The X-Men were enjoying a meal in the kitchen one day. For once, all was quiet. Logan, the badass Wolverine, and Rogue sat at one end of the long metal table, gloved fingers entwined as they gazed lovingly into each other's eyes. Directly across from them, Jean and Scott were talking in low voices about their upcoming wedding. Bobby was chasing Jubilee around the room with a tray of ice cubes he'd made especially for her.

Storm was watching all of this with amusement sparkling in her eyes when Professor Xavier rolled in. His forehead was wrinkled, and his worried expression looked misplaced in the happy atmosphere of the kitchen.

"Professor, what is wrong?" Storm asked.

"I am afraid that I must interrupt your vacation day," Xavier said. He raised his hand at the groans that followed this statement. "We have a new and incredibly powerful enemy working against us. They are nameless and faceless, but their efforts to undermine our Destiny in Uniting Human and Mutant-kind show great power and relentlessness."

"Who are these people?" Scott asked, straightening up from where he'd been whispering into Jean's ear.

"Their group is elusive, but I have tracked them down and identified their call letters: AIM. We must do something to stop this incredibly dangerous enemy before it's too late," Xavier said intensely. The X-Men nodded.


"Do they have headquarters somewhere?" Logan asked. His free hand twitched, and Rogue reached over to hold that one, too.

Xavier nodded slowly. "I believe that they are holed up somewhere in South America for the time being. You must hurry and suit up. You don't have much time to reach the last coordinates that I know of before they'll decide to move. AIM is very devious. If they think we are on to them, they will do anything to hide. They believe that they are above retribution," he said grimly.

Rogue laughed shortly. "We'll show them how invulnerable they really are!" said the woman who, of course, knew all about invulnerability.

The X-Men all leaped up from the table and ran towards the elevator that would lead them to the subterranean levels. Of course, all seven of them could not fit on at once, so a minor squabble ensued which Jean finally broke up by telekinetically moving everyone out of the way and getting in first, then drawing Scott and Storm in after her. She waved bye-bye with a small, triumphant smile as the door slid closed.

"Damn it," Logan said. He was a very competitive man, and he didn't like being beaten by someone who, in normal human circumstances, wouldn't have stood a chance against his powerful muscles and sharp intellect.

"Don't worry, sugar. After all, coming in second isn't always bad," Rogue said, her tone dripping with innuendo. Behind them Bobby, Jubilee, and Xavier all rolled their eyes.

Eventually, the elevator arrived back at the first floor, and the remaining X-Men and Professor Xavier got on. Admittedly, it was a tight squeeze, but they managed when Logan picked Rogue up in his arms. The latter two even objected when the elevator arrived at its destination because then Logan had to put Rogue down.

Scott, Jean, and Storm were in the dressing cubicles suiting up when the others arrived, all out of breath except for Logan and Xavier. Each X-Man grabbed his or her uniform and headed for the cubicle designated for him or her.

Finally, all were ready. They filed onto the plane while Xavier gave Scott the coordinates. For once, they managed to all be buckled in safely when Scott took off. Many were thanking whichever gods they believed in for this fact, since although Scott was their best pilot, that wasn't saying much. Logan mumbled something about one day getting around to learning to pilot just so that he could do it better than Scott. Rogue patted his hand soothingly.

Everyone settled in for the probably-hours-long ride. Jubilee pulled out her portable CD player from beneath her seat, and NIN began to blare out. Scott tried to yell for her to stop. Logan winced and let out the claws briefly. Jean glanced speculatively behind her at the black machine, and Storm was letting little bolts of electricity play at her fingers.

However, they all knew that the three youngest and least-experienced members of the group, barely out of their teens, actually found this oddly relaxing to listen to, so Scott shut up, Logan sheathed the claws, Jean turned back to stare out the windshield, and Storm settled down into her seat to read the book she kept in the Blackbird.

After two NIN CDs and half a Limp Bizkit CD were played, Scott finally did a quick dip that had
everyone breathing quickly and glaring at him. Jubilee turned down the music and asked, "What the hell was that?"

"We're almost to the coordinates the Professor gave us. Unless you want to just kill them with that music, I'd suggest you get ready," Scott said scathingly.

The other X-Men took "getting "ready" to mean "prepare to risk our lives yet again as Scott lands this thing--or tries to, anyway." Everyone gripped their armrests, each other, anything that might keep this landing from being the fatal one.

That's when Scott surprised them. He descended smoothly, landing with barely a bump and a short jolt.
He turned back to grin at them. "The Danger Room is useful for other things besides mock-battles," he informed them calmly.

"Now, here's the plan. The AIM headquarters are heaving guarded by things called Icons. These Icons appear to be robotic in nature, according to the Professor. He said to avoid these if you can, but
they're not really dangerous. You should be able to get around them easily. Once we get to the compound, we'll split up into two teams. Jean, Bobby, you're with me. Wolverine, you've got Rogue, Storm, and Jubilee," Scott said.

"Are we being grouped by codename-coolness again?" Jubilee asked. That was her usual diffuse-the-tension kind of question, and everyone smiled a little before getting back to business.

"The teams will take different routes inside. I know that we are usually as merciful as we can be, but the Professor has informed me that these tactics will not work with AIM. We all know how to kill if we have to," here Scott sent a pointed look at Logan. "Put that knowledge to good use. Everyone ready?"

They all nodded. Scott led the way off the Blackbird and into the dense jungle surrounding the small clearing he'd managed to find and land in. According to Xavier's information, the AIM HQ shouldn't be too far to the west from their landing point.

The X-Men moved stealthily through the trees, Logan and Scott in front to remove foliage from their path. After trudging along for twenty-two minutes and forty-seven seconds--Jubilee was keeping track on her watch--they reached a river. The trees ended abruptly here, so they stopped. On the other side they could see their target.

It was a large, white box of a building. The doors were oddly shaped, looking more like long, horizontal slits than actual doorways. Several figures could be seen scurrying here and there in front of the building.

"Rogue," Scott called back softly. The young woman shuffled forward quietly to stand beside him behind a dark-leaved bush.

"Yeah, Scott?" she asked, leaning towards him so that she could hear him better. Jean and Logan narrowed their eyes, but since it seemed innocent enough they kept their mouths shut. Which was probably all for the better.

"Do you think you can fly us over one at a time without being detected?" Scott asked.

Rogue frowned, thinking. She'd only recently gained the powers of flight, super-strength, and invulnerability during a tragic accident in which she'd inadvertently absorbed an innocent mutant woman to the point of death. She was still dealing with her issues from that and trying to figure out these new powers.

"I think I can try," she said. "I'll take Logan first, since he'd be dead weight in the water, so he can’t swim over or anything. If I can manage him, I can probably manage everyone else." Her clear brown eyes shone with determination.

Rogue moved over to stand by Logan. She smiled up at him as she gripped his upper arms in her iron grasp. He smiled back proudly when she lifted him several inches off the ground and slowly began to raise herself and him into the air.

Rogue made it over the wide river, if not easily, then at least aware of muscles she hadn't known existed
before. She went back to get Jean next, and then Scott, Jubilee, and Bobby were carried over by her. Storm had flown over the river herself by manipulating the wind currents.

The seven X-Men headed towards the large white cube, heeding the sounds around them that would indicate that an Icon might be near. The only visible signs of their watchfulness were Logan's claws unsheathed and Scott's hand hovering near his visor.

They encountered their first Icon within minutes. It's overly-large head and skinny metallic body made
them wonder how these robots could be any use to AIM. However, they weren't there to ask questions. They were there to quell a ruthless enemy. The Icon went down swiftly, as did three of its kind in the next five minutes. Someone must have noticed that something was wrong because red lights began to flash from the top of the AIM HQ.

"Damn," Scott muttered. He motioned for them to split and head in. There was no use taking out the remaining Icons, if there were any.

Logan's team rushed into a slit-like entrance to their left. The hall they came into was empty, silent. No klaxons rang, no footsteps rushed here or there. That worried Logan. "Watch your backs," he said gruffly.

Rogue concluded that this enemy was at least as devious and clever as Xavier had led them to believe.
She stuck close to Logan's side, knowing that Storm and Jubilee were close behind her.

There was a swift slamming sound to their right. Rogue and Logan whirled around. They stared in shock at the place where Jubilee had been. Storm looked at them with wide eyes.

"She was here one moment, and the next there was that sound and she disappeared!" the weather goddess said incredulously.

"Damn. Storm, come here," Rogue said. She grabbed Storms arm and linked it through her own. Then she linked her other arm through Logan's. "They aren't going to get any more of us if I can help it. And we will find where they've taken Jubes," she said. Her cold voice sent chills down her companions' spines.

They proceeded down the hall, even more cautious than ever. There was a set of stairs at the end, and with a glance they agreed to head up them.

---

Meanwhile, Scott and Bobby were facing similar difficulties in their chosen hallway. Jean had
vanished before their very eyes, and they weren't sure what to do about it. Of course, they didn't hold
hands or link arms, but Scott did grip Bobby's upper arm and practically drag him the rest of the way down their hallway. They, too, decided to go up the stairs.

The next hallway was as eerily silent as the first one. Scott scanned the place quickly, grateful for the umpteenth time that his visor included infrared tracking with the flick of a single button. No one could hide from him.

"Why don't we check in these rooms?" Bobby suggested. They could tell from the cracks at the bottom that no one was in the rooms, but that could be a ruse. For the next ten minutes they searched empty rooms full of computers spouting out strange simples and codes. Scott ripped off data sheet after data sheet, folding them and pushing them into a pocket on his uniform. Bobby was quick to follow his example.

They reached the end of this hall with no more success than when they'd begun. There was another set of stairs here, these leading down. Scott, still with a firm hold on Bobby's arm, began to descend them.

---

Logan growled impatiently. Storm had suggested that they search every room they came to, but so far the only thing they'd found were rooms full of computers. Nothing but computers. In fact, if he was smelling things right...

"I don't think that any humans are ever here," he said. He, Rogue and Storm let that ominous news settle over them. "I'd smell 'em, and I don't smell anything except machines."

"Could it be that AIM is a network of... computers? Or at least is run by them?" Rogue asked, incredulous.

"It appears so. That would explain how they remain so elusive," Storm said rationally.

Before they could discuss this any more, Scott and Bobby came barreling into the room they were gathered in. They looked disappointed that it was only their fellow X-Men and not the AIM.

Before Scott could demand to know what they'd learned and where Jubilee was--he feared that she had been taken in the same way Jean was, anyway--Logan spoke up harshly. "There's no one here, and, from the smells, there hasn't been a human in this building in a long time."

"Damn...but what about Jean? I mean, someone had to take her when we were downstairs! A door shut, and she was gone. Machines can't do that sort of thing," Scott said angrily. He aimed his visor at a nearby computer and fried it. Surprisingly, that didn't make him feel any better.

"Did someone mention our names?" Jean asked as she and Jubilee entered the room. She smiled calmly at the agitation their arrival had caused.

"Did the AIM take you?" Rogue demanded to know, reaching out to hug her best friend.

Jubilee shook her head in confusion. "I'm not sure what happened. One minute I'm with you guys, the next I'm in some strange room with Jean here. On the walls there was this strange message. It said: 'You've been bumped. Please sign on again and AIM will attempt to reconnect you. Don't expect quick service.' I thought it was pretty weird, the way something was writing that on the wall itself. Whatever it was," she said, shaking her head in confusion.

"There was a door to the room, and it was unlocked, so we let ourselves out. We've been wandering these halls trying to find you," Jean said, hugging Scott.

"It looks like the AIM have either abandoned this place, or they were never here in the first place and
this is just a remote facility for them," Storm said. She shrugged. "Neither are good scenarios," she said.

"Should we just leave?" Bobby asked.

Scott nodded reluctantly. He looked at the computers. "Well, at least we can get rid of these before we go. They won't have computers for a while, or hopefully the resources to buy more," he said.

Storm, Scott, and Jubilee were the ones who could do the most damage in the least amount of time. Logan slashed one computer for the sake of it, then he went with Rogue, Jean and Bobby to make their way downstairs. They had to trust that the others would do their jobs and make it out safely.

Rogue had finished flying Jean and Bobby over the river and was coming back for Logan when she saw the three figures rushing towards them. Dark smoke billowed around the white building, marring its pristine state. She waved to Scott, Storm and Jubilee and then picked Logan up. She' have two more trips to make before they could get out of there.

Once back in the Blackbird, everyone sat silently through the take-off. Finally, Scott asked, "Did we
fail today? I mean, we didn't even destroy AIM completely. Of that I'm sure."

Rogue nodded sadly. "They're probably like cockroaches. They'll just keep multiplying like mad to drive us insane and pollute the earth with their filth. Disgusting." Rogue had a great fear of and dislike for cockroaches, and she loved the fact that she could kill them in one swift stomp these days.

Jean smiled slightly at the image Rogue's words produced. "We'll most likely be facing them again. Maybe next time they won't be so cowardly," she said.

They all leaned into each other over arm rests and head rests. It was important for them to spend this
time bonding, even though they'd only gotten to destroy some Icons and fire some computers. Still, they'd accomplished what they had as a team.

Several hours later, the scenario in the kitchen was the same as it had been earlier in the day. It was dark outside now, and instead of lunch, the X-Men had ice cream or low-fat frozen yogurt in bowls sitting in front of them. Xavier had finished debriefing them and sent them here to relax.

Rogue and Logan held hands and stared into each other's eyes. Jubliee now chased Bobby around the
room with a frying pan. Scott and Jean were still discussing their plans, exchanging a sweet kiss every
once in a while. And Storm just watched them, content. It had been a day like any other at Xavier's mansion.

---

Thousands of miles away, in a small building next to the burning cavern that was all that was left of their computer facility, thin men in thick glasses, wearing jeans and ratty t-shirts even though they could afford better, were discussing their problem. The X-Men seemed to be all that stood in the way of their total world-take over. They had to be gotten rid of...but how?

~ Finis