OUT AND ABOUT

By Ryan Krupienski

Toronto, Ontario

Two small orbs, burning brightly with a fiery energy, flew through the air towards the base of the tall needle-like structure known as the CN Tower. Between the building and the objects stood an assemblage of men and women, each wearing a similarly-styled black and yellow uniform emblazoned with an ‘X’. Unlike the other, smaller group of individuals from whom the orbs originated, the X-Men were here to help. More specifically, they were here to put an end to the activities of the terrorist mutant group who called themselves the Brotherhood.

The X-Men had only arrived a mere fifteen minutes ago, and neither they nor the Brotherhood had really gotten any good shots in yet. There were nine X-Men and only five Brotherhood members, but the evil mutants were still poised to put up a good fight. Unlike the X-Men, the Brotherhood weren’t concerned with collateral damage; instead, they meant to wreak as much havoc as possible.

The orbs continued to sail through the air and almost whizzed past the X-Men, but the young psi named Ever reached out with his mind and grabbed the objects. Upon closer inspection it could be seen that the orbs were actually eyeballs, and the team’s current field leader Domino looked at them, then at one of the female Brotherhood members with disgust.

“Yeah, that’s just really gross…” the white-skinned woman scoffed. “How about letting ‘Ocula’ have her eyes back?”

“With pleasure,” Ever said, proceeding to use his telekinesis to toss the objects back at their owner.

The Brotherhood members scattered as the eyeballs struck the ground near them, causing a minor explosion that would have been far more powerful if not for the impact being dampened by the telekinetic field around them.

“Okay, time to get serious here, ladies and gents,” Domino said, her team waiting patiently for orders. “Let’s make this quick and clean. Colossus, Shiva – you’re on Mammomax. Husk and Kwannon, you two take Bling. Ever, you keep Ocula and her eyeballs at bay. Blink, Mastermind – you got Flubber. Proteus, you and I have Foxx.”

“I’ve never fought a giant mutant elephant before,” Shiva quipped as he balled his fists and charged them up with solar plasma.

“First time for everything, tovarisch,” Colossus said. “Shall we?”

As Colosssus and Shiva tore off towards their target, the other members of the team began separating into pairs, then started on their way as well. “Keep them away from the tower!” Domino yelled out. “If they take it down, there’s no telling how much damage it’ll cause!”

Kwannon and Husk moved quickly to their designated foe, a young woman with jagged crystal skin that carried a deep purple hue. Bling braced herself, as she didn’t quite know what to expect; all she knew was that the X-Men were traitors to their own kind. Kwannon was the first to strike, kicking her leg high in the air and connecting her foot with the side of Bling’s head.

Much to Kwannon’s chagrin, however, Bling didn’t even flinch and instead laughed off the hit. “Bitch, please! That all you got? My skin’s harder than diamond!”

“Diamond, huh?” Husk queried, and in an instant, the blonde began to shed her skin. It was a grotesque scene to witness, and thankfully Husk finished quickly to reveal a sparkling diamond form underneath.

“I know you ain’t tryin’ to steal my thing, ho!” Bling said angrily, lunging at Husk with both fists clenched tightly. She swung at the X-Man and pummeled her fist into Husk’s face but met with much resistance to the attack.

“That all you got?” Husk retorted, a smug look on her face.

Kwannon retrieved a small cylinder-shaped object from her belt and pressed a button on it, causing it to expand into a long double-sided lance. As she began to charge the blades with kinetic energy she asked, “Tell me, girl, does your skin offer you protection you from energy blasts?”

Meanwhile, Blink and Mastermind engaged the man known as Flubber, whose malleable form was winding every which way through the air around them. His powers reminded the young women immensely of Mr. Fantastic, though they knew he wasn’t anywhere near as intelligent as the Fantastic Four’s leader. His skin was a light shade of indigo blue, with odd pink symbols adorning his body at various points.

“Watch out!” Mastermind yelled as she jumped at Blink and took the pink-skinned girl to the ground with her. Just in the nick of time, they missed being crushed underneath one of Flubber’s fists, which had been inflated to a massive size.

Flubber circled in the air around them and readied for another attack, but before he had the chance Mastermind lashed out with her own powers, rendering an illusion of a large Sentinel behind the man. Not knowing the nature of the telepath’s powers, Flubber turned around and was visibly shocked to see the mutant-hunting machine before him. He turned his attention away from the X-Men and immediately engaged the faux robot.

“Shit, Foxx… Sentinels?!” Flubber yelled out at his team’s leader, but before she could respond, Flubber was struck with an energy that seemed to momentarily render his body intangible.

Blink stood over the now-downed man’s body, another glowing javelin in her hand and ready to be thrown in the event of Flubber’s eventual awakening. “I can’t believe Mystique recruited such dumbasses.”

“I can,” Mastermind said dryly.

“Damn it, that wasn’t a Sentinel you fucktard…” Foxx muttered from nearby, as she effortlessly avoided every attack that Domino and Proteus were throwing at her. They were both skilled fighters, especially Domino, but like her namesake Foxx was very sly and very quick.

Becoming visibly frustrated, Domino unholsetered her weapons and fired off a few shots at the blue-haired, yellow-eyed young woman. “Well at least one of you has an IQ above room temperature.”

“Funny,” Foxx said, now dodging the bullets from Domino’s guns. “Maybe you should take all that effort you put into your jokes and put it into this fight instead, eh?”

“Foxx?”

The villain turned around and was stunned to see Mystique standing there, but she immediately realized that it had to be another illusion. “I’d say nice try, but I’d be lying. Illusions won’t work on me.”

‘Mystique’ lunged at Foxx and toppled her to the ground, and while beginning to revert to his natural form, Proteus said, “Who said I was an illusion?”

The two enemies struggled for a short while, each trying to gain an advantage over the other. Proteus got a couple good hits in, but in the end Foxx was able to bring her legs into position to kick the shape-shifter off of her. He went flying back in the air about a dozen feet, while Foxx proceeded to jump to her feet and face Domino.

“I’m pretty sure your friend bats for the all-boys team,” Foxx said as she locked eyes with Domino, trapping the white-skinned X-Man in a trance. She slowly sauntered over to Domino and continued, “But you…”

Foxx placed a hand on the side of Domino’s face and moved in close, bringing her lips to the X-Man’s ear. She whispered, “I bet you’d eat me out.”

Suddenly, Foxx started to convulse after a glowing pink javelin struck her from behind, and the blue-haired villain fell to the ground in an instant. Domino shook her head as she snapped out of the trance, and gave a look of gratitude to Blink.

“Sure you wanna leave us, Clarice?” Domino asked, and Blink just shrugged.

“Like I said, if there’s an emergency…” Blink started to reply.

Domino, Proteus, Blink, and Mastermind scattered quickly just as the massive form of Mammomax came rampaging through, leaving large potholes in the ground with his elephantine feet. Colossus and Shiva rushed after him, but had so far had little luck in subduing the odd-looking mutant.

“Neal, can you fly after him?” Colossus shouted to his teammate.

“I’ve only flown once before,” was Shiva’s answer. “But I’ll try.”

Shiva took a deep breath and concentrated on forming a plasma field around his body, and found himself able to now to lift his body off the ground. He used the momentum the energy had supplied him and propelled himself through the air, right over Mammomax’s head. He lowered himself to be right in front of the elephant-man and quickly barraged his enemy with a few shots of solar energy.

Mammomax cried out, making a loud honking sound as he covered his eyes and took a few steps back. He was disoriented long enough for Colossus to come up underneath him and grab his trunk. Mammomax roared with anger and pain as his trunk was crushed within the X-Man’s steel grip, and Shiva continued to strike him with more plasma energy.

Mammomax suddenly became enraged, and began stomping with incredible force on the ground around him. The action caused small shockwaves to move out around him, knocking many of the X-Men off their feet. Shiva remained airborne and was readying another round of attacks, but he was made quick work of when Mammomax struck him hard with his trunk.

“No one stops me!” Mammomax shouted, then continuing his charge towards the base of the CN Tower. One way or the other, he was going to make sure that the Brotherhood caused some incredible mayhem.

“Great, just great!” Domino yelled, as she and the other X-Men ran to check on Colossus and Shiva. The X-Men’s leader reached out through the team’s telepathic link and said, {Ever, can you stop that thing?}

{Nothing’s impossible,} came Ever’s response.

Ever had just stopped Ocula yet again from detonating another set of her apparently endless supply of exploding eyeballs, but the young woman was also a telekinetic and therefore she and Ever had reached a stalemate of sorts. Ever kept his focus on Ocula, while diverting enough power and attention to try and stop Mammomax.

Ever only managed to slow the elephant-man down a bit, but was relieved to see many of teammates in hot pursuit of the villain. Many of their attacks, even Blink’s energy spikes, weren’t doing much to stop him, but at least they could keep him busy.

Unfortunately for Ever his focus on Ocula had waned just enough for her to break through his teke shielding and she quickly lunged at Ever, wrapping her hands around his neck and taking him to the ground. Sitting on top of the X-Man, Ocula retained her grip and proceeded to bash the telepath’s head into the pavement a couple times. She knew it wasn’t going to do much damage, but it was enough to give her the time she needed.

Ocula stood up and moved her hand up to her face, and telekinetically popped her eyeballs out of her sockets. She wiggled them around in her hand for a moment to charge them with explosive energy, then proceeded to throw them into the air, propelling them each at a different spot of the CN Tower.

“Buh-bye, sapiens!” Ocula shouted victoriously, a wicked smile crossing her face. Her expression quickly turned to one of dread as she felt a couple of bullets tear through her chest and abdomen, and the young woman slumped to the ground mere seconds later.

Domino came running to Ever’s side and immediately began trying to wake him up. “Ever! Ever!” Domino said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Hearing another roar out of Mammomax, Domino turned to see that the elephantine mutant had shaken off the X-Men’s attacks once again. He had resumed his charge towards the base of the CN Tower and was mere seconds away from it.

“Shit, shit, shit…” Domino muttered, watching as, simultaneously, Ocula’s eyes and Mammomax hit the tower. The result was three separate explosions that shook the building as well as the ground around it.

Much to the X-Men’s collective horror, the CN Tower began to crumble, and the large spire that sat atop it started falling towards the ground. It would only be a matter of seconds before the whole thing came toppling down on them and many innocent people.

“Ever! Damn it, wake up!” Domino shouted again, this time lightly shaking her teammate. “Wake up or we’re all dead!”

Genosha

“WEEEEE!”

Jean Grey emulated as best she could a child’s voice as she rolled around on the floor with her infant daughter, who was running and jumping all about the room. Rachel Summers was a raging ball of energy when she wanted to be, and enjoyed the simple pleasures of playtime whenever possible. She hadn’t seen her mother in months, but the girl was nonetheless comfortable and happy around her. Jean and Rachel had a bond that went much deeper than the typical mother-daughter connection, thanks to their psychic rapport.

Scott Summers, husband and father respectively to the woman and girl, sat a mere few feet away from the action at the end of a large leather couch. The three were within Jean’s living quarters, inside a simple but spacious room that was adorned with a large widescreen television, a couple of couches, a coffee table, and a few large plants. The latest addition to the area was a large playpen in one corner of the room that had toys spilling out of it, everything from stuffed animals to loud, obnoxious musical items.

Scott couldn’t help but smile as he watched Jean and Rachel play. He’d been mad at Jean for so long for taking off the way she did, but now that seemed like a lifetime ago. He was ready to let go of it all, ready to start fresh and be a family again. He wondered though, with Jean as Genosha’s commander-in-chief, just how exactly that would work?

“Mommy’s gonna get you!” Jean exclaimed, a very big smile on her face as she crawled after Rachel. The little girl had been running in circles around her mother, giggling and play-screaming the entire time.

As with most children her age, Rachel’s attention span was rather short and she quite hastily turned her focus to one of her favorite toys that was lying on the ground not too far away. The little red-haired girl ran after it, while her mother got back on her feet and let out a sigh. “Well, that didn’t last long,” Jean said jokingly. “All kinds of energy to share with everyone and everything.”

“She’s definitely a handful at home sometimes,” Scott told his wife. “Though her absolute favorite is when Hank takes her on one of his little ‘rides’.”

Jean, a look of half-worry on her face, looked at Scott. “His ‘rides’?”

“Oh, he’ll just jump and flip around with her in his arms. She loves it. And it sucks all the energy out of her, she’s usually down for a nap ten minutes later,” Scott explained.

“Hopefully the same trick works when he has children of his own,” Jean said, smiling at the thought of her blue-furred friend. She walked over to the couch and sat down next to Scott, taking his hand and locking her fingers between his.

Jean was silent, and drifted away for a few moments, lost in her thoughts. A small smile crept onto her face, which Scott noticed, and he gave his wife’s hand a slight squeeze. “What’re you thinking about?”

“Remember when you didn’t have to ask me that?” Jean said, turning to her husband. “I was just thinking about us, and Rachel. About how good this feels, us all being here, together… as a family.”

Scott smiled. “Doesn’t it?”

The redhead smiled back at her husband. “I don’t want it to go away.” Her smile faded, as did Scott’s; she didn’t need her telepathy to know what thoughts had come into his mind thanks to her comment. “I suppose that’s a hurdle we’ll face when we get to it…”

Scott simply nodded and said, “Yeah.” Why ruin the mood, he thought?

Jean leaned in closer to Scott, eventually getting close enough to kiss him. He put a hand to her cheek and kissed her back. It was a soft, sweet kiss, nothing too racy – there was a child present, after all.

After a moment the kiss was over, and the husband and wife just sat and stared into each other’s eyes. “I love you, Mister Summers,” Jean then said, smiling once more.

Scott returned the favor and replied, “I love you too… Madam President.”

Jean playfully smacked Scott’s arm for the remark. “Jackass,” she said.

Rachel suddenly came by, a pink stuffed animal in her hands. As she held the toy up to her parents, Jean greeted the little girl. “Hi, baby!” she said in a child-like voice, then proceeded to pick the toddler up and place her on her lap.

Scott leaned over and kissed his daughter on her head. “You know your mommy and daddy love you more than anything,” Scott told her.

Rachel just giggled and smiled and played with the toy in her hands, half-attempting to respond to her parents with odd noises almost resembling words. The two adults laughed at their daughter’s baby talk; it was too cute not to.

“So, what do you feel like doing?” Jean asked, looking from Rachel to Scott. “Moonlight stroll along Hammer Bay? Private dinner at the Observatory?”

“That could work,” Scott said with a shrug. “How about we just sit here for a little while longer, though?”

Jean nodded. “Okay,” she replied, “I’d like that too.”

Xavier Institute

Jubilation Lee strolled through the empty halls of the lavish mansion, still trying to figure out what she was going to do with the rest of her day. She’d been wandering around for a while with nothing to do, and the other X-Men were either away on a mission or busy teaching classes, so she really didn’t have anyone to talk to. She’d had so much ‘peace and quiet’, so much time by herself in the past several weeks that she was starting to get sick of it. She supposed that she should have gone on the mission to Toronto after all; a little bit of ass-kicking probably would have been fun.

As she continued to walk, Jubilee starting whistling a random, made-up tune, and clasped her hands behind her back. Maybe she could go see Hank? No, he was busy in his lab and she didn’t want to bother him. Plus Mystique was down there, and even being in the woman’s vicinity would get Jubilee riled up. Astrid Bloom was probably not doing anything, but Jubilee didn’t like her – something seemed off about the woman. Cecilia was always fun to hang out with, but she’d gone to work at the hospital hours ago. So what was a girl to do?

“Lee, there you are.”

Jubilee turned around and saw the tall, mocha-skinned form of Monet St. Croix coming towards her, with a few pieces of mail in her hands. “Oh, hey M. I thought you went on the Canada mission?”

“I wasn’t in the mood, honestly,” Monet told the young Asian woman as she came up beside her. “Paige and Clarice still have the desire to play superhero, but I do not. You didn’t go either?”

“Nah, though maybe I’m thinking I should have,” Jubilee confessed, shrugging her shoulders. “I’m kinda bored.”

“I’ve been spending time catching up on the past two years of world history, myself,” Monet said, in that patronizing tone she always seemed to speak in.

“Good for you. Not really my thing,” Jubilee quipped.

Monet stifled a laugh. “Yes, if I remember correctly, education in general was never really ‘your thing’.”

In the good old days, Jubilee would have snapped at Monet for such a comment, and the two would have gotten into a lengthy battle of the wits. Back when they attended the Massachusetts Academy and served together as members of Generation X, the two were bitter rivals in every sense of the word. They’d pratically never gotten along, and were always annoyed with each other. For a while they were even at war for the affections of their deceased teammate, Everett Thomas. Things had changed so much for both of them, though; they weren’t the same people they were a few years ago.

“Normally I’d beat your ass for saying that,” Jubilee jested, now wearing a grin on her face. “But in case I didn’t tell you before, I’m glad you’re back.”

“I’m glad to be back,” Monet responded, grinning as well. “To life, that is. As far as being back here? Not my first choice.”

“Well hey, at least you’re with people you can trust,” Jubilee pointed out, except that Monet didn’t trust the X-Men. She wasn’t about to tell them that, however.

“I think a month has about done it for me,” Monet said. “I already told Paige and Clarice, I already told Doctor McCoy, so I may as well tell you. I’m leaving to return home to Algeria for a while. I wish to see my father and my sisters.”

“And hopefully your crazy brother won’t be there…” Jubilee muttered under her breath.

“I heard that, Lee.”

“Heard what?” Jubilee asked, feigning innocence. Monet rolled her eyes, as Jubilee continued, “Well, how long do you think you’re gonna be gone? Are you even going to come back?”

“I’m really not sure,” Monet confessed. “All I know is that I have no desire to be an X-Man at this time. I want to have a life of my own.”

“Yeah, I hear ya,” Jubilee agreed, nodding. “I was on the right track for a while. I didn’t wanna stay here forever. I had always thought about Bobby and I moving out and getting a place of our own.”

As the two young women continued to walk, Monet turned her head slightly and looked solemnly at Jubilee. She truly felt bad for what her former teammate had lost, though they weren’t exactly close enough for Monet to reach out and comfort her. Besides, she knew that there were plenty of other people looking out for Jubilee, so she didn’t have to worry.

“You’re very brave, Jubilee,” Monet said, catching Jubilee off-guard with the compliment. “You’ve lost so much, but you’re still here, still strong. You may be a pest at times… but you’re also someone I respect.”

Jubilee couldn’t help but laugh. “Wow, thanks,” she said. “I mean, I appreciate the kudos. But it wouldn’t have been an authentic Monet moment if you hadn’t thrown that little jab in there.”

“Honest to a fault sometimes, I suppose,” Monet admitted.

“And what about you?” Jubilee said. “I mean, you and Paige and Clarice… whatever it was that happened to you… you guys lost two years of your lives. And you lost Ev, and Paige lost Jono. Last I checked you guys didn’t dissolve into a blubbering mess like I did…”

“Our… situation was a difficult one to endure, yes. We’ve gotten through it together, though,” Monet explained, being as vague as possible. She wasn’t ready to tell anyone, not even a former teammate, about the truth… about Wonderland. Maybe she never would be.

However, what Monet didn’t know was that Jubilee already did know the truth. Clarice had told her, and Jubilee had been floored. She didn’t understand why her old friends wouldn’t tell the X-Men, but she’d been sworn to secrecy, and wasn’t in the business of breaking promises. She had to laugh though, at Monet’s crafty method of keeping the topic vague. Jubilee could so easily bust her out at the moment if she wanted to.

“What’s so funny?” Monet asked, a bit irritated.

“Oh, nothing,” Jubilee said with a shake of her head. “Just us, walking, talking, and not trying to beat the living shit out of each other.”

“Stranger things have happened,” Monet quipped. She looked down to her hands and saw all the mail she had, and held up a rather large manila envelope to Jubilee. “Anyway, this is why I was looking for you. This came in the mail for you.”

Jubilee took the envelope and studied it, noticing that the return address was a lawfirm in Beverly Hills, California. “Huh… I wonder what this is?” She immediately tore it open and found a few very official-looking documents inside.

“Damn it, I hope I’m not being sued!” Jubilee said as she read over the first page, not understanding any of it. It was all in fine print and there were many words she’d never even heard of before.

“May I?” Monet asked, extending her hand to take the documents. Jubilee nodded and let Monet have the papers, and the young Algerian woman began to read them. She got halfway down the first page when she said, “Oh my…”

“What? What is it?” Jubilee asked anxiously.

“It says here that as of your twenty-first birthday a few months ago, you have attained the right to officially inherit a multi-million dollar fortune,” Monet explained. “This is coming from the estate of Doctor Nelson Lee.”

“WHAT?” Jubilee gasped, and she grabbed the papers from Monet and attempted to read them herself. “That’s my father! What is this, some kind of sick joke?”

“It’s not uncommon for wealthy parents to set up trust funds for their children, actually,” Monet said. “I know your parents died over ten years ago, but any money set aside for you would have stayed put regardless.”

“But you don’t understand, M – my parents were cleaned out right before they were killed,” Jubilee explained, shaking her head in disbelief. “And if they did have a trust fund for me, why didn’t I ever know about it? Why was I almost shipped off to China with nothing? Wouldn’t that money have been used to keep me in my parents’ home with a guardian or something?”

“I don’t have any answers for you, but I suggest you get on the phone and call this attorney,” Monet told her. “They should be able to tell you everything.”

Jubilee went silent for a moment, and her heart began to race. Could it really be true – could she really be inheriting a long-buried fortune from her long-deceased parents? It was so random, so out of the blue… she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it yet. For all she knew, it could just be some kind of twisted prank.

“So are you going to call or what?” Monet asked, somewhat impatiently.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Jubilee said with a nod. “And if it turns out that this is for real? It’ll change everything…”

Deep below ground, within a suite of high-tech corridors that were home to a multitude of rooms and devices, one blue-furred, beastly man and one red-haired, indigo-complected woman sat inside one small room in particular. It was more or less barren, the only objects inside being the two mental chairs that Henry McCoy and Raven Darkholme sat in. For the past several weeks, this had been Raven’s, or Mystique’s, ‘home’, as she had been taken into the X-Men’s custody after her latest round of crimes against humanity.

Mystique was quickly boring of this, having to endure conversations with either Beast or Domino or Cyclops several times a week. It was always the same old, same old – the X-Men wanted answers, or more specifically, they wanted to know the location of every other Brotherhood cell in the world. And each time, Mystique just laughed in their faces. She was to have been remanded to the custody of the United Nations weeks ago, but things had changed. A discovery had been made, as the shapeshifting terrorist was about the find out.

“Hello, Raven,” Henry said, looking the woman square in her yellow, cat-like eyes. “How are you today?”

Mystique cocked an eyebrow. “How am I? How kind of you to ask!” she exclaimed. “I am just peachy. Yourself?”

“Fine, thank you,” Henry responded.

“So I’m guessing you’re here for our regular song and dance… and I have to say, Doctor McCoy, you may as well give it up. I’m not talking,” Mystique said, her tone playful yet condescending at the same time. “You all have been promising to ship me off to the UN so I can be executed, but that hasn’t happened yet. What’s the delay?”

“This may come as a surprise, but I’m not here to talk about the Brotherhood. I’m here to talk about you,” Henry told her.

“Oh?” Mystique said, her curiosity piqued.

“Several days ago I made a discovery after the results of some tests I ran on you came back,” Henry began. He moved one of his brutish paws up to his mouth and cleared his throat, then continued, “What I found more than likely accounts for your outlandish behavior over the past year.”

“Outlandish? I’m not outlandish. I’m just brilliant,” Mystique declared, holding her head high. “I know I’m not the first person to ever think about blowing up most of the world with nuclear warheads, but I’m certainly the first to come within an inch of pulling it off.”

“You’ve always been a wildcard, Raven, and you’ve committed a plethora of dastardly deeds in the past,” Henry said. “But genocide? Mass murder on a global scale? That was never you. And my colleagues and I have been scratching our heads trying to figure out what happened, why you went as far as you did.”

“Since you’re so brilliant, Beasty Boy, why don’t you fill me in?” Mystique said, giving Henry a rather unobligatory look.

“You have a brain tumor, Mystique,” Henry revealed, choosing not to sugarcoat the matter. “How or why it happened, I can’t be sure, but I am on the path to finding answers. My preliminary hypothesis is that the radical nature of your powers and how they affect your physiology may have something to do with it. Nonetheless, it’s in there, lodged against the anterior two-thirds of your cerebral hemispheres. I still have more research to do, but I can say with the utmost of confidence that this tumor is the reason your behavior has become so irrational.”

“So I’m not really evil, it’s just the tumor in my head making me do everything?” Mystique paused for a moment, a thoughtful look on her face, and nodded. “Well, thank you, I could definitely use that as a defense when I go to trial.”

“This is not a joke, Mystique,” Henry said, standing from his seat. He took a few steps towards the woman, who regarded him with a rather bored expression. “You are sick. This tumor could kill you. But if you’ll let me, I can help you. I can remove the tumor, and…”

“And what? Turn me into a vegetable? I think not,” Mystique countered. “I’m not about to become anyone’s lab experiment, X-Man. I’m not afraid of any tumor, and I’m not afraid of the United Nations. As far as I’m concerned you can take your goodwill mission and shove it!”

Henry hung his head and sighed, as he’d expected that Mystique would react this way but hoped he’d be proven wrong. It wasn’t too late yet, though. “Very well. I’ll leave you and give you time to consider what I’ve told you, and what I’ve offered you. Just know that – in all seriousness this time – our deadline to hand you over to the proper authorities is in three days. After that, we won’t be able to help you any longer.”

“Yes, I’ve been hearing that for weeks…”

“The UN has already given us two extensions, Raven, and getting the second was like pulling teeth. I know that they won’t give us a third,” Henry informed her. As he began to walk towards the room’s exit he ended the conversation with, “Please, just think about it. This may be your last chance.”

Toronto

It was chaos all around him, but all Ever could do was lay there on the ground, unconscious. The outside world to him was so far away, instead he’d retreated into his own mind. He didn’t know exactly what was happening, but he had a feeling that he was slipping away and might not be able to find his way back.

It was often said that life flashes before one’s eyes before death, but for Ever it was more a nightmare than anything. One of the benefits and subsequent detriments of being a telepath was that you remembered everything; crystal clear memories even from infancy. Ever recalled his earliest years, before he began to change, when his parents still loved him.

Then at age five, his body began to transform, and from there his life had gone on a downward spiral. First his parents abandoned him in the Morlock tunnels, and not long after that, he and several of his fellow Morlocks were transported to a hellish dimension lorded over by the insane Mikhail Rasputin. They were times that were excruciating to recall; he’d worked so hard to move past all of that, but at that moment he didn’t have much of a choice but to remember.

His body was still, but inside Ever was crying out. He needed to break free, to release himself from this cruel replay of his former life, but he didn’t know how. How could he let himself be taken down so easily by a rookie member of the Brotherhood? It was enough to drive him absolutely mad.

“Ever… Ever…!” He could faintly hear a voice calling out to him, a voice he deduced belonged to Domino. He hoped for her to keep it up, for her to help show him the way back. He was lost and confused, but it wouldn’t last but a moment more if he could focus on that something long enough to bring him back.

In the real world, Domino halted her cries for Ever for a second and looked up to the sky. Her eyes widened in horror as large pieces of the CN Tower came crashing towards her and her teammates, as well as a plentiful amount of civillians. “Oh holy hell…” she took the time to mutter. Domino snapped out of her trance and turned her attention back to Ever, whose eyes were still closed.

“EVER! Please, PLEASE wake up! Don’t make me beg!” Domino pleaded with the unconscious man.

And then suddenly, the world seemed to come to a screeching halt. The commotion stopped, the air went silent, and the crumbling tower and its pieces froze in place. Ever’s eyes shot open, and he immediately pulled himself into the air. His whole body seemed to glow with a fire-like energy, and everyone in the vicinity watched the display in awe of it.

Using his telekinesis, Ever stopped all the members of the Brotherhood in their tracks, at the same time starting to move the pieces of the CN Tower back to their previous position. Every piece of glass and concrete, no matter how miniscule, started on the way back to their proper home; it was like watching the destruction of the tower in reverse. While the base and middle portions of the building were patched up, the spire was lifted high up into the air and gently came to rest at the top of the structure.

In an instant, it was all over. The CN Tower was back as it was, the Brotherhood were down, and everyone was safe. While the rest of the X-Men took the opportunity to regroup and contain their enemies, while Ever lowered himself down to the ground next to Domino. The white-skinned woman could not take her eyes off her teammate, still astonished by what he’d just managed to do.

“Feeling better, I gather?” Domino asked the young man.

Ever looked at Domino for a moment, then looked up at the CN Tower. “I don’t know how I did that…” he said, his words trailing off into silence.

Domino stepped towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Well however you did it, good job. You saved a lot of lives.” Ever turned back to Domino as she added, “I’m proud of you.”

Despite a million thoughts running through his mind at once, Ever was able to muster a smile. “Thanks.”

“Excuse me! You two!” came a man’s voice from behind the two X-Men. Domino and Ever turned their heads to see a group of police officers heading their way, while even more were heading the other way towards the rest of the team. The man at the head of the squad coming their way was a middle-aged caucasian man, and he didn’t look happy.

“They don’t look happy,” Ever pointed out.

Domino sighed heavily. “This is just great…”

“You’re X-Men I’m assuming?” the man said, somewhat cooly, as he and his officers came to a stop mere feet before the two mutants. “I’d say your reckless behavior here today is rather becoming of you. What did you think you were doing?!”

“Saving your lives, you ungrateful…!”

“Zip the lips, Ev. I’ll take care of this,” Domino told her charge. She cleared her throat and gave the officer her full attention. “Officer, my name’s Domino. I’m the X-Men’s field leader. A pleasure to meet you,” she said, extending her hand to the man.

The man did not respond to the gesture. “Let me tell you right now, Miss ‘Domino’, that we do not appreciate you using our city as a playground for your mutant power games.”

“Well, this is gonna take a while,” Domino muttered. She turned to Ever and told him, “Go regroup with the others. I’ll handle this.”

Ever nodded, then took a moment to glare at the police officers, who returned the favor. He went on his way towards the rest of the X-Men, while Domino once more faced the officers. “Okay,” she said, doing her best to stay complacent, “just let me explain…”

Genosha

An elder, white-haired man stood on the roof of Avalon’s capital building, gazing out into the star-filled night sky. There was a full moon out as well, and it cast a warm ivory glow over the sprawling metropolis. In his life he’d seen more than his fair share of amazing views, but this was the one he enjoyed the most. Perhaps it was because this beauty was being shared with millions of once-disenfranchised mutants who now had a safe place to call home.

Erik Lensherr, better known as Magneto to the masses, had seen Genosha at its worst, but now had a hand in leading the young nation in its finest hour. It was in many ways what he’d always dreamed of and more, yet in some ways less as well. It wasn’t perfect but it worked, at least for now.

The so-called Master of Magnetism felt a small vibration behind him as the electronic sliding door that led inside opened, and a man who had once been one of Erik’s foremost enemies stepped outside. Erik turned to see Scott Summers walking towards him, and acknowledged the younger man with a nod.

“Good evening,” Erik said.

“Hi,” Scott said, somewhat taken aback by Erik’s presence. He didn’t expect anyone else to be out here, and he wasn’t exactly in the mood for making small talk with Magneto of all people.

“You’re not with your wife?” Erik asked as the first X-Man came up next to him, albeit leaving a few feet between them.

“Jean had some late-night business to attend to. Thought I’d get some air,” was Scott’s answer.

“You picked a good spot,” Erik told him. “The view is magnificent, isn’t it?”

“It’ll do.”

“So are you enjoying yourself in Genosha? You’ve been here what, almost a week?”

“Just about. And, yes, it’s been nice.”

“Glad to hear it,” Erik said. “Any idea how long you’ll be staying?”

Scott didn’t quite know how to answer that; it wasn’t even something he and Jean had gotten around to discussing. “So you’re sick of me already, huh?”

“My apologies – I didn’t mean it like that,” Erik told him. “In fact, you are technically at home here. You’re a Genoshan citizen by default, as well as the First Gentleman.”

“I really, really hate that title…” Scott mumbled, shaking his head. He then grinned, and added, “Probably not as much as you hate being ‘Vice’ President.”

“Touché, Mister Summers,” Erik retorted. “Fortunately, I’ve moved beyond that issue.”

“Good for you,” Scott said dryly.

Silence enveloped the two men for a few moments, as they both looked out into the distance. There wasn’t much to say, really, though Erik was at least making an effort; Scott wasn’t quite ready yet. Regardless of the fact that his wife was working with the man day in and day out, he still didn’t feel comfortable ‘hanging out’ with someone who’d attempted to kill him on and off since the age of sixteen.

Yet while they were different in many ways, they were so much more alike then either would admit. Both orphans, both born leaders, and both so incredibly stubborn. Not to mention the concerns they shared.

“I must ask,” Erik said, breaking the silence between him and the X-Man, “how is that creature locked in your mansion doing?”

“I’m assuming you mean Cassandra,” Scott said. “Nothing’s changed.”

Erik nodded. “Good to hear. Let’s hope it stays that way, then.”

Scott turned his head and looked Magneto square in the eye. “Yeah, let’s hope.”

Weapon X Facility; Exact location unknown

His given name was Vincent, but he preferred the moniker of Mesmero. It was the name he’d adopted over a decade ago when he first stepped into the role of a superhuman criminal, and over time he’d simply left his old ‘normal’ life – and everything associated with it – behind. Not that life was ever really normal for him after his skin turned green at the age of fifteen, but back then things were still a lot simpler than they were now.

To Mesmero, though, simple equaled boring, and boring equaled something akin to death. He was a free spirit, and loved to live dangerously, no matter the consequences to others. He’d spent time trying to establish himself as a powerhouse, using his mind controlling abilities to manipulate and destroy countless individuals. Throughout all that time, though, Mesmero had never really had a concrete motive or master plan… he’d never had a cause to fight for. He was briefly a part of Mystique’s Brotherhood, and while it’d been fun trying to blow up half the world with nuclear bombs, he’d found that it just wasn’t really for him.

Fighting for something, that is. He just wanted to have something fun and crazy to do, like he did now. He’d allied himself with Victor Creed and together they’d been searching for weeks for a young girl that was supposedly Creed’s daughter. They’d been through a couple Weapon X installations already with no luck, but it seemed that was about to change.

“You two – kill each other!” Mesmero said, a bright green haze emanating from his eyes. The two soldiers before him became hypnotized by the glow, and within seconds they followed the green-skinned mutant’s command.

Mesmero watched and laughed as the former comrades turned on each and began to punch, kick, and shove each other. After a few good hits from both sides, though, one of the men got the upper hand and subdued the other, restraining him in a chokehold. The choking one struggled to break free, until his body went limp upon his fellow soldier snapping his neck.

The remaining guard turned to Mesmero as if he were waiting for another order, and the villain was more than happy to oblige him. “Take out your knife,” Mesmero told him. The man nodded, then reached into the strap on the side of his leg and retrieved the blade.

“Now slit your throat.”

The man did as he was told, lifting the knife up and touching it to his neck. With one quick motion, he dragged the blade across his throat and blood began spilling out immediately. The guard fell to the floor mere seconds later, a pool of crimson red expanding around him. Mesmero simply watched on, amused; that one never got old.

Just then, a nearby wall exploded, and a couple more men could be seen through the resulting smoke. Mesmero was ready for the next round and already had a creative way in mind for the guards to kill themselves. However, his plans were cut short when the massive form of Sabretooth came through the blown-out wall, and instantly tore into the men with his razor-sharp adamantium claws. Their screams didn’t last long, and were replaced by the sound of limbs being ripped from their sockets.

“Fine, I’ll just let you have those ones…” Mesmero muttered under his breath.

“WHERE’S MY DAUGHTER?!” Sabretooth roared, holding up the only guard still alive by the collar of his uniform.

“Y-Your *kaff* wha…?” the guard said between deep, weezy breaths.

“Subject X-23,” Sabretooth said, pulling the man’s face closer to his. He beared his teeth and asked again in a lower, gutteral tone, “Where is she?”

“Th-there…” the guard replied, pointing to a door not far down the narrow, metal-laced corridor.

Sabretooth grinned, and proceeded to snap the guard’s neck in an instant. “Quick and clean,” Creed said. “And people say I’m heartless…”

“Well let’s go bust your little girl out!” Mesmero said, starting on his way towards the designated door. Sabretooth followed right behind, and after less than a dozen steps, they were there. Mesmero held his hand up, motioning for Sabretooth to stop, and the green-skinned man seemed to drift away for a few seconds.

“What the hell are you doin’?” Sabretooth asked.

“Just shut up and wait,” Mesmero told him. Seconds later, the two men could hear the sounds of screaming and gunfire. The commotion lasted less than a minute, and then there was silence once more.

“There. Coast is clear,” Mesmero said smugly.

“Thought you had ta look into someone’s eyes ta ‘mesmerize’ ’em,” Sabretooth commented.

“It’s called evolution, baby!” was Mesmero’s enthusiastic reply, at which Creed simply rolled his eyes.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Sabretooth stepped up to the door and dug his claws into it, and after gaining the right momentum with his grip, he tore it off its hinges. He tossed the door behind him, and he and his partner stepped into the room to see about a half-dozen guards who’d killed themselves earlier at Mesmero’s behest. Moving past the mind-controller’s handywork, the two mutants looked about the room and saw several holding tanks and computer stations. At the far end of the room, there was one tank in particular that was occupied.

“There she is!” Sabretooth said, charging toward the tank. As he got closer, he could more clearly make out the form of a young girl, no more than thirteen, with long, black hair. She was naked and had several tubes inserted into various parts of her body. Weapon X was experimenting on her, just as they’d experimented on Creed and countless others so long ago. He already knew to expect this, but to see it in person made his blood boil like never before.

Creed swiped at the glass of the holding tank with his claws, and the glass shattered without hesitation. The liquid inside spilled out, while the girl’s body started to slump to the ground. Sabretooth caught her instead, and took her into his arms. This was what he’d been waiting for, to hold his daughter – a daughter he never knew about or ever thought he’d want. For some reason, though, a parental instinct had kicked in, something beyond curiosity. He’d had a son in the past who he’d absolutely despised for being a weak, pathetic human… but this was different. She was different.

“Uh, maybe going through the computers to wake her would have been a better idea?” Mesmero suggested, watching as Creed gazed in awe at the girl.

“Nah, if she’s anything like her old man, she’ll be wakin’ up any moment now,” Creed replied.

“Time to go then, I’m assuming?” Mesmero asked.

“You assume right,” Sabretooth said. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”

NEXT ISSUE: Things are turned upside down for the merry mutants when someone makes a shocking return! Who could it be, you ask? And can Scott and Jean’s newfound happiness last? The $#!% hits the fan next time!

Author’s Notes

Well, believe it or not, this issue is actually shorter than originally planned! I did have the ‘surprise return’ scheduled for this issue, but after a second look over my plots, and after realizing how long this one would have been, I did a little rearranging. So expect to see our returning friend pop up next issue.

And with that said, it is my sad duty to report that this is the last issue of UXM that Jubilee will be in for quite a while. This is also the end for Blink, who will be transitioning over to New Warriors in the near future.

I’m expecting the next two issues to come pretty quickly (hopefully the next by the end of next week). Oh, and if you feel so inclined, you can utilize the handy feedback form below and send me your thoughts on this issue! Thanks!

~Ryan
06/21/06