DANGEROUS MINDS

Part II: The Other Half

By Ryan Krupienski

The Massachusetts Academy

He knows he won’t get anywhere by just standing here and arguing with her. He knows it’s not going to do any good to try and get her to tell him what’s going on. She’s not going to tell him anything… because it’s not really her. Cyclops knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jubilation Lee is not herself; someone is controlling her.

The first X-Man raises his hand to the side of his visor and the lense opens; he hesitates for a moment, not wanting to hurt the young woman. What else can he do, though? He takes a deep breath, as his eyes begin to charge with crimson-red energy.

“Scott!” He turns to see his teammate Kwannon, who grabs his raised hand as if to stop him. “Don’t, please!”

“I just need to stop her, knock her out. I don’t intend to hurt her,” Cyclops responds. He gives her a curious look. “What’s gotten into you?”

Kwannon wastes no time in answering him. “Scott,” she says, “Jubilee… Jubilee is my cousin.” She looks away for a moment and over at Jubilee, who’s standing a couple dozen feet away, waiting patiently.

{Hurry up so we can get this over with, alright? I refuse to miss Alias.}

“She’s your cousin?” Cyclops says, a little taken aback. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“Because I wasn’t completely sure it was her. I had to see for myself first. Now I know it’s her, without question.”

“How can you be sure?”

“How many Chinese girls do you know with blue eyes who are named Jubilee?” Kwannon asks rhetorically.

“True enough,” Cyclops says, slightly shrugging his shoulders. “I can understand you not wanting her hurt, she’s family… but we still have to take her down. I don’t want her hurt either, but it’s not going to do any good to try and talk her out of this. I’d stake my life on it that she’s being controlled by a telepath.”

“Let me try,” Kwannon asks him, a hopeful look in her eyes. “Let me try and get through to her.”

Cyclops sighs, not liking the idea at all. “We just did that…”

Suddenly, a large explosion blows the two X-Men in opposite directions; they both land on their backs, about thirty feet from one another. After the light show has subsided, the young woman in the black leather suit saunters down from the steps of the academy and moves toward the Blackbird.

{I gave you plenty of time to chat… you should thank me, it’s quite a rare thing for adversaries to do, don’t you think? You’d think we were at a sporting event! Oh, and I know there’s someone else here,} Jubilee says into their minds as she arrives at the closed hatch. {Very interesting, the plane is psi-proof. Not for long…}

Just as Jubilee rests a hand on the Blackbird, a young man springs up behind her and pulls her arms behind her back, holding them tightly in place. She struggles to get free, but to no avail; he’s too strong. “Don’t think so, babe,” the young man says.

“Cameron!” Cyclops yells as he and Kwannon approach the Blackbird. “What happened?”

“I snuck out of the jet after the first time she blasted you guys away,” Cameron answers. “I was pretty sure I could get the drop on her if you guys didn’t have any luck.”

“And she didn’t sense you coming?” Cyclops asks, a bit puzzled. “Maybe whoever’s doing this is too far away to do anything else… this person could be exerting all their power just to control her mind.”

“That would make sense,” Kwannon agrees. “Now what?”

{Idiots.}

Before the projected thought can process in any of the X-Men’s minds, Jubilee smashes the heel of her boot into Cameron’s foot, causing him to release his hold on her. She elbows him hard in the face, and he falls to ground; she wastes no time and delivers a roundhouse kick that strikes Kwannon in the abdomen and sends her reeling backward. Jubilee then takes a swing at Cyclops, but he backs away just in time.

{Very well then, I’ll just do it the easy way.} Neon-colored energy begins to form around her hands, but before she can take a shot Cyclops lets loose an intense optic blast that strikes the ground right at Jubilee’s feet. She lands about ten feet away on her back, but quickly jumps to her feet. As she regains her composure, Cyclops approaches her, ready to unleash another attack.

“I’m done trying to get through to you,” Cyclops says as he crosses his arms, staring intensely at Jubilee. “If you want a fight… you got it.”

The Xavier Institute

Ororo Munroe and Warren Worthington III stand inside the mansion’s dimly-lit library, waiting somewhat impatiently for the man who dragged them in here to get on with it already. Bobby Drake closes the double doors and turns around to face his teammates; they can tell he’s shaken up about something, that’s more than apparent from the expression on his face. However, they know how he can tend to blow things out of proportion, so this better be good, as they each have important things to attend to.

“Okay, okay, sorry I seem so crazy, guys,” Bobby starts to explain as he approaches his teammates, “but something very weird just happened!”

“And what’s that, Bobby?” Warren asks with a sigh.

“Okay, you know that woman who was supposed to come meet Jean? Cassandra Nova?” Ororo and Warren nod, and Bobby continues, “Well she just got here a little while ago, and I answered the door, and… I mean, you’re not going to believe this!”

“Robert, please,” Ororo says, “get to the point.”

“I’m trying! Okay, so…” Bobby breaths out deeply, attempting to calm himself down. “Okay. This woman, Cassandra Nova… well, that’s not her full name. She told me her name was Cassandra Nova Xavier.”

“What?” Warren says, visibly shocked. “Wait, who is this woman? She said her last name was Xavier?”

“Yeah, and that’s not the only thing. I’m telling you, she looked just like Charles, bald and everything, except… you know… a woman.”

“Did she say anything about being related to him?” Ororo asks, intrigued yet slightly concerned by the revelation. “What else did she say?”

“She didn’t say anything, I just took her to see Jean and they’ve been in there talking,” Bobby explains. He’s glad they’re finally listening to him now.

“Jean mentioned to me that this woman was coming in as a possible teacher,” Ororo says, staring curiously at Warren. “Do you think she knew about her beforehand?”

“I don’t know,” Warren responds. “But I guess we’ll find out soon enough, because we’re going to have a chat with Jean as soon as she’s done with this woman.” He turns to Bobby and asks, “What exactly did she look like?”

“Well,” Bobby begins, “she was like… a little under five and half feet tall, bald, green eyes, looked like she was in her late fifties. And I’m telling you, she was a dead-ringer for the Professor in drag!”

“Robert,” Ororo says almost scoldingly; it’s not a time for jokes in her mind. “So she looks like him, has his same last name, is around the same age… I do not know what to make of this.”

“Me either,” Warren seconds.

“Hello?” Bobby says, surprised that neither of his teammates have stumbled upon the obvious. “I mean, I know it’s so clichéd and all… and Professor Xavier never mentioned having any biological siblings… but I think Cassandra might be his sister.”

Warren and Ororo seem to look at Bobby as if he’s just said something wrong, but he only shrugs his shoulders. “Hey, just a thought,” he says defensively.

Warren sighs as his mind races in several different directions. “Well,” he says, “this is a certainly an interesting development. Just when I thought things were settling down around here…”

“No need to get worked up quite yet, Warren,” Ororo informs him. “We still do not know anything… we just need to wait and see what Jean says.”

Jean Grey’s Office

Inside the spacious office, beautifully decorated in dark wood, burgundy carpet, and gold, two women sit facing each other on either side of the large mahogany desk at the room’s center. On one side sits Jean Grey, headmistress of this school and administrator to the X-Men, and on the other sits the mysterious Cassandra Nova Xavier, who just arrived here a short while ago. Jean studies the woman curiously; though she’s not showing it at all, she’s stunned at the older woman’s resemblance to her mentor, Charles Xavier. She doesn’t know what to expect from this meeting… but she’s more than sure that it’s going to throw her for a loop or two.

“So,” Jean begins after clearing her throat, “Cassandra. Welcome to the Xavier Institute, I’m glad you could make it.”

“Thank you for having me, it’s a pleasure to be here,” Cassandra responds warmly.

“Tell me something,” Jean says as she folds her hands in her lap. “Is ‘Nova’ actually part of your name or is it something you came up with to stop me from questioning you when we initially made contact?”

“Ah, yes, my last name,” Cassandra says with a slight laugh. “I do suppose you’re wondering about that. I assure you, I intend to tell you the full truth.”

Jean nods and motions for Cassandra to continue. “Alright then, go ahead.”

“Well,” Cassandra says, “first off I’d like to apologize for my deception. I just wasn’t sure you’d take me seriously if I told you my last name was Xavier and that I was Charles’ sister.”

“Charles never mentioned having a sister,” Jean says flatly. “And he tells… used to tell me everything.”

“He never told you about me, though, because he doesn’t even know I exist.”

Jean remains silent and stares at Cassandra for a long moment; so far, she’s just not sure what to make of the woman. Part of her thinks this is all too convenient and wants to kick her out, but another part of her wants to embrace Cassandra, truly believe she’s Charles’ sister and welcome her to the ‘family’. It’s an unnerving confusion for Jean, but she’ll work through it; she’s not even scratched the service with this meeting that’s bound to become more of an interrogation.

“So basically you’re Charles’ long-lost sister who’s finally surfaced after almost sixty years… are you younger, older, what? Where have you been all this time?”

“You ask all the questions I’d ask,” Cassandra says with a smile. “Charles is my twin. Like him, and you, and everyone here, I’m a mutant… I’m a telepath and a telekinetic. My powers aren’t much, and I rarely use them, but they’re there. I must admit that part of my motivation for coming here is so that I can perhaps learn to use them better.”

“Well this is a school, after all,” Jean says somewhat sarcastically. “You still haven’t told me where you’ve been all this time.”

“Jean, I will tell you anything you want to know. I’m not trying to avoid answering anything,” Cassandra reassures the younger woman. “I promise, after we’re through talking here, I’ll have made you trust me.”

Jean takes a deep breath and crosses her legs to get more comfortable in her seat. “Okay, Cassandra… start from the beginning. And don’t leave anything out.”

The Massachusetts Academy

“Come on, get up off your ass.” The words come out more as a taunt than an order. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Jubilee rises to her feet and quickly dusts off the front of her black skinsuit. She snarls at Cyclops, who just rolls his eyes back at her. {I’m going to pull out your spine, you pompous twit!} she says into his mind.

“Big talk there, little girl, but I doubt you’ll even get one hit in,” Cyclops snaps back, as Jubilee begins to advance. She jumps at him, spinning around with her leg in the air, aiming right for the side of his neck. He blocks the attack with a raised arm, then quickly jumps upward to avoid her follow-up leg-sweep. He doesn’t anticipate her next move, though, and Jubilee’s backflip strikes him in the jaw in addition to moving herself back a dozen feet or so.

{Maybe that will shut you up,} she says, almost too pleased with herself. {I’ve gone beyond everything you and Wolverine and Psylocke and everyone else taught me, Cyclops. I’m not anything like the girl you used to know.}

“You can say that again,” Cyclops says as he holds his bruised jaw. “Sorry to inform you that you didn’t break anything. Nice try, but I’d still give your performance a failing grade. One out of three is pretty pitiful.”

Riled up even more, Jubilee lets loose a barrage of technicolor explosions, all headed in her adversary’s direction. Cyclops dodges to his left, rolling on the ground and barely missing the attack. From a crouching position he fires off a series of small optic blasts at his young opponent, but she artfully dodges them all with a trio of successive backflips. As the first X-Man rises to his feet, he fires off yet another optic blast, this time striking Jubilee in her arm.

“Nnngh!” Jubilee moans in a pain a little; it’s the first verbal sound Cyclops has heard her make.

“Ooops, my bad,” he says mockingly. “Did I break something?”

{I’m going to kill you!}

“Not from where I’m standing, you’re not,” Cyclops says from his position about ten feet away. “We can either end this now, or I’ll just have to finish you off.”

{You’re insane! The other X-Men would never condone it. And Wolverine would slice you up into a million pieces.}

“Not true. You see, Jubilee,” Cyclops begins explaining, “you say you’ve changed… well, so have the X-Men. We’re through putting up with bullshit like this. We’ll do whatever’s necessary, no matter how extreme, to bring down the bad guys, to make this world a safer place. You can either snap out of it and come home, or you can sign your own death warrant. It’s up to you. Either way, I’m getting tired, I want to go home and sleep.”

Jubilee just looks at him, part scared, part confused, but overall very angry. {You’re going to have to kill me then, I suppose.}

Cyclops’ heart begins to beat several times faster than usual; of course he doesn’t intend to kill his former teammate, but so far his tactics don’t seem to be working. What else to do? He has to think fast.

Without warning, Jubilee launches another series of atomic explosions at Cyclops, this time only to temporarily blind him. He yells out and covers his eyes with his hands, as Jubilee makes a mad dash for the man. She topples him to the ground and leans over him, wrapping a surprisingly strong hand around his neck.

{That’s more like it,} she says with a wry smile. {Looks like you’re the one who’s finished, Mister Summers.}

Cyclops stares intensely at her through the open lense of his visor. “In your dreams. You’re too stupid to even realize I let you get the drop on me. Truth is, I’ve been going easy on you this whole time, because you’re just so clumsy and lazy when it comes to field combat. That’s how you’ve always been, just a spoiled little brat who tags along with the older folks and does nothing but bitch and moan.”

{TO HELL WITH YOU!}

“NO!” Cyclops shouts angrily, as he shoves himself up from the ground and grabs hold of Jubilee’s shoulders. “To hell with YOU! You’re the most pathetic excuse for an X-Man I’ve ever seen, and the most selfish, ignorant, lethargic excuse for a human being I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter! You’re nothing, that’s how you’ve always been and that’s how you’ll always be! To think you’re an orphan like me… you’re not tough at all, you’re a sniveling little weasle!”

{STOP IT! STOP IT! JUST…}

Suddenly, Jubilee goes limp as she bursts into tears and begins sobbing hard and loud. “Oh my God! Oh my God, I’m out, I’m out…” she cries as Cyclops looks her over. He’s finally done it.

“Jubilee? It’s you, it’s really you now,” he says softly as he kneels down and pulls her to him and hugs her tightly. “It’s okay, you’re okay now… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any of those things I said… just try and relax…”

After a few moments, Jubilee’s sobs subside, and her body stops trembling. Cyclops pulls her away from him and looks her in the face. “Hey, it’s alright. Jubilee?”

The two of them rise to their feet, Jubilee trying to maintain her composure. “I’m so sorry, I couldn’t do anything about it!” Jubilee says, her tone ridden with guilt. “I didn’t want to fight you at all!”

Cyclops places a consoling hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “I know, I knew that the whole time, which is why I was trying to get you and this person controlling you angry, to snap you out of it… I didn’t mean any of those things I said. You’re always a welcome addition at the Xavier Institute, I want you to know that.”

Jubilee nods in understanding, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes. “I knew you guys would come and get me eventually… it’s been a nightmare… she’s had me here for months…”

“Who?” Cyclops demands to know. “Who did this to you? Where’s everyone else?”

As a new wave of sadness washes over Jubilee, Kwannon comes up behind Cyclops. “Scott,” she says, “I got Cameron into the jet, he’s beat up pretty good. What’s going on?” The older Asian woman looks at her cousin, who she sees is no longer acting hostile towards her fellow X-Man.

“It was Emma,” Jubilee says, answering Cyclops’ question. “Emma did this to me… and she killed the others.” She holds back the new tears that want to come through, instead deciding to mask her fear and sadness with anger. “We’ve got to find her and take her out!” she yells.

“Jubilee, we’ve got to be careful about how we handle this, okay?” Cyclops says to her. “We’ll find her, I promise you, and she’s going to get her’s for everything she’s done. Right now, you just need to calm down… and, I think there’s someone here who’s really eager to see you.” He steps away and begins to head for the jet, saying to Kwannon, “I’ll get us ready for take-off.”

Kwannon and Jubilee only stand there facing each other for a moment, unsure of what to do next. “Anna?” is all Jubilee can say, a new glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“Yes,” Kwannon replies with a smile. “It’s me, Jubilee.”

The two women waste no more time and embrace, Kwannon holding Jubilee to her as she would her own child. “It’s been so long, my cousin… too long. I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to endure, I’m sorry I never came for you sooner, but I want to make it up to you.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jubilee responds. “I’m not mad at you, I don’t blame you for anything. I’m just glad you’re here.” She perks up a little as she asks, “Is Andrew with you, too?”

Kwannon’s face drops a little at first, but she then smiles at the girl and gives her a kiss on the forehead. “Come on,” she says as she leads Jubilee toward the Blackbird’s ramp, “let’s go home.”

The Xavier Institute; War Room

“Everyone, please have a seat,” says Jean Grey as she looks over the small gathering of X-Men before her. Next to the redhead stands the woman currently on everyone’s mind, namely Cassandra Nova. “Now, I know there’s quite a few of us not here… but I figure that perhaps doing this in smaller groups instead of everyone at once, you’ll each have a chance to get to know Cassandra better.”

“Jean,” Ororo asks as her crystal blue eyes study the older woman, “who is she?”

“She’s Charles’ twin sister, Ororo. She’s also a mutant like us, and she…”

“Oh that’s bull and you know it, Jean,” Warren snaps as he rises from his seat. “We would know if Charles had a sister, especially a twin, he’d have told us!”

“Perhaps if he knew about her,” Jean retorts, giving her teammate the evil eye. “Please don’t be rude, Warren. And don’t jump to conclusions. Cassandra’s had an incredibly difficult life, she’s struggled and fought hard to get to where she is today, but she’s a fascinating and wonderful woman. You all just need to give her a chance, hear what she has to say. You’ll see.”

“And what exactly is the point of all that?” Warren asks as he sits back down. “She’s not staying, is she?”

“On the contrary,” Jean says, turning to Cassandra and exchanging a friendly smile with her, “she’s not only going to be moving in, but she’ll be joining the teaching staff here at the institute.”

“I don’t believe this,” Warren mutters.

“In what capacity, Jean?” Ororo asks.

Jean turns to Cassandra and motions for her to go ahead. “Your turn.”

The bald woman steps forward and looks at each of the three seated X-Men. “Allow me to officially introduce myself… my name is Cassandra Nova Xavier, and I’m your new headmistress.”

Somewhere Unknown

A tall blonde walks into the spacious room, which is decorated in Asian draperies and antiques. She moves toward a quintuplet of young girls, all of whom are also blonde and wear white uniforms similar to the one worn by the older woman. They are formed into a circle, sitting on a large rug at the room’s center, and seem to be meditating.

“Girls?” the older blonde says to them.

{Yes, mother?} they respond in a unified telepathic voice.

‘Mother’ looks down at her girls, a proud smile on her face. “How’s our little game going?” They all look up at her as they respond.

“Her psionic exoskeleton was really strong.”

“But we controlled her mind for a good while.”

“Then the X-Men showed up, we almost had them.”

“It was Cyclops, he made us lose our concentration.”

“We’re sorry we didn’t do better.”

“Oh it’s quite alright,” the older blonde assures them. “You’re still new at this, I’m proud of you for doing as well as you did. I myself have had trouble worming inside Jubilee’s mind, among others.”

{Now what?} they ask, once again in unison.

“Now we go to bed… you’ve had a long day, you need to relax. And tomorrow, my little White Queens,” the older woman says with a grin, “we’ll come out to play again.”

NEXT ISSUE: Cassandra and Jean meet with a surprise guest, Beast & Cecilia return, Jubilee reunites with the rest of the X-Men, Bolt & Proteus have a wild conversation, and a few teammates from X-Men drop by! All this in the prelude to Kwannon’s origin and the kick-off of Phoenix’s political career.