or
Go to Part I
New York
Rise and shine. The brightness of the morning sun beams on the face of Sean Cassidy, as Emma Frost pulls the curtain back. This is followed by him throwing one of his pillows at her and him mumbling to for her to get out. Emma throws the pillow back at him and tells him to get up now! By this time, the three kids in the next bed were wide awake.
“What is going on?” asks young Franklin.
“Oh, Sean won’t get up. We are already late,” answers Emma.
As she stopped talking, an image of an arrow appeared pointing at Artie.
“Sure, you try,” replies Emma.
Then Artie jumps out of his bed, and walks over towards Sean’s. Artie, then uses his mutant power to make an image of a huge mean tiger right next to Sean. Then Artie turns to Emma, and gives her the signal.
“Oh Sean,” says Emma.
A second later, Sean opens his eyes, and sees the beast. He was so startled that he jumps up, and almost falls out of the bed. He then sees Emma over in the corner laughing, and Artie with a big grin on his face. Then he hears more giggles coming from Leech and Franklin.
“Oh, so your up. Are you ready to go?” Emma asks as if this scene didn’t happen.
“Ye think that is funny, huh,” replies Sean.
“It wasn’t me,” answers Emma as she secretly points to Artie.
Sean gives Artie a little smile and pats him on the head. Emma goes back to her room to get her stuff. Sean yells to her, “I’ll be ready in a wee minute. I have to take a shower and get dressed.”
On her way back to Sean’s room, she knocks on the door to the boy’s room, then she opens it. Inside, Jono and Everett are already dressed while Angelo is still asleep with his head at the foot of the bed. “Wake him up. Were are going to be late,” she says as she leaves the room.
She makes her way to the girl’s room, knocks, and turns the handle. It is locked. “What is going on in there? Why is the door locked?” asks Emma.
Suddenly the door is opened by Paige. M sits on one of the beds as she watches TV, “Jubilee wanted it locked, she is putting on make-up. She says she wants to look her best for the next cute boy.” answers Paige.
“Not today. The next student is a girl,” replies Emma.
“What? What do you mean a girl?,” says a voice coming from the bathroom, “You mean I did all this for nothing?”
Jubilee walks out of the bathroom with tons of make-up piled on her face. The rest of them look at her as if she was a freak show, or something. Emma makes her way out the door and into Sean’s room.
“Children, why don’t you go into either the boy’s or the girl’s room and wait in there?” asks Emma.
The three go running out of the room and down the hall. Emma sits on the bed waiting for Sean. Then he comes walking out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around him while drying his hair with another.
“Ew Sean,” replies Emma.
“I, I always knew ye couldn’t resist me,” says Sean.
“Ha, that’s funny,” Emma laughs as she leaves the room, “we leave in ten minutes, okay.”
“Fine, ye mind witch,” answers Sean as he starts to get dressed.
With the team dressed and ready they head for the airport. When they arrive in New York, they get their car and head for Wallstreet. Emma fills the team in with what they need to know. Their ‘new student’ is a fourteen year old girl, by the name Tracy Brooks. The car jolts to a stop as they reach their destination. It is a large skyscraper that has both offices and apartments.
Meanwhile, inside the building, a shadowed figure looks out a window down at our heroes. The figure moves away from the window and sits at a large desk.
“Good, they’re here. Computer, ...,” says the unknown character.
Generation X walks into the entrance not knowing what they are, really, walking into. Sean goes to the front desk for information, but no one is there. He takes a look around the lobby. He sees nobody else except the team.
“Em is it just me, or does it seem a wee quiet in here,” whispers Sean.
“I agree. I’m not sensing any disturbances,” answers Emma.
“Can you find Tracy?” asks Sean.
Emma does a scan of the building. She locks on to the mind of the young girl. Then she can determine her location.
“Found her. She is on level forty-two,” replies Emma.
“Lets go. Everyone this way,” commands Sean.
The whole team follows their teachers into the elevator. Inside, Emma pushes to button for the forty-second floor. The lift starts its way up, then it jerks to a stop.
“What happened?” asked Paige.
“I don’t know,” Emma answers as she pushes it again.
The elevator starts again then stops again. As everyone looks at each other with confusion on their faces, a voice comes for a little speaker above the door.
“Didn’t you get it the first time? You can’t use the elevator,” says the same voice as the figure from before.
“Who was that?” Monet asks what probably was on everyone else’s mind too.
The team gets out of the elevator, knowing they can’t go that way. The doors close and lock. They start heading for the stairs. The door to the stair is closed. Sean turns the handle.
“Let me guess. Locked,” replies M.
“You got that right, Monet,” says the mysterious voice.
“Hey, how did you know my...,” M says as she is cut off.
~ Monet doesn't say anything else. She can hear us. We have to secure this floor before we can move on to find her. ~ Emma says directly to everyone’s mind.
~ She? Is it Tracy? ~ asks Paige.
~ Yes, her powers are the ability to control any computer system. She can do it manual or telepathicly. She has control of the building’s security systems, which may include offensive measures, ~ Emma answers as she probes Tracy’s mind.
~ Ms. Frost, how are we going to get up to her? ~ Jono asks with his normal way of communication.
~ We will deal with that later. Right now we have to disable all security devices on this floor, ~ replies Emma.
~ So you mean we get to trash the place, ~ Jubilee says with excitement.
Emma nods as the team gets to work. Jubilee and M go for the cameras. Banshee and Synch find and destroy the microphones and speakers. The rest take out the motion sensors and locking mechanisms. When they are all through, they regroup at the spot where they started.
“Now what?” Angelo asks as he pulls his skin back together.
“We have to get straight up there,” Emma ponders while she paces back and forth.
“I’ve got it. Angelo can climb up using his skin as rope. He can take up the kids. M you can take Paige and Jono. Synch can take Jubilee, and I will take Emma,” says Sean.
“Okay. Lets do it,” replies Jubilee.
They all run to the nearest window, and Sean shatters it with his scream. Angelo swings out and starts his climb. The others get there a lot faster. Sean and Emma are the first to make it up, and they take out the first set of cameras. M brings Paige and Jono up next. Then Synch and Jubilee are third.
“M, Jubilee, and Paige you three go down the right hall,” Sean orders as Skin and the children come through the window, “Angelo, Synch and the kids go down the center hall. Emma, Jono, and I will go to the left.”
The plan goes into action. The girls have no problem getting through, to a dead-end. They head back, and they try to catch up with the others. Meanwhile, group 3 are making their way in the left hall. They disable all the cameras and sensors, but they have trouble when they get to a force field.
~ I have it, ~ announces Jono.
Jono Starsmore rips off his wrap and gives the force field a large bolt of psionic energy. The field automatically breaks, and they make their way through to the other side. A couple of minutes later they are joined with the girls, who have ran to catch up with them.
“What happened?” asks Emma.
“We ran into a dead-end,” answers Monet.
“Looks like you have too,” Jubilee adds as she lights up the hallway ahead with her sparks.
“We have to help the others,” Paige says as they start running back. When the meet up with group 1, they find them under attack. Angelo is on the ground out cold, while the rest try to dodge some sort of laser blasts.
“It’s about time you guys got here,” Everett replies with a bit of angry.
“Jubee,” Sean replies to Jubilee.
“Yea, I know,” Jubilee answers as she shoots the laser with her fireworks. The sparks bounce off and fire at her. She barely jumps out of the way. She looks over to Banshee and he knows what to do. Sean lifts off the ground as the others cover their ears, because they know what he is going to do. Sean takes a deep breath and screams a earpiercing wale at the shielding around the laser. The whole ceiling around it was shattered from his cries. The laser was completely destroyed.
“Angelo. Is he okay?,” asks Sean as he lands back on the floor.
“He’ll be okay. It just took him off guard,” answers Emma.
The group heads farther down the hall until they reach a door labeled computer control room. They break their way through to a room with a large computer system and a frightened girl in a chair at the console.
“Tracy, it’s over,” Sean says as she stands up from her seat.
“I know. I realized I lost when all the cameras went down,” Tracy replies with an understanding tone.
The team returns to their hotel so the can put up their feet and rest. The kids seem to be dead on their feet. Emma and Sean were so tired that they actually fell asleep in the same bed when they were talking. The three younger children were already asleep way before they reached their rooms.
They rest as much as they can, because they have to get up in the morning to fly down south.
End of Chapter Three
Next: The Capital
Washington DC
The team, now well rested for the time being, are already in the nation's capital, Washington DC. Sean and Emma take a walk through a park on this chilly morning as they talk about how the trip is going so far.
“Sean, do you think we are doing the right thing?” Emma asks as if she were worried.
“What do you mean? What about this whole trip or what?” asks Sean back.
“Well yea. Do you thing that it was a good idea to bring the children? To have them be the ones to test the new students’ powers? What if something were to happen to them?” Emma asks as they both sit on a park bench.
“Listen Em. Nothing is going to happen to the kids. We aren’t going to let that happen,” Sean says as he looks into her eyes.
“I’ve seen it happen. I just know it is going to happen.”
“You can’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t kill the Hellions. You hear me, it wasn’t your fault.”
“Your right. I am just over reacting.”
“Come on lets go get something to eat,” Sean says as they both get up and start walking again.
As Sean and Emma go get a bite to eat, The rest of the team already had that idea. Jubilee and Everett sit with Artie, Leech, and Franklin at a booth in a small little diner. Then Jono, Angelo, and Paige come walking in and join them.
“Where is M?” Jubilee asks as she takes another bite of hamburger.
“She is on one of her flights,” Paige answers as the new arrivals take their seats.
As this chunk of the team continues to eat their meals, they have no idea that they are being watched. There is a figure moving in the bushes across the street from the diner. It sways back and forth and then it is gone. Just then, Monet St. Croix lands on the sidewalk from her morning flight. She then walks across the street and enters the diner.
Meanwhile, Sean and Emma make their way to a small little restaurant on the other side of the town. They are seated, and proceed to order.
“How do you think the kids are doing?” asks Emma from the other side of her menu.
“They’re probably doing fine,” Sean answers with a sense of reassurance. What they don’t know is that the children are about to have a run in with their next target.
“I’m stuffed. How about you Ev?,” Jubilee asks as she leans back, and pats her stomach.
“Meeh thoh,” Ev replies as he chews his last bite.
“Well, lets go then,” Paige says to the whole group.
They start to walk out the door, when Jono gets a feeling. ~ Wait. I feel something, someone. We are being watched, ~ Jono whispers to the rest of the team. ~ Just continue on as if nothing happened. ~
They do and they cross the street and enter the park. All of them waiting for the attack, they walk quite slowly down the path. Suddenly, as they walk under a tree, a girl, of about the age of seventeen, jumps out of the branches above. She then says, “I’ll make this as brief as possible.”
“We’ll see about that, chica,” Angelo replies as he stretches his skin towards her. As his grasp reaches for her, she bursts up off the ground and flies to safety. She thinks she has gotten away, but she happens to run into M. Monet charges her, and they both go down crashing on the ground.
~ Emma, come here. We are under attack, ~ Jono calls Emma.
Sean and Emma, just starting their meal in the restaurant, sit having a good time. Then Emma receives Jono’s message. “Sean, we have to go back. It’s the children.”
“They’ll be okay. Tammy (The new student) isn’t going to hurt them.”
“I know, but there is something else. Something they can’t defeat on their own.”
“What is it?”
“I’m not sure.” Emma answers as she gets up from her seat.
“Fine then. Lets go they will need our help.” Sean replies as he follows her out the door.
Sean grabs a hold of Emma and fires up his scream. Immediately Emma covers her ears to the deafening sound. A few minutes later, they meet up with the children.
“Glad you could make it,” Everett says to the late arrivals.
~ Everyone, this is Tammy Warner. She has the power to pull atoms apart and change the state of any kind of matter. So be careful, ~ Emma warns the students.
Just as the team were going in for the first attack, all of them, even Tammy, stopped when they heard a very strange sound. CHRUNK CHRUNK CHRUNK.
“What the hell is that?” Paige asks anybody who can answer.
“I know that sound,” Jubilee says, “it's Sentinels.”
“Oh no, they found me,” Tammy cries out.
“What are you talking about?” Sean asks with great surprise.
They all stand and stare, as the makers of those sounds push aside some trees as if they were weeds. There are five of them and they don’t look like they’re here just to say hello.
“Halt mutants. You are to be taken in to the proper authorities,” says the first sentinel.
“And who might that be, Tin Man?,” Monet asks as she takes flight.
“You are to be taken to the ‘human’ Bantion,” replies the same sentinel.
“We’ll have to see about that. Everett, you take the children back to the hotel, and make sure they don’t follow you. Tammy do you know anything about this, and what did you mean, they found you?” Sean asks as he looks toward Tammy.
“These sentinels were sent by Bantion. He is the person in charge of Operation: Zero Tolerance,” Tammy explains to the team, as Everett gets away. “I have been held by the government since I was little, and I escaped a couple of months ago. The have been after me ever since.”
“Fill us in with the details later. Right now we have to get these bucket heads,” Emma interrupts. “GEN. X ATTACK!”
With that, they go into action. Jubilee runs to her first victim. She shoots at one of the sentinels legs, it loses its balance and stumbles back. Then she fires at the other leg to make it go crashing down to her level. Before it can get back up, she runs to the head and gives him an eyeful.
Meanwhile, Sean goes after one of his own. He swoops up in the air and gives it an earache with his first scream, which makes it disoriented for a brief moment. He takes this to his advantage. Sean yells a focused scream at the robot's neck, which shatters into pieces.
Next, Jono and Paige go after one. Paige husks into a steel layered skin, while Jono wraps the sentinel in a psionic cloud. Paige charges at it and rips a hole in the foot that makes it fall. Then she starts pounding on it. A left, a right, two more lefts. This leaves it with a broken foot and a really bad headache. Then Jono finishes it off with one huge psionic pulse, which rages out of his chest hurling towards the metallic body, and slams into it causing a great explosion.
M and Tammy some how got teamed up together. Monet uses her super strength to do a sparing match with the iron giant.
“Monet, move out of the way,” Tammy orders as she, herself, explodes off the ground.
Tammy makes giant fists out of thin air by changing the state of matter of the air around her hands. She uses them, and her extra strength in the same fashion as M.
“This is taking to long,” M yells up to Tammy.
“Okay, just give me one more shot,” replies Tammy as she glides back a few feet.
She then unleashes her main power, the power to separate atoms from each other. She pulled that sentinel apart as if it were a piece of thin paper. The outer layer of plastics and metal are striped and all the circuitry inside are pulled apart. All that was left was a large pile of dust made up of all the components of the ex-sentinel.
“Wow,” Monet says in awe, which is not common for her.
Finally, Emma and Angelo go after the last one. Emma shoots one of her psionic bolts at it, which makes it crashes to the ground on its back. After it gets up, Skin wraps his dermal layers around his neck and pulls himself up to the head. Then he tightens his skin around the eyes and neck. The blind bot wonders around the park while Angelo continues to pull his skin in tighter. Finally the head pops off like a cork out of a bottle. The sentinel falls and Angelo lands on the ground safely.
Just as they all finish, Everett comes around the corner running at his top speed.
“Did I miss anything?” Everett asks as he looks around to find his answer crumbled all over the ground. “Damn it.”
After a while, the team, plus the temp. are all back in the small diner.
“Dang, beating up Tin Woodsmen sure gets you hungry,” Jubilee says as she grabs a menu.
“Tammy, you did really good,” Sean says as he faces her. “Now I understand why the government wants you so much.”
They continue to talk and eat until the diner closes. Then Tammy fades into the shadows again, saying she’ll be in touch. The very tired team returns to their hotel, only to find the three little munchkins had taken Sean’s king-size bed, and left him with the smaller double.
They are sure to get some needed rest at their next stop.
End of Chapter Four
Next: The Citrus State
Florida
The private jet is at the airport. Their luggage is at the hotel. The team is at the beach, of coarse. All of them are in their swimsuits, all except Jono (for obvious reasons). They are finally getting some well-deserved rest after having to fight those sentinels back in DC.
“Don’t you just love the beach, Sean?” Emma asks as she rolls onto her stomach.
“Aye, sometimes. I would give anything to be on an Ireland shore right now. I would just sit there, listen to the wave crash onto the beach, the cool breeze blowing in my face. That is the place I want to be right now,” replies Sean
“You miss it. You miss Ireland, don’t you?” asks Emma.
“Well yea, kinda,” answers Sean.
The two continue to talk as they lounge in the sun. The others are playing near the water. Splashes are everywhere. The sound of laughter fills the air, the sound of happiness. All of them relax and have fun. Everything looks perfect in their little world. Sentinels, Emplate, Apocalypse, all of them don’t exist here. The only thing they notice is joy, happiness, and the comfort of knowing that everyone of them is there. They don’t care about anyone else, right now. They are in paradise.
As Emma gets up to take a walk, Sean nods off to sleep. He is so tired that it takes him no time at all to dream. He floats through the air above the beach, over the shore, and out to sea.
“What the, Emma what is this? What have you done to me, woman?” cries out Sean even though there is no one there to hear him.
He tries to stop, but is still pulled away from the mainland. After awhile, he stops struggling and goes with it. As he streams through the clouds, his speed increases until he eventually passes out. When he wakes up, he’s back on the shore. He gets up and brushes the sand off himself.
“What happened?”
Sean takes a quick look around to see that no one is there. He walks further down the beach, not a person in sight. Then he goes into a panic and starts to run, trying to find, at least, one of them.
“Wait, this isn’t the beach that I was on a second ago. This is another one. No, this isn’t happening. I can’t be here.”
Sean breathes heavy to the sight of a familiar place. In the distance is Cassidy Keep. It lingers in the rolling mist. It guards the shore, looking out over the ocean, protecting the Emerald Isle.
“It can’t be,” Sean whispers as he flies through the fog to his true home. He lands on a terrace, and walks inside. Everything is in it’s spot, nothing is out of place. “Everything is the same as when a we young’in. This is where all my happy memories were made. This is where I belong.”
Sean lives his childhood for a second time. His whole young life goes by in a few moments. Then he is torn away from his joy and wakes up on the beach with a nice smile and a wet beach ball in his lap.
“Hey, Mr. C can you throw that back?” Paige asks as she runs up from the water.
“Sure, luv,” He replies.
“Sorry about that, sir,” Ev says with remorse.
“So how was your little ‘nap’ ,huh?” Emma asks as she sits back down.
“Oh, ah, what?” Sean says in confusion.
“Your nap, how was it? Did you, dream?” Emma asks as she takes a sip from her drink, and gives him a little wink from over the glass.
Sean smiles and gets up from his chair. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“I don’t know what your talking about,” she replies in a way that you can tell she was lying.
Sean walks down to the water to play with the kids. Emma sits, drink and admires. She looks at Sean with affection, admiration and respect. Even though on the outside she shows she hates him, on the inside, she cares for him deeply as a colleague, and as a friend. This little rest may have given the team time to relax, and to lick their wounds, but there is a long road ahead of them, and they ain’t stopping till their through.
End of Chapter Five
Next: