Chapter 5
I would estimate that about two or three weeks passed. When you're up in space, it is possible that you lose your sense of time in a way, though we were good about sticking to our schedule-we had morning, noon and night on this ship and the group ate dinner together every day. The Professor felt it was important to keep us on a regular schedule like that, and everyone pretty much agreed. He was keeping track of the days and weeks that were passing on earth and sometimes informed us what the corresponding date was on earth.
Not much happened during these weeks. Everyone spent their days mastering the ship's functions. Well, everyone except Jubilee who didn't take an interest in it, and no one wanted to force her to learn. But with the exception of her, we got to the point where any of us could take the ship off autopilot and fly it, ace all the computer-simulated battles at the weaponry station, and had a working knowledge of other ship functions like life support and engineering. We even learned how to fly the shuttles, and took them out for practice runs.
I became even more of a computer geek. Remember my job for most of the last seven years was as a computer programmer and I've always had an affinity for those things. The computer on this ship was highly advanced, but I mastered it. I learned it inside and out, and the others - including Colossus - had to be impressed.
When we X-men weren't drilling each other on ship basics, most of us spent our time in the gym. We played sports together (well…..*they* played sports together, though I was talked into a few harmless volleyball games which I was able to hold my own in) and trained each other in the reconstructed Danger Room. The ship also had a pool, which was marvelous! I replicated swim wear for everyone and we all spent long hours in the pool. Jubilee, too, enjoyed floating in the pool, which was great as she didn't join the team in the Danger Room or during sports. It gave her a chance to socialize and be with others.
Despite her affinity for the water, I didn't see Jubilee smile. I hadn't seen her smile since before we were abducted.
Our other group hobby was card games, and we had many long evenings sitting around the table in the infirmary learning and playing every card game that Gambit could think of. The Professor even seemed to enjoy playing. Gambit loved this, though he was a bit dejected that we had no money to gamble with.
Speaking of Gambit, he and I were becoming pretty good friends. He liked to confide in me, and I think that he didn't open up about personal things with the others quite like this, though I could be wrong. He seemed quite friendly with the other guys but I sensed that I was his only confidant since Rogue wasn't speaking to him. He told me that things weren't changing much between him and Rogue. He gave her the space she said she wanted. She was nice enough to him, no longer telling him to fuck off, but she never initiated a talk with him or initiated spending time alone with him. Gambit really was hurting over this. He was, however, cheered by the fact that mentally Rogue seemed to be making an improvement. Her mood seemed a little better.
Rogue and the other women were continuing to get together every now and then. I think it helped, at least that's what I observed and occasionally overheard. Jubilee wasn't like her old self-and maybe she never will be-but she was ok.
All of the women seemed to be coping alright. Though there were occasional reminders that a major tragedy had occurred. Once I was at the pool, changing behind one of the screens. Cyclops and Jean didn't know I was there and I overheard Jean suddenly just burst into tears, out of nowhere. Cyke was all worried, asking her if it was anything he did. She actually got exasperated and said it had nothing to do with him, of course-she just had a flashback to the rapes and was hurting about that. I stayed frozen behind the screen, embarrassed to be witnessing such a personal situation and not wanting to reveal my presence. He hugged her for a long time - he was really loving and gentle. What I wouldn't give to have a love such as theirs in my life. Anyway, I would wager a guess that all of the women had episodes like that at times; in fact, I would think that would be a very normal reaction.
In addition to becoming better friends with Gambit, my friendship with Hank remained strong as ever. We spent a lot of time together and I'm lucky I have someone who can put up with my moods and my occasional silliness. I also got a bit closer to Jean, as she worked with me on the garden and on replicating clothes. (With my help, she replicated herself a gorgeous pair of silk pajamas.) Jubilee seemed to be most comfortable with Jean and Storm; she spent most of her time with one of them. I got to hang out with Jean and Storm quite a bit, and Storm was friendly towards me.
As for Rogue, Cyclops, Wolverine and Colossus-none of them really sought me out as someone to hang around with, but they didn't avoid me at all either. I interacted with them during the usual activities done in the gym and the card games, and all of them were nice enough. Maybe it was for the better to not spend a lot of time with Wolverine. I wondered how much his hyper-senses picked up and really feared that he knew I was majorly attracted to him. My gut says that he knew. I give him credit though; he didn't treat me any differently for it.
I think the Professor was doing alright. When I think of everything he has lost –- Magneto, the mansion, the Institute, and, for the time being at least, the dream of mutants and non-mutants co-existing peacefully, not to mention seeing his students tortured - he appeared remarkably well. I think Hank is probably the one who knows him best as a person, and when I inquired as to how he felt Charles was doing, he answered, "He's coping."
As for the status of our ship and our journey, nothing much changed in those weeks either. Remaining cloaked, we headed away from earth. We got out of range for picking up news reports from earth, which might have been for the best since we were all appalled over the Mutant Sterilization Act passing. The last news report we were able to pick up mentioned that a bill had just been introduced to deny mutants the right to vote.
If FOH sent another ship out to look for us, we didn't encounter it. Maybe they feared us, having guessed what we did to their crew. But we supposed the main reason they didn't even come near us is that space is really, really vast, and when your ship is cloaked, there really is no way for others to locate it. As Hank once said, "We are the proverbial needle in the haystack." And Cyclops had added, "Yes, and the needle is invisible." They would pretty much need to get right on us to be able to sense us (and if they did so, we could always change our position.)
Oh, I should mention too…I used the clothing replicator to create copies of all our old uniforms. This was a big hit among the X-men; even Wolverine seemed enthused to be getting his old yellow spandex outfit back. We looked a lot more like our old selves when we could ditch the sweatpants and T-shirts in favor of our uniforms.
One thing I think we were missing as a group. We never did do any sort of group healing -whatever you want to call it - over the torture we (especially the women) suffered when we were captured. The women continued to have their meetings and I guess maybe everyone wanted to think that would be enough. There was a lot of denial going on. When we were gardening one day, Jean told me she sensed that the men all felt some measure of guilt and shame over what had happened, but she said, "I am as lost as everyone else on how to bring this up as a group."
There is one thing that happened during the past few weeks that I should mention. I think it was a fluke. I dunno. Gambit and I had been drinking and playing cards late into the evening. We didn't usually drink much but this night we did. He had had one too many. I was tipsy but basically ok. We finished a game and he said out of nowhere, "Gambit is horny as all hell." I wasn't sure how to take that, so I said something light-hearted about the lack of available women here and I knew it must be driving him crazy. He continued talking along that theme, saying he was too good of a lover to go this long without sex. His tone and body language were definitely….hinting at me. I kept deflecting his innuendo until he just asked me straight out whether I liked performing blow jobs. At that point, I just stood up and said, "Gambit, you've had too much to drink. Why don't we call it a night?" I walked to the door.
After that, we left the infirmary and each went to his own room. I gotta say I think I deserve a gold medal. Especially since the answer to his question was an enthusiastic YES, and I was as "horny as all hell" too. This had to have been one of the longest stretches I've gone without sex and it was not easy. The Bobby of years ago would have had no qualms about taking him up on his offer. But I knew that Gambit was drunk and it just wouldn't have been right. Everything would have been way too awkward from that point on and we would both have seriously regretted it. As it was, the day after and going forward we just did the "it never happened" thing, and avoided late night drinking card games. Our friendship didn't suffer, which I was glad for.
After the lull and routine of the last few weeks, it was a bit of a surprise when Storm's voice boomed over the intercom, "Everyone report to the bridge at once. I repeat, all X-men report to the bridge at once."
Her voice sounded calm, and not at all urgent, as normal. But this was unusual. We rarely used the intercom and the only time people went on the bridge was when they were training or if you needed more detail from the ship's system.
All 11 of us hurried to the bridge. Rogue, Colossus, Jean and I rode the elevator together and walked swiftly, without much conversation, to the bridge. It was a cozy fit on the tight bridge. We all stood, as it only had four seats.
"We have important news and decisions to make," Cyclops said. He and Storm both looked concerned. "Our sensors have detected that a ship is on a direct course for the planet. This is the planet that Magneto was killed on and that FOH was taking us to."
"I thought we were far away from that planet by now," Rogue said.
"Distance in space is a tricky thing," Hank said. "We have been travelling away from the planet, but at warp speed, we can be back there in a matter of several hours. Whatever the case, it is within sensor range."
"We would like to remain cloaked but travel back that way," Storm said. "The FOH might be taking other mutants to be killed there. At this distance, our sensors can't get more specific other than telling us that it is a large ship on a direct course for the planet."
"When we get closer," the Professor said, "I hope to be able to sense whether there are any mutants on there."
"Maybe we can also use ship's sensor to tell how many soldiers on board other ship," Colossus said.
"Bobby, you've become an expert with the computer," the Professor said. "When we get closer, I want you to try to tap into the other ship's computer and find out whatever you can about their mission and the status of their ship."
I nodded. "I'd love to."
Cyclops said, "Our plan at this point is to remain cloaked but get closer to this other ship. If there are mutants on board, we will attempt to rescue them. But if not, we are not going to wage an offensive war on the FOH ship. If there are no mutants, we are going back off."
Everyone was ok with this plan. "Whatever we do," Storm said, "we will act cautiously and conservatively. We absolutely cannot risk getting re-captured." A wave of fear passed over the 11 of us. God, can you imagine if we were captured again? Mentally, how would we deal with the after-effects, assuming we could even escape again with our lives? At the same time, we felt the terror for the mutants on board the ship that was heading for the planet. We had to save them. My heart sped up and I gulped air just thinking of this. The others, more used to battle, appeared calmer. But no one was at ease.
Storm added, "If we jump to warp 2, we can be there in 14 hours."
The next several hours were spent with the team drilling and re-drilling each other on ships weaponry, and discussions on what a rescue might look like. But we were hampered from making concrete plans until we had more information.
As hours passed, we got closer to the other ship. "Eureka!" I announced. Sitting on the bridge with Cyclops, Wolverine and Storm, I had successfully tapped into the other ship's computer. I had been working non-stop, but not feeling the least bit tired. One by one, I revealed my findings to my teammates, with the others listening in on the intercom.
"The other ship is a much older model than this one," I said, my fingers dancing away on the keyboard. "It is quite a bit larger too. But its weaponry is not as sophisticated as this one, and it is much less maneuverable. A much slower and more cumbersome ship than ours." My mind whirled as I encountered more and more information. "The other ship has been in space for quite a while….A-ha! It began its journey before, before we were even kidnapped! What happened was that it was stranded in space because it needed repairs…..Apparently it had trouble with its engines and had to remain stuck in space for several weeks until FOH sent another ship to repair it. Now that it's repaired, it has resumed its journey to the planet. The FOH refers to the planet as the Acid Planet. And the name of the other ship is The Destroyer."
"How many people on board?" Wolverine asked. He sounded eager, as if smelling blood.
"According to this, it's standard crew compliment is 450. I can't confirm that there are 450 living beings actually on board, but that is considered the recommended crew compliment."
"That's double the number that was on our ship," Storm said.
The Professor, who had been listening on the intercom, entered the bridge. "There are mutants on board," he said. "I can sense them now. I am not sure how many, but there are some."
Our ears all perked up. My fingers started to shake a bit. The other ship had mutants on board. Now we had to rescue them. Now we risked getting captured again.
"How long till we intercept the other ship?" Hank asked over the intercom. "And how long till the Destroyer reaches the planet?"
Cyclops looked at his console. "The Destroyer should reach the planet in 4 hours, but our ship is faster. We'll get there in three."
"We need to start thinking of a plan," Storm said.
Our ship approached the other. We had all been briefed on the plan and were ready to carry it out. Even though it seemed that this plan posed the least amount of risk for us getting re-captured, I cannot say I felt the least bit at ease. I was completely nervous.
We decided to operate under the assumption that the Destroyer would beam the mutants it had on board down to the planet's surface. When the Professor had searched the minds of the FOH members on this ship, the images he saw involved Magneto and his comrades being beamed down to the surface together and then, one by one, tossed into the acid pit. We were banking on them using the same scenario. Once the mutants and FOH guards were beamed to the surface, we would lock onto them, beam them on board, and speed away.
This might sound easy but there was one element that put us at a tremendous amount of risk. In order to use our transporter, we had to uncloak and drop our shields. There is no way to transport someone on board your ship when it is cloaked and has its shields up.
We drilled each other. Hank had the most dexterity and was able to move the fastest. He would work the controls; his fingers would press the buttons to uncloak the ship, drop our shields, beam up any mutants, re-cloak us and re-shield us. He sat on the bridge with Cyclops, Rogue and Wolverine. Cyclops would navigate the ship away as soon as we had the mutants. In the event of any problems, he, Rogue and Wolverine had tested the best during simulated battles. They would defend the ship against the Destroyer if they had to, with Cyclops maneuvering the ship and Rogue and Wolverine firing our phasers.
There was something that had the potential to throw a wrench into our plan. What if all the mutants weren't beamed down at the same time? Indeed, how would we know? Our ships' sensors now told us that there were 457 living human beings on board the Destroyer but that didn't tell us how many mutants were there. The standard crew compliment for it may be 450, but the FOH could easily have more or fewer of their ranks on board. Without Cerebro, the Professor could only sense the presence of mutants on the other ship, but he had no idea how many there were.
I understand that a lot of debate occurred over how to deal with this. It was decided that as soon as we beamed up the mutants, we would ask them whether other mutants were on board the Destroyer. If not, then our plan was fine. And if there were other mutants or they did not know…..our plan at that point would be to re-group and figure out what to do from there (after, of course, having re-cloaked, put the shields back up and making some distance between us at the Destroyer.) That bit of uncertainty didn't sit well with most of us, but there was one encouraging piece. The Professor said that from the FOH soldiers' minds he had probed, he knew that their usual practice was to beam all the mutants on a given ship down at once, and then toss them to their deaths one by one. We just had to hope that they wouldn't deviate from that practice, or if they did-we would be able to figure out what to do from there.
The Professor and Jean waited in the transporter room to receive the mutants. If they were unable to verbally communicate for whatever reasons, their minds could be read to get the answer to the question of whether other mutants were on board the Destroyer.
As for the rest of the X-men, Colossus and I were to wait inside the transporter room. We were to be ready to fight in case FOH soldiers were accidentally beamed up or other unforeseen events happened. We also were to help escort the mutants to sick bay, since we could be certain they might need it. Storm and Gambit were stationed in the engine room. In case we ended up having to engage the Destroyer in battle (which we really hoped not to), it would be important to monitor the ship's dilithium and be prepared to make engine repairs. Additionally, if something happened to the controls on the bridge, navigation and weapons could also be controlled from the engine room.
Jubilee was not ready for battle, of course, as she had not been training. During the rush to prepare, I did overhear Jubilee start crying when Storm explained what was going to happen. My heart broke for her. She feared being re-captured and told Storm that she would kill herself rather than be taken alive. She waited in sick bay, offering to help tend to any rescued mutants.
I was nervous enough at coming into this much contact with the FOH. Seeing Jubilee's terror-and the fact that she looked serious when she said she would kill herself rather than be taken alive-didn't help things at all.
The X-men's ship was waiting. Sitting just outside the planet's atmosphere and cloaked, it waited and watched as the Destroyer approached. Various emotions ran through the heads and hearts of the 11 people on board-hope, excitement and anticipation were there. More prevalent were fear and anxiety. A few of the X-men enjoyed battle and relished fighting, but even those members of the team had to beat back nervousness. The FOH had not only captured them, but had also scarred their minds, more than any other enemy ever had. What if they had some new weaponry?
Cyclops had reminded the team that at the first sight of serious trouble, if it looked as though the FOH had the possibility of demolishing their ship and re-capturing them, they would do whatever it took to escape -even if it meant abandoning the mutants they were there to rescue.
Cyclops, Beast, Rogue and Wolverine sat on the bridge, examining their consoles. Beast flexed his fingers. He mentally re-traced each button he would need to push to accomplish the mission.
Every intercom on the ship was open. The Professor, Jean, Colossus and Iceman were at their posts in the transporter room.
"Just breathe, Bobby," Jean Grey said to Iceman, noticing that his face was paler than normal
Iceman nodded. "I'm trying."
"The people on the bridge know what they're doing. This will go like clockwork. We'll save the mutants and then get right out of here."
To Iceman, it sounded almost as if Jean were trying to convince herself. The Professor had an even better sense of how nervous she truly was.
"Perhaps this will become our mission," Colossus said. "We continue to work and rescue mutants they bring here, every time."
"That's not a bad idea, Colossus," the Professor said, "but if we continue to be successful, they will stop bringing mutants here."
Jean nodded. "I wonder why they go to the trouble to bring them here. I am sure they can think of countless ways to bring a painful end to us."
Jean regretted her words as they didn't help lift the mood in the transporter room. Her stomach churned. As disciplined as her mind was, it kept betraying her by forcing painful images to surface. She and Scott had savored every minute they had spent together during the last several weeks. Would they be forced apart again? And what of all the work that had been done to help Jubilee recover? If they were captured again and the FOH soldiers tortured them as before, Jean knew that would be it for Jubilee. Her mind would retreat to a place inside, perhaps forever irrecoverable.
Jean's thoughts were interrupted by Beast's voice over the intercom. "The Destroyer is entering the planet's atmosphere." Jean forced herself to take her own advice and breath normally. Her heart sped up anyway.
On the bridge, Beast sat at the controls, ready. Their viewscreen allowed them to look at the activities on the planet's surface. As if to torment them, for many minutes absolutely nothing happened. The Destroyer simply sat. The consoles on the bridge would have alerted them if they were detected or being scanned. But nothing happened. The bridge, the transporter room, engineering and sick bay were deathly quiet.
At last, movement. Before they saw it on the viewscreen, the ship's monitors told them that the Destroyer was preparing to beam 17 people down to the surface. Beast's fingers hovered above his console.
The viewscreen displayed an image of 14 FOH guards and three mutants being transported to the planet's surface. The ship's sensors confirmed this. "Fourteen FOH and 3 mutants beamed to the surface," Cyclops said. He and Beast exchanged a quick look.
"Shields and cloaking device down," Hank said as his fingers worked. "Locking on to the three mutants. Transporting them now."
"We have them!" Jean said over the intercom, the very second the three mutants appeared on the transporter pad.
"Shields back up," Beast said. "Cloaking device re-engaged."
In the transporter room, there was no time to waste. "Are there any other mutants on board your ship?" the Professor asked the three, terrified people standing on the transporter pad.
The three rescued mutants were stunned and confused. The Professor and Jean's skills came in handy. He read their minds as Jean repeated the question. Finally it was understood. The answer was `no'; these three mutants were the only ones who had survived the journey on board the Destroyer.
"This is it," the Professor said. "No more mutants are on the Destroyer."
Cyclops plotted in a course to take them away from the planet. Engaging warp drive, the ship was gone from the planet in a flash.
The crew of the Destroyer was stunned. It happened within the blink of an eye. A ship had de-cloaked, beamed away their prisoners, and re-cloaked in the span of seconds. They had no way to track the ship once it was cloaked again, though they searched for a long time.
There was one prevalent mood on board the Destroyer: astonishment. There were multiple moods and feelings in the transporter room of the X-men's ship, though shock was the main emotion of the three rescued mutants.
"Mon dieu, we are saved," one of them said.
"Let us take you to sick bay right away," Colossus said.
Beast's voice sounded over the intercom. "I am on my way to sick bay now."
Two of the rescued mutants were male, one was female. Jean immediately recognized the look on the face of the woman, as well as her body language, and Jean didn't need to use her powers to understand that this mutant had survived what she had. Gently, she hugged the woman and escorted her to sick bay. The woman almost collapsed in her arms.
Beast's services in sick bay weren't as needed as we he had thought they might be. He was prepared to tend to the rescued mutants, with Jean and Bobby standing by, ready to assist. However, one of the mutants was a man called Shaman. As soon as his collar was off, he had the ability to heal simply by touching someone. He was exhausted and battered himself, but he immediately tended to his two teammates. Shaman's powers, the X-men would later learn, were not absolute and he could not fix everything. But he did wonders for his teammates and himself.
The three rescued mutants were the sole survivors of Alpha Flight, the Canadian mutant group. In addition to Shaman, the other two were the twin brother and sister team of Northstar and Marie. (Northstar's real name was Jean-Paul Beaubier, but everyone called him by his code name. His twin was the reverse. Her code name was Aurora Borealis, but most called her by her birth name of Jeanne Marie, or Marie for short.)
Gradually, Alpha Flight's story came out. It began over a year earlier, when the Professor extended an invitation to Alpha Flight. He asked them to consider joining-or teaming up with-the X-men for their mutual protection against the FOH. Although it was bitterly contested among Alpha Flight, they declined. Particularly Alpha Flight's leaders, the husband and wife team of Guardian and Vindicator, did not want to move to New York and be part of the X-men.
As anti-mutant sentiment grew, in Canada as in around the world, the government withdrew all funding from Alpha Flight and ordered them to disband. (Unlike the X-men, Alpha Flight had been financed and supported by their government since none of the members were independently wealthy.) The group was forced to go under ground.
FOH attacked one day and overwhelmed them, as they had the X-men. Several members of their team were killed in the final battle, but nine were taken alive as prisoner. The aging ship they were taken to, the Destroyer, suffered problems en route to the Acid Planet when its engines collapsed. Alpha Flight was stranded with the FOH crew for weeks on end before FOH sent a team to perform repairs.
At one point, an escape attempt was made. It failed, and FOH took six members of Alpha Flight and tortured them to death as examples. The rest of their team was forced to watch.
Needless to say, Shaman, Northstar and Jeanne Marie were traumatized. Shaman's powers healed many of their physical wounds, though not all. Northstar was missing about half of his teeth, and his left arm ended in a stump at the elbow-the soldiers had simply cut off the rest one day. The emotional wounds would be harder to deal with. Marie, in particular, looked lost and far away. She wasn't as far gone as Jubilee had been, but she was traumatized.
As soon as Shaman used his powers to treat his teammates and himself, he asked for a quiet place to rest and meditate. Storm led him to a room, and supplied him with candles. Beast offered to listen if he needed someone to talk to.
Northstar said he was physically exhausted, and asked for a bed. Beast hooked him up to an IV, as he had not been able to eat for many days and Shaman's powers were unable to completely reverse his nutrition depletion. The painkillers Northstar received in the infirmary were the first he had been given since his teeth had been ripped out and forearm removed. He was mentally and physically wiped out from the extreme pain, and he needed to sleep. Beast gave him a strong sedative that would provide hours and hours of restful sleep.
Jeanne Marie said she didn't want to be alone and asked for someone to talk to. Jean was happy to offer to listen, and the two women headed for another spare room together.
Rogue and Wolverine worked out in the gym together.
"Christ did you see how banged up those Alpha Flight survivors were?" Rogue muttered.
"They looked like hell," Wolverine said of his Canadian former teammates.
"I almost wished we could've had a confrontation with the FOH on board that ship and tanned their hides."
"Me too. We gotta find a way to stop those bastards from doing this to any more mutants."
Ten people sat around the dinner table that evening. It had been a very long day and conversation during the meal was minimal. None of the members of Alpha Flight elected to eat with the group. Shaman was still meditating, Northstar out cold, and Marie talking with Jean in her newly assigned room.
Jean did not return to the room she shared with Cyclops until a few hours after dinner. Cyclops's eyes widened when he saw how she looked upon entering their room. Her eyes reflected misery. She plodded over to the bed and slumped down on it. Scott immediately got up and sat next to her.
"Jeanie," he said, concerned.
"Holy Jesus. Scott, I think I feel sick," Jean's voice was ragged. She leaned forward and rested her head on her hands.
"You look like you would enjoy a warm bath."
"I would, but I think I need someone to rub my shoulders first."
Scott knelt behind her and worked the tense muscles. Jean groaned, thoughts of Marie's words replaying in her mind. "It was terrible," Jean repeated a few times. "The things Alpha Flight lived through….."
"It was very brave and kind of you to offer to listen to Marie, my love," Scott said softly. "Especially since we're still dealing with what happened to us."
"It had to be done," Jean said. "Storm had already went off with Shaman, and I don't think either Rogue or Jubilee is up for acting as a counselor now. Marie wanted to talk to another woman."
Time passed. Jean relaxed as Scott's adept fingers coaxed the knots out of her muscles. Jean felt much better after she took the warm bath. She sat on the bed and applied lotion to her dry skin.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Scott asked, watching his beautiful wife rub the lotion into her pink legs. Her hair was damp, the look on her face sullen.
"I do," Jean nodded. She looked down, her eyes on the white lotion that she was rubbing into her calves. She was quiet for a long time. "The things Marie told me are so horrific, I feel a bit funny sharing them even with you, and you know me better than anyone in my life."
That last sentence surprised Scott. They never hid information from each other and almost never felt any discomfort at revealing anything to the other. "I understand," Scott said. "But perhaps talking about will help your mood right now."
"I think you are right," Jean said quietly. She shuddered. "Where do I even start though?" She continued to look down, not wanting to turn her eyes towards her husband. "They suffered a lot worse than we did on their journey," she said finally. "A lot worse. They had double the number of soldiers and they were stranded in space for weeks. The soldiers got bored and restless. The things they did….Inhumane. I can't think of any adjectives strong enough. Not that the FOH weren't inhumane to us too. I guess after a point it gets so horrific that there's no point in comparing who suffered worse."
Jean went on to describe to Scott what Alpha Flight endured during their journey. The two female members of Alpha Flight who survived the battle, Marie and Vindicator, were led away and gang raped by the soldiers. FOH forced the male Alpha Flight members to watch as they were all held captive in one very large room, and that is where the rapes took place. The women were given almost no time to rest, and there were over 450 soldiers on board that ship.
"It gets worse," Jean said, preparing herself to recount the rest of what Marie had told her. When the ship got stranded and the soldiers got bored, FOH forced the male mutants to participate in the rapes. The men, of course, refused to but FOH used the collars on them and on the women to force them to comply. They coerced the women into performing oral sex on the men, and they forced the men to rape them. If they were unable to get erections, they were given objects-such as broom handles, pipes, guns-to rape them with.
The color had drained out of Scott's face, but Jean continued. FOH had found out that Northstar was gay when they accessed the groups' files from the Canadian government. They tortured him as well. Almost every day, they would come into the cell and remove one of Northstar's teeth. They removed his clothes and wouldn't allow any of teammates to share clothes with him. They forced Northstar to eat insects. On more than one occasion, they forced him to perform oral sex on his (male) teammates. One day a group of soldiers came in and just decided to chop off half his arm. Those soldiers were later yelled at, because most did not want Northstar to die so soon as they were having so much fun with him. FOH treated him so that the bleeding stopped and he wouldn't die.
When Alpha Flight attempted and failed to escape, the abuse got worse. The men were all physically tortured. Their skin was burned and they were lashed with whips. FOH decided to execute six members of the team, leaving three alive so their mission would not be a total waste and they would still have the pleasure of watching some mutants burn up on the Acid Planet. Shaman, Northstar and Marie had been compelled to watch as their six teammates were slowly tortured to death, one by one.
"Marie broke down at that point and she didn't tell me how they were killed or any of the details," Jean said. "I didn't want to, but my mind read some of the details from hers and glimpsed a few images. Horrible. An insult to humanity."
"I feel sick," Scott said, Jean's words echoing through his mind.
"I gave Marie the sedative that Hank gave Northstar. She needed it at that point, and she's out like a light now." Jean paused and put her head into her hands. She felt tears starting to well up. "Why do people hate us so much? What did we ever do to deserve this?"
She cried unabashedly now, as Scott's arms encircled her.
"We've had 15 years to think about it, but I still ask myself those questions every day," Scott said quietly. "And I know all of the logical explanations. People hate and fear what they don't understand. People have scapegoated other groups of people throughout history. But these explanations don't make me feel any better."
"And they don't explain," Jean said, through tears, "how people can be so mean. So brutal."
Scott continued to hug his wife, feeling as demoralized as she was.
Over the next several days, the X-men found that each of the surviving members of Alpha Flight had their own way of coping. Shaman rarely left his room. Meals and candles were brought to him as needed. The Professor and the others were concerned about him spending so much time alone after all he had endured, so the Professor entered his mind. His fears were assuaged; he learned that this was exactly what Shaman needed to do in order to cope.
Northstar spent most of his time in sick bay. His recovery was taking longer than it should have, especially given the healing powers Shaman had used on him. Beast surmised that part of him simply wanted to stay in the infirmary and under care. Northstar slept on his own for most of the day (without the influence of sedatives); the X-men ate their meals in the infirmary as normal and nothing disturbed the Canadian. Gradually, however, he got out of bed and spent time with his sister.
Jeanne Marie's way of coping involved telling her story, over and over. The day after she arrived, she sought out Storm and spent the better part of the day with her, recounting even more details than she had to Jean. She described at length the executions of her teammates. Storm had always thought she had a pretty thick skin, but this was wrenching to listen to.
Jeanne Marie later sought out Rogue's ear. Rogue listened to as much of Marie's remembrances as she could, but she reached a point where she apologized to the Canadian and told her she could not hear anymore of this. Rogue then made a bee-line for the gym and destroyed several punching bags and anyone she encountered in the Danger Room. The next day, Marie went back to Jean and asked her to listen again to the FOH's treatment of Alpha Flight on board the Destroyer. She repeated the same thing with Storm, and for several days alternated between the two X-men. Each time, it seemed to Jean and Storm, Marie recalled another sickening detail.
Marie eventually decided to take one of Storm's suggestions. Storm had told her that writing down her feelings, writing down what had happened to her might help. Marie sat at one of the many computers and poured out absolutely everything. She described what happened from the moment Alpha Flight was beamed aboard the Destroyer to when they were rescued. No detail was left unrecorded, and her account ran pages and pages. She wasn't ready to share it with anyone yet, but working on it seemed to light a spark in her eyes.
One day, Storm, Rogue and Jean were swimming in the pool together.
"I am so glad you gave her that idea to write her story down," Rogue said to Storm.
"I do hope it helps Marie," Storm said.
"Since she started writing, she hasn't come back to me to talk at all," Jean observed. "Has she come to any of you since?"
"No," Storm said.
"No." Rogue said. "Thank God!" She added.
"Rogue," Storm cautioned, a slight frown on her face.
"Well, shit, I can't take listening to any more from her. I mean, fuck it- we all suffered! So she was raped by 200 soldiers a day. I was raped by 100 a day. Is it a contest?"
"Actually, I think it averaged out to more like 75 a day," Storm said.
"You counted?" Jean asked, incredulously. "You guys counted?"
"Sure I counted!" Storm said. "There was nothing else to do!"
The three women laughed uproariously. "Listen to what we're laughing at!" Jean said, angry at herself and yet laughing at the same time. "What the devil are we laughing at?" She continued laughing and then said, "Was it really 75 a day? Is that even possible? Where's a calculator?"
"Sure it's possible," Storm said through her laughter. "Those guys didn't know a thing about foreplay!"
"When you say 75 a day, are we talkin' 75 * different* soldiers a day or getting raped 75 times a day? Cause some of those guys were goin' back for seconds," Rogue said, continuing to laugh. "And I really do think it was closer to 100 a day."
"I don't know how you two could possibly have kept track of that," Jean said, laughing as she spoke.
"Well, girl, you were out of it!" Rogue said to Jean. "I looked over at you a few times, and you were just * gone.*"
Such exchanges were not unlike the sort the women had during their healing ceremonies but the women were somehow more animated that day. The laughter continued until all three women were crying. Bobby and Beast had started to enter the pool room, swimming trunks and towels in hand, but as soon as they saw the situation, they did an about-face and swiftly left the room. The women noticed and that caused a whole new bout of laughter. Tears streamed down Rogue, Jean and Storm's faces.
"We're terrible. I can't believe we're laughing over this," Jean said, still giggling. "We wouldn't put up with this if the guys were laughing at it."
"Hell no!" Rogue said, laughing through her tears. "I'd beat the crap out of them if they laughed at this!"
When their laughter died down and each started to dry her tears, Rogue spoke again, "Okay, I gotta ask this question cause it's been on my mind lately," she began.
"Uh-oh, I'm almost worried," Storm said, smiling.
"Has your….have you two started feeling your normal desire again yet?" Rogue paused. "You know what I mean, right? Cause, c'mon, we all know our sex drives are –or were -hyper compared to normal women. So I was just wondering if your drives have returned yet?"
Storm and Jean looked at each other. "Rogue asked the question, so I think she should go first," Jean said to Storm, with a grin on her face.
Storm shrugged and gave a serious answer. "I don't mind answering. To be honest, it has returned and it's been back for a while now. A few weeks after the….the rapes, it still wasn't back and I thought maybe it was gone for good. But it gradually returned in full force. And I don't have my vibrator on this ship!"
The women laughed some more. Rogue and Storm turned to Jean. Jean hesitated. She worried that a completely honest answer would make the others jealous. Jean's powers over the years told her that most of the other X-men, and especially Rogue, were jealous of what she and Scott had. So few of the others experienced that kind of love in their lives. But Jean decided to answer with the truth. "My normal desire returned fairly soon after we were rescued. I don't think even a week had passed. I think it came on so soon because I don't separate my love for Scott from my desire for him. Not long after we were back in each other's arms, I wanted to be making love with him. I think even he was a bit surprised it was so soon. But what I experienced with the FOH, I don't consider that to even be remotely the same thing as what Scott and I do. Not even remotely."
Storm nodded, her face placid. She had always been sincerely glad for Jean and Scott that they had such a love in their lives. Rogue looked down and Jean once again detected the stab of jealousy that pinched Rogue.
"What about you, Rogue?" Storm asked.
"Well, I….here's the thing," Rogue began awkwardly. "Like you said, Storm, I thought mine wasn't ever going to return. But in the last few days now….I think it's starting up again."
"Rogue, that's wonderful!" Jean said.
Rogue knitted her brows at Jean. "Is it?"
"Yes," Jean said. "I mean, sexual pleasure is one of the great joys of being human. I am happy for you that the FOH weren't able to take it away from you."
"I don't know, Jean. The desire is slowly coming back but I'm not sure I like it. I'm not sure I want it. And please don't ask me to talk about Remy 'cause I'm not quite ready yet."
At one of their previous healing ceremonies, Jean had asked Rogue about her feelings for Gambit. Jean had not meant to pry, but she automatically sensed that Rogue had intense feelings whenever Gambit was in the room with her. She wanted to help the younger woman with it, but Rogue had not wanted to talk about it.
Jean nodded. "But if you ever do want to discuss it..."
Rogue shook her head, "Thanks, but I don't wanna right now." She paused. "Though maybe someday."
The three women eventually left the pool. As Rogue walked down the hall to the elevator, she passed Gambit as he headed for the gym. "Hey, there," Rogue said, a fetching smile on her face.
"Chere!" Gambit said, returning the smile. The last several weeks Rogue had either been ignoring him or muttering `hello' without looking at him when they ran into each other. Today she looked happy and held eye contact.
The two made small-talk for a few minutes before parting. Gambit's heart danced as he worked out that afternoon.
I thought it was strange. But what do I know? In the days that had passed since we rescued them, we hardly saw the three members of Alpha Flight.
"But remember what the Professor said," Hank said to me one day, when we had finished a training session on the bridge. "Shaman spends most of the day in his room praying and meditating by choice. It is what he needs to do to recover. His mind works best that way."
"I know," I said. "But what about Marie and Northstar?"
"They are extremely close. Remember, they're twins and they have hardly spent a day apart in their lives. If the two of them want to keep to themselves for now, maybe that is best." Hank paused. "I am encouraged that Northstar agreed to be released from sick bay. I had been concerned that he was spending too much time there without cause. His body has recovered from the mild malnutrition he had. I think the fact that he has released himself means he is on the road to getting better."
"I guess you're right,' I said. "I've seen Marie working away at one of the computers lately too. That's probably a good sign too, right?"
"I think so," Hank said. "Writing down one's feelings is an excellent form of therapy."
"Maybe soon they'll want to have dinner with the group," I said hopefully. I have to admit that I was excited. I'd never met another gay mutant and Northstar was out to everyone about being gay. I shared my excitement over this with Hank and he totally understood and even was a bit excited for me. Is Hank cool or what? He really gets it; I can confide in him just like I would one of my gay friends.
Later that day, I was working with Jubilee in our makeshift gardening room. I always had a hard time gauging how much she enjoyed the work. She went about doing it in a mechanical way, she didn't protest it but she didn't show many signs of having fun with it either. Of course she never seemed to have much fun at anything now.
The two of us were planting several different herbs. If it ever came to the point where we had nothing but these vegetables to subsist on, then they were going to tasty! FOH's supply room had contained packets of seeds for numerous different herbs.
"Hey, guess what, Jubilee,' I began enthusiastically. "I was in the Danger room earlier today with Gambit and Colossus. And I actually beat them both. Not at the same time, but first I played against Remy and then against Colossus and I won both times! I think they were as surprised as I was." We did not often play one against one; usually we trained on exercises that tested how we worked as a team. Still, this was the first time I had actually won going against one of the other X-men.
"That's nice, Bobby," she said, continuing to look down. Her voice was toneless as it usually was now.
"What about you?" I asked. "You ever think about training again?"
Jubilee shrugged. "Storm asked me to think about it."
"That's great. I hope you do consider it. I mean, you were one heck of a good X-man. We weren't together on the team for too long, but that's what everyone has said about you. They like working with you."
She continued to look down. "I'll think about it," she muttered, though I can't say her tone implied much interest in training again.
A few days later, Marie and Northstar did decide to join us for dinner. They were quiet and kept to themselves, but it was good to see their faces.
The next day, I saw them in the swimming pool which I took as another good sign. At dinner that evening, they joined us again and Marie did something unusual.
After the meal, we were sitting around chatting and munching our deserts which consisted of fruit and cookies. We talked for quite a while, the conversation having to do with the ship's course. There really were no changes on that front. No other ships or planets were in our range. Some people said they felt a touch claustrophobic being confined to this ship, but most said it felt cozy to them. (I also found it cozy.) Hank mentioned that he had looked up the name of the ship, and it was the Defender. None of us were crazy about the name and we casually kicked around ideas for a replacement name.
As we talked, Marie left the room and then returned carrying a huge stack of paper. She was visibly struggling when carrying such a stack of papers, and she set them down on the table as soon as she could. Our heads all turned her way. "Would you do me a favor?" she asked the group. Considering that she had barely said a monosyllable during either this dinner or the previous one, her speaking to the entire group was certainly out of the ordinary.
"It has been helping me a lot to write down what happened," she said through her thick French-Canadian accent. "So I printed up what I wrote and made copies for everyone. I would appreciate if you would read it. It's long though."
`Long' was kind of an understatement. The pages weren't numbered, so I can't say how many there were except to say that my copy was heavy, and she had typed and single-spaced the report. Marie passed out a copy of her report to each one of us.
When we each had our copy, she and Northstar abruptly said goodnight to each of us and left the room.
Now the mood around the table was awkward. Cyclops and Jean exchanged worried glances with each other, and with Storm and Rogue. None of the rest of us knew the details about how FOH had treated Alpha Flight. We assumed their experiences as prisoners of FOH must have been similar to ours. We knew that Marie had confided in Storm, Jean and Rogue, and obviously the three had not spoken to anyone-other than Jean telling Cyclops-about what Marie had said. I got worried just reading the looks on their faces.
Yet curiosity was clearly going to win out. In silence, people began glancing down at their reports and starting to read the first page.
"Jubilee," Storm began, "why don't you come with me? You look tired."
Wordlessly Jubilee rose and followed Storm out of sick bay. They left their copies of the report on the table.
Jean and Cyclops looked at each other. "Well, it's late," Cyke said. "See you all in the morning." He and Jean bid the group `goodnights' and left the room. They, too, didn't bring with them their copies of Marie's report.
Rogue sighed loudly. "If y'all want to read her report, just be ready, ok? It ain't pretty." With that, she said goodnight to the group and left.
After all these warnings, maybe we should have heeded them. But I must assume that the other five men sitting around the table were thinking what I was. After all we had suffered, how much could it hurt to read this? Could it truly be worse than what we survived? Besides, Marie asked us to read it and strongly implied it might continue to help her feel better. So each of us picked up his own copy and read through.
Oh. My. God. Marie did not spare us any details. Starting from when Alpha Flight was brought on board the FOH ship and not ending till the three were rescued, Marie gave a day-by-day report of the events that occurred on board the Destroyer. She described everything from what kind of insects Northstar was forced to ingest to the smell of burning flesh when the men were being tortured. She told us the pitch of Vindicator's screams when she was being raped. We learned that her male teammates would endure the suffering of having the collar used on themselves rather than commit rape, but when FOH used the collars on their female teammates, they were then forced to obey the order to rape. She described how she felt as she watched the first of her teammates tortured to death over a period of hours.
Several of us sitting around the table had to put down the report at times and just look away. But we all kept on reading it, I guess due to some sort of morbid fascination. But as I looked at their faces and everyone-even the Professor-looked as disgusted and fearful as I did.
"I need therapy," I said, placing my report on the table when I had read it all.
Wolverine smashed his claws into the table, creating a deep gash before stalking off. I would need to replicate a new table.
"We should hunt down the crew of the Destroyer and get dem," Gambit said.
"I agree," Colossus said. "They should suffer for this."
Hank rubbed his temples. "My heart breaks for the mutants back on earth. I feel sick when I think of what their fates might be."
Those were a few of the comments we made, but none of us much felt like talking that evening. What was there left to say? We all felt outraged and helpless.
Sleep did not come easily for me that night. I actually called Gambit on the communicator and wasn't surprised to find that he was wide awake too. I asked him if he wanted to play cards. We met in the hall and proceeded to sick bay where we played for a couple hours. We each poured ourselves a drink. I was a bit fearful, remembering what had happened last time Remy and I drank and played cards at night. But there was nothing to worry about. Rogue actually joined us-she went to the infirmary to get something to eat (the food replicator was still kept in there) and was surprised to find us there. She joined us for a while, having herself a drink too. As the three of us played, we talked a bit too.
"I hate the FOH," Gambit said. "Sometimes now I think maybe Magneto was right."
"I hate being homeless," Rogue said. "Cause we can never go back to earth, or not unless it somehow miraculously gets better. So we're castaways."
"But we've always been castaways," I said. "At least we're free of FOH on this ship. At least we all have each other."
After I said that, Rogue and Gambit exchanged a look. Usually when I observed her interactions with him, she either didn't make eye contact or gave him an angry or blank look. She actually had a kind look on her face, maybe even an appreciative one that night.
We played cards until we were too tired that night, and then each returned to our own rooms.
The X-men monitored the area of space near the Acid Planet, even though they had now put a fair amount of distance between their ship and the planet. Three large FOH starships had traveled to the Acid Planet and now maintained continuous orbit around it. The X-men were too far away to detect whether anyone was being transported to the surface, but their sensors did tell them that the three vessels patrolling the planet were extremely large and powerful, with weaponry far surpassing their own. They discussed the situation with each other and had to admit that they had no chance to rescue any mutants that FOH might be taking to the planet. It clearly was a trap, and they had to stay away, as much as many of them disliked the idea. Words from Marie's harrowing report echoed in all of their minds.
The members of Alpha Flight became only slightly less reclusive as they days passed. Northstar and Jeanne Marie generally kept to themselves, quietly conversing in French with each other during dinner. They were polite with the X-men but distant.
The X-men learned something interesting: each of the three members of Alpha Flight had a non-mutant spouse back on earth. Marie had a husband and a 5 year old son, Northstar had a long term boyfriend, and Shaman had a wife and 9 year old daughter. Sadly, none of them knew whether their family was still alive. When Alpha Flight had been disowned by the Canadian government, they had gone undercover. Their families had come with them. In the confusion and panic of the FOH attack, none of them knew what had become of their spouses and children. Had they been killed during the battle, or was there a chance that FOH had left them alive once they had what they wanted? All during their captivity, the FOH guards never said. At first, Marie, Northstar and Shaman were so numb that they had brushed aside thoughts of their families. But as the days passed, they felt mental agony, not knowing the fate of their loved ones.
Shaman had ended his seclusion, and now he joined the X-men for dinner as well. He didn't speak much, and it was a surprise when he addressed the group during dinner one evening.
"I would like to make a suggestion," Shaman said. "All of us have suffered a great deal. I know my teammates in Alpha Flight and I still need to deal with the fact that the rest of our group has been killed. We need to deal with the torture we experienced, and the anguish we feel over not knowing where our loved ones are." Given that Shaman had hardly spoken two words to the X-men since setting foot on board the ship, this practically constituted a speech for him.
"Therefore," he continued, "I would like to conduct a healing ceremony."
Storm and the other women exchanged looks with each other, finding it interesting that Shaman had used the term they always used. The four continued to meet semi-regularly.
"I had originally thought the ceremony should be for Marie, Northstar and myself," Shaman said. "But I understand that you X-men have also lost teammates. And you have all suffered too. I would like to invite you to participate in the ceremony. Would you like to?"
The X-men looked around the table at each other. "I personally think it is a good idea," the Professor said. "We have not yet done anything formal to say goodbye to our X-men who were killed. Nor have we dealt with, as a team, the torture we experienced." He paused, "What does everyone else think?"
Most of the rest of the X-men said they agreed with the Professor. Those who didn't speak up nodded and indicated they would go along with it.
Shaman went on to explain that he had experience with facilitating such ceremonies. Alpha Flight had lost a member years ago, and Shaman had led the memorial/healing ceremony back then. He also said that he had not ever before worked with victims of the specific kinds of torture we suffered, but he said he felt his training in emotional healing would render him a good facilitator for that as well.
"I am glad that you would like to participate," Shaman said to the group. "I will need a few days to prepare myself. Also, I could use some help from you, Bobby, in replicating a few supplies."
Iceman nodded. Shaman looked forward to preparing.
Beast sat in the lab section of the infirmary the next day. He thought he might be on the verge of a major breakthrough regarding the collars. His fingers moved rapidly, brain buzzing. If this was successful, this could be incredibly wonderful for mutants. Beast enjoyed the challenging work. It kept his mind off of some of the unsettling thoughts that occasionally swan around his brain since he had read Marie's report.
His ears perked up as he heard the door slide open. Storm and Jubilee entered sick bay. Beast looked up at his teammates.
"Hello, ladies," he said.
"Good afternoon, Hank," Storm said. Jubilee nodded at him. Concern flashed across Beast's face as he noted that Jubilee looked more downcast than usual. Storm had a serious look in her eyes.
"Can we talk with you in private?" Storm asked.
There was no one else in sick bay, though anyone could walk in at any time as it was their center of activities. "Certainly," Beast said. "There is a meeting room down the hall."
The three entered the spacious meeting room. The X-men rarely used it, as they tended to meet over dinner, around the circular table in sick bay. The meeting room contained a long, rectangular table. Storm sat at the head of the table, with Beast and Jubilee on either side of her.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Beast asked gently.
Storm and Jubilee exchanged a quick glance. Jubilee looked down at the table. Storm spoke, "Jubilee is pregnant."
Beast restrained a gasp. Despite his professional and clinical background, he was taken aback and he felt sorry for the young woman. After all she had survived, and now this. He tried to look composed. "Are you certain?"
"Yes," Storm said. "We waited until we knew for sure before telling you. At this point, we are certain beyond a doubt." Storm paused. "Hank, your assistance is going to be needed at the birth. I know you do not have any experience with childbirth, though."
"I would be glad to learn all that I can," Beast offered. "As you know, the ship's computers have a wealth of information accessible." He paused, "Of course, they are no substitute for having done the procedure itself."
"I know," Storm said. "But we are confident in you. I, too, would like to learn with you. In the village where I grew up, babies were routinely delivered by mothers and aunts. Occasionally there was a midwife available, but not always. I was witness to quite a few births and would be glad to assist however necessary."
"That would be wonderful," Beast said. "I will also research information about prenatal care, if you would like."
Jubilee nodded. "I suppose anything on the topic of babies is going to be useful," Storm said.
Beast was happy to have another important mission, even though he was slightly fearful as well. He reminded himself that new challenges were often a bit scary but usually beneficial. He reminded himself of all the seemingly impossible tasks he had taken on and knew that he could do this too.
"May I ask a question," Beast began softly. This would be a delicate matter, but it had to be asked. "This might be none of my business, but did you consider aborting the pregnancy?" Beast went on, "I cannot say I am comfortable with the idea of abortion in general. However, given the circumstances….." his voice trailed off.
Jubilee looked up. "We did talk about it," she said. "We've been talking and thinking about options for a while." Jubilee drew in a breath. "I decided I am going to have this baby. It shouldn't suffer for what its father did." It was a rarity for Jubilee to speak so many sentences; Beast had not heard her do so since prior to their capture.
Storm's features remained expressionless. During the last several days, she had struggled to provide loving guidance to Jubilee without influencing her one way or the other. Storm thought that Jubilee should abort. She was concerned about the young woman's mental state if forced to bear the child of a rapist. Jubilee had seriously considered the idea, but in the end decided she wanted to have the baby.
Beast nodded. "If you do change your mind, please let me know."
Jubilee nodded. Storm added, "Jubilee seems pretty firm with me that she does want to have this baby. But if she does change her mind…..would you be willing to perform the procedure?"
Beast folded his hands in front of him. "Yes, for you I would. As I said, I'm not comfortable with abortion in general, but given the circumstances, if you do change your mind, I will perform the procedure. Of course….please do keep in mind that abortion should be performed as early during a pregnancy as possible, and that I would need time to learn how to do it."
Jubilee nodded again. "Thank you, Hank," she said. "I will let you know if I change my mind, but I feel fairly certain about this. I have had several days to think about it."
"I assume that I should keep this a secret," Beast said.
"Yeah," Jubilee said. "I know I have to tell everyone sometime, but I don't want to just yet. I will though."
Before they left the meeting room, Beast was taken aback once more when Jubilee got up and hugged him. "Thank you for everything, Hank."
Beast returned the hug. "Thank you for entrusting this to me. I will do the best I can."
Storm hugged Beast too. Jubilee then went to Storm and hugged her again, as she had many times during the past few days. "I love you, Storm. I don't know what I would do without you."
Storm returned the hug, "I love you too, Jubilee."
TO BE CONTINUED