Disclaimer: This fan fiction is not written for profit and no infringement of copyright is intended.

“Stacey sent us.”

And Jubes shot the nice doorman with the Kalashnikov her sweetest smile. Hiking her skirt up more and wishing for the millionth time that the boob fairy had been a little kinder where she was concerned. Behind her Marie growled and the firecracker fought the urge to roll her eyes: This was their best chance of getting inside without a full-scale attack, but if Rogue kept growling like this then they’d never get past the velvet rope-

Unless of course this Forge dude had a hankering for a Southern dominatrix, in which case they were home and dry.

“We told Stacey we couldn’t pay this month,” the doorman said tersely then. He looked more bored than any man confronted with leather-wearing women should be. “No money, no hookers. Now scram.”

“But we’re gratis, aren’t we girls?” And she tried for a dazzling smile this time. Not sure whether she was overplaying it since she’d never had to pretend to be a hooker before now. Logan had, but that was another story. The doorman didn’t budge and Jubie wished for once that Remy was here, since (prior to their marriage, obviously) there wasn’t anything her hubbie didn’t know about the social niceties of prostitution. Hell, he probably could have given them lessons if asked. “Stacey said we were a bonus,” she said a little desperately. “We even have a little something to get the party started-” And she held up three bottles of Moet & Chandon, champagne glasses twinkling in the light-

“Let them in,” a voice sounded then.

All three women turned to see a tall, slim man standing in the shadows. He was wearing thick horn-rimmed spectacles, every visible inch of his hands covered in tattoos. So this is Forge, Jubes thought.

She recognised the dude from Stacey’s files.

“Thanks,” Marie drawled, stalking by the doorman, Kitty at her heels. Her tone made her words slightly less than convincing but the man let her by all the same.

“I like your suit,” Forge said softly. Hands reaching out and closing around Rogue’s waist, pulling her to him. He was looking at her oddly- Almost like he was trying to place her face- which just made Jubie tetchy. Apparently she wasn’t the only one: Marie tensed up the moment he put his hands on her, obviously fighting the urge to push him away. Logan was the only man Jubes had ever seen Marie relax into touching, and that was probably because of his healing factor. Oh, and the whole being-the-love-of-her-life thing. Despite the fact that she’d been able to control her mutation for years, Rogue still found tactile contact uncomfortable- And the way this asshole’s hands were roaming wasn’t gonna enhance chica’s calm any. A look flashed between her and Kitty, understanding blooming on the Kitten’s face and she flashed Forge her sweetest, most innocent smile, pulling his hands from Rogue’s waist and placing them on her own.

“Hey,” she murmured, “There’s more of that to go around, isn’t there?”

Forge blinked down at her. Again with the searching look. His finger slid down her cheek, her throat, curling at her clavicle. Unlike Marie Kitty didn’t even blink, just leaned into his touch. Took a mouthful of champagne straight from the bottle and kissed him hungrily.

For the first time the doorman looked interested. Jubie didn’t blame him: She’d known Kitty Pryde since before she owned a training bra and even she was interested.

“You girls are new,” Forge muttered then. “What’s that accent, Chicago?”

Kitty’s smile widened. “Good ear. Is everything about you that good?” And Jubes watched in amazement as the littlest ninja took Forge’s hand, leading him slyly inside. Everything about her screaming Easy And Proud Of It with an aplomb not normally seen outside New Orleans at Mardi Gras. For the first time even the doorman looked a little jealous…

“Pyotr Rasputin is one lucky man,” Marie muttered under her breath.

“You said it,” Jubes agreed. Following their unexpectedly brazen friend inside and checking the exits in case they had to run. By the time they reached Forge’s room Kit had already pulled out a pair of handcuffs, still carrying the bottle in her left hand. She was pushing Forge down onto a massive couch, his shirt halfway off his shoulders, his fly open. Jesus, Jubes found herself thinking, It really is the quiet ones you have to watch. Kitty pulled the silk scarf Marie was wearing off her friend’s neck and looped it coyly over Forge’s eyes, still smiling and sipping champagne. Whispering sweet nothings into his ear. He grinned, apparently pleased with where this was going and Jubes didn’t blame him-

But as soon as she had the knot tied Kitty kneed him in the nuts.

Pulling the blindfold tighter and smacking the cuffs onto his wrists with a viciousness which would have done Logan proud. Knocking the wind out of him she yanked him onto his knees, jabbing his throat with lightning speed and stealing his voice. Marie darted away, locking the door and setting an electro-magnetic pulse generator on the floor beside him. It was just big enough to knock out any electronic surveillance equipment in the room but not big enough to wipe the entire building-

Since they knew a building-wide blackout wouldn’t exactly be conducive to stealth.

Pryde grabbed Forge’s head by the hair and yanked his skull roughly backwards then. “We have a couple of questions,” she muttered.

The man actually laughed at her action. “And what happens if I don’t answer: Are you going to punish me?”

Kitty smashed the champagne bottle against the wall to her right, shattering it, and set the broken remnant against the skin in his arm. Cutting slightly into the tissue, just enough to make him bleed a little. “I’ll only punish you if you don’t tell me what I want to know,” she said.

“And what do you want to know?” His smile widened. “Whether I’ve been a bad, bad-”

“You watch too much porn, moron,” Kitty snarled. Elbowing him in the nose and stopping his words. “Now a friend of ours came here a week ago,” she bit out, “and then disappeared. From what we’ve gathered you were the last person to see Logan which makes you the biggest suspect in his disappearance.” She slit his skin again, bleeding him a little more. This time he hissed at the pain of it. “Now tell us what you did to him or-”

“Or what?” Forge’s expression grew mocking, and something tugged at Jubes’ memory. Something about the set of his mouth. It looked familiar but she couldn’t place where from… “Are you telling me that the little girl who walked through walls for Charles Xavier is going to cut me?” He sneered. “Kill me? You haven’t the fucking stones, Kitten-”

It came to Jubes in a flash then.

Where she’d seen that expression before. Who’d been wearing it and how they’d beaten three shades of shit out of Logan and Marie without breaking a sweat. Jubes yanked Kitty and Roguey back, forcing a rainbow of spitting paffs between them and the prisoner and dropping her stance for fighting but it was too late: Forge wasn’t Forge anymore. Realising that his disguise was now worth jack shit the prisoner’s skin flashed blue, his hair turning red. Making a move no creature with a skeleton should have been able to perform he slid one of his hands out of the cuffs, swinging the dangling silver circle viciously at Jubie and then smashing a blue elbow into her cheek. Kitty slashed with the bottle but the prisoner was too quick: The thing that had looked like Forge sprang onto one hand and smashed a blue foot against Pryde’s jaw before ramming into Rogue with all her weight. Knocking her against the door-jam with a painful-sounding crack. For a split second all three women were dazed, the prisoner’s eyes flashing yellow, his- now her- smile mocking-

And then suddenly Logan was before them.

One knee forced between Rogue’s legs and pressing her back against the wall. One hand tangled viciously in her long hair, the other against her belly ready to gut. “Hey darlin’” Mystique growled, her voice a perfect imitation of Wolvie’s, “You miss your Papa Bear, did ya?”

Marie did the only thing she could do.

She head-butted the bitch.