The X-Men were in shock and
disbelief at the site of the matured Laura and Scotty. Mere days before, they were infants crawling
in a crib; now, they were young adults. Within hours, they had matured years. Beast examined them. He also treated Shadowcat and Jean for radiation
burns. Two very upset fathers and
soulmates were waiting anxiously for the news from Beast. He came out of the infirmary.
"Well gentleman, here's the
news. Your 'significant other' is doing
fine and that goes for both of you. They suffered mild radiation burns. Nothing a little rest and medicine won't help with."
"What about One eye's punk kid?"
"And my daughter?" Beast sighed and continued.
"It appears as if Mojo accelerated
their growth so he could use them to entertain his audience. They would have made an excellent show. However, their place is with their
parents. They are fine, other than the
stunted maturity. It appears that
whatever Mojo gave them accelerated not only their physical growth, but mental
growth as well. They are completely on
track and normal for a pair of 13-year-old children."
"Can we see them?"
"Yes, you may proceed in now if you
wish." Wolverine and Slash followed
their teammate into the infirmary. They
quickly rushed to the sides of their individual soul mate. Shadowcat didn't come to, so Slash moved
over to his daughter, while Wolverine conversed quietly with Jean. Slash went over to the side of his now older
daughter.
"Hi baby." He stopped as a tear came down his cheek. "Sorry. Last time I saw you, you were a baby. I…I…"
"It's ok daddy. You did all you could. But I'm here now, and I love you." The floodgates on Slash's emotions broke,
and he hugged his daughter.
"So long I've wanted a child. Now…now I'll never get to raise you. You grew up on your own." He regained his composure. "Well, I'm here for you now."
After everyone had recovered, Xavier
called in the proud parents, along with Banshee and a blonde haired woman Slash
had never seen before. Slash, Shadowcat
and Prowler all sat on one side of the table, Xavier was at the head, Banshee
and his companion, and Jean, Wolverine and Firestorm sat on the other. Xavier began.
"As you all know, the mansion
originally was a school for gifted youngsters. However, it has since matured into kind of a college setting for older
individuals, like you parents. That's
when I acquired the Massachusetts Academy and made it kind of a prep school for
the Institute here. I'll let Headmaster
Sean Cassidy, codename Banshee, and Headmistress Emma Frost, codename White
Queen, explain further." Banshee stood
up.
"Thank ye Professor. The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters 's a
place that the your young 'uns can grow and interact with mutants their own
age. Ms. Frost and I teach them to
control their powers and teach them to use their powers for good. It's one of the few prep schools in tha
nation that'll take mutants. We feel
they will get the best trainin to fully help the laddies and lasses best control
their powers. It would be beneficial
seein that," he stopped to find the right words, "your little ones have grown
up so fast. They wouldn't be to far
away, and you would easily be able to visit them whenever ye pleased. Anything else you want to know?" Jean and Wolverine already knew about the
school, but they had decided to send Firestorm there for at least one year to
help him out. Slash had been a bit more
reserved. He didn't just want to cut
lose from his child, the opportunity for her to grow up naturally had been
taken from them. Shadowcat felt they
should at least give the school a chance to help Prowler control her mutant
powers.
"What are the ages of the children
currently there?" Asked Slash. Emma Frost answered that one.
"Right now, we have from ages six up
to eighteen. As a matter of fact,
Jubilee was a student of there until she was abducted. She has come a long way ever since she
arrived at the School, and both Banshee and myself think that this would be
beneficial for Laura to attend there."
"What's the official visiting
policy?"
"Anytime you want to come up and
visit Prowler is completely fine." He
still looked upset, but turned to Laura.
"This is ultimately your decision
Laura. Do you want to go there?" She took a deep breath, took both of her
parents' hands, and then responded.
"Dad, Mom, I feel that my place is
there with the rest of the younger students. I can learn so much from them. Please don't neglect me there though." Slash and Shadowcat both wrapped their arms around the others and made a
big group hug.
"We understand honey. You can be sure we will always be there for
you. It's tough on your old man. I mean, it wasn't what, a month ago, you
were just born. Now, you've lost your
childhood and you want to go to another school. It hurts because this is happening so fast, but I completely
understand."
It was an emotional goodbye for
Firestorm and Prowler. The team had
come to adore them as their own children, and they looked up to the team as
their extended family. Slash and
Shadowcat watched as they rode off with Banshee and White Queen. He always wanted a child, but he felt so
rushed over the events that had occurred over the past few days. Now she was going off to grow at another
academy. But it was for the best, he
kept reassuring himself.
Prowler e-mailed him everyday. She met the rest of the group, which were
called Generation X. She became close
friends with Husk and Penance. They had
taken her in like a sister and friend. She said Firestorm was getting along great with the guys. Everything seemed to be going great. Slash visited her three times in the first
two weeks. She was a daddy's girl, and
wrote Slash more often than she wrote Shadowcat. Shadowcat wasn't upset by it all.
Late one evening while everyone else
was asleep, Slash had taken the Eagle
(renamed Millennium Falcon) out for a
few orbits of the earth, and to test the weapons of the little ship. As he turned for home, sensors bleeped with
hundreds, no wait, thousands of ships he had never seen before. He landed the Eagle and headed to the War Room to get some information. The computer processed the incoming ships.
'Identification. 18 Fighter carriers, De'Kaann class. 57 Shi'ar battleships, N'Risha class. 24 Shi'ar battle cruisers, M'Darra
class. 236 Shi'ar destroyers, Chi'kin
class. 2,109 Shi'ar fighters, SF-23
class. Armament…"
"Computer stop. Who are the Shi'ar?"
"We are a race of advanced aliens
who are friends of Charles Xavier and Earth." A woman's face appeared on the view screen above the computer console
Slash was working at."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Lilandra, Majestrix over
the domain of the Shi'ar Empire." Suddenly, Xavier appeared behind Slash and looked right up at the
screen.
"Greetings Lilandra. What brings you to our section of the
galaxy?"
"We need your help Charles
Xavier. We need your X-Men and your
little ship."
I apologize for the
length of time I've not been writing, but I've had like two five-page papers
due in like two days. They took
priority. But hope you enjoy this and
stick around for more!