"Ah don't know," Rogue's soft voice drawled. "Ah think it might be a good thing. Take some of the heat offa us. Ah mean, as long as everyone is watchin' them, people won't be lookin' for us."

Wolverine glanced away from the TV and met her green eyes. The others were scattered about the room, some in chairs, others holding up walls, still others sitting on the floor. But one thing remained constant, they were all staring at the TV with more intensity than was ever displayed by any woman when Oprah was on. The expressions of the faces varied, from Beast's intellectual calm to Scott's concerned tension. Wolverine took them all in before turning his attention back to the television.

"How could this be a good thing?" Scott said, his voice worried and tight. His attention never wavered from the television, but he was pacing across the floor behind the sofa. It was clear that the leader of the X-Men was ruffled.

"I think it's cool!" Jubilee said decisively from the floor in front of the sofa. "I thought you guys would, like, get a kick out of it." Her dark eyes glowed, and Logan could scent her excitement from where he stood, holding up one of the aforementioned walls, in the back of the room. But his eyes were better than anyone else's on the team, and the distance to the television did not hinder the view it presented.

The object of everyone's attention was an absolutely stunning blonde on the tube. Incredible eyes, not blue, not green, but somewhere in between the two, and only intensified by the black uniform she wore, unrelieved but for a stripe of color, the same hue as her eyes, from the left shoulder to the right hip, and a sigil on the right shoulder a large "H" a capital "I" in a circle. Unmasked, she had delicate features, and an athletically slender build. The black nylon of the uniform rippled as she moved, showing the well-toned muscles of a young lady well used to physical activity. She appeared to be approximately 22 years old, and held herself with confidence. This woman was being interviewed by one Trish Tilby, an acquaintance, and sympathizer, of the X-Men, and a reporter.

"So let me get this straight," Trish was saying. "You are telling me that, as official Spokesman," the blonde gave her a cool look, and Trish smiled. "My apologies, SpokesWOMAN, that should anyone need assistance that only a mutant could provide, they should try calling on your team?"

"That is correct, Ms. Tilby" the woman spoke with the dulcet tones of a cooing dove. It was cultured, and trained, yet for all it's cool tones, the words having been spoken with the calm professionalism of the trained PR Rep, it held warm tones and sub-vocals, and Logan felt his stomach tighten. "I have been given permission to mention that we assisted Mr. Dallas Kennedy, of Kennedy Enterprises here in New York, one of the more prominent research facilities responsible for developing our country's current space technology. Hades Incorporated put down an attempted coup, succeeding in apprehending the known mutant terrorists Pyro, and Blob."

The X-Men, who had all gone up against those two before, tensed. They had heard that the two had been apprehended, but had been unaware of who had captured them, the whole operation had been kept so very discreet. Now they knew the name of the team. Hades Inc.

"Blob?" Trish asked. "That is quite a claim. It is said that 'No one budges the Blob.' Or at least, so the claim goes."

The delicate blonde simply smiled and nodded. "I had heard that myself. But then, the Blob had never met Everest." She smiled a cool, delicate smile. "And before you ask, I can't tell you how we did it. If I did, I would be violating team regulations." She laughed lightly. "Besides, if I gave out our secrets, I'd be putting myself out of work, now wouldn't I."

"True enough." Trish agreed.

"Seriously though," the blond said, "Our team can be entirely discreet, we will not drop names unless we have written permission, as we did with Mr. Kennedy, and, with luck, we can get the job done, handle the problem, before the public realizes that there was one."

Trish smiled at the blonde. "Minimum disruption of lives, so to speak?" she asked and the blonde nodded and smiled. "So tell me, this Everest . . . he's a Team Member?"

"Yes he is." The woman said. "He's as big as the mountain he took his name from. Then there are the rest of us. I'm Terri Thompson, as you already know. Or TNT as the rest of the team calls me. Then there are Immortis, Power Link, Pit Bull, and Troll."

"All men, I understand." Trish stated and the Terri nodded in confirmation. "What's it like being the only woman on the team?"

Terri laughed, and Jean smiled. "Well," Terri claimed, "You can't beat the odds, but the next one who asks me to get coffee for them when I'm not getting a cup for myself is going to regret it." She laughed, and Jean chuckled in complete understanding and amusement, having been the only woman on the X-Men for a long time, and well aware of the challenges involved, however Terri might have down-played them.

Trish smiled and asked the question. "So tell me then" she began in the tone that those of the X-Men were well familiar with. It meant Trish was about to ask an incredibly leading question, and they all watched, as did the eyes of millions of others who were probably tuned to the station. "Are you all mutants?"

Terri simply smiled, not at all concerned by the question, but those of the X-Men, who were well aquatinted with the blatant hostility of the general population towards mutants, waited, literally, on the edges of their seats.

Logan simply watched the woman on the television, a small smile playing on his lips as he recognized the signs of someone who had fully prepared for that question. The lady's body language spoke volumes, and he had to give her some credit: she was comfortable with who she was, and didn't really care what anyone thought about it. In fact, her body challenged anyone to tell her to be otherwise, and warned that if anyone tried, she'd shove those words down their throat, forcibly. Logan knew the answer to the question before she quietly affirmed it.

"Yes, we are" she answered, her voice calm and assured, and Logan applauded whoever chose her for their spokesman, or whatever. Her voice was modulated to calm, and assure those listening that she was nothing to fear. Logan smiled though. Her body language suggested that the woman could be dangerous, if she wanted to. The woman continued. "I am a mutant, as are all the members of the Team, save one. So if there are people who have problems with this, we suggest they not call on us. Those factions who have dedicated themselves to mutant extermination would not be welcome either, and would most likely find a visit to our headquarters a little unpleasant. But to those who want our help, and don't try to tell us how to do our job, we can be very accommodating. Just ask Johnny Tucker. We got his cat out of a tree last week."

"She is quite good," came the comment from Ororo.

"Yes she is." agreed Jean. "Using a reference like that it gives the impression that they are humanitarian, and willing to help anyone, be they corporate CEO's or small children."

"They're closer to Mercenaries, though." Scott said from where he was still pacing behind the sofa. "Mutants for Hire, no job too big, no job too small, but you have to pay them. Is that really the impression we want society to get of mutants?"

On the television, not able to hear the commentary, Trish smiled broadly, continuing the interview. "You even rescue cats?" she asked. "And what was the fee, if I may ask?"

The blonde smiled and brushed back a lock of hair from her eyes. "I believe we charged him a quarter." She said her tone serious, which only heightened the humor. "It was pretty routine and only required Everest to get the cat down. Maybe if he had needed the services of the entire team it would have cost more, maybe even as much as two dollars."

"That seems quite reasonable for a feline extraction." Trish joked.

"It is when your allowance is only five dollars a week." The blonde quipped back.

"I don't know Scott," Jubilee replied to Scott's question about reputation. "Having a reputation for rescuing kitties from trees is no where near as bad as the one the X-Men have as outlaws and vigilantes."

The group fell silent as their attention was temporarily diverted from the interview. Logan could tell from Scott's scent that Jubilee's comment had not been welcome, and the tension in the room skyrocketed. Logan uncrossed his arms and nodded. "The kid's right, Slim." He said. Everyone's heads swiveled like they had all been attached to the same string, and their eyes fixed on him. But one by one, everyone had to acknowledge the validity of the statement, and they slowly returned their attention to the television.

Trish's face had gotten serious and she gave the blonde an intense look. "Seriously, I have noted that you are not masked, and you are not making any attempt to conceal who you are. You have also announced on national television that you are mutants. Aren't you afraid there are going to be those who will try to attack you for being mutants? What made you decide to go public, if you will?"

The young woman appeared to think about it for a long moment. "No. We are not afraid of attack. Don't get me wrong. Hades is not peopled by idiots. We know there will be attacks. We're just not afraid of them. It has been quoted many times that people are afraid of what they don't understand. And come on!" The woman abruptly switched her tone, from sophisticated PR rep to common citizen. "If I wasn't one, I'd find mutants kinda freaky too. I mean mutants can read you mind, they can pick you up without touching you, they can set you on fire, or make you look like yesterday's dinner. That's frightening! I don't blame people for being scared of mutants. I was too, before I became one. But then I figured out that just because someone CAN read your mind, it doesn't hold that they WILL. I learned that many telepaths disliked being in other people's minds, I was told that it leaves a type of after-taste, or after-image, and can often mentally "taste" bad. But most people probably don't know that."

Jean and Charles, the resident telepaths, exchanged a look of complete understanding.

"And it for exactly that reason that Hades made the decision to be public about the fact that we are mutants." The woman continued. "Think on what Martin Luther King Jr. did for the Black movement in America. Can I say that, Black Americans, or is that not PC enough?" the woman thought for a moment and shrugged. "Regardless, maybe if more mutants would step forward, make themselves available to the public, answer questions, make the choice to be the Martin Luther King of Mutantkind, maybe, just maybe, society will come to more easily accept us. We at Hades are not looking to be that figurehead. But we refuse to hide what we are just to appease a public that is frightened by what they don't understand. We are not going to hide behind anonymity by donning masks. This may serve to make us mysterious, but it also makes people wonder what else we may have to hide. We are, all of us in Hades Inc., proud of being Mutants, proud of what we are, and proud to be able to offer the general public our services."

Charles and Jean exchanged another glance, and Logan could tell they were concerned. He listened vaguely as Trish wrapped up the interview, claiming that they were out of time for the day, and thanking Terri, TNT of Hades Inc. for her time. But primarily he watched the reactions of those in the room. Scott was agitated and somewhat insulted. Jubilee thought it was "cool" and was asking 'Ro is she thought there would be action figures coming out sometime of the Hades Inc. Team. 'Ro was being indulgent, but was also a little concerned. Gambit was mentioning that the little blonde was stunning, and Rogue was blessing him with a rather crusty look.

Logan slipped out of the mansion and pulled out a cigar. He knew eventually everyone would calm down and start doing some research to discover what the could about the people of Hades Inc., trying to determine if they were potential adversaries. But for now, they'd spend some time just being agitated.

He bit off the end of the cigar and lit up, inhaling deeply, while thinking over the interview. And thinking about Terri. Something about her seemed familiar. Those eyes, the intense blue-green color, tugged at his memory. He had seen them before, somewhere. And he knew it was just a matter of time before he remembered where.