Title:  Hawk - Minds in conflict... [NC-17]
Author: Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson

This just about sums it all up:
With the mansion and the academy being rebuilt, the X-Men are staying on Muir Isle with Excalibur,
X-Force and Generation X. Joseph the clone is slowly degenerating, his body is swiftly decaying
and the only one who can help him is the man he was cloned from, Magneto. While Magneto is
struggling against insanity, switching between his three personalities. Hawk who recently
regained his power to copy minds is having problems keeping them from taking over his body. He
finally escapes, almost killing several X-men, X-force, Generation X and Excalibur members.
He then goes out looking for Graydon Creed, with a nuclear bomb in his arsenal!

*WARNING* This fanfic has got *bad* language, graphic descriptions of violence, insanity,
rape and a lot of other rather unpleasant topics... Consider yourself warned... *WARNING*

My x-fanfics:
Hawk series:( X-Men )
-First Flight
-Leaving the nest
-Dark Jubilation
-Broken wings
-A quick bite
-Deception
-When in Rome...
-Crowded airspace
-From the wreckage...

Foodfight series:( Generation X )
-Foodfight

Challenge responses:
-Several birds with one stone ( Northlight's challenge )
-Dark secret ( Oberon's challenge )

Le Mat series: ( Dark Future / Sci Fi )
-Ad Astra ( Guest appearance by X-Men and some GenX'ers. )

Radek series: ( Fantasy )
-Radek and the X-Men ( In Swedish but I am translating... )

Coming x-fanfiction:
Hawk fanfics:
-The knights in shining spandex... (Hawk/Radek crossover)
-The clone war (Hawk/Foodfight/Le Mat/Lois&Clark/Highlander/Vampire crossover)

Foodfight fanfics:
-The kitchen is a mess...

Other x-fanfics:
-Jubilee - With a license to kill (X-men/spythingy crossover)

***** Disclaimer *****
The regular stuff, most of the characters in this fanfic belongs to Marvel
and the rest are a result of my sick'n twisted'n hyperactive imagination.
I do not make any money on this and I don't have much of it to begin with
so please don't bother suing me. You won't get much out of it.
***
This series started just before Onslaught, some things are different
though as you will see. Joseph have joined the team, Rogue is back. The
age of some characters have also been tampered with. Like there's no way
that Jubilee is 13 years old and Penance fourteen, I've added a couple
of years to these characters. Cecilia Reyes have joined the X-Men after
finding out that she's a mutant. Jubilee's use of a power-restoring
device on Hawk caused his powers to become unstable, his powers change
now and then without warning. The teenage Illyana returned from her
imprisonment in Limbo after First destroying her former realm, resulting
in the loss of her magic powers as well as a more violent attitude.
***
I'm not to graphic (most of the time...), but there are some references to
sex and violence in almost all my stories, this one is no exception. ;D I
trust that you won't be too offended, it's all a part of life and I won't
start edit things like this out of my stories just because some people
don't like reading about it. You have been warned...
***
I'm from Sweden so English is not my native lingo, please forgive
any grammatical, spelling or whatever other errors I've made. Feel free
to send me corrections if you want, my knowledge of foreign accents
is also rather non-existent so some of the dialogue might seem strange.
***
I love getting e-mails, feel free to send me feedback, requests
for other stories, "bug-reports", your VISA-card number ( ;D )
or something else to cheer me up at:
iamhawk@yahoo.com
or
hawkgts@hem.passagen.se

For my latest stories and a daily dairy, check out my homepage at:
http://hem.passagen.se/hawkgts/
or "Hawk's Fanfiction Lair" at:
http://w1.194.telia.com/~u19402038/index.html

Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson.
***** Stop reading this shit and move along to the rest *****


*strong*        = I *hate* you!
/thoughts/      = /I wonder what's for breakfast today?/
*/telepathy/*   = */Scott! Watch out!/*
~translation~   = ~A translation from a foreign ( or alien... ) language~


If not stated otherwise, the fairies always speaks in this manner...
Cipi speaks first, Sipi then jumps in and after that Tipi blurts out something.


/Savior of Mutantkind, must enslave the flatscans, must save mutants.../
/No face... No chest... No Paige... No life.../
/Very interesting genes, almost as interesting as the Summers gene-pool. What if I could combine
this with Magneto, Xavier and Summers, the results would be... Breathtaking!/
/Get away from me... I am Niklas Jonsson, Jonsson Niklas, Hawk, Niklas "Hawk" Jonsson./
/I am Magneto./
/Jonothon Starsmore./
/Nathaniel Essex./
/Go away.../
/The dream, must preserve the dream, Onslaught! No never! The dream, defend the dream, X-men, must
protect the X-men./
/Joseph, Joseph... Halfwitted clone moron... Must save mutants, must punish the flatscans. Magda!
Why? Why did you leave me? Charles, why couldn't you see what I saw? Must save mutants!/
/Never the institution! No! I left it, I left it! I killed! Never back, never! Must stay pure,
must remain white, mustn't get dirty, never back! I don't want to go back! Hellions! No! Please
don't be dead, come back, don't die on me! Never, *never* loose students again!/
/Legacy, must cure the Legacy. Cecilia is pretty, must get revenge on Dark Beast, must cure the
Legacy, must make love to Cecilia, must cure Legacy./
/Godess, must take to the skies, must feel the wind blow through my hair. Feel the nature, caress
the nature, the wind blowing, a gentle rain, must never lose control, must stay serene, aloof./
/Go away.../

Charles looked inside, Niklas was curled up in a corner of the room, trembling in panic as his
mind was assaulted. His shields were battered down to nothing, his mind was an open book. The
problem was that it wasn't one book, it was thousands of them. Charles, Jean, Elisabeth, Emma,
Rachel and Nathan together couldn't do anything else then ease his panic. Entering his mind did
no good, it was total chaos, impossible to make any sense out of it. About two days after the
incident when he had suddenly spoke as if he was Magneto, he had asked Moira to lock him up
because he feared what he might do if he remained free. Rogue had talked to him a lot in the
five days since he walked into the cell, she had a lot of experience in this field, but not even
she could do much more then offer some comfort, this was a battle Niklas had to fight on his
own. Having Jubilee or Yvette nearby seemed to calm him down, but he couldn't finish a sentense
without loosing control for a second or two, most of the time he couldn't even start one without
suddenly becomming Magneto, Mister Sinister, Ororo, Scott, Juggernaut or someone else. Charles
still hadn't found out what had promted Niklas to enter the cell in the first place, taking such
drastic measures was an indication that he was really scared about the things he might do if
he was free.

/Rape her, take her innocense, get the samples, have my baby, baby powerful, mixed with the
Summers genes. Must find answers, must know it all, rape Jubilee, get rid of Apocalypse, kill
the X-men, get samples./
/Take the pictures, blackmail the president, get him to keep CIA away from HawkTech. Shove a
rifle up the senators ass and threaten to pull the trigger unless he does exactly what he's
told. Kill Sylvester Stallone? Why Arnold, just fork out 25 million dollars and he's dead meat./
/Released the EM pulse, killed thousands, really showed the flatscans what happends if they
try to fuck around with the Savior! Do it again, strike hard when they're paralyzed, kill the
flatscans, save the mutants./
/Claws tearing, gutting, sinking teeth into flesh, kill the runts little sidekick, kill the runt,
kill, kill, kill!/
/Mutants! I hate mutants, mutants are scum. X-men, they're the worst. Hate the X-men, kill the
X-men. Kill, hate, kill, kill, hate, hate the muties!/
/Leave me *alone*! Go! Go away!/
/Rape her, speed the growth of my baby, she will die, who cares, my baby, the ultimate mutant./
/No fucking way! Never!/
/There's a nice lady, I'm going to drain her, kiss her until she is empty, find another vessel,
feed, must feed on blood. She looks tasty./
/Leave me! Go away! Never feed on the innocent! Never innocent! Never women!/

Rachel looked through the window and shivered at what she saw, Niklas had torn his clothes off.
His body was covered with self-inflicted wounds, he healed pretty quick but he made new ones all
the time, stalking back and fourth, banging his fists against the walls, screaming in rage. His
face was twisted in rage, disgust, sadness, revulsion, frustration and confusion. The pain he
experienced could be felt a mile away, none of the telepaths dared to sleep on Muir, the Psiwaves
he sent off battered down even the stongest of shields and made the worst nightmares seem like
a pleasant relaxation compared to the ones they had with him around. She blinked and backed off
a step as she saw his fangs again. Nobody knew why he suddenly had fangs and claws, there was no
way to examinate him either. When Hank had tried to enter, Niklas had leapt at him and almost
managed to pull the door open. If Rogue hadn't arrived and pulled it shut, there was no telling
what might have happened. He stared at the door again, his eyes narrowing as he stared at what
from his side only was a black window. He sucked in some air through his nose and smiled, baring
his fangs as he did so.
"Rachel... How nice of you to drop by." he said with his usual voice. "Why don't you step inside
and let me have a taste of that lovely Summers gene-pool? Just lay down here on the floor and
you'll soon give birth to a Sinister baby!" he continued and snickered. "I'm going to suck you
dry girl! Sucking every single drop of blood out of your body and then have a blast with your
corpse! Your spirit will regret that it died and lost that opportunity for pleasure beyond
anything you have ever felt before. Oh yes, you will be sorry." He bent over and clutched at
his chest. "Never the blood of innocents! Never!" he screamed and collapsed on the floor for
a few seconds before he was up and staring at the door again.
"Niklas... You *have* to fight this?" she pleaded, tears running freely from her eyes.
"What do you think I'm doing? Playing the harmonica?" he yelled at the door. "Come on in, come
my pretty... Oh, what large boobs you have little red riding hood! My rifle, where is my beloved
rifle?! Nym, where did you put it?! Where is my rifle?!" He jumped at the door and Rachel held
her hands up to cover her ears as his claws screeched as they scratched at the steel door. He
slammed his fist into the door before he walked back into the center of the room. "I'm gonna'
gut you, then I'll take the sidekick. Then the kitten. When they're all dead, I'm goin' for the
runt!" he snarled and smirked at the door. Rachel fell down on her knees and sobbed.
"Please fight it..."
"Cry-baby! Come on in here and I'll comfort you, oh yes, I'll give you comfort like you've never
been comforted before..." Rachel got up on her feet and ran away from the door and the man
within, a man with a thousand minds, some of them highly unpleasant. "Oh, leaving so soon little
one? Leaving me all alone here, with my friends..." his final words faded away as she ran back
upstairs and threw herself in the arms of Jean and Scott who while very suprised, did their best
to comfort her as she cried.

/Simple lock, simple. Kidstuff. No problem. Can open it blindfolded with my hands tied behind
my back./
/Tear the door open, it's metal, I am the master of magnetism, metal, magnet, tear it open,
protect the mutants, kill flatscans./
/I cannot stay here, my work, the genes, create the ultimate mutant, Summers, Nathan, Nate, Scott,
Jean, Phoenix, Jubilee, must go, cannot stay, blast the door open./
/Leave me alone.../
/FoH, must tell Creed, mutants, mutants all over, kill muties, kill them, hate them./
/Metal, magnet, blast open, run, kill flatscans./
/Must keep glasses on, optic beams might kill, must stay stern, must be an example to the other
X-Men, love Jean, love Charles, must keep glasses on, lead the X-Men./
/Go away! Leave me alone!/

"Well if it isn't the clone. I can save your ass clone! You will die without me, die!" screamed
Niklas through the door and Joseph shivered. The black area on his left arm had spread, it was
now twice as large as his right hand. He hadn't interacted much with Niklas, now he passed his
cell every day when he went down to look at Magneto. Both of them claimed to be the only one
who could save him, claimed to be able to stop his degeneration. He had finally told Hank and
Moira about it and they had done everything they could, but they couldn't understand why he
degenerated. They did their best, but they couldn't stop it. Joseph's right hand raised to the
keypad that would enable him to open the door but he let it fall, he couldn't let any one of them
out! They were both dangerous, powerful and obviously crazy. He didn't even know who was the most
dangerous one of them, the mass-murdering villain or Hawk, an X-man just like himself. He walked
away from the cell as he heard footsteps approaching, he continued onwards towards Magneto's cell.

Jubilee thought she saw Joseph walk around a corner further away in the corridor, but she wasn't
certain. She took a deep breath and stepped up to the door, looking through the window.
"Jubes... How nice of you to drop by. Miss me?" asked Niklas without turning around. "So do I,
just come on in and I'll show you just how much I miss you. The runts little sidekick!" he snarled
and spun around, his fangs bared and his clawed hands raised in front of him. "Open the door
frail! Open the door! I'll gut you, I'll get out of here and I'll gut you, rape you, inject you
with a serum that will make our baby grow and grow and grow until he bursts out of your body!"
You'll die screaming, giving birth to the ultimate mutant! I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll
blow your house down!" he jumped forward and punched right through the glass, his claws drawing
blood as he slashed across her face. Jubilee jumped back screaming as he slashed at her over
and over again while she covered on the other side of the corridor, whimpering in terror as his
hand slashed through the air over and over again. His hand suddenly slammed down on the door,
groping for a handle. Jubilee stared in silence as his hands found the keypad.
*/Guys! We have a situation down here! Niklas is trying to escape!/* she screamed mentally, the
transmission reaching every mind on Muir. Her head ached as it always did when she used the mental
powers that had been awakened when the Phoenix entity settled in her. She threw a few pafs at
Niklas arm and he yelped as they scorched him. His hand found the keypad again and this time he
ignored the pain as she sent paf after paf at him.
BING!

Joseph ran around the corner, the pure panic in Jubilee's transmission had launched him into a
run. He heard the sound of explosions and then suddenly the beep as the correct code was punched
into the keypad. He saw Niklas leap out through the doorway and he saw the hit in slow motion as
he slapped Jubilee aside and turned around to face Joseph.
"Die!" he snarled and Joseph hurriedly threw up a shield as a stream of light spewed forth from
Niklas mouth. He realised his misstake at once as he was thrown backwards, he had forgotten to
anchor his shield. He was thrown back with it and grunted in pain as he struck something.
Everything faded to black and he didn't know anything more.

Rachel turned around a corner, horrified by the studden pain and terror she had felt from both
Jubilee and Joseph before they vanished, their minds suddenly gone. Niklas suddenly rose from the
floor where he had been crouching, his mind hidden from her. She opened her mouth to scream as a
hand tightened around her throat and a fist slammed into her stomach. He pulled her closer, kissed
her fiercly, pushed her into the wall so hard that she feared that he might have broken her back.
Before she was able to react in any way, his free hand slashed down at her face, pain rushed
through her body and she felt how blood spewed out of wounds in her face. He spun around and
pulled her with him, slamming her into the wall on the other side of the corridor. Her eyes
closed and her mind shut down.

Logan and Nathan ran as fast as they could, side by side. Domino had to really push it in order
to keep up with them, even so, she was almost five meters behind when it happened. Niklas
dropped from the roof, jumping out from the vents. His feet solidly connecting with the heads
of both Nathan and Logan. He jumped forward and she raised her rifle to fire when his left
hand slapped it aside and his right reached for her throat. She screamed as his claws dug into
her and cut her open as he pulled his hands back. She fell to the floor, her hands flying up
to stop the blood flowing. Logan and Nathan both screamed in rage as they got back up on their
feet, Niklas was to fast for them though. He slammed Logan against a wall with a flood of light
and sound flying out of his mouth, he punched Nathan in the chest to the sound of cracking ribs.
He slashed at his stomach and spun around, solidly landing a roundhouse kick at Cable's head. He
leapt up into the vents again and Domino heard him swiftly crawling onwards.

Terry didn't even have a chance to scream as something pulled her around a corner and slammed her
into a wall, Bobby and Tabitha spun around but Da Costa suddenly vanished as a stream of light
struck him dead center in his head. Tabitha conjured two bombs but didn't have time to use
them as Niklas leapt at her and grabbed her wrists. She screamed as bones were crushed but was
silenced as he pulled her closer for a kiss. His fangs clamped down and pierced her lower lip,
she gasped as he pushed her down to the floor and slashed at her. His claws only barely drawing
blood as he got rid of her uniform. She tried to kick him but he only slapped her head hard
enough to make her see stars and dark patches floating around in her field of vision. He grabbed
her tits fiercly and she felt his claws digging into her body, she absently noticed his erect
penis before she passed out.

"Get away from the wee lass!" screamed Banshee and followed up with a sonic scream that threw
Niklas against a wall. Sean threw a quick glance at Meltdown, he hadn't had time to complete the
rape, Sean had arrived in time. He kept up his scream and pinned Niklas against that wall,
preventing any movement. Sean wasn't ready for what happened next though, Niklas let out a scream
of his own. Sean could see the flood of light slowly comming closer to himself, he cursed his
misstake. By using his own powers on the lad, he had only charged him, making him stronger. He
was now fighting against his own as well as Niklas power. The flood of light suddenly reached him
and Sean lost conciousness in the enourmous explosion.

Logan, Jean, Scott, Emma, Bishop, Sam and Yvette followed him as he ran as fast as he could,
doding everything they did. Jeans TK forcefields were avoided, Scotts optic beams dodged,
Emma's mental blasts ignored, Bishops rifle's beams avoided. Sam almost managed to connect
but Niklas leapt up and blasted Sam into the ground with a sonic scream. He reached the cliffs
edge and leap out, uncaring of the at least fifty meter drop down to the ocean. Logan and
Yvette leapt out after him but Jean caught them and brought them back with her telekinesis.
He was gone...

"Jubilee has got four wounds on her left cheek after his claws and a bruise on her right after
his slap. Joseph has two broken ribs and a headache that is out of this world. Rachel has got
a crack in her jawbone, wounds in her face, a broken nose and five broken ribs. Nathan has a
shattered nose, two broken ribs and wounds in his stomach. Domino has got multiple cuts on her
neck. Tabithas both wrists are broken, she has got multiple wounds all over her body, her
jawbone is cracked and she is still convinced that he raped her while she was unconcious and
that we're just lying to her. Terry have still not regained conciousness. Da Costa is more or
less all right, just bruises. Sean is a mess, it was just pure luck that made him survive the
explosion." reported Cecilia and sighed as she flopped down in a free sofa.
"Logan, Jean, Scott and Yvette are following him by boat, using Yvette's emotional bond to
track him down." said Charles finally. "He didn't resurface until the harbor in Glasgow, how he
managed to keep his breath for so long underwater is anyone's guess. Five people were found dead,
their clothes and wallets stolen. They belive he may have stolen a car and left the town, they're
still tracking him in a rented car wearing image inducers."
"He still had his sound-power right?" asked Cecilia.
"Yes, Logan, Sean and Roberto were all exposed to it."
"Then where did he get that strenght, the claws and the fangs from? I checked the place where he
tore open the went. That couldn't have been achieved by a normal human or mutant, that required
enhanced strength." 

"Where is he?"
"Why can't you find him?!"
"I knew we should have tried to cure him!"
"Are you crazy?"
"He tried to kill us!"
"We should have tried!"
"We'd have to sprinkle him with fairy dust!"
"Dance in the same room, with him furious and bloodthirsty?!"
"I know!"
"We're doing our best." said Rachel and sighed, thanks to the fairies, everyone had been able
to leave the infirmary, their healing had worked terrific. "He has severed or blocked the
emotional bonds, he's not showing up on Cerebro and we haven't been informed of anything that
can give us any hint of his loccation."
"Did ye expect it lass?" asked Sean from his chair.
"What really worries me is that there haven't been any killings or something suspicious." said
Charles. "This must mean that the many minds isn't fighting anymore, something must have
happened, one of them must have taken over. Since he hasn't contacted us, I guess it's safe to
assume that it isn't his own."
"So... He might think he's someone else?" asked Jubilee anciously.
"Yes. We'd better pray that it's someone remotely normal."
"We have incomming!" screamed Kitty's voice through the intercom.

Everybody gathered as a strange vessel landed on the lawn outside. The cockpit opened and Erik
jumped out, a frustrated look on his face and a dangerous look in his eyes.
"Where is he?" he screamed in rage. "Where is Niklas? What in gods name have you done with him?"
"He... vanished." admitted Charles.
"I know that! He's gone, blocking the tracer in his head. What I really want to know is why he
has gotten himself an account at MercBBS and why in hell he accepted a job to kill Graydon
Creed in public and as messy as possible!"
"He did what?" asked Charles worriedly.
"He has become a mercenary, an assassin. He wouldn't do something like that, what have you done
to him?!"

Niklas walked up to the counter and smiled at the man behind it, a man dressed in filthy and
dirty clothes, a five day old beard and a soggy cigarette between his lips.
"What d'ya want ye silly bugger?" he asked. Niklas looked up at the sign, Burma Air. He placed
his left hand on the counter and formed it into a fist, hiding the claws underneath it.
"I require a flight to Washington, my name is general Harold Franklin." he said and pressed his
thumb down on a hidden scanner that took a blood sample, a DNA sample and scanned his fingerprint.
He smiled, he had entered all the data and sent it to the HawkTech database an hour or so ago,
The man nodded, tapped away on his computer for a while, compared the picture on his screen with
Niklas face. He nodded again, tapped on his keyboard and a printer spat out a paper.
"When do you wish to leave?" asked the man politely.
"At once, I also require some hardware when we land." said Niklas and gave the man a paper with
a list scrawled on it. The man read it through and nodded.
"I will make sure that it is ready when you arrive in Washington. Come with me." he said, put a
"Closed" sign on the counter and lead Niklas behind the counter and they walked through a door.
Niklas smiled as he was taken underground to a small hangar, filled with small jets. "Your
pilot will arrive shortly." said the man simply and left. Niklas smiled, HawkTech would take
care of everything. He would leave the country without anyone knowing, he would land without
anyone knowing and he would be equipped with the deadliest weapons known to man.

"I am bloody well sure! There isn't any general Harold Franklin! When did he land?" screamed
Erik and listened to the reply. He sighed. "Thanks, try to locate him will you?" he said and
then turned to face them all. "He used a HawkTech jet, he landed in Washington less then
twenty minutes ago. Since he had the clearence for it, he was given what he requested. A five
megaton nuclear bomb with a remote trigger, a ImpR gun, handgrenades, a Kalcedon laced knife and
two Beretta 92F with special ammo."
"Special ammo?" asked Nathan curiously.
"Dumdums with a core of plutonium in liquid mercury as well as a generous splash of around twenty
or so highly toxic substances. If it enters the body, it's over. If a bullet was emptied into
a waterhole, it could take out a herd of elephants." replied Erik.
"Oath!" swore Nathan.

"Erik, what a pleasant suprise." said Creed as Erik opened the door. "I was almost starting to
think that you were avoiding me. I was so pleased when I heard that you finally accepted my
invitation. What are *they* doing here?" he asked coldly as the X-Men followed.
"I found out about a threat to your life, they found out that I knew and well... They are best
equipped to deal with it."
"I get threats all the time."
"Not like this one. The killer has got a five megaton nuclear device, if he decides that it is
the only way, he will detonate it." said Erik calmly.
"I've got a killer with a nuclear bomb after me, and you bring muties?" sneered Creed.
"The killer will probably try something else first, that's when the 'muties' might be useful.
Certainly better then the morons who call themselves bodyguards are anyway." said Erik.
"They are all highly trained professionals, completely loyal to me!"
"They're useless idiots, we weren't even controlled, just let in here."
"You passed at least five metal detectors on your way in here." replied Creed. Erik pulled out
a knife from his left sleave and threw it deep into Creed's desk.
"Useless." said Erik with contempt. "That knife is made completely out of a keramic-plastic
material, it's just sturdy as metal but it won't show up on a metal detector. The mutant
detectors didn't find anything either because I gave them all a device that makes them appear
as ordinary humans on all sort of detectors, you could have been dead even before you opened that
door. The killer has access to all of this technology." said Erik and smirked at Creed who
stared nervously at the knife in his desk.

/Kill Creed. Make a lot of money. Earn lot of money./
/Flatscans, kill flatscans, Creed is a flatscan, leader of FoH, threat to mutants, kill Creed./
/Creed's death will make the FoH furious, mutants will be on the run, I take them all, get all
the samples I want, create the ultimate weapon./
/Go away! My body is mine, not yours!/

"Stop me! I'm at the Ritz, room 769." Moira dropped the phone in suprise as she heard the
panicked voice of Niklas Jonsson in the other end. She grabbed it again and listened. "I flushed
the hardware down the toilet and called the police, I'll try to maintain control long enough for
them to cuff me. But reach the others, tell them... *argh* Room 769, the Ritz, Washington!" he
screamed in the other end and hung up. She was silent for a few moments and then asked Emma
to contact Charles with the information.

Erik brought up the fake ID identifying him as a high ranking FBI official, Scott and Robert
also hauled up the ones he had given them and they were let into the room by the police. Scott
gasped and Robert left for the bathroom but was forced to leave since people were working in
there, tearing away the floor to get to the arms in the pipes. Erik looked calmly at the carnage,
Niklas had really lost it. The bodies of seven dead policemen were left all over the room, they
hadn't just been killed. They had been torn apart, arms had been ripped off, guts had been
spilled all over the floor, dicks had been chewed off, faces had been clawed apart, brains had
been splattered all over the walls and a beautiful glass had been filled with blood and then
someone had been drinking from it. Erik shivered, this was *bad*!

/Safe, safe here. Down in the severs, I'll be safe./
/The walls! I'm trapped, trapped! I'll be buried again, buried! I'm trapped! No, want to be
free! Soar through the sky, feel the wind blowing in my face! Free! I'm trapped!/
/The bomb lost! The guns lost! The opportunity missed! No money!/
/Go away.../
/A rat! Food! I need food, eat rat, eat rat, be strong, rest, kill, eat rat./
/I am the Savior! Have to get out of here, protect my people, save mutants!/

"He's in New York." said Erik suddenly as they all paced around in the hotel room. "Five gang
members were torn apart, two survivors managed to flee and were picked up by the police."
"How do you know that?" asked Scott. Erik pointed to his head.
"Constantly online, checking the news, internet, inteligence, police, you name it." he replied
calmly. "I've ordered the roof to be cleared, the Blackbird can land there as soon as you can
get it over here."

Peter Parker dropped his net and watched the ground comming closer, he shot out a net and halted
his decent until he landed softly. He struck the rapist with a net and was just about to pull
him off his feet when the man spun around, grabbed the net and pulled Peter off his feet.
"Well if it isn't Spiderman, hi and goodbye!" he said and leaped forward, his hands stuck to
each other in the sticky net. Peter jumped up and struck downwards, his target dodged the
punch though and his clawed hands shot up and grabbed Peters throat. He let out a gasp as claws
tore into his flesh, hands took a firm chokehold around his neck. Peter was twirled around,
faster and faster until the man slammed him into the wall, headfirst. Peter was completely
dazed, the man kicked him a few times, cracking ribs and bruising flesh before he tore his
hands away. Tearing the mask apart as he did so. He looked at Peter who was unable to do
anything about it. "Nice face, but not for much longer." he said and Peter screamed as claws
dug into his face. He was still unable to move anything but his eyes as the man walked over to
the sobbing woman and finished the rape. As the woman collapsed to the ground as he dropped her,
he looked over at Peter and smirked. He tore the spiderman suit off, crushed the webshooters
beneath his bare feet, threw the belt into a trashcan and then pushed the naked and severly
wounded woman into his arms. He cursed at the net that held his hands together but when he
wasn't able to get it off, he shrugged and walked out of the alley as if nothing had happened,
his hands stuck together in front of him.

"Over 'ere!" shouted Logan and crouched, he sniffed again and looked at the face to be certain.
/It's Peter Parker, spiderman! Niklas trashed him?!/
"Holy schmoley, did he beat up..." begun Erik and fell silent. /Does the bugger know everything?/
thought Logan with irritation. The others approached and various gasps could be heard. The
fairies worked quickly, sprinkling him with some fairy dusts they had gathered and placed in
small pouches they always carried around so they wouldn't have to tire themselves by dancing
and singing all the time. The girl ran away screaming, Peter slowly got back onto his feet
hid his face in his hands. He had been to severly scarred for the others to have seen his
face, Logan pulled off his mask and tossed it over to Peter who pulled it on.
"Thanks." he said and wobbled over to a trashcan where he pulled out a metallic belt.
"Where did he go?" asked Scott. "Who are you?"
"Spiderman." said Logan shortly.
"He walked out on the street. Yeah, I'm Spiderman." he replied tiredly. "Who was he?"
"A mutant. He copies the minds of everyone he's around. He has copied a few thousand minds,
recently they started to take over him. He can be controlled by just about anyone he has ever met
right about now, or a blend of some of them." replied Jean slowly. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine... Are you saying that he has got *my* mind as well?" asked Peter suddenly in panic.
"Yeah." replied Logan.
"I have to get home! Now!" screamed Peter and rushed up the wall, swiftly vanishing into the
night. "Thanks." they could hear faintly as he leaped up onto the roof of the building.

Niklas smirked nastily, there was a Malkavian stalking in the alley below. He eventually pulled
a lone drunk into the alley, punched him out and then drained him completely. Niklas leapt from
the roof, falling the fifteen meters down to the ground. When he was only two meters above it,
he screamed. The sonic boom and the explosion halted his decent and threw the Malkavian off his
feet. Niklas jumped, slammed his opponent into the wall, punched with both his hands and broke
both shoulders of his victim. He slashed open the throat, shoved a hand through the body and
into the wall and then sunk his teeth into the Malkavian. He sucked him completely dry, feeling
much refreshed and more powerful then ever. He grinned as he realised why, the Malkavian had been
of a earlier generation then himself, by drinking the blood, he had lowered his own generation,
gaining more power. He threw the drained corpse aside, wiping blood off his face with the back
of his right hand. This had some possibilities, especially since he could track Kindred all over
town with the b2a data he kept in his head and the minicerebro he had made a HawkTech workshop
build for him. He relaxed, this would be *easy*.

"There!" exclaimed Jubilee. "His concentration musta' slipped! The bond is back!"
"I f-feel it." replied Yvette.
"Yes!" said Belinda. Rachel, Illyana and Kitty who also had decided to follow the three over to
USA were relieved. The three with bonds to him gave directions, Kitty and Rachel piloted the
Midnight runner and noticed that they were heading for New York.

Niklas silently dropped from the vents and landed without a sound on his bare feet. He silenced
any protests by putting his right hand over the mans mouth, then he pushed him forward with his
left around his neck. Increasing the speed until it was a breakneck run, Niklas stopped and
gave the man a final push as they reached the end of the corridor. The man screamed as he
crashed through the windows and fell the ten stories down into a well trafficated street. Niklas
leaped up into the vents again as doors started to open to see what all the commotion was all
about. He chuckled and made his way up to the roof where he had a parachute, nobody would
suspect an unarmed man landing in a park a few blocks away for murder. It wasn't as much the
money he got from it, he really enjoyed the exitement, the pleasure of the kill.
"Stop!" a female voice shouted and he slowly turned around.

"No! Please, leave! Go!" he shouted and Jubilee almost broke down as she heard the panic and
fear in his voice, not for himself, but for them. Rachel trapped him in a telekinetic forcefield
and slowly brought him closer. "No! No, you don't understand! You're scaring them! Leave! I...
cannot hold... them back... much... longer!" Jubilee rushed over to him and enfolded him in a
fierce hug. "No... Go away..." he said between sobs. "I harmed... I killed... I must go." he said
firmly, pulled her arms away and ran. Rachel tried to trap him again, her control had slipped
when Jubilee rushed up. But he somehow managed to dodge the field, leaping aside. He grabbed
what looked like a backback and threw himself off the roof.
"No!" everyone screamed in unison. Rachel and Belinda lept off the roof after him. Rachel strained
her powers and Belinda turned into a Sentinel, her rockets propelling her forward. Rachel captured
him again and Belinda neutralized his mutant powers. They brought him back to the roof and shoved
him into the Midnight runner.

"We have him!" said Illyana's voice over the radio.
"What? Where are you, who are we and how did you get here?" asked Scott.
"On our way back to Muir. Me, Kitty, Rachel, Jubilee, Yvette and Belinda. The Midnight runner."
"How did you find him?" asked Charles.
"The emotional bonds suddenly returned, Jubilee, Yvette and Belinda tracked him down."
"I can understand them going, why did you, Kitty and Rachel go?"
"He saved mine and Rachels asses, Kitty followed because he saved us." replied Illyana coldly.
"How is he?" asked Charles sadly.
"Horrible. Belinda is neutralizing his mutant powers, the other minds aren't as strong now but
he remembers everything he did when they were in control. He's alternating between trying to
slit his wrists to prevent if from ever happening again, throwing up and crying." replied Illyana.
"But his real mind is the one in control now?" asked Charles.
"As far as we can tell, he's not coherent enough for us to be really sure but it seems to be
anyway. He insists that we stay away from him, keep him in the telekinetic restraints at all times
and he demands to be locked up in a cell with a inhibitor field when we get back to Muir."
"The fairies seem to think that they can cure him with their fairy dust." said Charles.
"Good, he certainly cannot stay like this." replied Illyana and broke communications.

Even after the fairies had sprinkled him with fairy dust, Niklas refused to leave the cell. He
didn't want to take any chances. He had talked to the ones he had attacked when he escaped, Erik
was trying to locate the ones he had injured when he was crazy and the families of the ones he
had killed. Most of them had forgiven him, Tabitha and and Sean were still angry at him though.
He couldn't really blame them, he had tried to rape Tabitha and almost killed Sean with his
sonic blast. He sniffed and stared at the door, Jubilee, Yvette and Belinda was looking at him
again. He nodded in their direction and continued to pace back and forth. He didn't really feel
like talking, he hadn't felt like talking since he returned. He had forced himself to talk to
the ones he had assaulted, but other then that, he had kept silent.
"Niklas. Ya *have* to get outta this cell!" said Jubilee.
"T-the i-is-i-island is b-beautiful, Yvette want t-to s-sh-s-show it to y-you."
"You 'eard 'em! Get outta there you big lunkhead!" said Belinda. Niklas shook his head in response
and laid down on the bed, he closed his eyes and shut out their constant nagging. He would have
to get out sooner or later, he had to feed if he wanted to keep on living. He just wasn't sure
that he wanted to live after what he had done. His claws had been severed and sturdy gloves
had been tied to his hands to prevent him from slitting his own wrists. He could spend some blood
and make them grow out again, but he didn't. He didn't want to leave the world with unfinished
business.

"Wake up you bastard!" hissed someone and Niklas opened his eyes. He sat up in bed and noticed
that a basketball sized bomb a la Meltdown was lying between his legs. He ignored it and looked
over at Tabitha who was standing a meter away from the bed. "You raped me!" she accused and he
lowered his head.
"Whatever mind was in charge at the time certainly tried to anyway." he replied softly.
"You raped *me*!"
"I didn't, but it doesn't matter. Trying to is just as bad as acctually succeding in my eyes.
Detonate it." said Niklas and leaned back, closed his eyes and prepared to drift away.
"Open your bloody eyes! Look at me!" Niklas sat up again and opened his eyes obediently. "I want
to see your expression when you die!" she growled. Niklas shrugged, whatever worked for her was
all right with him. He waited patiently without saying anything. "... one... z... ..." she stopped
her countdown. "Aren't you going to say anything?!" she screamed.
"What is there to say? I'm sorry? That just doesn't cut it for what I tried to do with you."
"Exactly! You won't ever do that to anyone in the future!" she hissed. "I'll make sure of that."
He nodded and waited. "Ze... z... Ze... I can't do it!" she wailed and collapsed on the floor,
her whole body shaking as she sobbed. Niklas stood up and just stared at her for a minute, he
hesitantly reached out and his hand hovered over her shoulders for a while before he decided. He
reached out and pulled her up on her feet, she didn't resist as he hugged her and murmured
soft words over her head. She cried for a few minutes and suddenly fell silent, he didn't know
what to do now. He removed his arms, allowing her to step away. She just started to slide down
so he halted her decent and pulled her away. Her head dropped and he heard a soft snore. /She
fell asleep!/ He shook his head. /The poor thing must have been exhausted!/ He carefully put her
down on his bed and pulled the cover over her. He walked over to the other end of the roof and
sat down in a chair they had pulled in for him. /Charles? Rachel? Jubilee? Elisabeth? Jean?
Emma? Jono?/ he projected as strongly as he could.
*/Yeah mate?/* replied Jono after a few seconds. Niklas sighed. /Tabitha is here in my cell,
she is sleeping in my bed. I don't think she will appriciate waking up in it, I was wondering if
you could ask Joseph, Jean, Nathan or someone with enhanced strength to take her out of here?/
*/Sure thing./* replied Jono without asking any questions, something Niklas was deeply grateful
for. A few minutes later, Jean arrived and lifted the whole madress up. She offered Niklas a new
one but he shook his head and stayed in the chair. Jean had brought the bomb with her as well,
Niklas would have prefered having it so Tabitha could blast him whenever she was ready for it.

"Hello Tabitha." said Niklas without turning around from his study of the wall. He had slaughtered
a few vampires in London and completely emptied them, this had increased his vampiric powers and
given him some new ones as well. His senses had always been somewhat enhanced, but now they were
extremly enhanced. Jean hadn't bothered to close the door, so he had smelled Tabitha before she
was within twenty meters of the door and heard her long before that.
"Jean said Starsmore came for her in the middle of the night and that she used her telekinetic
powers to carry me out of here. I woke up on top of an extra madress so I guess it was the truth.
Now I'd like to know what happened down here?"
"You don't remember?" asked Niklas as he followed a fly crawling on the wall with his eyes.
"No." He sighed.
"You came down here to blow me up, you couldn't, you started to cry, I tried to comfort you,
you fell asleep, I put you into my bed, I alerted Jono and asked him to find someone who could
get you out of here without waking you up." answered Niklas calmly and turned around to look
at her. He felt the scent of others as well, Sam, Roberto, Rahne, Sean and Nathan were all
waiting in silence in the corridor outside. No doubt ready to pounce on him at the first sign
of hostilities.
"I fell asleep? Do you expect me to belive that I fell asleep in *your* presence?!"
"I also thought it was strange, it shouldn't be to hard to find out the truth. There's a camera
over there, the event should be on tape." said Niklas and pointed to the lense in the corner.
"In fact, I also have it on tape." said Niklas. "I can play it up on any computer or screen
connected to the local network. That one over there is fine." said Niklas, pointed at a security
panel with intercom and a small screen out in the corridor. He found the event and transmitted
it over to the panel in question and viewed everything as his eyes had percieved the event. She
stared at it disbelievingly but finally nodded.
"Do you record everything that happends?" she asked curiously.
"I usually only keep the latest 24 hours and delete the rest, but some things I keep a little
longer then that." said Niklas.
"Your escape?" asked Tabitha. Niklas nodded and wiped away a few tears from his eyes. "May... may
I see it?" she whispered. His heart sank, he had watched it a couple of times and it always made
him feel sick. But after what he did... He couldn't refuse her anything, not now, perhaps not
ever. He loaded it and started the transmission. He heard the gasps from the others as well as
Tabitha as they saw the escape from his eyes, heard his feverish whispers as he struggled for
control, saw firsthand how he slashed, punched, kicked and wounded. Tabitha let out a faint scream
as he attacked her and a suprised gasp as she saw how Banshee's scream threw him away before he
penetrated her. Banshee let out a yelp as he saw himself caught in the explosion, he ended the
sequence when he dived into the ocean. Tabitha was lying on the floor once again, crying. He
could hear Rahne and Sam sobbing as well out in the corridor. He bent down and pulled her up into
a hug again, murmuring. /Nathan? Seeing my face the first thing she does after comming out of
this won't be on top of her list of things to do. Can you send in Sam or come yourself, I don't
think it's a good idea for her to stay around this cell and me in her condition./ Nathan didn't
answer, but he entered a few seconds later. Niklas turned Tabitha over in his care and sat down
in the chair again, staring at the wall.

"The mansion has been rebuilt." said Charles and Niklas nodded. "The rest of us are flying over
tomorrow, I'd like to know if you're comming with us or not?" Niklas looked over at him.
"How can I leave? Without the inhibitor field, I'll go bonkers again, perhaps cause even more
and worse problems then last time. Sean only forgave me for what I did yesterday, Tabitha is
still mad at me and I know the rest of you can't be to pleased about my actions either."
"That is true, but we'd still like you to come."
"Is this the same Charles Xavier who recently wanted to kick me out of the X-Men?" asked Niklas
sarcasticly. Charles sighed and shook his head.
"It might be possible to put your mind in control, the inhibitor field is only affecting you,
not other mutants in this cell."
"Oh geez what a suprise, I asked for it to be this way so any one of you guys who thought I
deserved it could come in here and get rid of me."
"What I was trying to get at is the fact that I can enter your mind, put your mind in charge and
get rid or at least lessen the influence of the others, if you lower your mental shields."
"If you think you can do it, by all means, go ahead. I won't stop you." said Niklas and chuckled.

Charles finally opened his eyes, his whole body drenched in sweat. He was panting, he had a
shocked look on his face and his eyes looked as if they had seen more then anyone should have to
witness.
"Unpleasant trip?" asked Niklas and smirked.
"You... You knew about this?" asked Charles.
"About what?"
"Everyone in there, fighting, insulting, screaming, yelling! I suspected chaos, but this is almost
worse then it was before you escaped!"
"I knew it was... unpleasant, I've more or less gotten used to it though. The inhibiting are
keeping them calm." said Niklas and bared his teeth. "More or less anyway..." Charles shivered,
Niklas sometimes lost himself for short periods of time, even in the inhibitor field. "Charles...
Leave." said Niklas and Charles saw how Niklas tightened his grip on the armrests. Sharp claws
suddenly penetrated the protective gloves, the wood shattered as Niklas grip was tightened even
more. "Leave!" he hissed and Charles hovered out and closed the door. Niklas let out a primal
scream and spent five minutes doing nothing except breathe in and out before he seemed to calm
down. He leaned back in the chair and sighed sadly, staring over at the door. "I'm fine Charles.
Take Nathan with you and go, I want to be alone for a few minutes." he said and Charles turned his
head around and looked at Nathan with suprise.
"How could he know that you were here?" asked Charles. "His mutant powers are neutralized!"
"They might... But my Mioplant is still working." said Niklas voice from the security panel
behind the two of them.

Niklas stared at the door, he would have to leave sometime and that time was closing in fast.
The others had been back at the rebuilt mansion for almost three weeks now, Generation X had
moved in while the finishing touches were put on the academy. He was low on blood again, but
going out meant leaving the inhibitor field. Charles had done what he could, when he left,
Rachel had worked with him, trying to strengthen his mind and weaken the other ones. Since he
hadn't dared to allow the inhibitor field being shut off, nobody knew how well it worked. If it
worked at all. He checked once again, the complex was empty, even Moira had left. He took a deep
breath and opened the door with his Mioplant. He took another one and then walked out, the other
minds leapt at the chance at once but he pushed them back with a little effort. When he reached
the surface, he was still in control. He walked out and enjoyed the fresh air, the sun burned him
after so long time being cooped up indoors but he ignored it. He was free! He could trust himself
to behave, not being forced to suffer through what he just had. The memories of what he had been
forced to see himself do burned inside, the images were forever a part of him. The only good
thing about the whole got darn mess was that his vampiric powers had increased, other vampires
memories in him revealed that power wasn't usually gained this easy. But he apparently had a lot
more easy to (re)learn the Diciplines as the Kindred called their various extraordinary powers.
Niklas wrote a letter to Excalibur to say thanks for their help and then he dressed in a wetsuit
to protect his clothes before he leapt into the cold water from a high cliff.

"... but I realize that I cannot continue to be a threat to any of the x-teams anymore. Don't
try to find me, I'm going to be out of touch for a while to think things over. See if it's
possible to keep the other minds under control or if it's better to just kill myself. Have a
blast, thank you for all your help and good-bye. Niklas." quoted Rachel. "By the way, I hoped you
all enjoyed the tickets." She dropped the letter on the table.
"I thought it sounded a little wierd when I found out that I had won a bunch of tickets to the
theater without entering any competition." said Kitty and shook her head.
"We have to let the others know about this." said Kurt and reached for the telephone.

"We're full mister, that is what the 'No vaccancies' sign outside means." said the obnocious
receptionist. Niklas sighed and slammed his hand down on top of the hidden scanner. She looked
over at the monitor behind the desk, glanced at his face and finally nodded. "Welcome general."
she greeted him, all trace of her offensive manner and slight accent gone without a trace. "Do
you require a suit?"
"No, a single room and some information will do."
"We're at your service."
"I need to know the adress to the Kindred Prince here in Glasgow."

"Well general, taking on the Kindred is risky business. That is why we stay out of their path as
much as possible, but there are a few things that can be of use if you have to go one-on-one with
them. If you'd follow me over here..." said Clarence McRabbid and walked into another room.
"It's acctually not as much one-on-one as one-on-many." said Niklas and smiled at the slightly
horrified look on Clarence's face.
"If you say so..." he replied and pressed his hand against a scanner. A steel wall slowly slided
down into the ground and revealed rows and rows of weapons. "Here." he said and tossed Niklas
a MP5 and a few clips. "I'm sure you're familiar with the MP5, but the ammo is a little special."
he explained. "The bullets are filled with Napalm, when they penetrate... Woooosh! You've got
yourself a fried Vampire. A three round burst is usually enough to make them think about how
leaving as fast and far as possible would be a truly great idea." He picked up a Winchester
Defender shotgun and two boxes of ammo. "Same idea here, they're sprayed with small rounds of
Explosive plasma. The pellets barely have time to penetrate the skin before the energy released
in the impact turns the hard balls into a burning inferno. One shot at the head and the world
becomes one Vampire short."
"I don't suppose you happend to have a El Diablo or some other automatic shotgun here?" asked
Niklas as he looked closer at one of the buckshots to the shotgun.
"No, you're lucky we even had an armory here and even more lucky that we keep some special
equipment. There's guns, there's rifles, there's grenades. If you want something nastier then
what you see, you'll have to go out of town."
"I'll have to make do with these I suppose." said Niklas and sighed theatrichally.

Niklas zoomed out until he was seeing things in 1:1 scale again, installing the Mioplant was
without a doubt his best decicion ever. He uncrouched and sneaked onwards, carefully avoiding
the tripwires and hidden pressure-pads as he moved closer to the large building. It reminded
him of the x-mansion, the security wasn't as good here, but it was good enough. He made his way
all the way up to the main building and scaled it without any trouble. The sucktion cups he had
strapped to his hands and shoes worked like a charm. He scrambled up on the roof and stuffed
the climbing equipment into his backpack. He brought out the exlosives and hobbled over to the
chimney, he tore out the metal bars that blocked it, set the timer for fifteen seconds and
dropped the explosives, letting it fall down into the chimney. He moved over to the edge of the
roof and waited.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
He almost fell down but he managed to hold on while he studied Kindred movement with the aid of
his Mioplant and the minicerebro. Everybody moved into the center of the mansion to see what
the explosion was all about, all except three of them. The prince was cautious, he was now
being taken to the secret tunnel everybody had been talking about. Nobody knew where the exit
was, but everyone knew that it existed. He smirked as he saw the three blips move out of the
mansion and across the lawn without him noticing them above ground. He brought out the second
wad and threw it down the gaping hole in the roof. This time it was triggered to explode on
impact and explode it did, taking out an even larger part of the mansion then the first blast.
/That ought to keep them busy for a while.../ thought Niklas and leaped down on the ground. He
followed the directions he got from the minicerebro, when the prince and his two bodyguards opened
a secret trapdoor. He blasted the head off one bodyguard with his MP5 and before the other had
time to react, a spray of bullets had blown his chest away. The prince dived for cover but yelped
in pain as Niklas blasted away his kneecaps. Niklas proceeded to put one shot in each shoulder,
making the prince completely unable to move.
"Who are you? I'll pay ten times as much as whoever hired you! Do you want progeny? You can
create as many you want, I'll protect you! Do you need Kindred blood? I can give you a
unlimited supply!" screamed the Prince in panic.
"Sorry, not interested." said Niklas, bent down and went for the throat.

Elder Caradoc of the Bruhja clan looked out through his window, the Glasgow Cainites were
experiencing a period of severe problems at the moment. Not only had the Wherewolves dared to
entered the city in unheard of numbers lately, now there was someone running around, picking them
off one by one. Since the Toreador prince died seven days ago, more then twentythree Kindred had
been killed in the days since then. Most of them had been killed, shot with burning ammo that
could kill a Cainite just as easy as regular ammo could kill humans. Caradoc sighed, he usually
didn't involve himself anymore. He had just came out of a five year long Topor, he had just
planned to feed, get the latest news and then go right back to sleep again. But if someone
destroyed all his plans by killing off the people Caradoc counted on, then he would have to
do something about it. Caradoc stepped back in shock as someone suddenly appeared in his field of
vision outside the window. He was dressed in black clothes and Caradoc gasped as he grabbed a
submachinegun strapped to his right leg. He was holding on to a rope with his left hand, raised
his right and fired right through the window. Caradoc screamed in pain as his right shoulder
caught on fire, a second later his left erupted into flames. Another bullet struck his stomach.
Caradoc fell to the floor and was unable to react as the stranger jumped into the appartment,
Caradoc blinked as his murderer bent down and started to drink his blood. /So this is how it
feels like... I had forgotten this feeling.../ he thought as he slowly faded away.

"Hi Jubie." said Niklas as he stared at the wall in his room. He had closed down the functions of
the Mioplant that would enable Erik to track him, so he was forced to use the regular telephone.
He was leaving just as soon as he finished this call, so he wouldn't have to use a payphone
somewhere to avoid being traced back to the hotel.
"Niklas?! Where are ya?"
"Glasgow."
"Where all the murders..." she fell silent and just listened. "Did... did ya..."
"Loose it? No, not really. Although I guess it's safe to say that I cannot be considered
completly sane anymore. I had reasons, a few good ones and a really bad one. But that doesn't
matter." he sighed. "I just wanted to say that I miss you all, but that I cannot risk returning
until I'm sure that I won't be a danger to everyone around me."
"Ya aren't! Don't ya understand? If ya were, ya wouldn't think twice 'bout returnin'!"
"Perhaps. But I won't take any chances, you're my friends! In the case of you... and Yvette,
much more then friends. I won't risk any of your lives by staying close to you. Well, now that
the others listening have had the time to trace this call, I guess I better leave before
Excalibur arrives. Love you Jubes, see ya." said Niklas and hung up. Everything was already
prepared so he just walked down, jumped into the car and drove away. He wouldn't have to take
these precautions if he had stayed at the HawkTech safehouse, they were protected against
tracing. But Erik would also be sending out a description of Niklas to all HawkTech bases all
over the world, he would have to stop using them before someone recognized him for who he really
was. It was such a shame, HawkTech had been of enourmous help in the past. They had people all
over the world, contacts, equipment and everything he might need. Now he would have to rely on
himself. He sighed, he would need a lot of money and that meant visiting a bank, something he
couldn't do himself. He did have a few ideas of how he would arrange things though.

"London Grand National Bank, how may I help you?" asked the servile voice in the other end.
"Good evening. I'm Dave Wetherby from the Times, I'm writing an article about Lawyers and their
clients. I was wondering if you would be able to tell me the name of the firm LGNB are cooperating
with?" asked Niklas with a thick Brittish snobbish accent.
"Just one moment sir." replied the operator and returned after a half a minute or so. "The
distinguished firm 'Prentice, Waldman and Smythe' is the company we employ." Niklas smirked and
hung up without saying anything else.

"Yes?" said the receptionist absently.
"Prentice, Waldman or Smythe please." replied Niklas politely.
"They're very busy sir."
"I'm sure they can be persuaded to take a break for me." said Niklas and seemingly absently
polished the enourmous diamond ring he was wearing on his right hand, by rubbing it against his
Armani suit. The lady behind the desk looked in a book beside her and pressed a button on the
intercom.
"Miss Prentice? There's a gentleman here to see you."
"Send him up." came the reply over the intercom.
"Third floor, last door on the right." said the receptionist and opened the elevator doors by
pressing a button underneath her desk.
"Thank you." replied Niklas and stepped into the elevator. He smiled at the hidden camera and
banged his metal pen up against the metal detector, absently playing "It's a kind of magic" by
Queen as he hummed along. He stepped out as the doors slowly opened and walked over to the door
he had been directed to. Niklas reached up to knock, but it was opened for him before his
knuckles connected. He swiftly looked the attractive girl up and down, gracefully took her hand
and kissed it before she said anything. "How do you do?"
"Fine up until a few seconds ago, now I'm doing *very* fine. Jenny Prentice, pleased to meet you."
she replied with a nice smile.
"Niklas Jonsson, the pleasure is all mine." he said. She turned around and walked over to her
large desk, waving at him to take a seat.
"So mister Jonsson, how may I help you?" she asked pleasantly.
"I thought your firm might be willing to handle a little transaction for me, I'm being watched
by cooperate spies all the time so I'm afraid it's impossible for me to do it Miss Prentice."
"What sort of 'little transaction' are we talking about here?" she asked, all business now.
"I was thinking that you might be able to arrange for a large amount of money to be picked
up at the London Grand National Bank for me. I was also thinking that you might be able to
persuade the bank to keep this transaction a secret."
"That is not a service we offer to complete strangers for our firm." she replied coldly.
"Who said we had to be strangers?" asked Niklas and winked at her.
"Business and pleasure are not something I mix mister Jonsson." she said firmly.
"The firm would make a rather handsome profit on this affair..." suggested Niklas smoothly.
"How large a profit?" she asked curiously.
"Oh, say... fivehundredthousand pounds?"
"Just how large is this 'little transaction'?"
"Oh, I was thinking of something in the lines of ten to twenty million American dollars."

"See, mixing business with pleasure isn't so bad..." mumbled Niklas and shivered as his Mioplant
suddenly reported that his powers had changed again. He had some sort of gravity related powers
that reminded of the now deceased white bishop of the Hellfire clubs inner circle power, it
wasn't a projected power though so it would only affect himself. He would have to experiment a
little with it, it sounded like an interesting power.
"I could learn to live with it..." sighed Jenny Prentice and nudged his ribs.
"Again? You Brittish gals are tireless!"

Niklas smiled as he shifted his personal gravitational field, making the wall attract him more
then what the earth did. He walked up on the wall, standing compeltely at ease. He moved walked
to the roof and as he placed his right foot on it, he started to shift around the direction the
gravity pulled him. He walked around on the roof, smiling as he made dirty imprints with his
shoes. The cleaning staff would have to get a ladder if they wanted to get his footprints off
the ceiling. He jumped towards the floor and fell back up, he slowly shifted the forces until he
slowly hovered in the middle of the room, he concentrated slightly and started to fly around in
the room. He deftly landed and reset gravity back to normal as someone knocked on his door. He
opened the door and let Jenny into the room. She brought two metal suitcases with sturdy locks.
Niklas opened one of them and smiled at the sight of all that cash. He didn't bother to open
the other one, he just turned around and kissed Jenny who responded in kind. Her left hand
caressed the area between his legs so he lifted her up in his arms and carried her over to the
bedroom.

"The boss doesn't deal with strangers, who want's to meet him?" asked the huge brute, Niklas
considered throwing him out of his way, but he needed some things and this was the best place to
get them at. He pulled out a fistfull of crisp dollar bills from one of his pockets.
"A lot of dead presidents." he replied and waited outside as the goon closed the hatch in the
door. A few minutes later, the door was opened and Niklas was escorted in by two men holding Colt
Python's in their hands. They brought him over to a small office, waved for him to take a seat
and walked outside. Niklas gasped as metal bands shot out and strapped his arms to the armrests.
He shrugged and calmed down, it was no use getting upset over crap like this. Some hoddlums are
paranoid, just accept everything they do and put a plug in them when they've outlived their
usefulness. He did start to gather his strenght though, increasing it temporarily by burning off
some of the blood he had stored.
"Well, what can I do for you then mister?" asked a small man who wormed his way into the office,
dressed in a shoddy looking suit. "Drugs, weapons, women, hitmen..."
"I need two cars, not stolen ones and nothing that catches the eye. I need an automatic shotgun,
El Diablo would be preferable but anything will do. I want an H&K MP5 and two silencers. I want
an M16A2 with a M203 rocket launcher as well as a bunch of ammo and rockets. A few emergency
flares, some C4 and remote detonators." said Niklas calmly.
"Geez man, what are you going to do, storm Buckingham palace?"
"That is for me to know and you to find out, can you get it?"
"Hey, they don't call me 'he-can-fix-it' for nuthin' mister! When do you want it?"
"As soon as possible, now would be preferable."
"That is going to cost you mister, the cars will take an hour or two. The other stuff is right in
my storage, you can get it on your way out. Now to more imporant matters, the payment."
"Name your price."
"One and a half million American dollars."
"Half a million."
"One point three!"
"750 large ones."
"One million dollars!"
"Deal!"
"Fork it over!"
"Do you have someone who can tell a diamond from a ruby?"
"Yeah?"
"Get him or her."
"It's me." replied he-can-fix-it and Niklas nodded. He spat out a couple of diamonds he had kept
hidden underneath his toungue on the table and the dealer carefully looked them over. He brought
out a magnifying lense, scratched them against steel surface and finally nodded. "These will do
just fine." he said, reached down underneath the desk and brought out a gun. "Thank you mister."
he said and aimed at Niklas head. Niklas ripped the steel bands apart, increased his gravity so
much that his weight crushed the chair and the floor it was standing on. He then decreased it
again and practically flew up through the hole. He took a hit in his left shoulder but then he
grabbed the revolver he-can-fix-it was holding and bent the pipe of it.
"Do that again and I'll tear your arms away from your body, bite your legs off, cover you in
honey and drop you down to the other rats in the sewers." threatened Niklas and threw the gun
to the floor. "You and me are going to stay *real* close to each other until I've gotten what
I wanted. We can start by getting my hardware while we wait for the cars to arrive." said Niklas
and hissed at he-can-fix-it. He looked at the wound in his shoulder and dug the bullet out with
his fingers. "Ouch." said Niklas calmly. "You can tell your goons to get the hell out of my hair
or I'll rip their arms off and use them to beat you senseless." The scoundrel swallowed and
nodded, the two brutes who had rushed in after they heard the shot was now standing behind him,
aiming their revolvers at his head.
"You heard him, get outta here!" snapped he-can-fix-it, his voice filled with hysteric panic.
"Thank you." said Niklas and put down the blood-red bullet in the middle of the desk, he dried
his fingers with some of the papers that were lying around.
"What the hell *are* you?!" he asked shrilly.
"Someone you *don't* want to fuck with mister, get me what I need or you'll regret it."

Niklas looked at the two cars and nodded, he threw the equipment into the backseat of one car
and told one of the goons to park it in a garage he had scouted earlier and leave the keys
underneath the hood of the car. The leader was hysterical and ordered his underlings to cooperate
fully. When one of the goons drove off with the other car, Niklas nodded and turned around.
"You got me what I wanted, so I'll even let you keep the diamonds. But if I ever show up here
again, you'd better not try something stupid because that will be the last misstake you'll ever
make!" threatened Niklas and stepped into the car after first checking it for hidden explosives
or tracking devices.

"Anything?" asked Kurt.
"Not a trace." replied Rachel sadly. He nodded sagely, it was a weak hope, walking around the
streets of London, looking for the mental signature of someone who's shields are so strong that
even Charles Xavier had problems finding it when he was in the same room as Niklas.
"You'd better check in with the others, let them know that we haven't found anything." She nodded
silently. He hoped that Logan, Elisabeth, Jean or Belinda had better luck finding him. He was a
little uncomfortable around the Prime Sentinel, but she seemed nice enough, even in her
Sentinel shape.

"And if I *ever* see you grabbing another womans backside again, I'm going to do something *much*
nastier then just kick you between your legs." threatened Belinda and kicked the still groaning
teenager off the buss. She smirked, she didn't even have to transform into a Sentinel for a punk
like that. She got back to the reason she was here and started to scan for mutants as the tourbus
speeded through London.

Niklas almost crashed into another car as he saw Logan cross the street in the rear mirror. He
was gone before he could check again, but he didn't have to. He was sure that it had been
Logan, he cursed himself. He knew he shouldn't have tried his new powers. As long as he didn't
use them, he could remain hidden from Cerebro, but when he used them, it was more or less
impossible to hide from the powerful Mutant detector. They wouldn't be able to stop what he
had planned though, he had to succeed. Today would be the annual Ventrue meeting here in London,
a great deal of Ventrue would attend this meeting, a great deal of powerful vampires. That wasn't
what Niklas had in mind though, but a nasty collection of Bruhja, Tremere and Giovanni had
prepared an assault on the Ventrue meeting. They had gathered in a large abandoned brewery in
the outskirts of town where they waited for the night. Niklas had the other car waiting for
him a few blocks away from the brewery, this one was loaded with explosives and shit. He would
send it into the brewery, detonate it and watch it all go up in flames. Then he would run
around inside, killing all the Kindred present who survived the blast. He didn't really know
why he did this, but killing Cainites was just about as good a way as any to make the world
a better place. Especially revolting Bruhja, Giovanni and Tremere scum, he did feel a slight
sense of loyalty towards the Ventrue clan. Not enough to stay out of their hair just because
he to was Ventrue, but enough to grant them at least some respect when he killed them. He waited
until the police had done their customary pass at 13.46 before he prepared himself. He got all
the firearms, the flares and two wads with C-4 and remote detonators out of the car. The rest he
left there and sent it off towards the large doors into the brewery. He ran across the street
after the car, a tight black skimask over his head. When it had crashed inside and stopped in the
middle of the large empty area, he detonated it. The whole area shook, a wall was blown away,
large part of the upper floor crashed down and a pillar of smoke spewed forth. Niklas ran up
the fire escape and crashed through a window only to come face to face with ten rifles directed
at the window he just had crashed through. He jumped back and cursed as he recognised the
uniform the soldiers had been wearing. It was HawkTech jumpsuits, Erik had lured him into a trap!
More HawkTech people filled the area around the brewery, a chopper or two was closing in and
sirens could be heard. Niklas lept up into the air and swiftly vanished up into the clouds,
leaving the choppers far behind thanks to his new power. It was now high time to get the hell
out of London, it was far to dangerous to stay when the whole city suddenly was crawling with
X-Men and HawkTech battle teams. He flew back to his hotel room and picked up his money before
he left, he took the opportunity to call and let them know that he was leaving with his Mioplant
since Erik already knew that Niklas was in London. After some afterthought, he dialed the
number to the academy.
"Xaviers academy for gifted youngsters, this is Emma Frost." answered Emma. Niklas sighed.
"Hi Emma, can you put Jubilee or Yvette on the phone without giving me a lecture?" he asked.
"..."
"Emma?"
"... Niklas? Is that you?" she asked after a silence.
"No, it's Rudolph the red nosed raindeer!" replied Niklas sarcasticly.
"Who is Rudolph?"
"I've never heard of a raindeer with a red nose!"
"It's just some silly story they tell their young ones."
"Are the fairies at the academy?" asked Niklas curiously.
"No. Why do you ask?" asked Emma. Niklas slowly turned his head around and came face to face
with Cipi, Sipi and Tipi.
"What are you doing here?" asked Niklas.
"She sent us to help you!"
"We can't help you if you're here and we're not!"
"You left us without saying where you went, so we tracked you down! 'aint we great trackers?"
"How in gods name can you track me now, I'm flying!" screamed Niklas.
"She has marked you."
"All her servants can find you!"
"We can find you no matter where you go. Cool huh?"
"No, not really..." muttered Niklas. "Jubilee or Yvette Emma, are they there?"
"They're shopping. But Niklas, you *have* to stop this nonsense! I saw the news from Glasgow,
Jubilee said that you had reasons for it, but no matter what the reason, you can't continue
like this!"
"Sorry Emma, I won't be back until I know that I can trust myself around you. So far I've managed
to maintain control, not doing anything I didn't want to, but I can't take any chances. Not
now, not yet, perhaps not ever."
"He's subborn, isn't he?"
"Yeah!"
"As if *that* was supposed to be a suprise for us!"
"I'm hungry, I wonder what raw fairy tastes like?" said Niklas out loud, looked at the fairies
licked some saliva of his lips.
"You can't scare us! We know that you're only kidding!"
"Uhu! I'm scared!"
"Whimp!"
"Stop bothering the poor fairies." said Emma in the telephone. "Come back, return to the mansion
for crying out loud man! Can't you see what you're doing? The X-Men are weakened, half of them
running all over England looking for you with Excalibur. Jubilee, Yvette and Salkin are
distracted, unable to function as well as they should. Even some of the X-Force members are
affected by this, the only X-team that is able to function normally at the moment is X-Factor!"
"Hadn't considered that, tell 'em to go home for crying out loud! I'm all right, unharmed, well,
except for a hole in my shoulder that is... But my mind is controlled by myself, not some crazy
genetic scientist or a magnetic megalomaniac. If that is good or bad remains to be seen."
"I doubt that very much! I still don't trust you completely, I don't claim to know you from
top to bottom and I still think it was unwise to let you into the X-Men in the first place. But
now when you've been in, I won't allow you to just leave. You know much, *too* much. Get back to
the mansion or Muir right now or I'll hunt you down like a wild animal!" she snapped.
"I've never taken theats well Emma, I might not be able to wrap your mind around itself and
tear it to shreds anymore. But I can do that with your body instead, your precious psi-powers
isn't any protection against me. None among Generation X have the kind of power or ruthlessness
it would take to take me down, if you anger me, I might just make *you* my next target..."
said Niklas calmly, keeping his wrath on a tight leash. Since neither Jubilee or Yvette was
there, it didn't serve any purpose to stay on the line. He hung up and increased his speed,
trying to get away from the fairies.
"Wheeee!"
"This is *fun*!"
"Wahooo!" Niklas looked over his shoulders and saw that the fairies and grabbed a hold of his
belt before he increased the speed.
"All right you buggers, I'm hunting Vampires. Are you with me or against me?"

"What did he say we should do with this now again?"
"Can't remember! What is it anyway?!"
"They're called grenades I think. We were supposed to put it outside some window, or was it next
to some widow?"

"What are you doing here Childer?" snapped Cedric without looking up.
"Oh, I'm afraid that you're *way* off with that estimate Cedric..." said Niklas calmly. Cedric
looked up from his desk. "Get out of my domain Childer!" he hissed.
"I just happened to lower my Generation quite a bit Cedric, I'm now acctually of the sixth
generation." said Niklas and flopped down in a chair.
"Sixth?" gasped Cedric in suprise and stared intently at Niklas who just smirked at the old
vampire. "You are! How did you... Diablerie..."
"Aw Cedric, you're no stranger to Diablerie yourself, I can tell that now, among other things.
I have not only lowered my generation, I have also gained a few new powers that I didn't have
before. The ability to concentrate the blood I drink is making it possible to have more of it
stored inside of me then before also makes it possible for me to spend more of it for useless
little things like reading your aura."
"Am I correct when I assume that you are here because you want something again?"
"Why Cedric, can't I come by for a visit without being suspected of *wanting* something?"
asked Niklas with a silly voice.
"Say what's on your mind and leave, I wish to be alone." snapped Cedric.
"I'm curious Cedric, your blood is the most potent I know of, I'm wondering what might happend
if I drained you of it. But not today... Today I'm just going to remind you that Kindred can
catch the Legacy as well. You're plotting and manipulating to much, you should spend more time
helping Hank, Moira and Cecilia find a cure for the Legacy virus."
"Why don't you just leave before I loose my temper." hissed Cedric and Niklas nodded, he might
be skilled and he might be powerful, but he didn't really want a confrontation with Cedric,
at least not yet.
"Okidoki Cedric, but move your lazy ass over to the x-mansion for research at least once a week.
See ya later Ced."

"I don't care what my previous orders are! I want a bloody army on the grounds, I want rowing
patrols all over Salem and I want it *now*." snarled Cedric into the telephone before he hung it
up. He thought deeply for a few seconds and then smiled before he picked up the phone that
connected him with Hydra. A report that Shield were building a secret base in Salem center would
result in a few Hydra units arriving and he would say that he had arranged for them to stay
with old Cedric Conklin at his mansion.

Niklas sighed and looked up at the window to his room in the X-mansion, the fairies opened it and
Niklas jumped up, his gravity shifting so he floated into his room. He looked around and sighed,
he couldn't spend too much time remembering the time he had spent in here. He hadn't been in the X-men
for very long, but it had been one of the happiest periods of his life dispite all the problems,
struggles and fighting. He grabbed the Kalcedon knife and his El Diablo, as an afterthought, he also
added two Katanas and a fistfull of throwing knives.
"Why didn't you just walk through the door?"
"Yeah, that would have been much easier!"
"What are you going to do with all this stuff?"
"I told you to be *quiet*!" hissed Niklas and stuffed everything down into his bag.
"Niklas?" asked a voice outside and Niklas jumped out of the window. He knew that voice, it was
Elisabeth Braddock AKA Psylocke. The fairies closed the window as he sprinted across the lawn, heading
for the forest. He was suddenly thrown to the ground as something crashed into him, breaking a rib or
two in the process.
"Yer not goin' anywhere bub." snarled Logan, dropped the rope he had been swinging from and softly
landing on his feet.
"Playing Tarzan Logan? Drop this right now, I still don't trust myself and I'm sure as hell not ready
to be around any X-Men until at least I can trust myself."
"Yer goin' to the mansion with me, one way or 'nother."
SCHLIKT!
"Logan, don't." said Niklas ran towards the wall, his broken ribs sending pain through his body at
every step he took. He snarled and jumped, his gravity changing so he floated easily over the wall and
further up into the air, leaving Logan on the ground. "See ya sometime Logan." said Niklas and waved
at the snarling mutant on the ground.
"Sooner then ye think bub!" roared Logan and Niklas suddenly understood why as Rogue grabbed him, her
gloved fists taking a firm hold of the black leather vest he was wearing today.
"C'mere Sugah." said Rogue and pulled him back towards the mansion. Niklas looked ahead, Betsy, Logan,
Scott, Storm and Gambit had already gathered, prepared for anything.
"Rogue, drop me right this instant or I *will* reach out and touch your face with my bare hands!"
threatened Niklas and held his right palm only millimeters away from Rogues face.
"Ya'll come nice and easy, I trust ya." she said calmly and Niklas bared his fangs at her.
"Drop me *now*!" he hissed, his eyes blazed with a red glow that iluminated her face. She closed
her eyes and slowly decended, ignoring his snarls and snapping completely. He slowly pulled his
hand back, he couldn't bring himself to do it. /Blast!/ He snarled and then remembered his vest.
He raised his arms right up and slipped out of it, dropping to the ground and started running as
soon as his feet touched the ground. He changed his gravitational field and soared up into the sky,
but before he managed to escape, he was suddenly caught in a hurricane that hurled him back towards
the mansion. /Storm.../ He increased his gravity and was suddenly falling to the ground with such
force that Ororo couldn't reverse it dispite using all her might to hurl wind at him from below.
He suddenly reversed the field again and used her winds to increase his speed even more. He crashed
right into Rogue though, she had put herself in his way. The impact made a huge boom and Niklas fell
towards the ground, unable to concentrate hard enough to reverse his gravitational field again.
Ororos winds slowed his decent and then Rogue grabbed him again, locking her arms around his waist.
/I cannot allow this, I cannot be captured!/ He squirmed around so he faced Rogue. "Sorry about
this..." said Niklas and lowered his face towards Rogue, intending to kiss her. She closed her
eyes again and he slowly pulled back, unable to do it. "Blast you Rogue! How can you trust me?!
I cannot trust me, how can any of you morons trust me?!" he screamed in fury. They landed and
was emidiatly surrounded by X-men. Rogue let him go but still held on to his wrist, keeping him
on the ground just in case he tried to run again. Logan slashed at his right arm with his claws,
drawing blood. Niklas threw himself at Logan, grabbing his throat with his free right hand. He
hoisted Logan up into the air and held him up at arms length. "Don't do that again!" snarled
Niklas and threw Logan up and backwards so he landed on his feet five meters back. He had
been increasing his strength by using some of the blood he had stored, he wasn't at the same
level as Rogue, but lifting Logan wasn't a challenge for him at the moment. Lifting a car
wouldn't be a challenge at the moment! Scott blasted him with a low level optic beam. Niklas
yelped in pain, threw Rogue out of harms way and leaped at Scott. "Close your eyes Summers!"
he snarled and slapped the visor away. He leapt up into the air to avoid Gambits staff and
landed behind Ororo. He grabbed her waist and held his claws up against her throat. "That
is enough amusement for one evening, now back off and let me depart in peace. If I'm not
followed, I'll leave Ororo on some roof in Salem center where you can find her from the
air." he growled. "If you do follow me, you'll find her with her throat opened by my claws
and with a knife through her chest." Ororo slowly turned around and grabbed one of the
knives he had strapped on his right arm.
"We're going to kill you Niklas." snarled Ororo and slashed at his throat with his knife.
Niklas closed his eyes and waited in silence. When nothing happened, he opened them and
saw the knife halted just centimeters away from his throat. "You could have killed any
one of us, but you didn't. You even went out of your way to keep us unharmed! We trust
you Niklas, why can't you do the same?" she asked and shoved the knife back into it's
sheat "That knife at your hip is laced with Kalcedon, is it not? That could have killed
Rogue, you could have torn open Scotts throat, broken Logans neck, killed me or anyone
of us, but you didn't!"
"This was all... some bloody *test*?! The claws, the optic beam, the knife... You were
testing me!?" screamed Niklas in wrath.
"Not testing, *proving* to you that you *can* trust yourself Niklas!" she screamed right
back at him, abandoning her usual emotionless stance, the weather reflecting her emotions.
The wind howled, clouds had appeared out of nowhere, lightening bolts crashed down now
and then and rain suddenly poured down in tremendous amounts. "You *are* going to return
to the mansion, you *will* abandon this crazy tour of murders and you *shall* learn to
trust yourself! The only way you're getting away from us now is if you kill every single
one of us!" she screamed and a lightening bolt crashed down right behind him.
"I've lied to you! I cannot be trusted! I'm a bloody vampire for Christs sake!" he
screamed and leapt at her, preparing to tear her face apart with his sharp claws.
She just looked at him calmly and his claws passed only millimeters in front of her
face. He clenched his fists, his long claws digging into his own flesh.
"We know!" she screamed back at him. "Logan, Cable and Domino told us when you started
slaughtering vampires!" Niklas stumbled back from her and wondered if he should try
one last time to kill them, just kill them all and not having to be trusted ever again.
He didn't deserve their trust, he didn't *want* their trust! He hardly even noticed as
Jean carried him into the mansion with her telekinetic powers, standing on his knees with
his face buried in his hands.

"X-xavier's, t-this is Yvette." said the voice in the other end and Niklas eyebrows
shot up into the air in suprise.
"Hiya Yvette, it's certainly nice to hear your voice again." said Niklas and smiled
as he heard a squeal of delight in the other end.
"Niklas! Is it r-really you?!" she screamed and he lowered the volume before his
ears became useless.
"Quirks, looks, sick sense of humor and all."
"Y-yvette sorry, but call is b-being t-tr-tr-t-traced. Whiteladyfrost s-said you
h-had to b-be tracked if y-you called."
"It's all right Yvette, all that will show is that I'm back at the x-mansion,
the silly buggers here managed to persuade me to return."
"Yvette thinks t-that is wonderful! When you come visit here?"
"As soon as I possibly can Yvette, as soon as I can."
"G-good! Yvette loves you." she said sincerely and Niklas mind darkened for a
moment again, he still had *that* problem left to solve. Belinda, Jubilee and Yvette,
all of them in love with him. His feelings for Belinda was rather faint, but his
feelings for Jubilee and Yvette were as strong as ever, for both of them.
"I love you too Yvette." he said and he felt a slight tingle over their emotional
bond, it had weakened but sometimes strong emotions was transmitted over it. It
certainly did now, he felt the love she felt for him and joy because she felt the
love he felt for her on her side of the emotional bond.
"Oh. Yvette almost forgot, Yvette has g-got news for you!"
"Really?" asked Niklas curiously. "What news?"
"Sean and Angelo left with airplane, going to Sweden to get new s-stu-student."
"Another Swede? Cool." said Niklas without much conviction.
"N-not only a-another S-swede, it's your sister." said Yvette and Niklas closed
his eyes and tried to keep himself from fainting.
"Josefine? Jeezus christ! She's a mutant too?" he asked incrediously. "Well, why
do I even bother to ask... Everybody else in the family are mutants, why not her
as well?"
"S-she arrives t-tomorrow."
"I'll wait a few days before I go visit then, she's usually unbearable the first
days after arriving at a new place." said Niklas. "See ya then Yvette, say hi to
Jubilee and the others for me. Bye-bye."
"Looking f-forward to it, bye-bye!" said Yvette and hung up. Niklas sighed. /My
bloody sister in Generation X?/ he thought. /My bloody clone in Generation X?/ he
added as an afterthought, life with the X-men was never boring. As if to prove that,
he heard the sound of an aircraft landing and he knew that the truly *bad* part of
returning would come now. He didn't exactly want to face X-Force but he forced himself
to stand up and walk over to meet them. The X-men had accepted his return, but he
didn't think Tabitha would take his unexpected presence in the mansion well. He made
his way over and tried to reach Nathan by thinking *hard* on his name.
*/Hello.../* transmitted Cable cautiously. /Hiya Nate. I was sort of wondering if you'd
like to do the honors of giving Tabitha an advance warning of my presence here in the
mansion? If she wants to slug me, talk, scream or anything, I'm ready. If she doesn't
want to see me, I'll head back to my room./ Niklas waited patiently around the corner
for a few minutes without hearing anything from Cable. He didn't hear any screms either
and that was a good sign, with enhanced senses it wasn't exactly pleasant to be screamed
at, especially not by such a good screamer as Tabitha.
"Hello." someone said and he jumped in suprise as she pinched him. He rubbed the sore
spot but didn't say anything about it.
"Hi Tabitha." he said and waited for the outburst. What he got wasn't exactly what he
had expected though. She grabbed his ears and pulled him down to her face, he stared
into her sparkling eyes, their noses rubbing against eachother as she just held him
there, staring into his eyes.
"The slightly crazed look in your eyes has vanished." she said slowly. "I have finally
realised that you are not entirely responsible for what you did, my mind knows it, but
my heart doesn't. In my mind, you're forgiven. But if you ever, *ever*, lose control over
yourself again... I *will* chase you down and kill you, no matter *what* it takes!" she
snarled and released his ears.
"I wouldn't want it any other way." he said and pulled out a Ruger GP100 revolver from
a holster on his back. "Take this, if I ever freak out again. Put a few of the bullets this
gun is loaded with into me." he said and handed it over to her. They are lethal, one shot
and whoever you hit is out of action. Some might be able to survive, but I doubt that. A
shot in the leg would kill Logan, his fancy healing factor wouldn't be able to save him, it
wouldn't have time to heal the damage one of these bullets would do to him." explained
Niklas. "You're my safety Tabitha, if I freak out, please don't hesitate to use this on me."
said Niklas and walked away, his back turned against her. Defenseless if she chosed that
moment to blow him away. He heard the click as she pulled back the hammer, he stopped and
waited calmly for the shot. After ten seconds or so, he heard the hammer slowly being
eased back again. He shrugged and walked back towards his rooms, now she at least had a
weapon that would kill him if she wanted to. No vampiric healing in the world would help
if a slug from that gun entered his system. He walked down to the Danger room, he would
have to preform a *lot* of tests before he could start to trust himself. His control
hadn't slipped so far, but he would never be able to forget or forgive himself for losing
control back at Muir, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself for what he did afterwards
either, when he was resonably back in control. He had acctually hunted down Kindred for
no other reason then to increase his own power! He couldn't deny that he acctually liked
his increased powers, but he wanted to sick up whenever he thought of how he had gained
those powers. The fact that the X-men had forgiven that was something he didn't understand
either, he didn't dare to ask either because he wasn't sure that he wanted an answer to
that question. Not a single one of them had commented on his multiple murders he had
commited when he did control himself. He wondered if it was because they looked at
vampires as lesser beings, something that didn't deserve to live. If that was true,
how did they look at him? They had brought him back, that much was certain, but what
did they really think about him? He had never missed the loss of his telepathy or
even the Empathy he had possessed for a while as much as he did now. Niklas put
himself through eleven sessions in a row where he had to face various enemies in
battle, sometimes alone, sometimes with the X-men and sometimes against the X-men.
He turned up the parameters until it was almost impossible, his level of stress went
up to imhuman levels, he went into a berserker rage more then once, he frenzied and
he sometimes used more violence then required. When he finally admitted that he would
have to rest for a while, he still hadn't killed anyone and he hadn't injured any of
the simulations of his teammates except when he had to knock them out in some cases
when they were having their minds controlled. He felt somewhat relieved afterwards, he
had stayed in control, he hadn't killed or maimed anyone for life even if a FoH member
simulation had been rather badly bruised by being slammed into a fall with a little
more force then what was needed to stop a ordinary human without any special powers or
equipment. He had also slashed open Logans stomach once, but only because he realised
that it wasn't really something that would hurt Logan in the long run. The bestial
X-man was the toughest opponent of all when he was on the opposite side. Niklas wasn't
able to unleash his full potential against someone who wasn't really an enemy while the
simulation of Logan didn't have any problems of that kind. Niklas sucked in some air and
started a new simulation, only him and a furious Logan. The battleground was a empty
endless room, nobody would be able to take any advantage of the battleground. There were
no walls to back an opponent up against, there were no roof to push off from, there was
nothing to hide or take cover behind. Just him and Logan, no weapons except their claws,
no restraints. He considered things for a while, he was stronger, Logan was more dexterious,
their stamina was just about the same. Logan had the advantage of skill, Niklas had the
advantage of knowing every single one of Logans moves and the appropriate defense to most
of them. Logan had a swifter healing factor that worked all the time, Niklas could boost his
healing to a level Logan could only dream of but only to the cost of the stored blood he
had in his system. Logans claws had a longer reach, Niklas could increase his strength,
swiftness, dexterity, stamina and had a wide variety of powers that he could use to his
advantage. It was a rather even match as long as Niklas didn't use his vampiric powers
to drastically increase his abilities. Niklas started the program and the two of them
tore into eachother with recklessness. The battle raged on until the program suddenly
stopped, the simulation ended between one blink of the eye and the next. Niklas collapsed
on the floor, bleeding from numerous cuts, bruised pretty badly and it felt like the
seven dwarves were mining their way through his brain, singing loudly all the time. The
door crashed open and Ororo ran inside with Hank close behind her.
"Godess!" gasped Ororo as Niklas slowly got back at his feet, refusing to let them see
him in a moment of weakness. /It has been far to many of those lately.../ he thought and
tried to smile at them.
"Hullo. What are you two up to then?" he asked cheerfully and healed the worst of his
injuries. He couldn't affort to spend any more to heal the rest, his drug induced
healing factor would take care of that later. He didn't get any further because Ororo
pulled him down to the floor and Hank started to wrap him up dispite the protests that
he would be fine, the healing factor would take care of it all. He really was to weak
to protest though, starting a one-on-one Logan simulation without the safety measures
turned on was perhaps not his best idea ever. "What we 'are up to' at the moment is
taking care of wounds so serious that the Danger room computers sent off a distress call
to the Medilab, alerting yours truly about the situation." replied Hank merrily as he
deftly worked to take care of the multiple wounds Niklas had gotten during the simulation.
"How droll..." said Niklas faintly, overwhelmed with exhaustion after the many intense
simulations he had gone through as well as the injuries he had gotten in the last one.
"I guess this is all that is needed until your native healing factor can deal with these
wounds, at least you won't have to worry about how to get the blood out of the carpets
all over the mansion." said Hank jokingly.
"I wouldn't worry about that anyway, I don't bleed for long." said Niklas and moved the
hands of Ororo away from his shoulders so he could get up onto his feet again. "Thanks
for your concern though, I may have been pushing myself a little to hard." he admitted.
"You're returning to your room, if you get out of your bed within the nearest five hours,
I'll..." Ororo didn't finish her threat but a miniature cloud next to her fired a small
lightening bolt at him. He absently scratched the small burn and nodded, he needed the rest
more then he cared to admit.
"After I've taken a shower." he said sternly, he didn't smell anymore, the foul stench he
emitted was *way* beyond 'smell'. It had moved into the dark areas somewhere beyond stench.

"So, how did the battle end?" asked Scott as Ororo had finished telling him about Niklas
stunt in the Danger room. They both looked over the fight in the control booth and checked
all the readings at the time when Ororo had turned the simulation off. "Well..." said Scott
and looked the readings over again. "Logan would have collapsed within a minute or so. But
Niklas did collapse as soon as the simulation was turned off. The following fifteen seconds
would probably had decided the battle, one way or the other."
"Do you still think he's dangerous? He didn't use lethal force until that final battle with
Logan." asked Ororo.
"Only to himself... I listened when he spoke to Tabitha as X-Force returned, it seems like
he has developed a slight death-wish. Obviously not strong enough to end his own life, but
strong enough that he won't stop someone else from doing it if he feels that this someone
has the right to kill him."
"I noticed that when we tested him, he just waited for the slash I feinted with the knife,
not even defending himself although I cannot guess how he reasoned out that I should have a
right to end his life." replied Ororo wonderingly.

"'ello Joseph." said Niklas and sat down at the kitchen table, absently eating a few toasts
and drinking a cup of coffee. "You wanted to talk to me?" Joseph looked around in the kitchen,
they were alone but he seemed sort of nervous.
"Not here." he said silently and then Niklas suddenly found himself being hoisted up into the
air, sitting on a "chair" of electromagnetic energy. Joseph flew them both out through the
door he opened and they soared up into the sky.
"Nice view." commented Niklas as they stopped a few hundred meters up into the air, floating
over the mansion.
"Yeah..." mumbled Joseph. "How much do you remember of..." asked Joseph after a few moments
of silence and then fell silent again, not knowing how to go on.
"Of my time as a crazed madman? I've my own recordings of it, I know pretty much everything."
"You once said... You could cure my 'situation'?"
"Yes. I remember seeing that, but I don't remember how if I ever did." replied Niklas sadly.
"I have tried to regain that knowledge, but I cannot even remember if it truly is possible
or just something 'I' said in order to escape." he continued and sighed. "I can hardly recall
anything of how I reasoned or thought during that period. After all the time I spent in the
inhibiting field... The other minds are weaker then they were back then, they're not trying
to take me over, but I don't have as much insight into their knowledge either."
"When he... you... both of you told me I was a clone, I just knew it was true. I don't know
how I *know* that it's true, but I know. The degeneration, the speading decay... that is
just confirmation."
"Hank and Cecilia still haven't been able to help you out with that?" asked Niklas softly.
"No. The time they spend concentrating on my problem is only lessening the time they spend
trying to cure the Legacy. That cannot be allowed to go on, either I have to find a cure for
this, or..." he didn't finish that sentence but Niklas followed the unvoiced reasoning.
"I wouldn't give up just yet, I will join Hank and Cecilia with their research, perhaps
something up here" he pointed towards his head. "will fall in place, the knowledge resurface
long enough for me to explain it to the others." Joseph shrugged and they both sat in silence,
enjoying the view, feeling the air rush pass them as the hours passed.

THE END!