Attention: Generation X and their villians, as well as any other mutant mentioned in this story, is property of Marvel Comics. The character Richard Cale is named after family relations. Any other reference to anything copywrighted is a chance happening.

Iron X

A Quick Departure

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I. Canon
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The plane landed on the tarmac and slowed to a halt. The door to the plane openned and several men in suits stepped out. Behind them came a large blonde haired man wearing rose-colored sunglasses. Canon smiled at the crowd as he stepped down from the plane. Flashbulbs went off as he walked from the plane to a stretch limo awaiting him beyond the crowd of reporters and photographers. One of Canon's bodyguards opened the door to the limo and Canon waved one final time as he stepped inside. Instantly as the door closed Canon's smile faded, "A waste of time." Canon muttered, "The world crumbles around us in war and genocide, and I'm on vacation to support my home country's economic revenue." Canon turned to the large man at the other end of the limo. "This is one time I agree with your way of doing things, Equilibrium. We should be taking some action."

"I'm at the understanding that you have a task for my undertaking." The white haired giant replied, crouched over at the other end of the Limousine, his shoulders up against the roof of the car. Equilibrium grinned, "It must be something considerable, to require my vaunted physical ability."

Canon tossed a file over to Equilibrium, "This is the target, 'Richard Cale', another genocidal madman... but one with a corporate following. I need you to handle this one carefully."

Equilibrium picked up the file and thumbed through it, "Moderately young for a terrorist is he not?"

"Age isn't the issue." Canon replied, "Nor is his standing, or his entourage. Keep that in mind."

Equilibrium looked through the photographs, "This cannot be accurate, they're all merely children? Even this 'Richard Cale' could not be more than in his early twenties!" Equilibrium said in surprise.

Canon looked at his follower with one eyebrow raised, "So are you." He said coolly, "Does that make you any less dangerous?"

"Touché." Equilibrium replied. "Regardless of stature or age, the terrorist is vermin. And no powerful vermin yet have survived any limitless power such as mine."

"Spare me your gloating," Canon began, "If you had bothered to read the report you would have noticed the details." Canon sat foreword, "It is not an assassination mission, it is a kidnapping, and I want this to be just public enough for it to be in the press, but I can't be connected... so your mission is to hire the ninja group 'the Hand' and then contact a man named Kanagawa, he's mentioned in the report." Canon lowered his voice; "Cale is to make an appearance on the show 'Iron Chef'. And as that show is internationally televised I think that would make a nice statement to the rest of the mutant terrorists who think they are above any level of justice."

"Sir, I must protest, this is a complete travesty to my ability!" Equilibrium yelled, "I have an infinite amount of ability! Regardless of the target's following, I can handle this one personally."

"That's exactly why I want you to hire someone else, Equilibrium. Your lay-waste-to-several-square-miles style of solution would be, to put it extremely mildly, Bad Press. Furthermore, to restate my earlier point, I don't want any connection to this incident, is that understood?" hesitantly Equilibrium nodded.

Suddenly the fax machine in the limo sprang to life. Nonchalantly Canon reached over and took the page as it printed out. His brow furrowed, "Problems persist, I take it?" Equilibrium asked.

"Ill-considered timing, nothing more." Canon said as he fed the page through the paper shredder. Canon sat back and sighed, looking out the window. Equilibrium was a member of his EOC, an elite enforcement group consisting of seven... but there was supposed to be eight. The eighth member was out there, and along with his feral partner, hunting him down. Canon wasn't stupid, though; he kept tabs on this vengeful rebel through his large network of spies and other operatives... a simple feat for Canon's global influence... unfortunately, that vengeful rebel was here in Japan, so now Canon would have to keep his eyes open for possible attack. Canon's eyes floated over the crowd outside the limo; they were out there... probably closer than he thought.

Several yards away, a watchful pair of eyes followed the limousine as it continued down the street. Balam continued to watch until the limo drove out of sight; it was time to warn Kevin... Canon was here.

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II. Balam
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About an hour and two train connections later, Balam walked into the bar. Kevin sat at one end while a young Japanese man in a suit sat and talked with him. Kevin turned as Christy walked up to him and said, "I see you made a friend while I was away. What have you two been talking about?"

"Hell, I don't know." Kevin replied taking a sip of his beer, "I don't speak a word of Japanese."

Balam turned to the Japanese man, smiled and said "Konban wa." Kevin looked up at her in surprise.

Balam continued to talk to the man as Kevin looked on. Finally the man laughed. He stood up, bowed, and left the bar. Balam sat down as Kevin continued to stare at her, "I didn't know you knew Japanese."

"You never asked." Balam said smiling.

"So what's you tell him that had him laughing so hard?"

"He asked if you meant to dress like that..."

"And you said?"

"I said yes." Balam smiled.

"What's wrong with the way I dress?" Kevin said motioning to his Zebra stripe styled leather jacket and black bandana covering his head, "Jesse Ventura Dressed like this for years!

"I think that's the point he was trying to make." Balam replied. Kevin chuckled. After a few moments Balam's smile faded, "He's here in Japan."

"I know." Kevin said sipping his beer, "It was on TV."

"You're still going to go through with this?" Balam said, "He's going to kill you eventually?"

"He needs to be stopped."

Balam sighed. She knew Kevin was right, but Kevin still scared her with his reckless lifestyle. She was worried that he was taking on more than he could handle with Canon, and so far, Canon had proven her right. "There's something else." Balam added.

"Hmm?"

"There was a name I was able to make out, as I was reading lips through the window's of his car, Richard Cale." Balam looked at sequel in the eyes, "Does that name mean anything to you?"

Kevin thought for a moment, "No... it doesn't."

Balam sat back as Sequel finished off his beer and there was silence for a few moments, "Well, whoever he is, he must get around."

"Why's that?" Kevin asked.

Balam pointed up at the television in the corner of the Bar, "That commercial. It just said he's to appear on a show called 'Iron Chef'?" she said, "What is that?"

"I don't know. I think it's a game show, but I couldn't tell you..." Kevin said as he stood up and turned up the volume on the TV, "I'm a movie person."

"Well," Balam said as the commercial concluded.

Kevin turned to her, a smirk on his face, "I still can't speak Japanese." He said. He walked up to Balam and tugged on her arm, "Come on. We'll see if we can buy tickets for the show. I just hope I don't have to wear a suit."

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III. Darrett
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Darrett awoke to the sound of someone knocking on the door. He knew he had to get up, but he didn't want to. He liked how he was now. He was in the arms of his beloved, Clarice. As he stirred slightly, he felt her hold him closer to her. That he didn't mind either. In fact, he wished he could lay with Clarice like this for the rest of time. The thought was interupted by a voice coming from the other side of the door. "Yo, Darrett, wake up. We need to be down in the main hall in about two hours."

He almost bolted up out of bed, but didn't. Last thing he wanted to do was alert anyone that Clarice was in the room. He glanced over at the chair they had thrown their tops on and thought how bad it would look if someone managed to open the door. He quietly woke Clarice and said, "Clarice, you need to head back to your room. Everett is at the door, and we don't want to get caught like this."

He watched as Clarice sat up and said, "Oh no. Do you think he knows I'm in here?" He noticed that she spoke softly. Honestly, he didn't know if Everett knew or not. He then heard her say, "Do you think he knows we are both here?"

He didn't know how to respond. He hadn't even told her the truth. He knew why Everett couldn't synch up with him. He wasn't even sure if any of the Generation X-er's knew. He then said, "I don't know, but you better blink back to your room quick." He watched as a portal formed, and she started to step through it. He then looked at the chair and said, "Don't forget your blouse and..."

Before he finished his thought, she stopped and turned and walked over to him. He felt her hug him as she quietly whispered, "Frankly, I'd rather not take the other item back, but I better would." He watched as she then picked them up and gave him a sly wink before blinking out of the room.

He then turned and shouted, "Just a moment, Everett. I need to finish getting dressed." To be honest, he needed to put something on so he didn't appear to be sleeping in the same outfit.

On the other side of the door, he heard Everett say, "Well, don't take long, we leave in less than two hours." That would be more than enough time, he was already packed, and he only needed to get dressed. He quickly pulled out an outfit from the closet and put it on. When he was finally dressed, he openned the door and was almost in shock. Everett just looked at him and said, "Looks like we were thinking the same."

Darrett just nodded and said, "Looks that way. How long have you been up?" He was also looking for Jubilee. Jubilee would not be far from Everett. He then continued with his questions, "And where is Jubilee?"

He watched as Everett took his suitcases and said, "She's going to get Clarice. We've been up for two hours now, and Emma told us to get you and Clarice. She has something for Clarice to use in Japan."

Darrett felt like his throat went dry when he heard that. He didn't know how long Jubilee was waiting at the door to Clarice's room, and why Emma wanted to see her. "Everett, what does Emma want to give her?"

As Everett left the room, he said, "Something about an imager to make her appear normal. I don't think there was anything else." Darrett hoped Everett was right. Last thing he wanted was a lecture about the time they were spending together. He then continued quietly down the hall to where all the kids were meeting.

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IV. Clarice
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Clarice arrived in her room and started to wonder how long she'd have to get into fresh clothes. She figured she wouldn't have long, since Everett was already looking for Darrett. She could only guess that someone was already looking for her. She went over to her closet and pulled out one of her favorite outfits. She liked it most since it was so much like her original outfit, yet it was two piece. Now all she had to do was get the outfit on before someone one knocked on her door. Clarice had just gotten the bottom of her outfit on when she heard the knock on her door. Before she could respond, she heard Jubilee shout, "Yo, Clarice, rise and shine. We have to get going soon."

Clarice looked in the direction of the door and said, "Ok, I'll be ready in a few minutes." She started to put her top on, and then it hit her. She had not locked the door. Clarice started to turn and say, "Jubilee, what ever you do, don't...."

It was too late. Jubilee had started to open the door, and just by her tone, Jubilee didn't know why the door was unlocked. "Clarice, how long have you been up, and why is..." It was then their eyes locked. Clarice saw Jubilee blush and spin around and said, "You could have warned me that you were getting dressed. Geez."

Clarice felt a little bad about what had happened and turned around, so she wasn't facing Jubilee. "I'm sorry about that, Jubilee. I didn't realize I had left the door unlocked. I'll be done dressing in a moment."

She then heard Jubilee say, "Well, you shouldn't have left your door unlocked if you were in that state. What if I had been one of the guys, like Angelo or Darrett?"

Clarice almost said something, but stopped herself. She didn't want Jubilee to know about her and Darrett. She then said, "Well, if they did, they would be blinked to the top of the boy's dorm." She then turned around and said, "All done."

Clarice watched as Jubilee turned around and said, "You look like you are in the outfit you arrived here in. I hope that doesn't cause a problem in Japan."

She looked at her outfit and just said, "Well, I hope it doesn't, but I do have something different packed if needed. Apparent, this would not go well at the show."

She watched Jubilee nod and say, "True, and Emma has something for you in her office. We need to get over there, and fast. We need to leave for the airport in less than two hours." Clarice nodded, and grabbed her bags. They did have less than two hours to leave, and hopefully Emma would not keep them detained for long.

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V. Emma
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Emma was sitting in her office. She looked at the small watch-like device she was holding and thought about its function. With it, Clarice would look like a normal girl. She knew some people glanced at Angelo, but she figured it would be worse for Clarice. The girl's natural skin color was purple. Something that would not set well, as of yet, but if things kept taking their current course, mutants might be more excepted than before. As she took another look at the device, she said, "I wonder what you'll look like, Clarice?"

She was almost stunned to hear a voice respond, "Are you alright, Emma? Clarice isn't hear right now." She looked up to see Richard and Yvette standing at the door. It was obvious to her that Rich had spoke, as he said, "What are you talking about, anyway?"

Emma then held up the imager and said, "This. When Clarice puts it on and activates it, she will appear like a normal girl. The only problem is that I don't know how different she will appear. For all we know, it may just cover up what her skin looks like."

She then heard Yvette say, "That should be fine as long as the image doesn't make her look like one of those Sailor Scouts. I don't think they would like that at all in Japan."

Emma just nodded and said, "The way Dr. McCoy said it worked was that the hologram would only change what her skin and hair looked like. It would not cover up the clothing she would wear."

She then heard Rich say, "Well, that's a good thing. That means we don't need to have more than one of these." Emma had to agree with that. Now, there was only one thing she needed to discuss with them. She could tell that Rich knew something was bothering her and said, "Emma, is there something else?"

She nodded and said, "As you two know, you both will be chaperones on this trip. And of the four students going with you, I have concerns about one of them."

Before she could finish, she heard Rich say, "I take it that Clarice is the focus of the concern. Do you have reason for this Emma?"

She motioned them closer. It was not something she wanted to say too loudly. When they were both close to her, she softly said, "I believe that you might want to keep a close eye on Clarice. Given her background, and the time she's been here, I think it would be wise."

She watched as both of them nodded. Then, she heard Yvette say, "Should we keep an eye on Darrett as well, or would that raise too much suspicion?"

It had been a valid question, however, Emma thought it would be too much. She softly said, "No, it would be best not too. At worst, it might cause a rift in the team, and with how things have gone lately, we don't want any rifts."

She watched as both nodded and backed away. She was surprised by this, but realized why when she heard footsteps. She looked over at the door and realized what it would be. Soon enough, Jubilee and Clarice were standing at the door. She looked at them and Clarice said, "You wanted to see me?"

Emma motioned to the chair and said, "Yes, Clarice. I wanted to give you the imager we just received. Could you try it out now, since you will be leaving soon." She watched as the girl nodded and placed the device on her wrist. Almost instantly, the holographic image took form and soon, what sat at her desk looked physically like Clarice, but she had dark skin, and black hair. Also, her eyes had appeared to be hazel. Emma felt stunned, as if she wasn't looking at Clarice a moment earlier.

She then noticed the look on Richard's face. Something was bothering the boy. She watched as he moved around Clarice and finally stopped. She then heard him say, "Maybe it should have generated an outfit. Clarice, were you planning on wearing that to the show."

She watched as Clarice turned to face Rich and then noticed what kind of outfit Clarice was wearing. She listened as the girl said, "No sir. I have a nice dress for the show. This is just casual wear."

Emma then said, "Are you sure that will be ok? You will be flying out of Logan. Your choice of attire might not be best for airplane flight?" Emma could tell that Clarice picked the outfit for comfort. It reflected part of the taste of outfits she normally wore, from her home timeline.

Before she could say anything else, Yvette glanced at the clock and said, "We should get going. We have to get to Logan Airport, and to get there, we have to fight the Big Dig." Emma knew what Yvette meant. They had to fight the construction in Boston to get to Logan Airport.

As they all filed out of the office, Emma remembered something and said, "Richard." When he looked in, she said, "I'm going to do some checking around here on Mr. Leveque, before I go. If I find anything, I'll send a message to your office in Japan." She watched as Rich nodded and left. Part of her wished she was going along, and then she remembered that Rich might have a harder time with the students he was taking along.

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VI. Rich
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Rich walked into Logan Airport with the rest of the group. He was relieved that David Richmer, the chef to be on Iron Chef, was there, waiting for them. Rich walked up to the chef and said, "Are you nervous, David?"

He watched as the chef nodded and said, "Very. I have to admit that I didn't think you'd bring some of the students along from the school, them being mutants and all." Rich felt a little hurt, but he did understand where the man was coming from. Mutant acceptence was going slowly.

Rich just nodded and said, "A fact you are well aware off. They like the show, and you need supporters there." He watched as David nodded. "Besides, they know your talent and they know your a good man."

He then heard Jubilee say, "He's right, ya know. How did you learn how to cook all those great things."

Before the chef could answer, Rich heard a man call his name. "Mr. Cale" He turned to see a face he hadn't seen in a long time.

Rich was amazed and did a double take. "Agent Riovas. It's been years. Are you still in the FBI?" The man just nodded, and then Rich remembered his manors. "I'm sorry, Agent Riovas, let me introduce you to some of my students, my wife, and one of my friends."

Agent Riovas just held up his hand and said, "I wish this was a social call, Richard, but it's serious. The FBI asked me to offer to be a bodyguard while you go to Japan. One of our field office agents was at your chef's restaurant and overheard the news, and after events in Russia, the FBI feels it is advisable."

Rich was stunned at this. He had no clue on what was happening in Russia, but he was also troubled by one fact. Rich looked at Agent Riovas and said, "I find this terribly co-incidental. How did the FBI really find out I was heading to Japan?"

Rich was startled when the agent took him and Yvette a few steps away from the others and said, "To be honest, the FBI didn't know until a man named Thomas Martinette informed us. The assistant director asked for volenteers, and I was not the only one to volenteer. The other man to volenteer appeared to respond to the name mentioned and not yours."

Rich felt Yvette grip his arm and heard her say, "Are you saying that someone might try to kill Rich?"

Rich was almost shocked when Agent Riovas said, "Yes, and no. Indred saw a disaster coming, and that you would be ok afterwords. Richard, I'm not going to hide this from you any longer. For centuries, there has been a group, assigned by the first Paladin, to protect the family from Apocolypse. That's how I got on the case of Soundwave. Indred, our leader, saw Apocolypse's involvement."

Rich kept his voice low and said, "Is Indred like Nostradamus?" When the agent shook his head, Rich nodded and finally said, "Thank you for your concern, but I think we'll be fine without you."

Rich let a knowing smile show, and Agent Riovas nodded and said, "I understand sir. I'll make sure to let my superiors know." Rich watched as the agent walked away.

As Rich turned to lead everyone to the plane, he heard Jubilee ask, "What was that all about, Rich?"

Rich didn't want everyone to know what they had spoke about, but he had to say something to them. He then came up with a simple answer. "The FBI wanted to send an agent to keep an eye on me, like a bodyguard. Something happened in a foreign country, and they wanted me to be safe."

He then heard Clarice say, "You will be. I won't let anyone harm you or Yvette. That is why I'm here."

He wanted to say something to that statement, but Darrett cut him off. "Rich, don't you think we should get to the plane. I think it might leave soon."

He then heard Everett say, "He's right. If it's scheduled to leave on time, we better get there, and fast." Rich knew Everett was right. They needed to get to the plane, and fast. The main benefit they had was they didn't have to go through much in baggage checks.

It didn't take them long to reach the plane. If fact, when they were all aboard, he heard the pilot say, "Good timing. We have to start taxing out to the runway."

Rich knew he didn't have to say a word, since he saw everyone getting in a seat. Soon, he felt the plane begin to move. As it started it's move to the runway, Rich just said, "Ok, we are Japan bound in a few moments."

For those brief moments of taxing to the runway, he saw a look of joy on everyone's faces. He then felt the plane begin it's assent. Almost everyone took the sudden change in stride, except Clarice. He saw a look of pain in her face. It was at that point he remembered her outfit. Before he could say anything, he heard Jubilee say, "You ok, Clarice?"

He watched as she shook her head and said, "Not really. I think I need to really rethink my wardrobe." Rich started to wonder if there were going to be good things about the trip. If the plane flight was giving Clarice something to think about, it may cause other changes in her as well.