The sharp winds of the Gobi desert whipped at the small nomad camp and its entourage. Inside the nomad leader's main tent was a portable satellite relay. To the satellites high above, this was one of many hundreds of fire lights seen across this Mongolian wasteland's terrain. Garrett sat among the other nomads, seeing himself as one due to the situation at hand.

Much planning and hunting had been involved to actually find himself recruited as one of the possible assassins. His grasp of Mandarin, his abilities and his cover as not only a reserve X-Man, but as a man of peace from the mutant utopia, all aided him in his quest. He was informed along the way by his Russian contact, Emil, that he would be joined by another mutant. The more, the merrier. Garrett thought to himself.

He had been moving as one of the pack's own for a week or so now. Long days of travel and these cold, blustery nights were just part of the ticket price for the ride he had worked for . The chief insisted that he stay among his own troupe to act as personal bodyguard in exchange for the safe passage. With the man's exclusive harem and the best luxuries, it was an easy yes.

Now, he waited to hear from Emil again about when he would rendezvous with this other mutant. He knew that the Chinese president's days were already numbered. Who the new addition to the team was would decide the exact number of sunrises the beast had to watch before his time came.

It had been two weeks ago that a beautiful, yet fiery, Russian officer by the name of Amelia had marched through the giant, golden doors of the Sanctuary and demanded a meeting with one of their members. Lisa, the secretary for the Sanctuary, was not at all impressed. However, she politely escorted to a private room before calling the appropriate member on his communicator. Seconds later, a figure rose slowly out of the shadows of the room. After a quick introduction, the Russian officer quickly explained their situation, and a smile had crept across the face of the shadow mutant as he immediately took the job.

Now in the present, Shade stood on the outskirts of small nomad village. These were the GPS coordinates that had been given to him as a rendezvous point where he was suppose to meet his accompliss for this mission. However, Shade doubted the other man was actually needed. It would be so much simplier for the shadow mutant to take him out hiimself. That way he wouldn't have to drag around this other mutant around behind him. Shrugging his shoulders, Shade made the last jump into the respected tent. Taking a step underneath a overhead light, the shape of a head and shoulders appeared mysteriously from no where. Soon, the rest of the shadow mutant appeared. However, the light stopped almost a foot short, leaving his feet invisble, making him appear like he was floating like a ghost.

"Somebody call for an assassin?"

After a second skin of what passed as the reigning alcoholic beverage out here, Garrett felt more relaxed. Becoming relaxed was easy enough with his own nervous system under his astute control, but alcohol made it seem more natural. He thought of the gravity of what he was doing and all it could cost him should he be found out, but as quickly came the memories of his brothers and sisters at the monestary. His will only wavered slightly, like the flicker of a candle.

The relative silence and ended as the main course for dinner, a large hound of some sort, was being prepared for them to eat. Looking at it, Garrett decided it was coyote. Whatever it was, it was decidedly coyote to him.All of the bodyguards gathered around once the leader had taken his share for he and his harem. Always the alpha. Garrett waited for his turn. Although he was last in line, he still had an ample amount of meat to enjoy. He watched as they spoke of the day's events. He assumed as much anyway, as their Mongolian dialects proved too thick to translate.

Warmth, a full stomach and the resident drink caused a lovely settling of the body. Garrett was ready to let sleep overtake him and slip off when there was a bit of barking outside. He noticed that the bodyguards were already on their feet. The barking was sporadic around the camp. The oddity of the situation was immediately cleared up as the upper torso of a man that Garrett knew of appeared in the main tent's opening. Shade. The man in black who had filled his veins with the fire of Haywire. Considering his opening query, the past would have to remain there. At least for the time being.

Shade's sightless gaze traveled over the individuals in the main tent while the room stood deadly quiet, the only noise being that of the continual dog barking. They knew a predator when they smelled one. The shadow mutant's eyes locked on to one of the tent's inhabitants as his memory suddenly spoke to him. The bald guy did look very much out of place his the rest of the nomads. even though he had spent a week with them. Maybe another month, and one wouldn't be able to recognize him. But at the moment, the mutant still retained some cleanliness.

"So you're my partner on this?" Shade questioned with a slight undertone of agitation.

"I never would have guessed." This time the other tone being more of disgust, than agitation.

With a shrug, Shade took a seat in the circle across from the other mutant. His feet were laid relaxed out in front of him, and his arm was on the back of chair next to him. Shade's posture made him appeared relaxed, but his hood made it impossible to see his face. The shadow mutant's eyes were trained on his accomplish as the members of the tribe continued their ritual. He already didn't like this mission. And it hadn't even started.

The look of disdain on the man in black's face must have mirrored Garrett's own. He knew the many things he was risking by even being here, but never had he expected to work with a former adversary. Of course, considering that the job was assassination, this wasn't necessarily such a bad thing. It could have been Syn, not one of her cronies. A slight twitch and a flash of red skittered across Garrett's vision as he looked at the man who had cursed him with the initial dose of the virus so long ago.

"So you're my partner on this? I never would have guessed." His voice was full of sarcasm. Garrett couldn't readily blame him. Many times had they met under different circumstances, usually the type including mutant powers being thrown artound at each other. Those were different times. A man in China was going to die and he and Shade were apparently the men to do it, like it or not." Shade, huh? It's been a while. No worries, I am no longer an X-Man. Just a man on a mission, like you."

"That's good to hear. Now, I know I won't have to kill you after the president is dead." Shade replied with an evil smile. He glanced at the elders again who had stopped their ritual because of the surprise guest. Giving them a respectful nod, Shade moved over to a chair outside of the group and sat down to observe. If they were going to assassinate a president the following day, the last thing Shade needed was a head-ache.

"So do we know are plan of attack?" Shade said with the hood of his cloak not directly pointing at Seizure. Instead, it pointed to the side of him at the elders.