Contiunation of Issue #17, second half......

Mansion, evening.

Meanwhile the woman who Sarah felt was responsible for all this sat on a chair looking at her fallen teacher
before her. Ororo Munroe had been through a lot in her life. She had been striped of her powers, died few
times, she had been returned to the age of twelve and more things she didn't even want to remember. But
never had she been lied to by someone she trusted. And certainly not by someone who she trusted as much
as she trusted Charles Xavier. She had put her fate in the hands of this man since she was barely a young
woman, and for a moment never doubted him. He had brought her up, and thought her everything she knew
about the world, mutants and humans. He had made her the leader she always dreamed of being. She knew
he was just a man and that he had weaknesses just like the rest of them, but she never would have thought
those weaknesses would be the inability to control his own power. She would have never thought he would
be consumed and twisted by his own might. She would have never thought he would betray and try to kill
the X-Men. This has happened over a month ago, but seeing him like this, lying on the bed motionless in a
coma brought back reactions, and feelings she never had time to let out. Professor was taken away few days
after the Onslaught mess finished and they hadn't seen him up until those few brief moments when he fought
Bastion and fell into a coma. Now all they could do was wait for Charles to wake up and that could be
tomorrow, or it could be in six months.

"We had been through a lot haven't we Charles ?" Storm spoke out loud subconsciously. Receiving no
answer she kept talking to herself.

"I certainly have. My powers are gone again and goddess, no one knows why. Not even Forge. Not even
me. I feel like a unimportant human right now. I can't help my teammates in building, or if there comes a need
in a fight. I am useless to the X-Men."

She took a deep breath, and looked away staring at the wall. She received no answer from Xavier but she
could feel his presence, him just being there, gave her enough encouragement to speak. Just like it always
did. "X-Men don't need me."

"Someone else needs me. I have sent the Morlocks to my village in Africa, left them leaderless and
unprotected. Goddess knows what happened to them, if they even got there. They might be dying right now,
and I might not know it. I need to go and see them again. I am their leader after all, and they really need one
right now. And on top of that I haven't seen my family for years either. My mother Aniet must be worried
about me, all these years I haven't visited. I am powerless after all."

She heard the door squeak and someone come in. She turned around and saw Forge. "I thought I'd find you
here." he said smiling and sitting down beside her. "How's the Professor ?"

"No change." Storm answered. "Forge, I've been thinking." she then said. "With my powers gone, I am
useless to X-Men. I mean I have led them powerless once before but that was long ago, things have
changed since then, I've grown older and more mature and I doubt I could become that savage again. I was
just thinking. My life is so much unfinished business. Like look at the Morlocks for instance. I've sent them to
Africa to my village, but I don't even know if they made it there."

"Ororo are you trying to say... ?"

"I'm going back home Forge. It's been too long since I had some time off. I am powerless now Forge, I'm in
no condition to lead the X-Men. I need to go back home, for few months, a year or so and settle down in
my village, see my family again. My life has become too much of a unfinished business."

"Speaking of unfinished business..." Forge began. "There's still us."

"I was going to ask you to come with me but..."

"But you know that I can't." Forge said looking away.

"Forge I want you to come with me. It will be our little heaven just like we had before..." Storm stopped.
"But I know about your responsibilities as a leader to X-Factor. I'm a leader too, but I have the comfort of
leaving the job to Cyclops."

"You're right Ororo. I can't leave X-Factor. I haven't seen them since Operation Zero Tolerance started. I
should be with them but I'm still here building the mansion. I have to go back as much as I hate to."

"Forge... that time, you asked me to marry you."

"Yeah ?"

"I was going to say yes. Why did you leave ?"

"I... I was sure you were going to say no, I... I couldn't take a rejection from you."

"But how could you think I would say no ? Haven't I loved you enough ?"

"You never had time for me Ororo, you were too busy with the X-Men. I was sure you were going to say
no."

"Oh Forge, if you only had stayed then. Can you imagine what would have happened ?"

"We would be married."

"Exactly."

"But we both know it's all passed now." Forge said looking Ororo in the eyes.

"Yes I'm afraid it is." Ororo said looking down at her feet. "Whatever we had for each other is gone now,
we were separated for too long."

"I know. But that doesn't mean we can't try again." Forge said squeezing her hand. She squeezed it back and
looked him in the eyes.

"Agreed. But I'm not ready. I'm not ready to commit myself yet. I need a rest, from X-Men, from this life
from America, from everything. I'm going back home Forge, but when I come back I want to see you, I
want to try again. But for now I can't feel more for you than a friend."

Forge embraced her. "It's enough Ororo, it's enough."

"Thank you for understanding Forge. Thank you."

Hangar Bay

Psylocke opened the door to the Hangar Bay with great effort. She was tired. Weak more like it. All day
she was being haunted by the Undercloaks, and she couldn't even look at a shadow without being scared of
it, feeling it's alive. It was terrible. But the worst bit was the message she received when she was in the
kitchen. It definitely said Got you and after few times she saw a face with that message too. A face she
hated, and hoped to never see. The face of Matuso. What was his part in this ? What did he have to do with
the Undercloaks ? If he wanted to capture or kill her he would have sent his Hand to attack her. But yet she
was attacked by a group of shadow warriors who didn't even try to capture her, as if they were there just to
scare her. Well if they were then they succeeded. But what part did Matuso play in all this ? She had no
idea.

That's why she decided to check it out. Weak as she was she decided to go to Hong Kong, Matuso's house
and ask him personally. It took all of her telepathy to keep her sane, to block out the voices inside her head,
to stop the rush. But it wasn't only her usage of power. There was something certainly wrong with her, she
was getting weaker and weaker. Her energy, her life force, it felt like it was disappearing. Like someone was
draining it from her. Was it connected somehow to Matuso, the Undercloaks and the Crimson Dawn ? This
was a endless circle. She hated unanswered questions.

She knew she might have been too weak to confront Matuso on her own, but didn't ask anyone for help.
This was a personal matter. But as her vision began to blur in front of her and she could feel she was
beginning to sway she realized that it might have been a bad idea. ^Too late now.^ she thought as she
walked up the stairs to the Blackbird.

"Where you goin' chere ?" called out a voice behind her.

She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard that. She turned away and looked at the grinning Gambit
standing behind her. "None of your business Remy." she mumbled turning away.

Remy put his hand on her shoulder. "Stealing the Blackbird is my business." he said coldly.

"I'm not stealing it, I need to use it, to get.... somewhere." she said. The world began spinning around her.
She swayed for a brief second but controlled herself. It was enough for Remy to notice.

"Betsy you don't look too good. You're in no condition for a fight."

"How do you know I'm even going to fight."

"You've got your costume on, and your two katanas with you. It's quite obvious."

Betsy was puzzled for a moment. She was in no clear state of mind to argue with Remy. "I can decide when
I can fight for myself Remy, I'm a big girl now."

"You're a big and weak girl Elizabeth. I'm not letting you go where ever you want to go."

"Oh c'mon Remy, what are you my mother ?" she said trying to get free from Remy's grip.

"If you're not going to be convinced then at least let me come with you."

"No."

"Why not Elizabeth ?"

"Because it's none of your business."

"What if you die, and I will feel responsible ?"

Betsy had to admit he had the point. No problem she thought, she had gotten out of harder situations than
this. Then suddenly the rush in her head returned. She clenched her teeth and focused all her telepathy on
making it go away. She was still dazzled. "Okay then, get on." she said walking up the stairs wondering if she
was going ti regret this.

"Where we goin' ?"

"I'll tell you once we get there."

"Why are we goin' ?"

"One more question and I will leave you behind."

They both walked into the plane and soon the engines roamed as the began taking off. Before anyone could
stop them they were a small spot on the black sky.

INTERLUDE:

Somewhere in this world. The sky was pitch black. Not a single star on the sky. The place, was sand. Just
sand. Nothing more. And the in the pitch darkness a light flashed. Everything in the radius of ten meters went
white and for a moment nothing could be seen. Then the light disappeared and a figure could be seen in the
darkness. The skinny build all ready said it was a woman, even through she was wearing a coat of some
kind, with a hood. She wasn't tall about five foot eight, maybe nine but with the coat she wore she looked
much taller. As she began walking slowly more and more details of her could be worked out. The coat she
was wearing turned out to be a purple reddish cloak. Even though her face was hid behind a hood one could
see her small nose, slightly pointing upwards, and her small lips and her small eyes and her generally small
face. She had long hair, but in the dark the color could not be seen. From the first look at her face people
would fall in love with this woman. She was no super gorgeous, but there was just something about her face
that attracted a man. It was hard to guess what.

From under her cloak one could see she was wearing a body suit, of a reddish color. One would see her
breasts, not oversized, not even big but medium pointing out under the body suit.

After standing in one place for few moments she began moving in the easterly direction. Soon her figure
disappeared in the dark, and the marks of her arrival were soon swept away by wind.

END INTERLUDE

To Be Continued...

NEXT ISSUE:
"Drain You."
Immortality Part 1
The fate of Psylocke. All the connections resolved. All plans come out of the dark. Who are they ? What
do they want ? Why do they want it ? And will Betsy live through it ? It's the end of Psylocke as we know it.
Be there to see it, or you won't believe it. See ya in 30.