Crimson: Did a few changes here and there, so here's the second version. Hopefully, I won't be sending you a third re-write.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters 'cause Marvel beat me to it, shimatta. But the one that sounds like she doesn't belong that one's mine and mine alone.

Note: I use several words (Some are swear words, who woulda thought koopa in Polish = fuck [!?]) in different languages, and that might lead to some very confusing statements.

** = telepathic conversations
{} = person's thoughts

This is it folks, you're only chance to turn back. If you decide to stay, you have been forewarned of the dangers that are involved.

Night was falling as the people of Manhattan; Salem Center to be exact, started up for the nightlife. Among these night-goers was one Cajun Remy LeBeau. He, like many others, he is a mutant but not just any mutant: he's an X-Man. Gambit, the rogue thief that once wandered the bayous of New Orleans, Louisiana. He has a hidden past with many dark secrets that have been haunting him as of late, especially on this twisted night.

His companion was one Canadian runt by the name of Logan better known as Wolverine, the savage Canadian. These, two outcasts were on their way to Harry's Hideaway for a drink or two.

"Alright Cajun, what gives?" asked Logan in his usual gruff tone of voice.

"Not'in' gives, Log'n" the Cajun's accent emphasized 'Logan' as he stated it, so it came out as Low-gun.

"Then why'ja invite me?" Remy's expression darkened and turned serious at this,

"Somet'in' is goin' t' 'appen. Somet'in' big" Logan darkened at this, he like Remy had a hidden past, dark secrets and a body count no one can top. He could smell the seriousness emanating from the swamp rat. He, too, could tell that something was going to hit.

And hit it did, both X-Men were thrown back as a plasma blast exploded underneath their feet. Logan rolled with the explosion then leapt to his feet, three bone claws popped out with a SKNIT. Remy jumped to his feet just in time to see their attacker, Sinister standing before them with his usual gloating smile plastered onto his metallic face.

"What do ya want?" Asked a pissed off Wolverine, Sinister looked at him then at Gambit. Something crossed his face, fear? worry? hatred? confusion? amusement?, it could have been any of these.

"I have no quarrel with you, but the one that hides behind you"

"Well bub, you're goin' hafta go through us first"

"Exactly, that is what I was trying to do" The two X-Men looked confused at this, "You see, he wants me and since you are foolishly blocking his way, he will have to go through you two first, to catch me" The moonlight shimmered off of Sinister's teeth as he smiled his trademark smile. He turned and ran from the scene, leaving the two loners alone with Sinister's dilemma.

A low and savage growl echoed from behind Gambit and Wolverine, they turned to see a large tooth-gnashing, red-eyed, black-scaled, lion-tailed, eagle-winged, mongrel-like devil-dog.

The beast appeared to be the size of a one story building, give or take a few meters, weighing as much as 2, 590kg. The paws on this thing were four times the size of Calaban's hands; the claws embedded into the monstrous pads are about the size of Wolverine's only thrice as thick. It had long hair on its feet up to its knees; a mane of coarse, tangled black hair ran down its back to the top of its head. Its red eyes burned an eerie glowed of demonic fun and pleasure, as it stared at the place Sinister had once stood in not too long ago.

*NeW tOyS* reverberated inside the minds of the mutant outlaws, as the devil-dog discharged its talon-like claws. Its swiped at the 'toys', both warriors leapt out of the way. It didn't like this and snapped at Wolverine with its metal-crushing jaws. Wolverine spun out of harm's way and slashed at it with his bone claws, catching it in the eye. The devil-dog reared in pain at the loss of its eye, thrashing its head around wildly.

Wolverine bounded onto the demon's back, trying to ride it but with the thrashing it was doing, he had to jam his claw in the demon's pelt so that he could stay on. Wolverine looked up to see the three kinetically charged cards heading for him and the devil-dog that he was riding, he vaulted off and ran after the retreating Gambit.

Gambit reached into his pocket and withdrew three cards; among them was the Ace of Spades the card of death. Charged with kinetic energy, he threw them at the demon and sprinted after the departed Sinister.

"Hey Gumbo, any reason on why that thing is after Sinister?" Gambit shook his head.

"Gambit don' know, but if it's after 'im den, 'e's in for some fun times, non?" Wolverine chuckled at this.

"We'd better inform Cyke" Gambit nodded, the two X-Men made their way to the X-Mansion.

The silhouette of a humanoid figure could be made out as it shifted uncomfortably in the shadows. It was watching five adolescents; they were walking around in search of some fun or excitement. {So, dese are de ones}, the figure thought dourly. The group, the figure was watching, contained Jason Gerber, Adam Kirby, Peyton Conway, Davetta Mantlo and Lloyd Englehart.

These five are mutants; Slapshot, Pipedream, Rewind, Charade and Red Rover happens to be their code names, respectively. Their powers are pretty much what their codes names stated; Slapshot could change the trajectory of any moving object while Pipedream could slip someone a dream, Rewind was able to rewind back time, Charade can convince anyone of anything no matter what it was. Red Rover is well, a mutant dog if you will.

What they were doing wasn't clear, for they'd stop every once in awhile and saying something to each other. Nineteen-year-old Lloyd was quiet as always, but you could tell he was agitated by something.

"Guys, we're being watched" his southern drawl could be heard as he spoke, Adam looked at him and nodded. The group continued walking as if nothing was wrong, Jason soon asked.

"Where are they?" Lloyd nodded to the hiding place the figure was in. "Should we confront or not?" Adam pondered this and shook his head.

"No, we don't know how they are or what they want. We'll wait until they confront us"

"Isn't that dangerous?" asked the fourteen-year old Davetta; she's the youngest and the smartest in the five-some.

"Would you rather we face them and lose or wait and see what they want?" Davetta shook her head. "Alright, then let's see what happens with 'our' guest" The group nodded at Adam's suggestion.

Adam was dubbed leader earlier on when the group was first formed. Lloyd didn't want the job even if he was the eldest of the five. Peyton wasn't up to the work of being leader, Davetta wasn't to be trusted with the job and Jason, like Lloyd, didn't want the job of leader. So, it went to him only by default, but that was soon going to change. For better or worse, it was going to happen.

The figure melted out of the shadows and into the light of the night, but far enough away from the five. A much, _much_ smaller version of the devil-dog appeared, the figure reached down and petted the dog roughly on the head. The dog leaned heavily on the figure's legs.

"'Ex..." A low and incensed voice growled from the figure's mouth. "Arret" The dog looked up and appeared to shrug then removed itself from its owner's legs.

*PlAy?* The figure shook their head,

*Non, Hex we've work t' do. We're only 'ere because Mot'er an' fat'er sent us, t'...* the figure stopped, when they realized that their words were being wasted on a demon. *Go play wit somet'ing* Hex started walking off when the figure telepathed to Hex. *Nothin' livin' t'oug'*

The figure stood out in the crowd of people that wandered the streets. Her purplish white hair was one thing that caused her to stick out, sunglasses covered her demonic eyes, her French-Canadian accent and body movements. And her taste in clothing didn't help; black thigh-hugging jeans, a red loose tee shirt, a red jacket tied loosely around her waist and leather and suede sneakers. What frightened the people the most was the tattoo that covered the whole right side of her face, a fiery red thunder bolt with demonic wings.

I watched the humans wander the trails that they decreed as walkways for their human means of marching. I stood off from the paths, keeping my eyes covered from the view of the bipeds that walked around me. The back of my left hand started itching, {Somet'in' goin' t' 'appen soon, I c'n feel it}

{My name is... Alex Rembrandt Xavier, de only daug'ter o' de Last X-Warriors; my 'rents are de only people protectin' our world from Prop'esy. Dey watc' over me carefully fer my 'unca' wis'es t' get 'is 'ands on me fer 'researc''. I, fer one know w'at 'e wants wit' me but wit' 'Ex as my guardian I'm safe from 'is 'arm.

{My s'adow s'ifting powers inform'd me o' 'Ex's passage; my fat'er doesn't approve o' me using dese powers 'cause 'e believes dat I mig't be track'd.

{My fat'er is like me, we're are bot' freaks, my mot'er was lucky enoug' to be spar'd the torment. Unca 'Ammer is part 'uman an' part cyborg, 'e told me dat I'm not 'uman or mutant 'cause I was creat'd by accident.

{W'at accident? Are probably de most used words dat I 'ave ever said. I don' remember an accident but yet 'Ammer says dat dere was one. I dare not ask my fat'er an' mot'er.} I stopped my pondering, and took in my surroundings. A large building stood in my path, I looked up, and read the sign. "Frost Enterprises"

{Frost? Frost?! Non, can't be. 'E died 23 years ago an' t'erefore can' be livin' in dis world. Must be a different Frost} I continued walking, from the building not realizing that something was amuck.

The Xavier Mansion, the X-Men were gathered in the War Room. Angel and Psylocke were nowhere to be found, also Rogue, Joseph and Bobby were missing.

"What's the problem, Wolverine" The brown haired boy scout, Scott or Cyclops to his enemies,

"Sinister's up to something sinister"

"We know Logan, he's been to quiet lately" Jean better known as the world renounced Phoenix interjected,

"Non, chere. Wolverine's rig't. Sinister is up t' somet'ing. We had a run in wit' 'im. 'e was being chased by a beast" The blue furred beast, Hank, looked over at his cajun companion,

"A beast?" he asked. His glasses slipping down his nose a bit, pushed them up to their rightful place.

"Oui, Henri. A beast"

"Gumbo ain't lying, I saw the thin'"

"Could it have been one of Sinister creations?" The mortal goddess, Ororo asked,

"Don't know, Stormy" Gambit looked at the ground, his mind turning over the events that had transpired earlier that evening. He looked up to look at the faces of his comrades. A small flashback occurred; New Orleans, a church, cards and Sinister. {I trusted Sinister, oui but he 's not a mon ami, to dis Cajun. De X-Men are de only family Gambit 'as, Gambit ain't goin' t' lie to dem} "I t'ink Sinister was fearful of de beast"

"Why is that, Gambit?" Remy looked at Cyke and truthfully replied, "I saw de fear wit'in 'is eyes" And if to finalize his statement, Remy's eyes flashed.

Henry shifted in his chair, and straightened his glasses that were sitting on his nose.

"Remy, could you and Logan describe the 'beast' you encountered?" Remy and Logan nodded, both could recall their earlier encounter perfectly. Remy described the beast's make up to Henry.

"Oh my stars and garters" Everyone looked at him, "We should have this thing contained as soon as possible. It is liable to damage something and I would prefer that it not be a living organism"

Cyke quickly formulated a quick plan, at Henry's unsettling uneasiness "Storm, Wolverine and Gambit" The three mentioned perked up, and were now all business. "I want you three, to get to the area you fought the beast and see if you can gather anything information on where it could have went" The three nodded and left the War Room, leaving everyone else to work on a way to trap and if necessary, a way to kill it.

On the Blackbird, Storm and Wolverine were in the cockpit while Gambit was left to wander the belly of the jet. {Why's Sinister frig'ten'd of dat beast?} He tried to figure out the answer but each time he came up with one, he'd rejected for some reason or another. {Sinister also looked and acted differently. Dat beast must know somet'ing about 'im,} "But w'at?" He finished aloud.

Up in the cockpit, Wolverine was talking with Storm. Actually Storm was asking questions while Wolvy answered them.

"Logan, did you see the fear that Remy say was in his eyes?" The Canadian shook his head,

"No, but, something did cross his face"

"Do you believe Remy is lying, to us?" Wolverine started at this, no one had asked him about the Cajun's dark past before. He thought about what Gumbo had done in the past, the secrets that he chooses to keeps from the team. But he always ended up back at his past and his secrets.

"No, the Cajun ain't lyin'" Wolverine voiced, sure of the Cajun's liabilities and where they may lay.

Alex stood in a hotel outside the city limits, why is she hiding, if you will, is unknown.

"Baka, you are but a fool" Alex flopped onto the single bed in the small room, "Fat'er... Serap'... why'd I 'afta come?" Was Alex speaking to herself or was she speaking to her pet that had just walked in.

*YoUr UnCa hErE* Hex growled in her mind, *HaD rUn iN wItH hIm*

"Dat's nice" Hex looked at his charge, attempted to sigh at her apparent shrug off.

*NoT cOuNtErPaRt, HiM* Alex sat up slightly and looked over at him, eyes narrowed in hatred.

"Don' lie, beast" Her eyes then turned to the ceiling, "'Ammer would ne'er let 'im come"

*hE DiD*

"'Ow'd y'know?"

*HaMmEr, NoT kNoW mE ThErE wHeN hE tAlK tO hIm* The two companions sat in silence; one waiting for orders, the other thinking of orders to give.

Alex leapt off of the bed, walked over to Hex, bent down and looked Hex in his blood red eyes.

"Take me t' de place y'first caug't 'is scent" Hex did his best at a nod that a demon can achieve and then leapt into the shadows of the room. Alex clenched her left hand into a fist and four bone claws popped free, she swiftly moved her right hand underneath her jacket and removed a plasma rifle from its holder. "Look out unca, Alex's comin' t' play" And with that she cocked the rifle, and followed her pet.

At the combat site, Gambit and Wolverine were scouting out the ground as Storm checked the air. Gambit let his hyper-sensitive eyes scan the area while Wolverine's nose and ears searched over it. The X insignia on Wolvy's belt started blinking, he tapped it twice and soon Storm's voice could be heard.

"Have you found anything yet?" Her voice echoed throughout the empty alleyway.

"Non, Stormy"

"Gambit" Remy appeared to slouch forward with a guilty look on his face.

"Sorry, chere"

"The Cajun's right there's nothin' here" {I even doubt there will be anythin' any time soon, either}

Above the X-Men stood Alex and Hex.

*PlAy ToYs* Alex smacked Hex on his nose, he brought one of his paws up to his nose and 'rubbed' the sore fraction.

*Non, we wait an' see w'at 'appens* Hex looked unhappy at this but complied. Alex watched as they talked, watched as they contacted the others. Heard the engines of a jet start and she listened to them fade away into the night sky. *It's time* and she jumped down from her perch. She silently landed on the ground not far from the Remy and Logan where they stood. She stepped out of the shadows and started towards the men.

Wolverine caught scent of someone approaching their current location. He crouched down, Gambit sensing that something was amiss, removed a few cards from one of his trench coat's many pockets. He charged them, just alittle and waited until the threat showed themselves.

{Interestin' dey know I'm 'ere} Alex's hand was holding tightly on to her rifle's handle, trigger finger resting lightly on the trigger. She walked slowly forward, quietly as she could and closed the distance between them in one final leap.

"W'y y' 'ere?"