The young furred woman prowled restlessly around her jail cell, waiting for her dinner to come. She licked her chops, unconsciously salivating at the thought of the nice, warm meat that was delivered to her every night.

One of the green-armored Vault guards walked by, his rifle slung over one shoulder, but paid her no notice.

A low hum caught her ear; it seemed to be coming from the cell next to hers. Her sister's cell. She listened as the humming moved out into the metal-floored corridor.

"What the...?" came the guard's voice from the corridor. The young woman jumped over to the small window in the cell's door just in time to see the guard slumping to the ground. His head was cocked at an impossible angle.

A pair of dark brown eyes appeared on the opposite side of the window. "Hello, Feral." a familiar voice said. The door was ripped off it's hinges, revealing a four-armed, well-toned man standing on the other side. He dropped the door to the floor, right on top of the dead guard.

The young woman grinned, her razor-sharp canines gleaming dully in the soft glow of the corridor lights. "Hello, Forearm." Feral looked over, and caught a glimpse of her former comrade Tempo standing next to her sister, Thornn. A masked woman with long white hair floated above the floor.

Feral cocked a taloned thumb toward her sister, her tail twitching "What are you freeing her for?" she growled.

"No time." Forearm said, roughly pulling Feral out of her cell. "By now there should be a dozen guards on their way."

He led Feral over to the woman floating in the hall. "Feral, Phantazia. Phantazia..."

"We've met before." Feral interrupted. Phantazia opened her cloak wide; the long corridor filled with blinding light as the five mutants teleported away.

(in the pages of X-Force - Adam)

"Hee hee..."

The laughter echoed through the cavernous warehouse on the banks of the Hudson River. The small black-and-white television was on; Wildside sat in front of it, watching the nightly news.

"Hey Ivan!" Wildside called out. "Twelve people dead in a massive car wreck! I love it..."

The 'Ivan' in question, the mutant known as Ursa Major, looked over at the Mutant Liberation Front's leader and sighed. "My name is not Ivan, comrade Wildside." Wildside just continued to laugh, taking in the death, destruction, and all-around mayhem that had happened during the day.

A bright light and a low hum signaled the arrival of Phantazia and her mutant payload. Feral was the first out, Thornn was last. Wildside jumped up from the ratty old couch he was sitting on and walked over to the small group, beaming. "Welcome to my humble home, Feral... Thornn."

Thornn frowned, walking away from the rest of the group. "What's going on here?" she asked.

"You've been chosen to become a member of the new and improved Mutant Liberation Front, babe." Wildside grinned. "You and your lovely sister."

"Flattery will get you dead." Feral growled.

Wildside's grin grew wider. "Spunk. I love it!"

Thornn barked laughter. "Mutant Liberation? Fool..." she snarled. "Don't you realize that your tactics aren't doing a damn thing to help mutants? You and your precious M.L.F. are just making things worse for all of us."

"Fool?" Wildside's grin disappeared instantly. "What else should we do, Thornn? Become like Xavier and his little johnny-do-nothing X-Men?" He laughed maliciously. "Those pathetic fools are going to get themselves killed protecting their precious flatscans while we take the world for all mutantkind!"

"I'll take my chances without you, Wildside." Thornn said. "You and your M.L.F." She turned her back on the small assemblage and started to walk toward the door.

Wildside motioned to Ursa, who had been sitting silently by the door. The big Russian shape-shifted; his six-foot tall frame was replaced by that of a ten-foot tall bear. He snarled and reached out to grab Thornn, but she jumped nimbly over his head and raced toward the door.

Feral took off after her sister, her teeth bared. Thornn made it to the door, whirled around, and gave Feral a roundhouse kick to the face. Feral skidded backward on the floor, a small trickle of blood running out of her mouth. "You haven't seen the last of me, Wildside. Be ready." Thornn growled as she raced out the door.

"Ingrate!" Wildside shouted. "This is what I get from freeing you from prison? I'm ready right now! Come on!" His only reply was the door banging in the wind; Wildside cursed under his breath as he slammed the door shut.

The door at the opposite end of the warehouse slid open and Dragoness walked in, followed by a young, dark-haired woman. She was dressed in a skin-tight ballet dancer's outfit, minus the tu-tu. The young woman looked around uncertainly, her eyes eventually settling on the small group gathered in the middle of the warehouse.

Wildside looked over at the pair. "Dragoness... I see you got a hold of our latest recruit!" He crossed the distance between them and cupped his hand around the girl's face. "Welcome to the M.L.F., girlie. I'm assuming, of course, that you're Bora?"

The girl nodded quickly, her short dark hair bobbing. "Da. I am Bora... who are you?"

"My name is Wildside, darling." he said. "Don't you worry, we'll take good care of you. Heh."

Ursa walked over, shifting back from his bear form. "You... you are from the motherland?"

"Da, I am from Russia." Bora replied.

"Ha! What fortune... two of mother Russia's children once again fighting for the same cause!"

Bora moved away from him, frowning. "Don't get too excited, tovarisch. I look out for myself now." Bora plopped down in the chair Wildside had just vacated. "Not mother Russia. Not any other mutants... just me."

Wildside grabbed Bora around the shoulders and threw her out of the chair; she landed on the floor with a loud thud. "Your cause is now the total liberation of the mutant race... by any means necessary!"

The young woman scowled. "Very well, Wildside." Bora said from the floor, giving Wildside an evil glare. "I will make your cause my own. For now."

"Good." Wildside said. "Now... since we're all here, let's move on to order of business number two: a new headquarters..."

Ursa scratched his head. "What was order of business number one, comrade Wildside?"

Wildside sighed and shook his head. "Never mind, Russkie. Anyway," he continued. "Who has ideas?"

"We could take X-Force's old base in the Andirondacks." Feral suggested. A mouse scurried across the warehouse's floor, catching the savage woman's attention; she chased after it, grinning.

"No. Anyone else?" Wildside asked.

The others thought for a while. "I have a yacht." Phantazia said.

"No."

"I heard the Thunderbolts had to abandon their cabin in the Rocky Mountains." Tempo said. "Beautiful scenery..."

"No. The only reason they abandoned it was because it got blown up!" Wildside replied shortly. "Okay... looks like we're going to have a nice scavenger hunt. Here's what we're looking for: a new headquarters!" Wildside sighed again, then grinned. "Let's get to it."

"Nice cave." Dragoness muttered.

Dragoness, Wildside, and Bora had descended down into a large, cool cavernous area in search of a place suitable for their headquarters; a small ring of light radiated from the leathery-winged mutant's hand. "Drafty, though. Do you think we can get cable here?"

Wildside cackled. "Sure we can. We'll just threaten the cable guy's family and make him lay some cable down here."

"Pathetic." Bora said. "Truly pathetic. This drafty, ugly, out-of-the-way place is going to be our new headquarters?"

"Watch your mouth, sweetie." Wildside snarled.

Something skittered in the shadows off to their left, startling Bora and Dragoness. Wildside looked over there calmly, then turned his attention back to the darkness in front of them. A figure moved in the shadows where he was looking; it was soon joined by others.

"Did something just hiss?" Dragoness asked.

Wildside bared his fangs. "We've got company, ladies. Be on your guard."

A large group of insect-looking things skittered into the small pool of light Dragoness was generating with her powers. Their eyes glowed red; their teeth were as sharp as razors. The lead creature hissed at the three intruders.

"Hm. Finally..." Bora said. "A fight."

More creatures slid into the light, surrounding the trio. They all seemed to grin evilly as they inched closer.

Wildside grinned back at them, chuckling. "Oooh. Look at all the scaaaaaary bug-thingies." He laughed louder. "I'm quakin' in my booties!"

One of the creatures leaped on Wildside and clawed at him. He laughed at it, even when the monster's spiked tail rammed through his stomach. Blood ran down his chin as the tail slid out of Wildside's body; he collapsed to the cavern's hard stone floor.

"Holy..." Dragoness said, shocked. "Is he dead?"

"Who cares?" Bora replied. She stood there, the wind growing around her; it grew stronger and stronger until it rushed past her with hurricane force. Dragoness could barely stand against the wind; she was lifted up and thrown past the mass of creatures toward the mouth of the cave.

"Go." Bora shouted over the winds. "Now."

Dragoness flew out of the dark cave and into the sunlight, looking back once to see the creatures swarming over Bora.

Forearm popped open a beer, leaning back in the lone chair in the warehouse. Jerry Springer was on the television; something about a husband with two wives who was cheating on both of them with the family dog. Feral sat on the floor next to him; Ursa Major and Tempo were sparring.

"Pity we didn't find anything." Forearm said sarcastically, taking a big swig of his frosty beer. "I kind of like this place..."

"Yeh." Feral replied, mesmerised by the televised antics.

Dragoness burst through the door and landed hard on the concrete floor, her leathery wings instinctively wrapping themselves around her body. She shuffled around on the floor before being helped up by Forearm.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. She shoved his arm away and swayed on her feet; when Forearm put out another hand to steady her, she pushed that away as well.

"Wildside..." Dragoness gasped. "Bora... creatures. Horrible!"

Tempo stepped up to her and put a reassuring hand on Dragoness' shoulder. She once again shrugged it off. "Slow down, girl."

"Found a cave... creatures. Killed Wildside... Bora too."

"What?" Ursa yelled. "Killed?"

The door at the far end of the warehouse opened, letting more sunlight into the dim room. Wildside and Bora stepped through, looking alive and well.

Tempo looked over at the two new arrivals, then back over at Dragoness. "Crazy witch. Look! There they are... looking very much alive to me." They all turned away from her; Forearm and Feral went back to watching the television while Tempo and Ursa went back to practicing.

Wildside walked over to Dragoness and looked her right in the eyes. "Don't worry about a thing, baby. We'll take good care of you, too." he whispered, his eyes gleaming a dull red. "Tomorrow," he said louder, so everyone could hear him. "We move into our new headquarters!"

In M.L.F. #2: Wildside and his team move into their new cave headquarters! But what about the current residents? Plus, Feral recieves an unexpected visit from an old friend!