The demolished Biosphere, where Bianca LaNiege and her seven "dwarves" are fixin' up the place....

Bianca slapped a brick into place in the Biosphere wall, then left a streak of gluey, flat gray mortar on her eggshell-white face as she wiped sweat away. "You're mixing the mortar too thin, Spike," she pointed out crossly.

"Shove it, Bianca," Spike snapped, still mixing the mortar.

"Yea!" the "dwarf" called Wind piped up. "If it wasn't for your babble about revenge and your transforming us from roaches to little pipsqueaks, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"What ingrates!" Bianca snarled, totally fed up with her crew's behavior. "Why I-"

A sudden Click-flash! drew her attention away from the former Blattarian roaches and to the youngest Generation X kids, Artie and Leech. "Hey! What are you kids doing?" Bianca asked impatiently.

Artie grinned and proudly held up his Polaroid instant-develop camera, which spat out a photo at just that second. He showed it to Bianca as it cleared.

Bianca saw a picture of herself! "Who gave you punks permission to take a picture of me?" she ranted, her scarlet eyes flashing wildly. "I'm sweaty and my makeup is messed up and my hair is-"

"'Tis not a shoot for 'Vanity Fair', LaNiege," Sean Cassidy interrupted, striding into view. Bianca immediately shut up. She didn't particularly want the mutant called Banshee to scream at her. "It's only fair that ye and yuir height-challenged friends repair the Biosphere, since it was ye who wrecked it," Sean went on. "If ye do a nice job o' it, we'll see what we can do to fix up yuir spaceship and send ye on yuir way." He looked at Artie and Leech. "Jonothon and I are goin' to the airport tae pick up Theresa for her visit and see Paige off. I want ye two tae keep an eye on Bianca and company, but get Emma if they cause trouble, all right?" he said.

"'Kay, Mr. Cassidy!" Leech replied cheerily.

Satisfied, Sean walked out.

Outside on the front steps of the main entrance, the spunky pyrotechnic generator Jubilee sat sharing a snack of cereal with the enigmatic power-stripped girl called Gaia. "Mmmm! This mix of processed grains, complex sugars, calcium carbonate and trisodium phosphate is quite tasty!" Gaia raved as she gleefully dug into the box.

"Yea. Sugar Bombs rule," Jubilee agreed, her mind not really on the cereal. "Hey, Gaia?"

"Yes, Jubilee?" Gaia inquired, popping more Sugar Bombs into her saucily curved mouth.

"Everett really likes ya a whole lot, ya know that?" Jubilee said slowly.

"Yes, I know that," Gaia responded.

"So.... well, um.... How do ya feel about him?" Jubilee continued.

Gaia shrugged nonchalantly. "He's really nice, and he saved me from a life of servitude to a Doomsday Machine, but I don't feel the same way," she answered bluntly, passing the box to Jubilee. Suddenly her blue eyes danced with comprehension. "You like him, huh?" she queried, getting to the source of Jubilee's question.

Jubilee waved as Sean's minivan motored away, then grew serious again. "Weeellll, uh.... Yea, I do, and I'm, like, worried about him," she said. "He's been actin' a little weird ever since those townie creeps beat him up and-"

"Hi Jubilee. Hi, Gaia," Everett Thomas/Synch said as he exited the front door, the rumpled Angelo Espinosa/Skin in tow.

"S'up, chicas ?" Angelo asked, carefully holding a cigar box in his gray hands.

"Hi Ev. Angelo," Jubilee said dully, noticing how Everett only looked at Gaia.

"Greetings," Gaia replied.

Everett smiled and stepped down the stairs, going in the general direction of the town. "You watch your butt! Don't do anything I would do!" Angelo called after him, then turned to go back inside.

That's when Jubilee recognized the cigar box in his hands. She frowned and stared after Everett, confused.

"I don't see what you're so worried about," Gaia stated frankly, her mouth full. "Everett doesn't seem all that interested anymore. He's going to town and he didn't ask either of us to come along."

Jube wasn't listening. "That cigar box," she murmured. "That was the box Tracy Authier stole from Angelo. It had a pistol in it." She assumed as she thought, What would Everett want with Angelo's pistol? Waitaminute! Those townies -Dorian and Weasel- the ones who beat up Ev.... he claimed it wasn't them who did it, but maybe he had a reason for lying.... Jubilee began to grow scared. M-maybe he went to even things up personally! I can't let him do that!

Jubilee vaulted to her feet and raced out the front gates. "Hey! Where are you going?" Gaia shouted after her, surprised.

Sean waved broadly to the lovely young woman striding down the runway toward him. With a wide grin, he called, "Theresa, do my eyes deceive me or have ye grown some?"

"Oh no, Dad," Theresa answered readily as she grew closer, "ye're just shrinkin' from old, old age!" she finished teasingly.

"Ha ha! Been tae kiss the Blarney Stone, have ye?" Sean kidded, hugging his precious daughter tightly. Releasing her, he turned them both to face the two students standing patiently behind them. "I'm sure ye remember Paige Guthrie. We call her Husk, now." Paige smiled and shook Theresa's hand. Sean added, "And the scruffy lad is Jonothon Starsmore, aka Chamber." Jonothon shot him a quick "I'm not 'scruffy'" glare, then shrugged and inclined his head in greeting. "Jono would be a bit more communicative, but the pulse that wiped out all the psi-talents got him too. He communicates telepathically, ye see," Sean explained.

Before Theresa could comment, a pretty flight attendant approached them. "Excuse me," she said politely. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but we need to bleed and repressurize one of the plane's hydraulic lines. It will be a two hour wait before we can get off the ground again."

"Two hours!" Theresa yelped in disbelief. Then she shook it off and glanced at her dad. "What say we go tae that park ye said is in town? It's a nicer place tae sit than a slab o' tarmac," she suggested.

"I'd rather wait in the snack bar with Jono," Paige spoke up. "Don't you two want some time together by yourselves?"

"Well," Sean began, reluctant to leave the two of them behind.

Theresa chuckled. "Let's go, Dad."

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Oh, Everett! What happened to you? Jubilee wailed mentally as she tracked Everett down the woodsy path without his knowing. Ya haven't been the same since you were in that coma, and now I'm afraid yer about to do something really awful!

Jubilee silently hopped into a tree and looked ahead, watching Everett. I wish there was some way to get to town ahead of him and-

"Jubilee! Are you practicing stalking or something? Is this part of your weird curriculum?" Tracy Authier -daughter of the local police chief- called as she pedaled up on her mountain bike.

Jubilee almost leaped out of her boots from the surprise when she heard that voice. "Tracy!" she cried, jumping out of the tree and landing expertly in front of the girl. Never thought I'd be so glad to see this little thief. "Can ya give me a ride into town?" Jubilee asked. "I need to keep an eye on Everett. I think he may be about to do something stupid."

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Theresa smiled into the hot chocolate she had purchased before turning the smile on her father. "'Tis the first time ye told me that in person, Dad," she said. "All I ever had from ye were cards and letters sayin' how proud o' me ye were. I wondered if it was really ye sayin' those things or some fellow over at Hallmark."

The words were meant as a joke, but they cut Sean more deeply than any knife or psi-jab had.

Paige breathed a heavy sigh that made her seem older than her seventeen years, and started unburdening herself. "I don't know how long I'm going to be away, Jono," she said quietly. "Momma's really sick. Sam didn't want to say much over the phone, but I could tell it's pretty bad...." Her voice trailed off as she chewed her lower lip fretfully.

Jonothon placed a long-fingered hand on hers, trying to offer some measure of comfort. Paige glanced at his hand for a second before changing the subject. "Jono, I know things have been kind of rough for you here," she began, "and that it gets kind of discouraging, but Sean and Ms. Frost.... they're the best. If it's possible for folks like us to learn to deal with our powers and our problems, then the Academy is the place to do it." She drew a deep breath, then made a request. "Will you promise to stick with the program, at least until I get back?"

Jono drew a pencil and a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and swiftly wrote, "I promise."

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"I'd like a word with you two!" Everett declared as Dorian and Weasel drew close on their bikes.

"Yea? What do you want?" Dorian said irritably, sliding to a halt. "You still holdin' a grudge, punk?

"We don't have a lot of time. We got pizzas to deliver," Weasel added.

From behind a fence, Tracy and Jubilee crouched, watching anxiously. "That's Dorian and Weasel! What's going on here?" Tracy hissed to Jubilee.

"I dunno, but I've got a bad feeling about this," Jubilee whispered back.

"I've got something for the both of you," Everett said, reaching into his coat pocket and drawing out-

"OMIGOD!" Jubilee screeched, hurtling over the fence. "DON'T DO IT EV; DON'T SHOOT!"

Everett whirled and saw Jubilee barreling toward him. "'Don't shoot'?" he repeated in confusion. "What are you babbling about, Jubilee?"

Jubilee skidded to a halt as she realized what was really in Ev's hand. "Th-that's not a gun," she stammered. "That's money!"

Everett nodded and got back to Dorian and Weasel. "Here, Dorian," he said. "There's enough cash for a down payment for a car to replace the one that got wrecked at my school. I know you need it for work," he said temptingly.

"What is this, a set-up? You gonna tell Chief Authier we stole your dough and sic him on us?" Dorian asked.

"Look, if it makes you happy, the school headmasters can fill out a receipt," Everett countered cajolingly, waving the wad invitingly. "No hidden catches. You just get another set of wheels and retire the bikes."

Dorian grudgingly took the money, then said, "Don't be thinkin' that we don't think that you're a punk and a freak anymore, 'cause we still do!"

Everett just shrugged as if he didn't care and walked off with Jubilee and Tracy.

Later, after politely ditching Tracy, Everett began explaining his actions. "...So I got Angelo to loan me the savings that were stashed in his cigar box," he finished.

"The box he kept his gun in?" Jubilee asked.

Everett remarked, "He said he got rid of the gun after that incident in L.A. I put his money with mine and it was enough to pay for a rust-bucket with a decent drive train. Something to deliver pizzas in."

"But why? All those jerks ever did ya was dirt!" Jubilee exclaimed.

"Jubilee, hate is a cycle fueled by ignorance, envy and fear," Everett said in a low voice filled with experience. "Look, a working-class kid like Weasel or Dorian needs that job. But they look at us and see spoiled rich kids living it up at some private school.... Well, some-body has to break the chain. Somebody has to stop hating back, and it's going to be me."

On an impulse, Jubilee pulled Everett into a hug. "Ev, you're the best," she said admiringly.

Ev smiled and squeezed Jubilee back.

Then they released each other and kept walking back to the Academy in companionable peace.

Theresa tossed back her head and laughed gaily. "Oh, Dad! What an unrepentant rogue ye are. I know ye might have been there, but there'd be a phone call in the night, word o' another case or adventure, and ye'd be gone. And ye never knew me, 'cause of Uncle. I dinnae feel bad about it."

"No, Terry," Sean sighed. "'Tis hurtful things ye're sayin'. When I think o' all the things we could have done as ye grew; all the things I could have given ye-"

"It's true, Dad," Theresa interjected firmly. "And the most wonderful gift I ever got was from ye. Ye gave me yuir genes." She stood, going on. "I've got yuir wild wits, yuir sense o' humor and whatever quality it is that makes a leader.... but best of all, ye've given me something precious few men gave give their offspring: The sky to fly through and a voice to crack the heavens!"

Then, without a thought as to who might see her, Theresa rocketed into the sky, riding a wave of sonics that were as good as wings. Sean watched Theresa close her eyes in intense ecstasy and revel in her mutant gift as the air throbbed and shattered under her sonic scream.

And in watching his child, seeing her joy, Sean could finally find forgiveness.... for himself.

Bianca stopped for an instant to rest just as Brain inquired, "Where's that weird hot wind gusting from?"

Bianca frowned. There was no wind.... but then she felt it too and she glared at another dwarf. "Stink!" she yowled accusingly.

"Don't look at me!" Stink whined, throwing up his hands.

"Look, look! What is that?!" Warp exclaimed, pointing upward.

Everyone looked up and saw a crackling, electric blue-white oval swirling below the Biosphere dome, growing wider and spinning faster with each passing instant. "What is that thing?!? " Bianca howled, unsuccessfully trying to conceal her fright.

"It's something that can generate its own space/time flux," Grease answered in awe.

"It can't be!" Spike hollered. "It's......"

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Paige looked into Jono's eyes. "Is there anything else you want to 'say' before I go?" she asked softly.

Jonothon nodded urgently, his auburn hair becoming tangled from the motion. Something in him was shouting, Say it now or never, Starsmore! He picked up the pencil again, then hesitated. No. I need to say it more.... eloquently. He glanced around the snack bar and saw the only person there was a waitress who had her back to him. Satisfied that she wouldn't see what he was about to do, Jono placed the pencil on the table, lifted the paper in front of his face and lowered the bandages over his face a bit. His other power -bio-kinetic energy just begging to be harnessed- shot into the sheet in a beam as thin as the pencil, burning a hole in the paper with the precision of a laser. Sweat had beaded on Jonothon's brow before he finished and set the paper in front of Paige.

Paige gaped at the smoking heart seared perfectly under the words "I promise." Jonothon wiped the sweat away and waited for Paige to react.

"Whu.... I.... Oh, Jono," Paige gasped, picking up the paper and hugging it to her chest. "You learned how to control it! You've been practicing?"

Jono nodded weakly, baffled. Doesn't she get it? he thought incredulously. I just said "I love you"! Why won't she tell me how she feels about me?

"This is great!" Paige exclaimed, forgetting the flight home as she pulled her chair over to Jonothon's side of the table and sitting so close in front of him that her knees were tucked between his.

Please, Paige! Tell me how you feel! I need to know! Jonothon yelled mentally, wishing that he could project his thoughts like before.

Paige went on. "You know, I feel like I'm going to have a big break-through in understanding my own powers and-"

Forget it. She'll never say the words that I want -that I need- to hear, Jonothon thought as his heart sank. He stopped Paige's talk by pressing a finger over her soft, sweetly curved lips. She paused, confused.

And then Jonothon did something he thought he'd never do. He embraced Paige tightly but gently, clamping his hands on her back and tucking his head against hers as she rested his head on his shoulder and looped her arms around his waist.

They sat that way for many minutes. Then the intercom boomed, "Last boarding call for flight 14 to Kentucky." Unwillingly, Jonothon let Paige go. She stood without a word and scooped up her duffel bag. Jono got up and walked her to the gate with his usual graceful quiet. Yet now his steps were heavy with sorrow.

They parted in silence when Paige gave her ticket to a boarding attendant and strode purposefully down the long boarding hall.

Jono stood in the terminal, eyesight becoming blurred as he watched the girl he loved go.

Paige didn't look back.

Jonothon blinked, and two tears beaded on his lashes before falling to the floor.

Outside, Jono met up with Theresa and Sean and watched the plane take off with them. "There she goes," Sean said with a hint of wistfulness. "Home to Kentucky. Maybe the trip home will do Paige some good," he mused aloud, climbing into the minivan with Jonothon and Theresa. "She hasn't been herself lately. Rather.... disrespectful," he added, not sure how else to phrase it.

"Maybe that's a change for the better," Theresa suggested. "No offense, but I've always thought her a bit of a suck-up.... an apple polisher."

Paige is NOT! Jonothon thought angrily, shooting Theresa an annoyed look that could kill. She didn't notice.

"Paige is a suck-up just because she shows a modicum of respect for her elders? A bit harsh now, don't ye think, Terry?" Sean inquired, motoring back to the Academy.

"'Modicum of respect'? Is that a euphemism for 'sycophancy', Dad?" Theresa parried.

Sean gave up the argument, then spied Jubilee and Everett on the side of the road and pulled over to pick them up.

Gaia took a sip of tea, then kept talking to the pulse-wiped White Queen, aka Emma Frost. "I spent the last seventeen millennia chained to an altar, knowing that if I was free I had the power to make anything I wanted," she said gloomily. "Now that I am finally free, that power is taken away. How can the universe be that unfair?"

Emma arched an eyebrow. "But what did you do with your power when you were freed, Gaia?" she asked in her frosty Boston accent. "You conjured up some fancy toys and killer clothes for instant gratification. Maybe the universe is telling you -telling us- that there is more to life than diversions; that we ought to make a difference with our talents."

Gaia scowled at her. "That's a joke, right?" she questioned.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Okay, maybe I was laying it on a bit thick," she decided. "If I had my telepathy back, I could reach inside your mind and-"

Emma experienced a familiar surge and Gaia rocked back, almost tipping her chair onto the floor with the force of the action. "Hey! I felt that!" she shouted in amazement. "You were inside my head!"

"My power's coming back!" Emma cried giddily.

Their bubbles were burst when Artie and Leech tore into the room. "Miz Frost! Emergency!" Leech hollered, grabbing her hand and yanking her out of her chair, dragging her out the door. Gaia got up out of curiosity and followed.

Emma asked, "What's wrong, Leech? Is somebody hurt?" Though if Bianca is injured, I won't care very much, she thought.

"It's gone! It's gone!" Leech said by way of answer.

"What's gone, Leech? Something's been stolen?" Gaia inquired impatiently as Sean parked the minivan in the driveway and got out with Theresa, Jonothon, Everett and Jubilee in tow. "What's all the commotion about, Emma?" Sean questioned, following the group as the others tagged along. Skin walked out of the building, got curious and went after them.

"Something's missing, Sean," Emma explained hurriedly as she was pulled along. "But you know Artie and Leech," she added as the group rounded the corner. "It could be a bird's nest that fell out of a tree or.... or...." her voice faltered. "Oh my Lord!" she gasped.

"Something's carted off the Biosphere!" Sean yelped, gaping at the huge, bare place on the ground where the training area used to be. "Every last brick and fern!"

"LaNeige and the space cases are gone too!" Jubilee piped up.

Artie tugged on Emma's sleeve and pointed to his camera, where it lay abandoned on the grass. Bzzzt it droned as a photo popped out. "Look!" Emma said. "Artie's camera just ejected a picture." She approached and knelt, picking up the pic as it developed. Generation X clustered around, watching.

Slowly, the damaged and tumbled-town Biosphere appeared, standing alone near a towering metropolis of glittering steel and glass. Strange vehicles hovered in the air above it.

"That's the 'Sphere all right, but it's even worse than it was," Angelo pointed out.

"And that city in the background.... There's nothing like that around here in Snow Valley," Everett stated solemnly.

"So, where did the Biosphere go?" Jubilee questioned.

Emma looked away from the photo and at the gathered mutants. "Or when did it go?" she countered.

Theresa glanced at Banshee and remarked, "Tell me Dad: Do events this strange always happen around here?"

TO BE CONTINUED IN GENERATION X NUMBER 45 (DUH)!