A/N this chapter was written mostly by Scurifer, and it is with his urging that I continue this story. So, so sorry it's taken this long for me to finally get my arse in gear. Thankyou all for your reviews, and I apologise once again for taking so long.
Chapter 5
Gathering Friends
"So this gathering that's coming up soon, every Immortal out there will come and agree to end the Game for good?" asked Mordin.
"Some will, the rest will not. They'll have to be dealt with," replied Jubilee.
"I take you a have a plan?"
"Some Immies, myself and others will go after them yes. As for dealing with them I have a number of options." She sat down on his desk and looked at him, expecting the curiosity she could see on his face.
"Elaborate. Since the destruction caused by Quickenings is out of the question I presume you have another option?"
"One, we could change the rules of the game, allow four or five Immortals who agree to end the Game to share the Quickening. It's hard to split it, but it is possible, and if we focus the Quickenings on many, instead of one, it may stop any possible destruction. Or Two, we use all our combined magic, mutant and technological powers to banish them to farthest reaches of time and space, preferably some place at least half pleasant where they can't or won't come back. But even that's not guaranteed; the third option is we simply kill them all on other worlds. Barren planets."
"I like the third plan, but I'm no Head hunter so I'll leave it to you."
"Thanks. That's what I really wanted to hear. I had to know you'd stay out of this."
"Absolutely. This is why you came, to ensure my absence?"
"Pretty much, I was hoping you'd help me or if you didn't want to, stay well out of this. Oh and Mordin?"
"Yes."
"Stay away from anything half dangerous, I seriously do not need to go up against someone with your power out there."
"Certainly. Good luck, old Mother," Jubilee gave him a mock snarl for the 'old mother' comment, and walked out the door without saying goodbye.
Jubilee walked out and grinned at the sight of Methos pacing like a caged tiger.
"A little impatient, are we?" she asked, coming up to him, and he spun, startled. He obviously hadn't seen her.
"How did it go?" asked Methos.
"He won't get involved."
"Is that good or bad?" he asked as they got in the car.
"For
now good, at any rate we will be ready for what comes tomorrow. Right now,
though, I have a Nightcrawler in my apartment that I have to go deal with, I'll
have to find a way to stay away from the X-men for a little while longer."
"I will, I promise." Jubilee gave him a narrow eyed stare and finally nodded.
"Just in case I better put up a little safe-guard."
She put her fingers on Kurt's forehead that glowed with a haze of a soft violent colour. Kurt heard a mutter of strange eerie words under her breath and the glow faded.
"Vhat did you do?"
"A minor spell of disillusionment in regards to my whereabouts, and a few psi-screens to protect your mind, just in case, nothing special. Here, I've booked a first class flight for you to the Bahamas. I trust you'll enjoy the trip for me," she said handing over a plane ticket to Kurt.
"I will and thank you, liebchen."
"Gute
Nacht und Auf Wiedersehen mein liebes," replied Jubilee in perfectly fluent
German and pecked Kurt on the cheek. (Goodnight and goodbye my dear.)
The Gathering was being hosted in Place de L'Opera, Paris's most famous opera house. It wasn't Holy Ground, but it would do for this. The nearest Holy Ground was a mile away, and with this many Immortals together, the Headhunters wouldn't have a chance if they tried to attack. The maker of the opera house, of course was another immortal whom left numerous stand-ins to hold ownership of it in his place.
Only a hundred or so Immortals were present but for an Immortal of Jubilee's age and power the buzz in her was like sitting in a sauna bath with arctic clothing on, distinctly unpleasant. But she endured and herself and those present at her apartment a week back were all on a balcony seat.
"Ow!! An opera house?" asked Jubilee.
"What I thought you loved opera?" asked Connor.
"Ow!! I'll never tell my buddies back in N.Y. that but yes I do, ever since I dated Shakespeare."
Her group fell into silence as that last statement.
"Yes, that was me in Shakespeare in Love. Except I wasn't blonde. God I hate, historians, whenever a Chinese or African chick does something good she has to be recorded as European and blonde...fer gawd's sake. Whenever it's a girl it becomes a guy and..."
"Can you stop rambling and simply answer the question asked," interrupted Methos.
"Sorry it comes with age. You know, you're older than I am. The pain, it's the freakin' buzz, givin' me a major headache. There's just too many of us around."
"Stop complaining. You're not the only one feeling the buzz so strong." Methos snapped, irritated as well, thanks to the feel of a hundred Immortals within a hundred meters of him. Jubilee ignored him and turned to Joe, who was one of a number of Watchers who had been invited to join this meeting, so they could record it accurately.
"Joe, what are you doing up here, I thought you were hosting this?" Joe gave her a wide eyed look, trying for innocence, but it just came off as cheeky.
"Did I say that? Oh, no, I was just gathering the Immortals I knew to come here. This was not my idea." They all stared at him.
"Pardon?" Duncan finally asked.
"It wasn't my idea. An Immortal, Huang-ti contacted myself and a few other Watchers recently, and asked that we spread the word that a Gathering would take place here."
"Huang-ti?" Jubilee paled.
"Yes."
"Oh god. It's just like him to care about the humans, but he has no problems trying to take heads."
"I've only met him once so I wouldn't know, really. At any rate he's the one who addressed the issue first. He's planning on asking all present to cease playing, how many do you think will listen?" That was directed at Jubilee, who shook her head, and looked at Methos.
"Half/half I'd say." The Elder Immortal said thoughtfully. "Then when he says he'll go after those who don't agree, more like 3:1 ratio. And finally when myself and a few others join his little head hunt maybe 9:1."
"So it looks good then? I know you're quite the pacifist these days, Adam, but are you sure everyone will be the same?"
"No, at least half of those who join the final hunt will probably do it for a final grab of power. So I suppose, I'll just have to grab all the goodies before anyone else does." He shot a teasing look at Jubilee, who rolled her eyes. "Looks like it's beginning."
A fairly old man with long raven black hair and a long moustache, bright blue eyes and a yellow Chinese robe walked onto the stage and stood for a moment, until everyone's attention was completely on him.
"Greetings fellow Immortals. Many of you now me as Huang-ti, the Yellow Emperor, an Elder Immortal. Today I have brought you here to make an announcement...the Game is over," said the Yellow Emperor in fluent English with a Chinese accent.
Conversation broke out amongst the ranks and many even shouted curses at Huang.
"I know you are all wondering what I'm saying, what madness is this old goat uttering. But it is something that must come to pass. We must stop playing the game. Over the last few centuries I have noticed and tried to ignore an imminent danger. The Quickenings themselves are beginning to unravel the fabric of reality itself and thus threaten to destroy everything utterly. A Quickening from an Elder alone is now sufficient to devastate an entire country and more. We must end the Game, for everyone's sake and we must end it now. I ask for you to do it willingly. Do I have any who disagree?"
As Jubilee predicted at least half of the Immortals present began to get up to leave.
"I should state that I will hunt down and deal with all those who will abide by this decree."
At least half of those standing sat back down. Jubilee deemed it about right to make her voice known.
"And I will join him," she stated, standing up and speaking with both her verbal and psi-voice, raising her right fist up to her chin as a gesture.
"So will I," followed Methos.
"And I." "And I." and so on and so forth till nearly every elder (Immortal of at least 3000) stood by Huang's decision.
And as Methos predicted only a tenth of the Immortals present left the building. Most of whom were quite old themselves.
Jubilee sat back down and waited for the buzz to lessen before she stood up and walked down the back stairs and into the lobby of the opera house. As she'd know, Huang-ti was already there. She bowed low, but didn't take her eyes off him.
Huang-ti looked her over, and then examined the group of Immortals that had followed her down from the box seats. He finally bowed in return, not quite as low, and walked away, followed by two young Immortals, probably his Students.
"Okay, who's Huang-ti and what's he to you?" Connor asked."Huang-Ti the Yellow Emperor. The closest thing to a Chinese god without actually being a god, and very powerful. He's around 5000 years old. He brought China into a golden age, which lasted till the European takeover. A real pacifist but an incredible warrior," replied Jubilee.
"It sounds like you have a lot of respect for him," Duncan observed in his usual nosy manner."First he's an overbearing dick of a parent and he was my foster father's great-great-great grandfather's foster father. Second, he has no qualms with blasting my limbs off while trying to take off my head. He's a pyro like myself. We have almost identical abilities, and he's quite powerful in magic as well.""Ah, so that explains the eyes. You really take after him don't you?" Amanda quipped, grinning at her 'grandmother'."Shut up. Look, we've got about thirty Immies out there, many of which have considerable power and only 10 of us Elders who have agreed to hunt them as yet. Unfair odds really." Her mouth quirked into a smile, and they realised that she was saying it was unfair for the rogue Immortals."Yah, poor bastards. I hope your grandfather is as merciful as they say he is," Amanda winced in sympathy."Only
to the weak and mortal."
"Hey Elf," Logan looked up and sniffed in surprise, as Kurt bamfed into place beside where Storm was lying on the beach. All the other X-men were around as well, and came over to say hello to the elf. "Thought you were in Paris."
"I vas, Herr Logan."
"So how come I smell Jubilee's scent around you? She's in Florida."
"Ah…vell, Jubilee is not in Florida. She vas in Paris."
"What?" Storm, Jean and the various other X-people around stared at Kurt in surprise. "What was she doing in Paris?"
"An errand for Gateway, I believe." Kurt looked a little flustered by all the attention he was getting.
"What!"
"Scott, this is not necessary. She vas fine!"
"Stow it Kurt. They should have alerted us as soon as she disappeared." There was a beep from the computer in the Blackbird, and the X-men all crowded around to look at the screen.
"This had better be important, Summers," Emma Frost's annoyed visage appeared.
"Damn right it is, lady," Rogue argued, before being hushed by Remy.
"Emma, why didn't you call us when Jubilee disappeared?"
There was silence from the computer as Emma's face went even whiter than her clothes.
"Cyclops… Jubilee called me the day we all left to say she was going to spend her vacation with you X-men! She was supposed to be with you!"
There was a moment of absolute silence, and then everyone started talking at once.
"Logan," Illyana tugged at the man's shirtsleeve as the X-men and Gen X gathered in the War Room at the mansion. "Kurt's got some kind of magical emotion modifier on him. An amulet designed to calm people down." She stated. "And for some reason, it feels like Jubilee's power all over it."
Logan gave Magik a good long look, surprised by her statement, and then turned and growled at his friend.
"Ok Elf what's going on here," Wolverine menacingly popped his claws.
"Vhat do you mean?" spluttered Kurt surprised."Jubilee. What's going on. Yana says you're wearing some kind of magic thing that's got Jubilee all over it."
"Uh…she, uh… well it, uh…"
"She?" Scott asked as the blue furred elf became the centre of attention.
"Vell uh, actually it vas a he, yes a he, honest uh! Uhm! He gave me the amulet, so you vouldn't be so concerned by Jubilee's disappearance. I don't think it is vorking." He pulled the little amulet out from around his neck and frowned at it.
"If you won't tell us what happened to Jubilation then I'll pry out of your head," stated Emma even more menacingly than Logan, not buying the story at all.
"No vait, she put a few shields around my mind-""That's absurd she has no such po...aahhhh!!!!" Emma stumbled backwards as she was knocked backwards by a massive backlash of psychic power.
Logan took a menacing step forward, as did Gambit, and most of the Gen X children. Kurt spilled the beans.
"That's impossible." and similar phrases were thrown round the room as Beast, Bishop, Cable, Colossus, Cyclops, Gambit, Rogue, Kitty, Storm, Logan, Jean, Prof. X and the entire crew of GenX argued over the truth behind this little discovery. Other X-men were present but didn't argue as much not really knowing much about the newly apparent Immortal.
"This is absurd, there is absolutely no way our Jubilee is the same Jubilee you met. Someone is playing with us, right?" said Scott.
"Actually, Scott. It is absolutely true," began Bishop, having thought about it for a moment. Cable nodded in agreement.
"What?"
"It's true father, Jubilation Lee is an immortal, both of us meet the Last X-man in our futures, not a day older than what we've seen," added Cable.
The room was silenced for many long moments.
"Uhm!!! Does any vato know what the hell is an Immortal?" Skin demanded.
"I do." All eyes turned to Magik.
"Then tell us snowflake," asked Piotr.
"There are a race of beings called the Immortals. Well… Race isn't the right word, because they can't breed, and they aren't born, as far as anyone knows. Immortals are always found." Illyana shifted a little uneasily. She knew the rules about Immortals. How they were never supposed to be told to the common people. Then again, X-men weren't very common. "When an Immortal dies for the first time, the First Death, they stop aging, and are forever as they were when they died. The only way to kill an Immortal is for another Immortal to remove the head of the first one. Decapitation, or an explosion… anything that separates the head from the body."
"Why have we never heard of this?" Xavier asked softly.
"They tend to be very powerful and hide from humanity for it's own sake and safety. They…they play this Game… the Last Immortal alive will be the supreme being. A god. At least… that's what most think. All they know, really, is that the last Immortal wins the Prize, and that's about it. There's Headhunters, greedy, power hungry Immortals determined to win the Prize at whatever cost. There are Rules to the Game, but I'm not sure what they are. I've only met one other Immortal, and only in passing." She shrugged.
# That's crazy. # Jono finally exclaimed.
"I know, but if she isn't an Immortal, who is she really then?" asked Magik.
"Uhm my friend Markus called her various names. Lady of the Lights, Alegria, Joy, uh… Chi-ciri, I think… there were a few others but I cannot remember."
The list of names made Magik's jaw hit the floor.
"I...I...I've been a good friend of the Mistress of Heaven's Fire for all these years and I never even noticed. Oh crap, I can't believe she actually thinks of me as a friend, unless she was only acting, unless of course..." she rambles on for a while.
"Snowflake could you stop and explain who this Mistress of Heaven's Fire is," Piotr asked, trying to calm his sister down.
"Uh, only one of the most powerful and oldest Immortals in existence." She cried, stunned at the revelation of who her friend really was.
"How old?" M demanded bluntly.
"Four thousand years old give or take a few decades and she has enough power to obliterate a planet in one go. At least, those were the rumours."
Everyone started yelling and jumping around in shock.
"You mean we've been living next to the most powerful god on the planet and perhaps in the entire universe and we didn't even noticed?" asked Paige with her Southern accent.
"No, not a god. Don't called them gods, they aren't. At least, not yet. She isn't the strongest, but I've heard rumours that she's one of the best. She has superiors. I have to meet her, she's the leading and most powerful arch sorceress there is, and not even Dr. Strange is as strong."
"Where is she?" Logan turned to Kurt for his answer, and the elf paled a light blue.
"Paris, at the moment I believe," said Kurt.
"Then Paris is where we're going," finished Logan.
"Uh. That might not be a good idea," said Kurt.
"Why not," Scott asked.
"Vell, vhile she was telling me about herself, I mean her real self she told me that something really big and probably apocalyptic is about to unfold. I offered help and said I'd get you all as vell but she just said and I quote: 'After about 234 separate Apocalypses not including the many times I've had to kick the crap out of blue, grey and Egyptian, I'm used to it. Besides Immortals handle Immortal matters, it's against the rules to get help for these fights anyvay, 'sides vhat are the X-men gonna do against 2000 plus year old power hungry Immies? Throw stuff at em' and hope they pay some attention?' She rambled on for a while after that."
"That'd be the petite," Remy grinned, not as fazed as everyone else at the revelation that his young friend wasn't quite as young as she seemed.
"Well I don't care. If my little girl is in trouble I'm gonna help her and bring 'er home," Logan growled, preparing to stalk from the room.
"Uh, mein freund, she is hardly little. She's old enough to be your great-grandmother's great-grand-mother and more. She probably thinks of us as children not the other vay around."
"Well I don't care I'm going after, we'll argue with her when we get there."
"Well it's unanimous, we're going to Paris," said Scott.
Generally good vibes were coming off of everyone as they began making plans for a nice little trip to Paris, some of them even acting as if this were a part of their vacation.
"She is going to kill me. And vith 4000 years of experience she'll be pretty good at it. AckNein. One day vith her and I'm already babbling."