THIS STORY IS A PARODY. X-Men are owned by Marvel Comics. This is a not for profit story. No one under eighteen

should read this story.

The Crew

Pt. 6

By Flexman

Three SUVs sped down the streets of Malibu in the early morning moonlight. They entered the empty parking lot of Shaw Industries headquarters, coming to a stop in front of the main entrance. The occupants, numbering fourteen, exited the vehicles, formed up in front of the doorway and waited. A minute later the image, telepathically projected, of the mutant Scanner appeared in front of the group's leader, Victor Creed, a.k.a. Sabertooth.

"They're already inside," she announced. "Hooker and Kurita disappeared for almost thirty minutes. When they came back, they all entered the building through the southeast entrance. They're on the first floor."

"You got all that, Shaw?" Sabertooth spoke in to his cell phone.

In route to the headquarters Sabertooth called Shaw, who kept a private suite at the headquarters. Shaw woke Ms. Lozenzo, his executive assistant, they dressed and were now in the main security control of the headquarters.

"Yeah, I heard," he responded. "Stand by."

Shaw looked at his security chief. "Anything?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what she's talking about, my board is clear. The southeast entrance has not been breached, none of our sensors are registering anything, and the monitors show nothing."

"What about the sentinels?"

"They're maintaining their positions and we do have two stationed in that area."

Shaw returned to his cell phone. "Creed, is she sure of her facts? We're not able to verify anything here."

"She says she's floating right over them in the corridor," Sabertooth answered.

The security chief looked confused. "I don't know what to tell you. All systems check out fine and they're telling me there's no one there."

"Who's that?" Ms. Lorenzo pointing to one of the monitors on the wall.

The security chief looks up at the same monitor. He sees a security guard patrolling one of the corridors. The chief shrugged. "We have guards walk patrols every couple of hours. It's standard procedure....." His voice trailed off in mid- sentence as he moves closer to the monitor.

"What is it?" Shaw demanded.

The security chief doesn't answer right away, he focuses on the monitor. After a minute. "We might have a problem."

"What problem?"

"That's Joe Eagan. Today's his day off."

"Maybe he traded with someone."

"No, we hold roll call at the beginning of the shift. He's not here today."

"You keep feeds from previous days?" Ms. Lorenzo asked.

"We usually save them for a week, then delete them. Whomever is breaking in fixed it so we're watching yesterday's feed."

"Shit!" Shaw bellowed. "I don't believe it. A hundred and twenty million dollar security system and these guys stroll in without a problem. Seal this room," he ordered. "But don't sound the alarm, I don't want these assholes to know we're on to them."

"What about the cops?"

"No, no police. We'll handle this ourselves."

"You're the boss," the security chief shrugs, as he pushed buttons on his panel.

"Creed," Shaw speaks in to his cell phone. "Scanner's right, they're in the building. Go get them and remember your orders."

Outside Creed gathers his team. "All right, listen up. We're going to catch them in a squeeze play." He looks at Carmella Unuscione. "Frail, take your people through the southeast door, just in case they double back on us. Do not attack until I give the OK. The rest of us have to get in to position. The whole point is to overwhelm them, so we will all attack at the same time. Remember, we have to keep two of them alive, least until they tell us where the CDs are, then we can have some fun before we end them. Any questions?"

Unuscione hated when he called her Frail, but the money was good so she put up with it. She gathered her Acolytes and moved out.

The five of us stood frozen in the corridor. None of us dare move. Two of those droid sentinels Hooker told us about were in front of us and I was scared shitless. Hooker's description of them was accurate. One looked like a man size dragonfly, wings and all. The other was a little bigger and had the body of a giant spider. Both had sentinel heads. They just stood there, not moving, with the exception of the dragonfly occasionally flapping it's wings.

Hooker smiled and spoke telepathically. "Guys, these are not animals, they're machines. They're not staring us down like prey. If they knew we were here they'd have attacked already. Not moving isn't going to make any difference."

Then he started walking. Dorsey followed him and then the rest of us fell in line. We walked in between them, down the corridor and around the corner. The sentinels didn't move an inch the whole time. Hooker was right, Hooker was always right, but still the rest of us moved like we were walking on a thin ice. We made our way to the vault area, when suddenly Hooker stopped. He looked around, searching for something, looking confused, which for Hooker was unheard of. He closed his eyes, like he was in a trance.

"What's wrong?" Dorsey asked.

He didn't answer, just held up his hand for everyone to be quiet. This was bad. Were his headaches coming back? Was he going catatonic? What? Hooker is our tech guy, if he's out of it then the whole job gets scrubbed. We can't go on without him. For several minutes we all watched him. He's been acting like this since we got together earlier. All night he's been looking around like someone was there. All night he's looked confused. It's so unlike him. Now he froze, like he's in deep concentration. Then it got weird. I started hearing a buzz in my head. I could tell the other were too. It got clearer, it went from a buzz to a voice. Sounded in distress, like it was struggling with something. The voice slowly grew louder. Then it got even weirder. Above our heads, near the ceiling, something started happening. At first, it looked like a concentrated area of humidity. Then it turned to light, getting brighter and brighter. An outline appeared inside the light. It was the outline of a woman. As the light receded, her form became solid until it was just her floating above our heads. Gravity took over and she dropped, landing on her ass. She was tall, about six feet, weighed maybe about one sixty. She was full bodied and looked in good shape, with long blond hair and weird looking tattoos on her face. She laid there disoriented. It didn't look like she was able to focus. Whatever just happened took a lot out of her. Hooker recovered just fine. He opened his eyes, took several deep breaths and rotated his neck a bit.

"What the fuck is going on?" Perry asked.

"She's been spying on us," Hooker answered. "She first registered when we met up. I think she came with you two," he said nodding at Perry and Cruz. "I wasn't sure what I was sensing, I never felt anything like it before. I finally figured it out just now. That's when I managed to pull her out of the astral plane."

"So who the hell is she?" asked Dorsey. "What's she after?"

"I don't know, let's find out." He put his hand on her head. We waited, but the look that came on Hooker's face made me nervous. His eyes got wide, his jaw dropped and every few seconds he repeated the word 'shit'. Obviously, this was not a good sign. Whatever it was he was reading in her head he didn't like it. When done, he calmly stood there and announced, "We are so fucking dead."

In case you're wondering, that not a good sign either. "Why is that?" Dorsey asked.

"Because we're right in the middle of a trap," Hooker replied. "Shaw put together another hit team, a big one. Counting this bitch, there's fifteen of them and they're lead by Sabertooth."

Ah fuck! We knew who he was. A feral mutant and the most effective and vicious killing machine on the planet. A man who truly loves his work.

"The others are all outside and they're coming in after us."

"Shit, how come you didn't detect them?"

"They're carrying psi-shields. It's hiding them from my scan. She can't wear one because it blocks her from using her power. They figured I'd never be able sense her while she was in the astral plane. They were almost right."

"Does she know where they're at right now?"

"From what she knows, Sabertooth plans to box us in. He sent six of his people through the door we came in on, in case we go back and he's bring the rest through the front door. They're going to catch us in the middle."

We all stood there looking at Hooker as he was describing our deaths. Shit, so this how it ends? I never thought about us going down. I really never thought about it at all. All of suddenly I realized this could be the end. I always figured I'd reach the promised land, open my own studio, attend my first opening, publish graphic novels, shit like that. Now it all looked like just a silly dream. Was I heading this way all along?

"Wait a minute," Dorsey says. He looks at Hooker. "They have six people coming in that way and there are eight coming in the other way." He's wasn't really asking, he just going over it in his mind out loud. " Looks like our choice is made for us. Sabertooth might have given us an opening." Dorsey points at the blond bitch on the floor. "Will, snap a collar on her and cuff her. We're taking her with us. I have a plan."

We carry a couple of neural collars and handcuffs with us when we go on jobs just in case we run in to mutant guards. Perry secured her and Cruz threw her over his shoulder. Then we followed Dorsey back the way we came, down the corridors, passed the sentinels, in the direction of the door we used. Thanks to their psi-shields Hooker couldn't track where the enemy was, so we relied on Perry's heighten senses, specifically his nose. That's not as good. All he can tell us is how far away they are and from which direction they're coming from. As we approach, Perry, who has the point, raises his hand and signals the enemy is coming up the corridor around the corner. Cruz puts Scanner down, Hooker and Perry drop their packs and we got ready. First thing Dorsey does is send out a low EM pulse. Nothing major, very low power, they don't even notice it. This is to disable their psi-shields. Within minutes Hooker scans them and sends the data to us. We now know everything about their mutant powers. The biggest problem is the Kleinstock brothers. They're long range shooters, something we don't have on our side. That's our weakness, we have to close in tight with any opponents. Enemy long range shooters can cut us down before we can get to them and we can't counter, so we always have to come up with a way around that.

Dorsey starts giving orders through Hooker's telepathy, which keeps us all connected. There are six in this group. Besides the Kleinstocks, there's Carmella Unusicione, Joanna Cargill, Amos Spoor and Senyaka.. We wait for them to get closer. They approach, totally unaware we're laying for them, and that's when I feel it, the nerves. Up to now, that's what's been missing from this job. It's all been by the numbers, but now that's change. On one hand there's the fifty million dollars, on the other, we all can be brutally killed any minute. We're in the middle between heaven and hell and I feel that raw bundle of nerves deep in my guts. There's nothing like it, fighting for our lives and living on the very edge. That's what I'm going to miss when this is over, one way or the other.

Dorsey's voice in my head. "Stand by to engage."

I tense, ready to pounce. A minute later his voice comes through loud and clear in our heads.

"Now!"

The nerves disappear. We're in play.

It starts with Dorsey letting out another EM pulse that kills the lights. Everything is pitched black as we rush them. They have no way to sense us, they're completely blind. We, on the other, are guided to our targets by Hooker, who can now psionically track them. It's as good as eyesight. Perry runs to the Kleinstocks and throws a flying tackle, knocking them both on them down. He then starts pounding mercilessly on Harland Kleinstocks face. Cruz runs up to Sven Kleinstock, interlocks his fingers and with his considerable might brings his huge hands down on Sven's head, smashing it to dust and killing him instantly. Harland senses his brother's death somehow and gives out a yell, but it doesn't last long. Perry snaps his neck, killing him too. I go after Spoor. At the moment he might the most dangerous one because being a feral mutant, like Perry, he has excellent night vision. I dive for his legs, taking hold of one of his ankles and phase, turning us both intangible. I then phase us both down, only I let go of him when his neck is level with the floor. When I first did this to someone a year ago, I was so sure it would decapitate them. It didn't, just like it doesn't decapitate Spoor now. The molecules of his neck just mix with molecules of the floor. It kills him, of course. It's just a weird sight, his head sitting there stuck to the floor and him dying with a really strange look on his face. Dorsey magnetically dislodges the metal moldings and fixtures from the surrounding area and hurls them at Cargill. She has super strength and steel hard skin, so hurling debris at her is pointless, but she does have one weak spot, her eyes. Dorsey uses a molding as a spike and rams it through her right eye and straight in to her brain. It's not as grotesque as it seems because it's a quick merciful kill. She never suffers. Unusione is able to project a psionic exoskeleton. That's a fancy way of saying she's a telekinetic. When the lights went out, she instinctively surrounded herself in a telekinetic bubble. Unfortunately for her psionic energy has no effect on Hooker. He simply ran right through like it's not even there. Bulling his neck, he rammed his head in to her solar plexis, knock the air out of her lungs, he then straighten up, banging the back of his head against her face, breaking her nose and splitting her upper lip. He delivered several combinations to her head and ribs. She goes down, out cold. He doesn't get a chance to finish her because Hooker is also responsible for taking out Senyaka.. Senyaka was capable of generate a psionic whip. If he managed to wrap it around you he could drain the bio-electric energy from your body, killing you or at very least put you in a coma. As Hooker closes on him, Senyaka begins sensing him and starts swinging his whip in sweeps hoping to catch something. It works, the whip lashes itself around one of Hooker's forearm. What Hooker did next was the same thing he did to Scrambler a few days ago. He telepathically feed Sentaya's power back to him. The effect is the same. Senyaka's entire neural system gets fried and Hooker won't let him stop. As he dies he lets out a loud scream. That's bad, the sound could carry down the corridors and Sabertooth, with his superior hearing, could pick it up. But it's over, we won. There's nothing standing between us and the door. We can make our escape now. Hooker and Perry quickly retrieve their backpacks and Cruz gets Scanner. I'm feel a relief come over me.

Sabertooth did hear the scream. He had been waiting for Scanner's next report on the Crew's position. His first thought was that twit Unuscione had defied his orders and already attacked. He moved his team forward following the scent. As he grew closer, he could smell the blood and death before him. They arrived at a section where the lights were off. By this time he suspected something had gone wrong. He could smell multiple deaths. If the Crew had been defeated why hadn't Unuscione contacted him? He pulled out his cell phone.

"Shaw, we're at D section, the lights are out."

"Yes, we know," Shaw responded. "The generator inexplicably went down. Probably Dorsey. We're rerouting to the back up. Lights should be back up in a moment."

Sabertooth did not wait, he lead his team through the dark corridors by sense of smell. When he arrived at the site of the battle, he stopped. He knew what was in front of him, even if he couldn't see it. A moment later the lights come on. The carnage and gore in front of them has no effect to the likes of Sabertooth, Omega Red, Lady Deathstrike, Deadpool or Vargas. The same could not be said for the other members of the team. Phantazia and Static both reeled back and quickly vomited. Ahab could only stare in disbelief.

"Shaw, there's been a setback. Unuscione and her people have been massacred," Sabertooth calmly reported.

"All of them?"

"Unuscione is the only one still alive."

"They get any of the Crew?"

"No other bodies, just her people and Scanner is overdue. I think we can assume they got her too."

"So they made their escape?"

"Their scents go straight to the exit."

"We know they don't have a transporter or anyone who can fly," Shaw said. "So they're moving on foot. They only have a few minutes lead on you. You can catch up with them."

"We're on it." Sabertooth looked at his people. "If you two are done losing your dinner," he says to Phantazia and Static. "Maybe we can now go earn our pay. Move out!"

"Are you sure it was them?" Storm asked, speaking in to her communicator to Sage.

"Yes, Cerebro confirmed it. Unuscione, Senyaka, Cargill, Spoor, Scanner and both Kleinstock Brothers. They just showed up. I suspect they transported in. Scanner showed up first, the others several minutes later. The fought the Crew and now only Unuscione is left."

"What about the Crew?"

"They disappeared."

"How?"

"I don't know, they just dropped off my screen. I can't tell where they're at right now."

"Could they all have died in the battle?"

"Doubtful. They were all alive when the battle ended. They were moving toward the door. Scanner was with them. Then, one by one, they just dropped out of sight."

"What is going on in there?" Storm asked to no one in particular. "The situation is getting out of hand."

"You want to move in?" asked Wolverine.

"No, not yet," she answered. Storm looked at Nightcrawler. "Kurt, scout around. Don't let your presents be known and don't engage anybody in a fight. Just look around and report back. I need to know what's going on."

"I'm on it," he said. Then disappeared in a blue puff of smoke.

"Something's wrong, Shaw." Sabertooth announced. They were outside the southeast entrance. Sabertooth had been trying to pick up the Crew's scent. "They didn't come this way."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I got the older scent when they first came in, but there's no scent going the other way. They didn't come back this way, least not on foot."

"You said their scent went right up to the door."

"Yeah, and that's where it ends. There's no trace of them outside the doorway."

Shaw hit the mute button on his cell phone. A silence settled on the control room as he stood there deep in thought. After several minutes. He looks at Ms. Lorenzo. "What are we dealing with here. Who are these guys? We know nothing about them before they first showed up on the streets two years ago. Somebody must have trained them. They're running our asses ragged." He shook his head and began pacing. "Wait a second, that Jap, what's his name?"

"Kurita," Ms. Lorenzo reminded him.

"Yeah, he's a ghost. He could have phased them out of there. They walked right up to the door to throw Creed off, buy them some time, but instead of exiting, he phases them in a different direction. Takes them in to one of the side rooms or down in to the subterranean level. Hell, when they're intangible they can even float up. I've seen Kitty Pride do that. They can be in the upper floors. Question right now is what are they after? Why are they here?"

"I can only think of two possibilities," Ms. Lorenzo answers.

"They're here to get the rest of the process or they found out somehow you're the one who sent the Marauders. They might be here to kill you."

"This room is sealed and well guarded. That leaves the vault area. I can bring Creed's people back inside the building and have them guard the vault. Then the Crew will either eventually come to them or be forced to give it up."

Ms Lorenzo shook her head. "That may be a mistake. If you make Creed's team stationary you're conceding the run of the installation to the Crew. They're very resourceful, there's no way to predict what they'll do."

"But if I send Creed's team hunting for them it might take up to an hour before he picks up their scent again. That will give the Crew plenty of time to maneuver. They could do an end run around Creed and get to the vault." Shaw thinks for a moment. "Creed," he speaks in to the cell phone. "Get your people back inside and head for the vault. We think that's where they're going next."

"They had to phase down to an underground level," Sage reported. "It's the only direction they could have gone where Cerebro can't track them."

"You think they know we're here?" Storm asks.

"No way to tell. I've given up trying to figure them out."

Nightcrawler materializes in front of them. He's carrying an unconscious Unusicone. "Mein Gott!" he says. "You will not believe what's going on down there."

Perry was not happy. He had Scanner pinned to the wall. Her mouth was duct taped, she wore the neural collar that neutralized her mutant powers and her wrists were handcuffed behind her back. She had terror in her eyes. She seen what we did to her buddies and Perry can be very intimidating when he's pissed.

"Fucking bitch!" he said, with his face less then an inch from hers. "You were setting me up for them. What was the plan? You scope me out and then they come in to my crib and have some fun. Nice deal for you. Creed and the others do all the wet work and you keep your hands clean. Princess like you doesn't like to get her hands dirty, might ruin your sensitive nature. I should shove it up your ass, then face fuck you."

"Will!" Dorsey said. "Enough. We have a situation here. Let's not get distracted or Sabertooth will be face fucking us."

We were in a subterranean level. We came down here because Hooker need to access a certain panel. The panel was high up near the ceiling. To get to it, Hooker stood on Cruz's shoulders. He opened the panel and managed to hook his laptop to some terminal there. Now he was furiously tapping away at the keys, completely absorbed with what he was doing. The rest of us wait.

After going through Unuscione and her people, we were heading for the door, but Dorsey stops us and tells us we're not leaving. He has me phase everybody down here.

I look at Dorsey. "Harry, you know me. I'll follow you anywhere, but I got to ask, why are we still here. With Sabertooth and his people after us this is insane. We had a chance to escaped. Why didn't take it?"

"Kiddo, getting outside is not the same as escaping. Sabertooth would have caught up with us and then we would have had to fight them in open ground. They would have chewed us up."

"So what are we doing now?"

"What we came here to do, steal the CDs."

"But Shaw's bound to figure out that's what we came here for. They'll be waiting for us at the vault."

"I wouldn't worry too much about Sabertooth and the others," Hooker spoke without looking up from what he was doing. "In a few minutes, Mr. Creed and his friends will have more important things to worry about than us."

"Why? What are you doing?"

Hooker smiled. "I'm putting the sensors back on line."

"What? But that's going to make the sentinels come after us."

"Not exactly. I'm playing with the programing. I added a priority list. Creed and his people will be priority one, we'll be priority three. They won't come after us until priority one and two are taken care of."

"Who's priority two?"

"I put it down as any other mutant in the building."

"What makes you think there are any other mutants in the building?"

"Let's just say I have a theory about that."

"I don't get it," said Perry. "Why don't you just programed them to ignore us all together?"

"It would take me several days to completely redo the programing. The priority list is just a quick backdoor approach I can do real quick."

"The point is," Dorsey interjected. "While Sabertooth and friends are playing with the sentinels, we get to the vault, lift the CDs and we're out of here."

"Unless something else happens we didn't planned on."

Dorsey smiles. "Kiddo, you have to be positive. Think good thoughts. We're going to make it."

All was quiet in main security control, as Shaw waited. The silence was broken when the control board came alive.

"Sir, the sentinels are moving," the chief of security announced.

"About time," Shaw answered. "Are they able to track the Crew?"

It took a few minutes for the chief to able to answer.

"No sir, they are targeting our people."

"What?"

"I have ten sentinels converging on Mr. Creed's position, and they are all on battle mode."

"Call them off!"

The chief furiously typed away on his console. "I can't. I'm locked out."

Ms. Lorenzo stood there slowly shaking her head. "I told you they were resourceful."

Shaw pulled out his cell phone. "Creed, you're about to be attacked."

The warning came too late. The sentinels began with a coordinated barrage of RPG fire. Explosions everywhere as multiple grenades landed. Static and Vargas were the first to go down, followed by Lady Deathstrike. Phantazia floated above the explosions, only to be targeted by multiple shots of kinetic energy. Ahab managed to take out one sentinel with his harpoon before his cybernetics were jammed and then he too was overcome by the explosions. Omega Red destroyed two sentinels before being targeted by five at once. Deadpool's pistol and grenades had no effect on any of the sentinels as he was cut off from any avenue of escape. Sabertooth was in a his own struggle with three sentinels.

In security control techs frantically work to regain control of the sentinels.

"What the hell is taking so long?" an exasperated Shaw demanded.

"Sir," the frustrated tech answered. "I have a very good idea what the son of a bitch did, but there are thousands of lines of code. It's like looking for the proverbial needle in a hay stack. It could take hours to debug the system."

"The main security computer controls the sentinels?"

"Yes."

"What would happen if you shut it down?"

"The back up would take over in less then ninety seconds."

"Can you prevent the back up from coming on line?"

"Yes, of course."

"Shaw," Ms Lorenzo interrupted. "If you shut down the main computer, most of the security systems will go down. There will be nothing protecting the vault except the locks. Dorsey can dispose of them with no problem."

"What do you suggest?"

"The sentinels have pretty much taken out Creed's team. Once they're finished, if they follow their programing, will go on to the next group of mutant intruders. That can only be the Crew."

Shaw shook his head. "Weren't you the one going on about how resourceful these guys are? Nothing has gone right tonight. Nothing! What make you think, all of a sudden, the sentinels will start doing what they're suppose to?"

Ms Lorenzo did not respond. Shaw looked at his tech. "Well? Is she right? Will the sentinels go after the Crew next?"

"There are a number of ways they could have made the sentinels attack Creed's people first, but the programing is intact. They should respond to it and go after other mutant intruders."

"All right," Shaw said. "Leave the computer on. We'll see what happens."

We approached the vault. We could hear the battle between the sentinels and Sabertooth's people in the near distance. It was a bit unnerving, but I loved it. I still wanted to get the hell out of here, but what the fuck, it's life on the insane edge. At the vault it went by the numbers. Perry sneaked in to one of the executive's homes in the middle of the night. Sprayed her and her husband with something that would keep them asleep while he made a hand print and snapped a picture of her cornea. Hooker made a contact lens and glove which got us past the first security line. The punch code was also no problem. Hooker had already hacked the main security computer, so he had the daily code. That left the locks, which Dorsey took care of with no problem, and we were in. Hooker, Dorsey and me went in. Perry and Cruz stayed outside. We found the lock box, Dorsey opened it. There they were, all six CDs. Hooker scooped them up and put them in his backpack and we were out of there. We had the CDs. I wanted to feel elated but we weren't out of there yet and we still had to make the exchange. As we started to leave I notice something, silence. The battle had ended. I hope the sentinels killed everyone of those motherfuckers, but what would they do now. Hooker made us priority three, but what if there were no other mutants in the building? Hooker said he had a theory, no time for him to explain it now, but I hope for all our sakes it panned out.

The tension in master security control was thick as everyone waited to see what the sentinels would do.

"Well?" Shaw asked.

"Five sentinels are left and they are moving."

"Do we know where the Crew is right now?"

"Yes, now that the sensors are back on line. They are at the vault area. It has been breached."

"Big surprise," a disgusted Shaw remarked. "Are the sentinels going after them?"

There was another pause as the security chief attempted to gain an answer for his boss. "No! They're heading this way. They are coming here."

"What?" Ms. Lorenzo looked at Shaw. "There must be a mutant in this room."

"All right enough of this shit," Shaw yelled. "Shut the fucking computer down, now!"

"We were heading for the door, but found something standing in our way, Sabertooth and Deadpool. Both of their uniforms were in tatters and we saw nasty wounds and contusions all over what was visible of their bodies. I also watched as they heal right in front of my eyes. These two are the only ones with healing factors, so they recovered fast, too fast. Deadpool had his katana sword out, in a combat stance. You could see part of his face and torso. There were all these cancerous lesions all over his skin. It looked disgusting. Sabertooth was also in a combat stance with his claws out, looking like he was ready to pounce. We all stood there staring at each other. Finally, Cruz broke the silence.

"Hey guys. Rough night?"

"Excedrine headache number one twenty eight," Deadpool remarked. "You know, I reached a decision. I've decided I don't like you people."

"Wow," said Hooker. "My fragile ego may never recover being denied your affection."

Sabertooth growled. He actually growled. "Now we finally get to have a personal chat together. Isn't that nice?"

"In case you missed the obvious, there are five of us and only two of you," Dorsey pointed out.

"If I were you, I'd beg for mercy," Sabertooth countered. "I might be persuaded to kill most of you fast."

"How sweet, but the other obvious thing you missed is your buddy's sword is metal." Dorsey raised his hand and Deadpool's sword flew out of his hand, flip around in the air and positioned itself against Sabertooth's throat.

"Now let's see," Dorsey went on. "If I remember right, a Katana is a slicer not a stabber. So Creed, if I slice your head off, will your healing factor bring you back from that?"

We were about to begin. Those two morons were the only things between us and our dreams. I was thinking about phasing Deadpool in to the wall and leaving him there, but then Hooker got the look. Ah shit! Now what?

"Not again," he said. "They're like cockroaches, you never get rid of them."

"Who?" I asked.

"X Men," he answered. "Six of them, Storm, Phoenix, Moonstone, Cannonball, Bishop and one I don't recognize."

A minute later the southeast door we were heading for blow open and there they were. The six stood there facing us. Sabertooth, with the sword still against his throat and Deadpool stood between us and them. There was Storm, with her hands glowing and Wolverine with his metal claws unsheathed and a killer look on his face. Bishop pointed this big ass rifle at us. Cannonball looked ready to take off and Phoenix and Moonstone crouched in fighting stands.

"I want those CDs," Storm announced.

"Is that right?" Dorsey answered. "And I want Angelina Jolie to walk up to me naked, say she loves me and is willing to do anything and everything I order her to do. The way things are going tonight, I don't think either one of us is going to get what we want."

"I think it's time we had a little talk," Wolverine said. "Cause I want something else you have. I want the pictures, all of them or I'll take your balls instead. Your choice, bub." He waved his claws at us as he started to approach.

"Question," Hooker's voice rang out in our heads. Everyone could hear him except Sabertooth and Deadpool. "Does anyone here know what a deadman switch is?"

The X Men looked puzzled. "Do you know what a deadman switch is?" Hooker repeated. I didn't know what he was talking about, but Wolverine apparently did, because his claws disappeared in to his hands and his hands dropped to his sides.

"What is it?" Storm asked Wolverine. Hooker smiled. "In the early days of the railroad, if you were riding on a train and the engineer got a heart attack and dropped dead, you were screwed. Unless the conductor could get to the engine and stop the train, you were going to crash and die a horrible death. Then they came out with the deadman switch. Now, instead of the engineer having to do something to stop the train, he had to do something to keep the train going. As long as he kept his hand on the deadman switch the train moved, if he ever took his hand off the train stopped."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Storm thought.

"Same principle applies to blackmail. I knew the only reason you wanted Rachel and Dani to make sure I didn't go out that night is so you can have Sage read Dorsey's mind without me warning him," He directed his answer to Storm. "That meant you knew what we were planning and you'd be here tonight. So I set up a deadman switch and didn't tell anyone."

Storm's eyes grew wide. "What have you done?"

"All the images we took of you all are in the form of emails with attachments. Like the deadman switch, I don't have to do anything to send them out. They are going to mail out automatically in a little over an hour. I have to do something to stop them, but if I don't, they will go out."

"But there will never be an end to this," Storm cried. "You will always have this over our heads. What if you get caught by the police? Will you expose us then?"

"Not really," Dorsey cut in. "This is our last job. Tonight it ends. All you have to do is step aside, let us leave and keep these two assholes from following us. You'll never see us again."

"How do we know we can trust you?"

Dorsey smiled. "Storm, have I ever lied to you?"

For a minute she hesitated. She had a pained look on her face. Then she slowly nodded. "Let them go," she said. They stood to one side and we walked out in single file, never looking back.

The rest of the morning went as planned. We met with Threnody at the warehouse, where Hooker handed her the CDs and she transferred the payment. Perry and me boosted an SUV and switched the plates with another one. Hooker meanwhile distributed the money to each of our accounts. Then we all climbed in and drove for Mexico. We crossed the border around noon and headed for the airport. At the airport parking lot Hooker handed out our packages.

"This is your account numbers and the bank. I suggest you memorize it. We each have eleven and a half million American. You also have four passports under different names. The first gets you out of Mexico, the last one is your new ID when you get where you want to go. I suggest you study them on the plane. Your tickets are also there. Will, your flight leaves in forty minutes. Harry, departs in ninety minutes. Diego and me leave is two hours on the same flight since we're going in the same direction. Onboard we won't know each other and after the first stop we go in different directions. Kiddo, you leave last, at three. Questions?"

There were none. We abandoned the car and walked in to the terminal. None of us had luggage to check, only carry on. The mood was somber. For over two and a half years they had been my family. We been in fights, hung out, partied, worked out and, of course, took down scores together. We knew and trusted each other more then anyone else in my short life. There was nothing I wouldn't do for these guy and I knew there was nothing they wouldn't do for me. I couldn't picture being closer to anyone else and I didn't even know if I'd ever see them again. Cruz suggested a ten year reunion. Something about meeting at the Eiffel Tower ten years from today. We said our goodbyes and one by one we all went our separate ways.

I headed for Japan where I opened my own art studios. Cruz went to Madrid where he open a motorcycle fabrications shop. Hooker started a game software company in Paris. Perry hung out in the Bahamas until things cool down, then went to back LA to start a hip hop record label. We all enjoyed a good amount of success. I lost track of Dorsey, I don't know where he went or what he's doing. I miss the life. I miss my friends. Living on the edge is a hard habit to break. These days I get my satisfaction from success. Every gallery opening, every book that get published brings on a warm feeling. Success is always a rush, but it's not the same as risking it all. I guess this is what it means to grow up.

I kept in touch with Cruz. He told me a story about Hooker, didn't know if it was true. Cruz said every now and then Jack goes back to the US on business and makes a stop at a place near New York City called Salem Center. He makes a call to either Phoenix or Moonstone and just says a word. This word puts them in some kind of trance. They come to his hotel room and spend the night with him. He also uses them to lure other X women to where he's waiting with that pheromones cologne splashed all over himself. I understand Rogue's power came back, so he can't touch her anymore and he was never really attracted to Sage, but he has had Storm, Pride, a green haired bitch named Polaris and some platinum blond names Frost. The pheromones make them open to Hooker's telepathic suggestions, thus getting them to forget the whole thing after he's done with them. I don't know if that story is true, but knowing Hooker, I'd never bet against it.

THE END