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Victor Creed- Sabretooth- waited in an abandoned warehouse for his partners. He didn't look that much different now than he had a few years ago. His long blond hair and beard were still unkempt; he still sore the large trench coat to cover up the furs, and he still looked just as big and ferocious like he did then.

It wasn't long before there was a knock on the door. He opened it to reveal a short male slightly hunched over, with bent legs that he used for great leaps. His skin was all green and scaly. Behind him was a beautiful light blue woman. Raven Darkholme- Mystique- had been shot with the cure a few months back, and had lost all of her powers. She had been overjoyed when she found out the "cure" wasn't permanent, and started to get her powers back; although, it was taking awhile for to get her color back. At least she had her ridges back.

"Are they here?" Sabretooth asked. Mystique nodded and motioned to someone behind her. Three mutants came out from behind a stack of crates. He recognized John Allerdyce- Pyro- from the Xavier institute. However, he didn't recognize the other two, but Mystique said that they were involved with the Alcatraz incident, and that they needed to be on board. He motioned them inside.

XXX

Hawk walked back inside the mansion, relaxed again. She then realized that she didn't get her book back from the Stepford Cuckoos. Oh well, she thought, hopefully Storm will have it.

On her way to Storm's office, she passed one of her friends, Siryn. "Hey, Siryn," she said.

"Hey, Hawk."

They stopped and spoke for a second. As they talked Storm walked by. "Hi, Storm," both girls said. Hawk looked at Storm for a moment. She would've sworn that Storm's eyes just flashed yellow. Only one way to find out, she figured.

Using her telepathy, she probed Storm's mind. Then she got her answer. "Halt imposter!"

Storm froze for a moment, then bolted up the staircase. Siryn looked at her for a moment, confused. Hawk wasted no time. "Siryn, sound the alarms."

"Why?"

"Because there's an imposter."

Siryn created a sonic scream that forced Hawk and anyone else within a one mile radius to cover their ears- even though it did very little good. "Not right next to me," Hawk said when it was all over, rubbing her ears as she dashed up the staircase.

"Sorry," Siryn said.

Luckily, Syrin's screams also slowed dpwn the intruder.

The intruder stood up and shifted her body to look like Hawk's. "Shape-shifter," Hawk commented. "Got some news for ya, so am I." Hawk shape-shifted into her favorite character from Star Wars, Mara Jade. Now, instead of a dark-dirty blond- that was practically brown- her hair was now a bright red-gold that went down, just below the shoulder blades; her eyes went from a fiery hazel to an intense emerald-green; her skin went from a nice tannish- brown she got from her days in the Florida sun to a pale white dotted every so often with freckles, and she was now in a jumpsuit instead of her riding clothes- which pretty much consisted of only jeans and a shirt; which she wore pretty much every day.

The intruder shrugged. Hawk knew she was probably thinking that people would probably think of her as the real Hawk and Mara as the imposter. Let'em try, Hawk thought. The intruder made the first move by trying to side-kick Hawk in the gut.

Hawk ducked and rolled smoothly into a combat crouch; something she wasn't able to usually do. The intruder got up and tried to run and leap, so that her kick had more momentum. Hawk just lightninged her; producing the lightning through her fingertips.

"I thought you were a shpae-shifter," the intruder demanded in Hawk's voice.

Stang, she's good, Hawk thought. "That's the advantage to my ability," she said smugly. "Whatever ability the person I shift into has, I have. The advantage with this one in particular is that I keep most of my abilities. Haven't you ever heard of the Force?"

The intruder came at her again. This time though, Hawk dropped and did a helicopter kick, dropping her adversary. The intruder recoveredl, though, and got up while Hawk barrel-rolled out of the way.

XXXX

Bobby and Rogue had heard the alarms and had come out into the corridor, where they Hawk and a beautiful red-head fighting.

It looked like Hawk was having a hard time trying to injure the red-head, with all of her quick moves and dodges. Rogue realized who it was and also realized that Hawk wasn't Hawk. "Bobby," she whispered as Bobby got prepared to interfere if neccessary, "don't shoot at the red-head. Shoot at Hawk."

Bobby looked at her questioningly, but shrugged when Rogue gave him a hard look.

XXXX

Hawk saw Rogue and Iceman out of the corner of her eye, and was about to wave them over when she almost got knocked in the jaw. Thankfully, she managed to retaliate with a round house-kick. Then she decided it was time to play dirty- which, she was surprisingly willing to do.

She used her lightning two more times, which knocked the intruder out. Rogue and Bobby rushed over, and Hawk shifted back into her normal self. "Thanks for not encasing me in ice," she said.

"No problem," Rogue replied. "I remember you sayin' somethin' about a particular character from your books that you liked to take advantage with in fights. Figured that was the red-head- especially with the quickness of her moves. Not even Mystique could anticipate those."

"Let me guess, Mystique is this person."

Rogue nodded.

XXXX

Storm and Logan raced into the grand foyer. They had been in Storm's office, trying to come up with ways to convince Hawk to get back into training when Siryn's screams interrupted them.

When they got there, they saw two females fighting at the top of the staircase. The red-head shot Hawk with two lightning bolts, knocking her out. Storm almost rushed up the stairs to attack the red-head, when Logan stopped her. He pointed to Rogue, who was rushing to the red-head; although, that red-head was starting to slowly shift back into Hawk. "Are you alright?" Storm called.

"Yeah," Hawk replied. "But you might want to get Mystique down to the infirmary."

Storm looked at Logan, who looked back at her and knew he was thinking the same thing. What the heck is Mystique doing here?

XXXX

"Hey, Storm," Hawk called after they had taken Mystique to the infirmary. Hank was here on break from government duties, and had volunteered to take care of her. Storm stopped and turned to her. "Can I have my book back, please?"

"Sure. It's in my office."

"Thanks!" Hawk said darting off. After grabbing her book, she went back to the common room. There was a familiar patter of claws, and Hawk looked up to see Isis, her white wolf, come in. "Hey girl," she said, putting down her book.

Isis stopped to look at her... then growled. Isis never growled at her. "Isis," Hawk said slowly, fear and uncertainty traced in her voice at Isis' strange behavior. Suddenly, Hawk's danger sense went off, and Isis punced on her.

XXXX

The scream lasted for only an instant. Normally, Logan would assume that one of the boys had decided to pull a prank on the girls; but, he could tell with his sensitive ears, that something was wrong. Obviously, Storm did too, by the way she stopped and looked at Logan. They both rushed to the room where the scream had originated.

Hawk was on the couch, holding her hands out, as if she were holding up a barrier; while Isis was held in mid-air, struggling to get down. Logan heard some snickering a little farther down the hall. He sniffed the air and realized that it was Phoebe, Irma... and someone else. Another sniff told him that it was Danielle Moonstar- Mirage- who was with them; which was strange. He knew that Danielle and Hawk got along well with each other, and despised the Cuckoos almost as much as Hawk did.

Then, it hit him. Danielle had animal empathy; allowing her to communicate with animals just like Hawk did. Being telepaths, Logan had no doubt that the Cuckoos were mind-controlling Danielle; using her animal empathy to get to Isis, and turn her against Hawk.

XXXX

Storm was shocked by what she was seeing. Hawk had come to the mansion with Isis, and Storm knew that the wolf was harmless- unless she or anyone within Hawk's immediate friend circle was being threatened. Hawk used her telekinesis to push Isis back- just hard enough to stun her. She was frozen on the couch; trembling and taking shaky breaths while trying to comprehend what had just happened. Storm was about to go over there and comfort her, when Logan called her over. "'Ro, you might want to come and see what I've got."

Storm walked over to where Logan was. He was towering over Phoebe and Irma, who were sitting behind some plants; Danielle was standing a little ways off from them."What's going on?"

"Guess who decided it would be funny to control someone else for their power to use against Isis and turn her against Hawk."

Storm didn't need anymore hints. She turned to the twins. "Just tell me exactly what you were thinking when you two decided to try this?"

There was a kettledrum of thunder outside, and the air was slightly charged with electricity. Storm then felt the probes of someone trying force themself into her head. She glared at Phoebe. "Phoebe," she said darkly, "I would not try that right now."

Phoebe looked down. "Just what kind of stunt were you trying to pull?" Logan demanded.

"We just want to let bird-" Storm glared at Irma, so she quickly amended herself. "I mean Hawk know how it feels to be attacked by a wolf."

"Should've known it was you two," Hawk said behind them. Storm turned to see her standing in the doorway. Before she could say or do anything, Hawk spun on her heel toward the staircase. "I'm going to my room."

Storm turned back to the Cuckoos. "My office. Now."

XXXX

Kitty and Rogue were talking by the staircase, as Hawk raced up the steps. "Hey, Hawk," Rogue said. Hawk didn't stop. "Hawk?"

Hawk stopped and turned to look at her. "Everything ok?" Rogue asked. She could see Hawk starting to pull her bangs to the left. Not a good sign. After a moment of silence, Hawk turned back and continued racing up the steps. "Hawk!"

Hawk didn't stop this time. "What was that about?" Kitty asked.

"I don't know," Rogue replied. "But I do have an idea of who caused it."

XXXX

"Logan!" Rogue called. He was standing outside Storm's office when Rogue and Kitty came down. When he looked up, he saw them and smiled. "Hey, kid," he replied.

"Logan, where are the Cuckoos?"

"In there with Storm," he said, pointing with his thumb to Storm's office. "Why?"

"Hawk just ran up the staircase without a response to us," Kitty said.

"And she'd started to pull her bangs to the left," Rogue added. "Were they pickin' on her again?"

Logan nodded. "And they took it a step farther. They used Danielle's animal empathy on Isis and turned her against Hawk."

Rogue's blood boiled at this. At least she had an excuse if someone touched her skin. It's not like she could control it. But, right now, she felt like taking off the gloves and giving the Cuckoos a dose of their own medicine. She looked at Logan. "Can I please just do it?"

Logan snorted bemusingly. "Sorry, kid. 'Ro would fry me then you. Plus it was only two of them: Phoebe and Mindee."

"Figures," Kitty muttered.

Storm, Phoebe, and Irma came out just then. The Cuckoos were walking with their heads down, but Logan could tell that it wasn't from shame or guilt. Storm stopped next to Logan, and Rogue gave a murderous glare after the Cuckoos. Seeing that the adults needed to talk, Kitty and Rogue walked to one of the common rooms.

XXXX

"So, what did you tell them?" Logan asked.

"I told them that Celeste was off the hook and that they would be cleaning the stalls for awhile; alone, and grooming the horses as a bonus."

"Does that include Midnight Storm?"

"If Hawk allows it."

Logan secretly smiled at the thought. He knew that Hawk was more than likely to tell Midnight to give the Cuckoos a hard time; but, who could blame her?

He looked back at Storm. She looked tired, and a little stressed. He figured she could use a night off. Storm turned to look at him when she felt his eyes on her. "What?"

Logan shrugged. "I was just wonderin' if you would like to go out tonight?"

Storm hesitated. "I don't know Logan. I've got a ton of paperwork to do, and now Hawk is in one of her moods-"

"Storm," Logan said exasperatedly, "you've been workin' too much. When was the last time you had time to yourself?"

XXXX

Storm sighed at Logan's persistence. "Awhile," she conceded. "Alright, you win."

"Great, see you in a few hours," Logan said as he left her.

Storm watched him go. He was right, she could use a night off.





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