THE WAY BACK

By Ryan Krupienski

It was a cool, cloudy morning, the perfect kind of morning for a nice jog outdoors. The two young women dressed in sweatpants and t-shirts emblazoned with the seal of the Xavier Institute were doing just that, keeping pace with each other along the pathway that snaked around the grounds of the school. One was blonde-haired and blue-eyed with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, while the other was Algerian with much darker features, and she’d opted to let her long black hair dance freely in the air. They were both silent, yet they both knew very well what the other was thinking.

Almost two years ago, Paige Guthrie and Monet St. Croix – along with their former classmates Everett Thomas, Jon Starsmore, and Clarice Ferguson – were killed in an explosion at a facility belonging to an organization called GeneTech. They’d been set up by their former teacher Emma Frost, kidnapped from their home at the Massachusetts Academy, and at GeneTech they were subjected to excruciating experiments that tested the limits of their mutant abilities. Inexplicably, the facility was destroyed, and Paige and Monet, along with the others who collectively made up the team named Generation X, were killed.

Surprisingly enough, that was only the beginning.

The five young men and women found themselves in the afterlife, except it wasn’t the sort of afterlife that any of them had imagined. All the dead there were mutants, and it seemed to be more of a processing center than anything else. Known only as Wonderland, the place was lorded over by a man called Adam, who at first seemed to have everyone’s best interests at heart. He touted the place as a mutant paradise, and to the ones that Adam personally selected, it was just that. However, it proved in the end to be too good to be true; while for some it was a paradise, for others it meant being subjected to experimentation, or a second – and very permanent – death. Also in the end, it claimed for good the lives of two of the five Generation X members.

Monet, Paige, and Clarice made it back to life after an intense battle with Adam. Everett had sacrificed himself to save them all by destroying Adam and Wonderland in the process, but Jono should have been with the girls when they returned. He, too, was lost however, and those who survived were still trying to make sense of it all. Of Everett and Jono’s death, but more than that, of exactly what had happened to them. Paige especially couldn’t wrap her head around it; the mere concept challenged the ideas and beliefs that had been instilled in her through her Christian upbringing.

A lot had changed in the land of the living in the almost two years they were gone; the X-Men were very different, for starters, being comprised of so many people that Paige and Monet had never known or heard of before. And no longer was the Xavier Institute just the X-Men’s headquarters, it was a true school now with hundreds of young students. Add in the X-Corporation, mutant rights initiatives across the world, and Jean Grey ruling Genosha alongside Magneto, and it was no wonder that Paige and Monet felt like they’d landed in some sort of alternate reality.

While Monet was content to remain mum for the rest of the jog, the opposite was true for Paige; the silence was driving her nuts. Monet and Clarice were the only two people she was able to talk to about any of this, as not only had they gone through it with her, but they’d all made the decision to withhold the details of their adventure from the X-Men, at least for now. It was Monet’s idea, and she hadn’t given the other girls much explanation, just that it was best for the time being. Paige hated keeping secrets, and was beginning to question how wise their choice was.

“So, are we just gonna say nothin’ for the next thirty minutes?” Paige asked her friend, who at first seemed unresponsive to the question. “You’re a telepath… can’t you chatand sort out your thoughts at the same time?”

“Haven’t you ever heard that silence is golden?” Monet replied rather nonchalantly.

“Oh, c’mon now Monet, you can’t keep doin’ this,” Paige said. “Ah know you’re searching for answers. Me too. Maybe if we just talked about it…?”

“Paige, as you know, my mutation gives me a genius-level intellect,” Monet interrupted, her tone condescending even though she didn’t necessarily mean to come off that way. “I have gone over several possibilities and explanations, I have factored in variable after variable… and I have nothing. Even I can’t figure it out. So for right now, it’s best we collect ourselves, get reacquainted with the world, and once we’re balanced enough, we can start searching for answers. Until then, though, talking about it won’t accomplish anything.”

“That’s where Ah think you’re wrong. If we tell the X-Men…”

“No,” Monet said curtly. “We’re not telling them anything.”

“And what if Ah decide that keepin’ secrets just isn’t kosher for me anymore?” Paige snapped back.

Monet stopped in her tracks, and turned her head to look the blonde square in the eye. “Then I’d say you’ll be making a huge mistake.”

“How do you figure that? And don’t give me the whole ‘just because’ bit, M. You give me a good reason.”

Monet sighed, and began walking slowly. Paige started walking too, and Monet said, “So let’s think about this. We tell the X-Men that you, Clarice, Everett, Jon, and myself were transported to some mutant afterlife, and that we saw dozens of dead people there. Like Wolverine, and Doug Ramsey, and Nathaniel Essex – just to name a few. We tell them about Adam, and what he was doing to the mutants there, and about his Amalgamation Chamber. We then tell them how Wonderland was destroyed just before we escaped.”

“And they’ll want answers just as much as we do,” Paige told her. “What’s so bad about that?”

“The X-Men are not the same people they were two years ago,” Monet continued. “Even then, they were barely involved in our lives. Now, half of them are teachers, and the other half have become a sort of militia. They’re crossing lines they never would have in the past. If we tell them what we know, yes, they will want answers – and they’ll stop at nothing to get those answers. You, Clarice, and I will have test after test run on us, we’ll be monitored around the clock, and – who knows? – with the sheer lack of trust they seem to have for anyone not a part of their ‘inner circle’, they may just end up deciding that because they don’t know enough about our situation, we’re some sort of a threat.”

“Monet, Ah really think you’re blowin’ this all outta proportion…”

“Maybe to an extent, Paige, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. And it isn’t hurting them any being kept in the dark,” Monet said.

“See, now that’s where Ah disagree,” Paige retorted. “Ah mean, let’s take Illyana Rasputin for example. We saw her in Wonderland, and not only that, we saw Adam kill her. But here she is anyway, alive and well, just like you and me. And other people who have died recently… like Iceman and Professor X… who knows what happened to them? Maybe they’re alive again? Any number of those people up there coulda made it back somehow, and not only that, they could be in trouble too.”

“Right, let’s fill them all with false hope that their loved ones maybe aren’t dead after all,” Monet replied. “As if they aren’t going through enough as it is.”

“For people you claim not to trust, you sure seem to care a heck of a lot about them,” Paige pointed out.

“I may be a bitch, but I’m not heartless,” Monet quipped. “Now are you satisfied? I’ve explained myself as you requested. Hopefully we can consider this matter resolved.”

“Monet…”

“Moving on,” Monet said, once again interrupting her friend. “Have you managed to contact your brother yet?”

Paige couldn’t help but smile at the mention of her brother. Her big brother, Sam Guthrie a.k.a. Cannonball, had been a New Mutant once upon a time, and went on to spend a majority of his young adult life with X-Force. Paige had been so proud of him when he first made it onto the X-Men, but the pride she felt at the moment was about ten times that – Sam was an Avenger now, and she still couldn’t believe it. He’d truly done their family proud. If only she could get in touch with him; she wouldn’t admit it, but she was worried to a certain degree.

“Well Ah spoke to the Avengers’ butler, Jarvis, and he said that Sam was still up in space,” Paige answered. “He took a message and said he expected Sam to be back soon.”

“Perhaps once he’s returned, you should go visit him,” Monet suggested. “It will help take your mind off of things.”

“Yes, speakin’ of those ‘things’ – Ah still never said Ah agree with you, Monet,” Paige said sternly.

“I’m not going to beg, Paige,” Monet told her, “but I will ask that you thoroughly consider whatever decision you make. There’s enough going on right now, and we don’t need to stir things up any more. I’m not trying to swear you to silence for life, but for now we need to keep a low profile. Then later on, we’ll go find the truth ourselves.”

“Sounds like you have it all figured out,” Paige said.

Monet shook her head. “Not hardly…”

Suddenly, Monet felt another presence nearby, and her and Paige watched a figure in the distance coming closer. It was a young woman with long brown hair dressed in the same outfit at Paige and Monet, and she too seemed to be taking a morning jog. As the brunette got closer, she slowed down, until finally coming to a stop in front of the two former Generation X members.

“Good day,” Martinique Jason said, her familiar British accent ever-present as she regarded the blonde and the Algerian. “Funny running into you out here, but I’m glad I did.”

“Oh?” Monet questioned. “Is there something we can do for you?”

“Just give me a few moments of your time,” Martinique requested. This was an incredibly difficult thing for her to do, being as stubborn as she was, but she knew she had to do it. “I need to apologize.”

A confused look crossed Paige’s face as she asked, “Apologize? For what?”

“For what my mother did to you,” Martinique replied. “Emma Frost is the reason you went through the hell that you did, and if you’ll let me, I’d like to try and make it up to you.”

Avalon City Hall, Genosha

Scott Summers, holding his infant daughter Rachel in his arms, walked briskly through the large doors that served as the main entrance to the mutant nation’s most prominent building. He had come to see his estranged wife, who also happened to be Genosha’s President, but he hadn’t come for everything else around him at the moment – namely, the photographers and reporters snapping his picture and throwing questions at him relentlessly. The Genosha police force was keeping Scott and Rachel safe and surrounded on all sides, though they couldn’t exactly make the media disappear.

This was what Scott had been afraid of; he’d tried to keep his trip to Avalon a secret, as he didn’t want any sort of attention on him, but he figured someone inside the Genoshan government must have leaked the information to the press for a decent amount of compensation. It wasn’t a crime by any means, but it was the same kind of lousy trick that happened on a daily basis in any other country. Genosha was the world’s first sovereign mutant nation, but in many ways, it was just like anywhere else.

The noise from the crowd was subsiding, as the media had been blocked off from entering City Hall and were now but a faint rumbling in the background. The police escorted Scott to a large elevator, and motioned for him to step inside.

“Right this way, Mister First Gentleman,” said one of the officers, a green-skinned man with scales covering his face. Scott groaned at the comment; he absolutely hated being called ‘First Gentleman’. He may have been married to the President, but he didn’t live in Genosha or have anything to do with its government.

“Mister Summers is fine, thanks,” Scott politely told the officer, and the man nodded in understanding.

The rest of the officers filed in and in a matter of seconds, the doors closed and the elevator began ascending towards its destination. The police force was quiet, except for one of the officers calling in to report that the First Gentleman was secure in the elevator, while Scott focused his attention on his daughter who was also too happy to give her father a kiss on the cheek.

As Scott waited for the elevator to arrive at its destination, he felt an anxious feeling overtake him. It had been close to eight months since he’d last seen his wife, and he wasn’t sure how things were going to be between them. In a way he regretted the way he treated Jean when she told him she was leaving; he could have been a bit more understanding, and at least shown her some kind of support. Instead he became angry and shut her out, and all the times she’d tried to contact him during their time apart, he’d ignored her.

Of course Scott was still in many ways justified for being upset with his wife; Jean left at the worst possible time, and had already made up her mind before even discussing anything with Scott. She told him that she was afraid of her powers spinning out of control, and more so of Scott and Rachel getting hurt, so she had to distance herself from all the insanity that came along with being a part of the X-Men. How moving to Genosha to be its leader would be any less hectic was still a mystery to Scott, as it seemed that Jean had just traded one crazy life for another.

The elevator finally came to a stop at its destination on the 97th floor, and the doors opened to reveal a lavish area with floors and walls crafted from amber-hued marble. It was decorated with beautiful artwork and sculptures, and was much more extravagant than the Xavier Institute had ever looked. If Scott hadn’t known any better, someone could have told him he was at the Trump Tower and he’d believed it.

The officers began to file out and formed lines on both sides of the elevator door. Scott stepped out with Rachel, who looked around aimlessly at the different objects around her. The green-skinned officer walked at Scott’s side and told him, “If you’ll follow me, Mister Summers.”

Scott followed the officer up to a large set of frosted glass double-doors, which seemed to open of their own accord just as the two men came within mere feet of them. A large office was revealed and the officer motioned for Scott to move inside. Just as the two men crossed into the room, the green-skinned man came to a halt and stood perfectly still as a beautiful red-headed woman came into view.

“Madam President,” the officer said, “your husband and daughter.”

“Thank you, Dimitri,” Jean told him. “That’ll be all for now.”

Dimitri nodded and swiftly made his way out of the office, with the doors closing behind him. Jean immediately turned her attention to her husband and daughter, and couldn’t help but smile; she’d been waiting to see them for so long and hadn’t realized how much she’d missed them until now. She tentatively started walking towards them, but picked up her pace when Rachel gave her a big smile and a laugh.

The estranged couple met up near one of the corners of Jean’s desk and Jean took her daughter into her arms, and starting assaulting her with as many hugs and kisses as she could muster. Her eyes started to water slightly as she held her little girl tight; Jean had visited her in astral form plenty of times, but nothing could beat holding Rachel in the flesh.

As Jean gently rocked Rachel in her arms, she moved her gaze to Scott, whose face was more or less emotionless at the moment. Jean smiled at him and softly said, “Hi.”

“Hi,” Scott said back to her, as a small hint of a smile started to show itself. He didn’t expect to feel the way he was; he thought he’d be able to keep his cool, not get emotional. He couldn’t help it, though – this was the woman he loved, and he’d missed her.

Jean reached out and took Scott’s hand, and gave it a slight squeeze. She looked deeply into his dark brown eyes, which flickered with the crimson red energy he formerly was not able to control on his own. Scott stared back into Jean’s eyes, which were a vibrant green and as beautiful as ever. He had always been able to get lost in his wife’s beauty, and he found himself doing just that at that moment.

“Scott,” Jean said as her husband took a few steps closer to her, “I missed you.”

Scott brought a hand up to Jean’s face and gently cradled her cheek in his palm. He wanted to forget about all the animosity between them and just hold his wife; it was all that mattered.

The two just stood there, content, lost in the moment, and Scott said, “I missed you too, Jean.”

The Xavier Institute; War Room

Domino, otherwise known simply as Beatrice, and Dr. Henry McCoy stood next to each other in the middle of the medium-sized room that was covered ceiling to floor in metal plating and was covered on all sides by an array of technology that at times seemed to have a life of its own. In particular the two X-Men were standing over a newly-built machine that went beyond the holographic projectors of old and instead recreated fully solid 3D imagery using the same hard-light technology as the Danger Room. It measured ten square feet and came up a mere four feet from the ground, allowing for a large group to stand around it and see everything clearly.

The flat surface divided into four separate grids, and within seconds a fully-detailed image of a large city seemed to trickled upward inside each area. Just as quickly as the skylines materialized, the image began to shift within each grid, zooming in to a specific building for each locale.

“Gotta hand it to you, McCoy,” Domino commented, visibly impressed, “pretty neat toy you built here. Definitely better than that old projector on the table.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Henry quipped. He was proud of the new device, though he’d undertaken the project more as a way to distract himself from thinking about his deceased best friend, Bobby Drake. He still carried a great deal of guilt for not having figured out sooner that Bobby had been murdered and replaced with a double; he couldn’t seem to get past it. He knew deep down he wasn’t to blame, and that no one else blamed him either. It would still be a pain he’d carry with him for some time, though.

Domino, on the other hand, hadn’t been close to Drake by any means; they’d been strictly teammates and had spoken only a handful of times. It was rotten in her eyes what Mystique had done, however her focus was on bringing down the rest of the rather large amount of Brotherhood cells still active around the world. She’d been stunned to learn just how large Mystique’s operation had grown – dozens of cells across the world, with numbers ranging from four to fifteen members each. Domino knew that the X-Men had a long, hard fight ahead of them, and it was one she intended to win.

“So here we have our top four Brotherhood cells in terms of threat – Toronto, London, Kyoto, and Adelaide. Looks like we’ll be doing quite a bit of bodysliding,” Domino lamented.

“As you requested, I extracted and analyzed full profiles on all cell members for each of these locations,” Henry informed her. “It seems Mystique wasn’t entirely trusting of all of her recruits – she documented all of their strengths and weaknesses. She went into quite the detail with some of them.”

“Kind of like the Xavier Protocols, I take it?” Domino asked, and Henry simply nodded. “Great. She may be a raving lunatic, but she had the right idea in doing this.”

“Certainly something we can use to our advantage,” Henry agreed.

Just then, the doors to the War Room opened, and a tall, thin man clearly of Indian heritage stepped into the room. Neal Shaara came expecting there to be some sort of X-Men meeting in motion, and was confused when he saw that only Domino and Beast were present. Maybe he was early?

“There you are. Come join the party,” Domino told the man, motioning for him to come to her.

“Where’s everyone else?” Neal asked as he approached his teammates.

“It’s just us,” Domino informed him. “You used to be a police officer, right? And spent a couple years in the military?”

“Yes,” Neal answered. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“We’re planning raids on a multitude of Brotherhood installations, and we thought that you could perhaps contribute your knowledge and experience to plotting out the missions,” Henry explained, placing one of his brutish, blue-furred paws on the younger man’s shoulder. “With Scott out on leave, this leaves Beatrice as our only fully-fledged tactician.”

“Me?” Neal said, stunned at what they were asking of him. Not that he couldn’t or wouldn’t do it, but he hadn’t been at the mansion very longer, and been an X-Men even less time. “I appreciate your faith in me, Doctor McCoy, but you’re a genius, and have been doing this for, what, fifteen years? My time in the armed forces and as a policeman can’t even compare to some of the adventures you’ve had.”

“I’m afraid my expertise lies more in the sciences,” Henry said. He looked Neal in the eye and continued, “Son, Moira MacTaggert was a dear friend of mine, and she trusted and believed in you enough to make you head of security for her research facility.”

“And look what happened,” Neal replied, thinking back to the attack Skye Isle that led to Moira’s death. “I think you just proved my point for me.”

“Nonsense,” Henry said with a shake of his head.

“What about Danielle? She’s a brilliant leader,” Neal told them, first looking at Henry then at Domino.

“I agree, she is, but Dani’s got her hands full with the students. That’s got to be her focus,” Domino answered. “And before you start naming off all the other X-Men one by one…”

Neal realized he’d more or less been arguing with Beast and Domino, and he felt bad. Perhaps he could be of some assistance in planning missions and the like, but he couldn’t help feel like it wasn’t his place to. “I just don’t want to overstep my bounds, I suppose,” he started to explain.

“It’s hardly that at all if we’re asking,” Henry said, patting Neal on the back. “Beatrice and I feel you can contribute a great deal to the X-Men’s operations. So please, join us. We were just going over some preliminary data.”

“We’ve got the locations of over a dozen Brotherhood cells, recovered from Mystique’s personal files in North Korea,” Domino revealed. “These four are the cells with the largest teams. I figured we’d start big and trickle down from there.”

“What do we know about them?” Neal asked.

“Mystique had fully-detailed reports on each cell’s members in her files, complete with strengths and weaknesses,” Henry answered. “So, in theory, everything we need to.”

“What exactly are we in for, McCoy?” Domino questioned. “Psi’s, blasters, muscles, what?”

“Interestingly enough, very few telepaths, and the ones they have are low-level,” Henry told her. “A large majority of their number have some sort of physical mutation, but less than half seem to have an actual ability to go along with it. A few elementals, strongmen. The usual. Though a couple have some very… interesting mutations. One young lady named Ocula can tear her eyes out and use them as grenades. She grows a new pair within a few minutes.”

Domino blinked a few times upon hearing Henry’s explanation. “That’s disgusting,” she scoffed.

“I’m assuming each cell has its own leader,” Neal chimed in. “What about a new head for their whole operation? Is any one person in charge or are they independent now?”

“That’s what we’re still trying to figure out. Each cell does have a designated ringleader, but as far as any sort of second-in-command for Mystique, we’re not sure,” Domino answered. “One of her core team members would be obvious, but they’re all either dead or have turned on her.”

“It will probably be safest to assume they are still unified as one organization then,” Neal suggested.

“I agree,” Domino said with a nod.

“See? You’re a natural,” Henry told Neal, who cracked a small smile. “Now, I’ve transferred the files on all the Brotherhood members into Cerebro’s database, they are cross-referenced with Mystique’s file so they’re all in one place for you.”

“Thanks, Doc, much appreciated,” Domino said. She then turned to Neal and told him, “Before we get into the thick of things, though, there’s one tiny order of business to address. You need a codename.”

“A codename?” Neal hadn’t thought about it before, but it made sense; with the exception of Jubilee, it seemed that all of the X-Men had a codename, and if he was to be one of them, he’d need one too. “Well, I haven’t really thought about it much…”

“You don’t have to decide right now, but that’s one thing Scott and I decided to make mandatory for anyone on the X-Men or in one of the training squads,” Domino explained. “Especially with us being more in the public eye these days, it’s important that people like you who didn’t get outed by Cassandra Nova are able to remain anonymous.”

“What about Corona? Defined as the luminous, irregular envelope of highly ionized gas outside the chromosphere of the sun. With your abilities being solar-based, it’s somewhat of a good fit,” Henry proposed.

“Isn’t Corona also the name of a Mexican beer?” Neal joked. “Perhaps something else.”

“How about Thunderbird? Sounds cool and kinda bad-ass,” Domino suggested.

“Except that the Thunderbird is a mythical creature in American Indian culture,” Henry pointed out.

“Hey, just trying to help…” Domino quipped.

“I’ve got it – Shiva,” Henry said, an enlightened expression crossing his face. “An ancient Hindu god designated as ‘the destroyer of evil’ and ‘doer of good’. One of his five deified faces is even matched with the element of fire.”

“I don’t think I can quite live up to that sort of legacy, but…” Neal’s words trailed off as he thought about the idea for a moment. “I do like it, though.”

“Shiva it is,” Domino affirmed. “Welcome aboard.”

“Well, I think I can leave the two of you to work out your strategies. If you need me I’ll be in my la-” Henry abruptly stopped speaking upon hearing a beep emitting from the device he wore around his wrist. His eyes opened wide, and he seemed to gain a sudden burst of energy. “Ah, at last!”

“What’s up, McCoy?” Domino inquired, curious.

“The results are in,” Henry half-explained as he made his way over to one of the room’s many computer consoles. “Just what I was about to go check on, in fact. I’ve been running a full gamut of tests on Mystique to see if there’s anything present to explain her aberrant behavior.”

“Plain and simple – she’s crazy,” Domino said.

Henry shook his head. “No no, I’m not so sure. Mystique has done many questionable things in the past, but she was never a psychopathic killer. She was never the type for genocide.”

“Yeah, that was always more up Magneto’s alley…”

“What are you hoping to find, Doctor?” Neal asked as he walked up to the Beast.

“I’ve no idea,” Henry answered, shrugging his shoulders. “In some ways I don’t even know what I’m looking for. Being a shape-shifter, Mystique’s physiology is very different from someone like you or I. That’s why it’s taken me longer to run tests and get results.” He tapped a few keys on the console, and a screen filled with medical jargon that Neal or Domino didn’t understand appeared. “Ah, here we go.”

“Let me guess, she’s got a whacko gene right next to her X-factor one?” Domino joked.

Henry’s eyes widened, almost in horror, as he continued reading the test results. “Actually, no,” he responded. “She has a brain tumor.”

Jubilation Lee was silent as she went about her business, placing a variety of items inside a cardboard box. She’d spent the day cleaning her living quarters out, reorganizing her wardrobe and getting things put back in their proper place. She’d even made the bed for once. Now that was all done, and she was finishing up collecting some belongings that she no longer wanted.

Pictures, letters, gifts… anything that she’d received in the past seven months from the man she thought was her boyfriend, Bobby Drake, had to go. It was difficult to do, as there were many happy times during those months, but they were all based on a lie. Mystique had murdered Bobby and put another man in his place to spy on the X-Men, and he’d taken advantage of Jubilee in so many ways. She still hadn’t reconciled the fact that she fell for the deception; she didn’t know if she ever would.

Bobby was gone, and so was the life they’d so briefly shared. Jubilee was of course going to keep every memento from her time with the real Bobby, but the rest would just be a reminder of the imposter, and her failure to stop him. She was almost done filling the box up and was going to take it down to the dumpster. She also pondered taking it to one of the fireplaces and just burning it all.

As Jubilee mulled over the items and what to do with them, there was a light knock on her bedroom door. “Who is it?” she asked, turning her head only half-way.

“Clarice,” came the response.

“Come on in,” Jubilee said, and immediately the door began to open. After a few seconds the lavender-skinned form of Clarice Ferguson was revealed.

Clarice stepped into the room, a smile on her face as her eyes met with Jubilee’s. Just a few weeks ago, Clarice returned from the dead along with Paige and Monet, and they’d been getting reacquainted with life and catching up on all that’d transpired in the nearly two years they’d been gone. They’d been surprised by many things, but Clarice had concerned herself the most with what’d happened to Jubilee. The last memory Clarice had from before she died was of her kissing Jubilee, and she’d held onto that moment during her ordeal in Wonderland.

She knew Jubilee wasn’t a lesbian, but had still been surprised to find out she’d ended up with Bobby Drake of all people. He was always one of the people Jubilee would complain about back when she was at the Massachusetts Academy; maybe Jubilee actually liked him back then? Clarice had carried a torch for Jubilee, however she never made it known until just a few moments before her death. She still had to wonder if things had played out differently, if she’d have come forward sooner, if there might have been a chance.

Clarice was in the process of putting those feelings behind her, though, as especially now, with Jubilee mourning her dead lover, it wouldn’t only be completely inappropriate but inconsiderate as well. They were both moving on, albeit in different ways and from different things, and in Clarice’s eyes it was better to leave the past buried.

“Well are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna say something?” Jubilee asked, cracking a small smile as she finally broke the silence in the room.

“Oh, sorry,” Clarice apologized. “Just spaced out there for a moment.”

“No problem,” Jubilee said, continuing to back things into the cardboard box.

“So… I know you’re probably sick of hearing this, but…”

“How am I?” Jubilee said, already knowing what Clarice was going to say. She shrugged her shoulders and answered, “Okay, I guess.”

“Are you sure?”

Jubilee stopped what she was doing and turned around to face Clarice, who took a few steps closer. They locked eyes, and it suddenly came back to Jubilee – the kiss. Clarice’s kiss. The teleporter had kissed her seconds before she saved her life. Like Clarice, Jubilee had never forgotten, though it didn’t carry the same meaning for her. She wondered if Clarice still had feelings for her.

“I’m doing the best I can,” Jubilee said very matter-of-factly. “And… I’m sorry. I’ve been pushing everyone away lately. Even you, Paige, and Monet… I should be celebrating the fact that you’re all alive!”

“Kinda hard to celebrate when you’ve just lost someone you love,” Clarice responded. “I understand. In fact, that’s why I haven’t really come around… I wanted to give you your space.”

“Well, who needs space anyway?” Jubilee quipped, attempting to crack another smile. She’d had a few successes in the past few days, but something about it still felt wrong to her. She knew it was something she’d get over with time, though.

“So, are you… packing?” Clarice asked, catching sight of the cardboard box on Jubilee bed.

“Oh, no,” Jubilee said with a shake of her head. “Nope, I’m not going anywhere. I’m just cleaning out some crap I don’t want anymore.”

“Need any help?”

“Nah, just about done.”

As Jubilee finished up and placed a few more items in the box, Clarice suddenly said, “Jubilee, I also came by to apologize to you.”

Jubilee turned around again. “For what?” she asked curiously.

“For kissing you.” Clarice swallowed back a lump in her throat as she wondered how Jubilee would respond.

“Oh… that.” Jubilee’s expression was blank for a moment, then she shrugged. “No big deal. I mean, it definitely was one of those ‘heat of the moment’ things.”

“Well, still, I shouldn’t have come onto you like that,” Clarice retorted. “So, again, I’m sorry.”

What Jubilee did next stunned Clarice – she came up and gave her a hug. A friendly, platonic hug, but still a hug. It felt good to Clarice knowing that it was officially a non-issue between them.

“It’s cool,” Jubilee said as she pulled out of the embrace. “No reason we still can’t be friends, right?”

“Thanks,” Clarice said. “I wasn’t even going to bring it up, but…”

“But it was too hot not to mention,” Jubilee joked, and Clarice couldn’t help but laugh. “I mean, in all seriousness, I like you a lot, Clarice. If things were different… if I were different…”

“Hey, friends is perfectly fine with me,” Clarice said. “You’re a good person, Jubes, that’s what attracted me to you.”

“And any girl would be lucky to have you,” Jubilee replied. “I hope you find that person someday.”

Clarice could see slight semblances of pain on Jubilee’s face as she said the last several words. She knew Jubilee still had a lot of pain and was just putting on a brave face, but she also knew that Jubilee would get through it.

“Thanks,” Clarice said, and the two hugged again. “I also came by because… well, I have an announcement. Kinda.”

“What’s up?” Jubilee asked.

“Well, I’m moving out,” Clarice answered, and Jubilee’s face clearly displayed her shock. “I know, it’s really sudden since I just got back a few weeks ago, but… I don’t know. I’ve been gone for two years and I’ve already missed out on so much. I feel like I’d be better off in the ‘real world’ – no offense.”

“None taken,” Jubilee said. “But where are you gonna go? What will you do?”

“I was thinking I’d move to New York City, enroll in college, get my own apartment and a job… try out a normal life.” Clarice grinned. “As normal a life as a lesbian mutant teleporter with pink skin can have, anyway.”

“Ha, really,” Jubilee said. “Well, I mean… that’s great. And NYC isn’t far – so we’re definitely gonna still have to have out.”

“Totally,” Clarice said with a big smile.

“So when is this big move going down, anyway?” Jubilee asked.

“Oh, a few weeks, maybe,” Clarice replied. “I’m thinking of enrolling at Empire State. Did you know they were one of the first colleges to add ‘X-gene status’ to their non-discrimination policy? They even have a mutant pride club.”

“Seriously? That’s awesome.” Jubilee was surprised; she’d never heard of any such thing.

“So, I just have to get all my transcripts in order, though I’m not sure how to explain the whole ‘I was dead for two years’ thing,” Clarice said.

“Yeah, speaking of that…” A curious look crossed Jubilee’s face and she continued, “What exactly happened?”

Clarice seemed to clam up at that moment; she’d promised Paige and Monet that she wouldn’t tell anyone the truth. They’d all agreed to remain vague about it, to feign uncertainty and pretend to not remember much. From Monet’s standpoint it was the best solution for the time being, though like Paige, Clarice wasn’t so sure.

“Oh, I…” Clarice didn’t want to break her promise, but if she couldn’t trust Jubilee, then who? “It’s a long story, actually.”

“I got time,” Jubilee said.

Clarice took a deep breath. “Okay, but… you can’t tell anyone else…”

Outside on the grounds of the Xavier estate, Monet and Paige were in state of shock. They weren’t entirely sure that they’d heard Martinique correctly, as what she said couldn’t possibly be true.

“Am Ah hearin’ things or did you just say that Emma Frost is your mother?” Paige inquired.

Martinique nodded. “Yes, she is my mother. Though I’ve never actually met her before, but that’s beside the point.”

“Then you’re lucky,” Monet told her. “The woman is vile. She’s a liar and a traitor. You shouldn’t even acknowledge her as anything other than an enemy.”

“With all due respect to your past with her, I do intend to one day meet my mother,” Martinique retorted. “I know that for a long time she was your teacher, and for some reason, she turned on you. I don’t know why, then again I know nothing about her really. I just want you to know that I in no way condone her actions and if there’s anything I can do…”

“Can you give us back the past two years of lives?” Monet said sharply, meeting the young British woman in a cold stare. “Or is that asking too much?”

“Would that I could,” Martinique replied. “I’m not trying to upset you, or stir up trouble. I just felt a duty to apologize. Whether I like it or not, Emma is my family, thus her actions have some bearing on me.”

“My condolences if the White Queen’s actions have amplified your certainly already-guilty conscience, but if you’ve come looking for pity, a pat on the back, or whatnot, you’ve come to wrong place.”

“Pity? Are you mad? I’m trying to apologize for what my mother did to you! It’s reprehensible!”

“That is something we absolutely see eye-to-eye on,” Monet said, her demeanor becoming cooler by the second. “But don’t apologize for Frost. Don’t pretend you care, either.”

Paige wasn’t angry at Martinique as Monet clearly was, but decided to stay quiet. She wasn’t even sure how she felt, therefore she had nothing to articulate into words. Paige just knew that the sooner the conservation was over, the better.

“Very well,” Martinique said with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “I suppose this was a mistake, but you can’t blame a girl for trying. Cheerio, then.”

Martinique passed by Monet and Paige and resumed her morning jog, leaving the two former Generation X girls alone and certainly shaken up.

“So she’s Emma’s daughter… and no one told us?” Paige said, a pained expression on her face. “Ah mean, how could they not tell us?”

“Now do you see my point? Not one of the X-Men, not even our dear friend Jubilee, could bother to tell us that they let Frost’s daughter onto their team.” Even though she was a master at keeping her cool, below the surface it was plain to see that Monet was fuming. “Hopefully now you understand my position.”

“Hey, you can’t pin this on Jubilee, M. She’s going through a bad time right now,” Paige countered. “As for why no one else bothered to mention it… knowin’ what Emma did to us… Ah don’t know. Ah don’t have an explanation.”

“There is none,” Monet insisted. “Not a good one, anyway. I’m not trying to paint the X-Men out to be the enemy, Paige, but you have to realize that they’ve changed. They’re not the same people they were before our trip to Wonderland. They can’t be trusted, and this proves it.”

“Well Ah still think you’re being too hard on them, and Ah also think you were a bit mean to Martinique, but…” Paige’s words trailed off, and she let out a sigh. “Fine. Ah’ll keep mum about what happened to us.”

“Perfect. Now, can we get back to our run?” Monet asked, and Paige nodded. The two young women took a moment for a quick stretch, then silently resumed their jog.

Not far down the path, Martinique was running at a steady pace and silently kicking herself for the way her encounter with Monet and Paige had gone down. While she hadn’t exactly expected a warm reception from her mother’s former students, she had hoped that they’d at least be civil towards her. No such luck, and while it was definitely a blow to her ego to be talked down to in such a manner, like every other thing gone wrong in her life Martinique would get over it.

However, during their very brief conversation, Martinique had picked up on something. Something that had her intrigued, something that could possibly explain what happened to Monet and Paige while they were gone, something that could maybe even give Martinique a lead in finding her mother.

“I’m curious, girls,” Martinique said quietly to herself, “just what is Wonderland?”

Genosha

Scott and Jean walked through the bustling streets of Avalon, Genosha’s capital city, and watched as the people around them went on with their lives. Mutants of all kinds, from ones that looked like baseline humans to others with outlandish physical mutations. And they were all getting along… no angry mobs, no demonstrations, no fighting. It was a life that many mutants around the world could only dream of, however, for those lucky enough to make it to Genosha, it was indeed a reality.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Jean said, smiling as she looked around. “All this life around us. All these people who have a safe place to go about the lives they deserve.”

“Do you take these ‘invisible strolls’ often?” Scott asked his wife. He had to admit that it was amazing; the city was a veritable metropolis and had come so far in such a short time. He had come here to see Jean, but taking a walk through the world’s first mutant city behind a telepathic guise had proven to be an eye-opener thus far.

“Here and there, when I have the time,” Jean replied. “Sometimes I even disguise myself as someone else and go on a shopping trip. Just to get away from the daily grind, you know?”

“I can only imagine how stressful your job must be,” Scott quipped, and absent-mindedly, he grabbed Jean’s hand. They both stopped walking, and Jean looked right into her husband’s eyes.

“I’ve missed that,” Jean said, smiling warmly at Scott. “I’ve missed holding your hand, so much.”

“Me too,” Scott said, returning a less enthusiastic smile. He didn’t know why he was still trying so hard to stay mad at Jean; he was a stubborn man, most definitely, but this was his wife, and the mother of his child. No matter what had happened before, he knew that she loved him. And he loved her as well.

“There’s so much more to show you, Scott,” Jean said as she raised the two of them into the air with her telekinesis, high above the ground. It was late afternoon, and the sun was beginning to set. The light gleamed off of the dozens of incredibly tall buildings that adorned Avalon’s skyline, and in the background sat the beaches that connected land to the Indian Ocean. It was a breathtaking sight to behold, undoubtedly.

“This is what we always dreamed of, Scott. And it’s only the beginning.”

“From up here, you’d never think that ten years ago this was a mutant slave country. It’s… it’s definitely amazing.”

“I can only imagine where we’ll be in another ten years,” Jean said, sounding ever like the optimist Scott had always known her to be. “I’m sure by then the United Nations will have stopped babysitting us.”

“How is that going, anyway?” Scott asked her.

“Well,” Jean began, “it’s going pretty well. We have UN reps here on a regular basis, and they sit in on all cabinet meetings and make their ‘suggestions’. Most of the things they want aren’t unreasonable at all, and I think they sincerely want to help Genosha grow into a better country. Certain things frustrate me, and I know they still don’t fully trust us. We just have to give them every reason to do so, however, and that’s what we’re working towards.”

“I think the lack of trust is perfectly evident by the fact that they won’t let you organize a formal army,” Scott commented. “Can’t say I blame them, what with Magneto being second-in-command.”

“Don’t forget that they gave him the job,” Jean reminded her husband. “He’s done a lot of bad things, Scott, but deep down I know Erik’s a good man. He’s not the villain he used to be, he’s changed. I wouldn’t still be working with him otherwise.”

“If you say so,” Scott said half-heartedly.

The political talk and specifically the mention of Erik Lensherr had brought the mood down considerably, and Jean intended to rectify that. Her reunion with her husband was going so well so far, and she didn’t want anything to ruin it. Luckily, she had the perfect idea in mind.

“Would you go out with me?” Jean asked, and Scott looked at her, confused.

“Well, we’re kind of already ‘out’, aren’t we?” was Scott’s reply.

“I mean on a date,” Jean said. “Dinner, a movie, that kind of thing… I’ll make everyone else see an elderly couple celebrating their anniversary, so we won’t be bothered. And Rachel will be fine with my assistant for a few hours. So just you and me, a quiet evening together.”

Scott liked the idea, and said, “Sure.” He gave Jean’s hand a slight squeeze, and then asked, “What movie?”

“Who cares? We can just sit in the back row and make out,” Jean said with a laugh.

Scott laughed too, and suddenly had the urge to pull his wife in close, so he did. “That definitely sounds like a possibility.”

The two locked eyes for a moment, and Jean contemplated kissing her husband, and he thought about kissing her too. They didn’t know what the future would hold, but they were content to live in the moment for the time being. They were together, and they were happy. It didn’t seem like anything in the world could hurt them ever again…

Sage, Nebraska

Above ground, all one saw was the State Home For Foundlings, a long-defunct orphanage that was once home to many children under the care of a man named Nathan Milbury. Mr. Milbury had been a kind man who took wonderful care of his children, and while most found homes with new parents not long after arriving at the orphanage, there were a select few with ‘special needs’ that always ended up getting left behind. Mr. Milbury took an extra interest in some of these unwanted children, an interest that was kept a perfect secret right beneath them.

Below ground was an entirely different story.

A pale, goateed man with short black hair, cradling an infant boy in his arms, made his way through the devastated ruins of what was once a proud underground laboratory. Once it had boasted advanced, innovative technology not of this world or of this time, and had been home to many controversial and even unethical experiments. It had been a wonder to behold, but no longer; in the time its proprietor had been away, the base had been pillaged and desecrated by a multitude of individuals and organizations, each with their own motives and interests.

It maddened him to think that anyone had invaded his home and stolen what was rightfully his. His life’s work, all of it – gone. He had to wonder who exactly had come and taken from him, though he had at least two solid guesses. He would get to them eventually, and make them pay. Dearly.

“Well, my boy,” the man said, scowling incessantly at the ruin all around him as he continued to hold the infant close, “we’re finally home.”

The man made his way down a corridor and after a few moments came to the door of what was once a proud vault containing a DNA sample of every mutant on Earth. The door was closed but he knew what he would find on the other side – an empty room. However, like all men in his line of work, Mr. Milbury had secrets beneath secrets, and was confident that while his laboratory had been cleaned out thoroughly, there was one part than everyone had overlooked.

The goateed man pressed a series of buttons on the panel next to the door, and a small red light blinked indicating that it still worked. A few seconds later, a cold, mechanical voice said, [Verbal authentication required for sub-basement access.]

“Nathaniel Essex,” the man said, keeping his tone calm and even. “Alias… Mister Sinister.”

NEXT ISSUE: While the X-Men continue their hunt for the remaining Brotherhood cells, Jubilee gets a surprise that will have a profound impact on her future with the team. And Mystique learns the truth about her condition, but will she accept help when Beast extends his hand? It doesn’t stop there, though, as Cyclops and Phoenix’s reunion takes a turn for the worse, and a certain someone makes a surprise comeback! Find out who next time!

Author’s Notes

My apologies for the delay in this issue’s release – it was supposed to be out in March! Of course as all of us in this ‘business’ know, real life can be a huge obstacle in getting issues out on time. Such has been the case for me.

I’m back now, though, and am on a clear course to complete at least three more new issues of UXM in the next month. The proverbial shit is about to hit the fan, in more ways than one. You’ll see precisely what I mean by the end of the next issue.

I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me, as I’ve got some new series on the horizon and while I can’t promise anything, I will try my best to keep all in order. I just have so many stories to tell, UXM wasn’t enough for all of them 🙂 And for those of you concerned about the rather large cast of characters in this series, look for that to change in the not too distant future (i.e. by the end of summer).

I guess that’s about it for now. The next issue is already in the works as I write this, so expect it soon!

~Ryan
05/12/06