SUPERNOVA

Part IV: Revelations

By Ryan Krupienski

The Xavier Institute

“My X-Men. We have a problem.”

Cassandra Nova Xavier stands at the head of the spacious War Room, over a dozen others paying her their full attention. They are her elite, her X-Men – Cyclops, Storm, Archangel, Iceman, Banshee, Domino, Colossus, Moonstar, Havok, Kwannon, Bishop, Dazzler, Bolt, Sunpyre, Skin, Ecstacy, and their sole human member, Cameron Dalin. To them, Cassandra is their mentor, their leader, the one who dared to dream and bring this team together. Recently, their professor has put into action a plan… a plan that is long overdue, and one that may finally accomplish the team’s lifelong goal of bringing humanity and its mutant cousins together in peace.

“Two of our dear friends have fallen ill to a telepathic virus,” Cassandra continues, as images of Phoenix and Ever flash across the holographic projection in the middle of the large table that most of the X-Men are seated at. “We’ve also lost another teammate, dear Scanner, to the terrorist organization called Black Womb.”

Cassandra looks to Havok, and can see the pain all too apparent in his eyes. “However, to make matters worse, we now have a rogue squad of our own teammates who have turned against us. I fear they’ve had their minds taken over by a hostile force of some sort.”

“Do we know where they are?” Storm asks from her seat at one end of the oval-shaped table.

Cassandra shakes her head. “Not at the moment. As many of you witnessed, Scott’s own son teleported in here and took Jubilation and Peter away, before I could install the proper safeguards into their minds. Cable is obviously one of their rogue agents working against us now, but I doubt he’s actually behind this scheme. As for Nightcrawler, Deathbird, and Fantomex… they are difficult to track. Between Nightcrawler’s teleportation constantly displacing his bio-signature, Deathbird’s odd alien physiology, and Fantomex’s bodysuit masking him from our sensors… we can’t be sure where to find them.”

“Well, do we have any idea who’s behind this?” Archangel asks, standing near the room’s exit with his arms crossed.

“I have my theories, but I’d rather not name any names until I’m certain,” Cassandra answers. “These are sensitive times, my X-Men. We are at a very important point in regards to our relations with humanity… we have a chance to finally make peace, and to make sure, at last, that all mutants are recognized as true citizens and protected equally under the law. Whoever is doing this wants to tear our campaign apart and stop that peace from ever happening.”

“Obviously,” Domino quips. “Look, you’re really just giving us a recap here… unless you have anything important and new to toss out, shouldn’t we be out looking for the others? Shouldn’t we be following any leads we have?”

“As soon as Cerebro picks up any of their bio-signatures, I will be dispatching a team to bring them in,” Cassandra tells her. “For the time being, though, we must not stop the important work that has begun. We have much to do, and we especially need to prepare for any attacks on the mansion. We can’t expect that our enemy won’t bring the battle right to our doorstep.”

“Like we need this place demolished again…” Archangel mutters. His tone becomes louder and firmer as he follows up with, “Well, Professor, if that’s all, I really need to go. I have several meetings today, and I’m already running late for one of them.”

“Of course,” Cassandra says with a nod. “All of you are free to go. Get on with your day as usual… try not to let all this mayhem weigh down your spirits. We will overcome this, as we always do.”

Conversation sparks amongst the various X-Men as they take the next minute to file out of the room. It’s not long before they’re all gone, save for one – Cyclops. Instead of exiting the room with his teammates, he approaches Cassandra. Much like his brother, he is distressed, and with good reason.

“Any word on Jean’s condition?” he asks, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Scott,” Cassandra sighs. “She hasn’t responded to my telepathic calls. She’s still trapped inside her own mind, as is Ever.”

“And Nathan is one of them now, too,” Cyclops says, shaking his head in disbelief. “I just want this all to end…”

“It will,” Cassandra assures the man, taking one of his hands in her own and giving it a light squeeze. “You will get your wife and your son back. It will be okay, I promise you that.”

“I believe you,” Cyclops says affirmatively. “I know you’re doing your best to help her.”

“Absolutely. Now, Scott, why don’t you go be with your brother?” Cassandra suggests. “I know he’s still in shock from Scanner’s passing… you two need each other right now.”

“We all are,” Cyclops says. “We just lost Logan not too long ago… and now Scanner. I hope this doesn’t turn into a trend. I hope…”

Cassandra silences the man with a soft hush. “Don’t even think it, Scott. Jean’s not doing to die, not while I’m around,” she declares. “Now, go be with Alex… I’ll let you know of any developments the moment they occur.”

Cyclops obliges, and within seconds makes his way over to the room’s exit. The door slides open and out he goes, leaving Cassandra by herself. She turns around to face the large monitor occupying a good portion of one of the War Room’s walls and says, “Cerebro, online.”

“Yes, Professor?” the seductive female voice responds. Cassandra rolls her eyes; she’ll have to modify the program a bit.

“I want you to resume a search protocol,” Cassandra orders the machine. “Find me the location of Lehnsherr, Erik Magnus; Magneto.”

Genosha

They sit at opposite ends of the long dining table, two plates and a wine glass in front of them both. The room is large and open, and the echo from the tapping of metal is all too audible as they eat their meals. Outside, birds are chirping and a slight breeze is blowing, and the sun shines in through the tall, glass windows lining the room’s walls. At this moment, things seem calm and peaceful, but there are anything but calm and peaceful thoughts running through the minds of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr.

For some time now – has it been a year? – Charles has been here with Erik, and no one, not even his X-Men, have known. They’ve scoured the Earth with Cerebro a million times over, and have found no trace of his bio-signature. They’ve wondered where he is, what he’s doing, how he’s doing, and the last place they’d ever think he’d be is with their oldest enemy, Magneto. It’s not so much that he’s with Magneto, but that he’s with Magneto willingly… that they’re working together.

Charles and Erik have been working to rebuild the island nation of Genosha, in secret, under the noses of every living being on the planet. A good wealth of powerful technology has made masking themselves and their work all too easy. Recent events have changed things, though, as their attention is now diverted to another matter, something much more urgent. The blame falls on one woman – Charles’ supposed sister, Cassandra Nova Xavier.

“What’s going on in that bald head of yours, Charles?” Erik asks before taking a sip of his wine. “Certainly you’re formulating a plan to deal with this woman who has stolen your identity and your school. You’ve been awfully silent.”

“Yes, Erik,” Charles responds. “I suppose I’m still digesting it all and, yes, I’m thinking of a way to deal with her. It’s difficult, because I don’t even know what she plans to do. All I know for certain is that she’s controlling the minds of almost two dozen of the X-Men. How she intends to use them… I don’t know.”

“Well, certainly our Acolytes are more than willing and able to deal with your students if it must come to that,” Erik says.

“Yes, wonderful. A huge brawl between two mutant factions is exactly the thing to better endear mutants to the public,” Charles quips. “No more fighting, Erik. This is a time ofpeace. We need to try and keep it that way, otherwise all the work we’ve been doing here will have been for nothing.”

Erik takes a bite of his food and is silent for a moment. “Who is she, really?” he asks moments later, eyeing Charles suspiciously. “You certainly would have known much earlier if you had a twin sister running around.”

Charles sighs. “I would like to think so. Unless she’s been intentionally hiding from me,” he says. “Neither of my parents ever told me about a twin…”

“Not to mention it’s particularly odd that this supposed twin is alive yet was, as it seems, kicked out of the family,” Erik comments. “She must be a con artist, my friend. An incredibly gifted one at that, managing to worm her way into your school, take hold of it and your X-Men, and now make the whole world believe that she… is you.”

“Which is precisely why we must exercise the utmost caution,” Charles says. “She must have planned this, everything must be in place as she wants it. The situation is very delicate right now and she surely knows that none of the X-Men’s allies would jeopardize a growing peace between humans and mutants to expose her lies.”

“Well, Charles, I don’t know what you intend to do, but I’d come up with something fast,” Erik says. He takes a final bite of his meal, clearing off his plate. “I’m leaving the handling of this matter to your discretion…”

“But?” Charles cuts in.

Erik grins. “Yes, there’s always a ‘but’, isn’t there?” he says. “But… I will not allow this woman to compromise the work we’re doing. If she interferes, even indirectly and in the smallest of ways, I will bring her down myself. That is a promise.”

“There will be no need for that,” Charles replies, his tone half pleading and half demanding. “I will need your help, though.”

“And you have it, of course,” Erik says with a nod as he rises from his seat. He picks up the metal helmet sitting at the edge of the table and places it over his head.

“Back to the construction site?” Charles asks.

“Yes,” Magneto says with a nod. “The city hall is coming along nicely, but it needs some more work.”

“I look forward to seeing the finished product,” Charles says.

Magneto takes the air and begins to levitate towards the room’s exit. “Keep me posted, Charles… any new developments, I want to know, right away.”

The Z’noxx Chamber

Their minds fully focused on the machines before them and the task at hand, Cable and Blaquesmith don’t notice as a young Chinese woman slowly walks up behind them. She means to have some words with the two men, and she’s definitely not a happy camper right now. The fact that they’re ignoring her doesn’t help things.

“Ahem.”

Cable turns around to see Jubilation Lee standing a couple feet away from him, hands on her hips and tapping one of her feet on the hard metal floor. “You’re awake,” he says to her.

“Yeah, and I’m not too happy about you using your telepathy to put me and Pete to sleep!” Jubilee yells, pointing a finger at the white-haired man. “Cassandra’s brainwashed the X-Men and you knock me out?! What the hell is that called?!”

Blaquesmith swivels around in his chair and locks eyes with the young X-Man. “Young lady, I suggest you close your mouth. You don’t know everything that’s going on here.”

“Listen, Walkman,” Jubilee retorts, eliciting a confused look from both Cable and Blaquesmith, “I don’t know what’s going on down here in this little crypt of yours, but I know full well what’s going on in the mansion. Cassandra’s controlling the X-Men. They’re my teammates and my friends.” Jubilee moves her gaze to Cable and continues, “I appreciate the save, but I don’t appreciate you putting us ‘kids’ under so we’ll be out of the way of the big ‘grown-ups’.”

“It’s not like that at all, Jubilee,” Cable says, trying his best to calm the young woman down and prevent an arguement from breaking out. It’s the last thing they need right now. “Cassandra was trying to take hold of you two… I was countering her efforts, I was protecting you. You didn’t know it was going on, but it’s what caused your friend’s headache. After bodysliding back here, I thought it would be a good idea for you to get some rest.”

“Thanks for the concern,” Jubilee says, part sincere and part sarcastic. “I didn’t mean to blow up, but I don’t want to be sidelined is all. I’m not going to sit back and do nothing after what that bitch has done.”

“It won’t be like that. We’re going to need all the help we can get,” Cable says. He looks at Blaquesmith, and the small, yellow-skinned man just rolls his eyes.

“So where are we anyway?” Jubilee asks, looking up and around the huge area. The technology in particular is like nothing she’s ever seen before, not even on the Shi’ar homeworld.

“This is the Z’noxx Chamber,” Cable answers her. He sees a couple of empty chairs on the other side of the sphere of computer systems that serves as the chamber’s ‘workstation’ and motions for Jubilee to follow him to them. As they walk he continues, “I don’t know if you’re aware of this place or not, but it’s beneath the second sub-basement level. We’re near the entrance to the Morlock Tunnels.”

Jubilee is surprised to learn that they’re so close to the mansion; more than that, she wonders what Cable and Blaquesmith have been doing down here. She decides not to ask anymore questions quite yet, though, instead opting to listen to what Cable has to say.

“We became aware of the situation with Cassandra close to twenty-four hours ago,” Cable continues to explain as he and Jubilee take their seats. “Jean’s bio-signature went haywire, she almost had a full-blown Phoenix manifestation, but Cassandra put her into a coma. We have no idea where Jean is now, but Cassandra’s got her.”

A look of worry crosses Jubilee’s face as she asks, “Is she alive?”

Cable nods. “Yes,” he replies. “Cassandra hasn’t killed anyone yet, and she has no reason to kill my… to kill Jean. We think she wants to harness Jean’s power.”

“I knew it,” Jubilee says, shaking her head. “I knew Cassandra was up to no good. Your dad knew it too.” She sighs and looks down. “So did Logan…”

“You need to realize what’s at stake here, Jubilee,” Cable says. “This isn’t just ‘go beat up the bad guy’. Cassandra’s put us in a really tough spot here.”

“I know, I know, the mutant rights campaign, peace, love, all that jazz,” Jubilee says. “I get it. The question is, what are we going to do about it? Isn’t there some way you can break Cassandra’s control? I mean, you’re supposed to be more powerful than Jean.”

Cable shakes his head. “Blaquesmith over there is a telepath too, and I don’t think even the both of us together could take on Cassandra’s power,” he tells her. “We haven’t tried, but with so many of the X-Men under her control, I’m afraid we would end up causing some permanent brain damage if we attempted to free them.”

“We need to get Jean, don’t we?” Jubilee asks. “She’s the one who can stop Cassie.”

“Not alone, no,” Cable answers. “Her and myself together, though… absolutely.”

Jubilee looks away from Cable and over at Blaquesmith, who’s busy working at one of the computers. “What’s his deal?”

“He’s an old, old friend of mine. Jean knows him, and she’s been working with us, in fact,” Cable explains.

A curious look crosses Jubilee’s face as she asks, “On what?”

“That’s…” Cable now wishes he hadn’t said anything. “Nothing important.”

“Well it has to be. Does it have to do with Cassandra?” Jubilee asks. Just as she’s about to persist in asking more questions, a slight groan can be heard from nearby, and she and Cable turn their heads in the direction of the sound.

“Hello?” comes a young man’s voice.

Jubilee instantly recognizes the voice and calls out, “Hey, Pete, over here.” Moments later, Peter Valentino comes into view, walking between a couple of tall machines to arrive inside the large workstation area.

“Jubilee, what’s going on?” Peter asks, looking at Jubilee and then at Cable.

“This is Cable. He’s Scott’s son,” Jubilee tells her teammate, and Peter just blinks a few times, puzzled. “He’s the guy that saved us.”

“Oh,” Peter says, snapping out of his mini trance. “Thanks.” He turns back to Jubilee and asks, “What happened?”

“One word – Cassandra,” Jubilee says, and she motions for Peter to take a seat with her and Cable.

“She’s taken over the Xavier Institute, and she’s got most of the X-Men under her mental command,” Cable says. “She was trying to take hold of you and Jubilee, that’s why you suddenly got that headache.”

“It’s better now. I’m… fine.” Peter stares again at Cable in disbelief; how could Scott’s son be sixty years old?

“Dude, snap out of it. He’s from the future,” Jubilee says as she taps Peter’s arm. “Okay?”

“A story for another time,” Cable says as he rises from his seat. “Jubilee, you fill him on what’s happened, I’m going to see if Blaquesmith’s got anything new for us. After that, we’ll figure out what to do next.”

Genosha

The lower half of his body inside a sleek, silver metal hoverchair, Charles Xavier sits before a large computer monitor inside a relatively small room. He is deep inside the fortress that lies in the heart of Genosha’s future capital city, in an area that few other than he and Magneto have the clearance to enter. Though Charles and Erik have the utmost of faith in the loyalty of their so-called ‘Acolytes’, they can never to be too careful – hostile forces have many ways of leaking in where least expected.

Displayed on the monitor is a flurry of snowy static. The person Charles is talking to has lost his ability to transmist and receive a video feed, but the audio signal is strong as can be.

“How soon can you be here?” Charles asks, his eyes fixed down towards the floor where it meets the wall.

“Don’t know, but I’ll keep ya posted,” a gruff man’s voice responds. “I’m gonna get on my way soon as we hang up.”

“Thank you,” Charles says with a slight nod. “Please be discreet. No one can know where you’re going, and especially that you’re coming to see me.”

“You should know by now that ‘discreet’ ain’t in my vocabulary, Chuck,” the man says with a slight chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. See ya soon.”

The connection is closed, and using a control pad on his hoverchair, Charles turns off the computer. Just as he manuevers the chair to turn around, the door to the room slides open and in walks Magneto.

“Amelia told me I’d find you here,” Magneto says as he approaches Charles. “Any developments?”

“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Charles says with a sigh. “Cassandra has yet to make her next move. I have, however, been calling in some… old friends. People who can help us deal with this crisis should it get out of hand.”

“Such as?” Magneto inquires.

“My brother,” Charles answers.

Magneto cocks an eyebrow. “Cain Marko?” he comments. “My, times have truly changed…”

“Hopefully for the better, Erik,” Charles says as he begins to hover towards the room’s exit. “Though I have this horrible, sinking feeling…”

The two men exit the room and the metal door slides shut behind them. They move down the wide hallway, Charles leading the way in front of his partner.

“I wouldn’t worry yourself, my friend,” Magneto says. “I do think we can contain this situation before it gets out of hand.”

“I’m not so sure,” Charles says with a shake of his head. “I have a feeling things are going to get much, much worse before they get better…”

The Z’noxx Chamber

“So, you got it?”

The question comes from Jubilee, who has just spent the past twenty or so minutes spelling out the situation to her friend and teammate. Peter nods, rather confidently, and Jubilee seems satisfied. “Good,” she says. She gets up out of her chair and Peter does the same, then they both start on their way towards Cable and Blaquesmith.

“Man, I thought the whole Russia thing was crazy,” Peter says as he and Jubilee walk side by side. “This is… this is insane.”

“This is bad,” Jubilee insists. “But I think with Cable and the yellow dude on the case, we’ll be able to stop Cassandra.”

The two young X-Men walk for several more moments, then stop when they arrive near the computer Blaquesmith is sitting at. Cable is standing behind the chair the smaller man sits in, and he turns to greet Jubilee and Peter. “You’re just in time. We’ve got some news.”

“What’s going on?” Jubilee asks.

“I’ve discovered more about the nature of Cassandra’s hold over your teammates,” Blaquesmith explains, the sight of him hidden behind the back of the chair. “It seems that she’s using Jean’s voice to hypnotize them. ‘Jean’ is telling them to follow Cassandra, to acknowledge her as their founder and leader.”

“It’s not really her, though, is it?” Peter asks.

“No,” Cable answers. “Just another one of Cassandra’s mind games.”

“Is that it?” Jubilee asks, trying not to sound obnoxious or ungrateful. “That’s not going to help us much, I don’t think.”

“No, that’s not it,” Blaquesmith replies somewhat curtly. “I do have some good news. Depending on your view of ‘good’.”

“Okay, well, don’t keep me in suspense…”

“I’ve located three other X-Men who managed to escape,” Blaquesmith continues. “One of them is Nightcrawler. The other two I’m not familiar with, but I believe their names are Deathbird and Fantomex.”

“Where are they?” Jubilee asks, feeling a renewed sense of hope upon hearing the news.

“Their location is erratic, I believe due to Nightcrawler constantly teleporting them. They’re on the African continent, seemingly heading north,” Blaquesmith explains. “I believe Cassandra is having trouble tracking them, but that may not be the case for long. We ought to find them before…”

“I agree, it’s time to stop sitting around on our asses,” Jubilee interrupts. “When do we leave?”

“Just calm down,” Cable says somewhat sternly. “We’re getting to that. Blaquesmith’s got to analyze some more data and see where the best spot for us to bodyslide to is.”

“Okay, sorry,” Jubilee says, holding up her hands defensively. She turns her head to look at Peter as they back away and let Cable and Blaquesmith work and asks, “You up for this?”

Peter is a bit surprised at the question, and it’s evident from the look on his face. “Well, I… uh,” he begins to say. “I… guess. I mean, I don’t know how much help I’ll be…”

“If any of Cassandra’s drones come looking for us, we’re gonna need all the help we can get,” Jubilee tells him. “Come on, don’t wimp out on me now.”

“I’m not!” Peter insists. “This is just… new to me. I’m still getting used to it. But I’ll go, absolutely.”

Jubilee smiles. “Good.”

“Okay, kids, why don’t you go suit up,” Cable calls to them, and they turn to look at him. “There’s some spare uniforms back near where you were resting before. Make it quick.”

“So we’re leaving?” Jubilee asks as she and Peter begin to walk off to change.

“Yes,” Cable answers. “Our little rescue mission is about to begin.”

CONTINUED IN X-MEN #28!