Generation X

SPRING BREAK

Part III: To All Things…

By Kimberly Leigh and Tony Thornley

This wasn’t happening.

Monet wasn’t in Mr. Sinister’s London laboratory, strapped to an operating table and powerless due to an inhibiting force-collar. Alexander, out cold in a stasis field nearby, wasn’t supposed to have the Legacy Virus, and Jonothon wasn’t being retrieved by Gayle Edgerton, who couldn’t have become an Alpha-level mutant through a transfusion of M and Chamber’s DNA. Finally, Monet’s sisters weren’t trapped somewhere.

But the sound of Essex’s chilling laughter above Monet confirmed it all. This was reality. “You’re deluded if you think you can get away with this,” she warned, “When we don’t return, the rest of Generation X will figure out what happened and hunt you down.”

“But they’ll have to find me first, and that’s not…”

Mr. Sinister never got to finish his sentence, for then a redhead went rocketing through the doorway, as if hurled by a great force, and collided with the startled scientist. The two crashed into a wall of monitors and switches. Monet’s collar, apparently triggered by the destruction of the controls, flickered out of existence.

{Serves you bloody right.} Looking like a flaming angel of vengenace, Chamber stood in the doorway. Hovering above him was an exact replica of Monet.

“Nicole! Claudette! You got out!?” Monet sat up, shattering her bonds as if they didn’t exist. It was good to have her powers back.

“Yeah, sis,” the amalgam of the St. Croix twins replied, “We were just tossed into a regular cage. Next time, evil scientist, do better research.”

“My name is Mister Sinister, NOT ‘evil scientist’,” he snarled as he picked himself up. “Gayle, how the hell did this happen?”

Gayle, the red-haired girl, cowered at her master’s feet. “I-I was getting Chamber, just like you told me to, when that girl ambushed me. Attacked out of nowhere. I swear, it wasn’t my fault.”

Mr. Sinister kicked her in the mid-section viciously and Gayle, despite still being sheathed in her newly-acquired telekinetic armor, doubled over in pain. “You may have failed me, but there are others. Marauders!”

“Oh, go threaten someone else-OOF!” Nicole/Claudette tumbled into the room as Arclight tackled her from behind. Jonothon dived to the side, narrowly missing a charged spear from Harpoon while Blockbuster, Riptide, and Scalphunter spilled through the doorway. The Marauders had arrived.

Everett Thomas had only a fraction of a second to react. Fatale had just emptied the clip of a semi-automatic handgun into his chest. All he had time to do was blink before the bullets would hit him. He had several choices.

He could just die. Everett wasn’t like that though. He could dodge the bullets. There wasn’t time to do that. He could use someone’s powers to deflect the ammunition. That was his best choice.

Synch connected with Blink again, using her teleportation powers to open a portal. The bullets flew into the portal and ended up about six hundred feet under the Atlantic Ocean. It all took less than a millisecond to do. Everett heaved a sigh of relief.

“Blast it!” Fatale cast her gun aside and lashed out at Synch. He caught her hand and drove his elbow into her solar plexus. Fatale inhaled a large breath and started to try to regain her breath. She then remembered her training and exhaled.

“Bad idea Synch,” Fatale said. “I am a skilled fighter in all hand-to-hand methods.” She kicked him solidly in the gut, knocking him backwards. “I know that the relfex when you have the breath knocked out of you is actually inhaling. Bad move.”

“Lady, are you always this long-winded, or is it just for me?” Synch said. “It’s just not you.”

“You know what?” Fatale laughed. “You’re right. How about I just kill you?”

“How about you don’t?” Synch fired a round of plasma bursts at Fatale’s head. She dodged, but the fireworks had the desired effect, temporarily blinding Fatale. Synch lept into the air in a flying kick. Fatale was caught unawares, and caught Synch’s boot full in her chest. She blinked and whipped out a pair of daggers.

“Stupid kid,” she growled. She drove one of the daggers into Everett’s leg.

Jubilee fired on Murmur. The bandaged youth was wearing down, and it was only a matter of time before Jubilee defeated him. Only a matter of time…

Murmur lashed out blindly. Jubilee stepped back and laughed.

“Dude,” she said, “I’m over here!” Murmur staggered towards her, still blinded by the flash of fireworks. She ran around him.

“Over here!” Jubilee laughed. Murmur spun, rubbed his eyes, and saw her.

“Gotcha!” he exclaimed.

“Nope!” Jubilee laughed, firing another round of fireworks and starting all over.

Blink was caught unawares by Vincente. She had taken out Refrax easily, but he had destracted her enough let her guard down, letting the portals keeping Vincente at bay fall. Blink doubt she could muster enough concentration to do it again, so she had one choice.

Fight.

Blink spun, weapon in hand. She chose her darts instead of the staff she’d started using. The darts had better close-range capability, and she could charge the darts with distortion energy and use them as projectiles.

Clarice laughed to herself. She was becoming a female Gambit! Staff, charged weapons, mysterious past. She just needed the accent!

“Okay, mon ami,” she said, using a fake Cajun accent, “let’s go.”

“Huh?!” Vincente exclaimed.

“Forget it,” Clarice said as she threw the charged dart at Vincente. He became vapor, thinking that his intangibility would stop the dart, or rather, not stop the dart. It would have worked had the dart not been charged.

Vincente was displaced, throwing him backwards several yards.

Cordelia Frost lashed out at Bulwark, matching the Hellion blow for blow. She was surprised at her own strength. Initially, she had thought her powers were some type of psi power, much like Emma’s, but she had slowly come to the realization that they were far from it.

Instead, they seemed to be a focused bio-kinetic power, granting her super-stength, a healing factor, and some degree of telekinesis. Which gave her a slight edge over Bulwark. An edge she was about to use.

As she stepped away, Bulwark noticed bruises fading on her skin, and small cuts sealing as if they never happened. In that instant, Bulwark knew the New Hellions were out classed.

“Oh shi-!” His curse was cut short by a blast of telekinetic energy, knocking him unconscious.

This wasn’t happening. His girlfriend hadn’t just dumped him over a misunderstanding. She hadn’t!

Angelo Espinosa sat alone in the kitchen of the Massachusetts Academy, cradling the soda that had started this entire ordeal. He had reached over to grab the can and must have brushed up against Paige, because she suddenly accused him of fondling her.

Angelo took a sip of soda and then looked at it. His anger at himself welled up. An angry roar built up in his chest. He threw the can away from him as hard as he could. He heard the crash of broken glass and knew he had thrown the can through a window. Angelo fell from his chair sobbing.

“Oh man,” he cried, curling up in a fetal position on the floor, “now Frosty’s gonna be mad at me too. What’d I ever do to deserve this? What?!?” His shriek never reached further than the next room.

A hollow voice in his head answered him: ‘You were born, mutie!’

As Angelo cried, a small blister formed on his shoulder. It was barely noticable, but it was the start of huge problems.

Paige Guthrie stared at her naked reflection in the mirror. After her outburst at Angelo, she rushed upstairs and took a shower. She felt so ashamed. Angelo had barely touched her, most definitely on accident, so why had she blown up at him like that?

‘Because you’re better than him,’ a voice answered. ‘Look at yourself! Look at your body! You’re gorgeous! Do you honestly think that grey piece of barrio trash deserves you? No!’

‘But I love Angelo!’ Paige thought.

‘Infatuation, pup,’ the voice answered, ‘simple infatuation! Do you honestly think that a girl with hair like that, lips like those, a perfect nose, gorgeous eyes, and breasts like yours could honestly love a tiny insignificant kid like Angelo?’

‘I guess not,’ Paige said. Paige stepped away from the mirror and put her underwear on. She glanced back at her reflection, and thought she saw someone else in her place. A red-haired woman dressed in a white suit. She smiled and disappeared.

Paige rubbed her eyes and continued to get dressed. She was just imagining things, wasn’t she?

In her New York apartment, the White Queen grinned.

“And so it begins.”

Emma Frost jolted out of her meditation. Ever since Gaia had been killed, she’d taken these little trips to the Astral Plane to soothe herself. Her concentration had been broken by a psychic presence in the school.

It was familiar, yet alien. Like there was a person she once knew at the core of the being, but she had been altered so much that she was unrecognizable.

‘She?’ Emma thought. ‘How do I know this presence is a she?’ Emma frowned and tried to re-establish her connection to the Astral Plane.

She was unsuccessful.

Sean Cassidy was the happiest man in Massachussets at the moment. He had picked up Moira’s engagement ring, a tuxedo for the night, and picked out a lovely corsage for his future wife.

“Wife,” Sean muttered. “I love the sound of that.” Sean drove onto the grounds of the Massachussets Academy, and a sudden doubt filled his mind.

‘What if…?’ The question rang out in his mind. What if she says no?

“That won’t happen,” Sean muttered, but he was too late. The suggestion was planted.

Will it?

Below Monet, a battle between Mr. Sinister’s henchmen and Generation X raged, but she couldn’t help out her teammates. She had to save Alexander first.

Dodging plasma-charged harpoons and sharp projectiles, she reached the stasis field holding her boyfriend. Monet looked at the pod for a moment; it was covered with buttons, switches, and other unidentifiable objects. She started pressing gadgets at random, trusting that her innate perfection would choose the right sequence.

Her strategy worked for the cage popped open, releasing a cloud of green gas. Monet waved the mist away and after a minute Alexander slowly opened his eyes.

“Wh… Monet?” Alexander sat up groggily. “This isn’t the airport.”

“No time for explanations,” Monet replied as she gently scooped Alexander up into her arms. She sent a telepathic message to her other teammates: {I have Alexander now. Time to make our exit.}

{Too late for that, gel.} Monet saw what Chamber meant. While he had put Scalphunter out of commission, the GenXer now was being backed into a corner by Blockbuster and Harpoon. The merged twins, at a standstill with Arclight, weren’t faring any better either.

Monet bit down a curse. “Alex, you’ll have to stay in the pod a little longer.”

“Okay, but after this you have to tell me just what’s going on,” Alexander warned as his girlfriend redeposited him in the pod and flew down to join the fray.

Monet bore down on Arclight at full speed. The female Marauder never knew what hit her. Monet rammed into her side, and Arclight shot through the nearest solid metal wall.

“Thanks for the help,” Nicole/Claudette called after Monet, “not that we really needed it.”

“I’m sure. Go and take care of the rest. Sinister’s mine.” Monet circled and sighted her nemesis. He was standing off to the side, surveying the scene. Their eyes met and he smiled, as if to say, ‘Come and get me.’

“Oh, I’ll get you,” Monet said to herself and grimly flew after Mr. Sinister.

*Zzzzsh!* A tiny dagger shot past Monet. Riptide. She dismissed the spinning Marauder, but another dagger shot by. This one grazed her, and something wet trickled down her left shoulder. Startled, she veered off course and crashed into several crates of equipment to the right of Mr. Sinister.

“What the…” She looked at her left shoulder. A trail of blood was winding its way down her arm, mingling with the red uniform. Her blood. Time stopped for Monet as she realized what just had happened. “…I can’t believe anymore.”

A shadow fell over Monet, and she looked up. Mr. Sinister loomed over her, smiling broadly. “Forgotten how to convince yourself you’re invulnerable again? That’s just too bad,” he said, raising a glowing hand. “I’ll miss you, St. Croix.” Essex’s hand flared, and a blinding blue bolt lanced out – only to swing wide as Mr. Sinister himself was cut down by a burst of green energy. Green radioactive energy.

Monet looked up. Alexander Roberts, completely covered in churning nuclear energy, levitated above. He let himself descend to the floor in front of Monet. “If you want her, or any of us, you’ll have to go through me first.”

Mr. Sinister grimaced as Gayle helped him up from the floor. His shape-shifting body already was repairing itself, but Alexander’s radiation had slowed down the process. He glanced around the rest of the room: the unconscious Marauders were scattered around the laboratory, and the other two GenXers were closing in on him. After a second, Mr. Sinister made his decision.

“Another time, then.”

Nuclear, Chamber, the twins, and Gayle all lunged to stop Mr. Sinister, but to no avail. A bitter smile on his twisted face, the scientist swiftly pressed a panel on his wrist and teleported away.

Chamber let out a psionic yell of frustration but the loudest scream came from Gayle, who suddenly found herself clutching at thin air.

“Master! Don’t leave me! Don’t…” The abandoned redhead looked up at the collected GenXers, her eyes wild. “You’re not taking me alive.”

Nuclear tried to knock down Gayle with a low-power blast, but she dodged it and flew to a small panel in the wall. With the speed of a hunted animal Gayle tore the panel off its hinges, revealing an even smaller touchpad. Smiling triumphantly, she brought her left hand – now stripped of its telekinetic armor – down on the pad.

Immediately, the lights dimmed and a mechanical voice reverbated through the room. “SUBJECT TWO-ZERO-EIGHT-ONE, GAYLE EDGERTON: HANDPRINT ACCEPTED. COMMENCING COUNTDOWN TO SELF-DESTRUCTION OF BASE. ONE MINUTE, FIFTY-NINE SECONDS, FIFTY-EIGHT…”

Everett roared in pain. Fatale had twisted the dagger after she stuck it in his leg, wrenching muscle and blood vessels. Fatale drew the dagger from his leg, then stood back to survey her handywork. Everett was losing blood and fast. If he didn’t get medical treatment quickly, he’d soon pass out from blood loss and eventually die.

Fatale didn’t plan on letting him live that long. She smiled, and drew back her dagger for the killed blow.

“DOWN, X-MAN!”

Cordy Frost came from behind him and attacked Fatale with a full TK assault. The other woman looked stunned at Cordy’s attack.

“You will pay for that, girl!”

Cordelia ignored Fatale’s warning, and knelt by Synch. “Sync me,” she said. “I have a healing factor.” Everett nodded and concentrated, suddenly feeling his wound start to heal.

“Did you hear me, girl?” There was a pop to the left of Synch and Cordy.

“Y’know,” Jubilee said through her bubble gum, Blink standing next to her, “I’d be careful who you call girl. Someone just might do… this!” Jubilee and Blink both raised their hands and in a dazzling burst of light, used their powers on Fatale. The combined effect of the displacement and plasma bursts knocked Fatale nearly a hundred yards down the street.

“Ouch,” Synch muttered. He stood up and limped over to Jubilee. “Thanks.” He kissed her full on the lips.

“Ohh,” Jubilee said as she drew back, “that felt good!”

“Um, excuse me?” The four mutants turned to face the police officers who had hidden behind their cars the entire time. “Is it safe to come out?”

Everett, Clarice, Jubilee, and Cordelia turned to each other and laughed.

Angelo wiped the tears away and stood up. What had happened? That was totally uncharacteristic of him. He hadn’t cried in a long time. Probably since Gaia’s funeral, and that was just a little at the cemetery. He walked upstairs into the girl’s dorms and knocked on Paige’s door.

“Paige?”

“What do you want, Angelo?”

“Chica, I wanted to apologize,” he said through the door. Paige opened it a crack.

“I accept,” Paige said. Angelo heaved a sigh of relief. “BUT, it’s over between us Ange. I hate doing this, but our relationship was never really anything. It was just two friends, trying to make something out of nothing. I’m so sorry.”

“So am I.”

“For what?” Angelo flung the door open, embraced Paige and kissed her passionately.

“That,” Angelo said. He walked away, leaving Paige to consider if she had done the right thing.

“Tell me something Sean,” Emma said as she adjusted his bow tie.

“Yes?”

“Why propose to Moira?” Emma stepped back and looked Sean over top to bottom. “I mean, you’ve been dating her almost since you joined the X-Men. Why wait so long to propose?” Emma adjusted his vest slightly, then stepped back again, flashing Sean a thumbs up.

“I don’t know,” Sean said. “After our kiss, something clicked int’ place in my mind. Nothing wrong with ye, but I realized that I loved Moira more’n anything in th’ world. Nothing can stop that. I’m sorry Emma.”

“I already told you, Cassidy,” Emma chastised, “it’s okay. After all, you’re probably my best friend right now. I can’t afford to lose you.” She stood on her tip-toes and gave Sean a kiss on the cheek.

“Thank ye Emma,” Sean said, enveloping her in a bear hug. “F’r everything.” Sean picked up Moira’s corsage and the ring, slipping the ring into his pocket. “Well, I’m off t’ th’ biggest night of my life. Wish me luck.”

“Good luck, Irish,” Emma said. “Go get her.” Sean spun on his heel and started out. Emma suddenly thought of something.

“Sean, before you go I have to ask you something.”

Banshee turned back around, frowning. “Sounds urgent, what is it?”

“Have you felt anything unusual here on the campus today?” Emma asked.

“No, why?” Sean answered, concern apparent in his voice.

“Nothing. Go on, Mister Cassidy. The rest of your life awaits.”

“… FIFTY-ONE SECONDS…”

Fifty-one seconds before Generation X would be blown to kingdom come.

Monet, all business again, in an instant had Gayle up against the wall by the throat. “Reverse the procedure,” she said in an eerily calm voice. “Stop the countdown.”

“You can’t make me.” Gayle tried vainly to pry apart Monet’s fingers.

“Do you really think your armor will protect you? You’re new at this, gene-stealer. Your untrained mind won’t be able to shield you from the explosion. Or me.” Already Monet was slowly choking Gayle as the latter’s telekinetic armor began to give way under the pressure. Jonothon closed his eyes and tried to think.

“… FORTY-TWO SECONDS…”

“Never!” Gayle screamed, “You’re gonna die here with me. Emplate didn’t care about me, Mr. Sinister didn’t care about me, and you don’t care about me…”

Jonothon opened his eyes. {No. That’s not true.}

“… THIRTY-NINE SECONDS…”

“We don’t have time for counseling,” Monet snapped. She grabbed Gayle’s left hand and pressed it to the touchpad, but the redhead had covered it with armor again.

“UNKNOWN SUBJECT: HANDPRINT NOT ACCEPTED. CONTINUING COUNTDOWN. THIRTY-FOUR SECONDS…”

{Let her go, Monet. Do it.} Jonothon walked over to his teammate and Gayle. Monet looked at him incredulously, but released her hold and stepped back.

Gayle slumped to the floor, rubbing her throat painfully. “What do you want?”

{I just want to talk,} Jonothon said in private thought-speak.

“What’s the point? We’re all going to die anyway.” Gayle stared ahead stonily.

{What makes you think I don’t care about you?}

“… TWENTY-SEVEN SECONDS…”

“You paralyzed me! You… abandoned me.”

{Look at me.} Jonothon knelt in front of Gayle, forcing her emerald green eyes to meet his own. {I have no chest or lower face. Who paid the greater price? You have no idea how many sleepless nights I have spent, blaming myself for what happened to you. No idea.}

“… TWENTY SECONDS…”

Jonothon stumbled over the next words, {At the time, I thought the best thing for me to do was to leave you. I-I didn’t want you to be around a monster.}

“You are a monster,” Gayle said as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

{I let myself become a monster. For the longest time, I thought I still was one. But the truth is that I’m only a boy. A boy who cares about his friends. A boy who desperately wants a second chance with one close friend.}

“… THIRTEEN SECONDS…”

{Don’t let yourself become a monster now.} The mutant known as Chamber closed his eyes again in anguish. {I do care about you, Gayle. Forgive me. Please forgive me.}

Gayle didn’t move.

“… NINE SECONDS, EIGHT SECONDS…”

Monet bowed her head, preparing for death. She felt Alexander and the merged twins step up silently behind her. Their hands entwined with hers.

“… SIX SECONDS, FIVE SECONDS, FOUR… SUBJECT TWO-ZERO-EIGHT-ONE, GAYLE EDGERTON: HANDPRINT ACCEPTED. ABORTING SELF-DESTRUCTION OF BASE. HAVE A NICE DAY.”

Everyone opened their eyes and looked at Gayle, who still had her left hand on the touchpad. Tears were streaming down her angry face as she said, “I will never forgive you, Jono. Never.”

Everett winced as the doctor tightened the last stitch in his leg. Jubilee grunted as her gripped her hand tighter.

“Sorry,” Ev apoligized.

“S’okay,” Jubilee said. “I’m just glad it wasn’t worse.”

“So am I,” the doctor said. “I can’t believe you were walking on that leg. You’re lucky you didn’t need surgery for the tear in you muscle. And you didn’t make it any better by walking on it.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry nothing. You stay on those crutches until you get a go-ahead from a doctor to walk on it.”

“Yes ma’am,” Everett said, standing and taking his new crutches from Blink. A St. Louis police detective entered the room.

“Detective Ramone, ma’am,” he said flashing his badge. “I need to question these four. If you could leave…”

“Yessir, Detective,” the doctor said. She wagged her finger at Everett. “Ice it every night. It’ll be sore for a while. I’ll phone your prescription into the pharmacy.”

“Thank you,” Everett said sincerely. The doctor left and Ramone pulled up a chair.

“First off, I know the basics of this thing. You were attacked by these so-called New Hellions. You destroyed some old buildings, but there were no casualties. Secondly, I know you’re mutants. Hell, everyone at the station does too. Some are saying you should be in jail with the Hellions. I disagree. My middle son’s a mutant, and my twins are showing signs. I’m sympathetic.”

“Just confirm for me. Number one: Fatale and the Hellions were hunting Miss Frost under orders from the so-called White Queen, is that correct?” Cordelia nodded. “Number two: Fatale was recently involved in another fight with you, correct?”

“It was actually several months ago,” Jubilee corrected. “In Snow Valley, Massachussets.”

“Thank you. Number three: Miss Lee, you were once an X-Man, correct?”

“Why does that matter?” Everett muttered.

“Personally, I don’t care, but my boss told me to ask the question. Is it true?”

“Yes,” Jubilee said, nodding.

“One last question then,” Ramone said, scribbling in his notbook. “When Fatale came to, she claimed that you were guilty of murder, Mister Thomas, but you were never convicted, or even accused. True?”

“Fatale kidnapped my girlfriend, also a mutant. She brainwashed her into thinking that we were the enemy. We slugged it out at the school. Jubilee burst in to save me, and Gaia almost killed her. I killed Gaia in Jubilee’s defense.”

“So, I’ll take that as a no,” Ramone said.

“What?!”

“Mister Thomas, you saved Miss Lee from a deranged mutant,” Ramone said. “You sacrificed Gaia to save Jubilee. It was one or the other. I understand that.”

“Thank you, Detective Ramone,” Everett said. Ramone nodded and closed his notebook. He stood and walked to the door.

“I assume you’ll all head back to the school in Snow Valley.”

Jubilee and Blink both nodded.

“I have to get Emma’s help,” Cordelia said. Everyone looked to Everett.

“Yeah,” Everett said. “It’s time.”

Sean Cassidy held Moira’s hand over dessert. The food was excellent, the wine was fantastic, and the service superb. There was one matter left for the night. Sean reached into his pocket and grasped the ring’s case.

“Moira, I have a question for you.”

“Yes Sean?”

“Moira, will you…?” Suddenly Sean felt an overwhelming sense of fear. He was about to overcome it when that voice popped into his head again.

‘What if…?’

“Will I what, Sean?” Sean took his hand away from the ring.

“Moira, would you… come help help at the school? I mean, Alex, Nuclear, is in bad shape and could use someone like you to take care of him.”

Moira smiled. “Of course I would Sean.”

“Thank you.” Sean smiled, but he kicked himself mentally. Why hadn’t he popped the question?

“Bye, Monet! I’ll miss you all!” Nicole cried, waving madly.

Monet returned the wave as her sisters, Nicole and Claudette, disappeared into the tube leading to the plane headed for Algeria. She then turned to Alexander and Jonothon. Gayle, still dressed in black but considerably calmer, was standing by herself several yards away.

“Well,” Monet said to her teammates, “I guess it’s time for us to get aboard our flight.”

Alexander nodded and Jonothon gave Gayle a sidelong glance.

{Yes. Time for us to go home.}

EPILOGUE ONE

Fatale looked into the teleportation portal that had opened up in the detention area. The White Queen exited with a flourish.

“Hello my Hellions,” she said, “I have come to free you.”

“Thank goodness,” growled Bulwark. One by one the White Queen ripped open cells, freeing the Hellions, and leaving Fatale for last. White Queen stood in front of Fatale for several moments.

“You failed me Fatale,” she said. “I ordered you to kill Cordelia. Instead you encounter Generation X! I should leave you here to rot.”

“I’m sorry I failed, my queen,” Fatale said, bowing her head. White Queen ripped open the cell.

“Failure is not an option Fatale,” she said, approaching Fatale with menace in her eyes. “That’s why your fate was sealed when you let Cordelia go free.” White Queen backhanded Fatale.

Fatale fell to the ground, knowing her neck had been snapped, and knowing she had moments to live. She decided to curse the White Queen in those moments.

“Y-you bit…” Fatale died on the cold damp floor.

“I know,” said the White Queen. She spun to the remaining New Hellions. “Vincente, you lead the Hellions now. Let’s go.” The New Hellions left St. Louis, leaving the corpse of the woman known as Fatale behind.

EPILOGUE TWO

Emma Frost woke up to a pounding on her bedroom door. She threw a robe on over her scantily-clad frame and rushed to the door. It opened to reveal Skin, clutching his stomach.

“Emma… help…” he muttered.

“What Angelo?” Emma asked franticly. “What is it?”

“I’m sick…” he moaned, and passed out. Emma gasped in horror as she saw the blisters spreading over Angelo’s bare back. She hit the school intercom, keying Sean’s room.

“Yes Emma?” he muttered.

“Get up to my room and bring Moira,” Emma said. “I’m afraid Angelo has contracted the Legacy Virus.”

Sean’s curses said volumes.

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