scott questioned.

"Yes, it looks quite abandoned."

"So it is obviously some sort of trap." Wolverine muttered.

They all looked knowingly at one another.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Rogue said, breaking the silence. Her words coming out almost excited. "Lets go see who set it this time!"

Scott watched as Wolverines mouth twitched at the signs of a smile from Rogue's boldness.

"Yeah," said Bobby who was always ready to back up Rogue, in fighting or anything else. "Lets do this!"

"OK, Storm and Bobby you to are at the south end. Try not to freeze everything in you path this time." Scott instructed, his lips narrowing in accusation at Bobby.

Rogue started to laugh but stopped when she saw Bobby looking at her, his expression stern.

"Wolverine, Rogue, you're with me. We'll enter at the north end, and hopefully we will meet somewhere in the middle, be careful people, we don't know what is going on, or what to expect."

"What else is new." Wolverine grunted.

Scott looked at Storm. "We'll see you inside."

And they were off. Storm Flying above Bobby, and Bobby at alert on the ground.

Then Scott and his team took off. Wolverine in the front this time, motioning them with his hands as to what direction they were supposed to be heading.

"Stay close to me." Wolverine said over his shoulder and Scott knew that was directed at Rogue.

They took off running.