Emma watched in anticipation from outside the room. Jono was alive and just about stable, but it was doubtful there could be any improvement. It was, after all, rather difficult to help someone with a crater where their internal organs should be.
She sensed another young mind approaching and, though loathe to admit it, this presence helped Emma reach a certain degree of calmness that had been absent from her life since M-Day a week earlier.
"Miss Frost," the asian girl in the yellow jacket greeted solemnly as she stood beside Emma and looked into the room through the window before them.
"Jubilation," Emma uttered in response. Jubilee had always been the largest source of headaches for Emma back in the Generation X days, but Emma had grown rather fond of the girl over their time together, and she cared for the girl no less than any other student.
"Geez, he looks..." Jubilee was at a loss for words. "How is he?"
"I'm sure you can guess from just looking that there's little, if anything, they can do for him," Emma explained in a tone that worried Jubilee.
"How are you holding up?" Jubilee asked out of genuine concern for the White Queen's well-being.
"Considering I have three hundred students looking to me for answers as to why the majority of them, and the rest of the world, have lost their powers, I'm just bloody peachy, Jubilation." Emma hadn't meant to come off so harshly, but the pressure and the strain of the whole affair had been seriously wearing her down. And Scott's refusal to agree with her on how to handle the depowered students wasn't help much either.
"It's a shame the professor isn't around. Or Jean."
"Yes, I suppose it is a shame we're stuck with the third choice psychic during a worldwide crisis," Emma retorted icily.
"Emma, I didn't mean it like that," Jubilee replied, taking her eyes off of Jono for the first time since arriving.
Emma took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "I know, Jubilation. And I apologise."
"Wow, things must be bad if the White Queen is apologising," Jubilee joked.
Emma's lips curved ever so slightly. "You're absolutely right. Though I've been terribly narrow-minded to have not asked how you have been holding up in light of recent events."
"Light, huh?" Jubilee mused. "You could always just read my mind and find out."
"I could, yes, but I like to think I've built up much more trust with my students than that."
Jubilee stretched out her fingers, but no sparkling lights emerged from their tips. "Not since 'M-Day' or whatever they're calling it. Still, I can't exactly complain. I can still live a normal life. Some of us weren't even given that mercy." Jubilee stared at her friend, the only male member of the team still alive, and barely at that. "How do you think Sean and Ev and Angelo would have fared in all this?"
Emma paused a moment as she thought of their fallen friends. Of a bomb, a plane and a crucifix. Three victims of savage brutality. "I'm sure they- No. That wouldn't be honest. A part of me is glad they didn't live to see all of... this. But I wonder if their presence might have made us all stronger, powers or no."
After standing in silence as they stared at Jono, Jubilee eventually broke the silence. "How are Paige and M?"
"You haven't spoken with them yourself?" Emma turned to face Jubilee for the first time and saw that she was struggling to hold back tears.
"No," Jubilee said as she wiped away the tears. "Everyone's so busy will all this depowering crap and I didn't want to take up anyone's time when they could be spending it-"
Emma cut Jubilee off by embracing her. She stroked the back of Jubilee's head comfortingly. "Even if you don't have your powers anymore, you are still a part of our family. I'm sure Paige, Monet and Logan agree."
"Logan?"
"Paige is taking her sister back to Kentucky and Monet is on other business, but they'll be back soon. You should pay Logan a visit. He'd never show it but he worries. I think it would do you both a world of good."
"O-Okay."
"And Jubilation?"
"I won't tell anyone about this," Jubilee said preemptively. "Don't need to be a mind-reader to see that coming. But can we... stay like this a little longer?"
Emma held Jubilee a little tighter. "Of course."
Logan wiped his brow before putting down his wrench. Everyone needed a way to cope, to keep their minds off of things during downtime. Logan wanted to do something practical and tuning up his bike seemed like the best use of his time in that regard.
"The world's gone crazy, there's sentinels on the lawn and here you are fixing up your old bike. I guess some things never change, huh?"
Even through all the motor oil, Wolverine would know that scent anywhere. He stood up to face Jubilee, who ran into his arms and hugged him. "It's good to have you back, kid," he said gruffly.
"Not for long though," Jubilee replied, extending her fingers. "No powers."
"Don't mean you ain't got a place here," Logan replied in an attempt at consolation.
"It's fine, I can get by on my own. It's you guys I'm worried about. With all the deaths from depowering-"
"We only lost one. Hydro. Good kid. A few of us lost our powers. Bobby. Dani. Jono. Kids mostly."
"Still got all the big guns, huh?"
"Looks that way, yeah."
"Good," she sighed. "What's gonna happen to the students that lost their powers?"
"Cyke and Emma're still workin' that out. Emma wants to send 'em home, Cyke doesn't. My bet's on her winning out."
"Yeah, it's not easy to get Emma to back down when she makes her mind up."
"Don't you know it."
"Yeah. And thanks for saving Jono too. I dunno what I woulda done if he didn't make it."
"We already lost one kid on M-Day. Ain't gonna let us lose another."
After another moment of silence, Jubilee decided to finish things up. "Well, I should probably get going. It's been fun catching up, big guy."
"Hey," Logan spoke up as Jubilee turned to leave, prompting her to stop. "Don't feel like you ain't one of use anymore. Powers or no, you're an X-Man and you've always got family who'll hear you out, kid."
Jubilee turned around and hugged Wolverine tightly.
After seeing some of the others, Jubilee left the institute for what felt like possibly the last time. She was sure the whole Decimation thing would pass eventually, but even so, without her powers, Jubilee felt like she truly did not belong with the X-Men anymore.
She had a place to stay arranged. A friend of hers, a reporter named Sally Floyd, had a friend that was willing to let Jubilee stay in a vacant room for a while. In return, Jubilee offered to help where she could with Sally's new column on depowered mutants. With this, at least, Jubilee felt like she could still make a difference.
After meeting with Sally to discuss some things, Jubilee returned to the apartment to look through some newspapers for a proper job and more stable housing situation. After kicking off her shoes and throwing the papers onto the couch, Jubilee noticed that a package had arrived for her. It was a large brown envelope, the contents of which were about as thick as a comic book. Curious, she opened the envelope and read the first piece of paper.
Dear Jubilation Lee,
I understand that you are one of the many victims of M-Day and no longer have your mutant powers. I am also aware of the experience you have accrued during your time with the X-Men. I am interested in this experience and would like to extend an invitation for you to join me as part of the next incarnation of the New Warriors.
There was more, explaining that the team would use technology in place of lost mutant powers and that it was to be lead by Night Thrasher. this was strange as the New Warriors had been killed in Stamford, which had been heavily publicised, and Night Thrasher had died among them. So either he had come back from the dead, which really wouldn't surprise Jubilee at this point, or it was someone else taking on the name.
Jubilee had to admit that the mystery of the new Night Thrasher and his new team intrigued her, but she wasn't sure if she could do this. The letter said to use the pager inside to give her answer, to which she had to ask who even uses a pager anymore? Still, the offer was tempting, so she put the package aside for now and decided to decide later. She still had a lot more to think about before she could properly make her mind up, and she could only hope Paige and Monet were doing better than she and Jono were.