HIDE AND SEEK

By Ryan Krupienski

Nevada

It’s a warm summer’s day for the city of Las Vegas, whose own festive brand of neon signs and flashing lights have been replaced temporarily by the blazing sun sitting contently in the clouds. In the streets below occur the usual everyday hustle and bustle, although for four individuals in particular, this is anything but a normal day.

Three days ago, Jacqueline Chandler was going crazy trying to pick out the perfect dress for the homecoming dance. Her and three of her girlfriends were at the mall, migrating from store to store, hanging out like ‘normal’ teenage girls do. However, three hours and four thousand dollars later, their day of fun came to a screeching halt.

She still can’t remember exactly what happened very clearly… it all happened so fast, and Jacqueline passed out after about ten minutes. She remembers human beings who weren’t exactly human… they were more like cyborgs. They could fly, and shoot energy blasts from their hands. And they definitely talked more like machines than humans. She remembers them surrounding her, three of them, and talking about capturing her… then opening fire. She also remembers panicking, and somehow knocking them all of their feet just by thinking about it, just before passing out.

She woke up in a dreary motel in Seattle the next day. She had remained unconscious for nearly twenty hours straight, and during that time, a man named Cameron Dalin and a woman named Erica Shen had whisked her away. They didn’t tell her much, save for the fact that the things that attacked her were called Prime Sentinels. They attacked her for one reason: she’s a mutant.

Her friends, her family… they don’t know what happened to her. They don’t know if she’s dead or alive, even. However, more disturbing to Jacqueline is the fact that she’s apparently stuck with her new ‘friends’ for the time being. Away from her lavish lifestyle as the daughter of one of the world’s biggest business tycoons.

Sitting on the edge of a queen size bed, Jaqcueline looks around the small room for the millionth time, shuddering inwardly. Another dreary motel on the outskirts of a big city. How long is this going to go on?

Jacqueline sighs loudly and rolls her head a bit to loosen the muscles in her neck. She could lie down, but then again, the sheets are cotton. Instead, she gets up from her seat on the bed, pushing her long blonde hair behind her ears as she walks over to the window.

“God, could they pick a nastier dump to shove us in?” Jacqueline says aloud as she peers through the thin white curtain covering the window, looking out into the distance to get a glimpse of the city of Las Vegas. “I swear, when my dad hears about this, he is going to…”

“Oh will you shut up already?” comes the voice of a young man from across the room. Jacqueline jerks her head to the side to see a young man with short brown hair sitting in a wooden chair across from the bed. She scowls at him as he continues, “I’m sick of hearing about your dad every two minutes.”

His name is Peter Valentino. Like Jacqueline, he was rescued from an attack by the Prime Sentinels… the only difference is, he actually knew about his powers beforehand, and always expected the day to come when someone would try and hunt him down. He’s a mutant, and for him, it can’t get any stranger than that.

“Then leave the room!” Jacqueline snaps back, turning her whole body to face the young man and crossing her arms. “You don’t have to be here. I don’t even know why you’re here, you’re not related to an important public figure like I am!”

“You’re so full of yourself,” the young man replies as he gets out of his seat and walks over to Jacqueline, staring her down from the five inches in height he’s got on her. “You think money is everything, don’t you? You think that makes you better than everyone else, right? I’m sure Cam and Erica are just itching to drop your ass off at the next gas station and go help some people who really deserve it.”

“Go to hell,” Jacqueline says, putting her hands on her hips and locking eyes with Peter. She refuses to let it even show, but she’s actually attracted to him… and she has no idea why. What is it that she finds so attractive about him? His looks? His ability to keep calm and relaxed throughout all this? Or is it the fact that he doesn’t drool over her like every other guy she knows?

“Alright, you two, break it up,” comes a man’s voice, the accent clearly Puerto Rican, from the room’s doorway. Peter and Jacqueline move their heads to see their ‘saviors’, for lack of a better term, coming into the room with a tray of drinks and a couple paper bags in hand. The man, Cameron, walks over to a table next to the room’s only chair and puts the food down, while the woman, Erica, closes the door, blocking the sun’s rays and returning the room to its dim state.

“Ugh, you call that food?” Jacqueline says with disgust, watching as Cameron empties the bags onto the table. “I am not eating that.”

“Sorry, but they didn’t have any hundred-dollar filet mignon,” Cameron replies with a smirk, “so you’ll have to settle for some fries and a Big Mac.”

Cameron, Erica, and Peter all take their pick of the stash, while Jacqueline watches on with disgust. Is there anything wrong with hundred-dollar filet mignon?

“You really should eat,” Erica says as she walks over to Jacqueline, a container of fries in her hand. “You need to keep your strength up. It may not be that healthy, but it’s all we could manage.”

“What I need,” Jacqueline starts as she turns to Erica, “is to go home! I am sick of this! I am not a mutant! I don’t have these stupid ‘air manipulation’ powers or whatever the hell you call it!”

Erica sighs, and puts a consoling hand on Jacqueline’s shoulder. “The Prime Sentinels are designed to target mutants, Jacqueline… they would not have attacked you if you weren’t one.”

“Yeah, well, they made a big mistake,” Jacqueline snaps back, shrugging the hand off. “And when my father hears about this…”

From across the room Peter groans and exchanges a glance with Cameron; they’re both getting sick of Jacqueline. She hasn’t stopped whining since she regained consciousness… they’re beginning to think it’s another mutant power.

“I’m not trying to sound like a certain someone,” Peter begins as he briefly glances at Jacqueline, “but what exactly are we doing here? Where are we supposed to be going?”

“Somewhere safe,” Cameron cuts in, crumpling the wrapper from his cheeseburger. “Unfortunately, we don’t exactly know where that is. We’ve been cut off from the rest of the Underground, so we’ve got no one to guide us. We’re playing this by ear, man.”

“We’ve been trying to get in touch with various contacts, people across the country who are connected to the Underground. We’ve been unsuccessful at each attempt so far,” Erica continues, walking over to take a seat on the bed, looking across the room at Peter and Cam. “But we’re not out of luck yet. There’s a place in Westchester County, in New York, it belongs to the same man who founded the Mutant Underground.”

“If we can get there,” Cam says, “you two will be about as safe as you can be. However, considering that our communications are down and we’re pretty low on cash, it’s gonna be tricky getting over to the other side of the country without running into any trouble.”

“Great,” Jacqueline says with a loud huff, “just great! I can’t believe this. Thanks to you people I’m going to miss the homecoming dance!”

“Hey,” Peter says softly as he leans towards Cam, “is it just me or would ‘Blowhard’ make a good codename for her?”

Cam stifles a laugh as Erica and Jacqueline glance over at the two young men, both smirking and trying to contain their laughter. Erica grins just a tad, happy that everyone’s not being so doom-and-gloom about their current situation. She turns her attention back to Jacqueline, who has returned to staring out the window.

“Jacqueline, I can promise you this,” Erica says with the utmost confidence, “we’re going to get out of this. If you pitch in, be a team player, I can promise you that we’ll get to Charles Xavier.”

The Xavier Institute For Higher Learning

Scott Summers leans on the banister fencing in the large terrace of the mansion. He looks out into the vast, open land of the estate that runs for miles in every direction. It’s been three weeks already, but he’s still getting used to seeing in color again. No longer does he need to wear ruby quartz lenses to contain the destructive force of the optic blasts that shoot from his eyes; thanks to a head injury that sent him into a coma for a short while, his lifelong burden has been lifted.

But not without a cost.

Before the accident, it seemed all was well. Yes, his faction of the X-Men was still split from Xavier’s, but his wife and children were alive and healthy. The family he and Jean had always wanted was finally theirs… or so it seemed. Scott woke up to a nightmare.

He woke up, and everything hit him at once: his newborn son was dead, kept alive only in his mind by Xavier’s machinations; his brother Alex, who had been believed dead, was actually alive; and he had another brother, a half-brother, who was the son of his biological mother and the former emperor of the Shi’ar Empire, D’Ken.

Not to mention the sudden control over his power, something he’d gotten over not having long ago, but secretly always wished for. It was too much to take in, even for the man called Cyclops, who’s seen, done, and survived more in his thirty years alive than most people three times his age. He couldn’t figure out what to do; he wanted to lash out, get revenge for what happened to his son, yet he had so many things to be grateful for. Through the confusion, though, there was one emotion that was clear to him, one that has nested inside his broken heart, and grown stronger since.

Anger.

It’s all he’s been able to feel in the past weeks. It’s a feeling he’s never had before, at least not at this intensity. The rest of him is numb. Try as he might, he can’t bring himself to feel anything else. He can’t feel happiness for his brother returning, or for gaining control over his powers. He can’t feel concern for his half-brother, who’s been lost for so long and needs guidance in a world that is new to him. He can’t even feel love for the two people who matter most to him, his wife and daughter.

All Scott can think about is finding the man who took his son from him, and giving him the most painful death possible.

“Scott?”

The voice is still somewhat unfamiliar to him, but that’s how he instantly knows that it belongs to his half-brother, Adam. Scott does not move, though, as Adam walks up to his side and leans over the terrace next to him.

Adam looks at Scott, not sure what to say. He doesn’t understand what Scott’s going through, but wants to. For the first time in his life, Adam has someone to care about. He has family. Now he’s just trying to figure out how to be a brother to this man who is obviously in pain.

“Scott, I know you said that you want to be left alone, but… you don’t have to do this alone. I’ve been alone practically all my life, it’s not a great way to be. You’ve got a wife and a lot of friends that are concerned, and…”

“What do you want?” Scott snaps, interrupting his brother. “If you’re just going to repeat what Ororo, Alex, Cecilia, and everyone else has said to me, just please leave and stop wasting my time.”

“And walking around all day feeling sorry for yourself isn’t a waste of time?”

Adam’s eyes widen as he realizes what he’s said, as Scott turns to look at him with angry, red eyes. “Scott, I’m sorry, I…”

Scott’s eyes narrow as he grabs Adam by the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer to him. “You can stay the hell out of my face. As far as I’m concerned, you’re not my brother. You’re just the bastard son of the man who raped and murdered my mother. Stop following me around trying to help me, because I don’t want your help. If you get in my face again, you’ll regret it.”

After a hard moment of silence, Scott finally releases his hold on Adam, and starts towards the double doors leading back into the mansion. Adam sighs heavily as he watches his brother leave, and does not notice the female figure walking towards him from behind.

“Don’t take it personal. He’s hurting more than we can imagine.”

Adam turns around to see the form of a tall, Chinese woman with long black hair walking towards him. “Hello, Kwannon,” he says as she stops in front of him and places a consoling hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t think he meant what he said,” Kwannon starts, “just remember he’s lost a child. His heart is broken.”

“I know, I know,” Adam sighs as he turns away from Kwannon, walking towards the large staircase in the middle of the terrace and sitting down on the top step. “I just feel bad for snapping at him. That last comment I made was… insensitive. What he said doesn’t really bother me, though… I expect him to resent me for what my father did to his mother. To our mother. I resent D’Ken, too. I’m just trying to make up for lost time, I guess. I’ve been waiting my whole life to find my family, and now that I finally have…”

Adam stops and sighs again, gazing out into the open land, as Kwannon takes a seat next to him. “What?” she asks.

“I’m not so sure I belong here,” he finally replies. “I don’t really know any of these people. I don’t think I’m cut out for any of this.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Kwannon replies. “You’ve been here not even a month! Same goes for me. It will take time to get used to all this, for the both of us. And I think we can help eachother ease into this new life.”

Adam smiles slightly and turns to look at Kwannon. “Thanks,” he says. “Now I don’t feel so alone.”

Kwannon smiles back at him and nods. “You’re not alone, not by a longshot. You’ve got blood relatives here, and people who are sure to become good friends. You’re going to be fine. Nice haircut, by the way.”

Adam grins and runs a hand over his newly-buzzed blond hair, then replies, “Heh, thanks. I actually really like it. Alex suggested it, with the long hair I think he said I looked like a reject from the eighties, whatever that is.”

“Oh, the eighties. Those were frightening times,” Kwannon says with a laugh. “Everything from that decade just scares me. Well, except for Madonna and Billy Idol.”

“Who?” Adam asks, puzzled.

Kwannon stands up and starts walking down the steps, motioning for Adam to follow her. “Come on, young man,” she says enthusiastically, “I’ve got a lot to teach you about Earth culture.”

Salem Center High School

Chris Bradley walks down the wide, carpeted hallway of the school, brushing past the various clusters of noisy students. For the first time in his life, Chris actually feels happy to be at school. He’s happy to be among people his own age, to be able to have some semblance of a normal life. That’s not an easy task when you happen to be a mutant.

It was almost exactly three years ago that he first discovered he was a mutant. It was, in fact, the first day of his freshman year of high school that his powers developed. He was scared, out of control. Worse yet, a week later he found out he was dying of the Legacy Virus. It’s ironic to him that now, at the beginning of his senior year, he is in near-perfect control of his powers, and completely cleansed of the Legacy Virus.

Chris glances at a group of girls and exchanges smiles with them as he reaches his locker on the left side of the hallway. He balances the three books he’s holding under one arm as he opens his locker, then places the books inside. He closes his locker just as a firm hand lands on his left shoulder. He turns around to see a beautiful, and quite tall, brunette grinning at him.

“Uhm… hi,” he manages to stutter out, taking a good look at the young woman. She’s unusually tall but exceptionally beautiful… yet there is something eerily familiar about her. “Do… do I know you?”

“What do you think… Bolt?” The girl snickers and crosses her arms, and Chris’ eyes widen as he suddenly realizes who the young woman is.

“What are you doing here, Marrow?” he says softly as he leans in closer to her. “This is a school, not a mental hospital. You don’t belong here.”

“And you do?” Marrow replies, looping her arm with Chris’ and practically dragging him down the hallway with her. “Don’t you realize that these upworlders would hate you if they knew what you really were? They’d probably try to kill you.”

Chris looks around frantically, noticing the many stares he’s getting from various students. “Will you keep your voice down?” he says to Marrow, “People can hear you. And they’re looking at us.”

“Of course they are. Isn’t it normal for these meatbags to gawk and stare at the most beautiful girl in the school and the guy on her arm? I figured if I was gonna come visit you today, I’d get some positive attention, for once.”

“Look, I have to go to lunch now, so,” Chris says as he stops and turns to face Marrow, “why don’t you just leave.”

Marrow shrugs as Chris turns away from her, but then she suddenly says, “You know, I see the way you look at her.”

Chris barely takes a step before turning back to face Marrow. “Who?”

“The baby-popping redhead. I could feel her self-pity spreading through the house this morning, she’s almost as bad as Rogue. I couldn’t stand it, which is why I grabbed an image inducer from Furby’s lab and came here,” Marrow replies, a new grin forming on her face.

“Leave Jean alone,” Chris says sternly, “she’s going through a lot of things that you can’t possibly understand. You have no idea what it’s like…”

“Awww,” Marrow mockingly says, patting Chris on the cheek, “I think the little boy’s in love.”

“Just get the hell out of my face.” Chris gives Marrow a hard, mean look just before he turns his back to her and walks away.

Marrow just grins as she watches him walk off from her position in the middle of the hallway. “Don’t worry, big guy. As soon as I’m done with her husband, you’ll have the bitch all to yourself.”

Manhattan

Cecilia Reyes slowly treads down a sidewalk bordering Central Park, wanting to kick herself. Why? Why does she keep doing it? Why didn’t she take a hint after the first interview?

‘It’ refers to the disclosure of the fact that Cecilia is a mutant. In the past three days, for each interview she’s had at a hospital, she’s been turned away, because of that fact alone. Too bad there’re no laws protecting mutants against discrimination, but what’s one to expect from a country that’s tried time and again to neutralize the ‘threat’ mutantkind?

Cecilia brushes past a variety of people, from businessmen and women to school kids to those in the city’s lowest economic class bracket, barely noticing anything going on around her. She’s too aggrivated to really care. It’s just that, as usual, being a mutant is a real big pain in the ass; she doesn’t hate herself, or hate the rest of her kind, but why her? She’s decided she doesn’t want to play superhero and save the world. She wants to play doctor, and save people’s live the best way she knows how.

As she continues to walk, the sun’s rays glimmering off her naturally dark, bronze skin, Cecilia adjusts her eyeglasses, then reaches into her purse for her cell phone, ready to call a cab. However, that won’t be necessary.

“My dear Cecilia,” comes a man’s voice to Cecilia’s side, “why so glum?”

Cecilia turns to her right to see a horse-drawn carriage sitting on the shoulder of the road, with a handsome, albeit rather large, man stepping out of it with a bouqet of roses in hand. It only takes Cecilia a split-second to realize that the man is her beau Henry McCoy, disguised by an image inducer.

“Hank,” Cecilia says, a smile forming on her face, as she walks over and gives Hank a hug. She pulls back, and looks at the roses as he hands them to her.

“For you, m’lady,” Hank says, as Cecilia takes the roses from him.

“They’re beautiful, thank you,” Cecilia says sweetly. “Just what the doctor ordered.”

“No luck?” Hank says, frowning slightly.

“You got that right,” Cecilia says as Hank escorts her onto the carriage. As the door closes and the carriage takes off down the street, admist the clicking of the horse’s hooves she continues, “It doesn’t matter what my credentials are, no one will hire me, because I’m a mutant.”

“I assume your potential employers retrieved this information from Our Mother Of Mercy?” Hank asks rhetorically.

“No, not at all,” Cecilia replies. “They all know because I told them. I went in there, told them everything, I was honest from the get-go.”

Hank furrows his brow in confusion, and looks ahead at the busy street for a moment. He then asks, “But why, Cecilia? I realize you don’t want to hide yourself, but your being a mutant is a matter which really does not concern the hospital. You…”

“That’s exactly it, Hank. I’m tired of hiding,” Cecilia cuts in, sighing as she pushes a few of her dreadlocks back behind her ears. “I don’t want to have to walk into my job everyday, worried that someone’s going to find out about my powers. If that were to happen, then it’d seem like I have something to hide, and I don’t. Besides, I’m sick of hiding who I am… what I am. It’s ridiculous! So I’m a mutant. Big deal. It’s just something that people will have to learn to accept about me, it’s not like I’m gonna throw down on them or anything. Who knows, maybe if I do actually get hired at a hospital somewhere, I can influence a few opinions and make people see that despite my powers, I’m still just an everyday girl.”

Hank cannot help but grin at Cecilia’s declaration, and he takes her hand and gives it a gentle kiss. “You never cease to amaze me,” he says. “That’s very noble of you. I’m elated that you’re finally able to overcome your phobia of being a mutant.”

Cecilia smiles. “Yeah, well, I can’t be a closet case forever. It’s better this way.”

Hank leans in to kiss Cecilia, softly saying beforehand, “And Cecilia, you’re certanly not an ‘everyday girl’. Women like you only grace this planet once every epoch.”

Cecilia almost laughs but is stopped by the passionate, tender kiss that Hank plants on her lips; despite the image inducer, she can still feel the soft blue fur gently massaging her as her lips caress his. It was awkward when they first started dating, but she’s gotten used to it, and even come to enjoy it.

The two pull away, and smile at eachother. “Well, Doctor Reyes, what say we find ourselves a fine dining establishment and replenish our bodies with a hearty lunch?”

Cecilia nods and replies, “I’d love to, Doctor McCoy.”

They both smile again, and Hank puts his arm around Cecilia as he tells the carriage driver where to go. Cecilia smiles contently as she thinks, despite failing to secure a job, this day has been pretty damn good. Right now, there’s nowhere she’d rather be than in the company of the man she loves.

The Xavier Institute

“YES!!!”

The cries of happiness leap from the tip of Alison Blaire’s tongue as she runs into the mansion’s living room, a wide smile on her face. Sitting on one of the large, plush couches in the room, Jean Grey looks over at Alison, a puzzled but happy look on her face. “Well, something certainly made your day.”

“It’s incredible, Jean!” Alison says gleefully as she takes a seat next to her friend. “I just got off the phone with my agent. She’s set up everything with the record company – they want me to start work on a new album as soon as possible! Can you believe it?”

“That’s wonderful, congratulations,” Jean says happily, exchanging a hug with Alison. “I’m not surprised at all. You deserve this!”

“I just hope I have better luck this time around,” Alison sighs, still beaming. “The best part is that they don’t even care that I’m a mutant. They liked the demos I sent and want to hear more.”

“Well with the Legacy Virus being cured, I guess people aren’t as afraid of us as they used to be,” Jean says. “And I know having someone like you in the media spotlight is going to show people the side of mutantkind that they just don’t get to see.”

“I’ll be doing what I love, and helping to give mutants a better name while I’m at it.” Alison sighs happily and leans back against the couch, crossing her arms. “Fabulous.”

“Just promise me one thing,” Jean says as Alison turns to look at her, “whatever you do, don’t ever collaborate with Britney Spears. Please. I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

Alison laughs and grabs Jean’s hand, giving it a squeeze to symbolize she’ll do as she’s been asked. Jean grins and gives Alison another hug to wish her luck, but the radiant happiness apparent on her face fades into worry as she catches sight of the man who’s just stepped into the room.

“Scott,” Jean says softly, standing up to face her husband as Alison remains silently on the couch. Although their psionic rapport is gone, Jean can see in Scott Summers’ eyes that he’s still in as much pain, still as angry, as he has been the past few weeks. She hopes that maybe now, after weeks of being so distant, her husband is ready to lean on her, to let her love him again, and ease the pain he’s felt too many times in his life. Jean touches her hand to Scott’s cheek and leans in to kiss him, and feels her hopes sink away into nothingness as Scott backs away just enough to avoid her.

“Jean,” Scott begins, as he takes a few more steps backwards from Jean, “I was wondering if you’d seen Dani around. I need to talk to her.”

“She was in the Danger Room, last I checked.” Jean locks eyes with her husband for an instant just before he turns away to leave. “Thanks,” is all he says.

“Sure,” Jean replies with a whisper, swallowing back the lump in her throat. Alison stands up next to her friend and wraps a consoling arm around her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, I know this is tearing you up,” Alison says. “You know, I can put off this whole music thing. I don’t want to leave you when you’re like this.”

Jean manages and a smile and turns in to hug Alison. “Thanks, but you can’t let me keep you from your dreams. I’m going to be fine,” she says. “I know Scott’s going to snap out of it, I can sense the incoherence in his thoughts. It’ll just take a little more time.”

Time, yes. But what else might it cost for Jean Grey to be reunited with the man she loves?

NEXT ISSUE: Cyclops and Marrow have a final confrontation in the Danger Room – and one won’t be sticking around afterwards! Plus, Kwannon makes a startling discovery, Dazzler bids the team farewell, and the Prime Sentinels attack!