Chapter 22
"One journey has ended. Another is about to begin." Jor-El to Clark Kent.
As consciousness returns to Charles Xavier he has to reflect that that was an experience he could do without ever repeating. Having his mind trapped in a limbo between the physical and astral planes. Since time is kind of meaningless there he wonders how much actual time has passed. His eyes open to be met by the sight of a warm, familiar and welcome face. "Hank."
"Welcome back old friend," Hank says warmly, happiness percolating through at seeing his friend awake once again. "How was the trip?" he quips as he helps Charles up to a sitting position.
Charles manages a small laugh as he gazes around the infirmary. All seems...normal. "How long has it been?"
"A week," Hank informs him as he goes through the routine tests.
"What happened?" Charles asks since he has no idea.
Hank sighs. "Brainiac. Brainiac happened. He infected all electronic and digital devices connected to the internet with a virus that disrupted and shut everything down. Including Cerebro just as you were using it."
"Inducing a psychic seizure," Charles works out what happened to him.
"Yes."
"How did we do?" Charles has to ask.
"There were wins and there were losses. Which do you wish to hear about first?"
"Lets start with the big picture. Did we succeed in stopping Brainiac?"
"Short answer no with a but. Long answer yes with an addendum of that's a long story."
"Yes or no, Hank?"
"No, in the sense that Brainiac succeeded in freeing Zod. Yes, in the sense that Earth is still Earth and no, we're not all enslaved. As I said Charles it's a long story."
"I have a strange sense I'm not going anywhere," Charles says back humorously.
"True enough," Hank concedes as he goes gets himself a chair and sits down beside his old friend. He then tells the story of Zod being freed and Clark being imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. Emma's involvement in the whole thing. The Hellions. Just how close Zod actually came to transforming Earth into a New Krypton and how Clark returned to stop him.
"So Zod is gone?" Charles seeks to clarify.
Hank nods. "From what Clark understands, which admittedly is limited, the crystal extracted Zod's essence from Scott's body and sent it back into the Phantom Zone."
"How is Scott doing?" Charles asks with concern over one of his oldest students.
"Whatever Brainiac did to enhance Scott the crystal undid it. He's just a plain old Homo-Mutatis again like the rest of us. He doesn't remember anything of that whole day. Hasn't stopped him feeling responsible despite the fact none of it was his doing."
Yes. That sounded like Scott.
"Though there were some...side-effects from Zod's possession."
"Like?"
1 week ago...
Scott Summer's eyes flicker open...and upon doing so he gets one of the biggest shocks of his life.
He gasps, shooting to an upright position before a large hairy hand comes to rest on his shoulder.
"Easy Scott. Take it easy," Beast tries to calm the young man down.
"C-colour," the Alaskan native stammers. "T-the world," he gasps, trying to inhale. "My shades?" he queries, actually reaching up to his face to look for them.
What he is trying very badly to say is that he is seeing the world in its full multi-coloured glory. Well the Institute infirmary at least.
"Relax," Beast tells him. "Everything is fine."
"Fine?" Scott queries in disbelief. "I...I don't even remember what happened? What did happen? Why am I here?"
"What is the last thing you do remember?"
Scott's face scrunches up as he thinks. "Going to bed," is his rather unhelpful reply.
"When?" Beast asks.
Scott looks at him puzzled.
"What day, Scott?"
Scott gives his answer. The day before Graduation.
"Graduation was yesterday, Scott."
"It was?!"
Beast nods.
"What happened to me?"
"You better sit down."
"I'm in bed."
"Touché," Beast jests. "Ok, it goes like this," he says and then tells Scott everything that happened. To be abducted and altered by Brainiac. To becoming the vessel for Zod and Zod's subsequent actions bringing the world to the brink of destruction.
Scott rubs his face. Good God. What did he do? "Was...was I really that much of a jerk?" he asks.
"It wasn't you Scott."
"No. I mean before Zod. When I was here in the infirmary," he is referring to.
"Still wasn't you. Brainiac had altered you….which is the explanation for your eyes, by the way."
"It is?"
"Your inability to control your powers was never an inherent flaw in them, Scott. It was caused by the head trauma you received when you were young, damaging the sections of your brain that would otherwise have controlled your powers."
"I know that."
"Well Brainiac, seemingly, repaired the damage. I guess it decided it was unacceptable for Zod's vessel to be 'flawed' in any way."
"So...I can...control my powers now?" he asks, his voice portraying his sheer disbelief at that possibility.
"Should be able to. Every test I have run says you're back to normal. You just need to train and learn how to use your abilities."
Scott nods. There is silence for several moments before he speaks again "And did..."
"Did?"
He just comes out and asks it, no matter how reluctantly. "Did Emma really make a deal with Brainiac?"
"Apparently so," Beast says sadly. It is sadly because like most people here he wants to see the best in others but some days...some days it is difficult.
Scott rubs his face again. He was so horrible to Clark and Jean...and turns out they were right all along. Jean was right. What the hell is wrong with him that he can't see what Emma is? Jesus, where does that even leave their relationship? How can he just go back to her after all this?
Though he will have to go see her. Confront her. He needs answers, dammit. He has to know why.
"That girlfriend of yours is fucking evil!" a loud voice proclaims as entering the infirmary, being assisted by Tarot, is a limping Roulette.
"I warned you not to antagonise her. She's rather possessive of me. As I am of her," the French girl reminds her friend.
"All I did was suggest an open relationship!"
"You snogged me right in front of her."
"Don't act like you didn't enjoy it."
"I'm neither straight nor dead, Jen but I am in a committed relationship."
Roulette grins through her pain. "That wasn't a denial," she sing-songs. "I knew you had the hots for me!"
Tarot rolls her eyes. "You think everyone has the hots for you. Male, female or other."
"That's because they do. Have you seen me?"
"All of you actually. You've never been exactly shy or modest about your body."
"Why the fuck would I hide this perfection?"
"Yeah," Tarot hums. "So does that mean you and Alex are not hooking back up?" she asks about Havok since Jen dated him for awhile previously.
Roulette rolls her head from side to side. "Maybe. Maybe not. I've only been here a day. I need to think about it."
Beast clears his throat to get the two friends' attention. "I don't want to know the details. Just tell me what hurts," he says to them.
The present...
"Wait, wait, wait," Charles interrupts the story. "Why was Ms Stavros still here?" he asks.
Beast's eyes widen slightly. "Oh, right. Sorry," he apologises. "I skipped over a bit."
"Which bit?"
1 week ago...
Storm had asked the Hellions, basically, for a few minutes of their time and then, like she said, they were free to leave but before she can begin…
"Hey! What about me?!" comes Empath's whiny voice as he is still pinned under Penance. No-one, X-Man or Hellion seems to care all that much about aiding him.
"Oh do shut up, Manuel," Magma almost snarls in hate. "If I had my way I would be blowing your lying, despicable arse out of a volcano. Give me an excuse. I'm begging you."
That finally seems to get him to shut up for 5 minutes and allow Storm to speak.
"Once upon a time I was your teacher's teacher. I taught Emma and while clearly she never quite agreed with our philosophy of peaceful coexistence with humans I really hope she has not given up the notion of peaceful coexistence with fellow mutants. Unless I'm mistaken? Tell me do you hate us?"
"It's not about hate. It's about who is superior," Hellions replies.
"Ah," Storm says, seeing what she is having to work with here. "And how did being 'superior' work out for you when you were being used as dogsbodies by the Hellfire Club? How did it help you when that relationship came to its end? How did it help you when you once again were getting used right here and now to aid in the destruction of our world? You do know that it is very likely, even if we survived, we would be nothing but slaves on our own world."
"You going to get to anything resembling a point anytime soon?" Bevatron asks impatiently.
"Indulge me just a few moments longer," Storm requests of them. "Today was Graduation Day at Bayville High and before she was rudely interrupted Principal Danvers was talking about the potential we all possess. You, all of you," she gestures at the Hellions with her hand, "are supremely gifted young people with massive potential but let me ask you this; After everything that has happened can you honestly say Emma is helping you realise that potential? Or is she squandering your gifts for her own selfish ends...and it saddens me to say that about my former student, believe you me. In fact I could ask the legitimate question about whether Emma is wasting her own potential but that is a discussion to have with her another time. Let me finish by saying this; Graduation is a key moment in a young person's life. It stands on the threshold of adulthood, when you must make the choices that could very well define much of the rest of your life. I can offer you all a choice. I can offer you another path to fulfil your great potential."
"What path?" Jetstream asks suspicious.
"The same one your former teammates Claire, Marie, Sooraya, Angelica and yes even Penance chose. To join us here at the Xavier Institute."
"You must be kidding," the young woman, Nocturne is her codename, Rogue had been fighting earlier snorts in derision.
Storm lets that comment wash off her back. "It's completely up to you. The gate is there," she points at it. "Leave if you wish. No-one will stop you but before you do ask yourself what exactly is it you are returning to. Ask yourself what exactly it is you wish to achieve with your lives and ask yourself where might be the place to help you achieve your goals. The choice is yours."
The Hellions share looks with each other. Remember these are all young people. Teenagers who are facing, perhaps, the first major crossroads in their lives. Which choice will they make?
Is one journey about to reach its end and is another about to begin?
The present...
"How many chose to join us?" Charles asks the question since at least one did.
"Hmm, let me see here," Beast ruminates as he thinks on it. "Well Ms Stavros, obviously. Most likely due to the pull of her friendship with Marie. In a similar vein Ms Smith due to her friendship with Rahne."
Charles nods along. The power and effect of friendship is something Emma always seems to underestimate and doesn't give much credence to.
"Also Ms Blaire who said something about you offering her a place to, and I quote, 'crash'."
"I did," Charles recalls his failed attempt to recruit Ali.
"Lets see who else. For, I believe, obvious reasons, Monet's twin sisters, Claudette and Nicole, who, by the way, are a Gestalt."
Charles' face lights up in scientific interest. "How fascinating."
"Yes, those were my words too. From what I know, in theory, when they join together they can do almost anything. They could possibly be Omega level mutants...but only together. Apart they're just 'normal'," the large hairy mutant says with a shrug of not quite understanding it...yet but he intends to.
That's going to truly be a fascinating study for Charles but lots of time for that.
"Just one more...and a rather surprising one actually. Mr Keller."
"Hellion?" Charles questions that, genuinely surprised. From what he knows of the young man's personality he couldn't see anything but Hellion having derision for what he teaches here.
"Indeed," Beast confirms. "Also he was rather insistent on keeping the codename but I think more as an insult to mock Emma rather than a tribute or compliment."
"Ah," Charles begins to see the reason why. "He's rather angry at her?"
"That's my guess. I do not think he appreciated being used. It may not be the ideal reason for one joining us but as long as he's here we can but try."
True enough and Charles will certainly try his best with the powerful young telekinetic to guide him to a better path. "So any more good news? Or are we at the bad news part of this?" he asks his friend.
"You sure you want to end it on bad news? Or shall I save the last bit of good news for the end?"
That was a good question. "Very well. Save it till the end. So what's the bad news?"
"Well the first bit depends on your point of view, really."
"What do you mean?"
"While Zod was stopped, for Clark, he thinks it came at too high a price. Mostly because he is blaming himself for Zod getting free in the first place. He's been pretty down on the whole situation all week. Though I have mostly left that to his family and Jean to deal with..."
6 days ago...
As you may recall Jean had decided that assuming Clark returned from the Phantom Zone she was going to tell him how much she loved him but in those scenarios in her head Clark was not this depressed.
They had won hadn't they?
Ok, it wasn't exactly the way they had all hoped but they had triumphed. Zod was banished back to the Phantom Zone. The Earth was safe and Scott was going to be ok(and on an aside her android friend Darci was fine too, being able to avoid getting infected by Brainiac's virus) yet Clark was walking around almost like they had lost.
Jean didn't know why. Mr and Mrs Kent didn't know why. Claire...well she was kinda distracted by the 'drama' around Marie and Roulette, now the blond, former Hellion was staying. Jean had only gotten the 2nd hand story on it from the 'Gossip Queen', Domino but whatever. Seems to Jean that Roulette is just trying to see what sort of reaction she could get. Answer is one that gets you a trip to the infirmary on your first day here.
Yeah, so, Jean's not sure if this is going to work having the former Hellions here. On the other hand what she would have given to see Emma's face when she learned that some of her precious students had defected. A tiny little malicious smile, rather unfitting on Jean's normally warm, compassionate face forms.
Anyway enough on thinking about Emma. Jean needs to think about her boyfriend and getting him to tell her what the matter is. She finds him up on the mansion roof, staring out at the ocean. She's not sure how she knew he was there. Just instinct really...or maybe it's just they're now so intimate her mind just knows where he is.
Jean floats herself up there and comes to stand beside him, looking out. Her hand reaches out and takes his and she can instantly feel the weight of his mind...or is that the weight on his mind. "I'm not being pushy," she starts with. "You take all the time you need and I'll be here for you. Just, you know, a reminder that I am here to carry the share."
Varying colours brush over her mind as do temperature. It seems to reflect an inner turmoil Clark is going through.
"It's broken," he breaks the silence.
"What is?"
"The Fortress. I messed up Jean. By trying to destroy Brainiac I gave it access and it used it to free Zod and somehow damaged the Fortress in the process. It's basically dead."
"I'm sorry," Jean sympathises with him. "I know how important it is to you but it's not your fault. You couldn't have known," she argues. "And you succeeded right? Brainiac is destroyed you said?"
"I believe so but it might have been too high a price. That Fortress...that was all that was left Jean," he says, his voice breaking.
"Of Krypton," she knows.
"Of any hope I could find a way to restore Kandor," he corrects her because now he no longer has access to any of the knowledge contained within. Without it where does he even begin?
"But you did what you needed to," she continues to argue. "Brainiac had to be stopped."
"I failed Jean," Clark argues back, his tone morose and defeated. "Zod was freed and I ended up imprisoned in the Phantom Zone."
"What was it like?"
"What? The Zone?"
Jean nods.
"Not as bad as Limbo but pretty hellish all the same. It was really just a grey, sandy desert if you ignore the Phantoms and other prisoners that want to kill you."
Jean can't help but feel Clark is not telling her everything. For example where he got that crystal from he used to defeat Zod. He had been pretty vague on it. Also the woman Tarot mentioned in her vision that would help him. He has said nothing and she's not sure how far to push him right now. Jean rests her head on his shoulder.
Clark closes his eyes. He can feel Jean's mind trying to comfort him. He has been struggling to know what to say. To process all that happened. To deal with his grief.
"I was afraid," Jean says softly. "Afraid I would never see you again," she almost chokes up.
"I'm sorry," he says, pulling her in close and kissing the top of her head.
Jean wraps her arms around his warm, solid body.
"I was afraid too. That while I was trapped in there Zod would be...that by the time I found a way out it would be too late," he says, his voice too choking with emotion. He had tried not to think on it, focussing instead on getting out but still he had imagined something pretty awful and it would have all been due to his failures.
"But you weren't."
"I would have been if it hadn't..." he stops himself, having almost spilled it.
Jean's brow furrows. What was he about to say there? "Hadn't?" she queries.
Clark sighs and finally tells it. "I had help escaping. A woman. A Kryptonian woman. Her name was Raya."
"Was?"
Clark tells her everything of his time in the Phantom Zone and Jean listens intently in silence. The grief, the guilt pours off off him so strongly it's almost visceral.
Clark sniffles as he gets to the end. "She sacrificed her life so I could escape, gave me the means to defeat Zod and I never trusted her, Jean. Not once," he says and now, added to all his other emotions, comes shame.
"That's not your fault," she assures him. "It was a perfectly reasonable assumption considering where you were," she tries to mediate his guilt.
"She wasn't one of them, the criminals. She was just an actual ordinary Kryptonian. She knew my parents. She...was like me, Jean and now she's dead and I can never ask her all those questions I have. I can never thank her for what she did."
"I'm sorry," she says, rubbing his back. "I know how much that would have meant to you."
"Why did she do that, Jean?" he asks the stark question that has been haunting him. "We could have found another way. A way to escape together," he says even if it's a statement based more in hope than fact.
"I can only guess that she thought you escaping was worth her own life."
Clark makes a pained noise. "You mean she thought my life was worth more than hers," he corrects her. "That's rubbish. My life is worth no more or less than anyone else's."
"And that is what makes you a hero, Clark," Jean tells him. "As for Raya...there is very little I can say to make you feel better. She's gone and I'm sorry you're hurting. If I could thank her I would because she brought you back to me. That probably sounds selfish of me but love makes one a little selfish."
Clark stiffens in her arms. "Love?" he asks, his voice deep.
Jean's green eyes widen slightly. Oh. She finds herself face to face with him as he looks at her intently, his cerulean blue eyes boring deep. She bites her lower lip as she decides what to say. "This...this wasn't exactly how I was planning to tell you," she says, shyly, tucking her red hair behind her ear. She laughs nervously. "In all honesty I wasn't sure how I was going to tell you. Just that after you disappeared in Smallville, that as soon as you got back I was-hmpff!"
Anything else she was going to say is cut off by Clark's lips on hers. His tongue intermingling with hers. His body next to hers. God, she's getting so hot right now. She's this close to not caring they're standing on the roof for the whole world to see.
Eventually her need to breathe has her gently push back at her boyfriend's chest. He, reluctantly, ends it and rests his head against hers while she sucks in some much needed oxygen. Him, not so much. Then again he can hold his breath for like an hour or something. He holds her gently, his eyes overflowing with emotion. His right hand brushing over cheek, his thumb stroking the skin.
"I love you," he says.
Jean smiles widely. "Really?"
Clark nods and Jean looks at him, studies him. Right now is not the powerful alien hero. Right now is the shy Kansas farm boy. It's such a weird contrast but this one, the farm boy, the adorkable one is the one she really, really loves so she tells him. "I love you too. I have for awhile now. I was just...nervous about saying it. Not sure why."
"Well I could make a list," he teases earning him a sardonic look. "But that would probably get me into trouble."
Jean arches an eyebrow. "Probably?" she queries in sceptical tones.
"Ok, definitely get me into trouble."
The two lovers share a warm laugh together and kiss again before falling into a deep hug.
"You going to be ok?" Jean asks him, knowing, of course, that he is still deeply upset over Raya.
Previously Clark would have probably uttered a rather bland line about how surviving is what he's good at but ever since he got together with Jean that emptiness within has been retreating so instead he says, "I will be. Just...you'll be here, right?"
Jean tightens her hold. "Of course I will.
Clark just sinks into the soft, warm, curvy frame of his girlfriend, letting his mind get comfort from snuggling around her own. Yes, he still feels sad over Raya but he knows that as long as he's with Jean everything will be ok in the end.
Just then his phone rings.
"Oh come on!" Jean cries in annoyance. Can't they get one freaking minute to themselves here!
"Sorry," Clark mutters apologetically as he fishes his phone out, forcing him to break out of the embrace. You know in another time and place Jean's expression of exasperation and frustration would be funny. He checks the ID and answers. "Jess?" he queries and the Jess he is talking to is Drew not Jones. "Wait, slow down, Jess," he begs of the babbling girl who is talking so fast even he can't keep up. "Now, what's happened to Kitty?"
Jean's eyebrows shoot up and she lightly gasps, bringing her hands over her mouth. God, Kitty. She had almost forgotten. Bad Jean, she mentally scolds herself but in her defence apart from the world ending she just assumed Peter was dealing with it. From Clark's quickly darkening expression she can guess that Peter hasn't dealt with it. On, no! What has happened?
The present...
Beast gets to the part he had been dreading. Mostly because he is as torn up inside as anyone. That could be why he didn't mention it first. "Charles, we need to talk about Kitty," his voice grim.
Charles almost doesn't need to be psychic to know what this is about. "Carnage."
Beast nods. "Kitty's gone, Charles. We've lost her," he says, his voice breaking with sadness.
Charles rubs his brow, sadness welling up inside. It had been breaking his heart watching the happy, full of life girl get slowly eroded away by the darkness of the symbiote. He asks for details and Beast gives them as best he knows. That Kitty went to New York with Peter, fought the Sinister Six and during the fight Carnage re-emerged and took over before she vanished.
"We can't find her," Beast goes on to say. "Logan tried to follow her scent but he lost it in the sewers. She knew just what to do to mask it. Jean also tried with Cerebro but her signature isn't showing up."
"The symbiote must be distorting it beyond recognition," Charles theorises.
"That was my best guess as well," Beast says with a long, sad sigh. "In all honesty Charles none of us knows what to do. What can we do if we can't find her?" he asks the question no-one has an answer to.
"We don't give up hope," Charles gives an answer. "I know this from the visions I saw of the future from Apocalypse. Kitty was in them. Though there was a...weight on her I couldn't understand at the time." Though now perhaps he can.
Well that does seem like a sliver of hope and frankly Beast will take it. "So I'll end this update on the happier note I mentioned."
"Which is?"
"Ororo's pregnant," Beast just says it.
Charles' eyebrows almost hit the ceiling. "That's wonderful news, Hank," he says, truly delighted for his friend. "How did Logan take it?" he has to wonder.
Beast smiles coyly.
3 days ago...
Lots of things had gotten in the way. Dealing with the aftermath of Zod's almost destruction of Earth. The settling in of the former Hellions. Kitty.
That last one saddens Ororo Munroe more than she can almost put into words. It's heartbreaking to imagine that sweet, cheerful girl twisted into a monster.
Anyway it had meant Ororo had not taken the time to verify whether what Zod said was true or not.
Until today.
Until right now.
Until she is holding that plastic stick in her hand.
Until that little pink line appears confirming it.
Until she is handing said plastic stick with said pink line over to the father to be.
Logan's reaction had been one of blinking.
Really. He just stood there blinking for a good minute or two.
If it wasn't impossible due to his healing factor Ororo would start to worry he was having a stroke.
Then came the words, "There ain't enough beer in the world for this."
That was...actually a better reaction than she imagined.
Then they talked. Really talked. Logan's...concerns were rather predictable really. His concerns he had no idea how to be a father. Seriously? He's practically a father to a school full of kids and that is even before we get onto Rogue, his actual daughter. His natural worries over his enemies finding out. Ororo had pointed out they all had lots of enemies, her included.
As for Ororo herself, her own feelings...she was beyond happy. Yes, there was a natural worry but the more she thought about it, thought about that little life growing inside her the more she imagined the joy that would come about. She remembers how happy her sister Vivian was when Evan was born.
Ooh, her sister. She'll have to tell her. That'll be...something else...and she also wants to go do it in person rather than over the phone.
But first comes the family that lives with them. Rogue and Domino.
Domino's reaction had been a "Way to go old man! Didn't know you still had it in you!"
Logan had been this close to killing her.
Beyond that Dom had seemed very excited about becoming an aunt, boasting how she'll be the best aunt ever.
Rogue's reaction, naturally, had been a lot more subdued. To be honest she was in shock. She hadn't thought about her dad and Storm having a kid. Though in hindsight it would have had to come up at some point. She guesses she is happy for them but Jesus, that's going to make her a sister...and it's different to X-23 because she barely ever sees her dad's cloned offspring. It's going to be different from Dom as well because her fellow Weapon X progeny is actually older than she is. We're talking about a baby here that she would be the big sister of. How on Earth is she going to manage this?
Mentioning X-23 Dom had to raise another fine point. "Can I be the one to tell Laura?" she requests.
Logan swore. The kid. He hadn't forgotten his erstwhile clone exactly. They had all wanted her to have an as normal life as possible after the way she was created as a weapon so beyond phone calls and the occasional meet up they had left her living with her mother, Dr Sarah Kinney in San Francisco. Damn, how the hell was he going to explain this to her?
The present...
Charles ruminates over everything Beast has told him. His friend was correct. They were some wins and some losses. Though he does have a question. "What does the rest of the world know about what happened?"
"Nothing much. Just speculation mostly over the 'super-virus' that almost crippled everything. About where it came from. You have countries blaming each other over it as some sort of cyber-attack but I doubt that'll turn into anything serious beyond the bellicose rhetoric. The global earthquakes are a little harder to explain off in the same manner."
"Let me guess; they're blaming mutants," Charles says with depressing inevitability.
Beast shrugs. What can he say because yep, the usual suspects are blaming mutants for it. "For what it is worth the world is back in more or less working order. Law and order has been restored and all crucial infrastructure is functioning again. There's still cleaning up going on after all the rioting and looting and we're sending teams out in shifts into Bayville to help with that but things look like they will get back to normal soon enough."
So where do they go from here? What do they do?
What they always do. Persevere. Live their lives by the philosophy and beliefs they have chosen. The alternative is and always has been unthinkable for Charles Xavier. They will protect this world even when it hates and fears them. The cause they fight for; mutant equality has neither an end nor a beginning. It is simply a journey they have chosen to embark on because it's right.
Author's Note: It didn't make sense to me that just because Clark removed Zod, Scott would just go back exactly the way he was before. Yeah, the Kryptonian powers are gone but so is the brain damage that prevented Scott being able to control his blasts. Once Brainiac repaired it, it would stay repaired. It's a version of Scott that is rarely seen. I had a long think over the Hellions and decided that in the end only a small number would actually join the Institute. That's not to say they all went back to Emma. Some may have just quit and gone home but the story for Emma and her Hellions is far from done yet so some were needed to stay with her. And yes siree, Storm is indeed pregnant. Just wait until the mood swings start. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up; One Journey has Ended part 2.
AN1: Hope y'all are continuing to stay safe and well.