Disclaimer: Marvel Comics owns all the kids of Gen.X (really! They do!) and their two teachers, White
Queen and Banshee, save for Elizabeth, owned and created by us. We're really proud of that little mutant of
ours, so we're not giving her away! But we're not making any money out of this. Don't believe me, check
my account! Oh, and Artie, Leech and Franklin are also owned by Marvel. We don't make money out of
them either. And now on with the show!


GEN.X #10
October 98

"People of the Past"

Written by: Cloud
Edited by: Tom

Jono looked upward at the trees and flying birds while he walked, hearing the words Paige was telling him
but not letting them completely register. The two were walking along a small road going through the woods
around the school. They were here at Paige's request, not his. He didn't feel like talking out his problems
with her. He loved her, of that he was fairly certain, but he had always been a loner ever since he got half of
his chest blown up. His current problems, even if he still wasn't sure what they were, would be dealt with the
same way. On his own. Those dizzy spells were scaring him. More then he'd care to admit, but Jono saw
no point in worrying the others. If he one day felt it was necessary to tell them about this, he no doubt
would. Until then, he'd keep it to himself.

"Jono, are you listening to me?", Paige asked him, walking in front of him and turning around to see him face
to face.

*I am, luv, I am. But I just don't see what it is that is troubling you.", Jono repeated. He had told her many
times before that nothing was wrong.

She looked straight at his eyes, then sighed and fell back beside him as they resumed their walk.

"Jono, you know I care for you. I really do. I thought we shared something special the two of us. But... ...
Listen, I know something's wrong with you, Jono, and I just wish you'd let me help.", Paige almost seemed
to be pleading.

He looked at her. Looked at her beautiful blond hair, her deep blue eyes... and then looked away. He
couldn't bear to look into her eyes.

*No... Nothing's wrong with me, Paige. I would tell you if something was.*, he said again.

And deep down, simply by the fact that he refused to look into her eyes for more then a second, Paige knew
he was lying. And it hurt her. She looked away from him, and they continued walking.
****


"How stupid can that guy get?", Jubilee silently exclaimed as she sighed the scene before her.

Hidden behind bushes, crawling on the ground, Jubilee slowly proceeded forward, following the young
couple down the small forest road. She had seen them heading out, and, being the investigative teenager that
she was, saw her opportunity to learn more about her two friend's current dispute, and not only to prepare
the others of this, but also to maybe find a way to help. She smiled evilly as she continued on her way,
convinced of her righteousness at doing this.

"Jubilee? Can we play with you?", came Franklin's voice behind her.

Startled, Jubilee fell flat on her stomach, and got the wind taken from her. Gasping for breath, she turned
around to face the three kids who were now following her. Artie and Leech were actively debating whether
or not they should try to have Everett and Angelo build them a new lift for their Tree house, and Franklin
was holding his bright blue ball as he stood, waiting for her answer.

"You kids go play somewhere else with that balloon! I'm on an important, err, mission! Yeah! And I have
to do this alone!", she pointed out. "So you kids go play in the Biosphere, and I'll tell you about this later...
and take you on my next mission!", she added to convince the three young mutants.

The three kids were obviously impressed by Jubilee's words and they all agreed to go, as soon as Jubilee
swore their Holy Oath that she WOULD take them on their next mission. Sighing, Jubilee took the oath,
then, as the trio left, returned to her sp... no, investigative business. She lightly ran a few seconds, then
returned to the ground as she caught sight of the two lovebirds.

"Jubilee is on the case...", she said under her breath.
****

The living room of the Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, used usually to gather up for special
occasions or for relaxing, wasn't empty on that quiet sunday afternoon. Two of the residents of the school,
namely Elizabeth Cane and Angelo Espinosa, were sitting opposite of each other on the two large couches
that waited in the room. They were here to study. A big test was coming up tomorrow, and, although all of
them were supposed to be here, they hadn't really been surprised that only two of them had made it. Jubilee
was notorious for missing out on studying sessions, and Paige had made it pretty clear she and Jono wouldn't
show up today. Still, Ev missing wasn't normal. But such thoughts were far from Angelo's mind. Strangely,
on this fine afternoon, there was one thing he couldn't get his mind off of, and that was the girl reading before
him. Elizabeth. The sunlight shone from the window behind her and hit her back, making her hair light up.
There was something about her, something he just couldn't pinpoint right now, which made her extremely
fascinating to him. And of course, to destroy that infinitely magic moment for him, someone came in.

"Hey you guys! Any of you seen Jubes?", Everett asked, popping in the living room.

Elizabeth looked up at him, and Angelo shook his head negatively in answer to the question. Elizabeth
sighed.

"I saw her leave the house a few minutes ago after Paige and Jono. Guess why?", she answered, smiling a
little at her friend's natural curiosity.

"Spying, no doubt.", Angelo guessed.

Everett shook his head, and a wave of unexplainable shame washed over him. Probably at what Jubilee was
doing, but why was he feeling it? Because he... loved her? Did he really? He shook his head of all those
feelings, and nodded his thanks to Elizabeth, who eyed him strangely, before heading out. Elizabeth looked
at Angelo, who had seemingly returned to his books, and sighed again, before returning to her own studies,
but this time a lot less seriously.
****


Mondo was bored. There was really no other word for his condition, as he lazily sat on a couch zapping
with the remote control. He had no idea what the others were doing but it probably was better then this.
Anything would be better then this. Mondo yawned, looking desperately around for something to do. He
could feel sleep threatening, and he wasn't sure he wanted to head there. Nightmares had been plaguing him
for the last few days, and although he couldn't make any sense of them, they had been getting worse as the
days went on. Mondo closed his eyes slightly, and found himself too weak to rise. He was just too tired.
His mind slowly began to dr...

*MONDO! I NEED OF YOU HERE IMMEDIATELY!!!*, a sudden voice shouted in his mind, and
Mondo immediately snapped awake.

"All right, all right, I'm coming already...", he said, shaking his head and walking out the door.

'I just hope today isn't the day...', he thought, heading for the woods surrounding the school.
****

Emma didn't feel all that good that morning. Her mind had been so much stuck on her personal remorse
problems about the Hellions and M that nothing made sense. Nothing. Not that she cared all that much
about her current surroundings anyway. She still did her duties as school headmistress, and nobody around
seemed to be noticing that she was troubled this much, and it was fine by her. She had been there when M
had been killed and hadn't made a difference. True, there was nothing she could have done about the
Hellions. She was unconscious by the time they died. But it was her fault they had died. She had brought
them together and thought them to use their powers, and because of that they had died. Now she was trying
again, and again it was starting. M was dead who was next? Emma was walking down the corridor leading
to her office when these thoughts crossed her mind, and didn't see Banshee at the other end of the corridor.

Sean's mind was as distracted. But by an entirely different situation. The love of his life, Moira MacTaggert,
was on Muir Island, so very far away, while he was here, and he wasn't entirely sure if there was still
anything between the two of them. That alone was cause enough for him to feel lonely, but there was more
to it. It had been ages since the last time he had seen Theresa. In fact, he couldn't even remember for sure
when that had been. And that thought frightened him. He loved her, as much, if not more, then he loved
Moira. But they had been apart for so long, he had to wonder if she even thought of him anymore. In fact
he wondered if Moira did. Except for that phone call a few weeks ago, he hadn't heard of her. God how he
missed the both of them. It was as if a chunk of his soul had been torn in half, one held by his daughter, the
other by Moira... Sean looked up, and saw Emma. She didn't look so good either.

"Emma?", he dared to ask.

She looked up at Sean, and managed a nod.

"Hello Sean. How's your day?", she asked out of courtesy.

"Bad. Yours?", he asked in return.

"The same.", she responded without adding anything.

The two stopped in front of each other, and an uneasy silence fell between the two. It lasted for a few
seconds before Sean broke it.

"Care to share over coffee?", he said, looking hopefully at Emma.

He knew something had been bothering her for a long while, and he didn't want to miss this chance to finally
know what the problem was. And maybe this could even help his own problem. Emma looked at him
suspiciously for a few seconds, then nodded.

"All right, Sean, you win, we'll talk.", she told him, smiling slightly.

Smiling. That was a start. Sean smiled back, and the two headed for the dining room. And talked over a
cup of coffee.
****

The Rolls Royce made almost no sound as it entered through the front gate of Xavier's School For Gifted
Youngsters. Not that anybody would have noticed it anyway, everyone was pretty much dealing with
matters of their own at the time. So the car rolled unnoticed until it reached the front door, and stopped
there, waiting a few seconds until a man came out, looking around a bit before heading for the school doors.
He was tall and had dark hair, a definitive south american look to his face. He frowned as he stopped
before the door, looked at the doorbell and then, without further hesitation, he rang the bell. Inside, Angelo
looked up from his book, wondering who could be ringing. Elizabeth didn't seem to care about the bell, and
no one else in the house moved to go and get it. So he sighed and rose from the couch, groaning under his
breath as he went and opened the door. His eyes registered the man standing there, looking at him, and, half
a second later, his brain did too.

"Marcello.", he simply said, his voice neutral, his eyes not so.

If looks could kill, then the visitor would surely be dead.

"Jono, my old friend! I thought you were dead!! EVERYONE thought you were dead!", Marcello said,
and the emphasis on everyone was too evident to ignore.

Angelo's eyes reduced to two slits and what he said next he more growled then said.

"Get out of here. Don't tell anyone that...", he began.

"Jono, who is it?", Elizabeth said as she suddenly arrived behind him.

"I've missed you, my good man!", Angelo suddenly said out loud, grabbing Marcello by his arm and dragging
him outside the school.

Marcello grinned as he understood the situation, and let himself be brought outside. Angelo slammed the
door behind him, and Elizabeth shrugged, returning to the living room.

"NOW you listen to me, asshole, you know as well as I do why I'm here alive and well, while everyone over
in LA thinks I'm dead!", Angelo spat out, anger rising within him.

"Hey hey, there, Angie, I doubt Torres'll...", Marcello began to say.

"DON'T! Torres must not know of this, you hear me! NEVER! If you say anything, I swear I'll kill you!
Now get out of here, and I never want to see your face again!!", Angelo cut in, and this time Marcello took a
step backward.

"All right, I won't.", Marcello said.

Somehow Angelo wasn't too sure of that. Marcello opened his mouth to say something in reply, but Angelo
turned around and walked back inside, with a last: "GO!"

He stepped back in his car and it started on its way, only to stop a few miles later on the side of the road.
The man inside took out a cellular phone, and composed an LA phone number.
****

"What have I done to make you lose your trust in me?", Paige dared to ask after a long silence.

Jono stopped and this time faced her eye to eye. Their gaze locked and he didn't look away.

*You haven't done anything, Paige. Anything at all. You've been the same as always... The problem is with
me here!*

Jono fell silent at the realization of what he had just said. He had a problem. He'd just admitted it.

"So there is something wrong!", Paige remarked, an haunting look in her eyes.

Jono looked away, and once again he could feel the energies within him conflicting with each other. Wanting
to be released from all the pressure. He closed his eyes and concentrated, stilling the energies within him
once again.

"Let me help, Jono! I can see you're in pain!", she insisted again, tears threatening her eyes.

In the bushes nearby, Jubilee struggled to hear what was happening, getting dangerously close to the young
troubled couple.

"This is getting good...", she whispered.

"I never believed you'd step down to spying on your friends!", Everett suddenly said behind her.

She turned around in surprise to find herself face to face with a crouched Everett. She nearly cried out in
surprise and fell on the pathway behind her, but she was able to regain her balance and stop herself from
screaming before damage could be done.

"What are you doing here?", she asked him, frustrated.

"Elizabeth told me you'd be here! You should be ashamed!", he reprimanded, and she shot him a dark look.

Who did he think he was anyway?

"Since when are you my baby sitter?", she said in outrage, while still trying to keep her voice low.

She turned her eyes towards Husk and Chamber, only to see them walking away toward the school. She
had lost them. She sighed in despair and shot another dark glance at Everett, who shrugged in response.

"Fine. Let's go back!", she gave up, and started walking for the school.

Everett stayed behind a few seconds, then walked after her. He wasn't sure he understood Jubilee's childish
behavior, but there was something behind it that struck him as... cute...
****

When she entered the school, Jubilee wasn't quite prepared for the sight which welcomed her. Well, the
sound of banging was actually what she heard first. She climbed the stairs toward the source, followed by
Everett, and the two entered the boy's dormitory. Elizabeth was standing before Angelo's closed door, and
seemed worried.

"What is it, 'liz?", Jubilee asked.

Elizabeth looked at the two of them, and shrugged.

"I don't really know. Someone came and rang the bell, met with Angelo, the two went outside to talk, and
then Angelo angrily came here and slammed his door shut. I thought something was wrong so I came to
check up on him.", she explained, returning her gaze on the locked door.

"Hey, Angelo? Are you all right in there? Want to talk, pal?", Everett tried, knocking on the door.

It suddenly opened, only Angelo stormed out of the room, two bags in his hands as he started down the hall.

"What are you doing, Angie?", Jubilee asked.

He turned around, staring at the three of them, then turned back and announced over his shoulder: "Isn't it
obvious? I'm quitting the team!"

Everett, Jubilee and Elizabeth were too surprised to move.
****

In the woods, Mondo looked around the clearing, waiting for him to appear again. He would after a
while. He was always dramatic, and kept Mondo waiting on purpose. So he silently waited for something
he didn't want to happen.

"MONDO! IT'S TIME!! DO IT NOW!!", a dark, booming voice finally announced.

Mondo's eyes grew large in surprise. And then he sadly nodded. His human formed melted away, leaving
him in half human half earth form. He descended into the ground and headed for the school.

To be continued...


NEXT ISSUE:
The beginning of our first multi part saga! The mystery man in the woods revealed, as well as Mondo's role
in his plans! And what about Angelo? Is he really quitting? Don't miss part one of Black and White: First
Attack!!


AUTHOR'S NOTE: We at VC comics want to try something out, something that I don't think has
ever been tried. We want to do a letter page for our series! And the first experiment is with
Gen.X! So send your questions, comments and all kinds of letters to me at lama1@videotron.ca!!
All the best letters and questions will be posted at the end of next issue! Come on, here's your
chance! We want to hear from YOU!! The address again is lama1@videotron.ca

I'd also like to thank all of those among you who answered the feedback call last issue. I really
appreciated all the kind comments. Keep on sending them, we need them now more then ever with
the letter page coming up!!