SPRING BREAK

Part I: Something Sinister This Way Comes

By Kimberly Leigh and Tony Thornley

“Hello? Earth to Monet.”

Monet St. Croix jerked her head from the airplane window to the boy sitting next to her. “Wha…? Oh, I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

Alexander Roberts shrugged. “Nothing important, Monet. Sorry if I interrupted your thinking.”

“I’m the one who should apologize. I’ve been ignoring you and everyone else ever since we lifted off.” Monet’s brooding eyes returned to the pale clouds streaming past the window. “It’s just that going back home to Algeria makes me think of…”

“Marius?” Alex gently suggested.

Monet nodded distantly. “I know it’s silly, but in the middle of some nights I wake up and wonder what’s happened to my brother. Where he is, and what he’s doing right now. I mean, is he happy not being Emplate anymore? Or does he-” Monet abruptly cut herself off. “You probably think I’m crazy.”

“No, I don’t,” Alex said firmly as he took the hands of his girlfriend into his own, “But what happened between us and Marius happened seven months ago, and we’re supposed to be on spring break now. So how about you worry over Marius for the rest of this flight, and once we land in London we’ll worry only about getting tans in Algeria?”

Monet had to smile at the mischievous glint in Alex’s eyes. “Good eno-”

{Will somebody get this little monster off me, or do I have to do it myself?}

The couple turned in the direction of the psionic voice. In the row across from them, an energetic eight year-old Algerian girl was practically all over the black-clad teenager occupying the window seat in her pursuit to see outside. Next to them was another girl, identical to the first one except that she seemed to be sitting apart in her own private world.

“Sorry, buddy, but that’s Nicole Saint Croix. You’re on your own.” Alex grinned as Monet laughed in agreement.

The bandages around Jonothon Starsmore’s lower face, covering up the fact that he had no lower face or chest at all, didn’t conceal his disgruntlement.

{I’ll remember that, mate. Someday, it’ll be your turn to sit next to the St. Croix twins on a ten-hour flight. Then it’ll be my turn to laugh at you.}

Just then, Nicole shifted and accidentally drove her knee into a very sensitive area for Jonothon and other males. {Bloody-!}

Alex and Monet could only laugh harder. Monet felt her spirits begin to rise. ‘In just one hour, we’ll be landing in London. Jono will go home to his parents, and the rest of us’ll switch planes and go to my home. We’ll be all together at last: me, Alex, Nicole, Claudette, and Pere. What could go wrong?’

“Lee, I am going to kill you.”

“Claire, come on. Ev left around Halloween. It’s just a joke.”

Clarice Ferguson looked at her teammate, Jubilation Lee, and then looked down at herself.

“I know Jubes,” she said, “but trick or treat costumes?”

Angelo Espinosa laughed from the doorway. Both girls looked up.

“Heya chicas,” Skin laughed. “Lookin’ good.” Angelo left the room, cracking up. Blink looked back at her costume, a representation of a comicbook superheroine.

“You could have at least gotten something…”

“What? Normal? Us?” Jubilee laughed. “We’re Generation X. We’re NOT normal.”

“I figured that,” Clarice sighed. “At least I’m ‘porting us to Saint Louis, and we’re not taking a plane.”

Clarice and Jubilee had decided to go visit their former teammate Synch for spring break. Most of the team had gone off elsewhere, Jono to England, Monet, Nuclear, and the twins to Algeria. Clarice had teleported Paige to her home to spend the day with her family. Paige was planning on spending most of the weekend at the school with Angelo.

“You ready?” Jubilee asked.

“Yeah,” Blink said. “First stop, the Guthrie farm.”

Paige Guthrie looked at her teammates, trying to suppress laughter. Blink cast her a glare.

“Don’t even,” she said. “I already got this from your boyfriend. You better not start too.”

“Okay Clarice,” Paige laughed. “Just open the portal to Snow Valley, and I’ll be happy.”

“You got it.” Blink concentrated for several seconds. There was a slight sound that sounded like *BLINK*, a flash of purple light, and there was the portal. Paige grinned.

“Thanks ladies,” she said. “Have fun with Ev.” Paige disappeared into the portal.

“We better have fun,” Blink growled. “Or you’re gonna pay for making me wear this stupid costume.”

Jubilee glared at Clarice. “Loosen up! Just relax. I got it all planned out.”

“Bye-bye, Jono!” Nicole jumped up and down, waving her hand furiously. “Don’t forget to write!”

The only and expected reply from Jonothon as he walked towards the large doors of the London airport was a grudging half-wave over his shoulder. Monet watched him hail a taxicab and get in before turning to her little sisters. Taking them by the hand – since Claudette was autistic and would just stand there without any outside intervention, and Nicole would just run off after the first thing she found interesting – she started walking down the cavernous hall lined by waiting areas and gates. “Alex, what’s our gate number?”

“It’s on our tickets. Somewhere in here.” Alex, without breaking stride, pulled his backpack to his front and started rummaging. “C’mon. I know you’re in here.”

“We have only forty-five minutes before our plane leaves, and we still need to check in.”

“I know, I know. Just give me a minute to remember where I put the tickets,” Alex replied in a strained voice. “God, I’m having a killer headache.” Alex went unsteadily over to a bench and sat down with his head between his hands.

Monet followed him, the twins still latched onto her hands. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, just need a breather.”

“Seriously…this could be one of your dizzy spells.” Ever since he’d joined the Academy almost a year ago, Alex had turned out to be prone to occasional, inexplicable bouts of dizziness and even fainting.

“I’m fine!” Alex protested angrily and stood up. Immediately, he pitched forward and only Monet’s quick catch prevented him from hitting the floor. Monet lowered her boyfriend to the floor and saw that he was unconscious. She quickly put her fingers upon Alex’s neck. There was nearly no pulse.

“Nicole! Get some help!” Monet was nearly invulnerable and could fly at speeds exceeding eighty miles per hour, bench-press over twenty tons, communicate telepathically, and even see perfectly in the dark. Monet was one of the most powerful mutants in the world, but right now all her gifts couldn’t help Alexander Roberts. “Anyone! I need medical assistance!”

Paige arrived back in Snow Valley into the waiting arms of Angelo.

“Hey chica,” he whispered into her ear. “Welcome back.”

“Angelo,” Paige said. “I’ve been thinking today.”

“Uh-oh,” Angelo laughed. “Those are the second-worst words you could hear your girlfriend say.”

“We need to talk.”

Angelo’s smile dropped. “Those are the worst.”

For a terrifying instant, Monet thought she would lose it and start smashing everything in sight, if only for the chance to do something. But then white-gloved hands descended seemingly out of nowhere and grabbed Alex. They belonged to two medical technicians. The white-clad techs lifted Alex onto a gurney and strapped him in. One of the medics motioned for Monet to follow them.

She had barely gotten to her feet before the medics were off with Alex’s stretcher. Monet grabbed the twins and numbly set off after the two, following them outside where there was an ambulance waiting. Within seconds, Monet and her sisters were secured along with Alex in the back of the vehicle.

As the ambulance shrieked through the streets of London, Monet started to recover. She looked at Alex and saw that his breathing had become labored. But, more importantly, she noticed that the medics hadn’t hooked him up to anything or even checked his vital signs. And hadn’t their reaction time been unusually fast? Lastly, she realized that both medics’ faces had been covered with a surgeon’s mask. But why would they wear masks? Unless…

They wanted to hide their identity.

Monet’s instincts went into overdrive. They had to get out of here. Her hand closed upon the door handle. Locked. No problem. With a tiny fraction of her great strength, Monet snapped the handle off. Immediately, force fields sprang up, trisecting the back of the ambulance into three parts: one containing Alex, one for the twins, and the last one caging Monet in.

A trap! Furious, Monet threw herself against one side of the spherical force field. It held. “Let me out! Who the hell are you guys?”

The driver simply let out a laugh, but the med sitting next to him turned around. This technician now was unmasked, revealing the cold hard face of Arclight.

Monet gasped. “The Marauders.”

“Is that your final answer?” the driver leeringly asked. Then it was his turn to glance back at Monet, and she saw that it was Scalphunter.

“Damn you!” Monet raged, but with no better results than last time. “There’s a seriously sick boy here!”

“And that,” Scalphunter replied with frightening indifference, “is exactly why my boss wants him.”

Monet sank back against the curved wall of her force field. There was no use struggling. She grimly noticed that the ambulance now was careening through narrow, twisting alleys. They definitely weren’t headed for the hospital. She glanced over at Alex again, and immediately wished she hadn’t.

Alexander Roberts also is known as Nuclear, for his mutant powers give him the ability to produce from his own cells and even transform his entire body into radiation. The kind of radiation seen in nukes. The kind of radiation that leveled Hiroshima. The kind of radiation that could destroy the entire world.

And right now his body was giving off random green flashes flickering up and down its length. Perhaps his mysterious ailment or unconsciousness was causing it, but Alexander Roberts had turned into a thousand nuclear accidents waiting to happen.

Monet realized that the force fields weren’t such a bad idea.

Everett Thomas set down his chemistry homework and went to the door. He’d had a bad couple of months. Ever since his confrontation with Gaia, and her death, Ev had felt intense feelings of guilt. He had killed her. He told himself over and over that it was either that, or she would have killed Jubilee. But he had still killed her. He killed one girl he loved, to save another. The doorbell rang again.

“Hang on!” Everett yelled. “I’m comin’!” Everett opened the door.

“Trick or treat!” Jubilee cried.

“Trick or treat,” Clarice muttered. Jubilee wrapped her arms around her best friend and kissed him on the cheek.

“Jubes!” Everett cried, tears welling up in his eyes. “Oh gosh! Why are you guys here?”

“Spring break,” she replied. “Sean and Emma decided to actually let us have it this year!”

“Well, come in,” Everett said. Blink and Jubilee came inside, pulling the door shut behind them.

“Clarice,” Everett said, offering his hand. “Good to see you.”

Clarice took the offered hand. “Same to you Everett.” Clarice looked at Jubilee. “Can I take off this stupid costume now?!”

“Yes,” Jubilee grumbled. Clarice sighed in relief and shed the costume to reveal her street clothes underneath.

“She made me wear that!” Clarice said, pointing to the plastic costume now on the floor.

“I don’t blame you for wanting it off,” Everett laughed. The doorbell rang again. “Just a second,” Everett said. He walked between the girls, and opened the door.

A dark figure stood on the porch. An overcoat covered his form for the most part, and he had a black fedora over his eyes.

“How may I help you?” Everett asked.

“Are you Everett Thomas?” the figure asked.

“Yes.”

The figure cast off his coat and hat. “I am the Martyr, and you may help me by dying!” With that he uppercutted Everett.

A cobra. A very beautiful and a very, very deadly cobra. That was how Monet thought of Mr. Sinister.

Who was at this very moment standing before her in all his metallic glory. Monet was kneeling in front of the mad scientist, with the rest of the Marauders behind her: Scalphunter, Arclight, Blockbuster, Harpoon, and Riptide. Alex was still suspended in his force field in the middle of the room, which apparently was a laboratory. Nicole and Claudette had been taken away to another room.

“At last,” Mr. Sinister was saying, “At last I am graced by the presence of the extraordinary Monet St. Croix.”

Monet glowered. “Can’t say likewise.” She wished she could slap from Mr. Sinister’s face that self-indulging smirk. But when the fake ambulance had arrived at the hidden entrance of his underground lab, Monet’s force field had shrunk into a transculent collar that somehow inhibited her powers. Right now, it was rubbing uncomfortably against her skin and she could see no way to take it off. “What do you want with me?”

“You flatter yourself too much. While you have a very fascinating family tree and history, my current attention is upon Alexander Roberts, or Nuclear…”

Monet looked up at the boy mentioned. Alex now was nearly hidden, as in some weird futuristic cocoon, beneath all the nuclear activity seething inside his force field. There were some monitors off to the side. Monet recognized one to be a heart monitor. The line was uncomfortably irregular. She returned her attention to Mr. Sinister. “Why? So you can watch him die?”

“That is not my immediate objective,” Mr. Sinister said in a way that made Monet uneasy, “Rather, it is the combination of his powers and the Legacy Virus that interests me.”

“The Legacy Virus?! B-But that’s impossible! His powers haven’t increased at all during the past half year.”

“And that is precisely what makes his case so fascinating.” Mr. Sinister, with a swish of his razor-sharp cape, turned to look at Alex with rapture. “Apparently, the very nature of Nuclear’s powers has prevented the Legacy Virus from doing to his body what it does to other mutants’.”

“You’re lying.”

Mr. Sinister spun around to face Monet. “Lying? Nuclear’s very cells are radioactive in nature. They have been attacking the Legacy cells for over a year now, preventing the latter from getting a firm hold in our subject’s body. That is why he has experienced only one power spike, nine months ago – that of his sudden ability to transform into what you all ignorantly call his ‘green body’. Green body, indeed!”

“No,” Monet said miserably. “There has to be another explanation.”

Mr. Sinister seemed to revel in Monet’s despair. “However, the very same powers that protected our subject from the Legacy Virus now are slowly destroying him. There is nearly none of the virus left in Nuclear’s body for his cells to destroy, but they don’t realize it. So Nuclear’s cells have simply gone on to destroy his own organs. Irony is a wonderful thing. It will be very enlightening to watch his gradual decay into a pile of radioactive dust.”

“No!” Monet screamed and lunged at Mr. Sinister, but Blockbuster grabbed her arms, immobilizing her. “Why are you telling me this? Why don’t you just lock me away and watch your goddamned ‘subject’ by yourself?”

“Because,” Mr. Sinister leaned in until his face was only inches away from Monet’s, “I lied in part.”

“Huh?” Monet blinked.

“I was lying when I said I was interested only in Nuclear. I also want your blood.”

Some of Monet’s old anger flared up again. “You still didn’t have to tell me all this! You could’ve just drawn the blood out of me and thrown me away.”

“I wish I could. Since you have so many and varied – some of them which you aren’t even aware of – powers, the force-collar I created for you only blocks your main abilities. You still are as invulnerable as ever, which is why Blockbuster could squeeze you all he wanted, and you probably wouldn’t get a single bruise.” Monet realized with surprise that Blockbuster’s grip indeed caused no pain. “So I need your agreement – I know it still doesn’t make sense to your uneducated mind, but I’ll explain later how your willingness will take care of that invulnerability barrier. All I need now is the word ‘yes’.”

Monet snorted, “I thought you knew better. I’ll never say yes.”

“Never?” Mr. Sinister raised one eyebrow. “Not even if I offered to save Nuclear’s life?”

Monet felt as if the world had dropped out from beneath her for the third time that day. “You… can do that?”

“I can halt the deteoriation, yes. But you have to give me your blood in exchange. All I ask for is one vial.”

Monet was completely torn. Who knew what horrors this madman would create with her blood? She couldn’t let Nuclear die – but at that price? She looked up at the flaming-green cage where her love was lying, his life slowly slipping away, and turned back to Mr. Sinister. She suddenly noticed that he looked like the devil, albeit rather pale, ready to strike some unholy bargain.

Monet finally opened her mouth and uttered her answer.

Sean Cassidy looked at the monitors again. He had requested to spend the day at the school’s security monitors. He had been left pretty much alone, but had seen everything happen. He’d seen Monet, Alex, the twins, and Jono leave early that morning. He’d seen Jubilee and Clarice teleport off the grounds, and Paige reappear where they had been several seconds earlier. Now he was watching Paige and Angelo talking, wishing that he could read lips better. He heard the door open behind him, and knew who it was without turning around.

“Heya Frosty.”

“Cassidy.” It had become a standard greeting between the two of them. “Sean, since we’re the only ones here, excepting the love birds out there, why don’t we go do something tonight?” Sean turned to face his fellow headmaster.

“You mean, like a date?” he asked. He hadn’t dated since Theresa’s mother.

“Yeah, sorta,” Emma said.

“Seven sound good?” Sean asked.

“Good enough for me,” Emma said. She started out and then turned around again. “Oh, and Sean, if you’d wanted to listen in on Skin and Husk’s conversation, well, that’s what I installed mics for.” She waltzed back over, and hit a small red button, and strode out of the room.

Sean smiled and leaned back, listening to Skin and Husk.

“I’m sorry Ange,” Paige continued, “but I still don’t know that this will completely work out between us. I love you, but it’s just not… not… oh, I don’t know! It’s just not working right now.”

“I understand, Paige,” Angelo said. “It’s me. Totally. I’ll change.” Angelo smiled as his features shifted to resemble a grey-skinned Tom Cruise. “See how easy that was?” Paige laughed, and Angelo’s skin returned to normal. “Sorry chica. Just for laughs. We’ll work this out. I know we can.” He leaned over and kissed her. Paige returned the embrace.

She smiled as they pulled back. “You know Ange, it’s been a lot better kissing you since you’ve stopped smoking.”

“Smoking?” Angelo said in mock surprise. “You mean I was on fire? Where?! Where?!” The two broke into riotous laughter.

The Martyr followed up his initial uppercut with a hook, but by this time Everett was ready. Ev had been trained in boxing by Sean Cassidy. Banshee had told him many times about winning boxing matches before he letf Ireland, and in the NYPD. Now Ev was going to teach this wannabe villian how to do it right.

“What d’you want?” Everett yelled, returning the hook, and knocking the Martyr outside.

“I don’t want anything,” the Martyr replied, rushing Ev, “but my employer does. Seems you killed someone of importance to her. Well, I avenge the innocent… for a price.” Ev had nothing to say, so he reached out with his aura to discover any hidden powers of his enemy. He was a low-level psi. That was it. Everett grinned and tackled the Martyr.

“You know,” he said as he pummeled Martyr, “you really should do your homework on your targets.” Ev looked to Jubilee and Blink, who had followed the combatants outside in case Everett needed help. “My codename is Synch. Remember that. I have the power to use other mutants special abilities. I have the potential to become stronger than the Hulk-” Ev picked the Martyr up and slammed his fist into his gut. “-more agile than Spider-Man-” He kicked the other man with a powerful high roundhouse kick. “-more feral that Wolverine-” He head-butted Martyr. “-and more durable than the Thing.” Ev slammed his elbow into the base of Martyr’s skull.

“Don’t mess with me,” Synch said. “I’m just plain good.” The Martyr slipped into unconsciousness.

“Ev, that was great!” Jubilee said, rushing towards her friend.

“Thanks Jubes,” Everett replied. “It feels good to back in the superhero game!”

Sean walked out of the movie with Emma. It was a chick flick, naturally, but Sean had rather enjoyed it. He had to be an insult to the male gender if he was thinking that. Emma laughed.

“What?” Sean asked.

“Just listening to your thoughts,” Emma giggled. “An insult to the male gender. Cassidy, you are so strange sometimes.”

“Lass,” Sean said, “I’m a mutant. I think strange comes with th’ territory.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Emma said. “But, does this?” With that, she turned and kissed him full on the lips. Sean was taken aback for an instant, but then returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around Emma’s waist. The kiss felt like it lasted forever. For Emma Frost and Sean Cassidy, it could have.

‘They must be doing it right now,’ Jonothon thought moodily. ‘Heck, they probably didn’t even wait until Sean and Emma were asleep and instead hid in some remote corner of the grounds.’ ‘They’ being Angelo and Paige, who were enjoying a nice spring break alone at the school. ‘While I’m stuck with my sodding parents, who don’t even care about me. Isn’t having no lower face enough?’

Jonothon caught himself. He nearly had made a joke about his appearance, something he couldn’t allow. His thoughts returned to the only other thing on his mind. ‘They’ve been going steady since last fall, but I’ll never get used to it. The really lousy thing about it all is that if I hadn’t shut out Paige, I probably would be the one with Sunshine now.’ Sunshine. That was a name Jonothon hadn’t used for Paige in a long time. Either he was more depressed than he thought, or he loved Paige more than he thought.

Trying to take his mind off Paige and whatever trysts she might be having with Angelo right now, Jonothon inspected his surroundings. On the seat beside him was his guitar case and small duffel bag. In front of him was the cab driver, who was wearing an old-fashioned chauffeur hat. He hadn’t talked one word since the trip began, and Jonothon was glad for that. Making his psionic voice, the only means of communication for him, seem like a real voice was a tiring effort. He let his gaze wander outside. Though he hadn’t been to his native city for a long time, Jonothon still recognized the street they were going through as the Old Kent Road. If he looked hard enough, he could even see a sliver of the Thames River ahead.

‘Ahead? But I told the driver to go to the countryside…’

{Excuse me, but why are we headed for the river? My home’s the other way.} Jonothon had no sooner gotten the telepathic words out before the cab sped up and turned into a narrow alley. {Hey!} The driver paid him no heed. Jonothon saw with increasing horror that they were headed straight for a brick wall. {Are you crazy? Stop this bloody instant!} At the very last moment, the wall lifted like a gate and the cab hurtled through.

{Don’t say I didn’t warn you, mate.} Jonothon tore off the bandages covering his lower jaw and let loose with a blast of the roiling psionic energies deep within. The mutant known as Chamber had the potential to become one of the most powerful beings, if not the most powerful, in the universe. But for this case, Jonothon only used a weak blast. Which incinerated the entire left side of the cab.

Suddenly balanced on only two wheels, the cab spun around several times and slammed into one wall of the dark tunnel. Chamber immediately jumped out, his chest flaming impressively, and went to the front door and yanked it open. The driver was painfully pulling his chest back from the steering wheel. {Okay, who do you think-}

Without warning, the driver’s arm flashed out and slapped something onto Chamber’s right thigh. Chamber barely had time to look down at the metal disk and think ‘power amplifier’ before the entire world exploded into a whirling, dimensionless vortex filled with voices. Shrieking, jabbering, moaning, weeping, cackling, begging voices. The voices of every mind in all of Great Britain.

It was too much for Jonothon. He covered his ears in a desperate, silly attempt to block out the psionic voices. Too much. As he sank down into the welcoming arms of unconsciousness, the last thing Jonothon saw was the face of the driver.

It belonged to Gayle Edgerton. Jonothon’s ex-girlfriend. Who had tried to kill him once.

Everett finished his report to the police. It had been several hours since Martyr’s attack, but not everything had been taken care of. Jubilee wondered how Sean could ever stand doing stuff like this. Everett finally tore himself away from the police detective and back to his friends.

“Oh boy,” he sighed. “Either of you heard of the Martyr?” The girls shook their heads. “Same here, but the detective says that he’s a pretty well-known mercenary. He’s wanted for about seventeen assaults all across the nation, and three murders. He’s supposed to be after the guy who had left him for dead in some dumpster in Seattle, but hire out his services to any who wants ’em.”

“So who wants you dead?”

“There’s only one person I can think of,” Synch said, the sudden feelings of guilt he had felt before Jubilee and Blink arrived rushed back. “Fatale. For killing Gaia.” Before Everett could continue, a young woman rounded a nearby corner, sprinting as fast as she could. She stopped in front of Everett’s, apparently recognizing him. She ran to the three GenXers, panting for breath.

“Cordelia?!” Synch exclaimed.

Cordelia Frost looked at Synch pleadingly. “Synch, help me!” she said. “She’s after me!”

“Who?” Blink asked. She didn’t know Cordelia Forst personally, but had heard of her from Emma and other members of Generation X.

“The White Queen!” Cordy exclaimed in reply. “She’s sent her lackeys after me!”

“The White Queen, as in Emma?” Jubilee asked.

“No,” Cordy panted, “someone new. Someone who wants both me and Emma dead. Please help me before her henchmen find me!”

“Too late,” came a voice. Six figures walked from an alley across the street. The nearby police pulled their guns on the new threats. Everett looked at the newcomers, rage in his eyes.

“Fatale!” Synch roared.

“In the flesh, junior X-Man,” she said. “The New Hellions have found a new cause. With the White Queen.” Fatale motioned to Refrax and Buff. “Kurt, Arlee, take care of the boys in blue. Vincente, Murmur, Bulwark, let’s take care of Generation X.” Then Fatale looked Blink square in the eyes. “And the traitor to our cause.”

Angelo Espinosa had been having a bad day. There was only one thing to do. He knocked on the door in the girls’ dorm.

It opened a crack. “Paige,” Angelo said. “Let’s resolve this once and for all.” Paige opened the door all the way. She was clad in nothing but a bathrobe.

“Okay,” she said, and allowed Angelo to come into her room.

NEXT ISSUE: Spring Break continues! Synch, Jubilee, Blink, and Cordelia take on the New Hellions. Banshee and Emma go out on another date, this time something a little more romantic. Jono, Monet and Nuclear face Sinister. All this, and what exactly did Angelo and Paige do in her bedroom? You’ll be surprised by the answer in thirty days!