REFLECTIONS

By Mike Rudden

Do you believe in mirrors? You wouldn’t if you were paranoid, for you’d know that a mirror simply reflects light, which can easily be manipulated or duplicated. But the young girl named Paige Guthrie, also known as Husk, wasn’t quite that paranoid, as she believed what you saw was what you got. Right then, that girl was in the attic of the Massachusetts Academy, helping Generation X’s two youngest students, Artie and Leech, move in.

“Are you sure you guys want to keep these?” She pointed to a box of spy equipment which featured two telescopes. “Ah mean, the girls’ dorm is right across the road, and Ah don’t think Ah’m quite comfortable…”

“Leech thinks that if Leech and Artie have to become heroes, Leech and Artie need spy stuff,” said the emerald-skinned Leech as he put on a pair of fake-nosed glasses. He was immediately followed by a telepathic projection of a magnifying glass from the pink-skinned Artie.

“Well, Ah guess these things aren’t too powerful, you can keep them.” Paige picked one up and aimed it out the window. From there she could see one of the school’s jeeps pulling in the driveway. It parked, and out came Everett ‘Synch’ Thomas and the mysterious girl known as Gaia. But where had they been, at nine o’clock on a Friday night?

Husk rushed down the stairs and to the front door to investigate. There she met Jubilation Lee, the youngest of the teenage students, who was also curious. Paige couldn’t blame her; she and Synch were constantly flirting before Gaia showed up.

“What are you doin’ here, hayseed?”

“What are you doing here, Jubilee?”

“I saw those too leave a couple hours ago, without a word, and I’ve been in suspense ever since. I can’t be blamed for spying… but you Paige?” Jubilee looked down to see a telescope still in Husk’s hand.

“Well, Ah… Ah… Ah should be so immature as you, Lee.” Even Paige didn’t know what that was supposed to mean. “It’s just that… other than me and Jono… no one on the team has really… dated.”

“Puh-lease, Guthrie! Don’t label what you and the Brit have as dating. It’s more like a case of depression!”

“Well, with the gene-sucking mutant vampires, the girls who are really twins, and being hunted by half-man, half-robots… yeah, me and Jono – Jono and I – haven’t really had much time to jump-start our relationship.”

“Well, these two certainly haven’t been wasting time, so let’s see what’s what.” Jubilee reached for the door.

“No! You can’t just interrupt…” Too late. Jubilee had pulled open the door. And there stood Gaia, in Everett’s arms. Their lips inches from each other.

“Whoa…” came from Jubilee, just staring. Not even Showtime had this kind of action.

Meanwhile, Gaia looked at her and Paige, and Synch quickly followed her lead.

“Don’t let us interrupt, Ev… Gaia.” Husk slammed the door shut and gave Jubilee a dirty look. Then they went their separate ways, Husk to the Danger Room and Jubilee to the kitchen, without saying a word to each other or anyone on the way.

Outside, Synch looked at Gaia. “I’m sorry.”

“This wasn’t your fault, Everett.”

“Yeah, but it did kill the mood.”

“Yeah…” Gaia gave him a short peck on the cheek, and then took off toward the girls’ dorm. In over a millennium of being chained to a rock, she had never felt any kind of emotions like that. In sixteen years of being stuck on this rock, neither had Everett.

The newly built Danger Room wasn’t in use when Husk walked in. Instead, she saw Angelo ‘Skin’ Espinosa on the leg press and Jonothon ‘Chamber’ Starsmore on the bench press.

{Lookee here, mate! I… got… one-hundred twenty-five!} came the hollow ‘voice’ of Chamber, projected into every mind within thirty feet.

“Ooh, Ah knew you could do it, sweetie!” Husk ran over to him, hugged him, and gave him a kiss on his cheek, or lack thereof.

{Er… gel… not now!}

“What’s wrong, Jono?”

“Maybe I should leave you amor avés alone?” The first words from the usually obnoxious Skin.

{No, Ange, you keep working out.} Chamber was still confused. {Me and Paige will have a chat outside.}

“Paige and I,” corrected Husk.

{Whatevah…} replied Chamber.

But things were no clearer outside than they were in. {What’s gotten into you, gel?}

“Ah just thought…. er…. maybe we could go out tomorrow night? The movies or something?”

{Paige, you know I’m not into public appearances!}

“But, Ah thought maybe we should start being more like a… couple.”

{A couple of what? Adolescent teenagers?}

“Yeah, Jono. Take the maturity down a level.”

{What are you thinkin’, gel? I’m not much of a fun evenin’ guest. Can’t remember that last time I had fun. I’ll tell you it was probably when I still had a face!}

“Ah just thought we could be normal for one night…”

{We’re not normal, Paige. And repressin’ that fact is only gonna make the truth hurt more. We’re mutants, Guthrie. I – we can never be normal. Accept it. I have.}

With that, Chamber stormed off in the general direction of the boys’ dormitory basement.

After her embarrassment in the main hall, Jubilee high-tailed to the kitchen. There she fixed her guilt special of raw chocolate chip cookie dough and milk. She then made her way to the girls’ dorm.

Before she could reach her room, the princess known as Monet St. Croix showed her presence in the hall.

“Good evening, Lee.” You could hear the arrogance in her voice. You’d think spending a year in a diamond-hard, razor-sharp body would humble a person. But once you’re born to royalty in Monaco, there’s no turning back.

“Good for some people…” Jubilee’s snappy come-backs were a little off in the light of this evening’s events. Then a thought sprung to mind. “Did you hear about Ev and Gaia?”

“You’re the center of the gossip mill, Jubilee, not me.”

“They went on a date tonight. Pretty hot and heavy.”

“And how does this concern me?” M tried her best to sound bored.

“Well, since you and Synch were kinda getting into it yourselves. He told me you kissed when the Prime Sentinels were after you.”

“Not me, you twit! I’m tired of you mistaking me with my sisters! I would never go after someone so… juvenile as Everett!”

“But ya gotta admit, he’s kinda cute.”

“Yes, there’s obvious physical features. But one needs more…” For about ten seconds there was no conversation between the two.

“Monet?”

“Yes, Jubilation?”

“Why don’t you like any of us?”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, Chamber and Husk are, for better or worse, a couple. And now Gaia and Synch are off to things. Why don’t you take an interest in anyone?”

“Well, who’s really left, Lee? The atrocity known as Skin? Ha!”

“He’s not that bad, but…”

“What about you, Jubilee? You didn’t include yourself in that list.”

“I guess I always thought me and Everett would… ya know…”

“But now Gaia’s shown up, and Synch is etre a la tete de termine guerir a amour.”

“Yeah, whatever that means.”

“Honestly, Lee. Find someone new.”

“At least I’ve found someone. Unlike you.”

“Well, rock-hard hair and spiky hands aren’t exactly a turn on…”

Paige was crying. Not wanting to face Jubilee, Monet, and Gaia like this, she re-entered the gym. In there Angelo had taken over the bench press with a significantly less amount of weight on it than Jono had.

“Erghn… evening, chica.”

“H-Hi, Ange.”

“Keep on tryin’, but can’t press anywhere near as much weight as your boyfriend.” Paige erupted then, and Angelo noticed something was wrong.

“Paige… Paige, what’s wrong?!”

“Me and Jono…”

“Jono and I.”

“Jono and I… had a fight.” This must have been bad. Everyone knew Chamber and Husk had fights before. Their relationship had been labeled stop and go for a year now, but Skin had never seen her like this. She always carried herself so strong. She always wanted to be the greatest, be an X-Man. The only sidetrack that could be blamed for her not being the best had to be Chamber.

“It’s okay, chica.” Angelo hugged her. “I always have a shoulder to cry on. Or three or four.” This joke only got a weak chuckle. Paige thought it was kind of ironic. For a year she had been opening up to Jonothon, with him just pushing her away. And now, for the first time she opens up to Angelo, and he takes her right in…

Did Sean Cassidy believe in mirrors? To tell you the truth, he’d never had time to answer that question. He’d always been chasing criminals… whether as a part of Interpol, the N.Y.P.D. or the X-Men. Yep, there’d always been the rogue cousin, the mutant terrorist or… the twin girls stuck in one devil of a body.

“Nicolette… Claudette… Penance? Can ye hear me? Can ye give me any sign?” Of course, if he ever wants to get them out of this body, first he needs their cooperation. But instead, the red diamond-hard, razor-sharp entity known as Penance just stares into open space. A trait that used to belong to Monet St Croix… of course that’s probably because Nicolette and Claudette were Monet St Croix back then. It only gets more confusing after that. Of course, he would ask the current Monet St Croix for help – especially since she used to be Penance – but why burden her? She has only been her original body for a few weeks, and has earned the right to explore with the ability to talk and touch.

“Really, lass, just one sign that ye’ll help me, and we can get started.” Banshee didn’t know… started at what? Tracking down Emplate to reverse his curse? It seemed hopeless.

{Sean, get in here! Now!} came a woman’s voice, straight into Cassidy’s head. He had become adjusted to this, and made a weak jog toward the War Room were his co-worker, Emma Frost, was working a Cerebro unit.

“What do ye want, woman?”

“While doing my weekly Cerebro scan of Snow Valley, I found five new mutant signatures in the perimeter of the city. Three that we’ve battled before, one that’s in X-Factor’s files, and one that Cerebro has identified, but can’t give us specific information on.”

“Who are they?”

“The Dark Beast’s lackey Fatale, Emplate’s old team of Hellions – Murmur, Vincente, and Bulwark… and apparently, a new-old mutant.”

“Is Emplate back in town, too?”

“Cerebro’s not picking up his signal, but he is a teleporter.”

“Could Emplate possibly have partnered himself with the Dark Beast?”

“He allied himself with Chimera last time, the Evil Beast wouldn’t be much different…” It was at this time the White Queen remembered her history with the evil Hank McCoy. Recently, he tried to kill Generation X with an explosion. But farther back, Emma allied herself with the Dark Beast. She then prayed to whatever God truly existed that she wouldn’t have to meet him again…

If you asked Everett Thomas if he trusted his reflection, he’d say absolutely not.

“Everything’s changing,” he’d say. And he’d say it understandably, as he has the power to change his power, to borrow any other mutants’ abilities. Added to that is the fact that’s he’s a science fiction junkie.

“It was incredible, Angelo.” Right now Synch was in his room, along with his classmate, Skin. Skin decided to let Everett share his night’s events, as what happened in the duration of Angelo’s evening was a little too personal.

“She looked incredible, and we had the most incredible time.”

“And you’re gonna incredibly hurt if you say incredible one more time.”

“It was… fantastic!”

“So, did you get a little action on this little adventure?”

“If I had gotten a little action, would I be here with you?”

“Good point. You’ve been studying.”

“A lot more than you…”

“All students are to suit up and report to the War Room immediately!” came the normal, blunt message over the intercom. Everett hated when the alarms went off in the middle of his lines. This could just be a drill, but best not to taken any chances…

“Alright, children, this is the deal!” came the brash voice of the White Queen. Reporting for duty were Gaia and Synch, sitting next to each other, Chamber and Husk, sitting as far away from each other as possible, Skin sitting between Ev and Jono, and M and Jubilee standing behind them.

“This is not a drill!”

“We’ve found five mutant signatures in Snow Valley, three of which ye’ve fought before,” stated Banshee, “Bulwark, Murmur, and Vincente are back in town, and staying in the Revere Hotel. With them is X-Factor’s old enemy, Fatale… and another mutant who we’ve yet to identify.”

“Since you’ve already fought and beaten Bulwark, Murmur, and Vincente, and we have no evidence that they’re any stronger than before, we’ll give you the run down on Fatale and John or Jane Doe.”

“Fatale is a teleporter and a shape shifter. She is a good actress, so don’t trust anyone in the hotel. As far as other powers go, she is handy with firearms and has two long, sharp swords than come out of ‘er forearms. She used ta run with the Dark Beast and Havok’s Brotherhood.”

“The unidentified mutant is apparently also a teleporter, and one of great power. She may have other powers associated with the Astral Plane, which Cerebro could not identify.”

“Is Emplate back in town? How about the Dark Beast?” Jubilee broke the teenage silence.

“We have no evidence that they are behind the mutants being here, but they’re both notorious for staying hidden until the last minute. Emplate is a teleporter as well, so keep your eyes open,” answered Emma.

Banshee finished off, “I’ve fueled up and started the jeep and the Corvette, so let’s move!”

After testing many routes, Banshee had found the quickest trail into Snow Valley. It was flying. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as young as he once was, and could barely handle two extra flying compatriots, let alone eight. So, they used the highway.

Banshee drove the jeep with Chamber, M, and Jubilee. Emma drove her Corvette with Synch, Gaia, Husk, and Skin. Within fifteen minutes, they stopped three blocks away from the Revere Hotel.

“All right, children, stay quiet,” whispered Emma. “My Cerebro unit tells me Murmur, Vincente, and Bulwark are inside.”

“Here’s me plan,” stated Banshee. “Synch, M, and I will fly onto the hotel as look-outs. Emma and Gaia will be the first to sneak up to the room, since they can take over minds if they get caught. They’ll report to us what they find. If a fight breaks out, we all come in as back-up, a normal offensive invasion tactic.”

“Just like we’ve practiced, a hundred times,” added Emma. “Ready? Move!”

At that moment, Banshee rocketed into the air, making sure to use a high frequency so as to not disturb anything that might be in the hotel. Two seconds later, Monet followed him, but much more elegantly. Last to take off was Everett, deciding to borrow M’s powers instead of Sean’s. All emotions were off. This was battle. The ‘no holds barred’ stuff, that you only see in comic books and the movies.

Within seconds, they were at the Revere Hotel, which was closed for the night. Sean, Monet, and Everett perched on the roof, looking out for any of four possible returning mutants. Everett added in his tracking aura, but he could only identify the three of them, and the three mutants below.

They then saw Emma and Gaia sneaking up. Emma knocked on the door, and the hulking scandinavian boy known as Bulwark answered it. They talked briefly, the White Queen obviously using her powers to disguise herself and Gaia. When Bulwark slammed the door shut, Emma telepathically called everyone for back-up.

Banshee slammed the door in, yelling, “Ye might remember us. We sure have nae forgotten you!”

At that moment, the purple one called Vincente yelled, “Murmur! Get the others! Quick!” On that request, the one wrapped up in bandages like a mummy teleported away.

A fight broke out, easily being dominated as it was nine on two. But within minutes, Murmur teleported back, and brought Fatale and a mysterious stranger with him. Fatale looked was she always did, purple jumpsuit over her gray body and short, black hair. This stranger, though, was slim but wore a baggy black robe over herself. The only body showing was arguably a face, but more like a smooth, pink piece of glass.

The mysterious one was the first to break the silence. “Never thought I’d see you again. Never really wanted to!”

“Again?” queried Jubilee.

“Of course, you wouldn’t remember me. I’m just a fraction of your past. You can now call me Port.”

“All right, Port, it’s time to ex-port some whoop-ass!” Skin let go of his skin all over Fatale.

“No, lad, don’t! Her tendrils will slice you apart!” cried Banshee.

“Your headmaster knows me well, young one.” Fatale’s forearms quickly unsheathed large daggers, which she narrowly missed Skin with.

From then, they paired off. Synch and Gaia battled the mysterious Port, who used pink, crystal daggers as weapons. Banshee handled Vincente with his sonic powers, making it difficult to morph into gas. Emma and Monet teamed up against Fatale, as Skin and Chamber battled Bulwark, leaving Husk and Jubilee against Murmur.

As the battle waged on, the teams began to tire out. Murmur fell unconscious, not being able to take Jubilee’s pyrotechnics. While Bulwark was able to take Skin out, he fell to Chamber. Banshee easily defeated Vincente. At the end, most of Generation X was still standing against Fatale and Port.

“You have not won!” yelled Fatale. “What Port and I have up our sleeves is more than you could ever handle!”

With that, Fatale took a gun from her holster and fired at Gaia, knocking her unconscious. Port then opened up a portal, teleporting Gaia away.

“No!” yelled Synch. “You shot Gaia!” Monet held him back, but not before Synch borrowed Chamber’s power and blasted Port unconscious.

Banshee then saw that Fatale was teleported her team away, so he grabbed Port for one final try at clarification.

“Who are ye?! What do ye want?!” Banshee shook Port wickedly.

“Who am I? You should know that, Sean,” replied Port groggily.

Banshee then looked at the face plate of Port, and saw his own reflection. It then broke apart, revealing a very frightening image. That of the face of Clarice Ferguson, a.k.a. Blink, the girl who died more that a year ago to save his students. The girl with unexplored teleportation powers. The girl he left for dead.

Do you trust your reflection, Sean Cassidy?

NEXT ISSUE: Three new mutants come to the school, but are they friend or foe? Banshee investigates Blink, as one couple on the team grows closer together, but another grow farther apart. All this, and Monet’s budding hormones, next issue!