"It's time for The New Mutants workout. So could everyone else, please, vacate the premises,now!"
"That's tellin'em, Boss" Boom-Boom shouted.
"I saw no mention o' that, when I reviewed the computer schedule." Banshee told him.
"My people know their responsibilities, Banshee. They don't need any *Mickey Mouse* schedules."
"Good f'r them, an' that may work fine when ye're own yer own, Cable...but now The X-Men are back in residence. Ye've others t' consider."
"Hey, X-Factor's got a ship the size'a Manhattan Island, why not use their facilities, 'stead'a hoggin' ours?" Rictor chimed in.
"This is our home too, Rictor." Storm said.
"Since long before you kids came along." Jean Grey added.
"Nice way of showin' it, Red, lettin' the place get blown to bits." Cable told her.
"It's happened before. We'll rebuild again." Banshee said, "An' what D' ye mean, Cable, by *My People*."
"It's like this, Irish. Somebody had to look after these kids...and none O' you hotshots were around or willing to take the job! Any objections?"
Before the conversation could turn more hostile, Storm interjected,
"Both your points are well taken...Cable, you will have to accept that The New Mutants are part of a greater whole, and like it or not, these facilities must be shared. Just as we, Banshee, must concede Cable's place as The New Mutants' Leader. We may not like his style...but we cannot deny what he has accomplished. We are done here, Cable, the danger room is yours."
As Storm and the other X-Men filed out of the danger room Boom-Boom shouted,
"Thats tellin' 'em, Boss Man!"
"That's enough, Boom-Boom. You wanted the danger room, I suggest you start using it." Cable said, as he too exited the room.
Cable was troubled by this latest turn of events. He knew that the X-Men would not go along with his plans for The New Mutants. He had to make them over, into a strike force capable of preventing all the future horrors he knew were to come. Tough times were ahead, for all mutants. He meant to see that The New Mutants weren't destroyed in those times. He also had to begin Guthrie's training.
There was no doubt about it. He would have to find his team a new HQ, one with a lot of privicy and away from the prying eyes of The X-Men. Cable decided that he would put the Professor to work on finding the perfect spot for that headquarters right away.

Later, that evening, The New Mutants, minus Cannonball who was getting his daily lesson in strategy and tactics from Cable, and Sunspot who was busy with his studies, were all relaxing, playing frisbee and swimming in the lake. Everything was peaceful enough, until Warlock suddenly shouted a warning,
"Self-friends ALARM! Forecast imminent detonation this vicinity of multiple concussion configured explosive projectiles."
Suddenly uniformed soldiers on strange vehicles were appearing out of nowhere and attacking them. Storm and Stevie Hunter (A long time friend of the X-Men) were also caught in the attack. They tried to make their way to the hatch leading back to the basement headquarters of the team, as The New Mutants went on the attack. Cable had already taught them that the best defense was a strong offense, and they were putting this principle to good use.

In their underground headquarters, all the proximity alarms had gone off the instant the intruders had attacked. Cable, Sam, Forge and Banshee all rushed to the moniter room. Banshee ran a scan and told the others,
"Situation scan indicates only a small force!"
"Those creeps may've gotten in the opening salvos, Irish...but my kids are getting things back under control!" Cable told him.

Sure enough, on the surface, The New Mutants seemed to have everything under control. Stevie and Storm had, by this time reached the hatch leading to the basement levels and home. It was at this time that Storm recognized their attackers as Genoshan Magistrates! Just as she shouted a warning to the others, one of the prisoners hit a button on her wrist unit and suddenly there was an attack force easily five times the size of the first one, bearing down on them. Storm pushed Stevie down the hatch just, it so happens, as Cable was climbing the ladder to help his students. Cable caught the woman, set her down and made to open the hatch and give their attackers a hot reception. The hatch had been electronically locked and the lock than scrambled by Storm.
"Of all the stupid, brainless stunts...! The hatch is fused shut. Storm's trapped my kids on the surface!"
"And herself with them, Cable." Forge added.
"Stevie, contact X-Factor. We need their help. Quick as they can." Banshee ordered, "Meanwhile, there's more than one way out of here. We'll exit via the lake, thats the fastest route."
"If any of mine are hurt, because of Storm...!" Cable warned.
"I cain't b'lieve Miss Ororo'd act without good reason." Sam told him.
"Count on it!" Forge added.
Moments later, the foursome exited through the lake, to find...nothing.
"No sign of any hostiles!" Cable said.
Forge scanned the area, and noted, "Residual elements indicate...a transporter effect."
"No blood, no bodies, their's or our's. Only the kid's clothes." Cable said, "I dunno who did this, Indian...Yet...but when I find out, you got my word...the people responsible are gonna wish they'd never been born!

Meanwhile, a half a world away, on the small island of Genosha, just off the east coast of Africa, Rictor, Boom-Boom, Wolfsbane, Warlock and the teen Storm had suddenly found themselves naked and surrounded by armed guards. The monstrosity towering over them, however, made it hard to even think about the guards.
More than anything else, it resembled a giant mechanical spider with a human head. A head that one of their number knew all too well. Cameron Hodge, an embittered madman whom Rictor had thought dead, for he knew that Hodge had been decapitated by the deadly wings of Archangel. Hodge didn't mind telling them how he had come to survive.
"You see, I had made a bargain with the demon N'astirh, that I would not die...and when your teammate archangel cut off my head, with his razor sharp wings, my head still lived. My cybernetics experts constructed this powerful mechanical body for me. Very strong. Very deadly but alas not very beautiful. But soon I will appropriate Warlock's ability to alter my shape at will...and without using an erg of power!" Hodge said, as he scooped up Warlock's helpless body. For Warlock had not come through the teleportation nearly as well as his friends. He seemed, to them, to be very near the point of death.
Storm, and the others, decided to make a break for it. The fight had no sooner started, however, than it was over. For Hodge had earlier sent for the mutate known as Wipeout who could totally negate any mutants powers. As he now did to Storm and the others. They were now helpless before this inhuman creature who longed for nothing but vengeance on all who wore the "X" and any who associated with them.
Hodge took Warlock to the labs, where he began to set up the operation that would transfer Warlocks morphing abilities into himself. Dr. Moreau, known as the Genegineer, was also in the lab. He and Hodge got into an argument over Hodge's plans for the young mutants, Moreau wanted to use them for a source of genetic material for Genosha's gene banks. Warlock took advantage of his captors distraction and slipped out of the lab and back to his friends cell. He than interfaced with the computer that held the force-field to their cell in place. Warlock succeeded in disabling the field but at a great cost. He was now too weak to travel. Rahne didn't want to leave him but the others convinced her that if they escaped they would be able to get word to Cable and the others and would have a better chance of returning for Warlock in force to rescue him. She seemed reluctantly agreed. The team decided to split up so that there would be a chance that at least some of them would make it out to contact help. Rahne and Rictor took to the sewer tunnels underneath the Citadel,but when she and Rictor came to a split in the tunnels she convinced him that they should split up using the same logic, that at least one of them might make it out. Rictor agreed. As soon as he was out of sight, Rahne headed back for Warlock.

Meanwhile, in upstate New York, X-Factor had finally arrived at the Xavier estate, where Cable, Forge, Banshee, Gambit, Cannonball and Sunspot were still searching for clues to their friends whereabouts. As soon as Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Archangel had exited their craft, Cable filled them in on what they knew of the mysterious dissappearance of their friends, and added,
"No matter what dangers threatened my students, Storm had no right to lock us out of the battle...to take matters so completely into her own hands. Look at this, it was the school's exterior hatch."
Upon examining the hatch Cyclops said,
"It's melted, fused as if by a plasma blast...like the kind my brother Alex wields...or used to wield, before he dissappeared."
Cannonball, who had went to answer a call in the communications room, flew in to tell the others,
"It was X-Factor's ship, forwarding a call from Val Cooper, the Secretary in charge of Mutant Affairs in Washington. She says that Genosha's about ta' make a public announcement about the trial an' execution of some captive mutants."

Rahne, meanwhile had made it back to the cell, where they had left Warlock but he was gone. She heard voices, Hodge's among them and a horrible scream, which was Warlock, she ran to the source of these screams and found the lab. When she burst in, she saw that the process to transfer Warlocks abilities into Hodge had already begun. Guards were already running to grab her but she saw one cable leading from Hodge to the machinery that Warlock was strapped to. She leaped for this and pulled it loose just before one of Hodge's tentacles knocked her across the room. She had succeeded in stopping the transfer, but it was still too late to save Warlock. He continued to scream and to glow ever brighter, until with a final bright flash...he was gone. Nothing was left but a pile of dust. Hodge was livid with anger.
"He's gone! And my chances gone with him!"
Rahne barely heard him, as she crawled to what remained of Warlock, tears streaming down her face, she gently reached out to touch the small pile of dust,
"Warlock...oh Warlock...I tried...but I couldn't save you. There's nothin' left of you a'tall but dust...!"

Back in New York, Cable and the others gathered in front of the television and anxiously waited for a half-hour before Genosha's announcement came up on CNN's World News. Genosha's female President Renau came on screen and recited a long list of supposed crimes against the state of Genosha committed by the X-Men. Then, finally, word on the fate of the captive mutants. Pictures of Rictor, Boom-Boom, and the others flashed across the screen. Then the President was back saying,
"The Minister of Defense has just handed me a note saying that the mutant called Warlock was killed while trying to escape. An incident which Genosha sincerly regrets. Our other mutant captives will be tried as enemies of the state and, if found guilty, will be executed."
The phone began to ring and Forge answered it, said a few words, hung up, turned and said,
"It was Val Cooper...the President requests our presence in Washington! But does he want to offer assistance or stop us from acting."
"I guess we'll know when we get there. C'mon folks, if we scramble we can be there in half an hour." Beast answered.
The group was soon on their way to Washington. Cable broke the silence in the craft by saying,
"I don't understand it. By slamming shut the hatch to the X-Mansion, locking the rest of us inside, Storm sealed The New Mutants fate."
Jean went to Storm's defense saying,
"Storm was there, on the surface, you weren't. You have no business second-guessing her."
"I wasn't there to defend my students because Storm stopped me, Jean, and because of that...one of my charges has already died." Cable answered her.
"You can't...think that way, Cable. We don't know what Storm's motives were. When we rescue her, I'm sure we'll understand."
Cable was silent the rest of the trip, until they reached their destination. It was a place that he knew quite well. He told the others,
"There's their supposedly secret base. I know it well. I escaped from here not long ago."
It was indeed the base where Freedom Force had held him, for a short time, and as a line of General's and government agents filed out to meet them, Cable added,
"And there's our welcome wagon, whom I've had dealings with...not always pleasant."
"What is it with you, Cable? Don't you get along with anybody?" Iceman asked jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.
After formal introductions were made, the group was led into a meeting room and Val Cooper told them the government's position,
"Officially the U.S. Government doesn't deal with terrorist states and has broken off diplomatic relations with Genosha. While, unofficially, it pursues other avenues that will, hopefully, lead to the return of the remaining hostages"
"And what do you think the chances of that are, Ms. Cooper?" Cable asked.
"Frankly, not very good. We're well aware that you won't abandon your charges...nor do we want them to remain in Genoshan hands. There are...individuals who would be more than willing to assist..."
"And if we're captured or killed, the government will disavow any knowledge of our action." Cable interjected.
The group took the folder, with all the information the U.S. Government had on Genosha's defense network and troop placement on the island, and left.
As Val Cooper watched their craft lift off and turn towards New York, one of her assistants asked,
"Couldn't we have offered them more?"
"With the information they've recieved, they have everything they need." She answered softly,
"And I'm afraid that it isn't going to be anywhere near enough..."