1О Ћ k B JUBILATION PHOENIX By Lady Phoenix PROLOGUE: It was a quiet night. The kind that you just lay back and enjoy, and the X-Men were no exception to the rule. Jean and Scott were sleeping in their cottage. Practically everyone else was asleep in the mansion with the exception of Remy (Gambit) LeBeau (who was out with Bishop, trying to find a good time) and Sam (Cannonball) Guthrie (who was on monitor watch for the night). It was one of the few nights the team could actually rest and not have a worry in the world (or so they thought). Suddenly, from both the mansion and the cottage; three screams broke into the calm of the night. "NOOO!", howled Jean. "Honey, what's wrong?", Scott cried out. "What is it?" "Scott, she's coming back. The Phoenix is coming back." Jean was screaming, almost in physical agony. "What do you mean Jean? Is it Rachel, is she coming back to us?" Scott asked. "No, you don't understand. I mean the Phoenix entity. That's what's coming back. And it's looking for a new host." *********************************************************************** "Let's work it . . . , come on . . . , you can do it . . . , just five more . . . , let's do it . . . , come on . . . , and five . . . , four . . . , three . . . , two . . . , one . . . , now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Jubilee could feel the vibrations coming through the floor boards and the glass that held her now flat soda quivered at the sounds from the next room. She had been listening to this same thing for almost the entire time she had been here and this was indeed the last straw. She crawled out of bed, walked over to her team mates room and went inside. "Paige," she started, "I have had enough of this early morning routine you started. You want to wake with the roosters? Fine. You want to run twenty miles while it's still dark out? Fine. You want to do your exercises with Cindy and Richard? That's great. But this 'crankin' up the volume till my fillings shake' has got to stop. Now we can do this the nice way or the hard way. Your choice hayseed." Paige Guthrie a.k.a. Husk only stood there, staring at her friend, saying nothing. "Hayseed, if you think this silent treatment is gonna make me back off, you got another thing coming. So speak up." "Jubilee, have you looked at yourself in the mirror this morning?", Paige asked. "No, I haven't. I was rudely awakened by one nameless, manner less type person. Why?", she reached up and touched her face, "Did I get a piece of gum stuck to me or somethin'?" Paige just kept staring, "Come on over here to the mirror and take a look at your self." Jubilee rolled her eyes upward, asking for strength and walked over to her friend at the mirror. "See what I mean? Just look at yourself." Both girls stared at the reflection in the mirror, unable to believe what they were seeing. It almost seemed that Jubilee had aged at least three years over night. Her hair was still the same length but practically all of her other features had changed. Instead of the rounded face and straight body of a young child, now her face was more oval, and her cheek bones had sunk in slightly, giving her more of an adult Asian look. Her eyes had also changed; now instead of the solid brown, they had flecks of gold, green and blue. Her body now had the well-defined curves of a young, slim 16 year-old woman. But those weren't the only things that had changed on Jubilee; it looked like she had also grown at least 6 inches in height. Paige was dumbfounded, to say the least and a little afraid for her friend; after all, she thought, 'if she aged three years over night, how is she feeling right now? I have to go get Mister Cassidy or Ms. Frost, they'll know what to do.' "Jubes? Maybe you should go lie down while I go get Ms. Frost. I'm sure that whatever happened must have a reasonable explanation." "REASONABLE EXPLANATION!!", she screamed, "Paige, I just aged at least three years overnight, that means I went from being 13 Н years of age to 16 years of age in less than 24 hours, and you're saying that there must be a reasonable explanation for this! I don't think so, girlfriend." Paige began to get angry and yelled back at her, "Well, what do you want me to say! You're the one who came barging in here this morning. It's not like this happens every single morning you know!" Then she started pushing Jubilee toward the door, "Now, I want you to go to your room and lie down while I go get Ms. Frost. Neither of us knows what kind of changes your body's gone through or if you've been hurt 'cause of those changes." Paige touched her friends' shoulder and spoke softly, "Girlfriend, you are too good a friend for me just to do nothing, so just go along with it for now. Okay?" "Okay, Paige. And Paige; don't think that I'll forget about the loud workout tapes, ya' hear?" She tried to smile at Jubilee's attempt at a joke but her mouth just wouldn't cooperate. It was so much easier dealing with Emplate, Omega Red or some other such enemy; you really didn't have to think about much, just react to your enemy. But this; if Jubilee was aged three years in one night, what about tonight and tomorrow night? And every night afterwards? If she continued to age like this, she could be an old woman in less than a month. She didn't want to think about the possibilities, she just wanted to get Emma and let her take care of it. Angelo, Everett and Mondo were downstairs getting breakfast with Artie and Leech when Paige came running in. Everett and Angelo were in a playful mood and blocked the door so Paige couldn't get out. "So country mouse, what will you give me to let you out this morning?" Angelo asked. "How about her Mary Hart workout tapes?" Everett said. Mondo was now getting into the fun, "No way. What about Cindy Crawford?" Paige was in no mood for joking around, "You guys, I don't have time for this. I need to get over to Ms. Frost's place; it's an emergency." "Ci, chica, like you expect us to believe that? Now I think the bid was Cindy. . . ." Her frustration was at an all time high and she just reacted. She ripped away her outer skin to reveal solid steel underneath, then picked up Angelo and Everett by the front of their shirts and threw them over her shoulders while kicking open the door. All she said was, "I told you, I don't have time for this." The guys looked up at the open door and Leech said, "Leech thinks Husk was serious." "No kidding amigo, no kidding." Though it was not really far away, it took Paige a couple of minutes to get to the headmistress house. She didn't know whether to just barge in or knock on the door. She wasn't sure if Emma was a sound sleeper or not, so she compromised. Paige began hollering, "Ms. Frost, I need to talk to you. It's an emergency. Ms. Frost, are you awake?" Then she proceeded to beat the door down, that was until the woman spoke with her telepathically. <<Miss Guthrie, do you realize what time it is? Some of us are trying to get some sleep.>>/ There was heavy sarcasm in her tone. <<Ms. Frost, I'm sorry to bother you but there is something wrong with Jubilee.>> Emma reached into Paige's mind and saw the events of the morning, when she saw what happened to her student, concern replaced sarcasm. <<I'll contact Sean and tell him what's going on. I want you to get Monet and get Jubilee down to the med. center immediately.>> Paige turned to go back to the school, only to find Monet standing in front of her. "Husk, I am sure that you are making too much out of this situation. This could be a natural part of Jubilation's mutation. Considering that she has been working at increasing her powers, it is only logical that her body may go through a faster maturation rate." Paige's own nervousness was beginning to show through with the increase of her southern drawl, "Look Monet, 'Ah know that you and Jubilee don't get along to well, but 'ah believe that she might be in more trouble than you realize. And 'ah for one am not going to just stand here doin' nothin'. So, are you comin' with me?" The Algerian girl wasn't even offended. "I never said that I wouldn't help, I just said that you were making a big deal out of what might be nothing at all. It will be faster if I just flew us up to her room." Monet then picked her teammate up and flew off in the direction of the girl's dormitory of the school. ****************************** Emma was in no mood for to wake him up gently, she was about to give Sean Cassidy the same wake-up call that she had just received. Sort of. <<SEAN! SEAN GET UP RIGHT NOW! THIS IS NO TIME FOR YOU TO BE HAVING WET DREAMS! I NEED YOU AWAKE RIGHT NOW!!!!!>> Shocked awake, Sean jerked straight up in bed then fell backwards onto the floor, "Wha . . . ? Where . . . ? What the hell is going on? EMMA; that is it! I've told ye before to stay out of me' mind." He was still groggy from the sudden wake up. All he knew was that he had a crick in his neck, from getting up too fast, a large headache from hitting the floor, and an extremely enraged attitude from having his mind once again invaded by his colleague. <<This is no time for your damaged male ego. Something has happened to Jubilee. It seems that she has aged at least three years overnight. I've already sent Paige and Monet to take Jubilee to the med. lab, I want to see if there is internal damage from this premature aging. I think it would be best for you to contact Hank and see how soon he can get down here. He is more of an expert at this than us.>> He was already getting dressed as Emma filled him in on what was going on. 'Three years overnight,' he thought, 'what in the world could have triggered that?' Soon he was on his way to the communications room while Emma made her way to the med. lab through the kitchen. She saw the door half way hanging off of its' hinges and most of the male population of the school trying to look casual at the far end of the room. "I will expect a full explanation of what happened here later, gentlemen." Emma said in her usual arrogant voice. The 'gentlemen' had sense not to say a word. ****************************** Monet, Paige and Jubilee were already in the med. lab and Jubilee was arguing that nothing was wrong with her and that she felt fine. Paige was trying to convince her that this was just a precautionary measure. Emma Frost, on the other hand, felt no need to convince the girl of anything; a scan had to be done and it would be done, willingly or not. <<Jubilee, a physical and internal scan must be done to make sure that you have not suffered any damage or have been harmed by this 'change'. So, stop arguing and get on the bed so the scan can be completed.>> Ordinarily, the girl would have loved to argue with her teacher on what was best, just for the sake of arguing. But she knew that Emma wouldn't hesitate to enter her mind and 'make' her lie down, and since that didn't seem like a good option; she obeyed and got on the bed. Emma tried to ready herself for Jubilee's 'new look', but as she walked in, she couldn't help staring at the student. She was not the childish thirteen year old with the almost flat featureless body of a little girl. Now, she looked like an attractive, exotic young woman with well the well-defined curves that revealed her new found physical maturity. Jubilee was lying down on the bed, her eyes shut while the beam of light traveled over her body. She was still wearing the oversized shirt that she had slept in, and heard Emma walk in. "Well Monet, what do the read outs tell you?" "Miss Frost, the computer can detect no anomalies or anything abnormal within Jubilee's body. Except for some vitamin, and calcium depletions she is perfectly all right." "Well geez M, I coulda' told her that one my self. But does anyone want to listen to someone who might actually make sense around here? No. . . . ," Jubilee was already tired of Monet and Paige making a big deal out of what was probably nothing, but with dear Ms. Frosty adding her two cents in, this could get down right painful. Her teacher wasn't too far behind on those feelings, "Miss Lee, I have just one nerve left this morning and you are starting to get on it." The students in the kitchen were still wondering just what brought both of their teachers out so early in the morning and went down to the med. lab to find out. Jubilee was just getting off of the bed when Jonathan and Angelo came walking in with Mondo, Everett, Leech, Artie and Penance following close behind. They all stopped suddenly a few feet inside the doorway, staring first at Jubilee's face then moving downwards when they stopped. And there she was, Jubilee wearing only a faded nightshirt which up till last night was loose fitting and hung below her hips. Now that same shirt was snug against her chest and the bottom of the shirt was just above her waist giving clear view of her panties. She didn't realize what they were staring at. "Just what do you think you're starin' at?" All she had to do was look down to see 'exactly' what they were staring at. Suddenly, Gateway appeared with Sean in an explosion of light, and dropped the man on the floor. Sean stood up and spoke to the others in the room, "I just talked to Xavier and Hank, they are sending the Blackbird and want us to bring Jubilee immediately." No one had noticed that Gateway had not stopped spinning his 'whirligig'*. He glanced up at Monet who then turned to her teacher and said, "Mr. Cassidy, I don't think that we will be needing the Blackbird. The mentor will take us." And with a second blast of light; ten students, two teachers and one teleporter were gone. Part 2 Beast was in his lab still working on a cure for the Legacy Virus when Charles Xavier's telepathic summons came through. <<Hank, I've just received a call from Sean at the school. It seems that Jubilee has aged approximately three years overnight. He wants you to come over immediately to see if she has suffered any physical trauma due to this transformation. Cyclops, Wolverine and Psylocke are already on their way to the Blackbird. Please meet them there as quickly as possible.>> Hank moved around his lab as quickly as possible; picking up the necessary instruments and medication to treat the young student. He knew that he had to hurry or Logan would be climbing the walls with impatience. The Beast just got into the elevator when his teammate's voice came through the intercom, "Hank, what the hell are you doin'? Takin' a coffee break on us? Get the lead out and get up here, quick time." "Logan, I am moving along as fast as I can. I must make sure that I'm taking all of the necessary equipment to help Jubilee as necessary. So in other words, 'Keep your shirt on'." The monorail that he had to ride to get to the hangar bay usually left him somewhat queasy but not on this day. This time he was too busy trying to think of reasons that Jubilee would prematurely age at such a sudden rate. One reason could be that this was a natural occurrence for her, considering that mutation rates were different for everyone. While most adolescents aged one year at a time only having short growing 'spurts'; it could indeed be that the young girl didn't grow in 'spurts' but in 'leaps'. Another could be that something occurred recently that perhaps 'tricked' her body into growing at an accelerated rate. The final reason was one that he didn't want to consider, but had no choice. She could indeed be infected with some new strain of the 'Legacy Virus'. A strain that could 'turn on' some latent, far buried mutant ability that would either cause her to die of old age in the matter of weeks or quite literally burn out from the virus at the same time. He believed that Xavier and Logan were already coming to the same conclusions as he had, but he couldn't let it show. Not yet. There was no reason to worry the team and those children with his unfounded ideas. He could only pray that it was a growth 'leap' and not something more deadly. Hank was only halfway to the hangar when the comm. link came on; it was Cyclops. "Beast, we won't need to go to the school. Gateway just dropped in with the whole group; students and teachers." Hank could hear a slight change in the tone of his friends' voice; Scott always tried to sound leader-like. Usually very factual and so little emotion, but this time there was amazement and surprise in his voice. Hank could only guess that it was Jubilee's sudden change that put the undertone into his voice. He didn't need to answer his friend because the monorail had just stopped at the hangar bay area. He stepped out of the car and saw what put the amazement into Scott's voice. For a few years now Hank McCoy had enjoyed guessing how a teen- aged child would look as an adult. Would the child develop freckles or would the hair change color? How tall would he or she grow? These questions were like parts of an intricate puzzle that he always tried to solve, and he had done the same guessing game with the former students of this institution, the group now known as X-Force. He had done comparatively well, in making the correct assumptions with some of the students, so he was amazed when he saw Jubilee and realized just how far off he was on his ideas about her. Jubilation Lee, who at her last physical had the total height 5 feet 5 inches, had now grown at least an additional 6 inches which made her just over 6 feet tall. That was only the first of many changes that the doctor noticed as he walked closer to her, mentally jotting down the changes. Her face had more of a slender oval look to it. Her skin tone was truly different; it was no longer a pale tan, but now was a more of a rich, deep caramel shade, and it seemed that she lost a good deal of the 'roundness of youth'. Her breasts and hips were fuller, more voluptuous and well defined against the now slender body. The eyes themselves were no longer a dark brown but now were of a hazel coloring with flecks of blue, green and gold. It was those very eyes that now looked at him with fear; fear of this sudden change within herself and fear that this would make her an outsider among outsiders. He gently reached over and touched her arm to reassure, "Jubilee, I am glad to see you arrived here so quickly, even if it was by way of teleportation. But the only thing that matters is that you are here, now. Psylocke, I would like you to accompany us to the lab and assist me . . . " Jubilee took a step to follow him and suddenly fell to her knees. She tried to stand back up but seemed unable to. Monet stepped forward and gently lifted her up. "I don't know what's wrong; it's like my legs, my body doesn't want to move. I was fine when I woke up this morning." She looked up at him, afraid that this was it, that she had the Legacy Virus and it was now in the process of killing her body. But Hank wouldn't let her fall into that pit of despair when he wasn't even sure of what the problem was. "Monet," he motioned to her, "I want you to take Jubilee directly to my lab, Betsy and I will be joining you shortly." Waiting for no further instructions Monet flew with Jubilee still in her arms to the monorail and back to the mansion. Emma stepped forward and spoke to Beast and Psylocke. "I am her teacher, 'Dr. McCoy', I believe that a higher trained empath like myself could help far better then a lower level empath like Ms. Braddock. No offense Elizabeth." "Emma, I am sure that you only have the best interests of your student in mind but, since Jubilee now lives with you at the school, her mind would be too shielded from you for me to help her. While Psylocke has had contact with Jubilee in the past, she is of a more casual acquaintance. She is the one who will aid me." And with that he and Psylocke were gone, not giving Emma the chance to argue with them. But it was the Asian X-Man who had the last word or thought as the case was. <<No offense, Emma darling, I guess he needs a lower level empath like me.>> On the way down to the lab, Elizabeth explained to him that Jubilee would have a great need for privacy, and having the other X-Men walk in, even to help would be embarrassing. So, stopping by his office, Hank contacted Xavier and asked him to inform the others not to come down to the lab or the surrounding rooms to check up on Jubilee. Both girls were already in the lab; Jubilee was in an examination gown and lying on one of the beds while Monet sat there talking to her. They both stopped talking when they heard the door open. "Miss St. Croix, would you be so kind as to wait with the others upstairs with the others while Psylocke and I complete the tests on Jubilee?" Beast asked. "Dr. McCoy, I am sure that I can be of some assistance in your examinations. After all, she is my friend." "My dear, while I know that you are concerned for your teammates' health, I assure you that we will conduct every test imaginable to find out what is wrong. But, the only way we can do this, is if Jubilee is in a relaxed state, which she will not be in, if you are here watching over our shoulders. So, it would be in her best interests for you to go and wait." Jubilee then reassured her, "Monet, you don't have to worry about me. I've been on Beast's dissection table before and I can tell you that everything will be peachy keen." The girl was still unsure about leaving her companion there alone, but, she knew that Dr. McCoy wouldn't begin testing until she was gone. She backed off and quietly left the room. Hank looked over to Psylocke who nodded her head to show that she was ready and then said to Jubilee, "Alright now, now that all of the interruptions are gone, the testing will begin. Jubilee, parts of the examination will be a little painful, but I will explain everything as I go along, and Betsy will be inside your mind to relieve some of the pain you feel. I would give you an anesthetic but, that may alter the results in some way, so I would rather not use any. I want you to relax your body and mind as much you can." Three hours later: Hank called everybody into the 'war room' to tell them the results of the tests. Though his demeanor seemed bright his eyes were tired and strained. "I called you in here because I have found out what happened to Jubilee. All I ask, is that you keep your questions to yourself until I have completed my explanation. It seems that our dear Miss Lee has been working on strengthening her pyrotechnic abilities and altering the ways to use them. She has told Elizabeth that she and Monet have been doing some work on getting her to fly in a limited manner." Both teachers gave a surprised look to Monet and before Sean could say anything Hank interrupted him, "Sean, please . . . " He sat back in his chair but by the looks from the both of them Jubilee and Monet would be getting a strong lecture before the day was done. "Now, if I may continue; Jubilee has been learning to use her pyrotechnic abilities in ways that mimic our own. Such as using her power to 'charge' objects much like Remy but on a far more cellular level, and to create a protective shield around herself, much in the way Jean uses her TK. That is all well and fine but then she started trying to use her powers to propel herself into the air much like Sam does. It seems that, that is what created this problem. Here, I'll show you on the monitor." The center of the table lit up, showing a cross section of Jubilee's skull. It contained what looked like to be normal brain tissue, veins, optical nerves and such. Beast pointed to it while he continued to explain. "At first, I could discern no difference from the examination I had given her two months ago but when I completed the CAT scan, I found something quite extraordinary. Here, near the center is her pituitary gland, the very gland that controls a person's growth and in which gives us our mutant gifts. Usually, it would be no larger than the diameter of a dime but, as you can see here, it has grown a great deal. Imagine if you will, a balloon filled with water, which has only a small opening at its' base, but if you were to press against the sides of the balloon it would increase the pressure, therefore letting out more water. I theorize that, this is what happened to Jubilee. It is my belief, that she has been trying so hard to find a way to make herself fly, while continuing to push herself in training, that, she has created a larger opening in the gland, to which in turn has begun to expel more of the hormone that regulates growth, and her mutant ability. I hypothesize, that this unique occurrence has caused an ability to surface, that would not have otherwise developed. During my examination, Jubilee spoke telepathically with Elizabeth; the thing is, is that Elizabeth did not instigate this conversation, Jubilee spoke to her first, without aid from any outside source. It is my speculation that has developed the power of telepathy." The room was in a stunned silence, none of them knew what to say to this. It was Xavier who asked the first question, "So, you are sure that Jubilee doesn't have the Legacy Virus, and that this is some abnormality brought on by much over exertion?" Logan added a question as well, "Hank, how do ya' know that she ain't gonna age more when she goes to sleep tonight? Or tomorrow night for that matter?" "That is exactly what I am saying Professor. Logan, I do not believe that this will harm her in any lasting manor, even now the gland is shrinking down to its' normal size. If she did continue to age, her body would have done so while she was unconscious and I was completing the tests. In fact, she could leave right now and be in no danger, but for saftey's sake I would to keep her here for the rest of the day. That is why I also want to start her on a regimen of vitamin and calcium injections." Robert Drake; of all people, stood up to protest but Beast cut him off once more, "Bobby, Jubilee must have these injections at least for the present time. You have seen the physical changes in her, here on the screen, but her bone, musculature and internal organs have also changed. If I do not inject these supplements directly into her, her body may go into shock from the stress of growth. Such as many of you saw when she arrived and collapsed. These injections will not be permanent, they will only be for today and until I am sure that her body has begun to adjust. Then she can take vitamins and calcium pills for a short time to make sure that her body has completely regulated itself." There was a collective sigh of relief in the room; Jubilee was in no real serious trouble and both of the teams were glad of it. It wasn't often that life presented them with a problem that could be dealt with such ease. Hank mentioned that Jubilee would need clothing considering she arrived with only a nightshirt and a confining one at that. Rogue volunteered to get some of her things for Jubilee to wear until she could get some new clothes then she and Gambit walked out. Many of the others filtered out of the room in small groups, mostly talking about how glad they were that Jubilee was going to be okay, and what there was to eat. The only ones left were Hank, and the two teachers, who were by far in a less than happy mood. Emma stood up, looking at the resident doctor and gave him the look that earned her the nickname 'Ice Queen'. "Don't sugar coat it for us, Hank. I know that she is in no danger but, do you have any ideas on why this would happen? This cannot be the first time that a mutant has over extended their abilities, and you said yourself, this was a 'unique occurrence', so why her?" "My dear Mz. Frost, to quote another person of my surname, 'I am a doctor, not 'GOD'.' I do not have ultimate knowledge of the human race, and its many workings, so all I can tell you, is that I do not know why this happened to her. I have no idea why she aged when others suffer no such effects. I can only tell you that it has occurred and I will do my best to aid her though this." His own voice dripping with contempt. It was not so long ago that they both were sworn enemies, and it was difficult to look at her as an ally. "I never said that you had the all consuming knowledge of humanity, Dr. McCoy, I was merely wondering if you knew something on to why this has happened to her. It was not meant as an offense, dear sir," she replied sweetly. "Of course not, I'm quite, sure madam. Sean, I'm sure that you and Mz. Frost would like to check up on Jubilee and make sure that she is alright. I wager that she would welcome your company and comfort at this time, it's also about the time for me to give her, her next injection." The three went to the med. lab to find Gambit and Logan waiting impatiently outside the door. "Dose women ain't gonna let anyone in 'til dey help 'tite get the right sized clothes on. Dis could take on day, mon ami. Mebbe' you go in and tell dem to hurry on up, non?" "My cajun friend, I would rather face the Phalanx then go into that room right now. Looks like we will just have to wait them out." Wolverine started banging on the door, "What are you three doin' in there? Tryin' on Ivana Trump's wardrobe on or what? Open the flippin' door before we die of old age out here." They could hear the snickering laughter behind the door, while Rogue answered, "Okay, sugah, just keep yoh pants on." The door opened and Jubilee spoke out, "Don't even think of laughing Wolvie, that goes for the rest of you guys too. This is the best thing they have that fits . . . somewhat." Jubilee stepped out into full view; even though Rogue had the ample body size, it still didn't cover the fact that she was 5'8'' and Jubilee was now 6'1''. So when she tried on Rogue's sweat pants, the legs came up to her knees, and the shirts' sleeves went up to her elbows. The group of five waiting outside started to chuckle but an icy cold look from Elizabeth, Rogue and Jubilee quieted them all down rather quickly. Sean broke the moment by speaking to Beast, "Hank, I know you wanted to keep her here for today, but don't you think it would be possible for her to go downtown and get some decent fitting clothes? After all, you said yourself that she is in no danger from this transformation and she can't exactly go walking around the mansion dressed like this." Rogue agreed, "He's right, I can take her and the other girls shopping, get some clothes and shoot right on back here. What 'ya think?" "Well, . . . I'm not sure; her body is just beginning to adjust, and but, she is absorbing the vitamins and calcium supplements I've injected into her. Alright, if both teachers and the Professor agree, then I will abide by there decision. But, I want her to stay her for at least another . . . let's say . . . five hours. That will give me enough time to make sure that she is alright, allow her fellow students to bask in the glory and intelligence of their superiors and still give Rogue and the younger women enough time to go shopping. Agreed?" Jubilee just stood there, waiting for them to stop talking so that she could voice her own opinion. She wanted to argue about it and go right away but she figured that five hours was a whole lot better then being not being able to go at all so, she kept quiet. Part 3 Ororo quietly walked in while the adults were talking and spoke up to offer assistance. "Rogue, perhaps I have something that will better fit Jubilee for the time being, you said that you would be taking her shopping later in the afternoon. Come with me, I'm sure . . . that I have something a bit more 'agreeable'." The young woman ignored the stares and stifled laughter that she heard while following Storm up to her attic room. The co-leader of the X-Men went into a small closet and pulled out several articles of clothing. "These are the remnants of when Emma Frost took over my mind and possessed my body." She paused for a short while, still finding it difficult to talk about that part of her past. "It happened some time ago but for some reason I could not throw them out. Perhaps, something will fit you a bit more properly." "But Storm, . . . umm, . . . you aren't exactly, . . . well, . . . I mean, . . . ," Jubilee stammered; she didn't want to insult her friend's kindly act but she knew that those clothes wouldn't fit any better than what she had on. But the Storm knew exactly what the girl was getting at. "Come over here," Storm said gently, "I know that you are built more differently than I, but, . . . ," she whispered in quiet confidence. "I happen to know on a personal level, that your teacher, 'modified' all of these outfits to give the appearance of a more provocative manner. I'm sure you understand my meaning." Now it was Jubilee's turn to try and stop the giggles that the image brought forth. But it was a failed attempt because soon all that anyone could be heard from the room above was howling laughter. Storm knew, that even though she looked more like a grown woman now; there was still a little 13-year old girl inside who was frightened over these events. And that she had to break tension and make her laugh again if even for a short while. A little later, they both came down the stairs to the rec. room where everyone was waiting. Elizabeth told them about the failed attempt to find something that would fit adequately and how Storm took her upstairs to find something. From the gasps and then dead silence that filled the that filled the room, one would have to say that she succeeded. Jubilee was dressed in what could be called 'traditional White Queen' attire; a form-fitting bustier with a single strap that came over the back of her neck and were attached to the tips of the outfit. Matching pant leggings that were very snug, and mid heeled pumps that covered her feet. The only thing that was different was that the clothes weren't the pure white that Emma usually wore but more of an ivory color, other than that, they were exact duplicates. Emma sat in the background, enraged; she had believed that Storm had gotten rid of those clothes after she left her mind. The teacher was fully aware of how she had 'altered' the clothing, but she had done so to humiliate the African weather goddess by letting her know that she wasn't 'woman' enough to fill out her own scanty outfits. "Uhh . . . Storm, don't you think that's a little revealing for Jubilee? I mean, look at her!" Warren exclaimed, looking more flustered at the way she filled out the outfit than shocked at her wearing it. "Well, . . . " Robert began, "I for one, thinks that she looks great. 'I mean, look at her'," mimicking Warren's argument, "she looks like a super model!" Jubilee lost her self conscious stance and smiled brightly at the compliment. Shortly after that there was no more arguing about what was 'proper' for the newly aged Jubilation. Most of the day went by without a problem; class went on for the students by the way of lectures and assignments from Cyclops, Bishop, Rogue, and Archangel. Since the X-Men were the teachers for the day, Sean went off to visit with his daughter, Theresa of X-Force. Emma decided to join Xavier in his office to talk the Academy and the enrollment of new students. Penance, Leech and Artie chose to go down to the lab with Jubilee because they didn't understand a whole lot about what Cyclops was talking about. Much of Jubilee's time was spent in the company of Elizabeth to find out her limits and to teach her the basics of creating shields to keep others out of her mind. Hank continued his tests while the telepathic lessons went on, taking blood and tissue samples, and a body scan, and once an hour, every hour, on the hour, he came in with the injection of fluids that her body needed. In Jubilee's opinion four o'clock couldn't come around fast enough. But it did come around and Rogue came on in. Hank gave Jubilee a clean bill of health, with a word of caution went along to make sure that she didn't tire herself out too much. With that last word still hanging in the air, Jubilee grabbed Rogue's arm and practically dragged her out to the car where Paige and Monet were impatiently waiting. INTERLUDE Victor Creed, was smiling, as if he didn't have a care in the world, and in a way, he didn't. He wasn't rotting away in any prison, Xavier and his 'frail' telepaths weren't messing around in his head anymore. The runt Logan cured him of his addiction to the 'glow' that kept his mind sane, and he was now a 'genuine government agent' working with X-Factor. Plus, he was now on a two week vacation. He complained to the top brass that if he was working legally with X-Factor that he had certain inalienable rights, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In the end the top brass caved, the only rule they had was that Victor be tracked 24 hours a day by the neural implant in the back of his skull. He looked back on it, knowing that it went along a lot easier than he had planned. He found the perfect replacement for the transmitter in a young body builder which he had stashed away. Now he was free, in many senses of the word, his only wish now was to take a look at what the X-runts were doing and to see just how much trouble he could cause in his little under two week time frame. END INTERLUDE Like all ideas, it seemed good at the beginning when Rogue offered to take the girls shopping, to get out and away from all of the stares and questions was the thing to do. But now that they were at the mall, it was different. Jubilee was known more for being a mall rat and shopping till she dropped. The truth was that in all of the times she went alone and even with women she purchased very little. Her usual excuse was that she couldn't find anything she liked. Here at the mall, she knew that she would be unable to use that excuse. Plus, she knew that she couldn't very well walk around in Ororo's old clothes forever, so she resigned herself into becoming the fashion guinea pig for her three friends. Creed picked up the scent long before the group got to the first clothing store, even crowded as it was. He was able to pick up the identities of one-Rogue, and three girls, he knew two of the girls; Paige and Monet from his fight with the Phalanx. The last girl he knew personally; the brat Jubilee, the only thing was, was that he couldn't see her anywhere. He moved around to get a better look, all the while keeping himself hidden, Victor could see the white-striped X-Man and the two girls but he couldn't see the brat anywhere at all. He figured that she must have gone on her own when they walked in and he caught her scent that way; then his curiosity shot up. With her back to him, he saw Emma Frost; the white outfit was a dead giveaway if not for the black colored hair. Victor thought that the stuck-up 'White Queen' must be pretty desperate for attention to color her hair like that. It bothered him somewhat that he couldn't pick up any scent or identity from her but he didn't worry about it for long. Watching the group walk into the women's clothing store he was ready to leave them to do there shopping when Monet spoke out from behind and the woman he thought was Emma turned to answer. That's when he got the shock of the decade; it wasn't Frost at all, it was the brat Jubilee, but she didn't look like a brat anymore. The first thought that popped into his mind was that she one of the most beautiful women he had seen in a long time. Victor had to struggle to remember his hatred of her; the many times she fought him, stopped him from killing others and defended herself. But the rage drained away as he stared at her. The group wasn't even aware of the observer in their midst, the four of them went to some displays to pick out clothes and then sent Jubilee off to the dressing rooms to try them on. "I'm telling ya' this is goin' look great on ya' hon," Rogue said as she picked up another dress. Jubilee replied from behind the door, "Rogue, you've been saying that since we got in here." "Well it's true, ah' think you'll look terrific in this here dress. Come on out and let's see how Paige's choice looks." The young woman stepped out and she still couldn't believe how she looked, the dress she was wearing was a red velvet-like color and came down just above her knees. It was an attractive dress with its long sleeves and a neckline that plunged just into her cleavage. She chose this dress along with a few others, and they soon left the store looking for their next target. The group went on from store to store purchasing only a few items from each one. By the time they were done, they had completely restocked Jubilee's wardrobe with assorted jeans, shirts, sweats, and formal wear like dresses, and pantsuits. To go along with this were the necessary undergarments, outerwear, and of course shoes. "And what do you intend on doing Jubilation, go around barefoot in these evening dresses? But then again, I shouldn't have such high expectations from you." "I'll show you 'high expectations', Miss snoot-nose St. Croix." "Gals, gals, let's go get somethin' to eat. Ah for one am starvin', what do ya' say?" Paige spoke up from behind, "Well don't you think we should get these out to your car first? They are getting kind of heavy." Within a few minutes Rogue and Monet had carried all of the packages out to her waiting vehicle, while the other two went looking around some more. Jubilee noticed one particular store and motioned to the other two to follow. Paige saw what kind of store it was and a pink blush slowly covered her face. Monet and Rogue caught up with the twosome and saw the store they were staring at. "Aww, come on Rogue, let's go in and see what they got. They won't let us go in without an adult," Jubilee said. "Why do you want to see what they have? My momma always says a proper kind of woman would be wearing things like that Jubilee," said Paige. "So," Monet began, "You are saying that Miss Frost is not a proper kind of woman? Then your mother must have made a terrible mistake in letting you attend her school." "Well 'ah . . . that is 'ah . . . what 'ah meant is . . . , oh hush up Mony!", the blonde girl retorted, her face growing redder by the minute. The adult of the group broke in, "Okay okay okay, ah'll tell you what, we get some grub and relax a bit, then we can come back here and see what we can find. Deal?" A unanimous vote of 'yes' and the four were once again on there way to get something to eat. They decided on a Mexican restaurant that was close by and were soon enjoying there meal and chatting. Unknown to the group Victor Creed was still close by, he heard the entire conversation and knew what his next step would be. He stood in the shadows of the plastic plants that graced the corridors, not able to tear himself away from the sight. He had always been attracted to the X-Women in one way or another, but mostly it was just to get the guys angry. This time it was different, he didn't know how or why but it just was. For whatever reasons, Victor wanted her for keeps and no one or nothing would stop him. "No wonder," he thought to himself, "the runt was keepin' the kid around; he must have seen what a sweet fra--, no; she ain't no frail like Red, Mystique, or that purple haired tart at the mansion. Nope, she's just sweet Jubilation Rebecca Lee." An evil smile crossed his face as he reluctantly left the shaded area, heading for one of the personnel rooms closest to the 'specialty' store. He already had an idea of what he'd find; a walkway behind the dressing rooms with small holes drilled in the wall. A shaded frame of glass covered the holes from the inside so that no light could pass through and alert the dresser. There he had access to all four dressing rooms, now all he had to do was wait. Victor knew from personal experience that once Jubilee had her mind set on something, it would have taken a natural disaster to draw her away. "Are ya' serious, ya' mean he actually just up and 'upped out of the plane? Just like that?", Rogue asked, trying her best to keep straight face in front her three companions. "Yes ma'am, he was just sitting there, then he stood up, asked if anyone wanted anything, said he was going for a walk and just opened the door and 'whoosh'," Paige replied in all seriousness. "Everett was also on his way to leaving the plane, albeit unwillingly, thanks to Jubilee," Monet added. "Hey! ," she exclaimed, "if he just went ahead and shared the bubbles I wouldn't have had to tie him up." "You know, you could have just purchased your own before we got on the plane. Then you wouldn't have needed to tie him up and he wouldn't have nearly had a stroke", Monet retorted calmly. "Yeah; well, if you weren't in la la land ripping off the wrapping of a soda bottle, Paige wouldn't have had to 'husk' into a tar version of Angelo." "Wait a minute . . . , it's not like I 'planned' to change into that. That's what came out." The older woman stood up and spoke, "Well, y'all are safe and sound no matter who did what. C'mon, let's get to goin' before that store closes, that is if y'all are still interested in seein' what's in there." The girls were up and pulling at Rogue's jacket before she finished her last sentence. Quickly they walked to the store called 'Succumb to Liberty', and walked in. The salesperson looked up and saw the young women walk in first and was ready to ask them to leave, but then Rogue stepped forward indicating that the three were with her. His attitude then changed, he had seen younger people come in on occasion with an adult friend looking for something to shock either their parents or relatives. If that was the case, he was more than happy to help out. "Can I help you?", he asked with a friendly smile. "Well sugah, we're just lookin' for right now. But ah'll be sure to let ya' know when we need any help." Paige and Jubilee were awe struck at being in a store like this, there were small whips, handcuffs, and other assorted items hanging on the wall and in the display cases. The air reeked of leather and other little odd smells, both girls were drawn to Monet who was at one of the clothing racks. Though she was also surprised that Rogue had so readily agreed to let them come in here, she was not going to lose her cool in front of her teammates. She rifled through several articles of clothing, just looking around when she spotted the perfect outfit for her obnoxious friend. "Jubilee? I think that I have found just what you've been looking for. Take a look at this." She picked up a black outfit which was not leather but a good match, and held it in front of the others for inspection. Although it was black in color; once held up to the light a kaleidoscope of pink, green, and blue hues spilled out. Jubilee took the outfit from Monet, and headed to a dressing room, while Monet went back to the selection and picked up a similar outfit but far more striking with its jet black and blood red coloring. Paige joined in but chose something a bit more conservative in a light pink and blue shade. Rogue walked over to a stand that had a female mannequin that at first appearance seemed to be totally nude but on closer inspection she saw that it was wearing some kind of colored cloth. The salesman spoke up from the cash register, "Quite a few people like those, they're called body stockings. Most people I've seen wear them to hide any kind of discoloration of the skin, like bruises, scars, ugly birthmarks, or tattoos they don't want anyone seeing, you know things like that." "Could ah try one on? Just to see how it looks?", Rogue asked. "Sure, go right ahead. But you will have to keep your undergarments on while trying it out." She picked up a package and walked to the dressing rooms where the girls were at. She quickly undressed, put on the body stocking and looked into the mirror. Except for the underwear and bra she still wore, it looked like she was completely undressed. This was too much to hope for, with this Remy or anyone else would be able to touch and not worry about her absorbing there powers. Quickly she removed the body suit and returned to the stand and picked up every single package that she could find in her size, slapped them on the counter and said, "Charge 'em, sugah." Jubilee undressed in front of the full length mirror and admired the view of her own body. No longer was there a body of a lean, flat 13-year old girl, now in the reflection stood a beautiful voluptuous young woman. Even Jean stared when she came down the stairs earlier in the day. Her hands gently caressed the smooth tight flesh, now that she had, had time to adjust, she was really pleased with this 'new' look. She put on the outfit that Monet had chosen for her, looked back at the finished product. Paige banged on the door, "Hey, you gonna take all day in there, Jubes? The store is closing in a half an hour." Jubilee came out and was surprised at what she saw. Monet's outfit gave her a classical 'bad girl' look, skin tight pants and small diamond shaped openings that went up the length, with the bare leg showing through the openings. The tube top she wore was regular cloth and came down just below the chest, with a few red claw-like lines marking the pants and top. Shiny black stiletto heels completed the look. Paige's outfit was the complete opposite; her pink top had frilled lace and a slightly plunging neckline. The pale blue skirt came down below her knees, and had one long split opening that came up to the middle of her right thigh. To finish the set she wore simple pale blue low heeled sandals. Several whistles of appreciation came from other customer in the store for Jubilee as well. *The outfit was a one piece black mini dress, the front came up around her neck much like a wide collar, the back was bare. A thick belt wrapped around her waist, and she wore the same color high-heeled thigh high boots. To finish out her particular look she chose a long black jacket made of the same shiny luminescent cloth. All three girls stood in front of mirrors admiring themselves, giving in to a brief fantasy. Jubilee struck a pose and did a perfect imitation of Emma Frost, "I am the new Black Queen and I shall strike down all who stand in my path. Now go fetch me my slave or I shall have to I whip you all with wet noodles." Monet and Paige were also getting into it, "Nay child, you shall never hold that title, fore it belongs to me, and I shall destroy you and and your little dog too.", Monet replied with scorn. "You two may become the Black Queens o' foolish ones, but I shall become the pure and ultimately powerful White Queen. The ancient one, Emma Frost shall bow down before me, kiss my feet and plead for my mercies." Paige added arrogantly. Rogue stood there, watching with a smile on her face and added, "Oh yeah? Well, here comes Emma and Sean, and 'ahm sure that they'd love to hear about 'yalls newfound rise to royalty." The girls jumped and turned to look out the door, then Paige spoke out, "That was not funny, ma'am." "Well, it got ya' attention didn't it? Now come on, if y'all want to get this stuff then let's shake a leg, I got to get you back to the school pretty soon, and I am not gonna be the one to explain why we're late." The threesome went back and changed into there regular clothes and came out. Monet purchased everything they picked out, to include their chaperone's items as way of saying thanks for the enjoyable afternoon and then they were off back to the school. Victor didn't even realize the group had left the store, his mind was in a chaotic mix of perverted fantasies and sexual desires. He had watched with growing excitement as Jubilee undressed; the way she looked at herself in the mirror. Gently her hands traveled the entire length of her body, running over her breasts, up and down the length of her legs; reveling in the newness of her body. His passions grew even more, as she put on the skimpy black outfit and stepped out to parade it to her friends, Victor could barely contain his own physical desires and needs. He wanted to rip out the wall and take the young ameraisan woman then and there, but he held himself off. 'That would come later on', he thought, 'this was a prize worth waiting for.' So for one of the few times in his life he waited, albeit impatiently, but he waited none the less. When he finally looked back into the peepholes, he saw the others had long since left, and finally he could let mind and body's lust run free, in a shuddering explosive release. He quickly left the area, making sure that no one had seen him depart; his mind was still filled with images of her, on his way returning to X-Factor. INTERLUDE TWO A young man sat in front of a chess board, a smoking jacket covering his body and small glass of sherry perched on the arm of his chair. His companion sat across from him, a woman dressed in an expensive fashionable evening gown. They sat in a room that spoke of privilege and wealth. The chess board between them had an array of black, white and red chess pieces. With a sudden sweep of his arm the young man removed the few red pieces on the board leaving only the black and white. The woman spoke, "So Shinobi, it seems that our troublesome counterparts have finally been removed. It almost seems ironic that the London branch of the Hellfire club was consumed by true hellfire and the demon they couldn't contain."** "Yes, indeed ironic my dear Benazir, but they have occupied enough of our thoughts. Now is the time for our own royalty to grow, and if the information was correct we should have . . . ," Shinobi Shaw paused, hearing the knock and walked over to open the door. A middle-aged woman came walking in, carrying in her arms a video tape and a large envelope. "You were right Mr. Shaw, they came along just like you said, I got plenty of pictures and a copy of the security tape from the store. I think you'll be pretty impressed." He took the objects from her, took out a thick envelope out of his pocket, gave it to her and spoke to her in an arrogant manner. "Yes yes whatever, I am quite sure that you did a fine job just as you have done for me in the past madam. Here is the agreed payment; I'm sure you can find your way out." She didn't reply, she had come to expect this type of response from the only son of her previous employer. The woman walked to the door and as she was walking out she said, "You might find it interesting to know that you aren't the only one keeping tabs on that girl. There was a big blond guy watching and drooling after her all day long. I took a couple of pictures of him too." He sat back down in his chair, looking at the photos while his companion took the tape, placed in the video machine and turned on the television. "Well well well, it seems that your little 'oracle' spoke the truth. It looks like 'our' little girl grew up quite nicely," Benazir stated. Shinobi glanced up from the photos to answer, "Yes indeed, she has turned out to be quite . . . alluring. But it does look like we have a certain person who may be a bother to our plans for Miss Lee. Take a look; this is Victor Creed, known to be with the government group X-Factor if my informant is correct." He threw the photos to the table and walked over to his companion, "But he is of minimal importance. This . . . ," he pointed to the screen, "this will be irony my dear. To replace the old and infirm with the new and powerful. The woman moved behind the man, whispering in his ear, "What do you think Shinobi? I believe that she looks extremely appealing in either black or white." The couple stood together watching the screen with great interest and laughed just as just as Jubilee spoke, "I am the new Black Queen and I shall strike down all who stand in my path." Part 4 *** It was close to eight o'clock when the group got back to the mansion; the car's trunk filled to nearly overflowing with spoils of their shopping spree. Sean was already on the front steps with a less than pleased look on his face. "Did the four of you leave anything in the stores after you were done, or did you just clear everything out?" Rogue replied, "Yoh' sarcasm is noted Sean, we completely forgot about the time. Now, are ya' goin' help us get this stuff inside or are ya' just going to stand there and jabber all night?" Each of them took two stuffed bags each and walked into the mansion where Emma and the Professor were waiting. "It certainly looks like you purchased enough Jubilation." "Well . . . , we sort of went a little overboard with it. Eh hehe.", Jubilee weakly chuckled. "But you did buy some articles of clothing which is what you were sent to do. I would take it that the three of you have already eaten something? Or was your 'chaperone' only interested in purchasing clothing?" Rogue was getting angry; sure they were a little late but that was no reason for making her feel lower then a dog. Before she could respond to Emma's remarks, Paige spoke up. She was standing close to Monet and far enough away from Ms. Frost so that the questions would be directed either at Jubilee and Rogue but she felt she had to speak out in the adults' defense. "Ms. Frost umm . . . , Rogue took us to a fast food place even before we were half way done." "That is good to hear. Mr. Cassidy and your other classmates have been waiting for your return so that we can get back to the school, so if you are all quite ready, we should be off." Rogue took one of the bags off to the side and took out her belongings, leaving the other girls 'special' things untouched and still hidden in one bag. She handed the bag to Monet and told them she really enjoyed the afternoon and that she hoped they could do it again sometime. Logan and a few of the others met them in the hangar bayto say good bye, where the teachers and students had appeared that morning. Gateway popped in and soon the guests were gone, teleported back to the Academy. Life soon returned to a sort of normal state at the school. Students and teachers reported to class where assignments were handed out and completed. Then it was on to the 'Danger Grotto' where combatants faced each other in battle simulations, not only strengthen their mutant gifts but to also keep their bodies in a constant fit condition. Although at first the other members of Generation X were uncomfortable working with Jubilee, but didn't take long for them to get adjusted, once they all realized that it was the same girl they had known all along. The only excitement to come their way was when Hank came by every few weeks to make sure that she wasn't suffering any side effects of her change. It wasn't until about two months after the aging incident that a combat situation popped up. ************************* Sean was lost in his own thoughts as he quickly drove towards town with half of the students in his car. 'Saints preserve us. They weren't supposed to have this damnable meeting for another three days.' Emma's thoughts pierced through his own, drawing him into the role of leader. <<Sean, this isn't helping matters. They need to know what to do. The longer you . . . >> "All right.", he said out loud. He switched on his comm-link so that the car behind him containing Emma and the other students could hear him as well. "You already know what's going on. True they are having the "Families and Mutants" support meeting tonight, but that doesn't change the fact that Orphan Maker may take this chance to destroy all of the people. Not only in this building but all over town. Now, everyone's job is to find any explosive devices. And if you do find one, to remove all of the civilians from the building as quickly and safely as possible. Synch lad, you'll go with me; M, Husk and Jubilee will check out the ground area; Chamber, Skin, you two will go with Emma and go through the building itself." The teachers parked their cars well out of the way of the building, while the students moved off into the assigned groups. Sean spoke up one more time, "Now remember, stay out of sight, keep a look out for any explosives, keep the comm-links on, watch each others backs and stay safe. There is no telling what Orphan Maker or her followers may do." They moved off, each group knowing what they had to do. The three of them said no words, they were too busy in search of anything that could harm the people inside of the building. Four months ago it would be Jubilee who usually kept a running dialog on things should be done but now she was silent, using her telepathic gifts to their limits, trying to 'seek' out anyone who shouldn't be there. They quickly covered the ground area and found nothing out of place. Monet made the suggestion that she join Ms. Frost, Chamber and Skin; to aid them in scanning the rooms more quickly, then without waiting for a response left. The two girls went back to checking out the area one more time to make sure that nothing was overlooked when Jubilee suddenly stopped. In a quiet voice she said, "Something is wrong." "What is it? Is Orphan Maker here?", Paige asked looking around cautiously. "No, it's something else, someone familiar but I don't know who it is. I can't recognize them." "You mean there's more than one person? How many do you think?" "I think it's a group of people, maybe five or six and one leader. Let me concentrate on it and see if I can find anything." Jubilee shut her eyes, her forehead furrowed in concentration for a few minutes, then she opened her eyes and the blood drained from her face as she looked to her friend in realization. "Oh my God Paige, it's Emplate and 'his' followers. They're here right now and they have Monet. I'm not sure but I don't think they know about the rest of us being here. He must believe that Monet is alone." "Don't you think Ms. Frost knows he's here? I mean, she's a lot stronger at telepathy than you are." "I don't know if she knows that they're here. It could be that because she's shielding the others, making them invisible to the people. Plus seeking out Orphan Maker, is taking all of her concentration so that she doesn't realize he or his followers are here." Husk stood there, uncertain of what to do. "Maybe you should tell Mr. Cassidy or Ms. Frost what's going on, then they can tell us what to do." Jubilee answered firmly, "No we can't. We don't know if Orphan Maker isn't here, or if she and her group haven't planted any bombs in the building. Finding the explosives is more important, and we're going to have to be the ones' rescue Monet." She grabbed Paige's arm and dragged her beside the building. "Okay, now from what I've 'felt', Emplate and his cronies are in a closed off room far enough away from the people so they won't be detected. We're going to have to sneak in, take the others out separately, then grab Monet and get out. Neither one of us has the power . . . to take . . . him . . . him . . . " Jubilee started to take a long hard look at Husk's body. "What are you lookin' at me like that for? I don't know what you're thinking but, I have a feeling I'm not going to like it." "Paige, you've been working on morphing into different metals right?" "Yeah so, what about it?" "Have you done the adamantium? I mean have you changed into it and stayed with it?" "You know I can stay with whatever I turn into. Why?", realization dawned on her face, "I see what your saying. If I can turn into adamantium then Emplate can't do anything to harm me because it's the strongest known metal on Earth. He'll never be able to cut through." "That's exactly what I was thinking, great minds must think alike, but before you change you have to strip." "Why thanks for the compli . . . , WHAT?!?! What did you say?" "You have to take off your clothes. And boots." "You are sick Jubilation Lee", Paige said in a furious whisper, "there is no way I am taking off these clothes for anything. Why in the world do I have to take them off anyways?" Jubilee was getting impatient but calmly spoke to her friend, "I'm not trying to be a perv or anything, but I think Emplate's power works a lot like Rogue's. Skin to skin contact will allow him take your powers or life. If you 'husk' with your clothes on you won't have any protection, it'll be like you're naked. But if you take them off, change, then put them back on, he won't be able to absorb you through your clothes. See what I'm saying?" "Yeah, I understand what you're saying. Okay, I'll go through with it, but if you even make the tiniest mention of this to anyone I will personally jump up and down on your bed at the crack of dawn playing my music full blast." "You got a deal, I promise I won't say anything to anyone about this. Now hurry up we're wasting time." While Paige removed her clothing and husked into her adamantium form Jubilee went off to search a little inside of the building. In the hallway there was a cardboard box with scrawled lettering, LOST AND FOUND, the young woman dug into the box and found just what she was looking for. She then went back outside where her teammate was waiting and gave her the object. "What the heck is this for? I'm not going in to rob a bank here." "I know that, this is to cover your face and neck so he can't touch you." "Yeah but we don't even know who was wearing this thing last." "Well if you want him touching your skin and taking your powers, that's up to you. But I thought a 'fearless' leader wouldn't be concerned with such small stuff.", Jubilee said mockingly. Paige yanked the ski mask over her face so that only two hard metallic eyes had shown through. "When we get done with this, Jubilee, you are going to be one dead woman." They walked into the building together, slowly going up the stairs to where Jubilee had detected Emplate and his followers. They found the room, a dusty, rarely used area where both young women could hear voices. "Oh come now, as a dear sister, surely you have something to say to me? What's that? Oh my dear poor poor 'Monet', off into one of those trance states aren't you? Unable to stop your bad big brother. That is too bad, because I was really hoping you'd fight me this time instead of letting the lower echelon do it for you." Jubilee created a mild link with Monet's mind; just enough for her to keep track of the situation in the room between her, Emplate and one other person that she couldn't detect well enough. Chances were, was that this person was some 'slave' of Emplate's and made it difficult to 'feel' personal thought. Husk tapped her arm and led her to a room that had a kitchen in it. "What are we doing here? You going to fix him a sandwich?", Jubilee asked. "No, we're going to add up the arsenal. You can melt stuff with your power right? You have enough control over it?" "Well of course I do, what does that have to do with anything?" "C'mere, " Paige pulled her over to some cabinets. "Look for anything made of glass; measuring cups, bowls, drinking glasses, anything you can find." She also went through the lower cabinets looking for a specific item. "Are you nuts? What the heck do we need with glass?" Jubilee had several glasses and bowls laid out on the counter top and looked over to Paige to see what she had. She then smiled in understanding. Husk smiled back, with more vengeance in her face then Jubilee had ever seen. "You got it; Emplate's gonna be sorry he ever messed with us." A few minutes later the twosome was moving back to the room where their friend was being held, and Jubilee's face went slightly pale. "Oh my god, he is sick!", she exclaimed in a hushed voice, "We have to move now Husk. I have to break my link with Monet. I think I can keep you telepathically hidden long enough for you to get in the room. Try to step where someone else already walked, because I won't be able to hide any footprints you make." She nodded in understanding, watching the her friend's eyebrows furrow in concentration. The young Asian woman then tapped her arm and the covered girl slowly made her way into the room; moving in back of the boy she thought was named Bulwark. She stood there waiting for her teammate's signal. Jubilee set the object from the kitchen on the floor right by the door and while keeping herself hidden moved two steps into the room where she revealed herself. "Y'know Snuffy, while I don't even pretend to like Monet, I got to feel sorry for the girl. I mean to have a loser bro like you is one thing, but to have you pawing and groping all over her gettin' ready to have pork her . . . Well I don't even want to wish that on her, y'know? But you are pretty pathetic, and I guess rump riding your little boy toys here must get boring after a while. I'd guess that your old man must have given new meaning to the saying 'riding you long and hard' when you was younger, huh??" Emplate looked at her, surprised on how she now looked and that he wasn't able to detect her before hand. Now with her continuous insults he was becoming enraged. "You dare to talk about my family? I will show you pathetic you little chink freak! I will suck your body dry!", he bellowed enraged. "Husk NOW!", Jubilee cried out, in Bulwarks' direction. The boy looked around thinking the girl was trying to fool him when he felt a tap at his shoulder. He saw nothing but empty space, but what he felt was a metal fist; hard, solid and unstoppable. His body became airborne and slammed into the far wall, then he fell to the floor in a slump and laid there unconscious. "C'mon sweet cheeks! Let's see what you got!", she said, and sent a multitude of bright spark blasts to his eyes and face, keeping him off balance and blinding him. His hollow voice laughed at her even as he tried to avoid the plasmoid blasts. "Child, do you actually think you are harming me? This is only delaying your inevitable fate as my next meal. My servants are coming little girl, you and your ally cannot hope to defeat them all. You will be the ones who will suffer in the end." "No my brother, they will not be harmed", a voice rang out with authority from Monet. Emplate looked to his sister in surprise but she was still in her catatonic state. Suddenly a young woman wearing a ski mask appeared out of nowhere and started smashing him with relentless blows and punches to various parts of his face and body. Jubilee ran to the doorway, picked up the object she had left there earlier and quickly charged up and heated the contents. She moved in front of Emplate while Husk ducked out of the way. With her left hand she reached out and grabbed the breathing apparatus and 'poured' a small amount of her sparks into it, forcing him to breathe it in and caused him to gag. Then with her right hand, she took the pan and its contents and thrust it into his face, creating a loud sizzling, blistering sound. He tried to scream in pain from the burning sensation but was unable to because of the pyrotechnic discharge he was breathing in. The girls heard the commotion coming down the hall and knew that time was up, there was no possible way for the two of them to take out all of Emplate's servants. They saw Skin burst through the doorway with Chamber and Ms. Frost close behind. Just as they came in, the boy, Murmur teleported into the room and picked up Emplate while another called Vincente lifted Bulwark, and within a few seconds they were gone. Emma Frost looked at her two female pupils with an arched eyebrow, "I take it you can explain the reason for all this can't you?" "Well ma'am, "Husk began, "I think right now Monet needs some help. We don't know what happened before we got up here." Monet's top was unzipped to her stomach and pushed wide open, her brassiere was cut down the center leaving her breasts exposed. Her hair was tousled as if it someone was running their fingers through it. Ms. Frost walked over to her and gently zipped up her uniform and touched her face, in rare concern. The Algerian came to and for an instant the walls came down and uncertainty showed in those intelligent brown eyes. But the moment passed and the more familiar arrogant Monet returned. Banshee and Synch came walking into the room looking quite pleased. "Well lass, Everett and meself just accomplished the impossible! It was the most incredible thing!", his voice tapered off seeing the damage to the room and disturbed looks from his students. Emma spoke out before Sean could say a word. "Let's go home, we can talk about what happened there." INTERLUDE SNOW VALLEY GAZETTE- (Front Page) Unidentified sound and light show shocks townspeople Late yesterday evening the small town of Snow Valley experienced what can be only described as 'an incredible bright light and an earsplitting keening wail'. Many of the townspeople were at a support group meeting called "Families and Mutants," created to aid families dealing with having mutant children. The meeting was cut short at approximately eight-thirty because of an almost deafening wail or scream followed by a brief incandescent light that turned night into day. It is not believed to be an act of violence perpetrated by mutants, or the group known as the Friends of Humanity. People in the surrounding area believe it to be only a random quirk of nature. {{Picture Follows}} Shinobi Shaw came out of the bathroom wiping of the remnants of his morning shave off of his face and saw a package sitting on a tray with breakfast. He picked up the package, opened it and found inside a newspaper and video tape. He placed the tape into his player and read the front page of the Boston paper. A bemused smile crossed his face when his companion walked into the room. "Now what happened lately to give you that cat-ate-the-canary look?", Benazir asked as sat beside him and helped herself to a cup of steaming tea. "I've just received this paper and a video this morning. It looks like Emma is really getting into the 'super hero' attitude. I wonder if she'll be donating toys to needy children next." "Oh Shinobi you are so terrible. Where is your respect for the grandiose White Queen? She should be afforded all that she deserves." "You're right Benazir of course I should be more polite to her, oh and by the way; 'oracle' won't be in our service anymore. The poor fellow tried to stop a mugging last night and was shot for his intervention. What a waste, we could have used his talents for a bit longer." "Yes it would have been nice to have him around for a little more time, but we still have that photographer . . . what was her name again . . . ? Alicia Meyers I believe, . . . she's been very reliable at sending us all the information we need on 'our' little Miss Jubilee. We can always find another 'oracle'. The man picked up his remote and started the tape; the couple watched the previous nights' events take place in silence. When it was finished the woman spoke. "She is really getting into the act of being the fearless leader, isn't she?" "Yes, and her loyalty to that black girl is quite remarkable, considering how much they despise one another. That's what a good queen must have darling; the ability to lead those under her, fearlessness against her enemies, and loyalty to her allies. Yes, I believe she has all the markings of a great queen." Part 5 *** "I can't believe her!" Forge came storming into the monitor room fuming. He threw down the paper, to which Raven Darkholme, a.k.a. Mystique promptly picked up. "The reason for the Academy is for them to be trained and educated in private. Not for them to go out and use their powers in the public eye." "Oh come on Forge, it looks like all of Emma's concentration was keeping that top on. It goes to show you what happens when you hire a bimbo to be a teacher." She did a double take on the picture and whistled appreciatively, "Wow! That girl Jubilee really developed didn't she? You told me she had grown some but you never said she looked like this." Raven looked over at the Maker, smiled evilly and in the blink of an eye she transformed from the blue skinned criminal to the present day Jubilee. "Now this is nice." Her hands rubbed seductively against the youthful, firm curves. "Ooh, I could get used to this shape Forge, couldn't you? I mean, we both know that I'm of legal age for all sorts of fun." The door suddenly slid open and the other members of X-Factor walked in: Sabertooth, WildChild, Shard, Polaris, and Havok, the team's leader. They all saw Forge talking to himself by one of the consoles and Mystique was morphing back into her usual self. Havok picked up the paper and read the headlines. SNOW VALLEY GAZETTE (Front Page) Unidentified sound and light show shocks townspeople Late yesterday evening the small town of Snow Valley experienced what can be only described as 'an incredible bright light and an earsplitting keening wail'. Many of the townspeople were at a support group meeting called "Families and Mutants," created to aid families dealing with having mutant children. The meeting was cut short at approximately eight-thirty because of an almost deafening wail or scream followed by a brief incandescent light that turned night into day. It is not believed to be an act of violence perpetrated by mutants, or the group known as the Friends of Humanity. People in the surrounding area believe it to be only a random quirk of nature. {{Picture Follows}} "Crap, I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Like those kids don't have enough to worry about just with classes, and public opinion now they're putting on a play for a whole damn town.", Havok said. "Oh Alex, you and Scott I'm sure got into a lot more trouble than this. Besides those kids are Emma and Sean's problems, not X-Factor's.", Polaris calmly replied to her lover. "Lorna's right on that account, c'mon Shard, let's go get some grub. After that workout with the others I'm starving.", Kyle looped his arm around the waist of Bishop's sister and soon the group left the room, making their way to the kitchen. Only one person remained in the room to look at the article, with a rare longing in his eyes. Had anyone been watching the psychopathic killer, they would have seen his face change from a bestial rage and hatred to what some might call a caring, loving look. "I'm comin' for ya, my sweet Rebecca Lee; Logan let ya go, but I'll take care of ya from now on, and that's a promise," he spoke softly to the photo, caressing it gently. He put down the paper almost grudgingly, then walked out the door, with the more familiar angry look set on his features. ************************************ "Thankfully, Monet has no recollection of what happened with her and Emplate, I think that she went under that trance state as soon as he captured her.", The White Queen told Sean Cassidy as they sat in her office. "Are you sure Emma? The girl could be just pulling the wool over our eyes again," he said uncertainly. "I might have thought so myself but, I scanned her mind the past few nights while she was asleep to make sure. She might have been able to fight me off for one night or even two but not for an entire week, so I am pretty positive of it." "Ach woman! Don't you have any respect at all for anyone's privacy?" "You and I were both concerned about any psychological damage caused by her confrontation with her brother and Bulwark, this was the best way to make sure of that. She isn't even aware that I was in her mind, if that's what you were worried about," she said in exasperation. He shook his head wearily, tired of this same argument with his colleague, "I'm glad you found out for sure, that's what matters the most." "Good; now that, that matter is closed, I have something I wanted to talk to you about. You know that I have a trip planned to New York this week and that it will last for two weeks. I wanted to take all of the students along with me, it will be something of a short vacation from the school." Surprisingly he agreed, "You know Em, that doesn't sound half bad, I'm sure they all would like time to relax. Are you planning on taking Artie, Leech and Penance with the others?" "Of course! They are students just like Paige or Everett, and I believe that they'll enjoy some time away as well. Besides, I have several private suites for them to stay in, just in case they want to stay inside." "Now all you have to do is tell the students. That is if they haven't already found out." "What do you mean?", Emma asked. "Emma, you have three students here that are telepathic. Think about it; what would your devious mind have thought of? Knowing that both of your teachers are talking privately about who knows what. You wouldn't be a wee bit curious?" "Then chances are? . . . ", she started. " . . . They already know and are packing to go on your trip as we speak," Sean finished. "Aren't you going to come along on the trip?" Emma asked as she walked to the door. "Oh no, not me lass. You made the plans; you can have them for the next two weeks." "Gee Banshee, thank you so very much." Two days later, all but one of the students was sitting in the rented limousine, and they were talking with each other. "Jubilee, are you sure you don't want to go with us? I mean you're the one who loves to go shopping and just lying around all day long. This will be perfect for you." "I told ya hayseed, I just don't feel like going anywhere. I'm still not good at controlling my telepathy yet and all I need to do is go around a couple hundred thousand folks and have their thoughts running through my gray matter. I'm just going to lay around and vegetate here, besides Mr. Cassidy is here so I'll be fine." Emma and Sean came striding out to the car with a few of the straggling students in tow behind them. "Come on, we should have been to the airport thirty minutes ago. Jubilee, are you sure that you don't want to come along with us?" "Yes, I am quite sure Ms. Frost," she said in a bored voice. "Emma will you just get going! I'm sure that Jubilee and I will manage to survive the next two weeks without your superior guidance." She gave Sean a dark look, then shooed the others into the car, got into the front passenger seat and off the group went. Sean put his arm around his student's shoulders. "I know how much you wanted to go on this trip lass, to be with the others and have a grand time," his heavy Irish brogue showing in his voice. Jubilee turned her head to look at the headmaster. "Like no way Seanster! Why would moi want to be with a bunch of babies? 'Sides I like it when I don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn from Paige's workout tapes. It's a blessing that they're gonna be gone for the next two weeks." She placed her hand over his, acknowledging his trying to comfort her, then quietly walked away. By the evening she was back at her usual self and they had an enjoyable evening of movie watching together. The next few days were uneventful, a quiet relaxed feeling came to the student and teacher. About four days after Ms. Frost and the students left, Betsy 'Psylocke' Braddock and Warren 'Archangel' Worthington came to visit. They claimed that the mansion was getting a bit crowded and they had to get out for a while but Sean had a feeling that Xavier didn't think it best for them to be the only two at the school so he sent some 'unofficial guardians'. Jubilee was glad to have Betsy there at least, to catch up on the latest dirt and to get some additional help on controlling her mental shields. The day went along great and they all enjoyed the company but one evening, she had noticed that the three adults wanted to talk privately and made herself scarce. She called Emma Frost's house in New York and talked to Paige and Leech for a while then got bored and decided she wanted to go for a long walk on the back grounds. She came downstairs and knocked on the den door, after which the conversation in the room came to a standstill. "Hey Banshee! I'm going out to walk for a while and I'll catch ya' all later; 'kay?" Jubilee didn't wait for an answer as she walked out the door. Warren said quietly, "She seems to be adjusting well enough Sean." "Aye; at times she's just the same as before she changed but, other times, I'd swear I was looking at a total stranger." "I understand it well Sean. All we can do is support her and let her know that we're here.", Betsy explained. Wrapped around her waist was the familiar yellow jacket she had worn for so long. Dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a simple tan t-shirt, she walked out to the back of the grounds, letting the cool wind surround her and whip through the grass. Jubilee let her mind wander and didn't bother keeping her shields up, she knew full well that her mind was no where near powerful enough to pick up on any thoughts not in close vicinity. Logan was the one who taught her to appreciate the nature around her. She was secretly hoping that he'd show up, just to have someone to talk to with ease and not as an adult to child. Suddenly she tripped over an uncovered branch and realized that she let her mind wander too far, and that she was now quite a distance away from the school. She was on her way back when a branch rustled behind her; cautiously she turned back to the woods and opened her mind to whoever might have been there. When she didn't 'feel' anything she once again turned back to the school and another branch twitched. Jubilee was ready to call out when she remembered what Jean had said not too long ago, about Wolverine's feral state, that he could become 'invisible' to a telepath. Hoping against hope, she called out. "Hey Wolvie is that you?" No sound came, only a few snapping twigs; as if someone were walking over them. "Come on Wolvie, I told ya' before, that 'you Wolverine, me Jubilee' freaked me out. Come on out!" Still nothing. This time some pebbles and rocks came rolling out to her, hitting her shoes. Then she realized what he was doing. "I know what you're up to. You're trying to see if I still got what ya taught me, huh? Seein' if I can still keep up the old canuckle head? A large branch came flying out at her, and she quickly moved aside to avoid it. A familiar devilish grin touched her face as she spoke out to the woods. "Okay Logan, old buddy, old pal. You lead, and I'll show ya just how well I can keep up with ya." Jubilee heard a crackling sound and turned to see a good sized tree falling over her. Using her honed acrobatic skills, she dodged the tree without using her powers. She was determined to show Wolverine that she didn't have to use her powers to beat him, that she could rely on her mind and body just as he taught her to. Moving with great agility, Jubilee kept up with the shadowy form; at times getting a little behind but usually keeping up and once even almost catching up with him. She wasn't paying attention to where her 'prey' was leading her until she noticed how dark it had gotten. Jubilee stopped to get a bearing on her surroundings and realized that she was to far away from the school, maybe even beyond the safety of the school's perimeter. Some branches wavered behind her and she turned to them to talk. "Wolvie, I passed your dang test, so come on out and let me see ya'." Silence filled the woods, and a cold wind chilled her bare arms. "That's it. You want to stay out here and mess around; fine. Me; I'm headin' back and I hope that Sean doesn't ask where the heck I was." A soft growl came from shadows, making the girl almost jump out of her skin. "That doesn't count as talkin' and you know it." "I know it don't Jubilation 'Rebecca' Lee but it always put that extra pinch o' fear in folks, don't ya think?" Jubilee turned around quickly to face the man coming out from the shadows. It was not the man she had first believed was her friend; the man she thought she had followed off of the school grounds on little more then broken branches and her own foolish hopes. She saw his blond hair tied up in a ponytail in the back, he was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt, and cowboy boots, just looking at him made her heart tremble with a deep hate and a touch of fear. "How did you know that?", she asked with deadly calm. "What? That your middle name was Rebecca? It didn't take much sweetness, just a little look inta your juvee' files." "What do you want?" "Why I came to see if'n ya grew up like Forge said ya did. And I gotta say baby, you turned out to be quite the sweet piece of meat." Blood rushed to her face as she backed up into the woods and tried to hide her body in the shadows, her anger grew as she saw that his smile grow at her discomfort. Then something flashed into her mind; one of her recent lessons from Psylocke; using her telepathic powers to create a weapon, much like Betsy's own 'psychic knife'. "Oh yeah, Creed? Well you better take a good look 'cause it's the last thing you're ever gonna see." The young woman backed up even further, letting him think that he had frightened her off, then coming out from a different area, charged at him full speed. She did hard back flips, picking up momentum, so that when she hit his chest, the impact would be increased. Victor Creed's body slammed back, hard into the ground and before he could move to defend himself, Jubilee was punching him in the face, not feeling any pain from the rocks she had bunched in her hands. With a shove he pushed the girl off, but she didn't give up, quickly righting herself, she charged once again, this time kicking him several times in the stomach and crotch. Creed doubled over in pain, not even trying to fight back against her. When she came across with another kick, he grabbed her leg and tossed her back into the bushes. "We both know you ain't got what it takes to take me out 'Rebecca'. Why don't ya just give up?" Jubilee knew that she didn't have the physical or pyrotechnic power to stop him, but she knew from Jean and Elizabeth that his weakness was his mind, and that is where her next attack would hit at. She slowly stood up, letting the image flow from her mind; a single shining katana sword blade, just above Sabertooth's head, the tip of the blade sitting on the center of the 'T' shape from the part in his hair. Feeling the power flow from her to the blade, she rammed it into his skull, ripping into his mind savagely. Creed fell to his knees, his mouth opening and closing but unable to utter a single sound, tears streaming down his face. The young woman fell to her own knees, weakened by the brief drain of her power, and breathing heavily. Victor looked up at her through his teary eyes and grinned. "Well, looks like I didn't get the whole picture about the new you huh? I musta hit a nerve back there didn't I? What was it? The fact that the runt didn't come up and see ya like ya wanted? That figures honey, he's probably' out humpin' some pit bull in heat." Jubilee stood up once more, with effort, looked at him with murder in her eyes and a new image flowed from her; three familiar metallic claws, placed just like the sword blade but this time from the back of his skull to the front. With the last ounce of power she had, she shoved the psychic claws deep into his mind, slamming his face and body as hard into the ground as possible. Strength slipped from her own body as she also fell to the ground like dead weight, and gasping for air in her lungs, she struggled to contact Betsy but couldn't muster the energy to send out even a faint thought. Sabertooth stirred slightly on the ground and looked up at the young woman; blood was running from his nose, ears and looked like his left eye was pure red. He placed his hand against his nose and wiped away the blood, his healing factor was already taking care of the damage that Jubilee had inflicted. Victor struggled to stand up and brought his hands up to the temples of his skull. "I never thought ya' had it in ya ta try and kill me 'Rebecca', I think old Logan taught ya better then ya know. Creed walked over to Jubilee, knelt close to her and gently caressed her face. "Ya did it Jubilee, I didn't think ya could do it but, ya gave me the 'glow'. Better 'n' Birdy, 'n' Jean and even that chippy Betts ever did. I feel like a new man honey and I owe it all ta you. I knew ya was the one, ever since I saw ya with the others in that mall a couple months ago. When I first saw ya I thought ya was that frail Emma Frost, but ya surprised me sweetheart." His fingers slowly moved downward to her t-shirt and felt the outline of her breasts, and with his right hand gently cupped her left breast, feeling the rapid heartbeat under her flesh. Jubilee was still unable to move because of the overexertion of her powers, looked up at him with anger and nervousness in her proud brown, color-flecked eyes. "Here I thought ya was nothin' but a pain the ass, a spoiled little brat that tagged along with the grown ups, but I shoulda known better. I just had ta be patient like I was at the mall, just bide my time and soon enough I'd get ya all ta myself." Victor gently pushed Jubilee to lay her flat on her back and with his sharp claw-like nails he cut away her t-shirt and bra revealing her firm young breasts and the nipples that stiffened as the cold wind blew over them. "Ya gave me back the 'glow' Jubilation, and I'm gonna give ya' somethin' too. After tonight ya' aint gonna be a little girl anymore, angel soon you're gonna be a woman. I'll take care of ya' and you're gonna be all mine, just like it's suppose' ta be." He leaned over her, gently undoing the yellow jacket around her waist and laying it off to the side. Then with surgical precision he sliced open her pants and underwear, leaving her all but naked with the exception for the socks and shoes she was wearing. Creed stood up and slowly removed his shirt and pants, he kicked off his boots and moved to spread Jubilee's legs apart. By now Jubilee's mind was filled with terror; although her body was still like a block of wood, unable to even twitch. She could see, hear and smell Victor Creed above her but could do nothing to stop him. The young Asian girl could feel his hands running over her body and his stiff member against her virginity, then a sudden tearing pain filled her body as he entered her. Her mind screamed out desperately for help the only way it could. <<GOD! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!! MAKE HIM STOP!! PLEASE, IT HURTS SO BAD!!!>> Sean was busy getting a drink for his guests when he heard a scream come from the other room. He ran in to see Elizabeth Braddock's body jerking upward, blood running from her right nostril, Warren was doubled over on the floor, clutching the sides of his head. "Warren what in the . . . " His own voice was cut off as the X- Woman grabbed him and pulled his face close to hers. "It's Jubilee Sean, she's being hurt terribly, we must find now!", Her voice cried out in the shared pain with the girl then she collapsed. "What happened Warren?", Sean held Psylocke gently laying her on the floor. "I don't know, we were just sitting here, and suddenly I felt this pain deep in my groin and I heard a scream in my mind. Betsy must've pushed it out to me because she couldn't handle it all." Lying on the floor the Asian woman sat up and gasped, staring with wide horrified eyes, she looked at the two men. "Betsy, can you tell us where Jubilee is at?", Banshee asked anxiously. "I . . . I . . . I . . . ," she closed her eyes and concentrated, "No, I can't feel her anymore. Either she's unconscious from the pain or else . . . " "No!", Sean said vehemently, "I won't believe that Jubilee is dead. Come on, maybe the computer can find out where she's at." The trio went to one of the consoles' in Emma's office and tried to find Jubilee. "Computer, location of Jubilation Lee.", Sean said into the microphone. A computerized voice of Emma Frost replied, [["Lee, Jubilation: designate: Jubilee is not currently located on the grounds."]] "Look again." [["Affirmative. Lee, Jubilation: designate: Jubilee is not currently located on the grounds."]] "Damn," Archangel swore softly, as his technorganic wings came ripping out from his back. "Computer last know location of Jubilation Lee." [["Last known location of designate: Jubilee - sector 10."]] Sean looked up, "That sector covers a large dense forest, it'll be hard to get through it by way of flight. Betsy, you should take the ground and Warren can cover the air, I'll take the outer rim of the area." INTERLUDE "I hope you realize that we have a quite a few guests in the club tonight, to include our dear 'White Queen' and her students. This private time will make people think we don't care about them my dear Benazir.", Shinobi Shaw's hands moved seductively around his companion's waist. She gently pushed his hands away and chided him, "Now, now, you should know that I wouldn't have taken you away from you fascinating conversation with Tony Stark just to satisfy my carnal desires. No, this is quite a bit more important then that, and it has to do with our plans for a certain, future queen." The woman stressed the last two words, now getting the full attention of man with her. "Well Benazir if it's that important, then let's go see." He took her arm and they headed off to his private office, when they stepped in the woman picked up a small remote and activated a hidden console. A large blank screen popped up and just below the screen, the console read; TRANSMISSION SENT AND IS CUR- RENTLY BEING RECEIVED; TRANSMISSION SENT BY - ****** **********; LOCATION - XAVIER SCHOOL FOR GIFTED CHILDREN, SNOW VALLEY, MASS. Shinobi punched in a code and the screen came to life, showing the violent assault on a young woman by a large blond man. The surprising clearness of the image left little doubt as to the identities of the two people, and the man cursed to himself. "Shit! Damn it, Benazir are you sure that this is Jubilation Lee? Is it anywhere near possible that this could be some other girl?" "No, it's a positive I.D. of one Jubilation Lee. I saw it just as it was being transmitted to us. There is no doubt that the girl is Jubilee and the man is Victor Creed." "I thought we had this taken care of already. That moron is going to ruin everything." "So what is the plan now? After this I highly doubt she'll be in any frame of mind to be a leader of anything." He didn't answer his companion, but silently watched as the scene played out. The phone rang and the woman went over to answer it. "Hello, Hellfire Club, may I help you?" "Aye, I'm looking for Emma Frost. Is she there?" "I'm not sure sir, but if you give me your name I can go out and try to find her." "My name is Sean Cassidy and I work with Emma at a school near Boston. You have to find her and tell her that I have to talk to her immediately!" "Of course sir, please hold the line and I'll go see if I can find her." She pressed the 'HOLD' button and put the phone back on the hook. "Sean Cassidy is on line one and is looking for Emma Frost. Now I wonder what it could be about." Shinobi shot out of his chair and turned to look at the woman. "You mean he's on the phone, right now and looking for Emma?" "Yes." A cruel smile crossed his face, "Well, well, well, this just might not be a total loss after all. It's just too bad we can't find Ms. Frost anywhere." Benazir started to smile as she reached for the phone, "I'm so sorry Mr. Cassidy but I can't find Ms. Frost anywhere. Maybe you should give me a message and when she comes in I'll relay to her." "Aye, that'll have to do. Just tell her that Sean Cassidy called and that some trouble has come up with one our students and that she must, emphasize 'must' lass, contact me as soon as possible." "Yes sir, Mr. Cassidy, I'll be sure to give her the message. I hope that the problem with your student isn't too serious sir." "I pray you're right lass, I pray you're right." The woman wrote down the message on a piece of paper, said good bye and hung up the phone. Then without looking, she took the paper and threw it into the garbage. "Now where in the world did I put that message for Ms. Frost? Oh my goodness, I'm getting so forgetful. Well, I'm sure I'll find it later on." She looked over at her companion, now engrossed with what was playing on the screen. "Should I bring Emma in now?" "No, let her enjoy the party for a while longer. I want her to see everything from beginning to the very end, and let her get the full grasp of the situation." END INTERLUDE The three ran outside, Warren lifted Betsy into the air and carried her to the edge of the woods so they could start the search. They could hear a soft sonic scream, deafened by the brief cold winds. "Warren, what if she's . . . ?" "No Betsy, Sean was right, we have to believe that Jubilee is alive. She's been through a lot of bad things and survived." Psylocke swiftly turned away from him and moved into the woods. He couldn't see her face but he knew that what he felt back at the school was nothing compared to what she must have experienced. Archangel prayed that Jubilee was indeed still alive, because if she wasn't, there was no way that anyone would be able stop Betsy from going after whoever committed this crime. ******* With a spasmodic lurch, Sabertooth's body gave out a shuddering release, and he fell along side the girl's body to regain his breath. He looked over at Jubilee and saw that she was unconscious. His fingers gently caressed the side of her face as he felt for a pulse along her neck and found it beating strongly. Victor found he could not keep his hands still against her and leaned over her; with almost tender care, his fingers traveled over her body, as if trying to memorize what she looked and felt like. When his hands reached the opening he had been in so recently, he moved back and downward to get a better view of it. He saw the blood leaking from the wound and with his index and middle finger he pressed them into her to touch the fluid within. He pulled his fingers out and found them covered in her body's life fluid. Sabertooth brought those fingers to his mouth and licked them clean of the blood. He looked up at Jubilee's face and smiled before pressing his face to the orifice and lapped away at the contents. Suddenly, there was a shift in the wind and Sabertooth looked up in surprise, and smelled the wind, then his face changed from a sort of loving kindness, to a familiar mean spitefulness. He got up, quickly got dressed, and walked over to his lover's unmoving body and spoke to her. "I got to get goin' Rebecca, but I'll be back for ya. You're mine now and no one is ever goin' ta take ya' away from me. I'll be comin' back soon and then you and me are goin' away to a different' set o' woods; ones where no one'll ever find us, no matter how hard they look. Then we'll be together, just us and it'll be perfect." Their was no response from the young woman as Victor looked up once again and moved off into the darkness. Unknowing to the man, there was a woman keeping careful watch over the scene. This was the same woman who had been watching Jubilee ever since Shinobi Shaw hired her to keep track of the girl at the mall. Now she was sending a transmission of what was going on directly to her employer in New York. As she watched the man get dressed and suddenly leave the area, a commanding voice entered her mind. <<FOLLOW. THAT. MAN. >> Unable to ignore the order, the woman moved off along the tree limbs, all the while taping the man's escape. When she was well out of sight, a small sparrow flew out of one of the nearby trees and landed softly on Jubilee's chest. It had seen the entire violent act from it's beginning and looked down at the girl with knowledgeable eyes. The bird spread its wings and its eyes began to glow as it spoke to the unmoving form below it. <<FROM A MOMENT OF DESPERATE NEED OUR BOND WAS FORGED. THROUGH OUR COMMON PAIN WE HAVE COME TOGETHER AGAIN. >> Jubilee stirred slowly and with a pained murmur, spoke, "Yes. Join. Now." The bird leaned forward and touched its beak to Jubilee's nose as it entered her mind once more, <<IT IS NOT YET THE TIME FOR US. WE MUST RELEARN AND DISCOVER ALL THAT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN OVER THE AGES LONG SINCE PAST. WHEN ALL HAS BEEN KNOWN AND LEARNT WE SHALL JOIN. WE SHALL BECOME AS ONE. >> The young woman fell back to the ground and relaxed, while the bird stood up majestically and arched its wings and body to their fullest form. A glowing light radiated from its eyes outward, and encompassed the sparrow-like bird in a fiery yellow aura. Then, in a single moment the small shimmering creature fell on top of the girl and lay against her body. Soon Jubilee's own body began to 'absorb' inflamed creature, creating a multitude of glowing luminescent waves. The waves passed through her, briefly lighting each layer of her body. First was what seemed like a road map of her circulatory system was revealed, then came the musculature, showing her physical relaxed state. After that Jubilee's nervous system glimmered to life, soon followed by her skeletal anatomy and finally her heart, lungs and the rest of her internal organs. When the light finally pierced through the many layers of her body, all that was left was a small piece of radiant energy, within the center of the girl's chest. That energy floated upward, through her neck and face and came to rest inside the front of Jubilee's skull, where the strange luminescence dimmed out leaving no trace of its actions. The older woman quickly returned to her viewing area after watching and taping Victor Creed escaping out of the woods and to his waiting Jeep. She continued taping Jubilee as if nothing had happened. Elizabeth Braddock stopped; she knew she was well beyond the perimeter fence and she hadn't picked up even a slight thought from the young girl. Psylocke opened her mind to its fullest range, in hopes that Jubilee would be able to send even a brief mental picture, letting Betsy know where she was at. Then it came to her; a tiny flicker, Elizabeth didn't know who it might have come from, Jubilee or her attacker but she was determined to find out. She followed the faint direction of the thought, through a closed-in area of the forest. Soon she came to a small clearing, Psylocke couldn't see very much and held the fear that whoever had assaulted Jubilee had decided to take away her as well. Suddenly a thin beam of moonlight appeared through a break in the clouds and lit the area. There the X-woman caught sight of the young girl-woman she had lived in the same mansion with for so long, the girl who would laugh and make fun of danger with her gum popping attitude. The telepath quickly closed in the distance and knelt by the young person, touching her throat, trying to see if she indeed was alive. A weak but steady pulse beat against her fingertips and Betsy sighed with relief, but soon relief turned to dread as she viewed the bruises and cut marks against Jubilee's body. Her eyes moved downward to the true nature of the invasion, and shuddered with disgust. She turned away from the sight and opened her mind to seek out to her two friends. <<Sean, Warren, I've . . . I've found her . . . She's been . . . wounded, badly and we're in a very thick area of the forest. Archangel, I believe that you're closer to us, so you'll have to fly her to the school. >> Warren Worthington hovered silently and closed his eyes to the pain in his lover's mental voice. He couldn't see any images from her mind but from the pain he had felt earlier in the evening, he knew what she was seeing had to be bad. He confirmed the direction in which Psylocke and Jubilee were at and was on his way to meet them. Sean headed back to the school; he had already called Xavier's and told Hank what happened, the only thing was, was that the Blackbird wouldn't arrive for at least another fifteen minutes. He had to have the necessary equipment ready when Jubilee was brought in. Elizabeth took off her shirt and gently covered the girl; at the touch of the cloth Jubilee stirred painfully, moaning and pleading, trying to push away the cloth and the woman's hands away. "N . . . n . . . n . . . oooo p . . . p . . . please, n . . . n . . . noo more. D . . .d . . .d . . . do . . . do . . . don't hurt m . . . m . . me no more." "Shhh, Jubilation it's me. Psylocke. I'm not going to hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you." "P . . . p . . . p . . . promise??" "I swear it." Then Archangel quietly walked in from the thick of the trees. He had flown in a way back, so that he wouldn't frighten his former teammate. Jubilee looked up and saw a tall blond figure approaching them and her voice shrilled out in terror. "NOT AGAIN! NOOOOO! NO MORE! NO MORE! NO MORE! GOD NOOO PLEASE!" Betsy moved quickly to grab her and struggled to hold her down while trying to calm her. <<Jubilee! Look, it's just Warren. See? Now just try to calm down. >> Psylocke relaxed her grip slightly to let Jubilee see that it indeed was her friend and not an enemy, but even so Jubilee's body trembled like a caged animal fighting the instinct to escape. Warren knelt behind the woman and removed the shards of his shirt to aid in covering the girl, his face held only kindness and concern as he spoke. "Jubilee, we have to get you back to the school but there's no way a vehicle can get in here. I have to carry you and fly back, okay?" But when he reached out to pick her up, the girl only shrank back further. Psylocke touched his arm and talked to him telepathically. <<Warren, she's been too traumatized by the attack to be taken by you alone. I think it would be best if I carried Jubilee and you carried the both of us. >> <<I think that's the way to go. Have you been able to find out who the attacker was? >> <<No, not yet. Her mind is so closed up. She just doesn't want to deal with it now. >> Psylocke stood up, carrying Jubilee with her, holding her close. "Jubilee, Warren is going to carry the both of us back to the school. I need you to hang on tightly to me." Archangel stepped forward, picked up Betsy and Jubilee and was off back to the school. INTERLUDE The only son of Sebastian Shaw clicked the 'stop' button on the remote and turned to the woman. "You know, I have a feeling that this just might be of interest to Ms. Emma Frost. Would you be a dear and go get her?" "Believe me Shinobi, the pleasure will be all mine." Benazir stood at the door and gave the man a devious grin while she walked out. A short while later a perturbed Emma Frost walked in with the young woman in tow. "Well Shinobi, your friend, said that you had to see me. So what is it that has such earth shattering importance." "Emma, Emma, please! There's no need to cast such dispersions. I just thought you'd want to see a special 'nature' documentary." He motioned to a chair close to the monitor. "Have a seat why don't you? I'm sure you'll find it quite entertaining." The White Queen looked suspiciously at the two before taking the offered seat. Shinobi said nothing as he pressed the 'play' button, but only watched the blond woman's reaction to the scenes before her. When Benazir first came out to get her, Emma was angered at the idea of being 'summoned' like some common worker. But as the screen blazed to life the anger toward the couple disappeared and was replaced by shock at what she was viewing. It was the back area of the school grounds and she saw Jubilee walking into the woods. The viewer played on and she watched as her young pupil stumbled on a broken branch, then turned to a sudden rustling in the trees. Shinobi looked over at Emma to see her reaction, but her face was set in frozen stone, never betraying her thoughts or emotions. The recorder played on, and Emma watched the young girl run deeper into the woods, following the man she thought was Logan. Soon enough though she saw it wasn't Logan at all but Victor Creed, a man who despised Jubilation for just being close friends with Wolverine; she listened to the conversation and watched as the two began to fight. A grim satisfaction filled her mind as she watched Sabertooth fall to the ground after Jubilee's final attack, but the feeling turned to concern as she watched the girl fall into an unmoving heap. Concern then transformed into horror as she saw Creed approach her pupil and spoke to her. "I knew ya was the one, ever since I saw ya with the others in that mall a couple months ago. When I first saw ya I thought ya was that frail Emma Frost, but ya surprised me sweetheart." The teacher's mind whirled, 'that was right after she aged, but how could he have found her if he was supposed to be with X-Factor in Virginia?' "Ya gave me back the 'glow' Jubilation, and I'm gonna give ya' somethin' too. After tonight ya' aint gonna be a little girl anymore, angel soon you're gonna be a woman. I'll take care of ya' and you're gonna be all mine, just like it's suppose' ta be." Emma Frost could only sit and watch as the first student of her new school screamed in pain and terror at the brutal invasion. She turned away from the screen and stood up to look at the twosome who were wearing cruel smirking grins. "When did this happen?" "Can't you see Emma dear? This happened this very evening, ummm, let's see . . . ah yes, looks like about two hours ago. Give or take thirty enjoyable minutes for Mr. Creed, that is." His eyes moved over to his lover who was sitting on the edge of a desk and spoke to her. "Wow! I think he was having a very good time don't you think so, Benazir? Looked to me like he was putting it all out for that young Miss Jubilation Rebecca Lee." He turned back to Emma and his face changed to a malicious hateful glare. "Dear White Queen, you've failed again haven't you? Once again, you weren't there for your student. And here I thought you actually learned something from the Hellions you allowed die. You know what? I think you're going to have a hard time getting your teacher's license this year. I mean after all, you keep letting the enemy to get the 'jump' on your students. Not just once but twice! It makes me wonder if you're still able to hold the title of 'White Queen'. I think someone younger, better at . . . " Shinobi's words hung in the air, and his sentence was never completed. He looked at the older woman with shock, alarm and fear written in his eyes. Emma's eyes turned arctic blue and her features became a mask of boiling rage. "Tell me this Shinobi, in all of your little plans, did you actually believe that the two of you could negate my powers in this room? Did you both think that after all the time I have been here, I wouldn't have placed my own personal 'back door' to this system so my powers would be available to me when necessary? As stupid as he was, even your father knew better then to try and attack me like this." She stepped closer to the young man, until her body was pressed against his chest, and whispered to him in a deadly soft manner. "Be glad that I'm leaving right now Shinobi. Be so very glad. You don't have the balls to come up against me boy. Your father didn't have what it took to take me down, but then again he had enough sense not to try. Learn from him childling, and do not try to play with me. Because in the end, I'll win and I'll wipe the floor with you." The blond woman turned and strode to the door, only glancing at Benazir, who sat frozen to the desk. "Next time hussy, get some clothes that actually fit you. Don't try to play dress up with someone else's rags. It shows your true breeding." The moment she was free of the room she opened her mind to her students. <<We are leaving, right now. Get your things and let's go. >> Her pupils looked up in surprise but didn't argue against the command. They moved as one and picked up their things and met their teacher at the door. The white limo was pulling up as they walked out and Emma practically shoved her students into the vehicle. The group looked to her for an explanation. She ignored them as the car wound its way to her home where she picked up the rest of her students and the luggage. When the car got moving again she gave a short explanation of her actions. "I just found out that Jubilee has been seriously hurt. I've contacted the airport and they'll have my private plane readied by the time we get there. We won't know any more until we get back to the school, so just sit back and enjoy the ride." Frost knew that her voice sounded harsh, and her actions toward her students was unreasonable but she didn't want to think about that at the moment. Her thoughts turned inward, to the confrontation with Shaw's son and his concubine. Her mind had been so filled with the nightmare that she had watched that she knew it was only blind luck that she was able to catch them off guard and hold them in a 'psychic' stasis. She used that surprising move to turn the tables on them. But, with the inhibitors in the room she was unable to dig into their minds and find out why they were watching the school or even Jubilee for that matter. Deep inside of her own mind, she was in turmoil; where in the world was Sean Cassidy when this was happening? Or better yet, how could she have let it happen again? Shinobi was right, she failed, she broke her promise; the promise she made to herself not so long ago, that this time she would not allow anyone to harm her 'children' again. The car slowed down and Emma looked out the window to see her private jet fueled and ready to take off, she saw the students' reflections and understood the concern and worry. She shut her eyes tightly and let the 'Ice Queen' persona to take over. "Let's go." The team boarded the plane in silence and headed home. END INTERLUDE They were confused. Paige didn't have to be a telepath to figure that one out. Jono, Everett, Angelo, Monet and herself were having a great time at the party that was held at the Hellfire Club. Miss Frost said they had to attend considering she was still reigning White Queen and it was only proper that her students attend with her. Mondo volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on Penance, Artie, and Leech. Franklin would be returning later on after his visit with his family Susan and Reed Richards, Benjamin Grimm, and John Storm of the Fantastic Four. 'It started out as a wonderful evening', Paige thought, but then Miss Frost came out of no where and told them that they were leaving without any explanation. The group got into the waiting limo and only stopped by her penthouse for a short while, to pick up their suitcases and the kids. Then it was off to JFK International Airport when their teacher told them that Jubilee had been hurt badly and that they were heading back to the school. She didn't give any extra explanation at how she knew that Jubilee was hurt and as far as Paige could see, her teacher wasn't about to offer any. Now the car was driving onto the tarmac where the plane was waiting and the southern girl watched as her teammates started at Miss Frost, trying to get her to say something about what was going on. But in the end all did was look at them and spoke two words. "Let's go." They got into the plane without so much as a sigh, almost fearful to Miss Frost's reaction to it. Now here she was, Paige Guthrie sitting in what was getting to be one uncomfortable evening dress. She looked up and saw Angelo and Monet carry Artie, Leech and Franklin to the back of the plane. When Angelo saw she was looking, he motioned with his head for her to follow them, so Paige got up and went along. Everett, was sitting towards the front and if he heard the others moving around he didn't acknowledge it; his mind was too filled with sadness and guilt. From the first moment they started school; heck, he thought, even before that, when they were fighting the Phalanx; Jubilee was hitting on him. Teasing and playful, that was Jubilee; stealing his potato chips by the campfire, sticking ice cubes down the back of his shirt. Letting him know in her own way that she was his friend but she wanted something more. He kept putting her off, letting her know in his own way that he would only consider her as a friend; nothing more, nothing less. In his mind, she was too young for him. True she was thirteen and he was fifteen, but those two years made the world of difference to him, but still she kept on, and didn't give up on them as a couple. Then she changed; over night she grew up into one sexy babe. And soon after that, Jubilee stopped going after Everett; sure she still played jokes on him and treated him like a pal but there was no undercurrent of romance, no desire for something more like before. He thought it was because of her aging, maybe she just didn't feel as confidant or thought he'd just like her for her 'new look'. When he found out that Miss Frost wanted all of them to go to New York with her, Everett thought that this was his chance. But when the day came to leave the school, Jubilee said she wanted to stay behind, claiming that she hadn't perfected her telepathic shields well enough. So, he went off with the others and she stayed behind with Mr. Cassidy. Everett thought to himself, 'Yeah, look at me. My codename is Synch and I can't even get in 'synch' with the girl I care for. First she comes after me and I brush her off, then she grows up and I go after her only to have her give me the cold shoulder'. His line of thought was cut off abruptly by a gentle shove. He looked over and saw Penance standing there, motioning for him to come back and join the others. The boy shook his head 'no' and turned away to look out the window. Penance shoved a couple more times but he ignored her, hoping she'd just give up and leave. When she didn't touch him again, he thought she finally got the hint, so he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Suddenly, there was a hard shove to the back of his chair; hard enough to push him onto the floor. Everett looked up and saw his red-skinned teammate looking at him with narrow angry blue eyes, and her left arm pointing to the back of the plane. He knew then that no matter what, he had to go along, so he got up and lead the way to the others while she followed. Jono glanced up and motioned for Everett to sit beside him. The chairs were able to swivel around to allow the students to face one another. <<What do you think happened back at the school? Could that Black Tom guy have tried to take out the school again? >> "I don't know, but what I want to know is what happened in that back room to get Senorita Frost so pi . . . , 'upset'. We've seen her bad side but when she came out . . . " "Angelo's right, I've never seen Miss Frost look so 'shaken'. Do you think it had something to do with whatever happened to Jubilee?" "I would venture to say so Paige. I was talking to her before that woman came out to get her and from what I could see, it looked like Miss Frost was enjoying herself." <<Could that Shinobi Shaw bloke be trying get at Frost by way of Jubilee? >> "No way!" "Hey Ev, calm down. We're just talkin' here amigo." "I know but it doesn't make sense. If he wanted to hurt Miss Frost then why not just go after one of us?! I mean, we were there at the party! He could have even gone after Artie, Leech or Mondo!" "That's true too but one thing's for sure, whatever it is it has to be bad." "Ummm, Monet?" "Franklin, what are you doing up? You're supposed to be asleep." "How come you guys are still dressed up? Why didn't you all change clothes back at Miss Frost's house?" "Well Franklin, something came up back at school so we didn't have time to change. That's why we're heading back now." "But how come?" "Miss Frost was in a hurry hon, so she didn't let us change clothes." "But Paige, Leech wants . . . " <<Great Ev, now you went and woke them both up.>> "Hey! It's not my fault they woke up!" "Now wait a minute, I thought you two were supposed to be asleep. You're both going to be very cranky tomorrow when Artie wants to play and you two want to nap." "Ummm . . . okay Mondo, Leech and Franklin will go to sleep. G'dnight." "Maybe we should talk about this in private when we get back to the school. No sense in thinking of the worst when we don't have to amigos." The group didn't go back to their original seats but stayed where they were at, drawing the comfort and strength they needed from each other. The plane landed a few hours later at Logan International Airport; as soon as the plane stopped Emma Frost came out from the front area, ready to get going once again even though the door wasn't opened yet. Mondo stepped up to talk to his teacher. "Uhh . . . Miss Frost?" "Yes Mondo, what is it?" Her voice was as sharp as Wolverine's old adamantium claws and her eyes were like two pieces of blue rock ice as she looked at her pupil. "Um . . . never mind. It's nothing important." Emma didn't wait for the attendant to open the hatch but did it herself and then laid out the steps to quickly leave the plane. Her students followed out with only a few mumbled words between them, to another waiting white limo. The luggage was loaded into the trunk of the car and soon the team was off to the school. When they arrived, both teacher and student could 'feel' something was amiss. Nothing looked out of the ordinary on the outside of the main building but when they walked in they knew something was wrong. "Warren, what are you doing here?" "Emma, what are 'you' . . . ? Never mind that, Sean will be glad that you're here. I didn't think you'd be able to make it back tonight." She was ready to ask Archangel once again what he was doing at the school but the look on his face made her pause. Just then Sean came walking out, dressed in jeans and his Celtics jacket, he looked too much like the X-Man, with dark circles under the eyes and a sadness that surrounded them both. "Ach Emma, I thought you'd not be able to return tonight." His eyes caught sight of his students still dressed in their evening attire, the youngest ones sleeping in the arms of the older children. "You must have left after getting my message eh?" The White Queen looked surprised for a moment at the question but quickly hid it behind her mask. "Yes of course, we left as soon as I received the message. Where is Jubilee now?" "Betsy and Warren brought her in a while ago; Moira arrived a short time later and is with her now." "Moira McTaggert? What is she doing here?" "Beast was called away on another mission so Moira offered her services and came instead. At least she believes that one person is more important then business and doesn't take her sweet time getting to where she's needed, like some people do." Two figures stepped out into the corridor, a man in a gray jacket smoking a cigarette and a young woman dressed in a blue and gold uniform. Emma's eyes narrowed into slits at the obvious dig, then smiled coldly. "Hello Kitty. Or is it Katherine now? Perhaps Ariel, Sprite or Shadowcat? It is so hard to tell with you child, you change names like some people change clothes." The man gently tried to pull the young woman away, "C'mon love, we're all on edge right now, you don't want to start something you're going to regret later." But she phases out of his reach and speaks once again to Emma, "Regret what Pete? Saying that what happened to Jubilee is her fault?! She already knows it; from the beginning she makes this great claim that she will not allow any more of her students to get hurt and then what does she do? She fails at helping and protecting. Again. Am I going to regret saying that? I don't really think so." Shadowcat walks closer to the teacher with venom in her eyes. "Why Kitty, I never knew you cared so much for Jubilee, I was led to believe that by your actions alone you thought she was pretty much a spoiled brat not worthy of your friendship. You two never got along before, as I saw it you both thought you were in competition for Logan's affection." "Yes Emma, you're right, at first when I met Jubilee I didn't like her that much and I didn't know why Logan like her. But, after a while I discovered what Wolverine saw in her and I started to enjoy her company. In fact I'd go as far to say that she is one of my best friends. I know that she would never abandon me." The White Queen looked at the young brunette and saw that not only in her voice but in her mind Kitty Pryde was speaking the truth. Deep down she cared for the young Asian girl, and felt that she, herself was at fault for letting Jubilee go with Emma so soon after Logan left the X-Men. Emma's eyes tore away from the angry glare and she looked towards her students still standing quietly in the corridor. In a more business like manner she spoke to them. "I want you to put the children to bed, change and get into bed yourselves. There will be no classes tomorrow so sleep in for a while. If anything comes up Mr. Cassidy or I will call for you." A few of the students opened their mouths to argue against it but Sean made his presence known. "You heard Miss Frost, it won't help Jubilee if all of you are falling over from yawning and exhaustion. Now get out here and get some sleep." They looked to the teachers, then the visitors and decided that it would be best to listen just this once. The group slowly walked upstairs quietly, and surprisingly Jono went with the guys to their rooms. "I want to see her Sean." A simple statement came from the woman who was once the enemy of the X-Men. She didn't turn around to confirm the answer, only walked away around Kitty and Pete Wisdom down to the MedLab. As the doors opened into the hallway to the medical area, Emma could hear only the clicking of her heels on the hard white floor, no sound, or echo could be heard in the area. She stopped in front of the doors to the examination room and pressed her hand against the pad. [[ Identify: Frost, Emma: designate: White Queen, security access confirmed. Please Enter. ]] The first thing she saw was Psylocke's purple hair tied up like a bun, she was hovering over Jubilee, murmuring what she thought must have been soothing words of comfort. Jubilee's legs were high up in stirrups and it looked like Moira was busy finishing up her examination. All she could do was stand there and watch as the Scottish woman gently lowered the girl's legs onto the bed and carefully covered her with a blanket. When she turned around and spotted the teacher, she motioned for her to enter one of the private rooms so they could talk. Moira McTaggert stared hard at the woman whom she thought she was in competition for the man she loved; Sean Cassidy. But looking at her now, she knew that despite the many differences they had and would have, Emma Frost loved her students in much the same way a parent would love his or her child. Her voice was kind when she spoke. "Emma, Jubilee was hurt quite badly. She has several lacerations over her legs, arms and breasts, also some bruising on the inside of her thighs, but the worst injury is internal. Whoever did this was either abnormally 'large' or the person was sick enough to use a foreign object to assault her. There was massive tearing along the walls that I've stitched up, and hopefully there won't be an infection, but with amount of damage and the area that it's in . . . well, we can only hope for the best. And she's lost a lot of blood, which is why I have her hooked up for now." "Do you know who did this yet?" "No, not yet. I . . . " "Go on Moira, it can't be any worse then what you've told me so far." "I can't find out who did this yet because their is very little evidence of it happening." "WHAT?!? What do you mean ' very little evidence'? My God, look in there and tell me how very little evidence you have." "That is not what I meant! If you'd calm down, I'll tell you. Do you want to wake the wee lass?" "No of course not, please go on." "The reason I can't find much is because whoever did this wore protection; a condom. I haven't found a trace of semen anywhere. Not anywhere on the inside or outside of her body, not anyplace. I found a few hair and skin samples that I'm waiting for the results on. But other then that, there is nothing." Emma turned away and muttered to herself, "At least he didn't try to get her pregnant." "What did you say Emma?" "Nothing, nothing at all. I trust you'll relay this information to Banshee, Archangel and the others?" "Y . . . y . . . yes of course. But where are you going?" "Out for a walk." INTERLUDE ************Greece Logan smiled gently as he smelled the tang of salt water in the air coming in from the sea. He and Elektra came by her homeland once again to visit with her family, it was the first time in many weeks that he actually felt relaxed enough to be around people. He now knew why she was sent to 'put him back on the path'. They were both two peas in a pod, struggling to fight for what was right and good, all the while fighting even harder to fight the darkness and hatred they had once embraced. His smile grew wider as he heard the feather light footsteps of his traveling companion, a moment later she layed her hand on his shoulder. "You aren't falling asleep out here, are you Logan?" "Nah, just enjoin' the view darlin'. What 'bout you?" "I'm just glad to be back home my friend, and glad that you decided to come along with me. I came out to tell you that the desert will be ready shortly." "I'm tellin' ya Elektra these folks a' yours are gonna get me fat and lazy with the spread they put out." "I'll relay the message to the cook. I'm sure that she'll be pleased to no end." Suddenly a flash of light interrupted the couple's conversation, the two jumped up in a fighting stance. When the light died down all that remained was a short Aborigine man, sitting with his legs crossed. "Gateway," was all Wolverine said, as he retracting his bone claws. "Who is he Logan," Elektra asked, still unsure of the safety of her family and home from this intruder. "He a friend darlin', he just enjoys makin' these pop-up appearances." Gateway sat there almost motionless, his eyes shut as if in sleep; then they popped open and he looked at the feral man and the ninja woman with a deep sadness. He pulled out his closed fists, one hand pointed to each person. When Wolverine and Elektra stretched out their own hands to him, he dropped an object into each one. Logan looked down and saw two hot pink earrings carrying name 'Jubilee'. The woman saw that she was holding a bit of khaki colored cloth with a few dark splotches on it. Wolverine held the earrings close to his nose and inhaled deeply, his eyes narrowed to tiny slits, the sound in his throat turned into a barely controlled growl. The woman looked to the man with a question in her eyes. "These earrings are from Jubilee, Elektra. That's the girl I told ya about before when we first met up. Her scent is all over these things but there's another smell on 'em." "Yes, this also has a different smell to it that doesn't seem to be from a young girl." She showed him the scrap of cloth. He looked at Gateway and shook his head angrily, then turned on his heel and walked to the border of the fence, just overlooking the mountainside and sea. "I ain't goin'." The woman looked to him in surprise, "What do you mean, you won't go? He is obviously here because something has happened to this girl and you are needed." "Me?! You got ta be jokin'. I barely got my own head on straight, what kind o' help am I goin' to be ta her?" "From all that you have told me, you consider her the daughter you never had." "Yeah? So what, she's got plenty of others ta help her out." "You know what the spots on this cloth is from, you also know whose scent is all over these objects. I know this as well, I've fought this man from time to time, and I know that whatever he has done to this child; it has been terrible. This girl, Jubilee needs no fighter or X-Man with her at a time like this. What she does need is a man who has cared for her, someone who loves her without reservation and would never dream to harm her the way this creature has." Logan didn't turn around to face her but continued to look out to the blue-green waters. "Ya don't get it do ya?! I'm. Not. A. Man. Anymore! Hell, I ain't even the man named Logan; I'm just some kinda freak wearin' a man's clothes. Jubilee don't need that around. She's got Gumbo, or Cyke, or Beast or anyone of the others to help her out." Elektra's eyes grew dark with anger and she quickly walked over to Wolverine and pulled his arm back so he would face her. Her voice was a barely controlled rage. "Are you so wrapped up in your own self-pity that you will not go to help this girl? She who risked her own life to save yours, not so long ago, from, . . . what did you call them? The Reavers? This young girl who lost her own parents, saved you from death's door, made sure you were cared for and who protected you from harm? You told me that once before, soon after you left, after you lost the metal in your body, that this 'creature' tried to kill everyone in the home in which you lived. To include this girl Jubilee. Did you ever go to see her afterwards? Try to find out if she was hurt? Or were you still too enclosed in your own little world of doubt and self-destruction that you didn't even think to try?" The woman closed her eyes in an effort to control herself when she spoke again to Logan. "I cannot force you to go to Jubilee, but remember, the path you walk is not just one to regain your humanity, but to know where your heart lies. You said that you think of Jubilee like a daughter and you her father, answer me this; would a father abandon, yes abandon his own flesh and blood to others? To only be there in the good, happy times and leave when she is hurting or frightened? You claim you love her as if she came from your body, but your actions speak otherwise. You've been there at the beginning, like a father figure, enjoying the unadulterated love of a child but when it got tough for you, when it became to hard for you to handle, you ran. Are you going to keep running? Keep saying that 'she has plenty of others to help her out' knowing that what she needs is you? Or are you going to face up to the fact that with a daughter's unstoppable love comes the knowledge that despite your personal problems, you have to go her when she needs you by her side." He looked up at the woman who started him on his path to becoming a human being once again, and smiled a smile of understanding. "I didn't figure you for the talkative type Elektra, but you're right, I've been thinkin' of myself for too long. You know don't got ta go with me darlin', but . . . " "There is a reason he gave us both something my friend. Besides, what kind of teacher would I be if I left my pupil to walk alone before he was ready? We will go together Logan." The Canadian man and the Grecian woman walked back to the Aborigine still sitting cross-legged on the floor. Without looking at the twosome he pulled out his bullroarer and swung it around, creating a 'gateway' to which the three people disappeared. END INTERLUDE Part Eight NOTE: <<>>= Telepathic speech [[ ]]= Computer voice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ INTERLUDE The place was dark; not even a star in the sky. Jubilee couldn't even see her hand in front of her face. She tried to remember what happened, she knew that she went out for a walk, leaving Sean, Warren and Betsy inside to talk privately. Then she was out by the woods, but after that it was a haze; the memory was there, and yet it wasn't. <<DO YOU TRULY WISH TO KNOW WHAT HAS OCCURRED, MY HEART? >> Jubilee jumped at the voice, it sounded like it came from all around her. <<IT IS ALL AROUND YOU, MY SOUL. WE ARE WITHIN YOUR MIND. DO NOT BE AFRAID. >> She jumped again, but quickly recovered, she wasn't going to let a little scare tactic like this frighten her. <<You know what happened to me? >> <<YES. I VIEWED IT ALL. >> <<Then tell me what happened. >> <<YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. YOU ARE MERELY CLOSING YOURSELF OFF TO THAT EVENT FOR NOW. >> Jubilee looked down and saw herself moving through the woods, fighting someone. The young woman moved in closer and her eyes went wide at the sudden flood of memory. <<Oh god! I ... I remember now. It . . . it hurt so bad. I couldn't get him off of me. . . . couldn't make him stop. >> <<I KNOW. >> Their was no comfort in the voice that spoke to Jubilee, no warmth or understanding; no emotion at all, just as if it was reading a story. <<YOU MISTAKE THE TONE FOR THAT OF ONE WHOM DOES NOT UNDERSTAND. BUT YOU ARE WRONG MY HEART. I HAVE KNOWN THIS KIND OF . . . VIOLATION. >> <<Who are you? >> A small sparrow came from the darkness, it was enveloped in a golden flame and it landed on Jubilee's right shoulder. <<I AM YOUR HALF. I AM PHOENIX. >> END INTERLUDE Wolverine walked into the examination room where Jubilee was at; to his eyes she looked so weak and frail. As if her attacker sucked the very life and energy out of her. Pyslocke was sitting at her side, a small smile playing on her lips and face. She looked up at him and he saw the dark circles under her eyes, the strain around her mouth, and how exhausted she looked. "Hello Logan, it's good to see you." "How's the kid doin'?" "She hasn't been conscious since I found her about . . . two hours ago. I don't know how long she was out before that. Other then that, I don't know. Moira talked to Emma a while ago but she hasn't said anything to me." "Prob'ly wants to tell us all at once, away from Jubilee. Is there anything goin' on in her mind? Like who did this to her or how it happened?" "When I found her, her mind was a total blank, she had no thought pattern at all. But now it seems that she, . . . well she, . . . " "What. What's goin' on?" "It's nothing dangerous for her, I believe it's just a way to keep her from remembering what happened before she's ready for it. That's all." "Mind if I sit with her fer a while?" "Of course Logan, go ahead. I'll wait outside." Wolverine pulled up a different chair as Psylocke was leaving and sat down straddle-wise. His eyes and face looked thoughtfully at the young girl. "Well kid, ya know I ain't much for yakkin' the night away, but I got some things to get off my chest and well, this is prob'ly the only time I'll get a word in edge wise with ya. I ain't much fer apologizin' either but then, ya know that already huh? . . . damn, this is harder then I thought. This is what I git fer 'portin over with Gateway and Elektra, instead o' takin' a good ol' fashioned plane. I never did tell ya about me and Elektra, did I? I think I wrote ya a letter on it but I ain't too sure. She says she's here to help put me back on the path o' the warrior, so's I don't go totally freak-o on everyone. But you wouldn't mind, would ya kid? Nope, ya always took me as I was, drunk, feral, angry, calm, didn't matter to you. Ya stuck by me when I was bad off; and to this day I don't know why you stayed with me. I was just a foul mouthed old man, who was a bear ta be around but ya stayed. Then ya found out that Kitty was with me before you and ya got all jealous over it. Kitty too; that's one thing I never thought I'd see; two women fightin' over me. But I think you two are more like sisters then anything. You fight like cats and dogs on the outside but if anyone messes with either of ya', the other one is there, quick to fight the one that hurt the other. That's what's happenin' upstairs darlin', Shadowcat's angrier then nothin' else, and wants ta kill whoever hurt ya like this." He reached down and gently lifted her hand to his face, feeling the soft smooth skin against his stubble and hyper sensitive flesh. "I was selfish Jubilee, I should have never left ya' after Mags hurt me. I just didn't know what ta do, and I didn't want any pity or sympathy from the others, ya' know? I know everyone meant well and all, but I thought it just best if I left. But, I shoulda' come back after I found out what happened with Creed. Their ain't no excuse for it and I'm not gonna offer one. But I'm here now, and I'm not leavin' 'til everything is alright with ya. And that's a solemn promise; kid." Wolverine heard the door quietly open and soon a hand was laying on his shoulder. "Logan, Moira's ready to talk to us now. We should get going." "What if Jubilee wakes up? We shouldn't be leavin' her alone." A shy voice came from the darkness, and a young Hispanic man came walking in. "I'll watch her for you Miss Braddock, Mr. Logan, I couldn't sleep anyway, so it's no problem for me, amigo." "Angelo? You look tired, you should be up in bed." "Nah, senorita I always look like this." "Well, thanks kid, we'll be back when the doc is done talkin' ta us." "Okay, but there's no hurry, I'm not going anywhere." Logan stretched and got out of his seat. He took Betsy's hand as they walked out of the room. Angelo took the seat that Psylocke had left earlier and made himself comfortable. In the area of LA where he'd lived, Skin had seen this kind of thing happen to too many girls. Jubilee was a victim of rape; plain and simple. The young man closed his eyes and struggled to keep his tears in check. His gray hand reached out to cover one of his teammate's, gently holding it in comfort. "You know Jubes, I never thought this kind of stuff happened in a place like this. Y'know? Boston Massachusetts, home of the old blue bloods. I always thought a place like this was supposed to be safe, someplace where you didn't have to worry about drive by shootings, or some psycho rapist. You probably think I have to be the biggest idiot in the world to think that stuff like this wouldn't happen here. Well if you don't Jubilee, I do." Skin closed his eyes against the tears that were threatening to fall. "I wish this didn't happen chica, you deserved better then to be some guy's good time. But you don't need to hear that now huh? There's gonna be time enough for that later; so why don't I tell you what happened while we were in New York." Angelo forced his voice and mind to a more cheerful pattern and began to relay the weeks' events to his unconscious teammate. The main living room was so charged up, that if someone had dropped a pin, the area would have been obliterated. Kitty, Pete, Warren and Sean stood close to each other, unsure of what was happening or what would happen. Moira had called through the comm. system to tell them that her examination was complete and that she would be up soon to tell them what happened. Betsy and Logan came into the room and sat off by themselves, desiring only to be alone in their thoughts for a short time. Dr. MacTaggert came up a short while later, carrying a large bottle of soda. Sean walked over to her and leant his silent support. With a deep sigh the doctor began. "I can only tell you what I've already told Emma. Jubilee was raped by a man who sexually; was abnormally large. My first thoughts were that the assault was from some kind of foreign object was used against her, but I've checked it further, that's not the case. Though no semen traces were found anywhere, I did find hair and skin samples, and I'm running them through the computer now. As I said no semen was found so, thankfully whoever did this wore protection, and there's no worry of pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. There is on the other hand, another worry. As I said at first, the person who did this was abnormally large, so the damage to the wee lass's sexual area is great. I found multiple tears and rips all along her inner walls and there is damage to the cervix itself." Moira turned away from the silent shocked group in an effort to control her own raging emotions. Kitty shuddered and turned into her lover's shoulder, the man wrapped his arm around her but face was set in stone. Everyone else with the exception of Sean also wore no expression, they were just waiting for the rest of the ball to drop. "I've sewn up the wounds and have a blood transfusion going so that her body can replenish the amount lost during and after the attack. But the damage was so severe, that there is a high risk of infection, which could make her extremely sick and chances are, leave her barren. Almost seventy-five percent of her body and face was also covered in cuts and bruises, but since they aren't that bad, I'm not worried about them. We'll have to wait for a while to see how it goes. Hopefully, the antibiotics will work and their will be no infection and she'll physically heal with no complications." Logan clutched the earrings tighter into his fist and kept silent. Elektra was right, the kid needed a fatherly man around not some berserker Wolverine and team rushing off to make Sabretooth pay, even though that was what his soul was screaming for. He heard Sean sit Moira down and ask her softly where Emma went to. She said that Frost went out for a walk, chances were that she went down by the area Jubilee was attacked at. ********************** Emma was down on her knees, oblivious to the mud and stains collecting on her expensive gown. She held a clear plastic bag and a large pair of tweezers in her hands. On the ground beside her lay a large lantern type flashlight, illuminating the area. The woman's eyes carefully scanned the ground, every few moments picking something up and placing in one of the growing piles of plastic ziplock bags. "You know, I am a telepath so it's no use trying to hide from me; Elektra. I suppose Logan is inside." "Yes, he is. How did you know I was traveling with him?" "As I said, I'm a telepath. He is foremost in your thoughts." The silence grew between the two women like a wall. A wall that the Greek woman knew just how to crush. "You know who did this, don't you?" "I know the same as you, my dear." "That is untrue. Your movements say that you know more then what you're willing to talk about. You saw what happened to her, didn't you?" The blond woman turned to face the unwanted guest. "So what if I did. What's it going to accomplish?" "You must tell the others." Emma choked out a laugh at the woman standing behind her. "Do you think it's going to help? Let me let you in on a little secret. You see Jubilee, myself, practically everyone here? We're mutants; so that means no matter what kind of bad things happen to us, according to the majority of the people, we deserve what we get. In fact, they'd probably like it if we get it worse. Another thing is, is that the 'man' who did this? He doesn't even exist anymore. If you'd been watching the news a couple months ago, you would have seen that 'he' killed a great deal of people and was shot to death by a police officer. You can't charge someone that's not 'alive', someone who no longer exists. Not even in the ninety's." "Then why are you bothering with all of this? As you said, you can't do anything anyway," Elektra said while pointing out the various items lying on the ground. "Why? Because, being around these children gives me a stupid sense of what's right, and what has to be done. Even though, 'he' probably won't even get a slap on the wrist, I have to do all I can to help Jubilee in any way I can." The raven haired woman walked over, knelt by the blonde woman and quietly began helping her place all of the small carefully named bags inside of a larger one. "You must know that this isn't your fault." Emma didn't look at the woman but her hands became still and her voice became as hard as steel. "Well, what I do know is that against my better judgement I left her behind; when I should have forced her to come along. This, . . . this is what I get for being soft. That child is in the MedLab because I didn't have the balls to make her come with us. I could have mentally dragged her to the car and just lived with her cold shoulder, but no, I took the easy way out and let her stay." "From what Logan has told me, Jubilee has a spirit all her own and no one or thing can change her mind once it been made up." "You don't get it do you?! Every night I go to sleep, I see the blood of the Hellions on my hands. Even though I didn't kill them, I hear their cries for help, hear their blame because I wasn't there to protect them! When the mansion was attacked by the Phalanx, Sean sent Sabretooth to get Jubilee and myself. When I saw her unconscious on his shoulders, I thought nothing of it. My own safety was first and foremost on my mind. Later, when we sought out Everett Thomas, we were attacked by the Phalanx again. Specifically Jubilee and I; my powers didn't work against them as they did in the mansion and Jubilee was too afraid of losing control over her own. Without a thought of myself I pushed her in back of me, trying to protect her what little I could. That was when I knew I had a second chance to do things right. To protect the new students we were searching for in the way I didn't before. So you see, I had another chance and I just threw it away." "That's strange Miss Frost, I never knew you were a clairvoyant." "I never said I was." "Then accepting the blame for something you couldn't have foreseen is ignorant. Instead of taking the blame for something that is not your fault, you should be inside offering comfort to those students you profess to have the desire to protect so much. Or do you think that you have a student body of only one girl?" Emma stood up, brushing some of the dirt off of her dress. "You know, if you were anyone else, I'd fry your brain right now for talking to me like that." "So what is stopping you?" "The fact that Logan is inside and chances are he'd skewer me if I harmed even one of your precious brain cells." INTERLUDE A redheaded woman looked up in surprise at the familiar sound of a vehicle headed up the dirt road. Surprise turned into a questioning glance as she saw the owner of the jeep get out. His blonde hair was still damp, and his body had a freshly cleaned look, as if he had just gotten out of the shower. "So Victor, you're back early." "Ya miss me, Misty?" "The day I miss you is a day I'll sit down to watch a 24-hour marathon of Barney and PeeWee's Playhouse. So, are you going to tell me why you're back so early and why you're in such a good mood?" "Let's just say I found exactly what I was lookin' fer, and leave it at that frail." "And what exactly were you looking for Sabretooth?" Forge and Alex stepped out from the doorway, both men giving the savage murderer a steely glance. "Well boys, that ain't none o' your damn business. I got my right to privacy to ya know." Sabretooth walked with an easy stride past the small group and tipped his hat to them as he walked in. Alex turned and with a cold look on his face spoke to his teammate. "Creed, if I find out you did anything wrong . . . " "Kid you ain't even scarin' the field mice with that crap o' yers. I'm gonna hit the hay." Raven bent over and picked up the weaponry she brought outside to clean and was ready to head in when Forge touched her arm and stared at her with a questioning gaze. "Don't look at me shaman. He's acting in too good a mood, but I don't know what's going on. And frankly, I don't want to know. I'm not his babysitter, you are, so if you want to know what's going on in that messed up melon of his, you go ask." Victor Creed fell on his bed with a relaxed abandon he hadn't felt in a long time, his mind and body were at ease. He let his mind wander back in time and thought to himself. 'When Birdy gave me the 'glow' those many times it seemed like she wasn't giving me her all. The demons and ghosts were still there but just behind a thick glass window, out of touch but not out of sight. It was the same way with the X-broads; Xavier made them give me the 'glow' but old baldy never told them how much to give me. The only time I got a friggen' full dose of it was when 'Rebecca' was kidnaped by Caliban and they needed me to find her. Part of the deal was that I get the 'glow' from Jeannie and damn, did she give it to me. Stupid frail, if it wasn't fer my healing factor, she would have fried my brain for sure. But my 'Rebecca'; yep that beautiful gal, took care of it better then the ones who were doin' it fer years. Just have to wait for a while, then I'll go back and by then she'll be more then willin' ta go along with me.' The blonde man turned over on his side away from the camera that watched over him when he was away from the team. Once he was comfortable he closed his eyes and finally allowed a smile of total satisfaction and pleasure to cover his rough features as he drifted off to sleep with dreams of what would come to be for himself and his 'firecracker angel'. END INTERLUDE Emma walking into the house through one of the hidden back ways. She knew that most of the students were awake and were listening to Moira's report on what happened. Keeping herself unseen she saw the huddled mass of six students sitting close to one of the air vents that carried the conversation from the living area. The teacher watched as Paige turned to Everett's shoulder to lean on with a muffled sob. Monet quietly held Mondo in her arms as her eyes stared into nothingness. The teacher couldn't see Jono or Mondo's faces but she could almost feel the anger coming off in waves from the two. Penance sat close by, her eyes glowing with a bluish light that carried a rage Emma had never seen before. Paige spoke in hushed tones, "Why did we go off and leave her alone?" <<Sunshine, no one knew this would happen. It's just something bad that's happened. >> "What should we do? You think we should try and go see her?" "No, I recently saw Angelo going down to the MedLab. I believe it would be best if we waited." "Now Monet, that's the best suggestion I've heard all night." The students jumped at the sound of their teacher's voice, looking at her with guilty yet angry faces. "I was hoping that for once you children actually listened to what Sean and I told you to do. 'We' will find the person who did this, I assure you. But at times ignorance is better, which is why we wanted to spare you from this news until later on. I had a feeling that this is what happened to Jubilee when we walked in the door. <<Then why the hell didn't ya tell us ya sod! >> Emma walked closer to her students and her face changed to a mask of iron as did her voice, "Mr. Starsmore, I will ignore what you just said because I know you're hurting right now and I'm a kind. And. Caring. Teacher. But don't even 'think' you'll talk to me like that again. Do I make myself clear? The reason I didn't tell you was because of the way all of you are acting now. Do you think Jubilee will get any comfort from knowing you were up all night thinking of what happened to her? She has her own grief to deal with without your self righteous indignation to add to the pot. Now get up, go to your rooms and try to get some sleep. 'We' will deal with this when everyone has a clearer mind." When the students didn't rise to obey her orders Emma went into their minds. <<Let me put it this way. You can either willingly, walk to your rooms, get into bed and get some sleep. Or you can go 'unwillingly' meaning I stay in your minds and I make you walk to your rooms, get into bed and get some sleep. And let me remind you, if I have to do it; it will be a great deal more 'uncomfortable' for you all. >> Knowing that Miss Frost wasn't bluffing, the group slowly got up and went to their rooms. Their faces showing a variety of emotions, but they said nothing to the teacher as they walked by. As Emma turned away to leave the room the conversation picked up from the living room. She stopped and knelt by the vent to listen. "Elektra, did ya find Frost?" "Yes my friend I did, we had quite an enlightening talk. But how is Jubilee doing?" "She hasn't woken up yet, but I'm not thinkin' that there's a problem." Dr. MacTaggert came rushing into the room carrying a few sheets of paper. The expression on her face was filled with a mixture of disgust, anger, shock and sorrow. "What is it love?" "The computer came back with the attacker's name. It's a positive match with the hair and skin samples I put in." Pete Wisdom wrapped his arm around his lover's waist and held her tightly as he spoke, "Well then, who is it?" The doctor held out the paper for everyone to see. "Victor Creed a.k.a. Sabretooth" INTERLUDE <<What do you mean you're my half? I've never seen you before in all my life. Why is it so dark in here? What in the world is going on? >> <<YOU HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS MY HEART. LET YOUR MEMORIES CONTINUE AND YOU SHALL SEE. >> <<Just wait a minute here, if we're in my mind, then how am I keeping all the others out? I mean the Prof, Jean, Betsy and Frosty, they're all psi's. >> <<YOUR DESIRE FOR PRIVACY HAS ALREADY CREATED A BARRIER FROM THEM. THEY CAN GO NO FURTHER THEN WE SHALL ALLOW. >> Jubilee stood and watched as Creed continued to violate her body then suddenly lift his head, got dressed and ran off. She caught sight of a woman hidden in the trees, quickly moving off to follow the girl's attacker. Then a bird flew down from the trees and landed on her chest. Another wash of memories flooded around her as she viewed the events. <<i remember now. But you still didn't tell me why it's so dark here. >> <<IT IS ALWAYS DARK AT THE BEGINNING. THIS IS WHERE OUR JOURNEY MUST START. FROM HERE WE WILL GO FROM THE MOMENT OF OUR CREATIONS, TO THIS TIME AND PLACE. THIS WAY WE SHALL RELEARN ALL THAT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN. THIS WAY WE SHALL BECOME COMPLETE. TWO HALVES JOINED TOGETHER TO FORM AS ONE THAT WAS MEANT TO BE. >> END INTERLUDE Dr. MacTaggert came rushing into the room carrying a few sheets of paper. The expression on her face was filled with a mixture of disgust, anger, shock and sorrow. "What is it love?" "The computer came back with the attacker's name. It's a positive match with the hair and skin samples I put in." Pete Wisdom wrapped his arm around his lover's waist and held her tightly as he spoke, "Well then, who is it?" The doctor held out the paper for everyone to see. "Victor Creed a.k.a. Sabretooth" ******************* "Oh no." Emma jumped up and quickly ran downstairs. Silence filled the room for almost a minute before the first reaction was heard. "THAT PIG! I'LL KILL HIM!" "Kitty, love calm down. You'll wake the kiddies." "Pete did you hear what she just said? Victor Creed did this to Jubilee!" "I heard just the same as you luv. But screamin' like a banshee; sorry Irish no offense, ain't gonna help her, now is it?" "I know you're right, I know, but I just don't stand here and do nothing. How many times is he going to do things like this and we stand by and let him keep doing them? I am not going to let him get away with it this time." "And I'm quite sure that an eighteen-year-old girl is going to make Victor Creed just drop to his knees and beg for your forgiveness. Is that what you were hoping for Catherine?", the sarcasm was dripping off of the White Queen's lips. The Excalibur member turned to face the female teacher of the school, "Maybe this is a good time for you to drop off into another one of your 'coma's' Emma. It's not like you'd actually do anything to help Jubilee. No matter what you say." Warren stood between the verbal combatants, "Emma, Kitty! That's enough out of the both of you! My God, one would think that the both of you had some kind of stake in this. Do either of you believe for a moment that we don't feel the same way you do? Each one of us feels grief and anger at Sabertooth for what he's done, but losing our own control and attacking each other isn't going to do Jubilee any good. I tell you what, it's been a long night, why don't we all get some sleep and talk about this in the morning? I think we'll all have clearer minds to think with then." Moira tried to hide her yawn but Sean saw it and spoke up, "That sounds like a fine idea Warren, I doubt that any of you have even had a chance for a nap since this whole thing started. There are plenty of guest rooms set up, so why don't you all just head on up and try to get a few hours rest." The others started to argue but soon found the wisdom in the men's idea's. All of the students would need the adults on hand tomorrow to answer questions about what happened and find some kind of understanding about it. They wouldn't be able to help them if they were half asleep and grouchy themselves. Although no one wanted to, in the end they all went to the guest rooms and soon they were all in a restless sleep. Logan separated from the group and went back to check up on Jubilee. She was still unconscious and Angelo was starting to nod off, the young man said that he would stay and sleep on a spare bed, to make sure the girl wouldn't wake up to find herself alone. Strangely enough Wolverine agreed; deep down he knew that Jubilee's state of mind was fragile and having any man looking even remotely like Creed could be an accident waiting to happen. So he leaned over to the young woman, gently caressed her cheek, kissed her forehead and walked out. INTERLUDE Light began to form in the shape of stars in near absolute darkness where a young Asian woman stood with a bird upon her shoulder. The two watched, transfixed as the starlight grew brighter and gave off more shape and definition to the area around them. Jubilee's gaze became focused on foam like structure that didn't seem to be far off in the distance. She watched as 'pillars' rose from the base of the structure, and what looked like small stars expanded within the growing object. She remember Hank McCoy talking about something just like this not too long ago. Her mind pushed past the recent hurt and pain to find the memory; then it came to her; he called it a nebula or some kind of 'incubator for new stars'. At the time she thought it was boring and not really worth her time, but now, viewing it in its natural splendor and beauty, this great thing took Jubilee's breath away and left her in awe. <<Why are we here? You said we were supposed to relearn stuff. I don't see what we're gonna' learn here. >> <<BE PATIENT MY SOUL, SOON WE SHALL WITNESS ONE OF THREE BIRTHS AND VIEW HALF OF OUR BEGINNING. >> The fire bird and the young girl continued to watch and soon a thin stream of light erupted from one of the stars within the massive nebula. Within moments, each of the stars had a similar beam or strand of light coming from within, each strand started to weave into the others until the hundreds of thousands of 'strands' formed a lattice-type shell. The complex weaving continued until the object had no opened spaces and it took the appearance of an enormous egg that gleamed like a gemstone. Time soon had no meaning as slow-moving planets and stars sped and the years began pass into the minutes. Only the 'egg' rotated in slow silence as the millenniums went by. Jubilee and the small flame-sparrow watched in fascination as planets and suns were born, worlds collided and created hundreds of millions of comets and meteors. Jubilee's mind traveled, she had no real sense of time in this place but she thought that a couple of days must have passed by while she stood there watching the breathtaking scenes. Soon she was brought back to 'her place' and noticed the sudden glowing of the 'egg' after more then ten million years of silent spinning. The object began to rock slowly at first as if unsure of what it was doing, but quickly enough the 'egg' began to shudder violently. Then, while the small bird and girl looked on, the crystalline egg exploded and the creature within unfurled its wings, stretched its body and arched its head until it was opened for all to see its growing flaming beauty. It is true that in the deepness of space, no true sound can be heard, but even then, if you listen hard enough, you can hear the subtle nuances of life and all that it surrounds; it is truly never ending. This was one of the times that the cosmos stood still, no sound was heard. In this moment, the endless reaches of space stood still, stood silent to bear witness to the birth of one of its children. END INTERLUDE Jubilee woke with a start, blinking from the sleep in her eyes and at the confusion of her surroundings. With a small, sad sigh she remembered what happened and where she was. The young woman heard a muttering of words and looked over to the bed beside her and there was Angelo Espinosa, sleeping somewhat fitfully. Quickly enough though he rolled over and sank back into a deeper slumber. Jubilee got up stiffly and put on her tattered robe, she was glad that whoever dressed her used her one of her own nightgowns instead of the featherweight lab gowns. As quietly as possible she made her way out of the lab and into the elevator. It started to move upwards and Jubilee wrapped her arms around her shoulders; her mind was filled with images both horrific and fantastic. She only wanted to remember the peaceful tranquility of where she had just been but Victor Creed and his act pushed their way forward. "Not now, not now, not now. Later, I'll deal with it later. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow," the words were spoken in a mantra-like way, willing the darker memories to leave. A dull light flowed into the elevator, announcing to the girl that she had reached the ground of the main building. She looked around for anyone, and seeing no one, made her way to the kitchen. "God, I haven't had anything to eat in like, . . . ," Jubilee looked up at the clock and saw the time as five in the morning. <<It was only the day after!?! I thought it was a lot longer after what . . . After . . . >> She shoved the hurt back down and shifted her mind from anything that didn't have to deal with her getting something to eat. The first thing she noticed was all of the dishes and coffee cups littering the counter top and table. "There was no way that Sean, Warren and Betts could make that much of a mess. We must've had some company last night. Computer, list everyone that's in the building right now." [[Designates located on school perimeters: Cassidy, Sean designate-Banshee . . ]] "You don't have to tell me the whole thing. Just . . . the code names is cool." [[Designates located on school perimeters: Banshee, M, Synch, Chamber, Husk, Skin, Penance, Mondo, Jubilee, Leech, Artie, Richards, Franklin, Wolverine, Archangel, Psylocke, Shadowcat, Elektra, MacTaggert, Dr. Moira, Wisdom, Pete.]] "We all came as soon as we could when we heard you were hurt Jubilee." Jubilee jumped and her fingers lit up with sparks as she turned and quickly moved into an attack position. Her features turned from surprise to anger when she realized it was Kitty Pryde who stood at the door. "Jesus Pryde, what the hell are you trying to do? Give me a freakin' heart attack and kill me off?" "No, I'm sorry, I thought you heard me walking in. Why aren't you still in bed? Are you feeling all right? And where is that guy that's supposed to be watching you . . . Skin isn't it? "Well 'Miss-twenty-questions-I-gotta-ask', for one thing I'm not feeling peachy keen but I'm not stayin' in that stinky clean MedLab room when I got a perfectly good bed upstairs. Secondly, no, I didn't hear ya' walk in, I'm not listening for every person in the whole house ya' know. And last but not least, I let Ang sleep, he looked like he hadn't gotten a heck of a lot of sleep time, you know?" "Forgive me O great Sparky the Wonder Brat! I was just a little bit worried about you okay? We've all been worried about you, that's why everyone stuck around instead of leaving. So, you'll have to excuse me for being a bit inquisitive." "No Kitty, I'm sorry; I guess. I'm just on edge ya' know? But anyway, everyone is still here? Does everyone, . . . I mean do they, . . . ya' know, . . . know?" "Yes, Moira came in and told us that through the samples she got from you she was able to find out who did this to you. Do you want to talk about . . ?" "NO! I mean, I don't want ta' talk about it right now 'kay? I'll deal with it tomorrow or something." "But Jubilee, I think you should be dealing with this. Get this out . . . " "Look, if I say I don't want ta talk about it then I don't want ta talk about it okay? I just came in here to get something to eat if you don't mind." "But Jubilee, don't you want to see that 'him' get . . . ?" Jubilee turned to look at the older girl with fear and anger in her eyes, "For the last time, I. Don't. Want. To talk. About. It. It's not like it going go away or something. So just drop it okay?" Shadowcat knew enough from working with Wolverine to let the subject go, "Okay, I'll drop it. I just wanted you to know that if you need someone to talk to, I'm here." "Fine. Now onto the next business. Looks like you guys were chowin' down pretty good. Save anything?", a hopeful look replaced the anger in Jubilee's eyes. "Well . . . , I don't know . . . , I wonder how all these pizza's and subs got into the fridge?" "YOW! Alright look out, 'cause there is going to be some serious eating goin' on!" They both knew that just because they didn't talk about it, it didn't mean the problems were gone. But for the time being they pushed the grief and rage of the night out of their minds and sat down to eat and talk as friends, never noticing that one name was missing from list of occupants on the school grounds. INTERLUDE She had been tossing and turning for only thirty minutes before making the final decision. Quietly, she walked away from the school to her private sanctuary in the undergrowth of a small cave. She maneuvered her body to a comfortable position and relaxed; her mind left its physical bonds and traveled many miles to a tightly locked up compound. She went inside, searching room by room, until she found her target. There he was, resting in the arms of a peaceful, innocent sleep. His lips turned upward in small a pleasurable smile, his body relaxed with the exception to the area between his legs. <<Well, he won't be sleeping to peaceful or relaxed much longer. >> **Images distorted and skewed then cleared away; he was in a familiar house; Xavier's. But he was chained up, struggling to be freed from this prison. His chains would not give an inch. Laughter filled the room. "Don't worry baby, you'll like." "Yeah, darlin' you're gonna learn ta love it." "Big strong man like you. Oooh we're going to have such fun." "I've always believed it's better to give then to receive. And you're going to be receiving sooo much." Faces appeared from the red tinted darkness; one time friends, enemies, family. "C'mon baby, be mommy's strong boy." "That's it boy, be a momma's boy. Then you'll be daddy's special son." Rage and fear flooded his mind, he strained against his chains, struggling to get at those who were leering at him. Suddenly, hands gripped his arms and he was propelled over a table. Sounds of ripping cloth filled the room as cold air chilled his naked form. "GET OFFAA MEEEEE!!! I'LL RIP YOUR FUCKIN' HEADS OFF!!!" He could feel them; hands against his hips, pushing his legs apart, then burning hot flesh covered his cold skin as he felt a hardness against him. Fingers caressed his blonde hair, and a face appeared; a woman, older, flaxen hair with eyes like the coldest, blue waters. She smiled. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" ** ***** "GAhhhh!" *Thud! * Victor Creed fell from his bed, sweat ran down his face like a river and goose pimples covered his bare arms and chest. He looked around frantically to make sure of his surroundings, then fell onto his bed with a sigh of relief. Sabertooth relaxed, a smile touched his face as the images of his new-found love entered his mind, pushing the darkness and the bad dreams away with her loving, innocent light. The woman's astral form flew away from the compound, filled with disgust and loathing. True, she had Victor in abject terror of what was happening, but his own delusional ideas about Jubilee made it impossible to harm his mind the way it had been done before. Unknowingly, the girl had become his anchor and rock. Until that one-sided bond was destroyed, she couldn't bring Creed to justice. Her justice. But even if she did break the bond, Victor would very well go after Jubilee again to either re-establish his feeling of lasting peace, or kill her for destroying his belief that she was his 'angel'. She returned to her body and opened her eyes. Emma Frost sat up in the cave, put her head in her hands and wept. END INTERLUDE "Ahem." Both girls turned to look guiltily at the other members of Generation X. The group heard the talking and moving around downstairs, and knew that Jubilee was awake. Together, they decided to treat their teammate normally, and lend their support when needed. "Ya . . . You know Lee, you really are a pig." "Yes Jubilation, it is quite common knowledge that you have the mannerisms of a barnyard animal, even though that is a put down to barnyard animals. One would think that you would have at least tried to act a bit more cultured with guests in our home. Oh well, one can't make a silk shirt from a dandelion weed." Kitty stood up, embarrassed that she and Jubilee were caught on their 'raid'. It sounded like they were being unfair to the girl but looking over at them, she saw that it was the usual banter the group tossed around. "Oh yeah Monet? If you'd, . . . I, . . . I mean, . . . " <<Unbelievable, the kid actually ran outta stuff to say. >> "Oh yeah Starsmore? I got plenty of things to say. . . >> "Did you two finish everything off or is something actually left to munch on?" "Uh. . ., sure Mondo, knock yourself out." The Gen X'ers didn't know it yet, but the adults left the school grounds half an hour earlier. Wolverine and the others were all fully aware that Jubilee was in the kitchen with Kitty. That was the reason that Pryde was sent down instead of someone else. She was closer to the students ages and surely enough she'd keep Jubilee from getting to suspicious. Moira and Sean were out due to some quick telepathic thinking and a few neutralizing metallic feathers from Psylocke and Archangel. The various X-Team members knew that the doctor and the teacher would never condone what they were planning to do. But as Shadowcat said to them privately, Sabertooth was allowed to get away with too many things. He had reached his limit. Emma stood along the school wall as the plane took off in near silence. Part of her wanted to go along, to lash out physically as she had just done mentally, but her other pupils needed her and she had to soothe Sean and Moira when they awakened. As she walked by the kitchen, she noticed that Jubilee still looked terrible, her eyes carried dark circles, her face patched up in different areas with bandages. The girl walked like someone who carried the weight of a hundred people on her small shoulders. The White Queen watched as Everett reached out and tried to comfort his friend, but the 'firecracker' only backed away. Jubilee spoke up and she was getting tired so she went back to the MedLab to sleep. Kitty called out asking why she didn't want to go back to her room upstairs but the young Asian woman never replied. When she got back to the cold medical room; Jubilee stifled a sob and fell to her knees. It hurt too much to 'hear' their thoughts of pity and curiosity. Pity that it happened to her, curiosity to how it happened and even worse, how it felt. She didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her, she just wanted them to treat her as before. But that way was long gone; when Ev tried to touch her, to show her that he was there as her friend, she froze. Then everyone just looked at her with those sad, pitying eyes that she hated, those same looks she got when her parents were killed. Exhaustion was quickly taking over and Jubilee slowly stood up and made her way back to the bed. She noted with some amusement that Angelo hadn't moved in the hour or so she was gone. As soon as she covered herself with the blankets, Jubilee was off to sleep. END PART NINE Logan looked over the shoulder of his teammate Archangel as the Blackbird landed softly on the heliport of the X-Factor base. It was still early in the morning but Alex came out looking as if he always got up that early. His features were relaxed and somewhat happy as the visitors came into sight. When he saw their expressions, his smile quickly disappeared. "Hi everyone, what's so important that you had to come to Falls Ridge at . . six in the morning." Psylocke stepped forward, "We want to see Creed, Alex. Something has happened." <Oh crap, > Alex thought, <this is all I need. What the heck has he done now? > "Morning boys and girls; Alex." <Not now Mystique. > "Hey Raven, is Creed around, we want to have a . . . talk with him." "You know Logan, I don't know who you think I look like, but just to let you know? I'm not Sabertooth's mother. If you want him, then be my guest and go get him." The blue skinned mercenary stepped back and with a flourish pointed to the main doors. "I wouldn't get too close though, I just walked by his room and let's just say he's ready to 'blow his mind', if you know what I mean." Pete Wisdom pushed his way to the front, "I'm not going to stand here and jaw-jack with you plonkers all day. If'n we're going to go get him then let's go." Havok moved to block their path, no matter what Creed may or may not have done he was still part of X-Factor and Alex's responsibility. "Wait a minute now. I don't know what's going on but just coming down here early in the morning isn't going to make me hand over one of my group to you. Why do you need to see him?" "We want to see him so that he can be taken to the authorities and arrested." "For what, may I ask?" "I don't see why you should care. One would think that you would be glad to get this maniac out of your hair," Warren said. "Sabertooth is a valued member of this team and I'm not going to let anyone take him out of here without a good reason. So you either give me a good reason or turn around and leave the way you came." "Fine you want a reason Summers? Try breaking and entering, kidnaping of a minor, assault and rape of a minor." Alex's face fell as the news hit him, "You can't be serious Logan. Oh my god, who was it?" "Jubilee. He got on the grounds somehow and attacked her. Near tore her in half. That's why we want him Summers, and we're gonna get him. With your help or without." "How is she?" "She ain't awake yet, but we're gonna make sure that he's not gonna get a chance ta hurt her again." "Well, if she's not awake then how do you know Creed did it?" "Moira took samples from the kid, they came out positive that Sabertooth did it." Raven was still standing at the door, everyone else had long since forgotten about her, for which she was glad. Quickly Mystique moved inside and went off in search of some answers. Outside the talk between Havok and the small X-Group became more heated. "Why are you stalling Alex? You must have never wanted Creed to be in your group to begin with. Why are you fighting us so hard now?" "Look Betts, I hear what you guys are saying but you don't know what went on." Wolverine's eyes narrowed, "Just what are you gettin' at 'Lex?" "I know you care for the kid Logan, but we all know that Jubilee is always putting her nose where it doesn't belong. You know that no matter how good Victor is, there is no way he could get that far onto the grounds of the school without being noticed. So, that means, either no one was watching the girl or your little innocent Jubilee went off to be nosy and got what she got." The visiting group was silenced by Havok's words. Of course he didn't know the girl as well as some of the others but to say that the attack was her fault was beyond reasoning. Amazingly, it was Wisdom that spoke in defense of the young woman. "Look, I don't know much on this gal Jubilee either, but from what Kitty has told me, she ain't the kind to do something without good reason. Now whatever that was, it don't matter. What matters is this git, Sabertooth raped a sixteen-year-old girl and now he's got to pay the piper." "I don't think so Mr. Wisdom." Forge came striding out with the rest of X-Factor behind him, with the exception of Creed and Raven. Each member was dressed in full uniform, almost as if expecting a fight with their old friends. "I understand your anger Logan, as well as the rest of you. But Victor Creed is a working operative for the United States government, so therefore he has, immunity from arrests and incarcerations, as well as the rest of X-Factor." "I cannot believe," Warren started, "that you condone this kind of sick thing. What he did was disgusting and evil. If you had seen Jubilee you wouldn't be spouting this 'immunity' crap to us." "I'm not saying that it's okay to what he'd done Archangel, but as a liaison between X-Factor and the security branch of the government I have to tell all of you how it is. It doesn't make any difference how much evidence you may have against him or even if you have it on tape, Creed can't be touched by you and isn't going anywhere." The British mutant stepped up toe to toe to Forge, "I wouldn't put good money on that wager, mate." "NO! We didn't come here to fight our friends." Psylocke spoke out in the background of the group. Her jaw clenched in contained rage. "We want Creed to answer for his crimes against Jubilation but we won't fight you in the process. You want to keep him so bad? Fine, but just you make sure he doesn't come within a hundred miles of her ever again. I highly doubt that Emma, Sean or the rest of the students would be as understanding as the rest of us." "Strange Alex Summers, from what I've learned of your family, they've proven to be heros and believers in the truth and what is right. How sad and disappointing to see that you would rather stand by maniac that would kill you as soon as look at you and not try to aid those who are your true allies." The Greek woman known as Elektra had remained silent throughout the exchange. She felt anger at the men who were defending the rapist. In her mind their was no need for discussion, but this wasn't her team and she knew that they had to do this for themselves. Wolverine especially. "Lady I could care less what you think about me. Scott is my brother but I'm my own man here, and this is my team which follows my decisions." "Look why don't you guys just leave. There is no way that you're taking Sabertooth out of here, and we really don't want a fight with you, either." Kyle spoke to the visitors from the doorway. The visiting group looked at each other; this definitely was not what they had planned. Each person actually believed that X-Factor would just give Creed up without a fight once they found out what he had done. But instead they found Forge and Alex holding up for Sabertooth's rights and freedoms while saying that chances were, that it was Jubilee's fault for being attacked. It was true that no one wanted a fight, especially between two X-teams but neither side was about to budge from what they wanted. Elizabeth Braddock spoke to each person telepathically, <<If we don't leave, this could very well escalate into a far worse situation. We know that Creed is here, and now X-Factor is aware of the consequences of having him anywhere near Jubilee. I believe . . . , we should leave, I don't like it and I don't want to do it, but I can't see any other alternative. Besides Sean, Moira and Emma should be up soon and we'll have a lot of explaining to do about this. >> The group of five agreed albeit uncomfortably, and walked back to their plane. Wolverine stopped and looked back at mutant team standing around in discomfort. "I hope ya know what ya did here today Forge and they rest of ya. I always tried to fight for the folks who been done wrong, I thought that's what you did too. I guess I was wrong." Soon the plane lifted in near silence into the air and left the small base. Lorna was the first to speak up after the plane was out of sight. "Alex, what made you say those kinds of things? Even if that girl was snooping around it doesn't mean that she deserved to be attacked like they said." "Oh why don't you grow up Polaris," said Shard, sitting on the hood of Victor Creed's Jeep, "it's not like we know the kid anyway. Besides Sabertooth is a valuable member of the team. Not to put you down Kyle but Creed's hyper sense's are far better then yours; I don't see why their's a problem here." "Maybe in the future where your from Shard rapists get away with this kind of act . . . " "Hey Lorna, I'm just telling you like it is. You think that Vic is actually going to see the inside of a jail cell for this? Wake up and smell some civil liberties girl." "The final thing is, is that Victor Creed isn't going anywhere for the time being and we still have training exercises to get through today, so let's get going everyone." Forge finished his talk, then he and Havok walked back inside, side by side in deep discussion. "I dunno Shard, I mean how can we stay here knowing what 'Tooth did? Did you mean what you said? That his being a member of the team is more important then the crime he commits?", Kyle asked the sister of Bishop. "No Kyle, I didn't mean it, but those X-Men have to see us acting as a team for better or worse. I personally believe that Sabertooth should have his 'manhood' cut off and have it cauterized so it can't grow back. But there is no way that, that is going to happen so why dwell on it? The kid will learn to get over it." The younger woman hopped off of the Jeep and looked at her emerald haired teammate, "What about you Lorna? Are you going to cut and run because of this? Leaving old Alex high and dry?" "No Shard, I'm not going to leave, I feel for that girl but as you said we can't do anything about it now and we are a team. Now if you'll excuse me." Deep within the base things were far from finished. Raven could here moans and grunts coming from her former lover's room. Soon enough she stood by the energy field covering his doorway, and she could hear what his twisted mind was turning from a violent act a sick fantasy. Mystique smiled and thought to herself, <Ooh, let's play. > Victor's eyes slowly opened, still far too relaxed from his 'afterglow' to care too much about anything else. He looked up and saw Jubilee standing at his doorway. "Oh Sabertooth, I came as soon as I could! The others were trying to get me to stay at the school but I told them I wanted to be with you." "Is that you, Rebecca? Do you really mean that? I'm so sorry honey, I didn't mean ta hurt ya like that. I didn't know ya was still a virgin." "It doesn't matter darling, I know you didn't mean it. But it just means that you're the one for me from now on. We're never going to be apart again. The others don't understand you, but I do; now. I think that's why I hung around Wolvie all that time, I really wanted you but just didn't know it." "Rebecca darlin', come in here ta me and this time I promise I'll be gentle with ya." "Okay, let me just show you something first." " . . . ? What are ya doin' sweetheart? I don't want Forge or that snot Summers ta see ya yet." "Be patient love, just a second more." INTERLUDE The newborn entity looked around with blinking eyes, taking in all that was around it. A growing hunger made it aware that it had to find something to eat. The creature flapped its flaming wings and pushed with its small clawed feet but it only moved in place. Flames grew in strength matching the agitation of the human-sized creature. Suddenly its cries reverberated through the surrounding space, it was hungry, that was all that mattered. A blinding light slammed into the hatchling, stopping its screams. The young creature's whimpers quieted as it absorbed the life-giving nutrients of the light, then by instinct, its wings opened gracefully and followed the light to its source; a newly created planet. Knowing on some inner level of what to do, the youngster drew its wings into itself and dove deep within the white burning core of the planet so that it could feed. The starving hunger quickly left as the entity fed to its fullest delight. When the creature finally flew away, all that was left of globe was a burned out chunk of rock no larger then a basketball. So it continued for more then a million years the young creature borne of 'interstellar pillars', flew in the cosmos that was its playground. Moving about by instinct, it had no understanding or care of life, death, right and wrong. It fed when it was hungry, rested when it was tired and played when it sought amusement. The creature could not comprehend the people of the worlds it saw, so to it, they were of no importance. END INTERLUDE His eyes were glued to the Asian girl standing at his door, he watched as one by one she undid the buttons on her shirt and slowly open it revealing, . . . blue skin? Lust turned to surprise and then surprise turned to rage. "Ah Victor Victor Victor, you are so lucky that I am not a jealous woman. You know when 'we' had sex you never apologized to me for being too rough. And you never ever told me you'd be gentle the next time around. Tsk, tsk, tsk, yep you are 'so' lucky I'm not the jealous, revenge- seeking type." "YOU? . . . you . . . YOU!?! . . . " "Yeesh, my wittle Viccy poo, you better be careful, that vein in your neck and forehead there are going to explode if you don't calm down a bit." "You are one dead cu . . . , I'm gonna, gut you good, woman." "Know what? I've heard that from you before. Oh what's wrong? Didn't like my acting? Darn it all, and here I thought I was getting better. Had you fooled for a while there though, didn't I?" "C'mon in here Raven, I'll show ya just how fooled I was." "Naw, I'm trying to cut back on blonde homicidal maniac Canadians." The woman leaned forward close enough to feel the hum of the energy field. Her voice grew cold as she spoke. "Just so we understand each other here 'old buddy'; I know you've gone up against Rogue and filled her psyche with your sick thoughts when you touched her not too long ago. You do that ever again to her or try to hurt my son Kurt and I'll show you just how cruel I can be." Mystique's features changed back to the present Jubilee, only now her face, neck and body was covered in mass bruises and slashes. Her arms hung at grossly wrong angles, showing severe breaks, her hair hung limply in patches against her skull. "I know your weakness now 'sweets'; harm my family again, and I'll be sure to make this a reality. After all, she doesn't have any certain healing factor, does she?" "Oh and one more thing, I just wanted you to know Creed, that just because I don't know much about or even care about that girl Jubilee? It doesn't mean you're going to get away with this and have nothing to show for it. See ya 'round big boy." She transformed back into her normal self, turned and walked back down the corridor to the outside. Raven could hear his growls of anger and called out as she walked, "I wouldn't let my fantasies take over my sleep patterns if I were you. Those X-goodies were just here and you know that guy with the hot knives? Snip and burn sweetie, snip and burn." INTERLUDE It was bored. As bored as one creature could be that had no understanding of the word. Hundreds of planetary systems were its playground and yet . . . nothing. The youthful flaming bird passed by a large grouping of planets, one large globe in particular caught its attention. It could 'feel' plaintive wail of need coming from the world. Beyond its natural instinct for survival, curiosity was growing from within and it flew down to investigate. END INTERLUDE *KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK* <I don't need this now. > *KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK* <Why not just shove your fist through the door. > "Okay, okay, just hold on a minute." Emma peered out of the eye hole in the front door. It was only six thirty in the morning, and she had just laid down on the couch to try for a twenty minute cat nap. This was not going well. "Who is it?" "Federal Express ma'am." <I'll give you 'ma'am' boy. > The teacher opened the door to a lanky young man, looking like he, himself had just gotten up. His eyes grew wider and his mouth hung open at the sight of the blonde teacher in her clinging satin white nightgown. "Well?" "Ummm . . . uhh . . . arrummm . . . " "Young man, it's not like I'm not enjoying this obviously stimulating conversation, but I am guessing that you're here to DELIVER something?" "Aaaaa . . . oh yeah. I got a delivery here for one Emma Frost of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. You her?" "Yes I am. May I?" She held out her hand for the package that the delivery man was still holding. "OH! Wow, I'm really sorry. Here you are. You really a teacher here?" "Why yes, why do you ask?" "Well, *chuckle* you sort of, *chuckle* don't look like a teacher." "And Just What Is That Supposed To Mean?" "Uuhh . . . Nothin'. Really! *Ahem* I just need your signature here ma'am, then I'll be on my way." "Fine. There you go. Do have a Nice. Day." "Mmm, thanks. Bye." Justin Franks walked down the sidewalk to his small van. It was still early and the air was cool, but he was sweating bullets when he finally reached his car. Quickly the vehicle started and was out of the driveway before he knew it. "Woah! Definitely not the kind of teacher I had growing up. Thank God; I would'a never graduated." Emma closed the door and promptly forgot about the man. She took the package to her personal study and shut the door, making sure it was locked. The package had no return address, only her name and the address of the school was written neatly on the label. Quickly she opened it to find a securely wrapped video and a letter. The White Queen's jaw clenched as she read: *Dearest Emma, So sorry that you had to leave like that suddenly, I suppose you completely forgot about the 'entertainment' video I showed you earlier this evening. Well, not to worry my Queen, you'll find enclosed a copy of that very tape. I'll be keeping the original myself, but I assure you it's a direct copy with nothing 'edited' out. Oh yes, just to assure you, if for some reason, you loose the copy you have? I took the liberty to have some more made up. They'll all be in my safe keeping hands, so don't worry. And please, don't forget about us. We surely won't be forgetting about you. Your loyal subjects, Shinobi Shaw Benazir * END PART TEN The adults return to face some serious questions from Emma, Sean and Moira. The students try to get Jubilee to talk, Logan and Emma face off for the care of Jubilee and the flame bird begins its road of discovery. 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