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THIRD GENESIS Re-written by Multi-Facets
Snow Valley, Massachutses. Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters.
Dawn is nature's way of saying "Here ya go-- take another shot. Try again. Here's a whole new day in which to succeed..... to give reality to the dreams you had the night before...."
And dealing with it she was. Determined to be the best the next generation of mutants had to offer, Paige -recently codenamed Husk- was probably wasn't quite as close to that goal as she would have liked to believe.
Paige slowed her jogging stride and took assess of her time. Five miles.... in thirty-five.... minutes? she panted mentally. Not bad, gal, she thought, coming to a stop at the front of the Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters sign. 'Course, if Ah'm.... Paige disciplined her speech. Of course, if I am going to actually lead this team, I do have to set an example. Respect is the key to-
"You are one sick puppy, Guthrie!" a youthful, annoyed voice snapped, barreling into Paige's thoughts. She turned and looked at the speaker.
It was the black-haired California native Jubilation Lee, nicknamed Jubilee. Nature's way of saying "Whoops." After being orphaned, Jubilee had made her family among her fellow mutants, the X-Men. Although she had volunteered to come to the new school to better train her pyrotechnic abilities, she had hoped she'd be able to sleep in a little later.
"Do you have, like, any idea what time it is?" Jubilee continued from her bench, glaring at Paige.
Paige considered. "I'd guess about six forty-five," she said finally.
"Wrongo! It's almost ten of seven!" Jubilee growled, pointing to her watch. "Nobody -but nobody- but psychopaths and garbage men are up this early.... and none of them would be crazy enough to jog, to boot!" she added.
Paige rolled her bright blue eyes. "Considering the size of this campus, I can't believe you couldn't find more important things to do than keep tabs on me," she told her teammate.
"Quite the healthy self-image there, Hayseed," Jubilee retorted, her own blue eyes throwing sparks. "I wouldn't care at all.... if ya weren't blasting yer Cindy Crawford workout video at five A.M.! You people down south aren't real big on sleep, are ya?"
"I can't speak for all of us 'down south,' but me? I'm not real big on wasting time," Paige responded, putting down her jogging weights. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"
"No...." Jubee interrupted.
"-I have to get ready for class," Paige finished, turning around and digging her nails into her hot, sweaty scalp.
"....you're not excused," Jubilee said hotly.
"I'll only be a second," Paige replied, carefully pulling on her long golden locks.
"At least let me turn around!" Jubilee whined, her stomach churning.
"You're being silly," Paige chided, tugging harder on her hair.
"And you're being gross!" Jubilee said sharply.
A blaring SHRIIIIPPP sounded as Paige ripped off her skin with a sharp jerk, revealing a clean body. "There's nothing gross about my mutant ability to shed my outer skin for a new form underneath," she said. "I think it's pretty original," she added proudly.
"EEEUUYYUCH! I hate hate HATE when you do that!" Jubilee squealed, shuddering and pulling her yellow trenchcoat tighter around her slim, petite frame.
"I know," Paige said casually, tossing her skin to the ground. "I was curious to see if my power would works this way.... sort of a quick version of a hot shower shedding away the sweat and grime. Isn't that the whole reason we're at this school? To learn to be the best mutants we can be?"
Sheesh. She sounds like that commercial for the army, Jubilee thought in disgust. "Yea, well, some of us need more training than others," she said pointedly. "When I was with the X-Men-"
"Please, Lee," Paige groaned. "Not another 'when I was with the X-Men' parable!"
"-all I was gonna say is that we would never -ever- leave our skins lyin' around," Jubilee said. "You could at least pick up after yerself, Hayseed. That is like, tacky cubed!"
"You can't fault the child for poor upbringing, Jubilation," a regal voice interrupted. "Certainly after a few weeks with you, Paige will be the portrait of class," the new voice continued, as a lovely femin-ine figure floated down from midair.
Monet Saint-Croix. The mutant possessed of a multitude of super-human abilities (not the smallest of which were beauty and ego.)
"M, yer being sarcastic, right?" Jubilee questioned, looking up.
"I'd like to think I was being ironic at best, sardonic at the least. But yes, you get the idea," Monet responded airily, landing gracefully in front of Jubilee and Paige and turning her back to them.
Jubilee was shocked. "Huh-llooo, M. Anybody home? Ya don't go dropping out of the sky like that. What if somebody saw ya?" she reprimanded.
"The rest of you may wish to conceal the mutant aspects of yourselves, but I have no such compunctions," Monet said, tossing her long, silky, shiny black hair and pulling off her turquoise gloves, tucking them in her team uniform belt.
"Yeah, and if my power was to be Miss Perfect Priss '94, I wouldn't try to hide it either," Jubilee whispered to Paige, who giggled.
"Instead, you give off sparks from your hands. You must be quite amusing at parties," M quipped, straight-faced.
Jubilee scowled. "I'll give ya amusing ya-"
"Glad to see ye could make it, Monet," a resonant voice with a thick Irish accent rang through the air, as a beefy man strode down the school's front steps. "Now, if'n ye are prepared for your seven A.M. training session, ladies?" he asked, and gestured to the inside.
Sean Cassidy, the green-eyed Irishman called Banshee. Headmaster at Xavier's. The man in charge. Theoretically, anyway.
The girls made their way over to Sean. Monet stopped in front of him. "Mr. Cassidy, I'm expecting a few personal belongings," she began.
"Not a problem, lass," Sean said instantly. "I'll take care o' it me-self."
"Phew! Ya wouldn't want anyone chipping at the china," Jubilee muttered. Paige giggled again.
"You are a prince, Mr. Cassidy," Monet said, moving past Sean.
Sean grinned and said, "Not at all. What's a few-"
HONK HONK! Several huge moving trucks scooted up the drive. The driver in the lead stuck his head out the window and bawled, "Hey, buddypal! Where ya wants we should put this stuff?"
Sean sagged weakly against one of the step columns, dumbfounded. "D'oh!" he gasped.
Jubilee glanced over her shoulder and gaped. "Cheese and crackers, M.... whaja' pack, yer whole life in there?!?" she squawked.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
meanwhile, on the mid-Atlantic "Red Eye" between the United Kingdom and the United States....
A very private young man found himself performing for a snoopy audience of one: a cheeky young girl who kept looking at him over her airplane seat. "Dina, stop staring. It's impolite," the girl's mother said reproachfully. Dina ignored her.
The man scowled, not liking Dina's scrutiny at all. Without a word -because communication had become a chore ever since his "acci-dent"- he decided to quell the girl's curiosity. He reached a hand up to the heavy bandages covering the lower half of his face, hooked his long fingers into the material and pulled down slightly. A hot, puls-ing, electric blue core was exposed.
Dina jerked and her eyes bugged out in surprise. "
Mom," she whispered nervously, "that guy has some kind of bio-nuclear psionic biokinetic field inside him.""That's his business, Dina. Now turn around and finish your calculus," her mother ordered. Reluctantly, Dina obeyed.
Satisfied, the man let the cloth snap back into place and dug a letter from his duffel bag, unfolded it and reread it. The words running across the top of the stationary read Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. I'm coming, Charles Xavier, he thought, just as you requested. But what, I wonder, do you expect your school for "gifted youngsters" will be able to do with a freak like me?
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
back in Snow Valley....
Everett Thomas, codenamed Synch, sprinted through the lush vege-tation and vaulted over a log lying in the way. As he sailed to the other side, he called, "You realize, of course, it'd expedite things if you gave up?"
An echo was the only reply. No answer. Why am I not surprised? Synch thought. After the past few weeks, between learning I'm a mutant and slugging it out with something -emphasis on "thing"- called the Phalanx, I doubt Mrs. Thomas's little boy Everett is going to be surprised by anything ever again. He trotted in a clearing that a small river ran through, and a glint of metal caught his eye. Curious, Everett went to investigate. "Then again...." he said, his voice trailing away.
A Generation X team belt was submerged in the water. Synch knelt and fished it out, recognizing it immediately. "Angelo's belt? How'd it get in the stream?" he asked the air, getting worried.
From a concealing screen of ferns, Angelo Espinosa -Skin- watched his teammate. He looks concerned, he thought smugly. Which means he's faking, or he's an idiota. Either way.... Angelo snaked his fingers over to Synch's booted ankles and gently entwined them.
Synch called, "Can you hear me, Angelo? Are you all-"
-Skin yanked-
"-riiiiiight?!" Synch yelped as he went down hard and landing with a loud WHAM on the streambed.
Angelo laughed, brought his fingers back to his hands and stepped into view. "Muy bueno, muchacho. Thank you for asking," he said in his gravelly voice.
You see, when the rest of the kids on the Los Angelos block started growing facial hair and found their voices changing, Angelo dis-covered he was growing six feet more skin than he needed.
He was adjusting.
Synch sat up and wiped his lips, grinning. "Where I come from, that would be known as a 'sucker punch,'" he told his Skin. "You'll under-stand if I return the favor?" he inquired, and promptly tackled his teammate.
"No, you idiot! Jump back!" Angelo howled in a panic as he fell. "I ambushed you from a distance because I didn't want your sync-aura interacting with my skin!"
"Lighten up another shade of gray, Angelo," Synch said, as his tanned flesh began expanding and becoming more flexible under a rainbow-colored glow. "Unlike you, I've got my power down to a science! It's how I managed to keep my huge bulk the whole time I was around Sabretooth."
"Even I do not know how to control my skin-power!" Skin compl-ained as Synch wrapped up his head and shoulders. "What if I rip or tear?!"
"Stop squirming and we'll call it a draw," Synch offered as Skin shoved his hand under his jaw.
"Get AWAY from me!" Skin screeched, tangling his fingers around Synch's head.
"HEY!" Synch bellowed.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
not too terribly far away....
"Whoa," Jubille gasped as she entered the futuristic room with Banshee, M and Husk. "Cool digs ya got, Banshee. I'm like, without speech here."
"Where that but true," Monet sighed. "Mr. Cassidy, while a tour of the campus is certaintly necessary, I thought we were going to start our training session?" she asked, bored.
"Ye are, lass. Right here" Sean answered, gazing at a glass-enclosed mini-jungle. "Ye're lookin' at the world'd first -and no doubt only- fully interactive ecological Bioshpere."
"Are you serious, Cassidy? A Danger Grotto? Ya want us t' train in a terrarium?" Jubilee inquired, clearly disappointed.
"B-but Ah studied the layouts and schematics for the original and Shi'ar based danger room for the past month!" Husk stammered, her accent slipping out in her shock. "Y'all cain't go changing things on me like that!"
"Those circuits and holo-projecters ye were studying? They aren't needed here, lass," Sean explained. "This place won't break down and need fixin'. For this and other reasons, it is far superior to the original. Safe as safe can-"
Glass shattered with a resounding crash above him, and the entangled Synch and Skin spilled out in midair, spinning wildly.
"-be?" Banshee finished.
"Now let go of me!" Angelo yelled.
"I will," Synch promised, "as soon as you let go of me!"
"After you!" Skin hollered.
"On three?"
"Sí! Ono, do-"
"There'll be more'n enough o' THAT, lads!" Sean shouted, reaching up, plucking the boys out of the air and yanking them apart. "Which o' ye came up with the fool idea o' cross-training against each other?" he demanded to know, in a stern tone.
"That would have been me, Sean," a cold, sultry, voice with a Bostonian lilt interrupted.
"Emma? I should have known," Sean muttered, then turned to face the white-clad, frosty-faced, blonde figure of Emma Frost, a.k.a the former White Queen of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club. The REAL one in charge.
"Are ye daft, woman?" Sean asked, fixing his eyes on Emma's frigid blue ones. "I thought we decided, Ms. Frost, that the students would learn to use their powers individually first?"
"You decided, Mr. Cassidy," Ms. Frost said, slapping her white cat-o'-nine tails into her palm. "I only aquiesced to be polite. As head administrator here at Xavier's," she continued, "I feel I have some say in how we train these young adults who know more about their powers that you seem willing to give them credit for."
"Powers they won't be able to use if they end up hurtin' each other," Sean said, irritated.
"Which they are certain to do if we don't train them properly," Emma responded, getting irked herself.
"Are they like this all the time?" Monet whispered.
"Yep," Angelo replied simply.
Abruptly Jubilee caught a glimpse of a bizzare sight in the Bio-sphere. A whirling, glowing circle was ripping space open, and a small brown man was sitting in to the center of it. But when she looked over her shoulder, there was nothing there. "hunh?" she murmured blankly. I coulda sworn.... she thought.
"Lee?" Paige asked, worried.
Jubee looked back and shook her head, putting a hand to her forehead. "Nuthin'. Just thought I saw somethin'...." she said. Must've imagined it.
Synch glanced back at the White Queen and Banshee, now in a full-scaled heated debate. It looks like we're not going to get anything done anytime soon, he mused, then said aloud, "Breakfast, anyone?"
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachuteses....
somewhere just beyond the farthest runway....
A massive, battered black limo sat idle in the weed-infested lot. "The fleshy human thing? The one called 'Jonothon Starsmore?' His plane should be arriving shortly. Sir," a little gray man at the car's wheel purred in a snively, whiny voice.
"I don't get it," a sickening, choking, hissing rasp grated from the back of the car. "Looking as he does, the boy is of no use to anyone. Except me. What is he doing here in the States?" the voice questioned.
"I'm sure I don't know. Sir," the little man responded.
"Of course you don't, D.O.A. So I suppose I'll have to wait to ask him myself."
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
in the afternoon, back at the school....
Everett skipped down the front stairs, glanced about and saw that only Jubilee waiting outside. "So, Jubilee, where's everybody else?" Everett asked casually, strolling up to his friend and standing at her side.
"Guess no one is a civic-minded as us, Ev," Jubilee replied. "You and I are going to meet and greet the new kid while Paige buries her nose in a book-"
"Can you say 'obsessive?'" Everett deadpanned in his best "Mr. Rogers" imitation.
Jubilee rolled her eyes and continued. "Angelo doesn't like public appearances anyhow, and Monet...."
"Monet could not be any less interested in acting as mutant ambas-sador on Xavier's behalf," Monet finished from the the branches of a spreading oak.
"Climbing trees, M? Isn't that, like, totally second grade?" Jubilee teased.
"As the authority on all things immature, Jubilee, I'll have to take your word for it," M retorted, without batting an eyelash.
"How come she always gets in the last digs?" Jubilee fumed.
HONK HONK! Sean cruised up to them in a shining white Cadillac. Caught in the act, M leaped out of the tree and gracefully sailed to the ground. "Uh, hello sir. I hope you don't mind, but some trees are just made for climbing," she said.
"Child," Sean began kindly, "I may be a tad overprotective o' the lot o' ye, but I'm certain a young woman who can fly -such as ye- should have nothing t' fear from a tree. Will ye be joining us?" he asked as Jubee and Ev climbed into the back of the car.
"Thank you for inviting me, but I think I'd like to familiarize myself with the campus," M said.
"Me? I think she just has to unpack her butler!" Jubliee quipped, hopping onto the trunk. "And don't ferget to put the fish eggs in the fridge before they melt! And-"
Sean floored the gas and and the Caddy sped forward. Jubilee pitched backward and connected with the trunk with a WHUMP. "HEY! What'cha doin'?!?!" she yelled.
"Sorry, lass. Now get in and buckle up," Sean said.
"Rassum frassum.... you did that on purpose!"
"Never. Now buckle up."
"Did too!"
"Buckle-"
"I'm bucklin'! I'm bucklin'!"
Monet laughed. Suddenly her laughter died as she spotted something sitting on the lawn in front of her.
A small, serene, wrinkled brown man with gray hair and beard. He may have been older than time itself; similarly, he may have begun his life every time he was percieved by another sentient being. He had no name, yet he was called-
"Gateway?" Monet whispered, then broke into a grin and went to sit beside him. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Mentor. But the entire reason I came here was so that others could continue my tutelage," she said softly. "While I aspire to higher things than becoming an 'X-Man,' all involved parties think they can provide the necessary.... Wait." Monet stopped herself, comprehension dawning. "This isn't about me. He's returned.... hasn't he?" she wondered in fear.
Gateway nodded.
Monet began to tremble.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
the airport....
"Ahhhhh, humanity. What a pathetic waste of genetic resourses."
The mutant called Emplate walked among the humans, there, and not there; a fraction out of dimensional sync, he was virtually undectable to those around him. "Where it my desire, I would slaughter these human cattle at will. No doubt I will. Someday," he decided. "But for today, I hunger. today I.... eh?" Emplate spied a young woman hugging an elderly man. "The old thing possesses a long-faded trace of mutant power about his aura," Emplate real-ized. "Of course, I'm looking for something fresher.
"Juicer."
"Tastier."
several feet and a world away.....
"I guess I can see their point, really," Everett said philisophically.
"'Their' who, Ev?" Jubee inquired.
"The people that are so apprehensive about sharing the planet with mutants. Think about it. The three of us have enough power to level the entire airport, and we walk throught the security gate without so much as a request to empty our pockets of metal objects," Everett observed.
"That, son, 'tis one o' the very reasons Xavier founded his school," Sean said, and tapped the arm of an airport official. "Excuse me sir; what flight is this?" he asked, peering over his sunglasses.
"406, from London," the man replied.
"Perfect. Thank ye."
Emplate felt it -in what was left of his soul- before he actually saw the boy in the distance, and the boy's psychodelically colored aura exploded into view and stretched out of sight, gyrating wildly.
"Incredible!" Emplate gasped. "Never -in all the time I've been shopping for gene fodder- have I seen an aura so.... deliciously rich."His sight zeroed in on a tall, lean figure in a black leather jacket and black jeans striding purposefully from the gate. "Come to me, Jonothon Starsmore.
"Embrace me."
"Feed me."
Jubilee scanned the crowd deboarding the plane and her eyes fell on the boy with dark aurburn hair, hard green eyes and heavy black bandages wrapped around his torso and lower jaw. Cracks in the boy's skin laced his face. Jubilee winced. "Let me guess: it's the walkin' Band-Aid?" she asked Sean.
"Poor guy," Everett said sympathetically.
"He's here because he needs our help, ye two," Sean said. "He can do without our pity. Son? Jonothon?" he called, lifting an arm and waving it.
Spontaneity.
For better of worse, it's a key distinction in the life of homo superior. It's impossible to tell when even the most average of situations can turn from the mundane.... to madness.... or murder....
"Yum."
The aura-seer grabbed Jonothon's face, forcing him to his knees. The instant the villain engaged his mutant power, he was shunted fully into this dimension. He did it gleefully, because he thought nothing could frustrate his plans.
"Welcome to America, Jonothon Starsmore. Now die," he cackled, then reconsidered. "Let me amend that. First, provide me with the genetic stuff of life I need to suck from your bones, then die."The crown erupted into screams of "WHAT IN--?" "IIIIIEEEEEE!!!!" "IT'S A MONSTER!" "OH, MAN!" and "OUT-FREAKIN'-RAGOUS!"
"Whoa!" Jubilee yelped.
Banshee took in everything in seconds and spied a girl behind the monster. "Jubilee! The girl! Now!" he commanded.
Jubilee bolted forward, scooped up the child and sprinted away. "Got 'er, dude!" she called. "Start wailin' at will, Banshee; ya can ask questions later," she added.
My thoughts exactly, lass," Banshee said, then opened his mouth wide and let his power -the destructive sonic scream of the crea-ture of Irish folk tales- tear forth. The rings of sound rolled forth and slammed against the monster's back, tattering the short jacket it wore.
"What is this?" the monster hissed, looking over his shoulder.
"I don't know who or what you are, creature, but I'm telling ye once: Release the lad!" Banshee ordered.
"Before I've finished my meal? Not likely, Mr. Cassidy. Not even a possibility," the villian retored curtly.
Banshee stopped screaming, stunned. "How do ye know who I am?" he asked.
"It's just one aspect of my power, Sean -may I call you Sean?- knowlege at a glance," the mutant answered. "I 'see' your power.... your passion.... your past and present!"
"Nice alliteration, Uglier-Than-Thou!" Jubilee said, having put the girl in safety and returned to the fight. "Can ya 'see' we're gonna kick yer butt?"
"Not in this lifetime, child," the mutant returned. "You see, I also have the ability to rechannel power I have siphoned. In this case, Jonothon's combined with Sean's!" With that, he lifted a hand and fired the power back at Banshee.
Banshee started to send a scream back to defend himself-
-Synch jumped in front of him, shouting, "ENOUGH!" and took the blast full force.
"Careful, dude! Can you sync your bod to that much power?" Jubilee asked.
"Apparently, yes," Synch croaked as his synchronistic aura went crazy and he clutched his chest, panting. "Just give me a second to adjust.... and this guy is less than toast."
"Mmm. This is going to be fun. I'm getting full just thinking about it," the villain rumbled.
"Yer sick and a half, creep!" Jubilee screeched, readying a volley of crackling pyrotechnics. "Ya want somethin' to chew on try-"
"NO!" Banshee cried, shoving Jubilee back and breaking her consentration. "Ye'll only be giving the monster more power t' throw back at us!"
"What a quick study, Sean. I'm impressed," the monster cooed.
The near-forgotten Jonothon Starsmore chose that instant to speak his mind. *You sincerely.... what to be.... impressed?* he snarled in a halting, ghostly, seriously ticked-off mental voice that struck everyone's mind like a lash from a bull whip. *Try this.... PILLOCK!*
A humongous, blazing column of spiraling, blinding energy imploded around Jonothon, throwing his assilant away.
"WHA--? No one has ever used their power while I was feeding!" he howled. "It's impossible!"*Nothing.... is impossible,* Jonothon answered, as the energy began to ebb away, revealing scorched and cracked surroundings.
"Ah, youth. You and your boundless optimisim," the attacker growled sarcastically.
*I'm speaking from experience,* Jonothon said. *If I can learn adjust to this.... all things are possible.*
The last of the energy column dissipated and there stood Jonothon. The wraps covering him had been blown away, and there was nothing but crackling, red-hot energy in a gaping hole where Jonothon's chest, neck and jaws should have been.
Banshee, Synch and Jubilee all stared in astonishment. "whoa, again," Jubilee muttered, not quite sure how to process this new turn of events.
"Whoa again, indeed," the mutant said. "Over the years I've enjoyed many different types of mutation, but never, never have I been privy to such a veritible smorgasbord of designer genes! I'm honored," he crowed, and extended a hand. Synch gagged when he saw the tooth-ringed hole in the palm of of the villian's hand. "Now if you'll all line up according to-"
WHAM! he was suddenly embedded three feet in the airport floor. Somewhat addled, he mused,"Hmm. I acutally felt that."
"It was pain, 'Emplate.' Get used to it," a familiar voice snapped, and M and the rest of Generation X leaped through a glimmering portal held open by Gateway.
"You have me at a loss, young lady," Emplate stated, surprised. "You know my name, yet I, for some reason, am unable to discern yours."
"You were right, M, when you convinced your li'l mystery friend to bring us here," Husk said. "But how did you know the others needed us?" she asked, clearly puzzled.
"As I've said in the past: there is precious little I don't know," M said.
"Fine," Husk grumbled. "Be oblique. We'll just have to resolve one mystery at a time!" And she charged into the trouble zone.
"Husk! Wait!" Banshee yelled.
"Husk? How charmingly appropriate. As I have spent the better part of the last century relishing my relitive obscurity, I'll forgive you impudent younglings for your ignorance. But this should give you the slightest indication of my ententions," Emplate growled. He leaped forward so fast he was a gray blur, swung a toothed hand around and slashed Husk across the gut.
Agony pulverized Husk."EEEAAAIIIRRRGH!!!" she screamed. Slow-ly, she curled over her injury, sliding her arms over her stomach as bright blood spilled out of her system.
"PAIGE!!" Banshee howled. He was suddenly reminded of one of the X-Men's earliest missions; how he had stood helplessly by while his teammate Thunderbird was killed. He couldn't help but wonder is history was repeating itself.
Husk crumpled to the floor in a pool of blood and huddled into a ball. Sean yelled, "M, grab Husk and get her to a hos-"
"Wait! I don't think that's major yet!" Jubilee called. "If I'm right, we can save her right here!" She knelt behind Husk and added "That is, if I can keep from spewing my lunch. Eeyeww!" she choked as Husk grabbed her side and weakly pulled the skin away. Jubilee grabbed the flap of flesh and finished the job in a series of disgusting tearing noises. Husk shakily sat up, healed. "There ya go, Hayseed: a new bod underneath. And for the recond, that was a one-time offer!" Jubee added.
"and don't think i don't appreciate it," Husk panted.
"So what's the gig, Snuffleupagas?" Jubilee asked, turning her attention back to Emplate. "You were totally buff when you tried to ambush Sparky here," she said, gesturing to Jonothon, "but why do I doubt yer ready to mix it up with all of us together?"
"Don't taunt him, Jubilee," M cautioned. "If he wanted to, he could-"
"Shhhh, child. You'll ruin the ending," Emplate said.
"Which'll be any moment, although I dinnae believe you'll be waiting for it, will ye?" Sean questioned the villain.
"Am I that transparent, Sean? Shame on me," Emplate responded in mock embarrasment. "But before I go, understand this: After I have supped upon the marrow of those like you, I will return. Know that wherever you go, I can see you. Wherever you run, I can follow. Wherever you hide, I can find you. And I will. I will devour each and every one of you.... one morsel at a time. And there there is not a blessed thing you can do to stop me.
"Bon appetit, children."
With that said, Emplate began to vanish. M rushed forward. "Wait! We can keep him from disappear-" She skidded to a halt. "Wha-! C-can't move?" she stammered as Emplate vanished. "What just happened?" she spluttered as control returned.
"I did. I happened," the White Queen said with a self-satisfied air. "We nearly lost Husk to her hot-headedness, Monet. I wanted to prevent an encore preformance, so I telepathically commadeered your thoughts for an instant."
"Don't EVER enter my mind again. Are we clear on this?" M growled, glaring at her teacher.
"Don't be so sensitive, child. I was only saving your life," Emma countered, miffed.
"Excuse me," Angelo interrupted, "but am I the only one who thinks this odd? Why does it seem like we're invisible to everyone around us?" he questioned, waving a hand at the oblivious crowd of by-standers.
"Because we are, Angelo," Emma replied. "I'm using my power to make us psi-blind to the herd."
"Herd"? Sean thought, slapping his forehead. Hoo, Charles. What have ye gotten me into? he wondered.
Jubilee shrugged and turned to the new kid. "So, Sparky," she began.
*Jonothon,* he corrected in his wierd whiplash speech. Then, a bit gentler (if not exactly friendlier), he said, *My name.... is Jonothon.*
"So, Jonothon," Jubilee amended. "Welcome to Generation X."
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Way, waaaay away....
"So. How did it go? Sir," the man called D.O.A. asked, jangling the ring of keys he held.
"Shut up you.... you nothing!" Emplate grated. "Open the door, quickly!" he demanded, striding over to a thick steel door.
"Feeding so soon after your last snack? Is that wise? Sir," D.O.A. inquired, unlocked the door and pushing it open.
Emplate scowled and said,
"The battle took a lot out of-"An empty room littered with scraps of leather straps, broken chain links, and battered buckles met Emplate's eyes.
"She's gone! After years as acting as my sole sustenance.... what am I to do without her?!?" he screeched."Don't worry. We'll find your meal ticket. Sir," D.O.A. said, overly comforting, as lighting ripped the air outside.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
at Xavier's....
"Wow," Jubliee said, glancing over at Angelo as he turned on a lighter and lifted it to the cigarette clamped in his lips. "Is that a cigarette, dude? I am soooooo impressed," she stated, her voice oozing sarcasm.
"I have a list of people I try to impress, chica, and surprise, sur-prise, you're nowhere on it," Angelo quipped, lighting up.
Upstairs, Emma was sharing a bottle of champange with a rather doleful Sean. "Lighten up, Sean. In case you didn't notice, we won," Emma told her partner, sipping the fine beverage.
"I wish I could share yuir enthusiasm," Sean sighed. "But as it is, we don't know what we're up against."
Crreeeeak, the door croaked suddenly. Sean turned in its direction and saw Jonothon standing there silently. "Jonothon?" Sean said questioningly.
Jonothon projected a mixture of politeness and urgency in his answer. *Excuse the intrusion, but I think there is.... someone here to see you.*
Sean became worried and ran down the stairs, Emma and Jonothon tagging along. Jubilee noticed them and asked, "S'up, Sean? We got company?"
"Maybe," Sean replied shortly. "But until we know what this is all about, I want the lot o' ye to stay put!" he added, and dashed outside with Emma. What he saw outside made his blood boil. "This is start-ing to irritate me, Gateway!" Sean shouted. "As much as I appreciate yuir helping out against Emplate today, the truth o' the matter is I dinnae want ye hanging out here -for whatever yuir reasons- coming and going as ye please! If'n ye have something to say, man, just say it!" he ranted.
"p.... pe.... penance," Gateway whispered.
Sean was eyes-bugging-out, slack-jawed shocked. It was a few seconds before he regained his power of speech. "Y-ye spoke! Ye actually spoke!" he spluttered.
Emma's voice broke through his stupor. "I don't think he meant it as a verb, Sean," she said coolly. "It seems to me he was reffering to her."
In the next flash of lightning, Sean saw what Emma was talking about. A unconscious young girl was sprawled on her side, body wrapped in shredded purple-black straps, skin scarred and reddened. A hand flopped to the side, and the fingers were shaped into deadly claws.
A surprise.
Nature's way of saying "I'm still in control. You never know what's going to happen next.
"Try again tommorrow...."
