It starts quietly on a Saturday night.

At midnight, the surrounding streets were blocked off. Trucks from the telephone, gas, and electric companies were in place to make things look official. Life Model Decoy's stolen from a S.H.I.E.L.D.-owned warehouse were dressed as police, their job to keep people away.

(Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistic Directorate - Eric)

Three black vans moved in slowly, getting past the mock blockades. Seven men exited from each van, and converged on another. Without words each man seemed to receive his orders, and slowly they began to surround the Hellfire Club. It was one o'clock in the morning, and this is only the beginning.

A single individual dressed in the shadows of the early morning watched as all he had orchestrated happened in the silence of the evening. The darkness danced around him like a flickering flame, and somewhere in the black of his face there was a smile.

Three more men came out of the night, bookending the first. Watching and waiting for events carefully planned to bear fruit.

Inside the Hellfire Club, it was late.

The staff was home for the evening, only the residence of the Sebastian Shaw's executive townhouse, an adjunct to the main club, was in residence. A careful individual would take note... Sebastian Shaw, Shinobi Shaw, Gamesmaster, Tessa, Smith, Mason Freeland, Scalphunter, and a new arrival - Lily Osaka, are at the club, meeting as a complete group for the first time.

"With Lily as the new Black Queen, we are finally complete! We stand at the edge of the abyss, and there is no more looking back," Sebastian paused for a moment, "The times ahead will be harsh, but together we have the potential to come out on top. Understand, this is not about conquest, this is about survival. Quite simply, I have seen the face of the most powerful of enemies and found that alone, I was lacking. Alone, all of us would be a whisper to the scream of Apocalypse."

"Please father, don't bore us with melodrama! You fear a figment of your imagination, this Apocalypse is no more powerful then any of us! Your problem is that you catch a fright so easily!"

Sebastian stood from his desk and approaches his son slowly, standing face to face, and like quicksilver he struck his son across his face with a vicious backhand.

"Shinobi, you are a fool! You are weak, and would be dead by now if not for me! If you had an ounce of intelligence, you would have succeeded in killing me when you first tried!"

(back in X-Factor #67 - Eric)

"If I may Sebastian," Lily Osaka rose from the chess board across from the Gamesmaster, a game they have been playing for days, "I question much of what goes on in this room. It seems to me that we should talk less and do more. Waiting for this Apocalypse is the foolish thing, I would think. Better to face the enemy now than wait until he has more power."

"Things are already in motion to gain more understanding of Apocalypse. Two of his soldiers, War and Famine, are ours to explore. Scalphunter has had associations with the technology of Apocalypse, while Tessa and I have come to know his whelp, Holocaust. Our new White King also knows of this threat, part of this association is based upon our mutual desire to get through this next series of conflicts. I ask only for your patience and understanding."

(last issue - Eric)

(back in X-Force #48-50 - Eric)

"Apocalypse is a threat," with a soft voice the Gamesmaster spoke, still pondering the chess board, "He is a force of nature who would destroy this world. Make no mistake, I am an evil man, and would do harm to the masses for my amusement, but I promise you there is no fun to a world without people, a world without games..."

The room was silent for several moments until the Gamesmaster made one final move on the board, "Checkmate Miss Osaka, a brilliant game! Now I must say we have more pressing matters to attend to. Sebastian, I think you ought to know that twenty-five men are about to break into the Club. I don't think I am going out on a limb in saying that they might want us all dead."

The room grew silent very quickly. Those not taking part in the active conversation started to pay closer attention. All eyes fell on the Gamesmaster as he made his statement, save Shinobi's. No one in the room saw him smile.

The silence was broken by an explosion in the main portion of the Club. Smoke filled the great hall as the local power was cut. The Inner Circle took to the darkness with bitterness - an attack in these walls was clearly not acceptable!

Shaw spoke first, "Freeland! Light! Now!"

From the hands of Mason Freeland came ionized plasma of a most brilliant blue colour. Everyone looked around attempting to get their bearings.

"Shinobi, where is he?" Tessa exclaimed as she looked around. Smith spoke up, "Not here apparently, neither is Scalphunter. Gamesmaster can you find them?"

"As nice as that would be Smith, I apologize that I cannot, six billion voices you understand, finding two is not an easy task, better to search for them."

"Wait!" Shaw began, "Finding them is not important, what is important is the twenty-five people entering my Club! Smith, recon - find out what the hell we're dealing with! Freeland - escort Tessa and Lily out of here!"

"No," Lily and Tessa cried simultaneously. Tessa continued, "I am royalty now Sebastian, and I will take care of myself, and I am sure the Black Queen can as well. We are the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, and we will face our enemies together!"

"So be it! Freeland - find people and kill them. Gamesmaster - endeavor to find out why these people are here."

"I won't have to, listen."

"Sebastian Shaw, I know you are here in this building. I have your precise location. I am coming for you Shaw. All of these men have one thing on their mind - killing you. The price for your head is twenty-five million dollars, I thought you might want to know."

"Damn!" The frustration beamed through Sebastian's otherwise stoic demeanor. "Smith - find out who the hell that was, and shut him up! Freeland - what are you waiting for? GO !"

Freeland exited the study, leaving it in darkness, walking methodically through the ancient building in search of the enemy.

It didn't take him long to find it.

One of the four men who seemed in control of this operation stood in front of Freeland, a giant of a man.

"Hello, little man," he whispered, breaking the silence normally surrounding the mute, "I wanted you to know something before I killed you..."

Freeland struck out with his powers, the air filled with the fury at his command. The giant was covered in streaks, colored from all the spectrum. It seemed like forever, the dancing lights of Freeland's power in the darkness of the hallway, until they were gone, back to wherever they originate. Unfortunately for Mason Freeland, his would-be attacker was still standing.

"My, that tickled! As I was about to say before you so rudely interrupted, is that I know about you. I believe, in fact, an associate of your used that same line to my employer. You wield ionized plasma, that it surrounds you all the time. That is nice, really. I'm invulnerable, your plasma didn't even give me a tan!"

The Giant moved towards Freeland with speed he should not have had and made a grab for him, but at the last second Freeland melted though the floor, escaping the giants grasp. The giant did the only thing he could do at that point to fulfill his contract as he jumped down the hole in the floor after his prey.

Shinobi Shaw knows when it's time to leave a building, and this was one of those times.

Every marker he held, every asset liquidated, every last bit of Shinobi Shaw owned of himself was sold for this moment. He was having these experienced soldiers destroy the Hellfire Club with the added bonus of killing his father. The one problem with this simple plan is, and this may come as a shock, Shinobi is a fool. And fools fail to cover all their bases.

Shinobi failed to understand that Sebastian wasn't his only enemy in the club, so Shinobi is now being stalked by Scalphunter, on bequest of the Gamesmaster... and he doesn't stand a chance.

"I often wonder what people think about when they are in the dark. Do you hear me, Sebastian? What do you think of the dark? I love it, I truly do. It surrounds us always, shrouding us in confusion. We equate darkness to fear, I would think Sebastian... what do you fear?"

Sebastian Shaw looked around the room, surveying the people with him. The amount of power in the room is impressive, yet they sit quietly in the dark, listening to a faceless opponent. "Does anyone have any suggestions, or are we going to sit around here until he loses his voice?"

The Gamesmaster was the first to voice his opinion, "Going out into the Club is what these men want from us. Let the others ferret them out, then we will play our hand."

While the Gamesmaster spoke, his mind worked on many more levels. "Scalphunter, funnel Shinobi back to us, I need him to be here before this night is over... alive!"

Smith moved quickly between dimensions, searching the Hellfire Club with military precision.

Twenty-five men are in the building, twenty-one covering the obvious egresses. The four within the building are exploring it carefully.

Time to even the odds a little.

In under thirty seconds, twenty one of the most intimidating soldiers ever to be called mercenaries disappear...

Soon, twenty-one bodies will be found near an Antarctic listening post run by the Russian government... death by exposure to the harsh and unforgiving elements.

Slowly, the players moved into position. The focal point being the main study of Sebastian Shaw's residence. Smith returns to this dimension, standing behind Sebastian Shaw. The Gamesmaster, Lily Osaka, Tessa... all present... when the door to the study suddenly opens.

"Sebastian, welcome to our party!" the mystery man spoke, with two others at his side. "It seems we are at an impassé, doesn't it?"

Imagine placing twenty tons of dynamite in one room and waiting, just waiting. Over time, the pressure will build, the chemicals will oxidize, and the world would wait on baited breath, because something will happen. With no prior knowledge of an explosion.

Imagine placing a half dozen mutants in a room... what do you expect... a big bang, lacking a trigger... until that trigger enters.

Shinobi Shaw.

Phasing through the floor comes Shinobi, on the run from Scalphunter, and he is noticeabley pleased to be in a room full of unknowns.

"Lost, dammit, protect me! Scalphunter is after me!" The room was silent, everyone processing the given information.

Shinobi, a turncoat. This assault, his doing. The enemy, known to him. Sebastian Shaw, furious!

"SHINOBI! What is this?! You would betray me?! You will die!"

The mysterious stranger speaks, "Mister Shaw, if you would, shut up. Yes, Shinobi hired me through Sledge, and paid me quite a hefty sum of money. Yes, I want to kill you. Yes, I broke into your home. Yes, I brought some friends, but screaming is just out of the question. Please, a civil tone."

"Better, much better. Let's get serious for a moment... I am not really going to kill you. Shinobi has already paid me for the task - he is not too smart. No, the reason I'm here is to warn you of the future and all your precious plans... I know them all. Sebastian, Gamesmaster, Scalphunter, Lily... you are the major players, and you are obvious."

As quickly as the evening began, it ended. In a stoic study of the Hellfire Club, a handful of mutants ponder the future and their survival...

And for the first time in years, they find themselves lacking.