The Mutants of Bucktown, a x-men fanfic

THE MUTANTS OF BUCKTOWN

A Generation X Tale

written by David J. Warner

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This manuscript is freely distributable via print or electronic means. Sale for profit of this story without the expressed written consent of David J. Warner and the Marvel Comics Company is strictly prohibited.

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CHAPTER THE FIRST - DRAMATIS PERSONAE

It takes a brave man to walk these streets at night, where no man is safe from the violence that lingers on them nightly. A stick-up kid here, a crack addict there, a prostitute on the corner -- all of them are looking for the quickest way to take what's yours, even if it means taking your life.

Fortunately, this brave man walking up the dark alley is prepared for whatever comes at him, including the sound of a cocking pistol behind his head.

"Gimme that loot, nigga." The voice sounds like it has barely passed puberty. The man raises his hands slowly in the air. "That's right, nigga, put them hands up. No funny shit."

Then, out of nowhere, a giant pterodactyl appears in the sky, screeching its delight in finding someone to attack. The young gangbanger is taken by surprise. It swoops down into the alley with its eyes firmly locked on its prey, who watches in panic as the bullets he fires fly through the beast and into the night sky.

He doesn't feel the claws or the beak of the animal. Instead, he feels a high pressure water hose against his face, throwing his whole body back against the pavement. As he lay on the street, shaking the water from his clothes in a daze, he looks up to see a beautiful young black woman with braided hair, dressed a black jacket, black T-shirt and jeans. She holds the gun nonthreateningly in her hands.

"I believe this used to be yours," she said.

The young criminal stares in amazement at her, then at the man whom he tried to rob, who is similarly dressed in black. He can see the drops of water coming off his hands and landing in a puddle at his feet. In a panic, the boy runs away.

"Scratch one banger," says the woman.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Image," the man replies. "He'll have friends."

"Well, then we'll have to straighten them out, too," the woman replies. "After all, Aqua, this place is still worth fighting for."

As the two mutants embrace, a tall, shadowy figure emerges from the alley.

"Ya know," he says, "if you'd have told me, I'd have taken care of that bastard with the quickness."

"And knock us all out?", Aqua retorts. "No thanks, Sleepy. I'd rather be wide awake in this neighborhood."

"Suit yourself," Sleepy replies, "but at least he wouldn't have gotten such a good look at you."

"Does that really matter now?", Image says. "After all, it's about time we took a stand. The Reclamation Squad been underground for too long. It's time we took back our 'hood -- for everyone."

The mutant trio walks back into the alley, walks through an open door and disappears...

---

Somewhere on a small, unkempt grassy field just outside of Harlem, two groups of junior high school students come together to play a simple game of football. To a couple of them, however, it's more than a game.

"Whatsa matter, kid?" taunts a player in white to another player in blue lying in front of him. "Can't take a hit?"

"I'll show you a hit," returns the player in blue as he rises to attack his opponent. The blue player's teammates and referees quickly step in. "Save it for the play, Perk," one of them says, "save it for the play."

Rayquan Morris, known to his friends as Perkolater, has taken his share of licks in life. His father died one month before he was born, his older brother was shot to death three years ago during an outbreak of gang violence, and he's spent all 13 years of his life in the projects, where he's always wondering how many birthdays he'll live to see.

In spite of all this, Rayquan usually has a knack for keeping his cool. All these ferocious hits and taunts, however, from this bullying linebacker, and all while P.S. 72 is down by 21 in the third quarter to St. Anthony's Junior High, are just too much.

"Bitch-ass nigga," Rayquan says in the huddle. "Let me take it at him."

"You're in luck, Perk," the quarterback tells him. "Coach wants you to sweep to the left. Sweep two on one, got it guys? Okay, BREAK!"

The teams line up, and Rayquan spots the young linebacker on the other side, standing upright and facing him. "You're all mine, kid!", he shouts. "Prepare to eat some grass!" Rayquan says nothing as he gets in position.

The ball is snapped and tossed to Rayquan, who runs to his left and looks for a hole in the line to dart through. In no time, he spots the linebacker barreling toward him, and he bears down, heading straight toward the boy, preparing for a collision that would make Ronnie Lott and Emmitt Smith proud.

Only there is no collision, and by the time Rayquan realizes it, he's standing in the end zone.

Nobody is more stunned by this turn of events than he is. Most of them barely notice how inhuman his speed was, save for the high school coaches in the stands scouring for eighth grade talent. Rayquan turns around to see his stunned opponent staring at him. He grins back at him and casually tosses the football to the grass. Rayquan's teammates run to the end zone to celebrate with him as the fans in the stands cheer wildly. One fan cheers more than any of them.

"That's my boy!" shouts Rayquan's mother. "He blew past 'em all. Did you see that? I know you saw that, 'cause that's my boy."

The celebration continued as Rayquan used his newfound speed to zoom past anything St. Anthony's had to offer, leading his school to a 7-point victory over their crosstown rivals. The fans and coaches were so attracted to the action on the field that they barely noticed the long-haired black man standing behind the bleachers, talking on a cellular phone.

"His name is Rayquan Morris," he said. "His mother's name is Felicia, no father. He's an eighth-grader at P.S. 72 in New York."

"What is his ability?" replied the voice on the other end.

"He's got speed," the man said, "certainly not enough to rival Quicksilver at this point, since nobody that talked to me would even consider he was a mutant. If it means anything, Professor, his nickname is Perkolater, spelled with a K. I vaguely remember that name in the X.S.E. Files -- the child has great potential."

"Good work, Bishop," said the Professor. "Get back to the school as soon as you can. We need to talk to Sean about how we can bring this young man into the fold."

---

The town of Salem Center, Massachusetts, is the home of this sprawling mansion, which is known to the rest of the world as the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Inside, however, is the training center for a new generation of mutant heroes, known as Generation X. On this particular day, however, training is taking a back seat to somewhat lighter activities.

"Blam!" shouts Jubilation Lee. "Gimme that spreadfire cannon."

"Just wait until I get back in this mine," says Everett Thomas, known to his teammates as Synch. "I've got a stash of waiting for me behind one of these doors."

"Ha!" scoffs Jubilee. "Who you crappin'? I've got every weapon this ship can hold, and you can't synch with it in here. You think you can scare me off that easily?"

"Maybe he can't, Chica," says Angelo Espinosa, "but I can."

In a heartbeat, the Generation X member known as Skin lowers his fighter ship right behind Jubilee's and fires off an endless stream of ammo from his vulcan cannon. Jubilee shrieks as she watches her ship explode and her wide array of weapons scatter over the dark corridor.

"No fair!", she shouts at her teammate. "You had a cloak on!"

"No one ever said life was fair," said Angelo, "let alone this game."

"Aye, haven't you kids had enough?"

A sudden burst of light overpowers the darkness of the room. The new headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Sean Cassidy, better known as the former X-Man Banshee, stands before the threesome and their ad hoc computer network. He is still baffled at why they went to so much trouble just for one game.

"On me honor, yu'll all go blind before ya reach yuir twenties," says Banshee.

"Aw, lighten up, teach," replies Jubilee. "You could use a few rounds of Descent, the way you've been stressing yourself out lately."

"Besides, it's not just mindless blasting, like some of these games," Synch continues. "It does take some strategy to traverse these worlds."

"No more strategy than a good game of cards, me children," Banshee answers. "I kin teach ya a few tricks if ye like."

"Yee-ha," mutters a sarcastic Jubilee. "Card tricks. You're a regular Irish Penn without the Teller, Bansh."

"I don't see why we should bother pulling them away from their mindless little fun."

Monet St. Croix has been something of a mystery to this team of mutants from the day they met her. All they really know about her is that she has been more arrogant and aloof toward them than anyone else they've ever met.

"They seem to have enough fun destroying each other with just the touch of a trigger. They must know everything that can be taught already."

Jubilee jumps from her chair and lets her fingers spark. "I'd like to teach YOU a thing or two."

"Easy there, Jube," Banshee says, trying to hold her back. "Both of you have been at each other's throats lately. That's not the way to greet yuir newest teammate."

"We're getting a new teammate?", says Everett.

"It looks that way," says Banshee. "Professor Xavier is meeting with me tomorrow mornin'. We should know more in a couple of days."

"Cool," Jubilee says. "We could use a fourth player."

"What about me?"

A hand suddenly emerges from the top of Synch's PC monitor, followed by a giant head with a big grinning face.

"Get out of there, Mondo," says Synch. "You're gonna crash the hard drive again."

Monet shrugs as she leaves the room. "If anyone is looking for me, I'll be outside."

"I think I'll join ya, lass," Banshee says. "All of ye should be gettin' out more."

---

The nightmare is the same every single night. Mommy and Daddy stand by and watch as the fire consumes all that they know. It starts in the distance, then slowly moves toward them. They all embrace, knowing their time has come. Just as the fire reaches them, he is snatched away. He watches his parents as they burn before his eyes.

"Now!", the voice cries out, and he falls for an eternity, the shrieks and cries above him all that he hears. Ground approaches, and he wakes in a pool of his own sweat and tears.

Image rushes into the dark room to try to comfort the confused young boy.

"What's wrong, Little Man?" she asks him. "You having those nightmares again?" The boy breaks down and cries as she holds him in her arms.

"Don't you worry now, Little Man," she says softly in his ear. "Everything will be okay. Aunt Monica isn't going to let you get hurt, okay?"

"Okay," says the boy as he wipes away the tears on his pajama sleeve. Image takes some tissues from the nightstand, wipes the tears from his eyes and allows him to blow his nose.

"I know how hard it must be for you," she says, "but we're going to do all we can to find who you are and who your mommy and daddy are. This forgetfulness of yours won't last forever. Here, I brought you a little something."

She pulls a bright red apple out of her jacket pocket and holds it in front of her, luring a smile out of the boy.

"Ap-ple," he says, taking the fruit from her hands and biting into it. "Thank you, Aunt Monica," he says with his mouth full.

"You're welcome, Little Man," she says.

"Tell me the Apple Queen story," says the boy.

"Now I just told you that last night."

"Tell me again. Pleeeeze?"

Image smiles at the boy and holds out her hands, forming a holographic crystal ball. Inside the ball, a young, red-faced woman in a dazzling white dress dances through the trees, picking apples off of them and putting them in her basket. The child watches in awe as the story unfolded in pictures in her hands.

"Once upon a time," Image begins, "there was a village ruled by a good queen who loved giving to her subjects' children. She planted apple trees in the backyard of her castle and spent her days climbing those trees and picking the apples off of them. Then, every Saturday, the children of the village would come to the castle with their baskets, and the queen would fill their baskets with apples, giving them more than enough to eat for the week.

"Then one night, an evil monster came to the village and took the apple queen away, and the next Saturday, the children of the village went to the castle with their baskets, but the queen never appeared. Weeks and weeks went past, and the children grew hungry, because nobody knew that the queen was taken away by the evil monster.

"Finally, one Saturday, one of the children walked up to the castle and looked inside. 'Apple Queen, where are you?', the boy said as he stepped cautiously through the dark, foreboding hallways of the castle. He eventually came to the backyard where the queen kept her trees, only to find the queen's throne empty and all of the trees dead.

"But as he turned away in sadness, he saw at his feet a small sack. He looked inside the sack and found it was full of apple seeds. He also found a small note inside the sack, written by the apple queen, and it said, 'If anything ever happens to me, take these seeds and plant them in the village, so the children will never be hungry.'

"The boy brought the seeds out to the children and said, 'The queen has left us, but she didn't forget about us. Look.' He showed the seeds and the note to all the children, and they planted the seeds in a small field in their village, where they grew into wondrous apple trees.

"And the children were never hungry again."

The boy reaches his hand out to touch the crystal ball in Image's hands, only to watch it go through the ball and into the story.

"How'd you do that?", he says.

"It's a special gift that God granted to me," she replies. "Everyone has a gift. Even you, Little Man."

"Really?", says the boy, his nightmare long forgotten. "Will I be able to make pictures like you?"

"Maybe," she replies, smiling. "You can be anything you want to be. Right now, though, you need to get back to sleep. A growing little man needs his rest."

She tucks the boy under the covers and runs her hands over his blond locks. "And remember, your dreams are the images you make in your mind. You can control those images just like I can control mine. Remember that."

"Good night, Aunt Monica."

"Good night, Little Man."

She turns out the light on the nightstand and slowly walks out the door, shutting it quietly behind her. Sleepy sits at the table by the stairs in the dank, dimly-lit basement.

"I still don't think we ought to be keeping him here", says Sleepy.

"What would you do?", Image says. "A young boy covered in ashes and soot shows up outside the Apollo with no recollection of who he is, where he is, or how he got there. All he knows is that his parents were in some sort of fire, and he's having nightmares about it. Five-O wouldn't do jack shit for him -- they'd just put him in an orphanage if the parents didn't show up. Nobody else would really care for him but us. We have to do something for this town, and it might as well start with Little Man."

"I guess," Sleepy answers, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well act like you know, because I'm not letting anyone hurt him. Where's Ahmad?"

"He's up on the roof. He's upset about Mr. Johnson."

"Why? What happened to Mr. Johnson?"

"Some stick-up kids ran into his store, took his money and wet him up. Police haven't figured out who did it yet."

Image's eyes grow wide with horror as she remembers how much Mr. Johnson meant to Aqua. "Is he dead?"

"Yeah," Sleepy says. "World's fucked up, ain't it?"

"That's why we gotta do something about it," Image says as she runs through the hallway to the back stairwell. She climbs up all ten flights and reaches the roof, where she sees the water-creating mutant standing by the opposite edge of the building, looking over at the rest of the city. She walks up to him and puts her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm out of tears, Moni," he says to her. "I'm tired of all the bullshit in this city. We've got to put a stop to it."

"You can't save everyone, Ahmad," she says.

"But I can change everything," he says, turning around to look at her. "WE can change everything. We can make all these hoods and gangbangers think twice about what they do, especially if they know that the Reclamation Squad is out there protecting the neighborhood."

Image sighs. "You've got high ideals, Ahmad, and I've always loved that about you, but we're talking about kids with guns who don't know any better. They'll try take any of us out for any reason at all, including the fact that we're mutants. Have you forgotten that there's a whole lot of people who'd see us dead just for that?"

"That's why we have to change their mind," he says, "show them that we're not at all like that Magneto or any others bent on destroying the world. I know our people, Monica. They've been through a struggle for 400 years just because of who they are. They'll understand why we have to make this place better." He turns around and looks back out at the dark city below. "Especially for the next generation."

"You've found another one?", Image asks.

"You know Rayquan Morris?", he says.

"Perkolater?", she replies in disbelief. "The one that drinks all that coffee at the barber shop?"

"I have a hunch about him," he says. "I saw him at that game yesterday. I've never seen anything move that fast at that age. He was never that fast before."

"Perk's a good kid, Ahmad. He doesn't need saving."

Aqua points at the burned out buildings and pothole-filled streets below him. "Take a good look, Monica," he says. "In this neighborhood, everyone needs saving."

Image hugs her man from behind as she looks down at the broken world in which she grew up. Heaven only knows how much it will take to put it back together, she thinks, but who else is going to try? She looks up at the star-filled night sky and gets an idea.

"Let's rain," she says.

"Now?", Aqua replies.

"Sure," she says, "for old times' sake."

She pulls him by the hand to the center of the roof, where they stand face-to-face. She raises her arms in the air, and in an instant, a dark cloud cover sweeps over the sky. Lighting dances in the sky as the thunder blankets the sirens and shots heard in the streets below. Aqua raises his arms and touches her wrists to his so that his palms face the sky. One by one, streams of water emerge from his hands until dozens of streams shoot several miles high in every direction, creating a rainfall that blankets the entire neighborhood. They watch each other's illusions in wonder, then gaze into each other's eyes, slowly coming together in a long, soft kiss.

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CHAPTER THE SECOND -- THE CUT

At the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, the headmaster of the school, Sean Cassidy, a/k/a Banshee, and his headmistress, Emma Frost, formerly the White Queen of the infamous Hellfire Club, meet with the school's founder, Professor Charles Xavier, the most powerful telepath in the world, and two of its prize students, the time-lost energy absorbing mutant Bishop, and Ororo Munroe, the weather controlling mutant known as Storm.

"So nobody suspects that he's a mutant," says Sean. "I find that hard to believe."

"Let me show you this video tape I managed to get from the school he attends," says Xavier as he pushes a few buttons on his Shi'ar chair and brings an image onto the screen behind everyone.

"As you can see when the tape is in slow motion," Xavier continues, "the boy's movements seem separated from the rest of the players on the field. It's almost as if his image should be on another tape. But when the tape moves at regular speed -- "

The rest of the people in the room watch in amazement.

"Remarkable," Emma says. "You would need a trained eye to tell he was truly using mutant ability."

"Indeed," says Storm. "Were it not for Cerebro finding him, we may not have been able to tell ourselves."

"So what exactly can he bring to our team?", says Sean. "I mean the lad isn't exactly Quicksilver."

"Which is my point," Xavier replies. "According to info we gathered from Cerebro, Rayquan Morris may have a different mutant ability than just his speed."

"You mean there might be more to him than that?" says Emma.

"Perhaps, which is why I think you should recruit him. He could have even more abilities that we don't know about."

"Plus he lives in a part of New York that tends to swallow its young people," Storm says. "In fact, given the press this young man has been receiving, I would venture to guess he is already getting offers from schools all over the country for his...athletic skills."

"High schools?", says Emma surprisedly.

"It's never to early to tout a young athlete here," says Bishop. "He could be getting the star treatment wherever he goes."

"So how should we approach him?", Sean says. "I mean, we kinnae just walk up to his mum and say, 'Good mornin', yuir son's a mutant, kin we take him away from ye so he can save the world.'"

"I think the important thing to do is show his mother that we plan to make Rayquan more than just a star athlete," Xavier says. "Stress the fact that he'll receive a quality education first, which will allow him to be successful in anything he does, athletics or otherwise."

"Why, Professor," says Emma, "how deceptively unlike you."

"I like to think of it more as missionary," replies a smiling Xavier.

"Well, what're we waiting for," Sean says. "Go get the kids. We're going on a field trip."

---

"Did you get a good look at him?"

"Yeah, it was Ahmad Parker. I knew his cousin back in the day."

"Ahmad's a mutant?"

"Gotta be, nigga. He made some monster drop from the sky, then sprayed me with a water hose, except it wasn't a hose -- it was his hands."

"You sure?"

"I know what I saw, nigga. He wasn't holdin' nothin'."

"Do you think he's down with my brother?"

"I seen 'em together a couple times, but that's it."

A long silence fills the room.

"Do what you have to do."

---

Willie's Barber Shop sits on a familiar corner in Harlem, two blocks down from the Morris' tenement apartment on 121st Street, and it serves as a home away from home for a small group of kids in the neighborhood, as well as a couple of the older folks. Despite the bars on the windows, the shop looks nothing like the rest of the neighborhood; it's freshly-painted, graffiti-free, and very clean, aside from the hair that spills on the floor every day. The smell of brewing coffee and the sound of colliding pool balls from the pocket billiards table in the back greets all of Willie's customers, as do Willie's gray-haired pals Ray and Lester, both retired and whiling away the hours chatting or reading the paper. This is where Rayquan likes spend most of his afternoons.

"What up, Willie," Rayquan says as he walks into the shop.

"Hey, it's the Perkolater!", greets Willie, who sits in his barber chair, waiting for a customer and talking it up with the two men sitting in the corner. "How you like your coffee, Perk?"

"Blacker than James Brown on the beach," he replies with a sly grin. Willie and his friends share a laugh.

"A'ight, then, grab yo' self a cup and enjoy," Willie says to him.

As Rayquan pulls a mug from the shelf next to the coffee machine, Monica and her young find from the Apollo Theater walk in.

"Hey, Willie," she says, leading the boy by the hand into the shop. "These two givin' you trouble again?"

"We ain't never no trouble, Miss Monica," says Ray.

"Least not till you want us to be," Lester butts in, "then we'll mess things up real good."

"Who's this young'un you got with ya?", asks Willie.

"Willie, Ray, Lester," Monica begins, picking up the boy and holding him, "Meet Little Man. He's been staying with me trying to help us figure out who he is."

"What, Little Man got Ambrosia?", asks Lester.

"That's AMNESIA," says Rayquan, "and I bet he still got more memory than you."

"Hush up, boy," says Lester as Ray laughs out loud. "You oughta learn some respect for your elders."

"Well, whoever Little Man is, he sure could use a haircut," Willie says. "Set him down in this chair and we'll see what we can do for him."

Monica puts the boy in the chair, and Willie throws his smock over him. He can tell that the boy seems to enjoy the atmosphere.

"So, Little Man," Ray says, "you know where you are now?"

"Aunt Monica says this is New York City," Little Man replies.

"Aunt Monica?", says Lester. "What you tellin' that boy?"

"I'm just takin' good care of him," Monica says. "He needs someone to look after him."

"At least until he shows up on that milk carton, right?", Ray says.

"Hey, at least then we'll all know who he is. That's more than we got now."

"You know who that is standin' there?", Willie says, pointing at Rayquan. "That's my main man Perkolater. He can outrun Jesse Owens and outdrink Mr. Coffee himself if you give him the chance."

"That boy loves his coffee," Ray says.

"Prolly why he runs so damn fast," Lester jokes. "All that coffee in him make him jumpy as a goddam flea circus. He prolly runnin' to the bathroom half the time."

"And the coaches are runnin' to him, too, I hear," says Monica. "Anyone visiting you today, Perk?"

"Some prep school in Massachusetts is sending someone down tomorrow," Rayquan replies.

"Damn, word travels fast about kids these days, don't it?", says Ray.

"You kiddin' me?", Willie interjects. "You ever take the time to count how many college recruiters been through here lookin' for high school kids, let alone the high school coaches around here lookin' for eighth graders? Competition be fierce."

"Don't I know it," Ray says. "I can't even count how many kids that coach from Johnson High got."

"That nigga gets all those boys," Lester says. "And he don't even do nothin' with 'em. Ain't none of 'em go to college except but a few, and most of them don't even make it. Hell, I bet damn near all of 'em end up like ol' Josh Parker."

"Good ol' Josh Parker," Ray says, enunciating each syllable as if the name was synonymous with greatness. "You ever heard of Josh Parker, Little Man?"

He shakes his head no. Rayquan rolls is eyes, as he's heard this story plenty of times before.

"Ol' Josh Parker was the biggest, strongest, meanest football player you'd ever see in a high school uniform," Ray says. "If he got a clear shot at a running back, he could knock him all the way back to Africa."

"College coaches came from everywhere to see that boy," Willie says. "I mean, everywhere -- Penn State, Southern Cal, Michigan, Notre Dame, you name it, they were here, lookin' over Josh Parker. He ended up goin' to Miami in 1982. They redshirted him his first year, and in the middle of a practice in October, he tore his knee up somethin' awful, and couldn't play no mo'."

"And you know what they did?," Lester interjects. "Dem fools at Miami took his scholarship away. Said he wasn't nuthin' to the team with his bum knee, so he didn't deserve it. They did him wrong. Made me mad, too. I never liked Miami after that."

"Me, neither," Ray said. "Least they could do is let the boy get his education, but all they did was give him a one-way ticket to nowhere. He ended up bein' just another junkie on the streets o' this ghetto. But I tell ya, Little Man, if you'da seen that boy rush a quarterback on the blitz, you'da swore it was ol' Magneto stormin' Cape Canaveral."

The boy's eyes grow wide, and he begins to shake his head and cry. Rayquan stops in mid-sip.

"Now, you just hold still there, Little Man," Willie tells him. "You don't want me makin' a mistake on that head of yours."

Monica goes to comfort the child. "You alright, Little Man? Ray say something to make you upset?"

"I'm okay," he says, holding back his tears.

"You sure," Monica says.

"Uh huh," the boy replies.

"Damn, Ray, you set him off on somethin', didn't ya?", says Rayquan.

"Well, I can't say as I blame him," Ray replies. "Considering all the trouble ol' Magneto's caused over the years. Guy acts like a life don't matter to him 'less it's a mutant person, and sometimes not even then."

"You gotta respect what Magneto's got, though," Willie says. "Hell, the man can take your gun, turn it on you and pull the trigger without moving a muscle. Oughta put him out on these streets out here, scare the hell outta some o' these no-good gangsta wanna-bes."

"You know who ol' Magneto reminds me of, though?", Ray says. "Marcus Garvey."

Lester cocks his brow at Ray, thinking Ray's lost his mind. "Say what? Magneto ain't nothin' like no Marcus Garvey."

"Sure he is," Ray says. "Marcus Garvey tried to uplift black folk by gettin' 'em out of America, takin' 'em back to Africa to start a new nation. Magneto was just doin' the same thing, only with the mutant people. Most o' this planet don't take to mutant people, and ol' Magneto just wants to help 'em out, make 'em feel like they're welcome someplace."

"Yeah, but Marcus Garvey didn't black out the world one night and kill a hundred thousand people," Willie says. "Ol' Mother Wilson died that night."

"That ol' bitch woulda died that night, anyway," retorts Lester. Rayquan spits his coffee out in a spray as Ray laughs out loud.

"That don't make it right, though," says Monica.

"Well I never said what he did was right," Ray says, trying to stifle his laughter. "I'm just sayin' he wanted to make a new nation for mutant folk away from this world, which never did care for 'em. Mutant people be gettin' it worse than black people these days."

"Damn right there, Ray," Lester says. "All this 'mutie this' and 'mutie that.' Just like all that 'nigga this' and 'nigga that' back in the day. Except it's even bigger now for mutant people than it ever was for us. All that Genosha mess wasn't no worse than the slave trade. People ain't got no right doin' that."

"But that still don't give Magneto the right to just up and kill a hundred thousand people," Monica said. "And you know what? Magneto messed up the same way Marcus Garvey did, thinkin' the only way for mutants to get along is to leave and start their own nation somewhere else. Mutant people got just as much right to live in this country as they do anywhere else."

"Damn right they do," Lester says, "long as they're willin' to live by the rules. Laws in this country be set up for everyone, not just regular ol' humans. They may not all be right, but they's the rules. A lot of them kids find out they's mutant people and let the power go to their heads, just like these damn gangbangers. If they can do some good on this world with the powers they got, they could be potted plants for all I care."

"Yeah, like them guys X-Factor from a few years back," Ray says. "You remember them, Lester? They had that one guy made outta ice, and that redhead girl..."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember them," Lester replies. "Everyone thought they wrecked the whole city, and they ended up saving half of it. Those were some good people. I wonder whatever happened to them."

They'll be back soon, Monica thinks to herself. They'll look a little different, but they'll be back.

"A'ight, Little Man," Willie says, spinning the barber's chair around. "Take a look in that mirror and tell me what you think." The boy admires his new haircut in the mirror, smiles and turns to his new friend.

"Thank you, Willie," he says.

"Ain't no thing, Little Man. And just remember, if anything happens or you get lost, just look for 121st and Delancey St. We'll be here if you need anything."

"Especially those two," says Rayquan, pointing at Ray and Lester. "They ain't got nowhere else to go."

Opposing laughs and grumbles are interrupted as Ahmad and Sleepy walk in, decked out in plain T-shirts and shorts, basketballs in hand.

"S'up, y'all?", Sleepy says. "Hey, Perk, we're one short for a full game. Wanna run?"

"Sure," Perk says, finishing his coffee and joining them.

"I need to talk to you after you're done," Monica says to Ahmad.

"Does this mean you're not going to watch your man wipe the blacktop with the rest of those suckers out there?", he replies. She grins back at him.

"I guess a woman couldn't help but watch all that," she says, admiring his physique. "Let me settle up with Willie first."

"That's six dollars, ma'am," Willie says, ringing up the cash register.

"Shoulda told him to shave it, Monica," Lester says, "Coulda saved ya three bucks."

They all share a laugh as Monica picks up Little Man and follows the three conspicuous mutants out the door. She now knows that her man was right -- there are people who will accept mutants for who they are rather than what they are. Little does she know that those who don't aren't lurking very far behind.

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CHAPTER THE THIRD -- THE RECLAMATION PROCLAMATION

"Pass the rock, nigga."

The scene is the same on just about any playground -- ten men, one ball, two hoops, four chain-link fence walls, plenty of running and passing and jumping and trash-talking and the like. To the spectators of this contest, however, Aqua, Sleepy, Perkolater, and their two teammates are obviously in full control.

"Yo, Sleep!"

Perkolator stands alone on one end of the court as the rest of the players stare at him in amazement. Sleepy throws a bullet pass to him, and Perkolater makes an easy layup. The three women looking in on the game from the other side of the fence are impressed.

"How'd he get there so fast?", says one.

"Didn't you hear about his game the other day?", Monica says to her. "He was runnin' so fast he left burn marks on the turf."

"I heard that," says the third.

Sleepy intercepts a pass inside and immediately begins a 2-on-1 fast break with Aqua behind him. He casually tosses the ball high in front of the hoop and drops to the ground as Aqua jumps over him, grabs the ball with one hand and dunks it. "Damn!", all three women and half the players shout.

"I gotta hand it to ya, Moni," says one woman, "you landed yourself one sexy man."

"Thank you," Monica replies, "now quit lookin' at him."

"Damn, Vaundrena, she told you," says the other.

"I'm just sayin', though. Besides, I'm lookin' at *him*."

"Sleepy? Girl, he ain't got no meat on them bones."

"Please. You all on Penny Hardaway, and he skinnier than that."

"Yeah, but that wallet's fat, though." Monica just rolls her eyes as the two girls high-five each other.

"Say, Monica," says one, "whatever happened to Sleepy's brother?"

"Who knows?", Monica replies. "He's been gone so long, I didn't think anyone remembered him."

"Aunt Monica," says the boy as he tugs on the back of her pantleg.

"What it is, Little Man?"

"Who's that man coming out of the car?"

Monica looks as blue late model sedan rolls slowly down the street, its stereo blaring for all the neighborhood to hear. A man dressed in a New York Knicks T-shirt emerges from the sun roof of the car, his hands holding something out of view from everyone else.

"Ahmad!", she shouts, pointing at the car as it approaches the court. His view switches from the beginning of Perkolater's jump shot to the man in the car, raising his automatic pistol to shoot. One bullet is fired, ripping apart the basketball just released from Perkolater's hands.

"NO!"

As the rest of the crowd panics and runs in every which direction, Aqua instinctively raises his hand and fires a high-pressure spray of water at his assailant before another shot is fired. The gun drops into the car as the force from the liquid blast flips the man out of the car and face first onto the pavement. Sleepy quickly runs up to the fallen gunman and puts him to sleep before he can make another move.

The car's tires squeal and smoke as the driver tries to make his getaway, only to see a brick wall suddenly appear in front of him. The car spins out of control and glides through the wall, coming to a stop in the middle of an intersection. Aqua runs to the car as Image kneels in front of her young companion, shielding him from everything.

"You're pretty good, Aunt Monica," says Little Man. She hugs him tightly and looks around.

"Perk!", she shouts. "Where's Perk?"

"He took off like a shot," says Sleepy. "I'd never seen nothin' go that fast."

The rest of the crowd remains focused on the car and its passengers sitting in the middle of the intersection. Aqua opens the door, pulls one of his would-be attackers out by the lapel, and slams him against the hood. The boy couldn't be more than 16 years old.

"Who do you think you are?", he shouts in the scared youngster's face. "Who gave you the right to play God and take lives out here?"

"We was just after Sleepy, man," he said, his voice wavering in fright. "He still owes us twenty dollars."

"What?!" Aqua picks the boy up and swings him against the open car door, closing it in the process. "Is that all life is worth to you?", he shouts in the boy's face. "Twenty lousy bones? Who the hell sent you? Who was it, you son of-"

"Don't hurt me, man!", the boy shouts in terror. "I didn't think you was a mutie, man. They said you were, but-"

His words are interrupted as Aqua lifts a finger and sprays water down the teen's throat, causing him to choke. Aqua looks around at the crowd that has formed on the sidewalks. Most of them stare at Aqua in disbelief.

"So this is what it's all about now, huh?", says Aqua, both to the assailant and to the crowd. "I can do a little something the rest of y'all can't, and now I'm no longer human, huh? It don't matter that I grew up the same 'hood, or even went through the same struggles you all went through. I'm not even a black man now to you people, am I? No, I'm just a freak, huh? All the prejudice you've seen for the last 400 years, and that's how you treat me now that the secret is out? Like none of us belong here anymore?"

Part of the crowd looks away, ashamed of themselves. Image stands up turns the crowd's attention to her.

"We've all been different all our lives," she says, "branded as an inferior people, and trapped mentally and physically in this country -- like rats in a cage."

She turns to the basketball court, creating the image of a giant rat sniffing around the basket. The few men still on the court quickly climb over the fence and back away.

"Does that scare you?", she asks them, dropping her hand and making the rat disappear before their eyes. "I've been dealing with this for years. Why can't you?"

"We ain't never had no mutant people around here," says one. "All we know about mutants is what we've seen on TV."

"Well, it's time you turned off the box and got yourself a little first-hand experience," Image says. "We're right here in front of your eyes. What you got to say now?"

"Yeah, kid," Aqua says as he turns back to the teen, lapel still in hand. "What you got to say now? What you see when you look at me?"

To the surprise of the crowd, the driver's side door opens quickly, and the other gangbanger emerges.

"One dead mutie nigga!"

He raises his automatic pistol, cocks it with a flourish and points it directly at Aqua. Before he has the chance to fire, however, he hears the horn blast of a mack truck coming up quickly behind him. As Aqua pulls the other attacker out of the way, the driver turns and points the gun toward Image. "I ain't fallin' for this one, bitch," he shouts.

The gun never goes off. A bullet of a different kind rams the driver in the stomach and pushes him out of the way of the oncoming truck, which pulverizes the sedan and slams it into a Volkswagen Bug parked on the side of the road. As the metal stops crunching and the shattered glass drops to the ground, the driver looks up at the youngster that saved his life.

"That wasn't Monica," says Rayquan. "You can thank me later."

One set of clapping hands leads into another, and suddenly everyone on the block is applauding their new heroes. As the four come together in front of the intersection, a frantic shout emerges from the crowd.

"My baby!"

Felicia Morris runs up to her son and hugs him tightly. "That was so brave of you, baby," she says, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I was so scared when I heard that shot go off."

"It's okay, Momma," Rayquan says. "I ain't gonna end up like my brother."

"You better not, baby," his mother says. "I could never forgive myself for lettin' somethin' happen to you." She kisses him on the forehead. "That's why I don't think you should stay here. That Xavier school called today. You ought to think about gettin' outta this neighborhood and makin' somethin' for yourself."

"But Momma," he protests. "I can do that here. I think I'm one of them mutant people. I felt something different when I ran for that guy."

"He's right, Ms. Morris," Aqua says. "I've suspected he might be a mutant for a little while. He can do some real good in this neighborhood."

She looks at her son with a mixture of pride and sadness. "My baby's a superhero," she thinks out loud. "But it's so dangerous here."

"Don't worry, Momma," Rayquan says. "I'll be alright. I can feel myself getting faster all the time. Once I learn what I can do, I'll be able to help clean up all our 'hood."

"We'll all be able to do that," says Aqua, who raises a hand to quiet the crowd. "We'll all be able to do some good for our 'hood. We've been living in a cage of crime and crack for too long. It's about time we took our 'hood back. That's why the Reclamation Squad is here. We aim to take this place away from the crime bosses and the ignorant fools out to ruin us all. We're gonna give this place back to you, the people who deserve to live in a safe place, and we're gonna give it back to you BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY!"

Aqua raises his fist in the crowd and shoots water in the air, emitting cheers from everyone on the block. Image and Sleepy join him, and Little Man proudly runs up to his new guardian, who welcomes him into her arms. The cheers are broken by the sound of a siren as a police car pulls up behind the crowd. A white cop steps out of the car and walks over to Willie, who's standing in the back of the crowd.

"What's going on here, Willie?", the policeman asks him.

"Officer Martin," says Willie, "I'd like to introduce you to your new friends."

---

"In perhaps the most remarkable display of human-mutant cooperation in over a decade, a new mutant group called the Reclamation Squad, based right here in Harlem, has given notice to all criminals in the area -- shape up, or face the consequences."

"We've had enough of seeing this neighborhood deteriorate before our eyes," Aqua says as his name is displayed on the screen. "We want to put an end to the crime that has infested this place."

"The Reclamation Squad is more than welcome to this part of town," Officer Martin tells the reporter. "Our job has been incredibly difficult here, and anything that can make it easier, human or mutant, is always a plus."

The reporter continues. "Part of the reason this three-man and one-woman group is able to avoid the prejudice that other mutants have faced over the years is that nearly everyone in Harlem has known some form of racial prejudice in their lives, and many of them have had enough."

"Ain't nobody in the world ought to be judged by what they look like or what they can or can't do," Lester says into the microphone. "We's all people, and if the Redemption Squad can help this ol' beat-up place, more power to 'em."

"That's Reclamation Squad, sir."

"Well, you know who they is."

"We just want to show people that we're just like anyone else," Sleepy says, "and we can use our powers to help people instead of hurt 'em. Just 'cause I'm a mutant don't mean I'm not a human being. People here know that."

The television set flickers and shuts off, darkening the room. Then it crumbles into pieces on the floor.

"So, Sleeps, you're just like anyone else, huh? Maybe you've forgotten why they call this place Bucktown. A little visit from your estranged brother ought to remind you..."

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CHAPTER THE FOURTH -- BROTHER'S KEEPER

"This is Trish Tilby reporting for CNBC."

Banshee clicks the remote and stops the tape. He looks at his students before him -- Jubilee, M, Synch, Skin, Husk, Chamber and Mondo -- and prepares to disappoint them.

"From the looks of this report," he begins, "it appears you guys won't be getting a new teammate after all."

They take it a little better than he does.

"Who cares?", says Jubilee. "He's got a whole new TEAM to hang out with. Makes me wish I was still hanging out with the X-Men."

"Makes me wish you'd leave the X-Men out of this for once," says Skin. "I think it's great that this kid is going to help put a stop to some of the violence in the inner city."

"I agree with Angelo," Synch says. "That part of New York needs someone to help clean it up."

"This child is awfully young to be thrust into the role of 'Defender of Harlem,' though," says Emma Frost. "He still has a lot to learn about how to use his mutant power."

"Don't we all?", says Chamber.

"But that's why we're here, Jono," says Husk in a soft, sultry tone. "We all need to learn about our powers."

Jubilee rolls her eyes. "Sheesh, Paige, could you be just a little more obvious?"

"What did I say?"

"Alright, kiddies, calm down," says Banshee. "The fact o' the matter is as good as the Reclamation Squad may be, they may nae be well- equipped to handle the battles they may face in the future. Now that they're public knowledge, they may have more than one group of mutants or mutant-haters after them."

"But what does this really mean for us?", asks Mondo. "I mean, we've still got plenty of problems up here. We're all still learning our capabilities, Penance still hasn't opened up to anyone, and we still have to rebuild the girls' dorm."

"Exactly," adds Skin. "Se¤or Perkolater and posse seem to have everything under control. Why should we bother them?"

"Because they're in trouble," says M.

Everyone turns to the always mysterious Miss St. Croix.

"Oh, really, Miss Know-It-All?", says Jubilee. "And how did you come up with that one?"

"It's very simple, actually," M replies. "I've scanned the area of Harlem. There is a large group of people getting ready to attack the Reclamation Squad's underground headquarters. They are all being led by one man who appears bent on revenge."

"Are ye absolutely sure, lass?", asks Banshee.

"Positive," says M.

"I have a feeling we'll definitely get involved now," says Synch. "What's the haps?"

"I'd say the best bet is to get to New York as quickly as possible and see what the situation is," Banshee says. "Let's hold off on getting too involved early, though."

"Eminently logical," says M. "I can take a few team members to New York if necessary."

"What are you gonna do, give us piggyback rides?", says Jubilee.

"You would rather dangle off of my legs?", replies M.

---

Something is wrong. Rayquan sips again the coffee that Monica made for him, just to be sure. He sips a third time, and yet it seemed his taste buds were deceiving him.

"Hey, Monica," Rayquan says, "Your coffee tastes funny."

"What do you mean?", says Monica.

"I don't know," Rayquan says. "It doesn't taste like my Momma or Willie makes. Somethin' different about it."

"Have you ever had decaf before," Monica asks him.

"No," Rayquan says. "Momma never made decaf."

"Well, I do, so get used to it. I'm surprised you can even tell the difference. I haven't been able to tell the difference at all."

Rayquan looks at the cup again to make sure nothing is wrong with it, than sips again. "I sure can. This stuff is missing something."

"Of course, it's missing something," Sleepy says, closing the book he was reading and sticking it in his jacket. "It's missing caffeine. Why you think they call it decaf?"

"You shut up," Rayquan says. "Coffee like this'll put you out of business."

"Save the coffee talk for later," says Aqua as he walks into the room. "I've got a little work to do."

The Reclamation Squad has been putting together its organization in this dank, dusty basement for years now. The light bulb hanging from the ceiling accentuates the cobweb-covered brown planks and water- damaged cement walls and floor. Books and papers clutter the space underneath the staircase that leads to the alley above, and a hallway on the opposite side leads to a door, which leads to another exit to the building. In between the stairs and the hallway is a door to another room, which is a makeshift bedroom. For the last five days, this is where the young boy known only as Little Man has been sleeping. Aqua enters this room to find the boy playing with the Lego blocks that some of the neighborhood parents donated to the team.

"Knock, knock," says Aqua, glass in hand.

"Hi, Uncle Aq," replies the bright-eyed boy.

"I brought you a glass of water, if you're thirsty," says Aqua, handing him the glass. The boy examines the glass closely.

"But this glass is empty," says the boy.

Aqua looks it over and says, "I suppose you're right." He then puts the glass in one hand and lifts his other hand's index finger in the air. A small stream of water emerges from Aqua's finger and arcs gently into the glass. The boy giggles, entertained by Aqua's power.

"Here you go," says Aqua, giving the full glass to the boy, who grabs it and drinks up. "Thank you, Uncle Aq," he says.

"You know, Aunt Monica was a little worried about you today, Little Man," Aqua continues. "She said you were acting a little strange at Willie's barber shop."

"I was?", the boy replied.

"Well, she said you started crying when you heard someone's name. I think she said it was Magneto."

The glass slips from the boy's hands and shatters on the concrete floor. As Aqua sprays the glass particles to the corner of the room, the boy begins crying. Aqua puts his arm over the boy's shoulder.

"Hey, Little Man," he says, "what is it? Why are you crying?"

"I dunno," the boy replies.

"Do you know Magneto?", Aqua says.

"N-n-no," the boy stutters, as if he's unsure of the answer.

"Then why would you cry if I said his name?", says Aqua, knowing that for some reason he can't comfort the boy. "Did Magneto do something to your parents?"

"I...I dunno," the boy says, and he begins crying harder as he strains to remember his past. Aqua hugs him and pats him on the back.

"It's okay, Little Man," Aqua says. "You don't have to worry about a thing. Uncle Aq and Aunt Monica are going to help you get through this. We'll do everything we can to help you. Okay?"

"Okay," the boy says, sniffling.

The loud boom of the front door caving in shatters the moment. Aqua goes runs out of the room to see half a dozen gunmen in ski masks running entering the hideaway. Sleepy puts his hand to his head and sends a psionic jolt through five of them, causing them to collapse and fall asleep on the stairwell. One lone gunman stays clear of Sleepy's power, however, and fires a bullet that flies right through Image's heart and ricochet's off the floor. "I got one!"

"NOOOOOO!" Aqua shouts as Sleepy finally puts the last gunman to sleep. The chaotic voices from above indicate that more gunmen are on the way. Aqua reaches down to help Image, but his hand goes right through her body.

"I'm fine," says Image, standing in the dark hallway. The hologram of her body disappears as the footstomps of more gunmen echo through the room. "Get Little Man and get out of here!"

"I'm on it," says Perkolater, as he ducks under Aqua and runs into Little Man's room. The second wave of gunman starts firing at the wall indiscriminately, with one bullet hitting Sleepy in the shoulder. Aqua raises his hands and shoots a fast and violent spray at the gunmen, who slam against the wall and fall over each other. Some drop their guns, some fire in the air for no reason, all go down, and more come in.

"I got him," says Perkolater, running out of the room with the crying boy.

"Move faster!", Aqua shouts at Perkolater. "Use your powers!"

"I'm usin' all I got!", he shouts back.

Aqua tries to keep the gunmen at bay as Image, Perkolater and Little Man head for the back exit. He glances briefly at Sleepy, who's still lying on the drenched floor.

"Get the hell out of here!", he shouts at Aqua.

"Not without you," Aqua says, increasing the pressure of his spray.

"If you don't leave we'll both be dead!", Sleepy shouts. "Now get goin'!"

Aqua keeps his heavy spray aimed at the gunmen as he heads for the hallway. He turns and runs, hearing the sound of firing guns and falling bodies behind him. He reaches the building basement and does his best to run around the cobweb-covered furniture and appliances strewn across the room. He opens another door to the lowest floor of the building and takes the stairway up to the door that leads outside, where he finds himself and his team surrounded by 25 more gunmen in ski masks and army fatigues, three of them with shotguns pointed behind Image, Perkolater and Little Man.

The sound of a cane clicking the pavement echoes through the otherwise silent alley. One lone figure wearing a stylish business suit and derby hat slowly emerges from the pack to greet his new captives.

"Well, well," the well-dressed man with the cane says, "looks like we got ourselves a party."

"Who are you?", says Aqua.

"Me?", says the man, walking calmly in circles around Aqua. "Oh, I'm just the nigga your momma warned you about. Nothin' special. Just wanted to see if Bucktown's newest crime fighters were really all that. You see, I run things in this town, and I always like to keep a close eye on everyone that's out to take mine. You guys looked like some prime comp, so I've invited you out here today to make a little proposition."

"Deal?", Aqua says in amazement. "You expect us to make a deal with you?" The man snaps his fingers, and simultaneously, all of his underlings cock their shotguns.

"Oh, I don't expect nothin'," the man replies. "Expectations are to hard to live up to, so I just let it ride, dig? Now the Reclamation Squad -- there's some niggas with high expectations. They gonna clean up this whole goddam city, make things safe on the streets for everybody."

The man puts his face in Aqua's. "Truth is, though, they can't even keep their hideout safe. Can they?"

"What do you want from us?", Image says, drawing the man's attention away from Aqua.

"Hmmmm...that's a good question," he says to her. "I'm not really sure what I want right now. Oh, I know what I want in general -- the usual shit, money, powers, clothes, bitches, and on and on and ya don't stop. But right now, at this very moment, I just don't know." He lets his eyes roll up and down Image's body. "You are one fine sista, though. I just might want to take you home with me."

A small spray of water knocks the man's hat off his head. The man doesn't flinch, but turns to Aqua.

"Ya know, Aq," he says, "I was expecting something a little harder than that. Or were you just jealous that my charm was working YOUR woman?"

Image plants her foot firmly into the back of the man's knees, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the pavement. She feels the thugs standing behind her pull her arms behind her back and put the barrel of a gun to the back of her head. The man gets up slowly and brushes off his suit.

"Damn, I just had this cleaned, too," he says. "You guys ain't makin' this any easier on either of us, ya know."

"We don't intend to," says Aqua. "We've struggled all our lives with what we are, and we're not backin' down just 'cause some sellout hits up our HQ."

The man casts a cold, steely gaze on Aqua, then turns to his troops.

"Fuck it, man," he says. "Someone put a cap in him."

One of the gunmen raises puts his rifle to Aqua's chest when a voice comes from the door.

"Let him go, Terry," Sleepy says as he walks out into the night. "Let 'em all go. We both know what you want, and I'm right here."

The man waves his arm, and the gunman's weapon crumbles in his hands before he can fire.

"Jesse," he says, "my brutha. What's the 411, son?"

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CHAPTER THE FIFTH -- BEDLAM IN BUCKTOWN

It seemed like only yesterday.

Jesse and Terrance Aaronson used to be the dance floor kings of Harlem. This duo once known as the Bedlam Brothers could walk on any dance floor and dazzle the crowd with their moves. They would chase women like they would chase loose balls on a basketball court, and in both cases they made spectacular plays. Nobody would have ever guessed that they were mutants. They were simply known as the ultimate party savers, ready to rescue anyone and everyone from boredom at a moment's notice.

Then came Ahmad Parker. He knew they were mutants, and he invited them to join the group he was forming to rid the city of crime. Jesse liked the idea of coming clean, taking advantage of his powers for the common good. Terry, on the other hand, wanted nothing of it. He enjoyed his near-legendary status as a player in Harlem, and he wasn't trading it for anything. Life was good. Who needs another hero?

As the Bedlam Brothers started growing apart, the rumors spread. They had it out over a woman. They were getting into crime. Then, finally, that they were mutants. That's when the Friends of Humanity entered the picture.

As Jesse and Terry left a club late one night, a gorgeous woman on each brother's arm, they were attacked by half a dozen FoH devotees, all of them hell bent on killing both brothers. Terry fought them off with his hands, but Jesse used his mind to exhaust his attackers. When one of the FoH members realized what Jesse was doing, he pulled out a handgun. Jesse's date saw the gun and ran screaming toward it, hoping to stop the man from killing Jesse.

A shot was fired. The woman's body was twisted around by the impact of the bullet on her chest, and she fell to the sidewalk.

The gunman fell seconds later, as did several spectators catching the brunt of Jesse's psionic onslaught. Jesse then turned to try and help his date for the evening, but he was too late. He then turned to his brother.

Terry saw everything. He watched the man reach for the gun as the other attackers fell. He watched the woman running toward the gun. He watched as one of Jesse's favorite women died before his eyes.

And he did nothing.

Terry had the mutant ability to make the gun crumble in the man's hands, a power he had used only a few times before as a youngster, once to make a police car break down, once to break a gun pointed at him. But in front of this crowd and these attackers, he was too afraid to reveal his mutant power, fearing it would turn all his friends and fans away from him. In the end, that's just what he did anyway.

Jesse refused to forgive him, and the Bedlam Brothers split up. Jesse nicknamed himself Sleepy and joined the then-unknown Reclamation Squad. Terry disappeared, and rumors surfaced that he was working for a big-time criminal organization. Nobody had seen him in person for years, until now, here in this alley in the middle of the night, where these two brothers, estranged for years, find themselves face to face with each other -- and the truth.

"Your gunmen have lousy aim," says Sleepy.

"Couldn't have been that bad, if they found that book in your jacket," Terry says. "Still, it's all in the way you play the game."

"Still tryin' to be a player, huh," says Jesse.

"You know how it goes," says Terry. "Only the strong survive in Bucktown."

"Guess that's why you disappeared," says Jesse.

"Au contraire, homie," says Terry, "I never left. As you can see, I pretty much run things around here. I got all the free agent hoods lined up and makin' more loot for me than they ever made on their own. All I got in return was the money and the power."

"Didn't get the girl, though," says Jesse bitterly.

"There you go again, my brother," replies Terry, "letting some bitch come between blood. You got to learn to get over it."

"Get over it?", says Jesse, "You wanna talk pot, kettle and black, Terry? You never got over being a mutant. You're probably still shielding that dirty little secret of yours from everyone."

"Au contraire again, homie," says Terry, pointing at the fire escape on the side of the building. Jesse watches as the fire escape crumbles to the ground before his eyes.

"It ain't no thing to me anymore," says Terry. "I can live with being a mutant now, especially now that I know what I can do with the power I got."

"As opposed to what you didn't do," says Jesse. "What kind of power you got, really? You're probably just some front man for some ol' Italian, pasta-eatin' kingpin that ain't got nothin' better to do. He's probably laughin' at your ass right now."

Terry looks at his brother, then turns away from him. "No, Sleepy, he's laughin' at YOUR ass."

With a snap of Terry's fingers, the gunmen handcuff Sleepy, Aqua, Image and Perkolater and forcefully line them up against the cold brick side of the building.

"Get the kid out of here," says Terry, his back still turned to the mutant quartet. "He don't need to be seein' this."

A gunman pulls Little Man away from Image and scoops him into his arms, and both Image and her young charge cry and reach for each other as they're separated.

"We coulda had it all, Sleeps," says Terry as he walks up to his underling and takes the child. "Guess you just didn't want it bad enough. Sad, really." He walks away with the cane in one arm and the child in the other as the gunmen all aim their weapons toward the Reclamation Squad. They wait for Terry to get in his limousine and drive away.

Before a shot is fired, however, one of the shooters feels his weapon begin to crackle and explode in his hands. One by one, the other firearms do the same, and the would-be assassins suddenly drop their arms, unable to handle the firecrackers that seem to be exploding within them. As the weapons fall harmlessly to the ground, so do four teenage mutants in red jumpsuits to the left of the entire group.

"This ends now," shouts Synch.

Her arms spread-eagle, M flies underneath the gunmen, taking out their legs and knocking them head over heels to the ground. Jubilee and Synch work together to shoot fireworks in the faces of those that M missed as Skin uses his power to nab a set of handcuff keys and untie Aqua and his team.

"Who are you guys?", Aqua asks Skin.

"Generation X, amigo," says Skin.

"Look out!", shouts Perkolater as one of the masked men heads toward Skin. He raises his free hand and wraps the skin of his fingers around his attacker's outstretched arm, then twists that arm and leads the masked man into the wall.

"Damn," says Perkolater.

"Don't sweat it, kid," says Skin as he finishes untying Aqua. "It ain't as grand as you think."

"Thank you," says Aqua, his hands free to fire a fast and furious spray at the now-scattered mob. The two mutant teams make quick work of the gunmen when Image realizes someone is missing.

"Little Man!", she shouts. "Terry's got Little Man!"

"Not for long," shouts M, who flies out of the alley.

"Think she's found him?", Sleepy asks Synch.

"If she's not back in five minutes," says Synch, "I'd be surprised."

---

The long, black Mercedes drives recklessly through the dark, empty streets, its tinted windows hiding its sinister contents.

"Little Man, they call you, huh?", says Terry to his young captive in the back seat of the chauffeured car. "What's your real name?"

The child says nothing.

"Does that mean you don't know your name, or you just don't want to talk right now?"

The child remains silent, staring out the window at the passing buildings and cars.

"A'ight, then, you don't have to talk. I was hoping I could be your friend tonight, though, since a friend of mine has big plans for you. You're a pretty important kid in these parts you know. I might not have even bothered to wipe out those bums you were hangin' with if it weren't for you."

"You didn't."

The psionic speech causes Terry to tense up in his seat. He turns to the driver. "How fast you goin'?"

"About 40," the driver says.

"Shame, shame," the voice says again. "You should not ignore the posted traffic signs like that."

Terry hears a knock on the window to his right. He rolls it down, only to find a fetching teenage girl flying right next to the car.

"Hello, Mr. Aaronson," she says. "Call me M." She waves at the child sitting next to him, who smiles at her.

Terry looks at girl, then calmly turns to the driver. "Swerve, kid."

The driver swerves the Mercedes to the right, hoping to trap M between two cars. M simply flies over the car that the Mercedes sideswipes and swoops down in front of the car, turning to look at the driver.

"You can make this very easy on yourself," she says to the driver. "Just give me the child, and I will be on my way."

The driver responds by rolling down the window, grabbing a gun and firing it at M's chest. In an instant, M grabs the hot piece of metal in her hand and shows it back to the driver, whose jaw drops in amazement.

"Ah, ah, ah," says M. "It is not nice to fire a gun at a woman."

The driver spins the car around in an attempt to turn away from the girl, but M responds by grabbing the car by its back bumper and lifting it in the air.

"I have already asked you nicely," M says. "Now I am telling you. Give me the child."

Terry concentrates on the bumper and frees it from the rest of the car, which lands with a thud on the pavement. Tires squeal as the car tries to make its getaway. M drops the bumper and flies fist first through the back window, ripping the seat belt from the child and grabbing him with one arm. Before she can exit the car, however, she feels a hand grab her other arm.

"Not so fast, Pocahontas," says Terry, pointing the pistol in his other hand at M's face. "The kid stays with me."

M sighs. "Some people never learn."

In an instant, she smacks Terry in the face with his own hand, leaving the mark on his forehead of the diamond-shaped jewel on his ring finger. As he goes unconscious, M takes the child, pulls him from the vehicle, and flies into the night sky.

"It is okay, child," says M. "You are safe now."

"Thank you," says Little Man, hugging his rescuer tightly as they soar over the tattered streets of Harlem. As she flies with the boy in her arms, M senses a strange inner strength in the child -- a strength she has never felt in anyone. Almost immediately, she wonders who the boy is, and why he is so important to the future.

---

"10, 9, 8..."

M drops gently in the alley and lowers Little Man to the ground. The child runs to Image, who picks him up, spins him around and hugs him.

"Seven seconds to spare," Synch says to Skin. "You owe me a dollar when we get back."

"Thank you so much," Image says. "Little Man and I have grown attached to each other in the last week."

"I can understand why," Jubilee says. "He's a cutie."

The child turns around and sees Jubilee. His sudden fixation on her causes everyone to turn and look at the two of them.

"What?", says Jubilee, sensing everyone's stares. "What is it?"

Little Man looks more closely at Jubilee, then points at her as if realizing who she is.

"Deep dip," he says.

"Excuse me?", says Jubilee.

"You're Aunt Deep Dip."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THE SIXTH -- RECOLLECTIONS

The dreams come into focus. The pictures are sharp and clear -- how much his father loved him, how scared he was in the grip of the big evil men, how brave his parents and that other man were in fighting them off. Then the pictures of the bombs falling, and the nanny being torn apart, and the chase in the tunnels. The happy times as well as the sad flood the child's mind in an instant, culminating in his forming a fist and punching Jubilee in the nose.

"Ow," she says, turning her head and holding her nose.

"You let the big man take me," the child says. "You let him hurt my daddy."

"What?", Jubilee says.

"Do you know this child?", says Image.

"I've never seen him before in my life," she replies.

"Well he obviously knows you," says Aqua angrily.

"Hold on," says M, stepping in front of Aqua. She turns to the child and speaks softly. "Have you seen this girl before, child?"

"Uh huh," he says nodding. "In the tunnels underneath our house."

"What did she do?"

"She ran around with me looking for an exit. Then she gave me to the big man. She didn't try to save me. She just gave me to him."

"This kid's nuts," Jubilee says. "I swear to God I never -"

"Jubilation, please," M says. "How many days ago was this?"

"The day before I came here."

Image looks at Little Man, then at M. "That was less than a week ago," she says.

"This is impossible," she says. "Jubilation was at the Xavier School all last week. She couldn't possibly have -"

"Xavier?", interrupts Perkolater. "That's the name of that school in Massachusetts that was coming down to visit."

"I know," Synch says to him. "I was gonna hang out with you tomorrow."

"Would someone explain to me what the hell's going on?", Aqua says.

"We could all use an explanation," says M, "but we are not going to get a clear one standing here and arguing. We should all go back to the school and talk to Mr. Cassidy about this. He will be able to help us solve this mystery."

"Sounds cool to me," says Sleepy. "I could use a little time away from here."

"Then it is settled," says M.

"'Cept for one thing," says Jubilee. "How are we gonna get there?"

"I'll cover that," says Sleepy. "Follow me." The two teams follow Sleepy out of the alleyway and into the night.

"You'll like our school, Little Man" says Synch. "We've got a couple of kids close to your age there."

"Don't remind me," says Skin under his breath.

---

She seems content to sit in the tree and watch as the trucks pull up to the school building. As a stunning orange sunrise begins a new day, she watches as Banshee walks out to greet the construction workers that are almost finished rebuilding the girls dormitory. Her blue eyes ponder the man that has been trying to talk to her for the last couple of a weeks. He runs his hands through his hair as he watches the workers at their jobs. It's funny how most people take running a hand through hair for granted, or knowing the redness of their skin is just a sunburn and will heal, or getting close to another person without fearing you might slash their skin apart.

So she sits in the tree and watches the world -- someone else's world -- go by. She seems content to sit here. But she isn't.

"Care for some breakfast?"

A hand emerges from the tree, holding a bright red apple. She backs away from the hand, frightened by the thought of a talking tree.

"It's okay," says Mondo, his head emerging from the giant trunk. "It's just little ol' me. Thought you could use a little company."

She watches as the rest of Mondo's body emerges from the tree. Mondo's mutant power allows him to absorb matter and flow freely through any object he chooses, whether it be a wall, a floor, a car, or a tree. This ability makes climbing trees a lot easier for him than for most. She cautiously reaches for the apple, then backs away, afraid of hurting him.

"Don't sweat it," Mondo says. "Your hands can't hurt me. If I want, I can just let 'em flow through me. See?"

He demonstrates by letting the apple drop slowly through his hand, letting it land softly in his other. She watches in amazement of his power.

"And it's still the same apple it was before," Mondo says, taking a bite out of it to prove it. She looks closely at the apple to make sure it hasn't changed in any way. "Here," Mondo says, "I brought another one for you." He quickly flexes his left arm, and another apple literally jumps from his elbow joint, landing gently in his hand. He holds the apple up to her as she examines it closely before gently taking it from his hand and using her razor-sharp fingers to slice it into smaller pieces to eat it. Mondo leans back on the tree, takes another bite and looks out at the sunrise.

"Nice view, ain't it?", he says, chomping away at his morning meal. "Almost as pretty as the sunset on the island. There ain't nothin' like sittin' on the beach with your favorite girl, listenin' to the waves of the sea crash against the shore and watchin' the sun fall slowly behind the edge of the water."

She carefully holds an apple slice on her fingertips and bites into it, her eyes still fixed on the construction workers talking to Banshee.

"I miss her, Penance," Mondo says, his tone a little more somber. "I miss holding her, playing around with her, watching the sunset on the beach with her. She always said I should become some kind of superhero. Well, here I am, good ol' Supermondo, protector of life, liberty and good times, and all I can think about is her."

She slowly turns her attention to him as he speaks.

"It's not like I have some duty to the world, is it?", he says. "I mean, sometimes I wonder why I left the island. It was paradise -- the trees, the birds, the coconuts. But then again, how much of a paradise would it have been without her? Everyone needs someone to share things with, someone to talk to."

He looks up at the girl, whose eyes suddenly seem fixed on his every word.

"That's why I like hanging out with you, Penance," Mondo says, taking another bite from his apple. "I can talk to you about anything, and you won't sit there and judge me like some of the others. You're a good listener. Don't ever lose that quality, even if you do start talking again one day. That's a good thing to have."

She smiles slightly at Mondo's big grin as she carefully eats another apple slice.

"Although one of these days," Mondo says, "I do want to hear your story."

Underneath the branch, an old man with a timepiece sits comfortably in the shade of the tree, looks up and smiles.

---

A blue Jeep and an a black MPV, both emanating thumping noises from their giant woofers, pull up behind the construction trucks in the driveway of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. Sean Cassidy, the school's headmaster, better known as the former X-Man Banshee, ponders who might be visiting a private school this early in the morning. He prepares for anything -- until he sees who's standing on the back seat of the Jeep.

"Hiya, teach," shouts Jubilee.

"Aye, lass," Banshee says, "have ye been enjoyin' yuir little joyride?"

"A lot more than I have," says a yawning Synch, sitting beside her. "I don't know where this girl gets the energy."

"Word," says Sleepy, sitting in the passenger seat. "She's a regular firecracker."

A small pyrotechnic paf pops in front of Sleepy's face. "And don't you forget it," says Jubilee.

"I don' believe I've made yuir acquaintance, sir," Banshee says, holding out a hand to Sleepy. "I'm Sean Cassidy, Headmaster of the Xavier School."

"Jesse Aaronson," says Sleepy, shaking his hand, "a/k/a Sleepy of the Reclamation Squad."

"Aye, yes, I saw ye and yuir group on the telly," says Banshee, fumbling through an unfamiliar handshake. "Did you bring the others with you?"

"They're all in the back," says Sleepy, pointing out the MPV behind them from which M, Skin, Aqua, Image, Perkolater and Little Man are emerging. "I have to settle up with my man at the wheel here, then I'll join the rest of you."

"I think I join ye first, lad," Banshee says. "I owe a little something to the people who brought my students back safely."

"Banshee!"

The child's scream turns every head in the group. A surprised Banshee looks up to see a smiling five-year-old boy running at him with open arms and hugging him.

"Banshee!", the boy says with a wide smile. "Do the thing with your voice, Banshee."

Banshee looks at the others, who are as surprised as he is.

"Gee, Bansh," says Jubilee, "he's a lot nicer to you than he was to me."

"Do YOU know this child?", says Image.

"Can't say that I do, mate," says Banshee quietly. "I honestly have no idea how he knew who I was."

"Well, he obviously knows something," Aqua says, "and you and the girl must have something to do with it."

"Hold ye horses, lad," says Banshee. "I swear to ye that I have no recollection of this child. Believe me, from the looks of 'im, I think I'd remember that face."

"But it's me, Banshee," says the boy. "It's me, Charles. You remember me and daddy, don't you?"

Aqua and Image both cast steely glares at Banshee, who can only muster a half-hearted smile back at them.

"If you've done anything to this boy," says Aqua, "so help me, I'll - "

"Perhaps I can shed some light on this subject."

Emma Frost steps between Banshee and the two Reclamation Squad leaders with a dignity that matches her perfect white clothing ensemble. But then, the White Queen has always been known to demand perfection in both dress and manner.

"From the looks of things," Emma continues, "the boy only knows a couple of people from our school. If there were really something amiss at this institution, I think he would know all of us." She kneels down to talk to the boy. "Do you recognize me, young man?"

The boy shakes his head.

"How about any of the students here?"

He points at Jubilee.

"You do not know any of the others?"

He shakes his head again.

"That doesn't make sense," Image says. "How could he know those two and not recognize anyone else?"

"This is what I would like to find out," Emma says. "If you would allow me to chat with him in private, I believe I can get some of your questions answered."

"What are you going to do?", Aqua says. "Read his mind?"

Emma just grins at him.

"Oh."

"Well, folks," Banshee says, breaking the silence in the driveway, "perhaps if we can put this bit of nastiness aside, I could give ye a tour of the place."

Image nudges at her man. "Oh, all right," he says.

Sleepy shakes hands with his friends behind the wheel, and they drive off as the two mutant groups walk up to the school's main entrance.

"This is one nice-lookin' place, tho'," says Perkolater. "How many kids they got here?"

"Eight," says Synch. "There are four others besides us."

"That's it?", says Perkolater. "What you gotta do to get in?"

"I'll explain it along the way," says Synch.

---

"Hi, I'm Charles. What's your name."

"Leech. This is Leech's friend Artie."

"Hi Artie. Whatcha doin'?"

Artie shows a psionic hologram of him building a Lego airplane.

"Leech and Artie going to fly like bird."

"Just like mommy."

"Charles' mommy can fly?"

"Yes, but she's gone now."

"Leech is sorry."

"It's okay. She'll be back. Can I help?"

Artie shows a psionic hologram of all three children building the plane together.

Banshee, Aqua and Image stand at the window in the control room of the giant biosphere, affectionately dubbed the Danger Grotto, where the Xavier School students do most of their training. They watch the children play together.

"They sure're gettin' along splendidly, aren't they," says Sean.

"True," says Monica. "It's amazing how quickly children can become friends, without all those prejudices that adults have." She turns an eye to Ahmad, who knows exactly what she means.

"Look, Sean," he says. "I know we didn't get off on the right foot, and I'd like to apologize if I seemed a little short with you."

"No worries, mate," Sean replies. "If I were you, I would probably think the same thing. I was as stunned that the boy knew me as you were."

"You're sure you've never seen him before," says Ahmad.

"I swear it on me sainted mother's grave, Ahmad," Sean says. "I'm hoping that Emma kin provide us all with a few answers."

They watch the children's lego plane take shape.

"So tell me, Ahmad," Sean says, "when did ye learn about yuir mutant powers?"

"Summer of '79," Ahmad says. "I was almost 14 when my older brother and their friends started a squirt gun fight on my block. They all had their big guns and water balloons, and they were all over each other and whoever passed by. So here I am, sitting on the front stoop watching it all when my brother starts firing at me. Everyone joins in eventually, and I'm totally soaked with no way of fighting back, since they all would have stomped me if it came to blows.

"So I did the only thing I could think of -- I got up, raised my hand like it was a gun, and started aiming. You could imagine their surprise when they discovered I had a more powerful water pistol than all of them."

"So they thought you were just hidin' a hose or somethin'?", asks Sean.

"They didn't take the time to think," says Ahmad. "They just felt this steady stream of water hittin' 'em and ran. I just stood there soaking wet in shock for a few minutes. Then I went inside and spent the rest of the day figuring out how to control these water blasts. It took a little while, but once I got it down, I couldn't stop grinnin', because I had something all of these other kids didn't."

"Did anyone else know about it?", says Sean.

"Just my family," says Ahmad. "It came in handy when the water got shut off in our building. I used it pretty sparingly, though, since I didn't want to draw attention to myself as a mutant and get chased after by the Friends of Humanity or some other hate group trolling around."

"When did ye form the Reclamation Squad?", asks Sean.

"I got the idea a few years later," Ahmad says, "after watching the X-Men chase off that preacher in the Astrodome. That's when I decided that being a mutant wasn't so bad after all. I could do some good for my 'hood with the powers I had, so I decided to do it. Only problem was, I was the only mutant I knew."

"That's what he thought, anyway," Monica says. "I hadn't told anyone about my mutant powers at all, not even my parents. Ahmad was one of the few friends I had -- we grew up together in Harlem -- and when he finally showed me his mutant powers, you couldn't imagine how relieved I was to know I wasn't alone in the world."

"That's when the Squad started to take shape," says Ahmad. "Sleepy joined in later after that first big incident with his brother. Your students dropped in on the second big incident. I guess we owe you guys one."

"Don't think about it," says Sean. "I've never been the type to keep score." He looks out the window at the children in the treehouse. "Of course, we can help ye with young Charles if ye like."

"That's bet," says Image. "I'm sure if his parents are still around, they're worried sick about him."

---

"Monet? Monet? Earth to Monet, this is Houston, Hakeem says hello, over."

Jubilee creates a few sparks inches from M's face, but M will not move or even blink.

"What's with homegirl?", says Perkolater, sipping some coffee from his Cyclops mug.

"Oh, great, it's happening again," says Jubilee. "Go get Sean and Frosty. They gotta see this."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THE SEVENTH -- CENTRAL PERK

Within Jonothan Starsmore's chest is a chamber of pure psionic energy. The first time he used his power, he lost the lower third of his face -- a scar he has to carry forever. Because of that, Jonothan keeps to himself, sometimes lurking in the shadows of the Xavier School, inadvertently making himself a psionic ghost on the campus.

Part of Jonothan's power, however, is the ability to detect when something is wrong, and he knows the presence he feels in a basement hallway near his room is not right.

"Hey, love. Miss me?"

Jono glances around the corner of the hallway, catching sight of a shadowy figure talking on a cellular phone.

"Chill out, shorty, it ain't easy to get 'im alone."

He can sense the man is after someone. But who? And who is he talking to? Jono remembers when he first came to America, the mutant that tried to capture him -- Emplate. Maybe this man is working for him. Jono feels a touch of fear growing in his chest.

"Look, girl, I'mma tell you now, I'll have this kid in your hands before you can say 'Next Generation Genetics' three times fast."

Girl? The fear subsides. But he knows someone here is in danger, and it could still be him. The question is, though, whom can he tell?

A door closes in the hallway, the figure looks behind him and, seeing nothing, heads for the stairs.

---

"How long has she been like this?", asks Banshee.

"Just a couple of minutes," says Jubilee. "She did the same thing in front of Rockefeller Center and in front of that glamour machine at your old place."

Banshee pushes at M's back, hoping to move the catatonic and suddenly invincible young woman. All of his heaving and grunting produces no results.

"Blast, but she won't budge an inch," Banshee says.

"Stand back, Sean," Aqua says. "Let me take a shot at her."

Everyone moves to the side of the room as Aqua walks in front of M and points a finger a foot from her face. A small, strong stream of water shoots from his finger. M doesn't move a molecule.

"I'd make the spray more powerful, but we're still indoors," says Aqua.

Skin puts his hands on M's ears and wraps the distended skin on his fingers around her head. He grunts and wheezes as he tries to pull her back, but cannot move her the slightest bit.

"C'mon, chica," he says. "You little brat! Budge!"

"Easy, son," Image says, trying to calm him down. "If the girl doesn't want to move, she won't move."

"Don't look at me," Synch says. "I'm not even going to try synching with that."

"I cannae say as I blame ye, lad," says Banshee. "The last thing we need is two catatonic students."

"It's not just that, though," Synch says. "I tried synching with Rayquan, and I couldn't do it."

"Come again?", says Banshee.

"I synched with him, and I didn't gain any speed," Synch says. "He was flying down the hallways, and I was running at my normal speed. I couldn't catch up to him."

"Maybe I'm just too fast for you," says Perkolater.

"Don't count on it, kid," replies Synch.

"Interesting," says Banshee. "What did ye say Rayquan's power was again, Monica?"

"As far as I could tell, he was just super fast," says Image.

"I have a feeling this may not be the case," says Banshee. "When Everett synchs with another mutant, he gets their power, and he's able to use that power better than the other. There must be something else that triggers this kind of reaction. We'll have to test the two of ye."

"What about Little Miss Perfect here?", says Jubilee.

"We cannae do anything until she snaps out of it," says Banshee, "short of blowing up the place, and we've been there."

The students all shoot Paige a look. "What?", she replies.

"It shouldn' hurt to leave her here," Banshee continues. "She *is* a bit safer here than in New York. Let's all go back to the biosphere. I want t'see why Everett cannae synch with Rayquan."

As everyone else walks out of the room, Jubilee walks up to M and looks right into her frozen stare.

"I know I owe you one," Jubilee says, "but if you ever zone out like this when we need you, you won't want the one I give you."

---

These dark corridors and constant explosions can't be in this child's head, Emma thinks as she secretly traverses the depths of the young boy's mind. What is this world? Who can be doing this to these people?

She sees the bones floating in the molten lava pits at her feet. She can almost taste the bitter stench death as it surrounds her. She sees a man, familiar, yet looking very different that usual, sitting in a chair in a lone spotlight. Out of nowhere, a giant hand touches the man, making him convulse, collapse and die.

Sickened at the sight, yet pressing on, she follows the hand up the arm and up to the body. She is horrified by what she sees next.

Apocalypse.

"Ah, my simple child," he says, "you do not know the power you have deep within you, power enough to take my place one day, perhaps. Yet for now, my possession of you brings me the greatest power of all -- the power to destroy your father once and for all."

Father. She runs out of the room in search of the child's father, only to find an old, broken-down building bearing a striking resemblance to the Xavier Mansion. She walks into the mansion and looks around, finding nothing but cobwebs and creaking floors wherever she steps. Finally, she walks out of the back door onto a balcony, where she is even more amazed by what she finds.

Gambit? Rogue? This cannot be, she thinks. How can this child know of the X-Men? And why is the Xavier mansion so dilapidated?

Another image from behind gets her attention. Clarice? But I saw her die in her own blink wave, Emma thinks. How did she ever get to this mansion? How did she know the boy? What is all this?

Suddenly, the light of the moon shines down on the giant picture window above. Emma floats up to the window and looks inside to see what could be attracting her there. Two older gentlemen, one of them holding something in his arms, are talking.

"Tell me, Bishop," one says, "have you ever had a son?"

"No," the other replies. Bishop? The time-traveler? He looks so much older, though.

"I didn't think so," the first one replies, "because if you did, you would know that a child is pure love, and that is never an accident. So while the world is crashing down on us, give me this last moment to love my son."

Emma looks more closely at the man holding the boy. She sees the red helmet sitting next to the chair, and she sees the cape and uniform of the man she knows all too well.

Magneto.

"My son," she hears him say, "if there were only more time for me to spend with you, to teach you all there is learn, to let you grow up in a world so much better than our own. Yet I fear, Charles, there is too little time left for me to love you."

He lifts the child up and hugs him tightly, and Emma sees a glimpse of the boy's face, staring in utter disbelief. The boy's name is...Charles...Charles Xavier Lehnscherr!

"Daddy, look!"

The boy points directly at Emma, and she finds herself trapped in a corner of the room, only to feel another presence around her. She looks over her shoulder and spots another image behind her.

Cable? No, it can't be...he looks so young...and yet...

The psionic attack catches Emma by surprise. She feels herself falling as the pictures fade in front of her. She fights to regain her position in the young boy's mind, only to watch everything in front of her turn black.

---

The kids call it the Danger Grotto, a giant ecologically- balanced geosphere where the young mutants known as Generation X hone both their athletic and mutant abilities. At the moment, only two young men stand here -- Everett Thomas and Rayquan Morris, known to most as Synch and Perkolater. The former stands nearly a foot over the other as they prepare for this foot race. In fact, Everett's physical presence next to Rayquan almost makes this race a no-brainer.

Almost.

"Alright, lads," Banshee says over the intercom. "Take your marks."

Everett and Rayquan position themselves in the starting gates.

"Gimme all you got, nigga," says Rayquan.

"I really believe you're a wee bit overconfident," says Everett.

"Okay, Everett," Banshee says, "synch with him."

The rainbow that is Everett Thomas' syncratic aura, the ability that gives him the mutant power of whomever the rainbow touches, rises from his back and surrounds Rayquan as he waits on the blocks.

"Now who's the man?", Everett says.

"Talk to me at the finish line, Duke," he says. "I'll be waiting there for you."

"On your mark," Banshee says. "Get set..." The two youngsters tense up, waiting for the signal.

"GO!"

It isn't close. Less than three seconds after it started, it ended, with Rayquan standing at the finish line and Everett barely out of the blocks.

"Carl Lewis," says Rayquan, "eat your heart out."

"Quicksilver would be eating his heart out after that run," says Jubilee, sitting in a tree above the track. "One hundred meters in three seconds?"

"2.74 to be exact, Jube," says Paige, sitting in front of the computer in the Danger Grotto control room. "I have him clocked out at close to 75 miles per hour."

"And ye didn't get ANY of that, Synch?", says Banshee.

"Not for lack of trying," he replies, taking a closer look at his aura just to make sure it's working. He points it at Jubilee and creates sparks on his fingers, just to be sure. "I can synch with Jube okay."

"Face it, my brotha," says Rayquan, patting Everett on the back, "I'm just too much for you."

"Rayquan," Banshee says, "describe t'me what it felt like while ye were running."

"Didn't feel like anything, really," Rayquan says. "Just felt like I was running."

"Interesting," Banshee says, "did ye notice anything about your surroundings as ye ran?"

"Well," Rayquan says, "things did seem like they were slowing down around me, like I was moving at regular speed, but everything else wasn't."

"So it didn't feel like you were going all that fast," Banshee says.

"Not as fast as y'all seem to think," Rayquan replies. "Felt like I was running the same 14-second dash I always ran."

Banshee stands at the window, rubbing his chin in thought.

"So what's the 411?", says Image, standing with Aqua by the control panel.

"I'm thinking t'myself that Rayquan's power isn't speed," Banshee says, "because it shouldn't have felt like he was running for 14 seconds to him."

"So what you sayin'?", Aqua says, "Perk can slow down time?"

"T'would appear so," Banshee says, "but only he can feel the effects of it at the moment -- he cannae wrap anyone else up in it."

"But why couldn't Synch pick up that power?", asks Paige.

"I'm guessing that Rayquan needs some sort of fuel to allow 'im to use 'is power," says Banshee. "Whatever t'is, Rayquan had plenty, but Synch had none."

"So unless Perk has this fuel in his system, he can't use his power," says Image.

"That's just a guess," Banshee says, "but t'would explain it."

"Maybe it's the coffee," quips Aqua. Image looks at him, then suddenly, her eyes grow wide, as if she has found the answer.

"Ahmad," she says, "when Sleepy's brother and his goons attacked last night, you remember that Perk wasn't as fast as he was at the game earlier that day?"

"Yeah," Aqua replies. "He got the kid, but he wasn't the bullet that he was while playing hoops."

"Remember us talking about the coffee I made?", she says. "I served him decaf that night."

"Yeah, so?"

"So? That's it!" She rushes over to the microphone.

"Synch," says Image over the intercom, "go get yourself a Coke or something."

"I got it," says Rayquan, who bolts out of the grotto and returns eight seconds later with a can of Pepsi in his hand. "Hope you don't mind, but I took a little sip."

"Nah, it's cool," says Everett. who guzzles the entire can and lets out a loud belch.

"Ga-ROSS," says Jubilee. "I can smell that from up here."

"Now take your marks again," Image says, "and Synch, hook up with Perk like you did before."

Again, both youngsters take their marks, and Synch's aura surrounds Rayquan as it did before.

"On your mark," Image says, "get set, and...GO!"

A second and a half later...

"How'd you do that?", says Rayquan.

"It's the caffeine, Perk,", Image says over the intercom. "You need caffeine in your system to use your power, and Synch didn't have any in his during the first race, so he couldn't use your power, but after he had that Pepsi, he had the caffeine, so he could outrun you."

"So you sayin' I need a cup of coffee before I can speed myself up?", says Rayquan.

"Exactly," says Image, "as long as it's not my coffee."

"Cool," says Jubilee.

Rayquan turns back to Synch. "But how did you beat me by so much?"

"Whenever I synch with someone," he replies, "I can use their power better than they can, so I was able to run past you really easily."

"How did it feel, Everett?", asks Banshee.

"Pretty much like Perkolater described," says Everett. "I felt myself going at regular speed, but everything else around me seemed like it was slowing down."

"Well, we'll work on this s'more tomorrow," says Banshee. "Ye c'mon in and relax a bit."

"Hey, Ev," Rayquan says as the two young mutants walk out of the grotto with Jubilee, "What you think would happen if you hooked up with that M chick?"

"He'd probably raise snobbery to an art form," quips Jubilee.

---

There is something special about children. Even in the worst of circumstances, they can put aside their pains and their fears and simply be children. These three children running through the biosphere of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters are even more remarkable in this respect.

Artie and Leech, the two young morlocks who lived in the sewers and watched their people die numerous horrific deaths, have found new friends in the mutant team known as Generation X, and in spite of all their trials and tribulations, they can play together in this new school.

Young Charles, on the other hand, has witnessed even more horrors, some too painful to remember, yet he still has the child's ability to see the good in everything.

Perhaps that's just what she needs.

Her stare stops the three children in the midplay. Artie and Leech walk back cautiously, but Charles moves closer to get a better look at her -- her deep red skin, her scissor-like hands, her long, razor-sharp hair. She seems almost... familiar to him.

"Leech no go closer," says Leech as he and Artie continue to back up. "Miss Frost say girl could cut Leech."

"Don't be scared," says Charles. "She's scared, too."

She peers from behind the tree, trembling less as the boy moves closer to her. They stare at each other with a sense of... familiarity.

"Are you the Apple Queen?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THE EIGHTH -- SHOOK ONES

"Jono? You in there?"

Jonothan Starsmore, the young mutant known as Chamber, has been hiding away in his room while the rest of the students have been entertaining their guests. Paige Guthrie, the skin-shedding mutant called Husk, is one of the few people for whom he'll answer the door. The fact that he isn't doing that now has her worried.

"C'mon, Jono," Paige says. "Open up."

The door creaks open slowly. An arm emerges from the opening and pulls her into the dusty basement room.

"Jono, what's wrong?", Paige says. "You've been acting strange all day."

"Because something *is* strange, love," he replies. "Someone's in trouble, and it might be me."

"You?", she says. She starts to look worried. "Why? What did you see?"

"Some bloke on a portable phone," he replies. "He was talkin' to a woman about catching someone alone and delivering 'im to her."

"Jono, you've been alone for a few hours now," she says. "Don't ya think he would have taken you by now?"

He thinks for a minute. "I s'pose yer right," he says. "But that means someone else is in trouble here. We ought to warn someone."

Paige pulls at his jacket and brings him closer to her.

"Are ya sure it can't wait just a few minutes?", she says.

Jonothan slowly lowers the collar on his black leather turtleneck, revealing a trace of the psionic energy stored in his chest. A small bolt of that energy reaches out and gently shuts the door...

---

"Aunt Monica told me a story about the Apple Queen, who lived in a great big castle with a really, really, really big apple tree garden, and she picked apples to give to the children so that they wouldn't go hungry."

She watches as he walks over to the basket of apples beside a large log.

"Even your basket is here," says Charles, taking the basket and carrying it back to her. He holds it up so that she might take it. "The Apple Queen has to have her basket."

She gently takes the basket by the handle from the boy and sets it down in front of her. As the boy watches in awe, she slowly opens the basket to reveal it is full of apples. She takes one from the basket and holds it in front of the boy, who looks into her wide blue eyes and smiles.

"Thank you, Apple Queen," he says, taking the apple from her. Her eyes sparkle as the boy bites away at the gift she just gave him. She takes another apple from the basket for herself, and they begin eating together. Charles watches closely as she slices the apple into smaller pieces with her razor-sharp fingers.

"What happened to your hands?", he says. As she turns to him, the sparkle in her eyes disappears. "Your hands," he says, pointing at her sharp fingers. "They look like giant scissors. Your hair, too."

Her face sinks as she looks down at her hands and her feet, hardened like diamonds from the ordeal through which she suffered. She looks at the boy, his face showing pity for her, and as she puts her hands to her face and begins to cry, the apple pieces she held drop to the ground.

"It's okay," the boy says, trying to comfort her. "Don't cry."

She turns away from him and balls up by the log, hoping it will take her away from the world. He walks closer to her.

"That monster really hurt you, didn't he," Charles says. Her teary eyes peer up from her elongated fingers. "Aunt Monica said a monster took you away from the children. He made you like this, didn't he?" She looks at her hands again, looks at the boy, and turns her face away from him in shame.

"It's okay," Charles says, putting his hand on her back. "I've seen monsters, too. They were big and scary, and they hurt lots of people. But my Mommy and Daddy beat them. They fought the evil monsters, and another man helped them, and they beat the evil monsters."

She turns slowly to look at the boy, the tears rolling down her cheek.

"They beat the monsters. The children will never go hungry again."

She slowly reaches her hand out to the boy, who suddenly runs up to her and hugs her tightly. She carefully returns the hug, rubbing her palm on the boy's back, trying to catch her breath.

"Make a new friend while I wasn't looking?"

She looks up to see Mondo standing with his arms folded at the entrance of the biosphere. She returns his smile warmly.

"It's okay," Mondo says. "I'm not the jealous type or anything. Just so long as you don't forget about me."

He gives Artie and Leech each a high five as he walks up to her and takes a seat on nearby log.

"Look, Mondo," the boy says, "it's the Apple Queen. She's alive."

"I know, Charles," Mondo says. "We've met before. Looks like you're in pretty good hands, though."

"M-m-mon-d-do."

The sound itself is rough and scratchy, almost like sandpaper in the ear. To Mondo and Charles, however, it's as musical as anything they've ever heard.

"Girl talk," Leech says, startled by the turn of events, "girl say Mondo's name."

"Penance?", Mondo says.

"M-mon-d-do," she replies.

"There better be a video camera around here somewhere," Mondo says to himself. "How are you doing, Penance?"

She shakes her head and starts to form another word. "C-c- cro...c-cro..."

"Crow?", Mondo says, "like the bird?"

Mondo holds his arms out as if to flap his wings. She shakes her head again and continues. "A-a-sha."

"Asia crow?" Mondo mutters the words to himself in various forms, until suddenly, the light bulb in his head goes off. He snaps his fingers and points at her, as if guessing at a game of charades.

"Croatia!"

She nods.

"You're Croatian."

She nods again. As she does, a realization hits Mondo.

"Which probably means you can't understand a word anyone is saying," he says. "No wonder you haven't said anything. Leech, Artie, see if you can't find that electronic translator gizmo around here somewhere."

"Leech and Artie look for gizmo now!", Leech says as they head for the exit.

"This is cool," Mondo says as he hears the door to the biosphere close behind him. "Penance hasn't said a word until today, and the first word she says is my name. Now we know her language, too. Very cool. I guess I ought to thank you, kid, since you had something to do with it."

"You're welcome, Mondo," Charles says. "What's Croatia?"

"European country," Mondo says. "Suffice to say they don't speak English there. That's why we're getting this translator gizmo, so it can translate what we're saying into something she can understand."

"How come she can't understand what we're saying now?", Charles says.

"Long story, kid. Suffice to say you'll see why in a minute."

They all turn their heads to the door of the biosphere as it opens in front of them.

"Back already, Leech?", Mondo says.

"Nah, it's just me this time."

A few buttons are tapped, and the biosphere lights go out.

---

Later...

"Damn!"

The first time Rayquan Morris used his mutant power, he won a football game for his junior high school. The first time Jonothan Starsmore used his mutant power, he lost the lower third of his face.

"Gives heartburn a whole different meanin', don't it," Rayquan says.

"Ye could say that," Jonothan replies.

"Ain't you got a better way of containing that thing?", says Image.

"We're workin' on it," Banshee says. "Right now, though, we're tryin' to get the lad t'control it himself. That way we can find a better means of keeping it from destroying anything else."

"And keeping me from having more than one roomie," Jubilee says.

"Ah reck..I think you'd be better off without *any* roommates," says Paige.

"Suits me just fine," says a grinning Jubilee.

"Gov'nor," Jonothan says to Banshee, "I need to talk to you about something."

"What is -- "

"Oh, no," says Skin, catching a glimpse of the old man and the timepiece out of the corner of his eye.

"Who's this?", Aqua says.

"Gateway," Banshee says, "what do you want THIS time?"

The old man says nothing. He simply bows his head, obviously upset over something. A few seconds later, a disheveled Emma Frost stumbles into the room and collapses.

"Emma!"

Banshee, Aqua and Synch pick her up and prop her up on the chair. Her heavy breathing indicates something is very wrong.

"What is it, Emma," says Banshee. "Speak to me."

"Horrible," she moans, "just horrible."

"What happened?", Aqua asks her. "Where's Little Man?"

"Charles," she says softly, staring into space. "Ch...Charles Xav...Xavier..."

"What about Charles Xavier?", asks Banshee.

"It was...the boy," she says. "Named for...Xavier..."

"Did you find out who the parents were?", Aqua asks.

"Parents?", she says, turning her head slowly and looking blankly at Aqua. Suddenly, she remembers all that she saw in the boy's mind, and becomes frightened.

"Oh, God, Sean," Emma says, clutching Banshee by the shoulders, "the horrors in that child's mind -- rivers of blood, mountains of human remains -- I've never seen anything so horrific, not even when Jean Grey was Dark Phoenix. And the X-Men..."

"The X-Men?", Banshee says. "Woman, what are ye saying?"

"They were all there," says a distraught Emma. "I saw them all! I saw the Mansion in ruins! I saw Apocalypse in power!"

"Get a hold of yeself, Emma," Banshee says, grabbing her by the shoulders and attempting to shake her out of her stupor. "Now think for a moment. Who were the child's parents?"

Emma looks at Banshee through the disheveled blond strands of hair dangling in front of her face, then looks up as if staring into space.

"Oh, God," she whispers. "Magneto."

Aqua's jaw drops. Image's eyes grow wide.

"That innocent child?" Image says, "It can't be."

"Wait a minute," says Aqua. "You mean to tell me Little Man is Magneto's kid?"

"Caramba!", says Skin.

"No way!", says Jubilee.

"So *that's* why he flipped in the barber shop," says Rayquan.

"It's true," says Emma. "I saw it with my own eyes. Magneto held the boy and called him his son. I would have seen more, but the boy saw me in his mind and attacked me. The power he already has..."

"Wait a minute," says Jubilee. "This kid is what, five, six years old? How could he have any power over you?"

Image looks around the room and notices something is amiss. "Where is he?", she says.

"He is gone," says Gateway, "and so is your friend."

"Say that again?", says Aqua.

"You will not find them here. They have been taken away from us."

"He was the one," Jonothan says, "the one with the portable phone..."

Without hesitation, Banshee, Aqua and Image run out of the room, followed by the rest of the group. They stop first at the room where M stood frozen less than an hour before, only to find her gone. They ran next out of the building to the grotto, only to find Leech and Artie there trying to wake up Mondo and Penance. Aqua takes one look at the scene and knows exactly what has happened.

"Sleepy..."

---

The hooded figure wheels the giant cart down the dark, misty hallway. He stops at the steel door and puts his hand on an electronic key to identify himself. As the door opens, the figure is greeted by a tall, striking woman dressed in a revealing green jumpsuit, her arms folded and her gaze emanating an aura of authority.

"You are late," she says.

"But I'm here, right?", he replies.

"Do you have him?", she asks.

He pulls the cover off of the cart to reveal Charles Xavier Lehnscherr sleeping comfortably upon it. He then pulls down his hood to reveal his face to the woman.

"Whatcha think?", Jesse says

"You have done satisfactorily, Jesse," says the woman. "Mr. Sinister will be pleased."

"Threnny, baby," Jesse says, "now that this mission is over, I'm much more concerned with pleasing you."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THE NINTH -- Q&A

Emma sits on the couch with a blanket wrapped around shoulders, sipping on a cup of hot cocoa. Her usual aura of superiority no longer surrounds her. She has been too busy coming to terms with the images of hell she just witnessed in a five-year-old boy's head.

"I am so sorry," she says. "I have never been rattled like that before."

"S'okay, love," says Sean. "It just goes to prove that ye are more human than most of us think."

"Thanks, Sean," she replies, "I think."

Ahmad Parker, the water-spraying mutant known as Aqua, and Monica Chavis, the hologram-creating mutant known as Image, stand by the window looking out upon the sprawling campus of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. They have endured many trials in their lifetime, not the least of which has been growing up in one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in New York City. They have suffered many losses as the leaders of the Reclamation Squad. Their most recent loss -- the kidnapping of an abandoned child by one of their own members -- may be the toughest one yet.

"Sleepy was down for the cause until the end," says Monica. "Where did we go wrong with him?"

"We didn't, Monica," Ahmad says, trying to comfort him. "He was bad before he ever joined us. We were just too blind to see it."

"But he was near legend in Bucktown," Monica says, "both him and Terry. Every time something happened to them, it was neighborhood news. I mean, that couldn't have been all a cover-up something else, could it?"

"Let me put it this way," Ahmad replies. "When those gunmen attacked out hideout, they didn't kill him. What does that tell you?"

"It tells me someone's in cahoots," says Synch, who sits at a large table snacking on grapes and playing cards with Jubilee, Skin, Husk and Chamber, his fellow students at the Xavier School.

"I still can't believe Magneto has a five-year-old kid," says Jubilee. "Where did he find the time? Or the woman? And why the hell did he abandon the kid? None of this makes sense."

"True indeed," says Synch. "Wasn't this the guy who disappeared in the Antarctic a month or two ago?"

"Seems we have a lot o' questions and no answers," says Sean. "That's why I've asked an old friend of ours to come and help us figure things out."

"And I hope I'm not too late to help."

Everyone turns their head toward the voice, a powerful presence in an otherwise dreary room.

"Professor!", shouts Jubilee, who gets up from her chair, runs up to Charles Xavier and his Shi'ar wheelchair, and gives him a big hug. The time-lost, energy-absorbing mutant Bishop stands behind him.

"Hello, Jubilee," says Xavier. "It is good to see you again."

"How's Wolvie?", she asks him.

"He's improving every day," he replies.

"Every hour, actually, knowing Wolverine," says Bishop.

"Careful there, Bishop," says Sean. "Ye might be developing a sense of humor."

Xavier's moves his chair toward Aqua and Image. "Greetings," he says. "My name is Charles Xavier, head of the Xavier Institute. It is a pleasure to meet the two of you, finally. I have heard a great many things about you."

"I've heard quite a bit about you, too, Mr. Xavier," says Ahmad, returning Xavier's handshake. "The pleasure is ours."

"Please, call me Charles," Xavier says. "I do wish we had more time to talk about your mutant team, but we do have more pressing matters at hand."

"We can talk later, though," Image says, "after we get Little Man back."

"Your confidence is reassuring, Monica," Xavier says. "Now then, if we may discuss your current situation. I am relaying all of this information to Jean Grey-Summers, who is using Cerebro to receive and record it. Now then, Monica, if you would tell me about the child."

"I think I can explain it better in pictures than in words," she says, creating a big screen on the wall to illustrate her thoughts. "I found Little Man one night in front of the Apollo Theater. He was cold, dirty, and absolutely terrified of something. Nobody else seemed to notice him, but I did, so I went up to him and talked to him for a few minutes. He said something about a fire, but for the most part, he couldn't remember anything.

"I stood outside the theater with him for a while, hoping his parents would come out and claim him, but nobody did. I didn't trust 5-0 with him, so I took him back to our HQ and cleaned him up, and we took care of him there for a while."

"My god," whispers Bishop. "It's true. It wasn't a dream."

"Come again, Bishop?", says Xavier.

"That's Baby Charles," Bishop says, "Magneto's son. I have seen him before."

"Oh, this has just gotten TOO weird," says Jubilee, throwing her hands in the air.

"Bishop, tell me how you know this child," says Xavier.

"When we went to Israel to confront David," Bishop says, "he pulled us back into time with him. His goal was to kill a young Magnus in order to change the future and make your dream a reality. You, Charles, rushed to Magnus' aid, and David ended up killing you instead. Magnus remembered that deed for the rest of life, and fought for your dream in a world without you. He formed the X-Men in your honor and led them in battle."

"Tell me more about this world, Bishop," Xavier says.

"It was terrible," Bishop says. "Without you to anchor the dream of equality among all, the forces of Apocalypse ran roughshod over all of America, slaughtering humans wholesale and justifying it under the guise of 'Survival of the Fittest.'"

"So the world that I saw in that child's mind wasn't just negative imagery," Emma says. "It was all real."

"Emma," Xavier says, "if you and Bishop would open your minds to me, I would like to see this world for myself."

Emma and Bishop sit down and concentrate as Xavier looks into their minds to see what the world would have been like without him. He sees the decaying remains of humans scattered all over the countryside. He tastes the stench of death and destruction that surrounds him. He sees Apocalypse holding the child in his hands.

"Good heavens," Xavier says in Bishop's mind, "is this what the world became the night of the M'Kraan wave?"

"Yes, Professor," Bishop replies. "I walked along these valleys for two decades, until I found Magneto and the X-Men one night in Seattle."

"But I don't remember any of those events leading up to this", Xavier says. "How did everything return to normal?"

Xavier watches as the older Bishop re-enters the M'Kraan crystal and travels back in time to stop Legion.

"David," Xavier says. "No..."

"I am sorry, Professor," Bishop replies.

Xavier looks upon Bishop's recollection of Magneto's X-Men -- a strong group of rebels, fighting against the Darwinian forces of Apocalypse. Rogue, Quicksilver, Iceman, Storm, Banshee, Sunfire, Dazzler... Sunfire? Morph, the Changeling? Exodus? Sabretooth? He was an X-Man, and a father figure to young Blink, no less? Indeed, this *was* a different world.

"Scott," Xavier says, "where was Scott, Bishop?"

"You may not like what you see, Professor," says Bishop. A door opens in front of Xavier, and he sees Cyclops and Beast, two of his most stalwart X-Men, as high-ranking prelate and mad scientist, both taking a perverse pleasure in advancing the cause of Apocalypse.

"No, Scott!" Jean's voice ripples through the mental plane. "How could you?"

"It was a different world, Jean," Xavier reassures her. "I never lived to save Scott from the orphanage in this world. It was only natural that he and his brother would become Mr. Sinister's first officers. This world no longer exists, Jean. Nothing has changed between you and Scott."

"Things have changed, though, Professor," says Bishop. "The Age of Apocalypse is affecting our world today. Look upon your mansion and see."

Xavier sees the remains of the famous mansion before him. He watches as Magnus stands in front of Xavier's grave.

"'Any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for.' I remember saying this in a bar in Tel Aviv," Xavier says. "Magnus said he would write it upon my tombstone one day. So ironic to watch you fight for my dream, Magnus. What a tragedy that it took my death to convince you that it was truly a noble cause."

Xavier looks up and sees Emma floating near the picture window where she first discovered the child. "Look inside, Charles," she says. "This is exactly what I saw."

He looks inside, seeing an older Bishop talk to Magneto, who is holding the child in his hands. It is the same child Image showed in her hologram.

"Bishop," Xavier says, "do you know who the mother of this child is?"

"Yes, Professor," says Bishop. "It is Rogue."

"Rogue???", exclaims Emma. The shock of her speech brings all three of them back to the room.

"Yes, Emma," Bishop says, "Charles Xavier Lehnscherr is the son of Magneto and Rogue."

"But not our Magneto and Rogue," Xavier adds. "Rather, the Magneto and Rogue from this alternate world."

"A child from an alternate universe?", says Sean. "I've lived t'see it all."

"If you have ever met Rachel Summers, then this is nothing you have not seen before," says Xavier.

Jubilee turns to her fellow students. "Is anyone else keeping up with this at all?"

"Chica," says Skin, "I'm as clueless as you are." The rest of the group nods in agreement.

"So let me get this straight," Ahmad says. "We discovered the child of Magneto and this Rogue woman in front of the Apollo Theater one night, only it wasn't this world's Magneto and Rogue, but some other world created by God-knows-who."

"It was created by the professor's son," Bishop says. "It was all a horrific accident. David's mutant powers manifested themselves brilliantly, and he went back in time to kill Magneto in a twisted attempt to make Xavier's dream of human-mutant equality a reality. Instead, Professor, he created this dark world that you just saw."

"A world that never should have happened," Xavier says. "This child should never have been born."

"But he was born, Charles," Monica says, "and he's still out there somewhere, and that's reason enough to get out there and find him."

"Indeed it is, Monica," Xavier says. "However, I cannot guarantee that we can locate him quickly. Finding one person on a planet of 5 billion is difficult at best."

"Maybe for you, Charles," Ahmad replies, "but you've never been to my neighborhood..."

---

"Such a beautiful child, so young and so simple. Simplicity is its own reward. How fortunate that you stumbled into my plans."

He stands over the child, asleep in a small basket, as if to show off the power he possesses over him.

"Such power that you hold in your hands...in your genes, your very fabric. You shall be the dawn of a new era for mutantkind."

The child wakes to see the dark, mysterious figure standing over him. Instantly, he knows something is wrong.

"You're going to hurt me, aren't you?", the boy says.

"No, child," he says. "I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I'm going to help you, and all of mutantkind with you. You have not yet realized the power you possess. I will help you to do just that."

The child looks around the room filled with television monitors and advanced computer equipment. He knows he has never been here before, yet he feels a foreboding sense of deja vu.

"I wish my daddy was here," he says.

"In a way, so do I," says Mr. Sinister. "I'd love to thank him."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THE TENTH -- BLOW UP THE SPOT

One minute, Jeru Lewis was hanging out on the block, selling marijuana and keeping an eye out for the police and undercover agents. The next, he found himself flying back first into a pile of trash cans. Even being a small-time hood doesn't pay -- even more so now with the Reclamation Squad on the prowl.

"Where's Sleepy?!?", shouts Aqua, grabbing him by the lapels.

Ahmad Parker is not in a good mood. He was just told by mutant expert Charles Xavier that finding one person on a planet of 5 billion people would be close to impossible. As Ahmad noted, however. Mr. Xavier has never been to Bucktown.

"I ain't seen him, man," Jeru whimpers. "I swear."

"I swear, too," Aqua says, "'cause that's BULLSHIT!" He throws the man to the side and watches him roll down the alley, coming to a stop at the feet of Image. Jeru looks up to see Image pointing an automatic pistol at him.

"I know you've seen him," she says, "or at least you've seen... his brother."

She lets go of the pistol, and it floats in mid-air, aimed directly at Jeru. He reaches for the pistol to move it, but his hand goes right through it. He turns in a panic and sees an angry Aqua cracking his knuckles and walking slowly toward him. "Please don't hurt me," he says softly. "I'm only trying to feed my son."

Aqua pulls the hood's jacket off his back and empties its contents onto the street. At his feet lay several sacks of marijuana.

"Whatcha feedin' the kid?", Aqua says. "Brownies?"

"Please..."

"Don't please me, clocker!" Aqua lets loose a quick and heavy spray of water, which smacks Jeru in the face. "You so concerned about yourself that you ain't even payin' attention. I asked you a question. Where are the Bedlam Brothers?"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you," Jeru says, the fear evident in his voice. "Just don't hurt me when I do..."

---

"Hey, Terry."

"Yeah, Jesse?"

"You ever have any regrets?"

"Yeah, I regret takin' on that M chick. You see what she did to my forehead?"

"Aside from that, though."

"Nah. We did a'ight for ourselves. What you gettin' at?"

"I dunno. Just seems like we're gettin' the short end of the stick, ya know? I mean, here's Sinister puttin' together this next generation of mutants with all this power an' shit, and we're not gettin' any of it."

"We're gettin' the loot, though."

"I know, and that's cool and all, but...I dunno."

"Listen, my brotha, after all this stuff is finished goin' down, we'll be on the first plane down to South America, lampin' on the beach, playin' hoops and chasin' honeys just like we used to. Only now, we'll be able to do that full time. Sugar Hill, baby -- that's some dope shit, ain't it?"

"Yeah, that will be pretty phat. We do have some lost time to make up for."

"You know how it goes, brotha."

---

Phoenix, Bishop, Banshee, Emma Frost, Aqua, Image, Perkolater, Synch, Jubilee, Skin, Husk, Chamber and Mondo. X-Men past, present and future, all brought together for one cause -- to rescue a child that, for all intents and purposes, should not exist, from the clutches of one of the most evil mutants known to the world. With them all is Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men, still one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet. He sees a fighting team thirteen deep assembled in front of him, and though they are all going to face only one opponent, he wonders if it will be enough.

"Mister Sinister is not going to go down easily, folks," says Phoenix. "It took nearly all of the X-Men to bring him down last time. He knows our weaknesses from the moment we walk in the door."

"Does he also know I'm going to drown his ass?", Aqua says.

"Sheer force is not going to work, Aqua," Xavier says. "It is important to remember our mission is not to destroy Sinister, but to rescue the child."

"But what if this Sinister guy comes back?", Image says. "We can't just let him off and expect him not to come back for Little Man."

"I know how you feel, Monica," Jean says. "Sinister has done a lot to hurt me and my husband as well. But we're not here to destroy him. We're only here to rescue Baby Charles, and to send a message."

"Yeah," Skin says, "hands off our peeps."

"Speakin' of our peeps," Husk says, "where is M?"

"Good question," Banshee says. "We've run scans on the whole campus, and we haven't found her yet."

"Figures," Jubilee says. "She's probably zoned out on us again."

"Here is a diagram of Sinister's complex," Xavier says, tapping a few buttons on his Shi'ar chair. A large blueprint appears on the screen in front of the team. "Phoenix shall take Banshee, Synch, Skin and Jubilee to the top of the building, where she will telepathically mask their presence, while Bishop will take Emma and the Reclamation Squad members through this underground entrance on the East side. Once inside, both teams will converge on this central location, where Sinister will likely be keeping both of your targets. Get the child, and get out of the complex as quickly as possible."

He hands communicators to Aqua, Image and Perkolater. "These will help you keep in touch with everyone on the team. I will also keep track of all of you psionically. If you need any help, I will summon the rest of the X-Men immediately to assist you. Godspeed to you all."

"Everyone ready?", says Jean.

"Ready as I'll ever be," says Jubilee. "Grab your guns, Bishop. It's time to rock and roll."

"Uh...yeah, sure," says Bishop.

They take off in the X-Men's Blackbird jet and head for the home base of Mr. Sinister, who watches their every move on one of his TV monitors.

"Good," he says. "The time has nearly arrived. Before long, my child, you shall witness the birth of a new age for mutantkind."

The child looks forlornly upon the big screen, then at his captor.

"You're a bad man," the boy says.

"Naw, he's Sinister, man. We're the bad men."

Sinister and the child turn to see Jesse and Terry Aaronson enter the room. Better known as the Bedlam Brothers, this duo has been working undercover for Sinister for years, unbeknownst to anyone around them, and they have made their biggest score yet. The child falls silent.

"What you think, boss," Jesse says. "Did we get the bait you needed to hook the big one?"

"Indeed," Sinister says, "it appears you've gotten much more than this. Look at this child's DNA."

The brothers look at the twisting double helix on the screen, and are surprised by what they see.

"Van Damme!", Terry says. "This kid's DNA is PHAT!"

"This child is more powerful than anything I've ever seen," Sinister says. "Can you imagine what he could do for mutant kind?"

"What about ol' Aqua, though?", Jesse says.

"He is no longer necessary," Sinister says, "not for what I have planned now. Please, gentlemen, have a seat."

The Bedlam's walk over to a set of folding chairs by Sinister's chair. Terry sits on one of the folding chairs, while Jesse slowly lowers himself into Sinister's chair.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sinister says, his back to them as he anaethetizes the boy and sets him on a platform. Jesse gets up from the chair, pushing down on his wrist and pressing a button on the arm. The light on the button changes. Nobody else in the room notices. Jesse takes a seat next to his brother.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Terry says, "there are seven acknowledged wonders of the world..."

Jesse chimes in, "You are about to witness..."

They say together, "THE EIGHTH!"

Sinister presses a few buttons and lights in the room begin to blind the spectators.

---

"Are you sure this is the place?", Jubilee says.

"Positive," Emma says. "I can sense something big here."

"But there's nothing," Synch replies. "It's just a clearing in the woods."

"Cool," says Mondo, "who brought the frisbee?"

"No, Mondo," Phoenix says. "Emma is right. There's something there alright. I can sense a flurry of psionic activity."

"So can I," Chamber says, "and it ain't a bed of roses, mate."

They all watch in the shadows of the woods as a giant metallic warehouse appears before them.

"Okay, so I was wrong," Synch says.

Suddenly, a psionic jolt sends Phoenix, Chamber and Emma to the ground screaming.

"Jean!", shouts Bishop.

"Jono!", yells Husk.

"Emma!", says Banshee.

An explosion rumbles from the top floor of the warehouse, knocking the rest of them all to the ground. As several chunks of debris make their way toward the group, Husk instinctively shucks her skin and turns into impenetrable stone, blocking as much of the debris as she can. Aqua stands behind her, fiercely shooting water blasts to deflect pieces of the building.

"We could use some help here!", Aqua shouts. Banshee gets up from Emma's side and uses his sonic scream to shatter pieces of the metallic rubble. Suddenly, what looks like a comet surrounded by debris flies out of the top of the building, catching the attention of everyone on the ground.

"Saints preserve us," says Banshee, "what was that?"

"Oh my God," Image says, looking up to the sky. "It's him."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH -- LOST AND FOUND

They all lay scattered on the ground from the explosion, except for the few trying to block the debris. Those that had any telepathic or psionic power are still out cold from another blast. The rest, however, are transfixed by the figure in the sky.

"Oh my God," Image says, looking up to the sky. "It's him."

Floating in mid-air above the wreckage is a tall, muscular, blond, strikingly handsome young man. He is clothed in nothing but the metal from the ceiling, some of which lay against his skin, some of which floats around him in circles. His hands press against the sides of his forehead, which is throbbing like it has never throbbed before. He knows little of the last hour, but he knows who is responsible, and his scream can be heard across the valley.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!?!"

Instinctively, Image creates a hologram of herself in front of the him. "Little Man," it calls to him.

He turns to look at the vision in front of him. "Aunt Monica," he says, "is that you?"

The pieces of metal fly right through the hologram. "Yes, Little Man," the hologram says in a comforting tone. "I'm down in the woods with Aqua and the kids from the Xavier school. We can help you."

"My mind," he says, "so many thoughts. I can barely control them all."

"You must try, Charles." He hears the voice of a man calling to him. "Concentrate solely on the image of Monica in front of you. It will lead you to the rest of the team."

"Who are you?", he says, confused by the presence of a new voice.

"He is a friend, Little Man," Image says. "Please, let us help you."

The one Image calls Little Man is Charles Xavier Lehnscherr, the son of two of the most powerful mutants of another world. He watched as that world was destroyed by a madman known as Apocalypse, then found himself lost in this world. Since he's been here, Harlem seemed like heaven. Now, having been transformed by Mr. Sinister from a lost 5- year-old to an extremely powerful 17-year-old, he finds himself in a new hell.

A flurry of images sweep through his mind, many of them he knows were never his. As the debris encircles him, he sees his father running from the Nazis. He watches as his namesake, Charles Xavier, sacrifices his life for his father. He witnesses his mother inadvertently taking her first love's life with just a kiss. Finally, he watches as his half-brother Quicksilver snatches him from his father's grasp and, as his parents die before his eyes, tosses him into the M'Kraan crystal.

"Tell the world, Charles!", he can hear him shouting. "Tell the world..."

"NOOOOO!", he screams, dropping to his knees in mid-air. "Why, brother? Why did you save me?"

"Charles," says the unfamiliar voice again, "can you hear me?"

As the thoughts race through his mind, he hears another explosion behind him. Quickly he looks down at the burning building and sees a wounded but smiling Mr. Sinister, disappearing into metal debris.

"Stop it!", he shouts. "Get out of my head! How do I know you're not one of Sinister's evil tricks?" He flies into the clouds, leaving a trail of debris behind him.

"He's gone," Bishop says.

"Ohhhhhh," Jean moans, trying to recover from the sudden psionic onslaught. Emma and Chamber remain unconscious.

"Jean," Banshee says as he tends to Emma, "are you okay?"

"Dear God in heaven," she whimpers, "the power...we have to find him before he hurts someone, or himself..."

---

As he stands above the clouds holding his head in his hands, Charles fights to gain control over the thoughts that litter his mind. He watches as images of his parents, the X-Men, his family flash before him, some of the images moving on the iron and steel debris floating around him.

"Why, brother?", he whimpers. "Why did you do this? Why did you doom me to this miserable existence? Why not let me die with dignity, with my family? Why?"

"Because he loved you."

He can see her through the orbiting rubble. She is the one that rescued him before.

"Why else would your brother save your life?", M says. "He loved you, and he didn't want to see your life go to waste."

He moves slowly toward her, his eyes staring directly into hers. He knows she is both strong and comforting, yet she never seemed so... beautiful.

"I am deeply sorry I could not rescue you a second time," she says as the debris effortlessly moves around her. "By the time I determined your location, you were already in the hands of Sinister, and I could sense instantly that he was an opponent I could not yet defeat."

"Why did you want to rescue me again?", he asks.

"Because when I rescued you the first time, I could sense something..."

She struggles for the right word to say to him.

"...different about you. Perhaps, something...special."

Their eyes lock as he draws near to her. He reaches out his hand to touch her face. Yet as he touches her, his mind is flooded again with memories that are not his. He sees a young woman meditating with her aborigine mentor. He watches as the Phalanx captures her guardians, and a secret buried so deep within her thoughts...

"No!", Charles shouts, cringing away from her. "Get out of my head!"

"What?", M asks. "What happened?"

"When I touched you," says Charles, his head buried in his hands, "it was as if...I could see into your mind."

"What did you see?", she says.

"I saw...your brother."

Her face clearly shows her shock. She bows her head and turns away from him.

"No," she whispers, "Vicente..."

"What happened?", Charles says. "What happened to him?"

"My father," she says bitterly. "He killed him. He chased him out of the house during a horrible rainstorm, and he just started hitting him and hitting him until...until..."

"What?", Charles says.

"Vicente turned into liquid," she replies. "His whole body broke down and collapsed into a puddle, and the rains washed him into the ocean. My father killed my brother...my best friend. I...I can still hear Vicente sometimes...calling me."

"I'm so sorry," Charles says.

"No, no," Monet replies, her back still turned to him. "Please, don't be. What's past is past. I must think about my future now."

He groans as more thoughts rush through his head. He sees himself being taken in by Monica and cared for by the Reclamation Squad. He remembers visiting Willie's Barber Shop and getting his hair cut. "And just remember," Willie says to him, "if anything happens or you get lost, just look for 121st and Delancey St. We'll be here if you need anything."

M blocks the thoughts of her brother and turns to Charles. "Are you all right?", she asks.

"Willie's," he replies. "They said they'd be there if I needed them. Can you point me to New York?"

"I can take you there if you want," she says. "Take my hand."

"No!", Charles says. "I can't touch you. I can't -"

"Shhh," M says, flying closer to him. "It will be okay."

She kisses him lightly on the forehead. He can see her rescuing him from Terry Aaronson. His fears subside.

"Thank you," he says, taking her hands in his.

"Before we go, though," M says, "you should clothe yourself in something more appropriate."

Charles looks down and sees a few random pieces of metal scattered along his body. "Perhaps you're right," he says. "My father was a master of magnetism. How much of that power did he give to me?"

He raises his hands and freezes the floating debris surrounding him in its path. Slowly and with intense concentration, he flattens the debris into thin, malleable pieces and shapes a uniform similar to M's. Before he can don the uniform however, he blacks out and begins to fall. M rushes down to him and catches him in her arms.

"Charles?", she says. "Are you okay?"

"Good heavens," he says, his face covered with sweat. "How did he learn to control such powers?"

"Over time and with a little instruction," M says, "it will come to you."

He rises from her arms up to his uniform and puts it on, then takes her hand. They fly off together.

---

"THAT BITCH ASS NIGGA!"

Terry Aaronson is angry. He and his brother, Jesse, watched as Sinister transformed a young child with amazing genetic potential into a powerful young man. As he added some extra strength and intelligence to the advanced growth pattern, the levels went off the scale, and the machinery started falling apart. In the midst of the chaos, Jesse disappeared. Terry thinks he knows why, and in the underground shelter where he and Threnody sit, he decides to take his anger out on the decor.

"That bastard double-crossed us!", Terry says, smashing an end table. "We were gonna have it all! And he fucked us up!"

"Please, Terry," Threnody says, her arm in a sling, "try to get a hold of yourself."

"Get a hold of myself?!?", he shouts at her. "I'd rather get a hold of him and kill him as slowly as possible! Hell, you were the one who was all on his dick! How do I know you didn't help him?"

"Because she is here," says Mr. Sinister, appearing before them suddenly and knocking Terry to the floor with a simple wave of his hand.

"You have no right to question my motives," Threnody says. "I am as dedicated to the future of mutantkind as any of us."

"Nobody is questioning your dedication, Threnody," says Sinister, who touches her arm. "There, you should be able to move your arm freely now."

Threnody pulls her arm out of its sling and flexes her fingers. "Thank you, sir," she says. "I apologize for...fraternizing with him as I did."

"It is not your fault," Sinister says. "I should have expected it, but I was blinded by the discovery of the child's DNA pattern. In all my decades of research, I had never seen anything so wondrous as that child's genetic structure."

"And ol' Sleepy fucked it up!", shouts Terry. "You gonna let him get away with that?"

Sinister thinks for a moment. What if the child is alive? What if revenge is on *his* mind as well? Will he be able to withstand the battle the child may bring to him?

"No," says Sinister. "There is no excuse. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and this act of sabotage calls for just such a recipe."

"True indeed," Terry says, "and I know just where to serve it up, too."

---

Once upon a time, the Rhythm Machine was the hottest night club in all of New York. New hip-hop and R&B acts got their start and their biggest exposure there regularly. The Bedlam Brothers left plenty of skid marks on its dance floor in days past.

Days present aren't as pleasant for Jesse Aaronson, though. It was here, two years ago today, that he watched Mona King, one of his favorite dates and best friends, die at the hands of the Friends of Humanity. Wearing a trenchcoat and dark sunglasses, he stands in front of the burned out husk of a building and thinks about the good times. He pulls a bottle of water out of his jacket, takes a sip, and pours the rest out in front of him.

A shadow emerges from the side of the building.

"You still miss her, don't you?"

"It's something you don't forget, B. I can't forget. She was too important to me."

"Don't let anyone else here you say that, Sleep. You still have a rep, ya know."

"Not anymore. Tonight, everything changes. Terry goes down."

"You really think you can take him by yourself?"

"It won't matter, B. He won't be by himself. That's why I wanted to talk."

"Sleep, there ain't a thing to talk about. You've gotten my back out here more times than I can remember, kid. I owe you that much. The Decepticons are at your service."

---

"He's waking up."

The last thing Jonothan Starsmore remembers was feeling the core of the psionic chamber in his chest fill with intense pain, then almost completely black out. As his vision clears, he finds himself in the infirmary of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, looking upon something he wasn't sure he'd ever see again.

"Hey, Jono," Paige says, smiling. "How are you feeling?"

"A bit knackered, love," Jono says. "What happened out there?"

"A strong psionic force of some kind emanated from that explosion," says Xavier, who sits in his Shi'ar wheelchair next to Jono's bedside. "I was lucky to get my psychic defenses up in time, but some of the others weren't so lucky."

Jono turns to his side to see Emma Frost, still unconscious, lying on a bed next to his.

"Only Mrs. Summers had recovered fully," Paige says, pointing at Phoenix tending to the minor cuts and bruises of a fidgeting Jubilee.

"Ow!", Jubilee says. "That stings!"

"Then you woke up," Paige says, turning back to Jono. "You'll need a little more rest, though."

Jono looks down at his chest to see his shirt unfastened and the psionic chamber in his chest, as well as his face, uncovered in front of both of them. "Whoa!"

"Relax, son," Xavier says. "There is no need for you to feel ashamed of your appearance here. All of us carry the scars from our mutations, either physically or mentally. You have no need to hide from us. We're your friends."

"Easy for you t'say, Perfesser," Jono says. "You still 'ave a face. Ye don't look like a monster."

"Perhaps," Xavier says, "but you still have your legs. You can walk to class each day."

"And you still have me," Paige says, kissing Jono on the forehead. "That isn't going to change."

"Comin' out o' the closet, love?", Jono says.

"There's no point in me caring about you if ah'm ashamed of being open about it," she replies. "No one should go through what you're going through alone." She takes his hand in his and holds it tightly.

"Thanks, love," he replies, "I need that."

Jono reaches up to hug Paige, who returns the embrace. She glances over at Xavier and winks. Xavier looks at the couple and smiles, then joins the crowd huddled around a third bed in the infirmary. Jono notices the group and their concern.

"What's the hubbub?", Jono asks Paige.

"It's Penance," she replies. "She's had another relapse."

Jono sits up, slowly fastens his shirt and walks over to the bed. She lay still amidst the crowd, and though she's unconscious, the pain clearly shows on her face.

"How is she, Gov'nor?", Jono asks Banshee.

"Not well, I'm afraid," Banshee replies. "Whatever Sleepy did to the lass, it's made her as sick as ever."

"She was just starting to break through, too," Mondo says. "She actually started talking."

"The girl talked?", a startled Jono says.

"Yep," Mondo replies. "Said my name, then where she was from -- Croatia. We were just getting ready to start talking when the lights went out."

"We got a few Serbo-Croatian dictionaries from the library," Banshee says. "If ye want t'look at one..."

He holds up a book for Jono, who pauses for a moment, then grudgingly takes it from him. He walks back to his bed and starts thumbing slowly through the dictionary. Meanwhile, Paige walks over to the ringing phone.

"Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, can I help you?", she says. "Ummm...sure, one moment."

She turns to Ahmad, who stands with the rest of the group at Penance's bedside. "Mr. Parker? It's for you." Ahmad looks back at Paige in mild surprise.

"Who could that be?", Monica says. Ahmad doesn't answer. He walks over to the phone and takes the receiver from Paige.

"Hello," he says. "You didn't get him? Now what? Where? Need some help? A'ight, be careful out there. Peace." He hangs up, turning to see everyone in the room staring at him.

"What was that all about?", Monica says.

"That was Sleepy."

"WHAT???!?!?", replies half of the room.

"He was on an undercover job," Ahmad continues. "Terry approached him a few weeks after he joined the Reclamation Squad. He told Sleeps all about Sinister's plans to nab me and my DNA, in the hopes that he could recruit Sleeps for the job. He told me all about it, and I told him to play along with 'em, all while stayin' on the down low trying to take Terry and Sinister out."

"And you didn't tell me?!", Monica replies indignantly.

"I couldn't risk having anyone else know," Ahmad replies, "even you. Sleeps told me how slick Sinister is, and if anything leaked, we were all done for. I'm sorry."

"What about the child?", says Xavier.

"He just got caught in the crossfire," Ahmad says. "We started this way before the kid landed in our lap last week. At first, they wanted to use Little Man to get to me, but Terry got impatient and tried to jump us. That's when you guys jumped in."

"And that's when Little Man became Big Man," Monica says, "and now he's out there lost somewhere, tryin' to cope with what that monster made him. How could you let this happen?"

"Monica, if I knew what was gonna happen..."

"Professor," Jean interrupts, "I'm getting a telepathic message from Cerebro. We've found M."

"Where is she, lass?", Banshee says, running from his spot at Penance's bedside over to Jean.

"In Harlem," Jean says, "and she's close to a power signal I can't read...no...it can't be..."

"What is it, Jean?", Xavier says.

Before anyone can continue, the growl of an awakening and obviously angry Emma Frost interrupts them. In a fit of rage, she throws back the sheets and jumps from the bed, standing before everyone looking as well-groomed and proper as ever, except for the anger in her eyes.

"I have had enough of this", she says. "I'm through playing games and getting pushed around like a helpless little lamb. They may call themselves the Bedlam Brothers, but they won't know the true meaning of the word until they've faced me."

Jubilee looks back at Banshee. "We're going back to New York, aren't we?"

"Ye could say that."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THE TWELFTH -- SHOWDOWN

Willie, Ray and Lester have been friends for decades, ever since they all fought in the same platoon in the Army. They've seen war, they've seen peace, and they've seen it all in the inner city. As the sun shines on their block and the children play with a fire hydrant on the opposite corner, the threesome sit in front of the shop, drinking beers, smoking cigars, and enjoying life for the moment.

"I tell ya, Willie," Ray says, "ain't nothin' like a fine cuban, is there?"

"No, sir," says Willie, taking another puff. "A lot better than them Phillies we usually get, huh?"

"True indeed, my man," Ray replies. "Just hope I don't get spoiled by these."

Lester raises his can. "A toast," he says, "to Marcus -- wherever he is today, he's still our man."

"To Marcus," Ray and Lester reply in unison. They all tap their cans, take a sip, and pour part of their beer on the sidewalk. As they pour, Charles and M float down from out of nowhere, gently landing in front of the trio, drawing a small audience on the other side of the block, as well as surprising their intended audience.

"Eh?", Willie says.

"Willie," Charles says, "it's me, Little Man. You've got to help me."

"Little Man?", says Ray. "The one that came in with Monica two days ago?"

"Yes," he says. "Something has happened to me, and I need your help."

"Man, fuck that," Lester says. "Little Man wasn't but real little. You damn near huge in that metal get-up o' yours. And what's with the girl? Who's she?"

"I am a friend," she says.

"You gotta understand, Lester," Charles replies. "I'm the same kid. You were talking about...Josh Parker and my fa...Magneto."

"He's right there, though," Ray says, taking another puff.

"Like hell he is," Lester says. "How do we know he's not some spy or somethin' who's after the Reformation Squad?"

"Reclamation, Lester," says Willie, his eyes firmly locked on Charles'.

"Whatever," Lester replies.

Willie stands up and takes a closer look at the boy whose hair he cut only a day ago. He notices small things about him that seem familiar, then he looks into his eyes. That confirms it.

"You are Little Man, aren't ya?" Willie says. "You're one of them mutant people like Monica."

"Yes," Charles says. "I am."

"What happened to you?", Willie asks him.

"He was taken away by a man named Sinister," M says. "Sleepy stole him from under our noses."

"Sleepy?", Ray and Lester say together.

Willie rushes to the door of the barber shop and tries to unlock it as quickly as possible. "Get inside," he says. "All y'all got to get inside. Shit ain't safe around here right now. C'mon."

The door opens, and Charles and M jog into the barber shop. Ray and Lester follow a bit more slowly. Willie then turns to the small crowd watching events unfold at the storefront.

"Go on, now," he says, waving at them all. "Y'all seen this on T.V. before, so it ain't no thang. Just move on." The crowd slowly disperses.

Willie enters the shop and closes the blinds behind him.

---

"Jesse!"

118th Street. On its best nights, you could hear the parties at Rhythm Machine several blocks away from here. Tonight, as it has been for several nights since the fire that torched the club two years ago, the block is silent, except for a couple of murmurs from crack addicts or homeless people, with one exception -- a shout that crackles the air and echos of these old buildings like few other sounds have in years.

"C'mon out, Jesse!", Terry Aaronson shouts. "I know you're here! Time's up for your little game!"

In an alleyway close by, Jesse stands with a number of other men dressed in black, hidden by the shadows of the setting sun. All of them brandishing automatic pistols, and Jesse's is aimed directly at Terry.

"Why you stoppin', kid?", says one of the men to Jesse. "You can end this whole thing right now."

"I know," Jesse replies, "but this ain't how I want him to go out."

Suddenly, Jesse feels the gun fall apart in his hands, as do the other men in the alleyway. A fire escape crashes behind them, and a woman can be heard banging on her television above them.

"Ain't no point in hidin' now, nigga!", shouts Terry. "Might as well come out and face me."

Jesse lowers his hands, drops the scraps of metal on the concrete and walks slowly out of the alley. Before he leaves the shadows, however, a hand grabs him on the shoulder.

"You ain't gotta do this, Sleeps," he says.

"Yes I do, B," Jesse replies. "Yes I do."

Jesse walks quietly out of the shadow and onto the road, Terry's back turned to him. "Where ya at, nigga?", Terry shouts. "You never made the ladies wait like this. Why you gonna make your own brotha wait?"

Jesse taps Terry on the shoulder. "You ain't my brother, bitch."

Terry turns to Jesse and begins to stare him down. They walk in a small circle, their eyes locked on each other. The entire block falls silent as they stand in the middle of the road, poised on the brink of a war like none this area has ever seen.

"You were down with Aqua all along, weren't ya?", Terry says. "We were gonna have it all, and you were just down to catch a body."

"Like you're the angel," Jesse replies. "All you ever wanted was the loot. You'da stepped over mama to get it. There's more to life than just gettin' paid, kid."

"You think anyone out here cares?", Terry says. "Look at this place. Ain't nothin' here but stick-up kids, dealers, junkies and hoes. They all made their choices years ago, and their kids are makin' the same ones. Who's gonna make them change? You? The Reclamation Squad? Bullshit. All that matters around here is who has the money and how they can get it. Dat's it."

"So you decided you were gonna get yours," Jesse says.

"Nah, kid," Terry replies, "ours. WE were gonna get OURS. I wanted to make it up to you somehow by letting you in on it, and if we went our separate ways after that, fine." He turns toward the club, his voice lowering. "If not, maybe we'd go back to the old days."

"That's just it, nigga," Jesse says. "The old days are over. You let 'em die right there in front of the club." He points to the condemned building. "You can't go back and be a player anymore. That's why Sinister got to you. You were just too busy living in the past to notice."

"Fuck that," Terry says. "Sinister made me the man. I ain't some self-righteous rat scurrying around the street corners looking for some cheese. This is MY world now!"

"Sure, Terry. Whatever you say," says Jesse, who snaps his fingers, and more than a hundred men dressed in black emerge from various alleys on the block and line up in a battle formation behind him.

"I'm sure you remember the Decepticons, Terry," Jesse says, "one of the most notorious crews ever to run through Do-or-die Bed-Stuy. A couple of their boys have been down with me since back in the days, so they heard about what was goin' down and thought they'd lend a hand. They're keepin' it real. How 'bout you?"

"Me? Oh, I'm beyond real, nigga," Terry says. He snaps his fingers, and a high-pitched screeching is heard in the distance. The Decepticons all look at each other in confusion.

"Yo, Sleeps," one of them says, "What's the 411?"

Little by little, the screeching gets louder, until everyone sees the shadows of the creatures emerging from every crevice on the block.

"Holy..."

---

"Just goes to show ya," Lester says, "ya never seen it all. Even when ya think ya have."

The flood of thoughts returns. Charles grabs his head and falls to the floor, screaming in agony. Willie and M rush to his side.

"You a'ight, Little Man?", he says.

"My mind," he says softly, fighting back the pain rushing through his head, "so cluttered, so many thoughts all at once..."

"It's okay, Little Man," Willie says, trying to comfort him. He touches him on the neck, and suddenly, a new set of thoughts and memories flow through his mind. He sees a poor sharecropper's son riding on a dark, deserted train car with his older brother, then a picture of his father, hanged in public by an angry, racist mob seeking vengeance for a rape that the accused didn't commit.

"AAAAUGH!", he shouts, slapping Willie's hand away. "Don't touch me!" He runs to the corner of the room and cowers, a thin line of light from the closed window reflecting off the metallic debris

"What is it?", says a surprise Willie. "What's wrong?"

"It was like...I could read your mind," he says. "When you touched me, all those memories...they're still here."

"What did you see?", Willie says.

"Your...your father."

Willie's eyes grow wide. The muscles in his neck tighten, and he puts his hand on his chest. He walks slowly to the sink and leans on it for support.

"I'm so sorry, Willie," Charles says.

"You a'ight, Willie?", Ray says.

"I...I tried to forget that after all these years," Willie says, a slight tremble in his voice. "He was a good man, and...they took him away for no reason...'cept that he was black. Never seen people so cruel, before or since. It's the reason I enlisted in the first place -- to try and forget about it all, maybe change things."

"That's all in the past, Willie," Lester says. "'Sides, we all been through somethin' like that before. Hell, we been through it together with Marcus, remember. I know it ain't all right, but that's why we gotta stay strong, else there won't be no next generation to be better than us."

"He's right, Willie," Charles says. "My father fought for a world where mutants and humans could live together in peace. He carried that dream in honor of the man who gave his life for him. He named me after that man."

"What was his name, son?", asks Lester.

"Charles," Charles replies. "Charles Xavier."

Ray cocks his brow at the young man. "Wait a minute," he says. "I've heard that name."

"So have I," says M, "and from what I remember, Charles Xavier is very much alive."

Charles stares at the young woman in shock. "But how is that possible?", he says. "I can see my father's memories clearly in my mind. Charles Xavier sacrificed himself to save my father's life."

"Who's your father, Little Man?", Lester says.

"Magneto."

"Say WHAT???!?!?"

The shock of hearing the name of young Charles' father makes it much easier for Willie, Ray and Lester to believe the sudden appearance of Jean Grey's telepathic presence in the room.

"I think I might be able to explain it all..."

---

It seems odd for a rainbow to appear in the sky in the middle of a cloudless sunset. For the students of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, however, nothing has really been all that odd lately.

"I've gotta tell ya, guys," Synch says, his aura surrounding everyone in the group, "telekinesis is one PHAT power. I almost wish I had this all the time."

"Just b'glad ye can do it now, lad," Banshee says, "and make sure ye thank Mrs. Summers for it later."

Synch lowers the group -- Phoenix, Bishop, Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Skin, Husk, Chamber, Mondo, Aqua, Image, Perkolater and himself -- onto the roof of a tenement building in Harlem, where they can here the sound of the battle nearby.

"This doesn't sound good," Bishop says, cocking his energy gun. "Everyone be on guard."

Perkolater takes a sip from his thermos, then quickly creeps over to the edge of the building to see what's happening underneath.

"Van Damme!"

Fierce is not strong enough a word to describe the battle in the streets below. The angry mob of demon-like creatures rips and claws its way through a scattered crowd of equally angry men, who slash and punch their opponents with a rage even they never knew they could feel. Some bark orders and effectively deal with the beasts as they would any other gang. Others lay open on the sidewalk, clawed or beaten to death, flotsam and jetsam in a pile of human -- and inhuman -- debris.

---

"...and this is why young Charles is the way he is," says Phoenix, "and why we need all of your help."

"I dunno, Miss Phoenix," Willie says. "We ain't got no special powers like y'all do. What can we do?"

"Whatever you can to keep people away from this block," Phoenix says. "We don't need any more unnecessary casualties."

"Ain't dat the truth," Lester says. "We'll give it our best shot, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Lester," she replies, "thank you all."

"What about us?", M asks her. "What can we do?"

"Your teammates need you, M," Phoenix says. "Get over here as quickly as you can."

"Wait!", young Charles says. "Let me come with you."

"This may be extremely dangerous, Charles," Phoenix replies, "and with you unsure of what powers you have, let alone what you can control --"

"No, Phoenix," M says. "This is his fight, too. I will help him as much as I can."

The image of Phoenix looks upon them, then disappears.

"Damn, where'd she go?", Ray says.

"Something is happening out there," M says, "that requires more of her attention."

---

"Stand aside, Perkolater," Emma Frost says, standing at the edge of the building. "They are all mine."

With a thought, Emma freezes all of the combatants still standing in the middle of the fracas. Almost in unison, they collapse on the pavement, their minds unable to cope with the shock of the sudden attack on their minds. Only two are left standing -- the Bedlam Brothers, who stop in mid-bout and look around them.

"What the hell...", says Terry.

"Oh, shit," Jesse says, pushing his brother off of him, "someone else is here."

"You couldn't possibly imagine..."

The voice in their heads is followed by an excruciating pain unlike any they have ever felt. They scream aloud and fall writhing to the pavement. Above them on the rooftop, Emma Frost stands watching their agony -- and enjoying it.

"Are ye daft, woman?", Banshee says. "Ye'll kill them."

"Not before I hurt them," Emma says. "And it's Emma, damn you."

"Stop it, Frost," says Aqua, running toward her. "Sleepy's on our side."

"Stay away from me!", says Emma, who with a thought forces Aqua to the ground. "I care nothing for your alliances. Sleepy is not on MY side, and for that, he will pay."

She turns back to the fallen brothers, watching them scream and squirm as they're suffering continues. A large figure suddenly emerges from the brick side of the building, blocking the White Queen's view. "Uh, Miss Frost," Mondo says, "don't ya think you might be overreacting just a tiny bit?"

"Stand aside, Mondo," Emma says. "These two have caused us enough trouble."

"Indeed," says Phoenix, who uses her mental powers to block Emma's attack.

"Curse you, Jean Grey!", Emma shouts at her. "I was trying to teach them a lesson. They deserved what they were getting."

"Then why don't you attack me as well," Phoenix says, "for everything Phoenix has done to you? No matter what the Bedlam Brothers have done to you, you have no right to act as their judge and jury. They deserve real justice no less than any of us."

"And what do you think I was *giving* them?", Emma shouts at her.

"All the more reason for me to ponder your allegiance to Charles Xavier."

The voice stops everyone cold. Little by little, the members of Generation X and the Reclamation Squad back away from the center of the roof. They all feared this moment, a moment in which an opponent perhaps more powerful than all of them stands in their midst, smelling victory in his grasp.

"Perhaps you should have remained with the Hellfire Club," Sinister says, "or perhaps you should find a new allegiance -- someone who can help you live out all of your dreams of revenge."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH -- TO WISH UPON A STAR

Memory can be tricky thing. Only recently has the time-lost X- Man Bishop come to grips with memories of a world without Charles Xavier, a world darkened by fear, hatred, and deeds of utter cruelty. Bishop has yet to learn how to control all of those memories, however, and that which he remembers on this rooftop in the middle of Harlem, in the presence of Mr. Sinister, may not be the truth in this world.

Truth, however, can be just as tricky as memories.

"You filthy butcher!"

An enraged Bishop charges Sinister, his gun firing at him recklessly. Shots fly through the holes Sinister makes in his body.

"Why, Bishop," he says, "does your mind continue to play tricks on you?"

Sinister's arm expands reaches out and slams Bishop into the concrete roof, shaking the entire building. A stray energy blast from Bishop's rifle hits Husk in the shoulder. She loses her balance and falls off the rooftop.

"Paige!", shouts Banshee, who quickly uses his sonic scream to fly to her rescue.

"It's okay, Banshee," Phoenix says. "I have her." Husk floats in mid-air, supported by Phoenix' power of telekinesis, as Banshee grabs her and carries her back up to the roof.

"Are ye all right, lass?", he says.

"I'm fine," she says. "I managed to turn into stone before the shots could do any damage." She tears at the hole in her uniform. "I'll need to remove this skin, though."

Banshee returns to the rooftop with Husk, finding Bishop lying in the corner of the roof unconscious. He looks upon his students, who despite their fear stand ready to do battle with an opponent they can only wish to defeat. Among them are the remaining members of the Reclamation Squad, who in the last two days have been a part of things they only witnessed on television -- and they are not sure they like it all.

"Ye daft sonofabitch!", shouts Banshee, who despite his own fear and concern for his students refuses to back down to his opponent. "Do ye honestly think ye can defeat all of us so easily?"

"Perhaps not all of you at once, Banshee," Sinister replies, "but by themselves, many of these children are still young and vulnerable. It is not implausible to think they could be defeated -- or better yet, convinced that my way is the best way for all mutantkind."

"Perhaps, mate," says Chamber, "but we're a bloody stubborn lot." A bolt of energy rips suddenly from Chamber's chest, flies through Sinister and carries on for several blocks in the sky.

"An impressive display, young one," Sinister says, his body unattached at the waist except for a thin layer of skin at his hip. Slowly, he reforms his body to its original state. "However, pure power has never been a real threat to me. Feel free to ask Mrs. Summers if you disagree with me. Your power, however, is quite intriguing. I would love to study it."

"Don't think a career as a lab rat suits me, mate," Chamber says.

"No," Sinister replies, "but maybe the opportunity to regain a more normal appearance may help you."

In the blink of an eye, Sinister transforms himself into Chamber's image, only it is the image of Chamber with his entire face.

"Don't listen to him, Jono," Husk says to him. "He'll only use you like he used the others."

"I know, love," he replies, "but it does make me wish for a better life."

"You don't have to wish, young one," Sinister says. "Power beyond your wildest dreams could be in your grasp --"

"T'anks, but no," he replies quickly, putting his arm around the stone form of Husk. "I'd rather just be in love."

"Yes, Sinister," Phoenix says. "You do know what it's like to be in love, don't you?"

Sinister stands still for a moment, then quickly regains his composure. "I have no time for your mind games, Phoenix," he says. "I have a more important task ahead of me, which will require the assistance of the Reclamation Squad."

"What makes you think we'll help you?", Image says.

"What makes you think you won't..."

---

Charles Xavier Lehnscherr had never seen a sunset as beautiful as the one he just saw tonight. In the world from whence he came, the smoke and stench of a war between humans and mutants blocked out most of the sunlight. Now, as he flies hand-in-hand with Monet St. Croix over the streets of New York, he wonders if the sunset he has just witnessed will be his last.

"You are scared, Charles, aren't you?", M says.

"Yes," he replies. "I am still unsure of what mutant powers my parents might have given me, and I'm afraid that they will rage out of control at any time, or worse, hurt me, or your friends...or you."

"Do not worry about me, Charles," M says. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself."

Charles stops in mid-flight. The pounding in his head begins again. This time, however, there are no more memories flooding his mind. This time, it is something else.

"What is it, Charles?", M says.

"I...I don't know," he replies. "It's just that being here with you, holding your hand....suddenly I feel...stronger."

She cannot hold back her smile as she gazes into his eyes. Am I just suffering Florence Nightingale syndrome, she thinks, or is there really something more that I'm feeling? What is it about him? Is he just a lost soul looking to be rescued? Am I? Is it the fact that he came from another world so dark, yet radiates such hope? Is it...his eyes...look at them. It's as if...he knows me. He *understands* me.

The attraction is undeniable, yet M pulls away just before they kiss, and simply hugs him tightly. Charles returns the embrace, somehow knowing that her feelings are just unfamiliar and confusing as his. He looks to the sky, where a full moon shines brightly over the dimly-lit streets of the city.

"My God," he says, "it's full of stars."

M turns to look at him, then at the sky above them, a clear, navy blue map of the universe before them. One star immediately catches her eye, and she begins to whisper aloud. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight."

"So what did you wish for?", asks Charles.

"It does not matter," M says. "It has already come true."

They fly slowly upward together, their lips coming together in a kiss unlike any that either has ever felt. Moments such as these will come once in a lifetime for these young mutants. They should not be so short-lived. As they finally part, Charles looks down to see the rooftop where the action takes place.

"Oh, no," he says. "It's HIM."

---

"Power is one thing," Sinister says, "but the ability to control that power is something entirely different. In your possession, nay, in your very fabric, is the ability to control that power almost instantly. Why else would I have spent so much time trying to find you? You hold the key to infinite potential. You can be the father of the next generation of homo superior, the true inheritants of Earth. At my side, you can be a leader for all of homo superior to follow. With your genetic make-up and my expertise in engineering, you can rise above this slum that you call home and make your home in the stars."

"No," says Image, who steps in front of Aqua. "I won't let you take my man."

"My dear, it's not a matter of taking anything," Sinister says. "It's a matter of him giving to me of his own free will."

"Oh, yeah, he'll just jump up and join you," says Perkolater, who leans casually on the raised edge of the roof. "I can see you two hangin' out with each other now -- 'Gee, Sinister, what are we gonna do tonight?' -- 'Same thing we do every night, Aqua. TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!'"

"You find fault with my argument, whelp?", says Sinister.

"Hell, yeah," Perkolater replies. "You wanna deal with five billion people who either don't like you or are so scared of you that you won't get invited to any house parties? Van Damme, man, you got your shit, and I got mine. Leave it at that, or else you'll have plenty of people wanting to take you out."

In the blink of an eye, Perkolater runs to Sinister's back, kicks him in the back of the leg, causing him to fall on hands and knees, then returns to his position at the edge of the rooftop.

"Like me, for instance," Perkolater replies.

"You insolent fool!", shouts Sinister, who raises his hand and begins to shape it into a hammer aimed straight for Perkolater's head. However, without flinching, Perkolater begins to use his power to slow down time, watching the hammer as it slows to a crawl in front of him. At the last moment, he ducks out of the way and runs toward a chimney, where Jubilee, Synch and Skin stand nearby.

"In fact, Sinister, I got a plan of my own," Perkolater says, holding a thermos in his left hand. "Why don't you come hang out with me?"

Sinister's outstretched arm reaches out to Perkolater again, but he again ducks quickly out of the way as the misshapen arm destroys the chimney, sending bricks flying.

"Look out!", yells Jubilee.

"Shit!", shouts Skin, who uses his outstretched epidermis to shield himself from the resulting rubble. Jubilee, meanwhile, uses her mutant pyrotechnic abilities to break up any bricks looking to break her up.

"Sorry 'bout that, guys," says Perkolater, who now stands on the opposite corner of the roof, taking a long pull from his thermos. "Damn, Banshee, but this is some good coffee."

"He likes that stuff?", Emma says to Banshee.

"It's not my usual," Banshee replies, "it's from that cappuccino machine I got last week."

"Figures," replies Emma.

"Let's see, where was I? Oh, yeah -- so anyway, like I was saying...", says Perkolater. As he continues to speak, Sinister fires energy blasts at him, only to watch him duck them just like everything else he has thrown at the boy. Through the blasts, Perkolater continues to make his case.

"We could head out to Cali or somethin'," Perkolater says, "maybe Florida, though I don't like all that bass music. Anyway, you could make me 21, then shape yourself into anyone you want to be, and we could go out, pull some hoes, run some game, that sort of thing. You seem big enough -- maybe we could hustle some kids on the courts out there or somethin', as long as you got some game. See, king of the world is one thing, but you get a lot more women being king of the blacktop, and the way you lookin', you ain't hit skins in a long time."

Perkolater ducks more of Sinister's blasts. "You think that is the meaning of life, whelp?", he says. "I am hear to build the future of mutantkind. Why should I waste my time seeking relations with women?"

"'Cause it's fun, man," says Perkolater, "at least from what everyone's tellin' me -- A lot more fun than makin' test tube babies all day. Wouldn't you rather make a baby the ol' fashioned way and have some fun in the process?"

"I have no patience for such folly," says Sinister.

"You sure?", Perkolater replies, "For all I know, maybe you just shootin' blanks."

Jubilee snorts, trying hard to stifle a laugh. She catches a dirty look from Emma Frost. "What?," she says. "It was funny."

The distraction catches Perkolater off guard, allowing Sinister to reach out and grab him with his stretched and morphing hand. He brings his hand back to the center of the roof where he stands, while Perkolater tries in vain to wriggle his way out of Sinister's grasp. Everyone else on the roof gasps in disbelief.

"You have learned quite a bit during your short stay at the Xavier school," says Sinister. "It is a shame that the following lesson will be your last -- Bravado only carries you so far, and eventually Sinister will get his way. Always."

"NO!"

Sinister never saw it coming. The foot planted at the base of his neck topples him, forcing Perkolater out of his hand. As Perkolater quickly runs out of the way and rejoins his Generation X friends, two new players enter the game -- the nigh-perfect young Generation X student called M, and the powerful son of an alternate timeline's Magneto, Charles Xavier Lehnscherr. Sinister should know how powerful Charles is, too. He was the one that turned the 5-year-old boy into the 17-year-old young man he is now.

"How did you reach me...undetected?", Sinister says.

"We psi-shielded each other from your presence," says M. "A very neat trick, wouldn't you say?"

"Amazing," Sinister says, looking upon his young opponents. "The abilities you possess are nothing short of astounding. Almost as much as I have given the boy."

"You have given me NOTHING!", shouts Charles, who connects with a right hand to Sinister's jaw, sending him flying into the concrete and brick facade of the roof. As he lay stunned, he suddenly feels a sensation that is horribly foreign to him -- fear.

"It...it cannot be...", he mumbles. "You shouldn't be so...so strong...so powerful."

"Oh?", Charles says. "Perhaps you don't understand what you have done. I know you, Sinister. I have heard stories of your evil deeds -- the way you manipulated people's very souls to create an army for Apocalypse that destroyed the world and destroyed my family."

"What are you talking about, boy?", Sinister replies. "I have done no such things."

"You are a LIAR!", shouts Charles, who grabs Sinister by his uniform and tosses him to the side like a bail of hay, forcing him to crumple into another part of the facade. Drops of green liquid fall from Sinister's nose. "I have seen the horrors of Apocalypse and his horsemen, and you are indeed a part of them. In the name of my father, however, I shall bring your tyranny to an end."

"Your...father?", Sinister says. He looks up from his position on all fours to see M towering over him.

"Perhaps you've heard of him," she says. "His name's Magneto."

With swift upwards kick to Sinister's jaw, M turns Sinister on his back. He slowly crabwalks into the corner of the rooftop as the couple approaches him.

"Yes, demon," Charles replies. "I am the son of Magneto, leader of the X-Men, who destroyed Apocalypse once and for all just before the world was destroyed before my eyes. You were his henchman. For that, you shall pay."

"You speak nonsense, boy," says Sinister, trying to hide his fear from those around him. "Tell me, what color is the sky in your world?"

Again, Charles picks up Sinister, who struggles to escape the iron-like grasp on him, and throws him across the roof. "The sky in my world was black with smoke and thick with the stench of the rotting corpses culled by Apocalypse and his horsemen," yells Charles. Several Generation X teammates dodge the mutant projectile thrown in their direction.

"Hey, watch where you toss him, huh?", says Jubilee. Charles pays little attention.

"Do not try to deny your heritage, demon," he says to Sinister. "All I have to do is touch you, and I will be able to see your thoughts, your memories, the truth about your past, and you will no longer be able to hide your true allegiance to the chaos-bringer."

"Go ahead, boy," Sinister replies. "I hope you can withstand the disappointment."

A touch of his finger on milk-white skin, and Charles can see all that Sinister has done. But he does not see the other horsemen, nor much of Apocalypse. Instead, he sees two young boys being manipulated into believing they were lost orphans. He watches the creation of Madelyne Pryor, and Sinister's plot to destroy Apocalypse via Nathan Summers. He witnesses the pact made with the X-Man called Gambit, and finally, learns of the courtship of Faye Livingstone, and the confrontation with the one called...

"Genesis," Charles whispers as he pulls away. "No."

"Yes, boy," Sinister replies. "Touch me again if you doubt me. Apocalypse's heir is alive, and he is about to assume the mantle of the one who destroyed your world."

"How are these things possible?", Charles says.

"This is a different world, Charles," Phoenix replies. "In your world, Charles Xavier wasn't there to form the X-Men and keep humans and mutants from destroying each other. Because of him and his ideals, and the people that fought for them, Apocalypse never dominated the globe."

"But what of my father?", Charles says.

"Your father joined the dark side, boy," Sinister says. "He fought for the supremacy of homo superior. Just like me."

Charles bows his head in shame. "No, father," he whispers, "how could you?"

"Pssst," Perkolater whispers, "Mondo, Synch, c'mere. I got an idea."

"Do not cry over your father," Sinister says, rising from the ground. "There are more important tasks at hand. Apocalypse's heir still walks the planet, determined to plunge the world into the same darkness you witnessed. There is hope, however, that the darkness of Apocalypse may disappear once and for all. You, my boy, are that hope."

"What...what must I do?", asks Charles.

"You must help me find Genesis," Sinister replies. "Together, we can break him and his Dark Riders, thereby eliminating Apocalypse from the universe forever, and our world shall be safe from the darkness and destruction you witnessed before coming here. The choice, child, is yours."

Charles' mind is a flood of confusion -- Apocalypse cannot exist, for his father destroyed him, yet this man's thoughts suggest that Apocalypse is real and is still alive in the form of Genesis. Perhaps this is Charles' purpose in coming here. Perhaps he had to meet Sinister and become what he is now to end the reign of Apocalypse before it starts. Perhaps it is all part of the master plan of the universe that he come into a new world to save it from the destruction his world suffered. Perhaps...

"Step off with that weak shit!"

Two water blasts emerge from Aqua's hands. The left hand produces a light spray that splashes Charles' face and brings him back to reality. The right hand emits a gusher that causes Sinister to lose his balance and fall once more to the concrete.

"Take a look at what's happening here," Aqua continues, "You take away Little Man's childhood, turn him into this over-powered being nearly incapable of handling himself, and now you wanna brainwash him and make him chase some guy around the planet as payback?"

"You fail to understand the consequences of your actions," Sinister replies. "If Genesis is allowed to roam the planet unchecked, he will become the true chaos-bringer, the likes of which the universe has never seen. He must be stopped."

"Do it ya damn self, then," Aqua says. "All I care about is that you leave me and my peoples alone. In case you hadn't noticed, we got a deep posse up here determined to stop you."

"Like me, for example," Mondo says as he appears in concrete form from the rooftop and grabs Sinister's foot, catching him off-guard. A small rainbow quickly drifts over to his shoulder, eventually wrapping itself around Sinister's arm.

"Pop quiz, hotshot," Synch says to him. "You're surrounded by 15 mutants, all of whom are interested in taking you out. One of them has the ability to assume and effectively use the powers of any other mutant on the roof, and he's just assumed *your* power. What do you do?"

"Judging from the residue of your aura," Sinister replies, "I think you know the answer already." They smile fiendishly at each other, then together turn to Charles. "Just remember boy," they say in unison, "you can never escape...your destiny."

And in the blink of an eye, Sinister is gone.

Synch draws his aura back within himself and shudders. "Whoa!", he says, "remind me never to do THAT again."

"You okay, Ev?", Mondo says as he rises out of the roof

"Yeah," Synch replies. "Lemme synch with you for a sec, though -- I gotta relax."

"Sounds good to me." They sit together and lean against part of the brick facade, taking in the starry sky.

"Is everyone okay?", asks Phoenix.

"Sure, 'cept for him," says Jubilee, pointing at Bishop.

"Ohhhhh, my head," Bishop moans in pain as he lay on the rooftop. "What happened?"

"Relax, Bishop," Skin replies. "It's over. For now, at least."

"Thank you, Uncle Aq," Charles says. "I'm glad someone could bring me to my senses."

"Ain't no thing, Little Man," Aqua replies. "'Cept you ain't so little now. I guess I'll have to start callin' you Charles or somethin'."

"No, no," Charles replies, "Little Man is just fine. It will serve as a pleasant reminder of you all."

"You speak as if you're leaving us, Charles," says Emma.

"I...I feel that I have to," Charles replies. "Apocalypse tore my world and my family apart. How I came to this world is still a mystery and, in all honesty, unimportant. Yet I cannot bear to think that Apocalypse is here in any form. I must find him. I must destroy him."

"Ye can't be serious, lad," Banshee replies. "Ye barely have control over yuir powers as it is. How can ye expect to stop Genesis?"

"Don't you see?", Charles says, "Apocalypse had the power to destroy my world. What makes you think he won't destroy yours? It must be the reason I am here -- I must find a way to stop him."

"That is not necessary, Charles," Phoenix says. "See for yourself."

Charles witnesses images within Phoenix' mind that belie his own memories -- a walk on the moon, a baby covered in metal, a trip through mental minefields, and suddenly, an optic blast that rattles the stars and changes the shape of history forever. Then, an abandoned warehouse, and a truth as shocking as any he has even known.

"You mean he's...he's your grandson?"

"Yes, Charles," Phoenix replies. "We have tried to reach him, to understand why he has chosen the path he has, but to no avail. At the same time, though, killing him is not the answer, for it makes you no better than him."

"But all the people he has killed..."

"There is nothing that can be done for them, Charles," Bishop replies. "Apocalypse will be forced to atone for his sins in due time. We would be sinking to his level if all we did was seek out Apocalypse and destroy him. We have more important tasks at hand -- there's a whole world out there that fears and hates mutants, and we have to convince them that we can all live together in peace."

"That's the dream, Charles," Phoenix replies, "the dream your father fought for in your world, and the dream we work toward in this world. It's the dream of the man for whom you were named."

Charles looks up into the star-filled sky -- clear, bright, so unlike the sky he knew as a toddler.

"Sinister says I cannot escape my destiny," he says. "He was wrong -- I have escaped my destiny. I was to spend my last moments of life in the loving arms of my family. Now, everything I've ever known, everyone I've ever loved....they're gone."

"No, they aren't, Charles," says M, who walks up behind him and puts her arms around his waist. "I'm still here, and I love you."

He slowly turns around in her embrace to face her. "You're the one who saved me, the one who gave me the strength to keep going. I..." The nervous lump in his throat builds as he suddenly hugs her tightly. "I can't leave you, Monet. I'm lost without you. Please help me."

"Yes, love," she replies. "We all will. Everything will be okay."

Jubilee rubs her eyes in disbelief. "Monet? In love?", she says. "Now I *have* seen it all."

"Hell, look at who her boyfriend is," Skin mutters.

"Don't spoil the moment, children," Emma says telepathically. "They deserve at least that much."

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EPILOGUE -- ONE WEEK LATER

"Ya know, maybe I was wrong."

"Oh, yeah, you say that *now*..."

"Don't start with me, bro'. I didn't ask to get my ass put on lockdown with these blinkin' things on my hands."

"The hell you didn't -- you were down with Sinister, fool. You were just beggin' for it. Now look where we ended up."

"Yeah, yeah, a'ight. Look, Jesse, I'm sorry about all this. None of it should have happened. We had one hell of a thing goin', ya know?"

"Yeah, I know. It's just that I felt like we had this mutant thing goin', and we shoulda been usin' it for somethin', ya know what I'm sayin'? I mean, bein' a player is cool and all, but there's gotta be more to it than that, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know. Guess I just got caught up."

"You think this'll get you uncaught now?"

"I sure hope so -- last thing I need is a cellmate ugly as you."

"Kiss my ass."

"I tell ya what, though -- lawyer says we can get out of here in nine months for good behavior. What say you and me both hook up with the Reclamation Squad this time?"

"Thought you said them niggas wasn't worth your time."

"A lot better than doin' time, know what I'm sayin'?"

"Word is bond, Ock."

"Yeah. So are we cool now or what?"

"Hmmmmm...I dunno. Lemme think about it."

"Take your time, bro'. I ain't goin' nowhere."

---

At the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Charles Xavier, its founder, sits with Sean Cassidy, its headmaster, and Emma Frost, its headmistress, in a study room next to the main library. On the couch opposite them sit Ahmad Parker and Monica Chavis, the last two remaining members of Harlem's Reclamation Squad.

"Are you sure you won't take us up on our offer?", asks Xavier.

"Thank you, Charles, but no," Monica replies. "The X-Men sound like a wonderful group, but we feel we would be better off staying in Harlem, trying to help out our community. A whole bunch of people up there are talking about starting up a community watch program, and we want to be there to make it work."

"Plus Sleepy is telling us that he might be able to convince his brother to join us when they get paroled," Ahmad says, "so by this time next year, we probably won't have any shortage of members on our team."

"I understand completely," Xavier replies. "However, the offer is always open, in case you have a change of heart, and we're here if you need some assistance."

"Likewise, you guys are welcome in our part of town any time," says Ahmad. "Make sure you bring Perk along sometime, though -- we don't want him to forget where he came from."

---

"Blam!", shouts Jubilee. "Gimme those homing missiles!"

"Man, can't we play Virtua Fighter or somethin'?", Rayquan says, falling back in his chair in disgust. "I ain't good at this."

"Get used it to, amigo," replies Angelo. "This is pretty much the only game in town."

---

As they balance themselves on the branch of a great oak tree in the biosphere, Monet St. Croix and Charles Xavier Lehnscherr, perhaps the unlikeliest high school couple in the world, share a story about their instructor -- or rather, a parallel of him.

"You mean he would scream you a lullaby?", says Monet.

"Not exactly," Charles says. "What he would do was put a small set of vibes on the piano so that they were facing him, then while he was playing, he would use his sonic scream to play the vibes. I remember hearing these soft clicking sounds while he played, and I usually was asleep before he finished."

"Amazing," Monet says. "I knew Mr. Cassidy was somewhat musically inclined, but I never would have thought him capable of playing two instruments at once."

"Daddy always said that I was a big help to him," Charles says, "because not only did I give him an outlet for his music, but I helped him hone his power as well. I think the word he used was 'precision.'"

Monet looks at Charles and sighs. "It is amazing how such a cold world could still radiate with such warmth," she says, "I think I could listen to your memories all day."

"I wish that I had more memories to speak of," Charles replies, looking down. "They took so much away from me."

"Do not be sad, Charles," says Monet as she swoops down from the branch and floats back up to him. "It is so much better to have these memories than to be one."

"I know, Monet," he says, "but still, I can't help but wonder how so many things in this world are so different from the one I knew -- the stars in the sky, the smell of fresh air, the trees, the animals, the people...the people..."

He sits back on the base of the branch, drawing into himself. "What is it, Charles?", asks Monet.

"Do you think my parents are still alive in this world?", he asks here.

"I know your mother is still alive," she says. "She is still an X-Man, though she is currently on a leave of absence. Your father, however, is still missing."

"It is so hard to imagine my father being the cruel person everyone says he is," he says. "How could he have done this? How could he be so different from the daddy I knew?"

"We all walk different paths."

Charles and Monet look at the edge of the branch to see the old man with the timepiece balancing himself on a limb.

"Mentor," Monet says.

"So many events can change the path we walk," Gateway continues. "You are living proof, manchild."

"How so?", asks Charles.

"Xavier died so Magnus could live," Gateway says.

"Yes," Charles says, "and my father carried on Xavier's dream of mutants and humans living together in peace."

Gateway is silent.

"I still don't understand," Charles says.

"Without that one event," Monet continues, "your father would not have reason to fight for mutant-human equality. He would have continued to believe in mutant supremacy -- and you would not have been born."

"But that event never happened in this world," Charles says. "It was all some sort of cosmic accident. What does that make me?"

Monet grabs his hand and pulls him off the tree. He stumbles for a moment, then flies with her across the biosphere, stopping at the treehouse near the front entrance. Monet lands gently on the edge of wooden planks and pulls the still-floating Charles closer to her. "You're no accident, Charles," she says. "Love never is."

She balances her toes on the edge of the treehouse and gracefully leans toward him, softly touching her lips to his. As they draw even closer, she slowly rises from the edge of the floor board, and together they float upward toward the artificial sky.

"Amazing, isn't it?", says Ahmad, who stands with Monica in the control room of the biosphere watching them. "The boy who has nothing and the girl who has everything. They make quite a pair, don't they?"

"I'm worried about him, Ahmad," Monica says. "After all, he may look seventeen, but in reality, he's still only five years old, and now he's got so much power. All he has to do is touch someone, and he knows everything about them *and* gets their powers as well. That's a heavy burden for anyone."

"But look who he's touching," Ahmad says. "She's got strength, intelligence, maturity -- "

"And a mysterious past."

"Which he probably knows all about by now. He's in good hands here, same as Perk. They'll be just fine."

"I sure hope so, 'cause no matter what happens, he's still my Little Man."

They walk arm in arm from the window and out the open doorway.