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"Bastion, head of Zero Tolerance, had attacked the school," Scott shouted. Emma
understood his reaction. Two of the X-Men had manage to infultrate Bastion's Organization.
She only found out recently how dangerous this group was.
Jean then said, "Scott, I don't know, but I think that events here lead to the stop of Zero
Tolerance." This was news to Emma, to hear that the group had been stopped. She knew that
Bastion was no longer a problem, but that Zero Tolerance was gone. Jean then said, "But, how
did Rich know who Bastion was?"
Sean then said, "Remember how I had said that Rich believed he lost a member of his
family." It was then Emma realized and understood everything that Rich had said at that
confrontation. She had figured out the biggest secret in Rich's family, and finally saw how much
protection that Rich's family tried to give him from the truth.
"You mean to say that Rich is related to Bastion. That's imposible. Zero Tolerance was
shown to be an advanced form of Sentinels." Scott said.
Emma finally said, "With human minds. Apparently Bastion joined the project and
became what he was."
Jean looked at her and in a questioning tone, said, "Was?"
"Bastion, previously before joining Zero Tolerance, was named Bastion Cale. This was
Rich's uncle. Since Rich's ability manifested, Rich was told his uncle commited suicide. Until
the day that Bastion attacked, Rich believed it." She then told them what had happened that
day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emma and the others arrived on the scene to see that the man holding Jubilee and Rich
were motionless, as if the two had been frozen in time. Emma said to Sean, "What is
happening?"
Sean was watching and said, "I dinnae. Rich said he heard Jubilee scream, and he and
Yvette were going to check it out. He called us to head out and when we all get here, Rich and
that man seem to appear as if they are frozen in time."
Finally, the man spoke, "Richard, what are you doing here? Did these mutants kidnap
you?" The man must have know Rich, but how did he know Rich. Emma tried to telepathicly tell
him to release Jubilee only to see a bigger problem.
She turned to Sean and said, "He's a Sentinel. He must be a new form of Sentinel. But
I don't know how he knows Rich." She saw a look in Sean's eyes as if he knew the answer.
Just as Sean was about to say something, Rich finally spoke to man, "How can you say
that. You always told me all people were created equal and should be treated that way. I came
here by choice, but why are you here? I thought you were dead."
"Mutants are not people, Richard, they are freaks of nature that should be eliminated."
Emma saw Jubilee tremble in fear. Rich still had his calm demeaner on, although it was
becoming evident that he was struggling. The man continued, "Apparently your parents were
trying to protect you from the harsh truth of the world with lies. The world needs to be clensed of
mutants. Now you can't be here by choice, Richard, because you are not a mutant."
Emma could tell Rich was almost upset at this. Rich approached the man and said, "I
am a mutant, Bastion. It was a few days after my ability appeared that I was told you killed
yourself, and now I find that was a lie to protect me from the worse thing of all. You always told
me to treat people as equals, regardless of what they were. Now I find out that you are the
biggest hypocrite in the world. I now wish you were dead. The man I saw as a second father,
would rather see me dead. If you are going to do anything to them, you will have to kill me first."
With that, Rich closed his eyes and stood at attention.
Nobody moved, in fear that one wrong move would cost Rich's, or Jubilee's life. Emma
was frightened, because Rich appeared to know Bastion on a first name basis, and Sean knew
the connection. Emma tried again to scan Bastion's mind. This time, she saw what appeared to
be a conflict. She finally detected a human part to Bastion. The human half seemed to be
fighting against the Sentinal part. Eventually, the human part of Bastion said to her mind, as if it
knew she was there, [Ms. Frost, I don't want to kill my nephew. I never knew he was a mutant. I
always told him to treat people with kindness. I always told him to strive for a better world, and
now, the computerized part of me says I must kill him, for he is a plague to mankind.]
She mentally spoke back to Bastion. [He came here to do just that. All of these children
came to do exactly that. To learn to use their abilities to help humanity.] She had hoped that
those words might prevent a catastrophy.
Mentally again, the human Bastion said, [I'm sorry, for what I have done. Please make
my apologizes to my nephew, I just hope he will listen. Tell Ms. Lee to move away.] Emma was
confused by the nephew statement, but she didn't have time to think about it. Upon hearing that,
she opened her eyes and saw Bastion release Jubilee. He made a couple of motions, pressing
what appeared to be buttons. Emma realized what Bastion was doing. The Sentinel, formerly a
human being, was going to take his own life.
"Jubilee, get away fast. Nobody move." She yelled to everyone, just as Monet started
to fly towards Rich. Emma quickly went into Monet's mind and said, [Child, get back or else you
will get injured.]
Monet answered back in an upset psionic tone, [But, Rich..]
[Rich will be fine. He will not get injured.] Just then, an explosion happen right were
Bastion was standing. There was a red spray that lashed out everywere, and the metal that was
in him had atomized. Emma noticed that Rich had finally moved. She watched as Rich opened
his eyes and looked around. He saw the blood and noticed that Bastion had died. Instead of
getting upset, Rich's face became stone cold. He appeared as if nothing in the world would
phase him. It was then Emma realized how bad he had been affected by Bastion's death.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monet watched as Jean Summers gasped and said, "That must have been terrible for
him, to watch a family member kill themselves."
Emma said, "That was what lead to the breakdown, but we didn't know how sever it was
until recently. We figured that we needed to keep an eye on Rich. He was upset, but he didn't
want to show it, mainly because of what he had found out that day."
"I understand, but how serious had it become?"
Monet answered Jean's question, for she felt she had to tell all this. "Rich tried to take
his own life."
Scott Summers asked the question, "How did he try and do this?"
"I don't think he truely wanted to go through with taking his life. He said that drugs would
kill him, due to the medication he takes, but if he wanted to face death, he wanted it to be on his
terms." She then told them of that terrible day that Rich tried to take his life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monet didn't know what to say. When Penny had asked for her help in keeping an eye
on Rich, it hit her as a shock. Penny always wanted to spend time alone with Rich, but since
everything that had happened, with Sean's cousin, and with Bastion, Rich just avoided everyone.
Emma wanted everyone to watch Rich, just in case he tried something foolish, like taking his
own life. Penny was almost always watching Rich, but today Penny seem more worried than
usual. They had seen Rich leave the guys dorm and start walking into the woods when they
started to follow, far enough not to be detected, yet close enough to watch him. Penny broke the
silence by saying, "Monet, I've been worried about Rich lately. He has been keeping his distance
from me. After what happened with Sean's cousin, I was the only person he wanted to be near,
and now."br>
Monet could see the worry in Penny's eyes. Rich meant alot to her, and Rich was the
one that got her to talk to them. Now Rich seemed to be isolating himself from everyone. "We
are all worried about Rich, but he is doing his best to isolate himself. That is why Emma wants
us to keep an eye on him at all times, to keep him from doing something foolish. I don't think
that he is going to try something here, but we will watch him just in case."
Penny seemed realeaved to here that. After a while, Monet noticed that Rich had been
walking in the same direction and that the school was no longer in sight. She wondered if Rich
had gotten lost. If he had, then they would help him back, and all attempts at keeping an eye on
Rich would be ruined. She saw a building in the distance, a lighthouse. She thought that Rich
was going to ask about where he was there. It was then that Monet notice that Penny was
tensing up as her skin tensed up. Monet turned to Penny and said, "What's wrong?"
There was a worry in Penny's eyes as she spoke, "Rich is going to kill himself. He's..
He's.."
"He's going to what, Penny?"
"He's going to hand himself over to Emplate." Monet was shocked to hear this. Rich
must have found out where Emplate's lair was from either Penny, or from Emplate when he
attacked. Penny then said, "That's Emplate's lair. We have to stop Rich." Monet didn't need to
hear any more. She flew up into the air and grabbed Penny in her left hand. She flew up behind
Rich and grab him with her right and flew them back to the school.
As she flew, Rich yelled, "Why didn't you just let me go. Nothing but disaster follows
me. I can't have a nice life. If I try, something happens to ruin it. Why didn't you let me end it
all then?" Rich went silent then. Penny looked hurt, and Monet was puzzled. Sean and Emma
had met up with them when she landed. She told Sean what had happened, as Emma took Rich
back to his dorm room.
Sean had a solemn look on his face. "Aye, this is serious. I'm going to give Scott and
Jean a call and see if they can sort this out. In the meantime, I want all the students to take
turns watching Rich in case he tries something like that again." He went to his office and Monet
relaid the message. When she got done, she went to Rich's dorm room as Emma stood there.
"Rich has not had the best days of his life lately," Emma had said as she started to
leave.
"I wish we knew what was truely bothering him." Monet started to think about it and
stopped herself. She didn't need to go into an autistic spell now, not when it came down to a
case of Rich's life. Every moment he wasn't watched was a moment that he could do something
rash.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
