Alex is walking to his physical science class when all of a sudden,
there is a pull from his backpack. He turns around to identify the culprit,
when he realizes that it's only his best friend, Drew Ebon. "You always seem
to be able to sneak up on me like that, Drew. What's your secret? It might
come in handy for me someday," comments Alex thinking of the fight between
him and the others with Holocaust.
Drew gives Alex a shrewd smile, replying, "Oh, you know I can't do that.
That's why it's my little secret. You gotta have the touch. Anyway, it's
too cool to see you almost jump out of your pants every time I do that to
you!"
"I did not!" Alex whines.
"Oh, yeah right, Alex. I know when you're scared. You can't hide that
from me."
Alex starts to laugh, as Drew does as well. They then walk into their
class and sit at their assigned seats, which is a problem since they cannot
talk to each other without getting in trouble. Drew, though,enjoys talking
to Alex anyway.
"Alex," he whispers. "I won't talk for long, but I need to talk to you
about an envelope I got in the mail yesterday, okay?"
"Sure," Alex whispers back.
After the bell rings for classes to change, Alex and Drew walk out, as
Alex laughs from the teacher of physical science, Mr. Albaugh, who
constantly makes jokes throughout the class period. Alex wipes away the
tears from his eyes from laughing so hard.
"What was so funny, Alex? Tell me, tell me!"
"Well, Drew, it's just that -laugh- Mr. Albaugh is so, so funny!"
"Mr. Albaugh? I cannot STAND that man! He is continuously making
senseless jokes, as if we were still in Kindergarten!"
"Shush, keep your voice down. That's only because you have no sense of
humor whatsoever."
"No sense of humor? You gotta be kidding me. Why, I'll show you a sense
of humor!"
If someone had true insight, they could see flames rising from Drew's
body.
Laughing, Alex asks his 'friend,' "So, what's up with that envelope you
were telling me about? You didn't look too pleased. Is something
wrong?"
Drew replies melancholy, "I'm transferring to another school that's very
far away from here."
Alex looks sad, yet puzzled. He thinks to himself, Either this is pure
coincidence, or Cerebro's technological capabilities are far more advanced
than I first thought. Only one way to find out, though.
Nervously, he clasps his hands, purposely covering up a ring, with the
J X L symbol on it, that he received from Professor Xavier.
He asks, "Where are you moving? Or do you even have an idea on where you
will be going?"
Drew answers, "A place called Salem Center. It's in New York. I'm
really not supposed to tell anyone about this, but you're my best friend,
Alex, I just had to tell you."
Alex's eyes grow wide with astonishment. He sticks his hands in his
pockets so his ring won't be seen. He walks with Drew down the science
corridor while he contacts Rose through her ability of telepathy, Rose, can
you hear me? This is J X L business.
Down the hallway, Rose puts her hand on her forehead for a clear
transmission of thoughts. I read you loud and clear, Alex. What's up?
Something buggin' ya or what?
You might say that. I've found another one, a new neo-mutant, but he
doesn't even know it yet. Cover up your J X L ring. I'm walking with him
toward you. You aren't gonna believe this. It's Drew!
Drew??!!! Wow, I never thought that Drew of all people would be a
mutant. When did you find out?
Just now, and I am just as shocked as you. We will have to break the
news to him really carefully, though. We don't want him to do anything
drastic, especially here!
I get what you mean. Do you know when we will get called to transfer?
I'm getting rather jumpy about it. Something doesn't feel right here.
Why? What's gotten you so worried all of a sudden? Have you seen
something in the future?
Oh, Alex, you know I can't see the far future, just the immediate.
Anyway, I can't see anything, I just feel it.
Feel what?
I sense a disturbance in the space/time continuum. I think time is going
to stop for a few minutes. I'm not really sure, but Alex, you don't know how
it feels! My cosmic energies that allow me to manipulate the passages of
time and space and directly linked to the s/t continuum. I feel so much
pain, that it's almost unbearable.
Calm down, Rose, get a hold of yourself. Everything's going to be okay.
Now, can you tell me when time is gonna stop?
In a few minutes from now. What do you think we can do? How can we stop
it? What if we can't stop it? Will we be stuck in time forever??
Rose, listen to me. Everything will be okay. We just have to think about
this. Now tell me, if time really stops, is there anyway you can put an
anti-time shield around us?
I think so. Why?
I'll bet that we need to find out whatever will cause this abrupt stop
in time, and find some way to neutralize it. Anyway, we'll jump that hurdle
when we get to it.
Rose and Alex, with Drew, walk toward each other at the end of the
science wing. The three begin to talk, but suddenly, a loud scream is heard
from down the hall. Without warning, time stops and everyone seems to be
frozen in time, just like Rose predicted, and because of her powers, Alex,
Drew, and herself, are not affected.
Alex says to Rose telepathically, Looks like you were right, Rose. I can
tell that your powers are growing stronger!
The three quickly run to the point of location where the scream took
place, and that is when they witness a terrifying site. . . .
A man, presuming, is floating in mid-air in the cafeteria lobby. Flames
are projecting out of his back like wings of fire. He is holding a bloody
skull of an unknown Caucasian in his right hand. He is laughing
hysterically, amused with his handiwork, and watching the blood drip onto
the floor, forming a puddle, when he notices the three teens watching him.
He exclaims to them bellowing, "How can this be? No one can resist the dark
powers of those who serve the coming holocaust!"
The neo-mutants are stunned by the unidentified man's appearance. Red
flowing energy emits from the monster's eyes like that of lava erupting out
of a volcano. Pure blackness seems to cover the gigantic fiend from neck to
foot! The flames that looked as if they were coming out of his back like
wings are distinguished now as insufferable energy which constantly
surrounds him. His "gloves" and "shoes" sparkle like a consistent shower of
different shades of orange and red.
Rose says to the others, "I think I'm gonna be sick!" She jumps into the
girl's bathroom. Unknown to the man, however, this is a ploy to draw
attention away from Rose.
"Hey, come back here, Rose. You coward!" exclaims Drew.
"Don't talk about her like that, you moron, she's my girlfriend."
" 'Scuse me."
The man just watches and laughs at the two boys standing in front of
him. "Go ahead, argue among yourselves. It will only make my job just that
much easier!!" he utters as he laughs.
Alex whispers to Drew as quietly as possible, "When I say 'Go', run into
the boy's bathroom and wait for me to tell you it's safe for you to come
out."
Drew asks, "What are you gonna do, Alex?"
"I don't know, but I'll think of something."
"You can't be serious."
The man yells at the boys, "I cannot stand this! Are you just going to
stand there staring at me, or do you want to fight for your life before I
take it away from you?!"
Alex exclaims, "Go!"
Drew stares in confusion at the horrific sight.
"GO!"
Drew stands like a gallant soldier at full attention.
Alex tries to pull him back, but before he can, he is knocked ten feet
backwards from an electrical shock! He realizes that the unknown "visitor"
has encased Drew in some kind of electrical shell which would prove to be
fatal to ordinary humans. Even though the electrical shield hinders most of
the sound, Alex can hear Drew screaming something, but cannot understand the
wording.
Inside the shell, Drew speaks boldly, "I shall not allow this! I will
pay you back for what you have done to this innocent!"
The electric shell bursts open and whirling energies discharges out of
Drew's body.
"Drew?" Alex says in amazement.
The energies encircling Drew come down upon him as he and the energies
unite as one. He then screams, "Divide and conquer!"
"Oh my gosh. We're in for it now," Alex murmurs.
Two beings of energy issue from his body, both having the physical
likeness of Drew. One of a reddish tone and the other one, a bluish tone.
Drew articulates to them, "My children, destroy this vestige of
annihilation!"
The two entities lash out with forceful energy blasts at the unnamed
foe, who can only laugh, "Foolish, child, you are good, but not good
enough!" he yells stopping Drew's "offspring" with his gargantuan hands.
Then he pushes them toward their creator, knocking Drew and his children in
union once more, causing him to collapse.
"Drew!" Alex runs to his friend. "No, Drew, you can't leave us. You have
so much promise! I can see it within you!"
"Alex?"
"Come on, we gotta get you out of here!" Alex lays Drew's left arm
around his neck, heading for the boy's bathroom.
"Not so fast!" the enemy shrieks hurling a massive blast of concussive
force down at the teenagers. Drew is cast into the bathroom, but luckily, is
still intact. Senselessly, Drew runs back out to stand beside Alex. He
stumbles and moans, when Alex hears him.
"Drew? Gosh, you dirt for brains, can you never listen to me?" he asks
turning around. "Go now! Drew, do you want to survive or not? Go! GO!
Drew stares at Alex with huge eyes, but snaps back into reality and
dives into the boy's bathroom, finally getting out of the hypnotic fear,
just before there is an explosion of gray electromagnetic waves. He opens up
the door slightly. Subsequently, he passes out from the shock wave produced
from the discharge.
Unknown to the unconscious Drew, Alex is the one responsible for the
explosion and the shock wave. The electromagnetic waves he produced
apparently melted the unidentified man within seconds, leaving absolutely
nothing recognizable behind. Rose reappears in the lobby and opens another
portal leading into a different galaxy on the other side of the universe.
The remains of the victim fall into the portal, as Rose closes it, never to
be seen again. Alex walks into the boy's bathroom, only to find Drew asleep
on the floor.
Walking over to Drew, Alex shakes him. "Wake up, Drew. Get up!" Getting
annoyed, Alex sends a surge of magnetic energy into Drew's body, raising him
from unconsciousness.
"Is it . . . over?" Drew asks Alex, looking at the bloody floor in
astonishment.
"Yes, it's over. Everything's fine now."
"Who was that man? And how did you get him out of here?"
"That's information that you'll have to ask somebody else. I'm certainly
not that person. All I can say is for you to follow the instructions in that
envelope you received from Salem Center. Your questions will be answered
when you talk to the founder of the school, Charles Xavier."
After this sordid experience, Alex walks Drew through the main hall as
Rose uses her teleportation ability to clean up the rest of the mess caused
by the unknown visitor.
Before Alex leaves Drew, he says, "That was totally cool what you did
today. How'd you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Oh, come one, don't be modest."
"I'm serious, Alex. The only thing I remember of it was he captured me
and then you saved me. Wasn't that the way it happened?"
"Sure, Drew, what ever," says Alex in a confused state.
"Catch ya' after class. Bye!"
"See ya'," he says perplexed. "That's funny. He doesn't remember? I have
to tell the Prof. about this!"
Later that day . . .
"MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION FOR THE AFTERNOON ANNOUNCEMENTS?"
The four students are currently in their third period classes: Graham in
physical science, Drew in English I honors, Rose in French II, and Alex in
Biology I.
In Alex's class, he thinks to himself, looking upward to the intercom,
"I wonder. . . ."
". . . THE JUNIOR-VARSITY BOY'S BASKETBALL TEAM . . ."
Through their telepathic rapport, Alex contacts his girlfriend, "Will
they announce for us to report to the office for our transfer?"
". . . THE INTERACT/KEY CLUB WILL HAVE A MEETING . . . "
Rose replies with her special ability, "I sense that they're about to
right now. Now, let's listen and find out."
" . . . WOULD THE FOLLOWING STUDENTS PLEASE REPORT TO THE OFFICE WHEN
THE BELL RINGS: DANIEL SCHMIDTZ , DREW EBON, ROSE-MARIE WEST, AND ALEX
DAVIDSON."
BRINNNNGGGGGGG!!!
Walking out of English class, Drew contemplates, I'm so worried about
all of this. The others have already been to Salem and been given roles in
this supposedly upcoming battle. It's just not fair. Why do I always have to
be the new kid, and why are they immediately transferring me when I haven't
been there and the rest have? I just don't get it.
Alex, Rose, and Daniel say their good-byes, mostly to friends that they
have had in their classes, and those who have been with them throughout each
other's life. Some cry, and some laugh of the special times that they
shared.
Drew, however, purposely blends in the background, refusing to be sad,
for he, even if he has only been living in Tullahoma for two and a half
years, has also made some friends that if he said good-bye, his heart would
be broken.
They walk into the THS office through the main entrance. Coach Jackson,
the Vice-Principal, and Mr. Mayberry are there with the student records of
each teenager.
They hand each of the students their profile and Jackson says, "Good
luck to the four of you. Sorry you had to leave so soon. We hope you are
successful in whatever journey you have chosen."
They walk outside the front doors of the lobby. Unbelievable, but not to
Alex, they see a limousine, sent by Charles Xavier in Salem Center, New
York. The chauffeur is standing by holding an opened door. The door has the
same markings as the J X L ring. He motions for the teens to step inside the
limo, which they do willingly, but before Drew can, someone calls out his
name, "Drew! Stop! Hold on!"
"What?" he asks turning around. "Jeanie?"
"Sorry," she says trying to recover her breathing, "but you went so fast
after class, I couldn't catch up. Where . . . where are you going?"
Drew turns around away from her, saying, "It's nothing, Jeanie, honest.
Nothing at all."
That's all he says to his friend, leaving her speechless. He walks
toward the car, then getting in, he slams the door. The limo drives off, as
"Jeanie" can do nothing but stare into the horizon where the limousine has
disappeared.
After a couple of minutes of the agonizing torture of silence, Alex asks
Drew, "What was that all about?"
"Nothing, Alex. Just drop it."
Rose speaks to Alex telepathically, What's wrong with him, Alex?
I really don't know. If I had to guess, he probably hates the fact that
he's going to be away from his other friends. He always has liked Jeanie,
the first time he saw her.
Oh, poor thing. Anyway, what's his power? We never discussed that.
You know something, Rose? Except from what I witnessed earlier today, I
don't know that either.
"I sense confusion within you, Alex," Drew interrupts.
"What do you mean?" asks Rose.
"I'm not totally like Rose, but in a way, I most certainly am. My main
power is Empathy: the ability to read, redirect, create, manipulate, and
predict emotions in someone. I can absorb emotions also. If someone near me
is angry, I absorb it. I then rechannel it as hot plasmic fire. If someone
is depressed, or any of those other 'darker' emotions, and when I absorb it,
I can redirect it as cold living fire. Don't ask me to explain it because I
don't understand it myself."
"Okay," is the only thing Alex and Rose can say.
Alex says to Rose through telepathic rapport, Maybe that would explain
why he didn't remember the experience before lunch today. His powers
probably take up so much of him that he can't remember certain moments in
time! The Prof. won't believe this!
Chapter 5: Epsilon
The limousine pulls up to the terminal at Nashville's International
Airport. The four get out, luggage in hand, and walk through the automatic
doors--which, in Nashville, actually work without having to repair them
every five minutes--to get their boarding passes checked in.
They walk over to the check-in counters for Northwestern Airlines. Rose
hands the man behind the desk her ticket. He starts to punch keys in on his
computer when he says, "I'm sorry. You cannot check in at this counter. You
need to go to the desk marked 'Private Flights.' You will be able to check
in and board your plane there." The four teens comply with the instructions
the man gave them.
When they arrive at the "Private Flights" counter, their boarding passes
are checked without question or hesitation. Their luggage is immediately
scanned and sent on a conveyor belt to the appropriate plane.
They are directed to go through a special door that leads outside so
they can board the plane waiting at the terminal. The plane resembles a
private plane, with a design on the tail that appears to be a picture of the
letter "X" of some sort. Alex, Rose, and Daniel realize that the picture is
the same insignia as the one on the ring they each have been given.
Logan, also known as "Wolverine", is standing by the stairs, waiting for
the teens. He says, "Hey, kids. What's new?"
Alex shakes hands with him and replies, trying to sound like Logan,
"Nothin' much, bub!"
They can't help laughing with each other.
Alex introduces the other three. He motions his hand after he says each
name. "This is Rose, my girlfriend, whom I believe you know."
"Good to see you again, Rose."
Rose says in return, "Likewise, Logan. It's always a pleasure."
Alex continues, "You remember Daniel, don't you?"
Logan answers, "Yes, we had a little match against each other in the
Danger Room."
Daniel adds, "'Little?' We nearly tore each other apart, as well as
destroying the Danger Room! But I'm just glad that you are on our side."
"We'll always have the Danger Room."
Alex then concludes, "And may I present Drew Ebon. He just joined us."
"Pleased to meet you, Logan."
"Hello, Drew. Well, ya' might wanna get in, 'cause this bird isn't goin'
anywhere until you do."
The five walk up the stairs and stop to take a peek inside the cockpit.
Doctor Hank McCoy, or "Beast", is in the pilot's seat with Scott sitting
beside him in the co-pilot's chair. They each say hi to the four teenagers
before Logan directs them into the middle section of the plane while he
closes the door.
A voice over the intercom, which sounds vaguely familiar, states to the
passengers, "Would everyone take a seat while we are given permission from
the tower for take-off."
A total of about six teenagers and three X-MEN take seats that are
designated for them. Some are talking to each other, some are reading books,
and some are looking on personalized CompuPADDs, the very same that
Professor Davidson uses!
The voice comes on again, "We will be leaving Nashville International
Airport shortly. This is a non-stop flight into Charlotte, North Carolina.
We will stop in Charlotte for a thirty minute layover to pick up the rest of
our passengers for our final flight into Salem Center, New York."
The engines come to life, and the teenagers can feel the thrust against
their bodies. The nose lifts up, and the plane takes off from the ground.
There is little wind turbulence, so the take-off is rather smooth.
"We will be climbing to our cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. Please
remain seated until the seat belt sign has been turned off. After that, you
may feel free to walk around the cabin."
Twenty minutes later, the cabin is filled with all kinds of
conversations that could possibly take place during a private flight. People
are making new friends and old friends are reuniting. Some are studying
PADDs, others are listening to music. All in all, everyone is getting along.
Everyone, that is, except for Drew.
Alex and Rose sit down where Drew is sitting. Drew is staring off into
space when Alex asks, "Drew? Do you wanna talk about what happened back at
THS?"
"No, Alex. I don't really think that it's your business."
Alex continues anyway. "Drew, you will find someone else. If she meant
so much to you, do you think that she would've tried to come aboard this
plane? Don't let it bug ya', man. You'll get over her."
"You really think so?"
"I know so. Three weeks from now, you probably won't even remember her."
Alex and Rose stand up and walk away from Drew. An unknown girl comes up
to Drew with a PADD in her hand asking for help with a certain file, and
Drew gladly stands up and walks with her to assist her with her dilemma.
Alex turns to Rose and says, "I told ya' he'd get over Jeanie."
Someone taps on Alex's shoulder. He turns around and suddenly looks upon
a familiar face. . . suprisingly from THS!! It's Sam Angell, a friend from
physical science!!
"Hey, Alex. Hey, Rose. What's up with ya'? Any new stuff I can know
about?"
"Sam Roberts!! You never told me anything about this!! When did you find
out?"
"Just a few days ago. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, so I didn't."
"Since when do you keep secrets?"
"Well. . . this time was my first time; and there's a first time for
everything!"
Without warning, an explosion rocks the plane. The lights dim, the plane
shakes, and oxygen masks fall from the ceiling. Everyone grabs a mask and
pulls it over their heads.
Rose yells to Alex, "What's our current status, Alex??!!!"
Alex replies loudly, "Same as always..."
They both say in harmony, "All Screwed Up!!!!!"
Suddenly, Beast walks from the cockpit and yells, "Everyone, sit down in
a seat and fasten your safety belt. We have to eject from the plane!"
Everyone straps in their seats. Then, suddenly, the neo-mutants are
swallowed by crystal casings that turn out to be escape pods. Rose looks
around to see someone that she knows when she sees Beast standing in the
doorway. He pushes a button, then she blacks out.
Five seconds later, the entire cabin and cockpit is empty, just before
the engines explode from the plane and a ball of fire rises from the debris.
Rose awakens from her sleep. She looks around, trying to reconfigure her
point of view. She cannot see anything from the smog lying near the ground.
Off in the distance, Alex coughs from smoke that filled his escape pod.
He crawls around, trying to find someone.
Drew sits in his pod with the hatch open. He is wraping up his arm in a
bandage from a bad scrape he received from the impact.
Daniel checks his CompuPADD for the other teenagers from the plane.
Sam's pod was damaged from the explosion. He seems to be unconscious.
Jean appears from the shadows and awakes him from his sleep.
Ororo steps out of a pod. Known to the X-MEN, she is called "Storm." She
creates a whirlwind to carry the smoke away. The smoke does clear.
Alex stands up, trying to locate his friends. He sees an awe-inspiring
sight. Scattered in a desolate, scorched corn field are twelve escape pods.
The five X-MEN round up the seven teens among the fallen debris from the
airplane.
Off in the distance, a yell is heard. "HELP!!!!"
Alex, Daniel, Rose, Drew, and Sam race toward the scream, followed by
the X-MEN--Wolverine, Beast, Storm, Phoenix, and Cyclops. They all meet up
at one certain escape pod.
A young girl is inside screaming from all the carbon monoxide that has
filled her pod. She is beating at the glass door with her fists, making an
attempt to break it open, but to no prevail.
Drew asks, "What do we do? We can't just leave her in there!"
Alex replies, "Let me try to access the emergency lock override through
the electrical system."
He places his hands over a control panel, and within seconds he is
traveling through the escape pod's CPU, trying to find the electrical
override.
"I think I found it!!!"
In his mind, he finds the chip to the emergency door override mechanism.
It is blocked by some kind of telekinetic viral force field. He cannot gain
access to it from the roadblock.
He returns to reality from the pod's CPU. Sweat is rolling down his face
from the heat in the wires that he traveled.
"I found what is causing the door to remain locked, but I can't
disengage it because there is some kind of viral infection inside it--
telekinetic, I think. there's no known program or procedure to remove it. We
have to find another way."
Daniel thinks for a moment, then takes his PADD from his pocket and
scans the glass door to the pod.
"The glass is only 3 inches thick. There is a slight chance that if we
can blast a hole through that door, we might be able to save her."
Alex comments, "But the pod isn't depressurized yet. It could kill her!"
Rose states, "Maybe I can open a portal inside there and depressurize
her in a time warp."
Beast replies, "The pods are designed to hold only one person at a time.
You wouldn't be able to open a portal big enough for you and her while she's
inside the pod."
Drew asks, "Why don't we combine two plans at once? Have Daniel blast a
hole into the glass big enough for two people to walk out--as a matter of
fact, blast the whole door out. . ."
Alex concludes, "And have Rose open a portal, pull the girl into it,
then depressurize her in a time warp and appear a few seconds later."
Rose replies, "It just might work! Yeah, let's do it!"
Daniel and Rose get in position. Daniel charges his supernova powers
into his eye while Rose opens her space/time portals.
"Ready," says Daniel.
"And waiting to go," says Rose.
"NOW!!" yells Alex.
A green, fiery blast shoots out of Daniel's eye, like a narrow beam of
light. At the same time, Rose opens a portal both inside and outside of the
pod. Rose jumps through one portal, which closes instantly.
The supernovaic blast demolishes the door and within a matter of
nanoseconds, Rose reappears in the other portal and pulls the young girl
into the time warp.
Five seconds later, another portal opens and Rose walks out with the
girl walking beside her. She appears unharmed, but her clothes are covered
in smoke.
Daniel asks the girl, "Are you allright? We had to get you out of there.
If you had stayed in there any longer, we would've lost you."
The girl replies, "I'm fine... now that you have saved me."
Daniel and Alex stare at her bug-eyed.
Rose asks Alex through their rapport, Actually the question is, are YOU
allright? Do you know her, or are you astonished that she came out alive?"
Daniel asks Alex at the same time, "Do you remember that voice?"
Alex replies to both. She's a girl that Daniel knew last year. "I think
you should remember more than me, Daniel."
Daniel asks the girl, "Is that you, Andrea?!!" He hands Andrea a
handkerchief to wipe her face off with.
Andrea takes the handkerchief from Daniel and begins to wipe her face. "Yes, it's me, Daniel. I am forever in your debt for saving my life, Daniel
and. . ." She looks over at Rose. ". . . I'm sorry. I don't believe I know
you."
Rose extends her hand to Andrea. "I'm Rose West."
Andrea shakes Rose's hand. "Hi, I'm Andrea Dexxley."
"Pleased to meet you."
Scott states behind the teenagers, "Well, now that we've become better
acquainted, why don't we try to solve some other problems--like how are we
supposed to get to Salem Center now, with our plane destroyed?!!"
Alex leans over to Rose and requests, "Do you think you could teleport
us there?"
"Probably, but I'm not sure where that is. I don't even know where we
are right now."
Drew punches keys on his PADD and informs the party, "According to the
satellite link-up between us and Salem Center, it appears that we've crash-
landed among the outskirts of Jacksonville, North Carolina."
Rose comments, "Before I moved to Tullahoma, I used to live in
Jacksonville!"
Drew asks, "But how are we gonna get to Salem Center? It would be kind
of stupid and it would take forever if we walked."
Jean says to Rose, "If I show you what Salem Center looks like
telepathically, would you be able to transport us there?"
"I believe so. We can always give it a try."
Jean and Rose link minds, and within moments, Rose's mind is flooded
with pictures of Salem Center, the Xavier School, and a direct path to take
to their destination.
Rose puts her hand against her forehead and says to Alex, Alex, tell her
to stop. I have the information, but I'm getting a migraine and I can't
switch off.
Alex relays the message to Jean, and the link is broken.
Rose collapses to the ground with telepathic energy swarming over her
body.
Alex tries to pick her up, but Jean stops him and says, "She has so much
concentrated telepathic energy that if you touch her right now, your mind
might be destroyed."
She picks Rose up off the ground, and the energy is absorbed by her.
Rose awakens and says, "Is everybody ready to go?"
The X-MEN and the members of J X L look at each other and Drew pops a
question, "Don't you think that it would be the proper, decent, humane thing
to do if we try to clean up this whole mess? I mean, it was OUR plane that
caused this."
Ororo replies to Drew, "You are absolutely right, Drew."
She raises her hands, and as if acting as a signal, dark clouds start to
form around the airplane debris. Winds begin to pick up chunks of metal.
Lightning bolts start to crash Then a small whirlwind forms. It circles
around, collecting the pieces of scrap metal. Suddenly, the whirlwind
disappears, and Daniel disintegrates the metal with supernovaic blasts from
his eye. The debris dematerializes within seconds.
Daniel touches his head with his hand. "What a killer rush!"
Without warning, a plane swoops down from out of the sky. The shock wave
from the afterburners on the unknown jet forces the mutants to the ground.
Scott realizes that the jet is none other than. . . the Blackbird--the X-
MEN's air mode of transportation!!!
Scott motions for the others to get up from off the ground. The
Blackbird flies away to make a turn-around for a landing. Five seconds
later, the sound of screeching tires across grain and the rumble of engine
blasts can be heard from three miles away. The Blackbird slows down and
stops abruptly near the X-MEN and the newly formed team, J X L.
A side door opens. Three shadowy figures appear from the doorway. Two
are standing, while one is in a wheelchair. They move slowly from inside the
fuselage of the monstrous jet. The sun's rays shine upon the unknown figures
to reveal their identities. . .
Warren Worthington III, or "Archangel," followed by Reme LeBeau, known
as "Gambit," and "Rogue," whom no one knows her real identity, walk out the
hatch from the Blackbird.
Warren states, "People, you sure know how to flag a plane down!"
Remy continues, "We could'a seen dat from 'bout ten miles away!"
And Rogue concludes, "But at least ya weren't prank callin' us, sugah."
Daniel asks politely, "Well, can ya give us a lift?"
Warren looks at Daniel and says, "Well. . . let me think about it. . .
Okay."
The mutants forming the teams J X L and the X-MEN walk into the fuselage
of the mighty Blackbird and take off on their way to Salem Center, New York.
. . and to an unforgettable moment in every one of their lives.
(
geocities.com/soho)