GEN.X #6

May 98

"Feeling the Pain"

It was a month ago.

Rain was falling over the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in Masachussets.  And although the night was still halfway through, the students and teachers of the school were mostly awake.  But the rain outside didn't affect the Biosphere of the school.  The enclosed environment was actually the scene of a drama which, surprisingly enough, had happened many times in the past.  But this time things would turn out differently...  and change the young student's lives.

"Let them go, Marius.  NOW!"

M was standing menacingly on a small hill.  She was wearing her red Gen.X costume, her hair loose, her eyes dark with a furious rage which she rarely let out.  Below her, the members of the group known as Gen.X were hanging on a tree, all unconscious.  Penance was nowhere to be seen.  Neither was D.O.A.  Marius turned from his captives to face his angry sister.

"Well, sister, give me one good reason why I should do that.  I have won.  And I need to feast.  I am dying."

His voice did sound weaker than usual, and for a moment doubt entered M's mind, but it was easily discarded by her reason.  Her friends were the most important right now.  Not the needs of her twisted brother.  Emplate stood in front of them, a few seconds away from tasting Jubilee's mutagenic genes.  Since he wasn't moving, and kept slowly approaching Jubilee, M decided to take action.  She started to float, her eyes staring straight at Emplate.  If she had had the power to use her eyes to kill, there would be a crater where Emplate now stood.

"I'd prefer you die than I letting one of my friends get killed," she nearly screamed out, her voice filling the Biosphere.  Where this new found power of hers came from, Emplate had no idea.

She flew straight for him.  He barely had time to blink before she was upon him.  Upon contact, she headed straight up, bringing Marius with her.  She had moved so fast there really hadn't been much he could have done.

"LET GO OF ME," Emplate screamed in anger, desperatly to break free of his sister's grip.

Small mouths appeared in the palm of his hands as he got ready to do what he now had no choice to do.  If he didn't get what he needed, he would surely die.  And if, to save his life, he had to take his own sister's, then so be it.  Too bad for him M saw it coming.

"Don't even think about it,", M said, flipping Emplate over her shoulder.

They had flown to the top of the small dome.  The fall would hurt.

"Sister, wait...", he tried to say.

He never got the chance.  With an impressive strenght coming from one so small, M sent him to the ground.  He fell for a few seconds before crashing loudly to the floor.  But before he could move, or even open his eyes after the shock of the crash, M was upon him again.

"Ever since I began my life here, you've been constantly harrasing us.  Attacking us!  We became your prime target,", she shouted, the pain, rage and frustration apparent in her voice.

Emplate now knew fear, as his eyes locked with her's, only to find no room for mercy.  She grabbed him by the throat, threw him slightly in the air, then, before he could land, she punched with all her strenght.  He litteraly flew through the air and landed painfully in a small river that went through the 'spere.  Behind M, the rest of Gen.X were starting to come to, Sean first.  M turned to face them.  She hadn't been sure whether yes or no she had arrived in time to save them, but was glad she had.  She flew down to help them free themselves.

"Master, perhaps it is time to flee," D.O.A said, coming out of the woods near where Emplate had fallen.

Emplate's eyes suddenly opened, and his gaze fixed on something to D.O.A's right, which was also coming out of the woods.

"Come to me, child!  I need you," Emplate pleaded raising his hand towards the approaching Penance.

Sean saw what was happening, but was still too weak to do anything.  He barely managed to warn M.

"M...  Penance...  Behind you...", he had barely managed to say.

M, who was helping Jubilee sit down, turned around to see what Sean meant.  And reacted on instinct.  A basic need to protect the girl, although she didn't know where it came from.  Emplate threw himself at Penance.  M threw herself before Penance.  The conscious members of Gen.X all gasped.  Emma's eyes opened and she screamed Monet's name.  Emplate grabbed M's throat instead of Penance's, who took a few steps back in fear.  Energy ran between M and Emplate, as the two shook and screamed.  Then the energy lashed out at everyone present, but more strongly at D.O.A and Penance.  Then it all stopped.  And the cracking of a bone could be heard.  Tears appeared in Jubilee's eyes.  Emma rose to go to M's side, only to be held back by Sean.  Everett woke to the sound, then, for the next few months, would wish he hadn't.  M fell.  Emplate remained standing, apparently shocked.  M hit the ground, unmoving, eyes opened, but empty of life.  Everyone in Gen.X's gaze went to M's eyes.  They all saw it.  And then, with a flash of light, she was gone.  M was gone, Emplate was gone, D.O.A was gone and Penance was gone.  Teletransported away.

****

    Emplate woke up with a gasp.  He was sitting in his bed, somewhere in one of his secret installations around the world.  As he stared around his room, still in shock, he realized that he had dreamed the dream again.  The same one he has been having every night for a month now.  He sighed, and knowing he wouldn't be able to return to sleep, rose from his bed.  It was a strange feeling, to be able to walk around free of his armor.  Free of his curse.  Ever since that day, he didn't need anymore.  He was always energetic, strong.  He walked around his room and stared out the window at the star-filled night sky..  But ever since that day, he also felt... empty...  He really couldn't explain it.  It was as if a part of him had died with her.  Or that before dying she had taken something from him, to bring with her in the afterlife...  The ultimate vengeance...   He shook the thought away before going back to his bed and lie down, trying to achieve a semblance of sleep.

****

In a forest, somewhere on this world.

    She didn't know where she was.  Only that she was lost.  And confused.  As she ran in a forest somewhere, surrounded by endless trees, her razor sharp red skin cut branches and leaves, leaving behind her a easily followable trail, but she didn't care.  Her mind was a complete mess.  Images of war, of mutant monsters, of Emplate, of another girl she recognized, of dead persons she loved, of disaster and a name, Penance, all roamed in her mind, causing her to silently scream inside in fear and rage, making her cry to sleep every night.  Making her literally go quite mad.  There had been something at first to hold the madness together.  But she didn't know what it was.  It had been brutally taken away, that she knew.  And because of that missing part in her mind she was going mad.  She had to find it back, or else she somehow knew she would never find herself again.  She knew she was going to be lost forever.  And she didn't want that.  She knew that too.

****

The Xavier's School For Gifted Youngters, Massachussets, U.S.A.

    "Moira, I keep telling ye, lass, I can't go!  After all that's happened to all of us recently, I just can't leave now for a vacation!  I need to be here for the new lassie!  I need to be here for all of them!", Sean Cassidy said to the phone receptor while the answer was already on its way back.

He and Moira MacTaggert, the lady of his life, had been talking for what seemed like hours now, even though it had been only 45 minutes.  After a brief recap of what had happened to them recently, on both sides, came Moira's request that he take a short vacation on Muir Island, of a week or two.  A request he was now in the process of refusing.  He heard the response, and had been expecting it.

"Emma isn't the most reliable right now!  The lass seems to be facing some sort of personal crisis herself...", Sean explained.

The sigh that came next meant quite simply that Moira had given up.  He sighed too.  Althought he longed to see his beloved again, and to know just where their relationship stood, they would have to postpone the reunion until later.  Now was not the time to leave.  Not after Operation Zero Tolerance, and M's death.

"All right, we'll talk later.  I love ya too, beloved.", he said, smiling.

Then they both hanged up.

Well , with that done, I need to really make it up to her someday.  But later with that, now to find out what the kids are doing.

****

    "Damn it!  Why does it have to be this way!", Elizabeth screamed in her room, letting herself fall on her bed, where she rested, silent, for a few minutes, thinking.

The main object of her thoughts being : My life sucks!  Sure, I've made cool friends.  Sure, I've saved the world!  But I've lost everything I had.  My friends at school, my social life altogether for that matter!  All because of those damn mutant powers!  And...

She stopped when she realized she hadn't known about the powers yet when Kyle had...  The thought of it alone brought tears to her eyes and hatred to heart.  Hatred mixed with pain.  The worst kind.  She had been betrayed, by the man she had loved.  With her best friend, no less.  She sat down and stared out the window at the school grounds.  It was spring.  A rainy one at that.  Although today was different, the rest of the week had been a rainy hell.  Surprisingly enough, it was sunny outside today.  But the effect was completely lost on her.  What she needed was some way to keep her mind off her problems.  A momentary escape.  Miraculously enough, it came with a knock on the door of her room.

"Lizzie, you there?  It's me, Jubes!", said the voice to whom the knocking hand belonged.

She rose from her bed and opened the door.  Jubilee stood there, smiling.

"Hey there, Lizzie!  Me and Paige are planning  a night out on the town, and were wondering if you'd like to come along?", Jubilee continued.

It took less than a second.  This was what she meant by momentary escape.

"Sure, I'll go!  When are we leaving?", she asked cheerfully.

Jubilee, who was glad they'd found someway to cheer her newfound teamate up, smiled.

"We leave at four!  Get ready by then, 'cuz we're going via cab,  and I doubt Cassidy will appreciate a too big bill..."

"Okay, no problem, Jubes, I'll be there... Oh, and any of the boys coming along?"

"Nope, this is a girl's night only!  Fine by you?"

"Perfect for me!  ... Oh, and Jubilee?"

Jubilee, who was already on her way, stopped and turned.

"Yeah?"

Elizabeth smiled.

"Thanks for asking."

Jubilee smiled and walked away.  Elizabeth returned to her room.  Maybe she had lost a lot, but she still had friendship, and she was glad of that.  Very glad.

****

    "Guys, I don't know about the lot of you, but I'm bored.", repeated Everett for the fifth time.

The girls had been gone for three hours.  The boys had reunited in the living room to find something to do with themselves, but right now, they hadn't done much.  Nothing at all, in fact.  Jono was reading, and Skin was listening to his walkman, completely oblivious to the rest of the world.  Which left him pretty much with nothing to do.

"Guys?", he tried again.

Jono put his book down and looked at Everett.

*I'm used to doing nothing.  So why don't you just stop bugging us about it, and I can return to my reading?*, Jono said in a rather frustrated and snobbish tone.

Needless to say, Everett didn't take it well.

"WHAT?  You two were the ones who wanted to do something tonight since the girls were out!  And now you're blaming me!  Well, I'm not gonna stand by that, PAL!", he replied, rising from the couch, pointing menacingly at Jono.

Angelo could barely hear his music anymore.  He took his headphones off and rose from his sitting place too.

"HEY!  What's up with you two amigos?  I can barely hear myself think!"

Jono turned to face Angelo.

*You're the one who made us come down here so we could find something to do!  And you've been listening to your music ever since!*

Angelo took a shocked pose.

"WHAT?  You're the brainiac who wanted to follow "your" Paige all around town!"

Everett's eyes grew wide at that comment.  They should have been what?

"You guys actually wanted to...", Everett began.  He never got the chance to finish.

*I NEVER said she was MY Paige!  And I would never have proposed such a sorry idea!*

Oh boy..., Everett thought.  He sat back down.  This was going to be a long night...

****

    In another part of the school, she sat, alone.  To be precise, in her study.  It is darkened.  The door is shut, no light is getting through the curtains.  She wants it that way.  The darkness helps her think.  Her name is Emma Frost, but that's not the way people know her best.  No, the world at large who are allowed to remember her call her the White Queen.  As of yet, she doesn't know which name suits her best.  In fact, she doesn't know much, besides the fact that she has failed.  More than once.  Twice, she sought to teach a younger generation of mutants the way to use her powers, be it for her own purpose or to help mankind.  And twice, she has failed.  The first time, it had costed the life of all of her class, the ill-fated Hellions.  Now, it had costed the life of her prize pupil, Monet St-Croix.  Somehow it was her fault.  She knew it.  Deep down she knew.  It was always her fault.  What was her role in this school if all she served for was bringing students to their death?  Maybe she should leave.  Maybe leaving was for the best.  She didn't know.  For the first time in her life, she just didn't know.

****

    "How could I have know you were looking at him, Jubes?  You didn't say anything!", complained Paige to her teamate Jubilation Lee as they walked down the main boulevard, heading for the nearest bus stop.

Elizabeth was walking a bit behind them, smiling at the whole situation.  Paige had blocked Jubilee's view of someone Jubilee had qualified as being a "really hot guy", and a big fight between the two had ensued.  A really silly thing, but somehow Elizabeth felt at home, with friends arguing over boys, a peaceful ambiance, a nice day out shopping, a following dinner at a small restaurant, and a nice movie with hot guys in them to finish the night.  She was really glad she had accepted Jubilee's offer.  It once again proved to her she had been way too much brooding over the past these last few days.  It was time to let it go, not to let it control her anymore.  She smiled and hurried up her pace a little to join the others... only to bump rather hardly into someone.  She looked up... only to have her past look back at her.

"Ky... Kyle?", she said, her eyes growing wide as she recognized the young man she had bumped into.

And the girl at his side, who used to be her best friend, Linda.  And she felt her heart grow cold, the feelings of peacefulness withing her quickly replaced with hatred.  She took a step back, her mind registering what had just happened.  A few meters in front of them, Jubilee and Paige stopped arguing and looked back at Elizabeth, and saw her expresion.  And although they didn't know who she had seemingly bumped into, they knew trouble was brewing.

"Elizabeth?  Where have you been?  We've been mean...", Linda began, smiling at the angry girl, as if nothing had happened between the two.

That's when Elizabeth got really angry.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, LINDA!  I DON'T GIVE A DAMN OF WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY!  YOU TWO RUINED MY LIFE!", she screamed, taking a step forward, causing Kyle and Linda to take a smaller step back.

People around them stopped to look at the commotion.  Jubilee and Paige ran back towards Elizabeth, whose eyes had begun getting a bit clearer.  To their horror, both girls realized Elizabeth's power was kicking in.

"Now, Eli...", Kyle tried.

The glare the maddened girl shot him would have killed him on the spot if looks could kill.  And in Elizabeth's case, maybe it could.  But unnoticed by all, water began to fill her eyes.

"You don't realize what you've done to ME!  What I've been through ever since that DAY!  You've been living happily, not giving a DAMN SHIT about what had happened to me, didn't you?", she continued, the glow in her eyes getting brighter and brighter.

Luckily for both Kyle and Linda, that's when Jubilee and Paige rejoined them, getting between the couple and Elizabeth.

"Lizzie, calm down, what's happening?", Jubilee asked in a soothing voice, trying to reach her friend.

"You two better leave, and hope you never meet her alone until you've peacefully settled all this!", Paige told the two others, who, after looking one last time at Elizabeth, decided it wise to follow Paige's advice.  They quickly left.

"Let me GO, Jubilee!  You don't know what they've done to me!", Elizabeth said weakly, her tears flowing freely now.

"You're right, I don't Lizzie, but I do know that in the state you're in, whatever you do now you'll regret later, so why don't we just return to the school and talk about this there, huh?", Jubilee said in a comforting voice, helping Elizabeth walk toward the bus stop.

"Yeah!, ", Paige added cheerfully, "It's apparent that you've been through a lot, but we have too, you know.  We're your friends!  We're there to help!", she added, handing Elizabeth a tissue so she could get rid of her tears.

Elizabeth smiled weakly.  But it was a fake smile, just to recomfort her friends.  She felt torn up inside.  Nothing else remained but chaos in her.  Closing her eyes to block her tears, she waited with the others for the bus.

****

    Now what's all that ruckus down there? Sean thought as he went down the stairs leading to the living room, and, apparently, to a heated discussion.

"You two jerks can just continue at this all night if you want!  I'm going to bed!", came Everett's voice.

"Good riddance!", came Angelo's voice.

"Yeah, I'll be better off in my room than with you two!", said Everett again.

*You're really not thinking straight, Angelo, if you think for a second that I have actually proposed that we go after Paige and Jubilee like that...*

Sean entered the living room before Everett could leave, and stared at the three of them.  Angelo and Jono were standing up, staring at each other, while Everett was on his way out, looking really mad.

"Oh... Hi Mr. Cassidy.", Everett said, rather evenly.

"Just how long have ye been arguing, boys?", Sean asked.

The two boys standing suddenly stared at their watch, and let out a gasp of surprise.

"App... apparently, two hours...", Angelo said, falling back on the couch, unbelieving it had really been two hours.

"As I've been telling them all along...", Everett said.

"Aye boys, and that's time ye could have spent studying for your test coming up.", Sean added.

*As I've been trying to do all along.*, Jono added.

Sean sighed.  So did the three boys.  They had wasted their whole night arguing over some stupid...  Just what had they been arguing about?

"Well, I suggest you all go to bed...  The girls will return soon, and you've got a training session tomorrow..."

The three nodded, and went to their rooms.

****

    Sean's thoughts were on a woman far away when he walked in front of the Biosphere doors, heading to his study, when he thought he saw a light shine in there.  He stopped, and then the light repeated itself again.  Frowning and worried for Artie and Leech, who slept in their small treehouse tonight, he entered the 'Sphere.

"Hello?  Artie?  Leech?", he called into the darkness.

"Sean Cassidy?", answered an old voice just beside him.

He jumped, surprised, and fell backwards.

"Damn you, whoever ye are!  You nearly made my wee heart stop!"

"If I scare you so much, then maybe you're not the right man for the job I want you to do...", the older man said.

"Wait a second, I know you... Lights!", Sean called up, and the lights opened bright.

Nathaniel Richards was standing in front of him, holding in his arms the young Franklin, who in turn was clutching tightly a bright blue ball.

"I want you to take care of him, Cassidy.  I've got other things to do right now, so I can't do it myself."

Banshee stood up, facing the old man.

"Why us?"

"You've got my trust, which is something hard to accomplish, and you're already taking care of children here, so..."

Artie and Leech came out from a bunch of bushes, excited at the arrival of a new friend.  The old Richards put the young boy down, and he happily joined the two other boys.  They went off to show him their treehouse.

"Well, it looks as though he'll fit in fine.", Banshee said.

"Yes...", Richards agreed.

He looked at Banshee and smiled.

"I'm entrusting you with my only grandchild, Cassidy.  Don't let anything happen to him, I trust you!  And if anything should happen..."

"I have no uses of your threats tonight.  Are you through here, so that I can go to bed?"

Richards smiled and nodded.  And disapeared in a bright flash of light.  Sean sighed.  This was getting more exciting by the minute.

****

    Mondo stood in the woods just outside the school once again.  He was a bit cold, and was getting impatient, but he knew he didn't really have a choice to wait.  When the man did finally show up though, he didn't complain.  He listened.

"You'll have to get ready soon, Mondo.  I'll start my plans soon..."

Mondo nodded.

"I'll warn you when the time is right, Mondo.  Go back to the school now.  And sleep well.", the man said.

Mondo nodded and headed back to the school.

****

    Somewhere in France.  A mansion of some kind, lost deep in a forest, with only a small road leading down to it.  A bright flash appeared, blinding the surrounding owls and other night living creatures.  Most of them ran away.  Then a small man appeared.  Black and silent.  And old.  He was whipping up in the air some bolas, and a strange energy portal materialized.  And two small children came out, looking identical.  And then the old man disapeared again.  Leaving behind the two twin girls.  In front of the mansion's doorstep.  On the plate above the door, a name.  St-Croix.

End

NEXT ISSUE:

Gen.X is terrorized in their sleep by the demon known as Nightmare!  What does he want with them, and why is he after Gen.X?  Find out next issue, online the third week of July!

Onto Gen X #7