Some Bonding Over Broken Bones

"Is Mr. White gonna be okay?" Kitty asked Lina as she came out of the X-Men's infirmary. Most of the X-Men and Misfits were there recovering from the attacks that evening.

"Yeah nothing fatal thank goodness," Lina told her. "But he sure got the stuffing beaten out of him."

"Jerks!" Tabitha spat. "I can't believe some people!"

"I can," Lance grunted. "What a night."

"Figures, I didn't get a scratch fighting all those other guys…" Bobby grunted as he looked at the cast on his arm. "Cobra, Magneto, Sentinels, Apocalypse, Proteus…Piece of cake. But one FOH nut…"

"Don't worry," Althea said. "Thanks to Lina and Lifeline your arm should be as good as new in a few days."

"Hey guys there are some new people in the mansion," Jamie called out to them.

"New people?" Jean looked at the monitor and saw Xavier coming down in the elevator with two people in black uniforms. One was a Vietnamese woman with mid length hair and the other was a Native American young man with long black hair.

"From the looks of them they must be two members of Cooper's special team," Scott remarked.

"Everyone I'd like you to meet two members of X-Factor. This is Xi'an Coy Manh," Xavier introduced the pair. "And Thomas Talltree. Codenames Karma and Telek."

"Call me Shan," Karma introduced herself. "It's easier to say."

"X-Factor huh?" Logan raised an eyebrow. "So that's the name of Cooper's latest project. Seems you can't keep from getting into trouble kid."

"You know me," Shan said. "Things just happen."

"You know each other?" Scott asked.

"I helped rescue Shan and her family from her dirt bag of an uncle years ago while I was with SHIELD," Logan explained. "She joined up not long before I left. Course she was just a kid then."

"Everyone's just a kid compared to you old man," Shan grinned.

"So what powers do you have?" Jean asked them.

"I can take possession of other people's minds for a short while," Shan said. "As well as other minor telepathic abilities."

"I'm a telekinetic," Telek grinned. "That's what the name says. And Telek is fine with me."

"Not to mention pretty handy with a plane like his brother," Althea grinned. "Good to see you again Tommy."

"Good to see you too," Telek gave her a hug.

"And you know him?" Scott asked Althea.

"My brother Airborne is in the Joes," Telek explained. "He has some minor psychic ability but he's not a mutant like I am. He's an Esper."

"Like Lifeline?" Kitty asked.

"Yup, but without the healing thing," Telek nodded. "When I was a kid I was kidnapped by Cobra and the Joes rescued me. My telekinetic abilities were just starting but they were really powerful. Not long after that experience I decided to participate in a special program to not only hone my powers, but to put them to use so that no one with special abilities would be used like that again." &

"What kind of program?" Xavier asked. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"Most everyone else in the program is an Esper, not a mutant," Telek explained. "Kind of hush hush."

"Let's cut to the chase," Shan sighed. "We heard about the incident at the amusement park and we're here to get your side of the story."

"What's to tell? The FOH bums ambushed us when we went out for a night," Ray said. "And they beat up Evan's lawyer."

"Mr. White?" Telek asked.

"He's injured but fortunately nothing fatal," Lina said. "He does have a broken leg."

"Yes, obviously the FOH is trying to send us a message," Xavier sighed.

"We just threw one of their biggest supporters in jail as well as sent their founder to the nuthouse," Logan grunted. "We should have expected retaliation."

"It sounds like the others," Shan agreed.

"Others?" Jean asked. "You mean this has happened before?"

"We've been trying to downplay them but yeah," Telek said. "The Friends of Humanity is on a witch hunt. Anybody even suspected of being a mutant is targeted now in a lot of cities. Two days ago a priest in Iowa was killed because it was rumored he gave communion to mutants. We think there was a community of Morlocks somewhere in the city but they must have moved on."

"That's horrible!" Kurt spat. Everyone knew he was a devoted Catholic and took his religion seriously.

"I know and it's only going to get worse unless we keep an eye on them," Telek nodded.

"Evan's trial has certainly stirred up a lot of tension," Ororo sighed. "And I fear it will only grow worse."

&: From the episode 'Operation Mind Menace' from Season 1 of the GI Joe series. Obviously Tommy is older now and this is my version of him.

Next: Evan takes the stand in his own defense.