Tapping on the com link ShadowCat confirmed all systems down, and Psyloke had taken care of the few guards that were patrolling with a little physic blast.

“Jean your clear, we’re heading towards the west entrance and we’ll be inside in 5 minutes. Once your inside the holding cells, send me your coordinates.


Something wasn’t right Wolverine could feel it, this was too easy, the guards were minimal, hadn’t the professor said they were holding dangerous psychotic mutants.

“Keep your eye open Cyke, this place smells like a set up”.


Meanwhile……….


“Isn’t it a little late for bringing in a Mutant, Dr. Phoenix”.

“I didn’t realize there was a set time for bringing in deranged mutant riffraff”. Jean was trying to go for stuck up Bitch, and doing a wonderful job.

“Fine go through, there’s paper work on the other side”.

Jean tried using her gift to read the attendant and see if she could pick up on a location on Rogue, but there was a lot of nothing.

[Scott, I’m not picking up anything, which is strange. It’s all white noise, there’s definitely something going. I’ll try to scan one of the doctor’s once I’m in closer proximity to one.]

The place was all pristine white, and the stench of bleach hung heavily in the air. It pretty much looked like a psychiatric hospital, she did find it odd that there was so much white marble, the place was covered in it, and by the looks of the of it the walls had to be at least 5 to 6 inches thick.

Reaching the next desk, the nurse was more of a blank slate than the last one, It was like this place was filled with step ford wives.

“Fill these out once they’re complete you’ll be able to escort the patient to the holding cell, the Doctor in charge will escort you”.

After a few moments huge grey steel doors swashed open and a sickly pale man with dark small glasses wearing a white smock appeared before them. Jean put on her best face and tired reaching out with her mind trying to get any information and grimaced almost immediately. It felt like she ran head first into a brick wall.

The smirk on his face went unnoticed by all. “Dr. Phoenix are you all right you seem anguished, would you like to sit”.

Composing herself “no I’m fine, thank you. Just a little tired, it was a long flight”.

“Yes, well you must get some rest. You can go if you wish, we can go over the patient history tomorrow or over the phone”.

“no, no I’m fine. I just as well not come back to this place”.

“Yes, often times these tasks can be quite distasteful”.

Before Jean realized what was happening the doctor was next to Nightcrawler, one minute he was examining vitals the next, he’d plunged a needle into his left arm.


Jean stared, trying not to panic “What was that”.

“Oh just a sedative, we don’t want any incident’s while we’re transferring him to his new room. More times than not, the patient will react violently, There isn’t a problem is there”.

“Of course not”. Jean mentally relayed what happened to Cyclops and tired to keep her face calm, she still had no idea what was really going on, and it was too early to show her hand. She only hoped that NightCrawler was okay.

[Cyclops, the doctor just injected NightCrawler, he said it was a sedative but this changes the plan, by the looks of it NightCrawler will probably be out the rest of the night. I can’t read the doctor at all. There’s a block around his mind. Whatever we’re dealing with they’ve taken precautions, especially against telepaths, there’s no telling what else they have up their sleeves, be prepared]

[Let the team know what happened, tell everyone to watch out, this whole place is strange]

“Excellent, follow me”.

Gambit eyed Jean from under his glasses and pushed the wheelchair bound NightCrawler following the strange doctor.

The steel doors swooshed shut, the echo bouncing off the walls, making Jean slightly shiver, the entire place gave her an eerie feeling.

“So Doctor…., I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name”.

“Essex, Dr. Essex”.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reaching the end of the corridor Scott Stopped and looked around.

“This is wrong, none of these halls are in the blue prints. Well end up going in circles, Beast put on the heat thermal imaging goggles, and let know what you see, Wolverine can you smell anything”.

“Just a few recent scents, and a whole lotta bleach”.

“The walls are too thick, I’m not getting anything with the goggles”.

The corridors were all the same one after another, and Wolverine was getting antsy, he really wanted to gut someone.

After what felt like an eternity roaming they came to an electrical room. There were various monitors all over the walls, some were displaying different patients, different rooms, they even saw Jean walking with the Doctor. In the middle were the control panels, and in front of them was a large mirror covering the entire back wall.

Beast immediately sat in front of the controls, and was trying to locate the holding cell with the mutants on the monitors, as well as their location. Jubilee staring downloading and destroying the medical files.

Scott and Wolverine had their eyes glued on the monitors trying to catch a glimpse of Rogue.

“Oh my God, Beast go back, no more, there right there”. Scott stared wide eyed at the monitor, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Sitting huddled in the corner rocking back in forth in a white padded cell was his childhood friend, Emma Frost.

“Where is that Beast, get me a location, now”

“Oh my, I lost track of Emma some time last year”.

“Beast, her location”.

“Yes it’ coming now, it seems there’s a level below this one, there’s a elevator down this hall to the left, then it’s to the south west. There’s also a stairwell that will take you there”.

“Alright change of plans, Colossus your with me, I think that’s where we’ll find most of the mutants. Wolverine, let Jean know once you’ve located Rogue we’ll meet you there”.

Wolverine for his part, didn’t know who Emma was and frankly didn’t give a rats ass, there was only one reason he was here and there wasn’t anyone that was going to get in his way. His amber eyes just kept flickering over the monitors as Beast pulled of various images.