By Raven Adams

They walked silently though the alleyway like two black cats hunting mice. They slipped though shadows, as if they were made of the same substance. No words were spoken between the pair, none seemed to be needed.

Coming to the end of the ally, one of the dark figures knocked three times on the door at the back of one building. Like in a movie, or a book, a slide slid open to revel two shadowed eyes that looked at the two figures.

"Pass word?" came from the owner of the eyes on the other side of the door.

"Don't know it." the figure who had knocked said and leaned against the wall.

"Then Ya ain't gettin' in." The sliding panel started to close, but the figure moved her hand to intercept it before it closed fully, and pushed it open again. The eyes on the other side looked startled.

"I'm here to see the Sneak."

"No one here by that name."

"Now that's a shame. He'd be mighty mad to find out I was here but you didn't let me in." She lit a match and brought it up to her face, recognition flashed in the eyes and the door was quickly opened. She tossed the match aside, and as the flame died, a third figure came from out of the shadows, and the three of them walked in.

"Fallow me." The owner of the eyes said as he started in toward the front of the building. He pushed open anther door, and loud music greeted them. The woman and the largest of the two men with her, looked straight ahead, ignoring the notice that surrounded them. The other man looked down in surprise to find that he was on a catwalk in a warehouse where a rave was being held. Hundreds of teenaged bodies clashed together to rhythms of the music and drugs. Some were passed out just under the catwalk where there were more shadows, others there were busy getting to know each other thanks to the help of "No" or "Ecstasy." ¹

"Stupid kids." He mumbled as he sifted his eyes away.

The girl looked over her shoulder at him, her gray eyes telling him that what was going on below them hadn't escaped her notice. "Don't worry about it." She whispered back.

Before he could say anything, they were ushered into a small room, the door closed behind them, muffling out most of the noise. The man turned to look at the girl. "Please tell me we're here to stop this."

"Wish we were, but we're not. Have a seat." She motioned to one of the chairs that surrounded a small round table. When he didn't sit, she shrugged and pulled one of the chairs out, and straddled it backwards.

"You're not going to tell me we're just going to sit up here and do nothing about what's going on down stairs, are you?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Look, Drake, I didn't ask you to come, I didn't want to come myself. I wanted to spend some time reminiscing with Gambit, but no! I had ... was ordered, as if that in it's self doesn't make me mad, to come on this mission to gather information, and you volunteered to come remember? So sit down, and shut up! If you do anything to jeopardize this, I'll skin you alive!" Lizzie's voice was dripping with venom, The two were so caught up in glaring at each other that they notice the man who walked into the room. But the tall man noticed and a growl came low from his throat.

"Call off Shadow, Rave, or you're going to wish you had." The new man, a tall blond with green eyes that seemed to shine with some kind of enter fire, said coming around toward Lizzie and Bobby.

"Don't know why I should, since I like you about as much as he does..." she paused for effect, "But seeing as how we're 'related'... I'd rather not have to explain to your father why I let Shadow spread your innards all around New York City."

Two blond eyebrows shot up in amusement. "Well, aren't we a bit touchy tonight? And who's this?" he asked noticing Bobby for the first time. "A new partner? What'd you do, kill Kert too? Or was he just afraid you would do to him what you did to Dev?"

Lizzie jumped up, the chair fell beneath her with a crash, and she leaned over the table and growled in the back of her throat. "That was low, even for a snake like you." She said in a low menacing voice, her eyes red like blood or fire. "I didn't kill Deven. Bring it up again and I'll show you just how 'cold' I can be, 'brother.'"

A slow grin spread across Sneak's face, "You still think to call me brother? I've seen what you did to Dev, and he was more of your brother then I."

Lizzie flinched as if she had been hit, and Shadow growled this time, but did nothing.

"I came here to do business. Not to insult each other all night."

"So lets get to it, shall we?" He said with false politeness.

Lizzie righted her chair, sat, then grabbed hold of Bobby's sweatshirt and dragged him down into the chair beside her. "Don't worry about what's going on down stairs. As soon as we're done, we'll take care of that." She whispered load enough for only him to hear. He nodded slightly, and she released her grip on his shirt.

"This is Herman McCloud." Sneak said pushing an open file folder toward them. Lizzie grabbed the folder and just glanced at the pitcher of an elderly man with gray hair and big bushy eyebrows before passing it over to Bobby. "Herman makes toys, or so he'd let everyone think. My bosses believe he is making and selling drugs that are then sold to today's youth. Drugs that need to be taken off our streets."

Lizzie snorted. "What do you care about 'today's youth'? You've got a party going on downstairs where you'll probably have to call an ambulance before the night's over because someone's ODed. And besides, what's a little competition?"

"Mr. McCloud is on my bosses payroll. They don't like the fact that he may be making money and not cutting them in on it. We usually have a bug and a few cameras in his office..."

"'We?'" She interrupted him, "Did I... did I hear 'we?' I know I couldn't have, because there is no 'we.' You were kicked out of the 'we' stuff, remember?"

This got her an angry glare. "Your organization usually has a bug and a few cameras in his office, but they only last for about a year. My bosses' want info from the computer in his office, and in return, we give you the bugs you need. State of the art. No cheep stuff here."

"Let's see it."

"First, I'll have to go over the building blueprints with-"

"No need." She held up her hand before he could go any further. "Torch and I put them in last time. I know the building, all I want is the stuff."

"Fine then. You get killed, it'll be your own fault."

"Yeah, so it will be." She turned in her chair slightly and gasped, her hand coming up to her chest. Her eyes turned a pale blue, and she stopped breathing for a second. Shadow stepped forward and pounded her on the back. She let out a gasp of air and a sigh of relief at the same time.

"Rave, you okay?" Was that concern Bobby heard in Sneak's voice? But it couldn't have been. The two obviously didn't like each other, but had to work together right now. So it wasn't concern.

"Yes. It just ... sneaks up on me every once and a while. Let finish our business so we can get out of here, shall we?"

Sneak pulled up a briefcase and sat it on the table facing Lizzie. "First," he held his hand over it so she couldn't open it. "Are you going to do the job or not?"

"Got to see the merchandise first, then you'll have my answer." Sneak stared long and hard at her before nodding and lifting his hand away. She opened it and gave a low whistle. "You're going for the big guns tonight aren't you Jackson?" She let his name slip before she even realized it.

Jackson Jentree, AKA Sneak, smiled at her, an almost loving smile. "You know Father, got to have the best. Got the best school, the best job, and the best ... kids. I can't skimp where he's concerned, and you know it Beth. It's the best or nothing."

"Best kids huh? You talkin' 'bout you, or Timofee?"

"Me and Timofee and that sister ... now what's her name?" His eyes sparkled.

Suddenly they were both at ease with each other, as if they had were long time friends. Realizing this, they both jerked their heads up and glared at each other.

"Where did you get them? It's hard enough for Animal to get anything this good, so how did you?"

"None of your business."

"I'll make it my business." She stood again, leaning across the table, Sneak stood in the same position. Their noses almost touched.

"My father loves you more."

"Your father has good taste, and knows a bad seed when he sees one."

"I'm a bad seed? And you're not? Ha! That's a laugh."

"If you stole these things, I'll be going somewhere else to do business."

"Oh no you won't! You're here because my bosses need a job done. It's CMS code to finish a job and do it right!"

"Oh, you're one to talk!"

"I'm one to talk? What about you? As far as I've heard, Striker is still out of jail."

Lizzie paled slightly, and instantly Sneak regretted his choice of words. "A fact that was of no fault of mine, considering I was almost killed. But where were you? You were supposed to be there with Dev backing us up. But no! You had more important matters to worry about. It's no wonder Conrad kicked you out of CMS!"

The angry words were there, the frowns and looks of hatred, but none of that crept into ether of their eyes as they stared each other down. Lizzie's eyes, a shining blue-green, had a look of admiration in them, while Sneak's eyes betrayed the fact that it was hurting him to say these things to her. Bobby had no idea what was going on, but since Lizzie's bodyguard, Shadow, hadn't made a sound during this exchange, he assumed no one was going to get hurt or killed.

Bobby leaned over to look into the briefcase, and frowned. Inside were ink pins, pencils, thumbtacks, and other little office supplies. Nothing to get so worked up about. He didn't get it. And he said so.

Lizzie looked down at him, startled, as if she had forgotten that he was there, and sat back down. "State of the art equipment." She said picking up one of the pins. "A bug is placed in the end of this, undetectable. This one," putting down the pin, she picked up one of the thumbtacks, "is a camera. Place it in any wall, and it will record and send transmissions for over a year before it dies. Much of the rest of this is bugs and cameras, disguised as usable things you would find in any office. Very good stuff here. Especially this." She said picking up a hard disk. "He puts this in his computer, and it downloads everything on his hard drive, everything, without his knowing it, and sends a transmission to our own computer at HQ. He can save to it, download from it, anything you can do with a regular floppy disk, you can do with this."

"As I said," Sneak leaned back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his head, "State of the art. No cheep stuff here... You doing it?" A nod. "Do you know what you're supposed to do?"

"Of course. Get in, download the cache files from the computer, plant the bugs, and get out without getting caught. How's the security?"

"Nine guards, five dogs, and an alarm system."

"Stats on the alarm?"

"A Meg GM five hundred, and a Gamma five six three two. Alone each would be difficult to brake through, together, impossible."

"Good, I thought it was going to be a hard one tonight."

"Wait." Bobby held up a hand, "He just said it was impossible. How're we going to get though this thing?"

The three others chuckled, it was Lizzie who answered as she closed the briefcase. "The difficult will take time, the impossible will just take a little more. Come on, Drake. If we're going to do this, we need to do it soon." She said standing and tossing the case in Bobby's lap. "Sneak." She inclined her head politely. He stood up and they stared at each other. "You know I'm going to stop this, don't you?"

Catching the double meaning, Sneak nodded. "I'd think less of you if you didn't." Also with a double mining.

"Let's go Drake, Shadow." And the three were out the door.

"Hi sugah, why the glum face?" Rogue asked as she sat down beside Gambit in the blackbird. He didn't look at her, just kept his gaze out the window. "Stupid question, huh?" She saw the corner of his lip move ever so slightly. "You don't think she's goin' ta disappear on ya do ya?"

"Been known t' happen from time t' time when she li'le. I was de only one who could find her ... but if she leave now, I don' t'ink I could find her 'gain." He continued to watch the night sky pass out the window. Rogue placed a hand over his, and he turned it upward to give hers a squeeze. "I didn' get t' see her grow int' de woman she is, she was all knees an' elbows when she li'le. Now she a real belle, one dat her mother could 'ave been proud of, one dat I be proud of. I wasn' dere t' save her from Sinister. I wasn' dere when she need me. When she born, I promised myself I always look af'er her. But I didn'. I feel like I let her down, dat it all my fault what happened t' her. I want t' make it up t' her. I... I don' want t' lose her 'gain. I don' t'ink my heart could take it."

The look her gave her made tears form behind her eyes, but she pushed them back and smiled at him. "Remy, ah don't think she's-" before Rogue could finish her sentence, the blackbird jerked backward, and she was thrown over the back of the seat in front of her.

"Rogue!" Remy jumped up from his seat only to be thrown back down.

"Hey, Summers! I thought ya got th' bugs outa this thing!" Wolverine said pulling Jubilee up from the floor. She had a big gash on her forehead from her fall, and it was bleeding badly. Beast was hurrying down the ale with his med-kit to get to her.

"With all th' technology we got, you'd think we could have a flight without turbulence!" It was the first thing she'd said since Lizzie had told her someone name Deven wasn't with her.

"This isn't ter-" another jerk, this time Beast, who was standing in the ale treating Jubilee's laceration, was thrown foreword and into the cockpit.

"I suggest, o' fearless leader, that you take us down a few feet to terminate this turbulence." He said picking his fury blue body up from the floor.

"I'd love to do just that, Hank," Scott said lifting his hands from the controls. "But you see... I'm not flying the jet anymore."

"Oh, dear."

Back on the catwalk, Lizzie leaned over the rail to look at the teens dancing below. They were kids her age, and younger, all thinking it was cool to be there tonight getting high and listening to Marlin Manson while black lights flashed around them, casting strangely hypnotic shadows on the walls.

"Quinn would be having seizures if he could hear the lyrics of this music." She said shaking her head sadly. She turned away from the throng of teens, and looked hard at Bobby. "You want to stop this don't you?"

"Yes!" He nodded, "don't you?"

Lizzie nodded and motioned Shadow beside her. The huge man leaned down so she could say something in his ear. When he stood strait again, he gave her a look that said "not on your life lady," but Lizzie just shook her head at him. "I'm going to be fine, I'm not going to get myself killed over something this insignificant. And besides, I've got an X-Man backing me up."

"That's what I'm worried about, Hun." It was the first thing Bobby had heard the man say since Lizzie had introduced them, and it was the longest sentence Lizzie had heard from him all month.

But she just grinned at him, and put a hand on his arm. "Les mon gana mana tos cont₂. Look, old friend. If you can let Dev out of your sight for more then a month, then you can let me out of your sight for an hour or two. 'Kay?"

"Deven is not sick." It was said plainly, without emotion, but Bobby could see the worried look in Shadow's eyes.

"I'm fine! When is everyone going to believe me? I ... am ... FINE!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "If you are so, then why did you stop breathing in there?"

Lizzie paled slightly. "I'm doing the best I can, and I'm not going to let what he did to me stop me from stopping what's happening below. I need you to do it ... especially if we get caught, then you can get us out. Treat this just like if Kert were by my side, not Drake. Got it?"

After a moments hesitation, he nodded, handed her the bag he'd been carrying, and turned away. But he stopped when he was beside Bobby. "Anything happens to her, I'll brake every bone in your body." And then he walked away.

"He's just a little over protective. He doesn't mean it, if he did, he would have killed Cyclops when he grabbed me."

"That's a comfort." Bobby mumbled under his breath.

"What are you doing??!!" Bobby practically screamed. Lizzie just looked up at him and smiled. She pulled the knife back out of the tire and moved to the other side of the car to do the same with the others.

"I sent Shadow off to call the cops, and I want Sneak to be here when they arrive." She said matter-of-factly

"How do you know this is his car?" He asked lowering his voice a little.

"Because I bought it for him." She stood and surveyed her work. "Come on. We've got work to do, and only three hours to do it." She turned and started away from him so that he was forced to follow. She walked in between cars, until she found the one she was looking for, and got in. Bobby opened the passenger door just in time to see her hot wire and start it up.

"Now we're stealing this car?!"

"Get in and buckle up." Was all Lizzie said before fastening her own seat belt. Bobby barely had time to close his door before the car jumped into reverse and screeched out the parking lot. "Rule one," Lizzie said tossing a pair of black gloves she pulled out of the bag Shadow had given her into his lap. "You were these at all times. I don't have fingerprints any more, but you do. And I'm sure you've got them on file somewhere out there. I don't want to be back home and find out a month later that you were caught because the police lifted your fingerprints. Understood?" He nodded and pulled the gloves on.

"Rule two: I'm in charge. You don't know what we're doing, and I'm aware of that. You have questions ask me.

"Rule three: People know about your powers, you are Iceman after all. If you go in there blasting away ice, then they're going to know it was you. Please use discretion with them.

"And rule four: no killing. I don't like to leave dead bodies after me wherever I go. I doubt you have a problem with that. Any questions?" This whole statement was said not truly as a command, but more as a request.

"Yeah. How come you don't sound like Gambit?" Bobby asked lightly.

"Huh?" That wasn't exactly what she was expecting.

"How come you don't talk like him?"

"We're about to go into a drug dealers office, steal some of his computer files, and get out all without getting caught, and you want to know why I don't sound Cajun?" She asked taking her eyes off the road only long enough to give him a disbelieving look. He just nodded, and started nosing around in the bag. Lizzie rolled her eyes. "You're just like my partner."

"Hope that's a good thing." He held up a skirt in one had and a pair of pumps in the other, lifting his eye brows to her.

"Could be." She didn't say anything else for a moment, she was studying the buildings on her side of the road. "Would you like it better if I talk like dis?" She asked suddenly in a cajun accent. Bobby looked up from the bag and stared at her, realizing she sounded more at ease, as if she didn't have to fight something anymore. "Dis be de way I talk all my life, but since I join CMS, dere ain't no way I could keep dis up. You see, de way I talk very important. I can' say I from New York born an' raised if I talk like dis, could I?" She coughed. "It's been awhile since I've let myself do that. Conrad would kill me if he knew. I can speak many languages fluently, and copy their accents perfectly. All of us can. It's part of the job."

She pulled the car over, and grabbed the bag away form Bobby to rummage around in it.

"And who's Dev?"

Lizzie looked up from the bag and stared at him in surprise. "Off my accent and onto my family, huh?"

"That guy, Sneak, he said you killed him... You just got done saying you've never killed anyone. So what was he talking about."

"Very good, Drake. Most people wouldn't have caught that! He only said that because he couldn't think up anything better to say. Deven is very much alive. He's my brother." Bobby just stared at her, she could practically see the wheels turning in his head. "Just after Sinister kidnaped me, he kidnaped a human boy who had been living on the streets. Sinister picked Dev because he looks exactly like me, and he's only six days older then I am. Sinister did his experiments on me, and then on Dev. He was the only comfort I had, and vis versa. It was also Deven who persuaded Shadow to help us escape.

"He isn't just my brother. He's my twin, in all ways, looks, personality, all the powers I got from Sinister he has. But he's even more then that. He's one of my best friends. Get Dev, Shadow, and my partner Kert in the same room with someone whose tried to hurt me, and they'll rip them to pieces. After joining CMS, he even took the LeBeau name.

"Now look; are we going to sit in this car all night asking each other questions, or are we going to get this over with?"

"What do you mean you are not flying the blackbird?!?!"

"Stop screaming Emma! I'm trying to get control back!"

"Uh... Mr. Summers, sir ... ah think yah should be doin' that any time now. 'Cause, yah see, there is a jet comin' real close ta us right now."

"WHAT?"

Phoenix and Cannonball rushed over to look out the window where Paige was, both remembering Operation: Zero Tolerance and that they too had boarded the blackbird. The only difference: they hadn't been boarded yet.

"That thing looks familiar..." Jubilee was looking at the other jet from another window.

"Cyclops, open the doors, Ah'm goin' out."

"Right behind yah, Rouge!"

"I've seen..." It was as if a light turned on in Jubilee's head, her eyes got big and her mouth dropped open. "Angelo, Jono get over here! Doesn't that look like-"

**Striker.** Jonothan said telepathically as he too recognized the jet.

"But ... but" Skin was at a lost for words, beads of sweet started to form on his forehead.

"Opening the doors." Cyclops said from the cockpit.

"NO!" The three Generation-Xers yelled at the same time. But it was too late.

Striker looked out the window to see the X-Men's jet slowly lose altitude. Good, he thought, soon revenge will be mine. He snubbed his cigar butt into the ashtray on his seat's arm, and smiled imagining himself doing the same to the raven haired gaijin who had dared to steal from him.

The door to the Blackbird opened slowly. "Now, Guttlecrawl."

"Yes, Master."

Bobby looked at the sleeping dogs in surprise. They had just only jumped over the fence surrounding the building, when five huge dogs came snarling out of nowhere. Lizzie, very calmly, striped off her black jogging suit to revile the same uniform she had worn the first time Bobby had seen her, and threw it at the dogs. They ripped the cloth to pieces, and suddenly they were all walking around as if drunk. Then they collapsed.

"Wha... how?"

Lizzie grinned. "Sleeping dust, made into the fabric. Only works on dogs though. Come on, I have the key to the back door, so we won't have to climb up the wall."

The two of them crept in the shadows on cat's feet. Lizzie in the lead, walking as if she owned the place, and Bobby having no choice but to fallow, although a little bit more on edge. Just before reaching the corner, Lizzie stopped and listened carefully, raising her hand up when Bobby thought to ask what was wrong.

"Three men, just going around the other corner. We can go now." She whispered softly.

"How do you know?" Bobby whispered just as softly.

Lizzie lifted up her hair on the left side of her face, reveling a long pointed ear underneath. "One of my 'gifts' form Sinister. You'd be amazed at what I can hear when I really try. Now let's go."

They stole around the corner of the building just in time to see someone else on the other side go around. "I say we've got about two minutes before they get back to this side." She whispered, removing a little pack from her belt. She opened the pack, and pulled out a lock-pic. Inserting it in the lock, she move it around for a few seconds, and the door opened. "Remind me to kiss Gambit for teaching me how to do this."

They walked into the building, both of them ready for someone to jump out at them at any moment. But all was quiet. Bobby quietly closed the door behind them, and Lizzie held up something that looked like a lightsaber from Starwars. She held it over their heads and looked around. They were in a storage room, huge boxes and crates felled almost all the space. Many of them were labeled "McCloud Toys" in big red letters, but there were some others labeled with a big green stamp of a dragon.

When Lizzie saw the dragon she stopped dead in her tracks. "No" she whispered more to herself then to Bobby. She walked up to one of the dragon stamped crates and studied the symbol. "Hold this." She handed Bobby the "lightsaber" and pulled a large knife out of her boot. She used it to pry open the crate, and threw it down. It clattered to the floor noisily.

"Um, Lizzie ... should you be making so much noise?"

She ignored him and started pulling hay out of crate. About halfway down she found what she was looking for and pulled it out. "Bring that closer." She ordered. Bobby did as she said without question and looked at the thing in her hands. It was a very strange, very large gun, the likes of witch Bobby had never seen before. But if the look on Lizzie's face had anything to say about it, she had.

She pulled open the chamber, a green liquid spilled out. She pushed him back before it could spread to his feet. "Don't get near it Bobby!" She said using his given name for the first time. Instead of following her own orders, she knelt beside it, and dipped a finger in it. She brought it up to her nose, and promptly stopped breathing.

Like a beaten dog with it's tail between it's legs, the X-Men Striker hadn't taken, flew off, leaving their fallen conrads behind. Not that they had had much choice in the matter, as how all of them were unconscious.

Striker knew they wouldn't stay beaten too long. They would regroup with the other X-Men left at the mansion, and they would be back to get what Striker had stolen from them. Hopefully, they would be back with the girl and what she had stolen from him.

He walked to the back of his jet, smiling as he saw the last of his prisoners being shackled and equipped with one of his collars. He walked over the Jubilee and lifted her face to look at him. "The others I may throw back," He said smiling coldly down at her. "But you, I just might keep. I've been meaning to get a new Pet." Jubilee spat in his face. Striker stopped smiling and wiped the saliva off. Then he slapped her backhanded so hard she was thrown back against the bulkhead, and was unconsious. Jean Summers tried to go to her, but found she couldn't move. The same could be said for Rogue, Skin, and Chamber.

Striker walked back out, smiling again. He couldn't wait the kill the raven haired gaijin.

2 "Les mon gana mana tos cont." while in Sinister's lab, Lizzie and Deven made up their own language so they could talk without being understood. This means "I'm not as weak as I was."

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