Disclaimer: Jubilee, Skin, Husk, Chamber, Synch, Mondo, Banshee, White Queen, Leech, Artie, Franklin Richards, The Blue Lady and this issue's villain, whose name I won't reveal for the sake of secrecy, are all owned and created by Marvel Comics. I'm using them without authorization, as everyone around here is doing anyway, and am not making any money out of this. Elizabeth, whose codename I have yet to come up with, is the propriety and creation of X-Vision Comics. I hope you enjoy this issue as much as you have the others.

GEN.X #11
November 98

"Black and White Part 1"

First Attack
Teacher: Cloud
Headmaster: Tom

^indicates thoughts^
*indicates psy-speech*

"You guys heard me, I'M QUITTING!", Angelo Espinosa repeated to the newcomers to the scene, Paige
Guthrie and Jonathan Starsmore, as he decisively walked towards the door.

The rest of the team, consisting of Elizabeth Cane, Jubilation Lee and Everett Thomas, walked behind him,
trying to catch up to his fast pace, asking for answers.

"Angelo, why? Is it something we've done?", Jubilee tried, her mind racing to find some way to stop this
from happening.

Angelo stayed silent as he continued his approach of the main school doors. None of them had thought of
getting Cassidy or Frost, which was fine by him. He didn't have a choice but to leave them. It's not that he
wanted to. He was forced to, for their own good. He didn't want them to get involved with Torres, and this
was the only way he could think of to avoid that.

"Angelo, come on, say SOMETHING!", Everett insisted, and a bit of anger and irritation showed in his
voice.

Jono stayed silent through it all, watching his friend leaving, a touch of understanding in his eyes. But also
some shock and incomprehension. Of course. Angelo himself hadn't planned this. Finally Paige reached
out and grabbed his shoulder, trying to twist him around, to force him to face her. He angrily escaped her
grasp and said over his shoulder.

"You can't stop me from leaving, chica. Don't try such a stunt again."

Paige's hand fell to her side as she gazed at him, surprised by the hard tone of her friend's voice. Finally,
without further interruption, he grabbed the door handle and twisted it open... only to stop short in front of
Mondo, who was silently standing there, blocking the way.

"Move, Mondo, you're in the way.", Skin warned, sidestepping beside Mondo.

Skin never saw it coming. Mondo slammed him down with a powerful punch. Skin fell instantly, taken
totally unaware by the blow. The others watched in shock as a deformed Mondo threw Skin's unconscious
body aside and as it landed with a loud crash through a nearby wall. Mondo turned and looked at the rest
of them with cold eyes.

"Now it's your turn."
****

Sean suddenly rose from his chair when he heard the loud crash downstairs, and was already heading for
the door a second later. Emma, following him at a quick pace, scanned ahead with her powers, trying to
reach out to the group and learn what was happening to them.

"Well lass, are you getting anything?", Banshee asked back.

He was already regretting not having his uniform on.

"Don't call me lass, Irish. And the kids are panicked. Something's definitely...", Emma started.

She never had the chance to finish. A strange creature, grown fully out of plants, crashed through a nearby
window, hitting the White Queen at the same time, sending her to the ground, breaking her concentration.
Around the window, vegetation rapidly started growing out and heading everywhere along the walls of the
school. Banshee stood before the creature, preparing his sonic scream. But before he could do anything,
the creature's arm extended and twisted itself around his neck before he could scream, cutting his air supply.
Things weren't looking too good.

^What now?^, he thought as the Irishman struggled to free himself.
****

Totally isolated from the rest of the school, the Biosphere and its current residents, the young Franklin
Richards, Artie and Leech, are totally unaware of the events going on around them, and all three are actually
occupied.

"Captain Leech! A big ship is coming from the... um... right!", First Officer Franklin announced to his
captain.

The three youths looked ran to the right side of the tree house, and Franklin pointed to the big ship on the
horizon, a ship only the three of them could see.

"Aye! Everyone get to the cannon!", Leech ordered.

Artie showed a pictured of him firing a shot at the ship, and the three kids laughed.

"A direct hit, but it's still coming!", Franklin announced.

The three young mutants looked at each other, their minds trying to think up a way to stop the ship.

"Hey, do you guys hear that whistling sound?", Franklin suddenly noticed, looking around for the source of
the sound.

The roof of the biosphere suddenly crashed in as something went through it and crashed in the ground near
the tree house. The young mutant boys were thrown to the floor as a loud explosion could be heard in the
biosphere. The three of them slowly rose again, and descended from the tree house. Smoke rose from the
ground nearby, and something seemed to be moving within it. Carefully, even though all three of them were
scared, Artie, Leech and Franklin approached the crater, their curiosity driving them forward.

"Be careful.", Leech warned.

The two others nodded, and they neared the edge of the crater. The smoke was clearing, and a dark shape
was laying in its center. Franklin saw it first.

"It's... some blue lady.", he reported to the two others.

The woman's eyes snapped open. She didn't look human.

"Children... Please... Help me...", she said with an accent not from this Earth.

The three mutants looked at each other, and began stepping down the crater toward the woman.
****

They were running. With all of their training, their adventures up to now, the dangers they've faced, the
only thing that came to the members of Generation X when Mondo felled Skin with a single punch was
running away. And they were all already regretting that decision. The school walls around them was
greening, if that was possible. Vines, grass, flowers and other kinds of vegetation literally grew on the walls,
blocking doors and hallways, reshaping everything beyond recognition. Synch was the last one of the
runners.

"Guys, I think we should stop running blind and try to get our bearings!", he shouted to the others ahead.

He couldn't believe what he had seen. Mondo betraying them was such a shock their minds had reacted on
instinct, and well, it looked like fighting still wasn't an instinct for them. Synch looked back behind him, and
saw no one. It looked like Mondo wasn't following. Good. The others in front of him turned a corner
down yet another corridor, and Synch turned the very same one, only to slam into a newly formed wall of
vines. A really thick one. He couldn't hear or see the others beyond it.

"Damn! Now what?", he said, turning around to look for another way.

Mondo was standing there, right behind him, his fist already in the air. He was strangely disformed, his body
made completely of earth, his eyes strangely vacant, his face dark and emotionless.

"Mondo, what...", he began saying.

The fist came down. Everett wasn't about to go down. Not yet. He jumped out of the way, using what he
had learned in training, his powers already synching with Mondo's. The next blow he jumped over, finally
standing up before Mondo to strike back. His body was taking a strange ground texture, the same as
Mondo's. His eyes became sharp as he stood before the one who had seemingly betrayed the team. He
was ready.

"Well, Mondo my good friend, shall we see which one of us is the better man?", Synch challenged.

Mondo didn't wait another second before attacking again.
****

The scream erupted from Banshee's mouth like a bullet from a gun, hitting the plant creature full force,
sending it into a wall. He had managed to escape from the thing's strangle when Emma had tried to
mindblast it, disorienting whatever it was for a few seconds. But it had no real mind to begin with, so
Emma's hold on it didn't last long, so it was up to him to finish the job while the White Queen telepathically
looked for the rest of them. The thing shrieked again and lunged at Banshee who easily dodged it and
finished it with a powerful scream to the back of its apparent head. With a silent moan it fell and
disincorporated into the vegetation now surrounding them.

"Well, that's that. Anything on the kids?", Banshee asked, turning around to look at the White Queen.

"Something is blocking my telepathic probe. I think the vegetation growing around has something to do with
it.", she explained.

Banshee nodded and started looking around. A very clear passageway among the plants was the only way
out of where they currently were. A trap, probably.

"Looks like we'll have to go look for them on foot.", he decided, looking down the vegetative tunnel.

Emma nodded, and they started on their way. Behind them a wall of greenery fell, blocking the way back.
They continued on a bit further before encountering yet another wall.

"Looks like the trap is set.", Emma ironically remarked.

"True enough, Ms. Frost.", came a voice from behind them.

"That voice... TOM! So ye're the bastard behind this!", Banshee yelled as he twisted around.

A man stepped out of the vine wall, half of his body looking like a plant, the other human. He was smiling a
dark smile.

"Aye cousin. 'tis me. It's been a while.", Black Tom Cassidy announced.

"Not long enough!", Sean said with a dark tone, watching his cousin closely. "What do you want?"

"I'm dying, cousin. Not that ye'd care. Of the Legacy Virus. I've been laying low in the woods around the
school, watching, waiting for the right time to strike. What I want, cousin? Vengeance for the injustice ye
did me!", Black Tom screamed in rage.

Vines came out of the walls and grabbed both Banshee and the White Queen, clobbering them, disorienting
them and taking them away,. separating them.

"And now the game begins!", Black Tom shouted, watching them disappear in the vegetation.
****

"This is hard work.", Leech complained as he struggled to reach the next step leading up to the tree house.

Artie showed the image of an egyptian slave working to bring a block up to a pyramid, and Franklin had to
agree, but they had to do this.

"Come on guys, we're almost there!"

The three of them were trying to bring the Blue Lady they had found up to their tree house so they could help
her. They couldn't just leave her down in that crater. Artie showed an image of him with big muscles lifting
more then a hundred pounds, and a big X appeared over it. Strong Artie was not. Leech nodded.

"I know. I'm not that strong either."

"My uncle Ben could do this easily. So the three of us can do it too!", Franklin said, trying to cheer the
others up.

For some reason he suddenly missed the blue ball he had kept with him ever since his parents and family had
disappeared. He didn't know why, but it meant a lot to him.

"Thank you... children... for doing... this.", the Lady said, and Franklin nodded.

"It's our pleasure!", Franklin said, and his two friends agreed.

Continuing in silence, they reached the tree house, and the four of them fell to its floor, exhausted.
****

Synch barely dodged earth spikes as they flew by him, hitting the green walls behind him. He was slowly
being cornered by Mondo. The fight had been pretty even at first, but Mondo was experienced in his
powers. Something Synch was not.

"Mondo, please, why are you doing this?", Everett tried, panting from exhaustion.

Mondo's answer was another blow, which Everett only half dodged. It was strong enough to send him
rather hardly to the floor. Mondo stood beside him, probably preparing his final blow. Synch shook his
head and concentrated, manipulating his body into forming a earth sledgehammer which he hit Mondo with.
The tall mutant took a few steps back, groaning in pain, and Synch was on his feet again. He was actually
managing to stand his own.

"Mondo listen to me! End this now! I...", Synch began.

This next blow he wasn't expecting. Mondo extended his arm and slammed him on the chin, sending him in
the air, and on the ground again, where he lay a few seconds, feeling consciousness escaping him. He tried
to concentrate, to form another weapon to hit Mondo, but failed. Mondo's next punch put him unconscious.
****

"Guys there's nowhere else to go!", Husk announced at the sight before her.

An unbreathable wall. The tunnel they had used to reach it was gone. None of them knew where Everett
had gone to, and now that they were stuck here, it looked pretty grim.

"We have to try to go back and get Everett!", Jubilee said, looking for the way they had used to get there.

*We don't know how to do that! Whoever's doing this is pretty good.*, Jono pointed out.

"Yeah, almost out of our league... I mean, Mondo... Who would've thought.", Elizabeth said, standing
beside Paige.

There were no apparent windows or exits to the room. Nowhere else they could run to.

"We can't just wait here.", Husk said, feeling her way through the vegetation walls, trying to find a passage.

"Well, if I got my bearings right, we should near the exterior wall. We didn't go up any stairs. So maybe if
we just...", Elizabeth told them.

"That's it! Blast our way outside, get some help maybe...", Husk said, looking at the others to see if they
approved of the plan.

"No! I say we go back and find Everett, talk some sense into Mondo, maybe get him to Frost if he's been
brainwashed or something...", Jubilee said, and the three others looked at her, surprised.

This wasn't the way Jubilee usually reacted to such a situation. What made things different this time?

*We don't really have a choice here, Jubes.*, Jono said, convinced. *Which side do we have to go through
to reach outside?*, Jono asked Elizabeth.

"This way, I think.", Elizabeth answered, pointing to the wall in front of them.

Jono nodded and concentrated, pulling back the shroud he kept over his face, revealing the energy
underneath. He concentrated. He didn't really want to do this. His powers were out of control recently,
fighting to get out even when he didn't need it. Almost like the first time they had manifested. He knew that
using them wouldn't help. But he had to. He closed his eyes and fired at the wall Elizabeth had pointed out,
releasing his energy in a powerful blast. The wall underneath the vines and plants exploded outward, while
the plants on it burned. Dizziness hit Jono like a brick, and, before he could do anything about it, he fell
down, losing consciousness.

"Jono!", Paige shouted, running for her fallen comrade.

Elizabeth looked outside, and fresh air hit her.

"What do you know, I was right.", she said, impressed at herself.

Jubilee finally stopped searching for the way in and started for the outside.

"Let's go then.", she said, her tone neutral.

Paige picked Jono up and raised him. He was surprisingly light.

^Well, I suppose a guy with energy inside him can't weight much.^, she thought.

They all stepped outside the school, only to stop suddenly at the sight that waited for them. The whole
school was surrounded by a thick wall of vine, earth, plants and rocks. Totally isolated. It formed a globe
above the school, so not even flying could get them out of this.

"Great! What now?", Jubilee asked, looking straight at Paige.

"Ah say we break through it!", Husk said.

The two other girls nodded and Jubilee started throwing plasma blasts on the wall, with no apparent effect.
Paige was about to put Chamber down to try and morph into something that could help when she felt the
ground under her tremble. She looked behind her and saw Mondo coming out of the ground. Husk took a
step back, taken by surprise. Jubilee had barely the time to notice. Elizabeth barely the time to move.
Mondo, with a simple gesture, brought the ground up and, like a tidal wave, down on Husk and the
unconscious Chamber. Husk barely had time to leap clear of the wave, but in mid-jump the wave caught
Chamber, and he slipped off her shoulder, swallowed by the ground like he would have been by water.

"Nooo!", Paige screamed as she landed clear of the wave.

Jubilee, Elizabeth and Paige stared in shock as Chamber vanished underground.
****

When Emma Frost was finally free of the vines that had captured her, she had no idea of where she was.
Before she had a good idea, but the vines had done a good job of totally disorienting her. She was alone
now. No sign of Banshee or the others. This couldn't be how it ended! It just couldn't!

"Sean! Paige? Jono?", she screamed, trying in vain to locate them.

She had been useless again. And now her students were paying for it. She shook her head, trying to clear
her thoughts. No, she had to find them, even if she had to use all of her powers. She closed her eyes and
started probing. She hit the same disturbance as before, but she struggled past it, forced her way through.
The pain it brought was evident on her face as she did so, but she couldn't let it end this way. And finally she
broke through, sensing immediately the minds of three of her students, and Banshee's. Just sensing them, not
enough to communicate. Elizabeth, Jubilee and Paige. But why couldn't she sense the boys? Was she too
late? Were they dead?
****

"Show yerself, Tom!", Banshee screamed at the top of his lungs to the darkness surrounding him.

The vines had let go of him in a simple tunnel with no lights but a simple glow ahead, inviting him.

"I've had bloody enough of yer games, Tom! Let's end this man to man!", Sean yelled again.

No answer, same as before.

"Fine.", Banshee muttered under his breath.

He'd play the game this last time, since it would probably bring Black Tom to him. And then... Banshee
started walking down the corridor, watching for traps and the sorts. Nothing happened. Nothing lashed out
at him. He continued walking until he reached some kind of cave in the ground, where torches were hanging,
revealing a sight which broke Sean's spirit. Hanging on the wall of the cave were the broken bodies of the
dead Everett, Jono and Angelo. Their face were twisted in horror. Banshee screamed in rage.

TO BE CONTINUED!!

NEXT ISSUE:
Black and White Part 2! Black Tom has made the first strike, and only the three girls are left standing! Will
they be able to survive Banshee's cousin's sinister vengeance? Are Jono, Everett and Angelo really dead?
Find out next issue!

Gen. X LETTER PAGE!!

Welcome to the first edition of the Gen.X letter page, a brand new initiative from Vision Comics! I
got a few letters last time and picked out two to be showed here. Keep sending them, people!
Whether this initiative is a success or failure depends on you!! Letters can be sent at
lama1@videotron.ca Well, I'm announcing the traditional Letter Page contest as usual! While we
don't yet know what the prize will be, start sending in your suggestions right away! And now the
letters...

Hey Cloud,

Just read the Gen.X 10 and like it! I'm just wondering where you're heading with this. The whole series is
great and takes a good spin on the real stuff. The whole series is great and takes a good spin on the real
stuff. VC stuff is all I read regularly, so I can't wait to read more from you all. Keep it up and keep me
posted.

Jason

Well Jason, you have the honor of being the first letter posted on this letter page! Congrats!
Thanks for the kind comments! They're really appreciated. As for where I'm heading with the
series, well, let's just say surprises are coming. I'm slowly but surely breaking up from the regular
Marvel continuity to spin into a totally new experience. The first big revelation, Black Tom
Cassidy, came this very month, and just wait until you see what we've got lined up for next year.
Let's just say I'd advise you to check out the beginning of issue 6 for a BIG clue. And new
characters will also show up! So keep reading! On to the next letter...

Dear Cloud,

Recently I found some of your Gen.X work on the net. I liked it, but I couldn't get issues 10 and 11 of
Gen.X. Do you think if it is at all possible that you could e-mail them to me or something? Also, could you
tell me how to get signed up for a subscription to Gen.X? Thanks for your time and keep up the good
work!

Rich_37

Hey, once again thanks for the kind words, I appreciate them. I already sent you Gen.X 10. As
for the subscription thing, well, I'll let my good editor and boss, Tom, decide. I personally think
it's a good idea. It would allow us to know at least some of the people who read us. As for where
you can find the Vision Comics titles on the web, well, I'll leave that to my editor as well. To you,
Tom!

Tom has entered the building... He is wearing nothing and feeling strangely fine.... HEY WAIT A
MINUTE.... how did this get here ? Mmmmmm this sounds better. I would just like to
congratulate Cloud on this success, I mean when he first told me about this idea I wasn't really
that sure if it would work, but looks like it does, so keep sending people ! And as for the answer to
Rich's question... There is officially no Vision mailing list, but all Vision work is sent to the now
famous OTL mailing list. Not only that it has a wide variety of other fan fiction, and is kinda a
cool place to hang out. To subscribe to that list, write to Susan at : carosue@iguana.ruralnet.net
.And as for net access, there is of course our official Vision Comics Shifting Sands Sub Page at :
http://shifting-sands.la.ca.us/~darqstar/xvision/splash.htm .However, that site has not been
updated for a while, as the achiever Midnight has some problems. So basically that site should be
good if you want any back issues. For the current up to date stuff check out our little corner in
The Corner of the Cosmos at : http://www.portup.com/~sumaketc/X-VisionComics.htm . That has
got all of our up to date stuff. But if Rich was looking for some kind of subscription, I suggest he
subscribes to OTL. Any more questions can be addressed my way at vision-@ihug.co.nz .Okay
that's enough editorial interference for now, I'm off to put some clothes on.

Tom (The good, kind, caring and loving Editor In Chief)