Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters; please don't sue me I am a poor college student. I am not making any money off of this and I am just writing it for the benefit of my own entertainment as well as the entertainment of the other fans out there. Also, this is a story from my own imagination, any resemblance to real life events, or even those in fiction is completely coincidental. As an additional note, there are so many fan fiction stories out there on this site as well as others, so any similarity is coincidental or great minds just happen to think alike. I do claim the non-Marvel characters, such as the Williams family and the new offspring of the LeBeau and Summers families. Thanks!
Note: I apologize for the spacing and random indents and anything of the sort. When the pages are loaded onto this site everything seems to get a bit messed up. I noticed that single lines get double spaced randomly. Sorry about that.
Through the Years
Chapter Twenty-Four: Sinister Encounters
Jackson Porter showed up at the nurse's office of the local elementary school bright and early the next morning to collect the results of the scans. He waited outside the office while the nurse talked to a blonde haired woman with her son.
"I'm sorry to tell you Mrs. Williams, but David is going to need glasses. He had trouble seeing some of the biggest letters on the chart and I'm worried that he will get worse if he doesn't get treated soon."
"Ok, I'll make an appointment with an eye doctor and get him in as soon as possible." She shook the nurse's hand and thanked her. She took her son's hand and passed Porter on her way out. He tipped his hat in acknowledgement.
The nurse saw the man and hoped that this would be the last time she'd have to see him this year. She hated the thought of clandestinely testing these children for the mutant gene. Personally she accepted mutants as just another form of humanity. In her book a mutant was no different than any other person with his or her own gifts. But this was her job and if the school board ordered her to do this, then she knew she had no choice. Luckily from what she knew about mutations, she knew that children in her school were too young to manifest any powers so she knew that she was handing over useless data. She just feared for the older children at the other schools.
"Good morning, Nurse Magee."
"Mr. Porter."
"Are the results ready?"
"Yes they are."
"And.."
"Not one child in the entire preschool through 5th grade is a mutant."
"As we expected at this age, but this is just a start. Someday we might find out more. For instance, I am on my way to the middle school and the high school right after this. Now I know we'll find a mutant or two in those schools. Some day we'll all be safe due to this technology. May I have the results now?" She handed the folder to Porter. He tipped his hat at her and said goodbye as he made his way out the door. Before he left he turned back to her and said "See you next year."
Once he was out of earshot she muttered sardonically, "Great, can't wait." She then prepared the office for another day of upset stomachs and cuts and bruises.
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One weekend three months later, that April, the LeBeaus visited their friends at the Mansion. While Nathaniel and Jessica played outside, the adults sipped some coffee and chatted in the kitchen.
"Tag Jessica, you're it," Nathaniel Summers squealed in delight. He then darted from side to side to stay just out of her grasp.
"No fair Natey," Jessica accused, though smiled with glee. "You're bigger, I can't catch you!" Despite the warm spring afternoon she was wearing a heavy sweater, a hat, and gloves. Today was a "cold day" for her. In other words her power levels were up. If Rogue had her way Jessica would be wearing a coat too but the little girl adamantly refused. Rogue could have sworn Jessica sounded just like Remy in the manner she argued, including muttering in French, and the thought had made her smile.
"Ok," he said as he stopped running. Unlike his friend the young Mr. Summers was wearing a T-shirt and jeans and was sweating in that. "New game then," before he could continue an object on the ground caught his attention. Like any young boy Nathaniel Summers was intrigued by items found on the ground, in fact his pockets were usually crammed with rocks, rubber bands, and other items he found floating around. Jean always took extra care checking his pockets before putting is clothing in the laundry. She learned that the hard way when the washing machine broke one day due to excess pocket treasures. "Here Jessie, I want you to have it, it's pretty."
He handed the little girl a small flat gray stone speckled with pink spots. "Merci Shugah! I like it," she replied shoving it into one of her own pockets and giving her friend a hug. "I have an idea, HIDE AND SEEK!!!"
"OK," he screamed back. "YOU COUNT!"
Meanwhile in the Mansion kitchen Ororo Munroe, Logan, Scott Summers, his wife Jean, Remy, and his wife Rogue sipped coffee and talked about various matters. They were having a little celebration in honor of the first honest, full time job that Remy LeBeau ever had. Starting the next school year he would become a Literature teacher at the Xavier Institute of Education. Since the school's population kept growing, more teachers were needed. Because of his credentials and his experience working with the kids as a substitute, Xavier felt he would be the perfect choice.
"Remy, we are all very proud of you," Ororo Munroe said as she smiled at one of her oldest friends. She knew that he had changed over the years, but he still had that same mysterious, mischievous manner. Marrying Rogue and having a family certainly changed him for the better, but to her he was still that same thief from New Orleans; just as she was still orphan goddess from Kenya deep down inside. No matter how much things changed, they still stayed the same.
"Yeah Gumbo, yer first honest job, someone should call 'Ripley's Believe It or Not!' And an English teacher no less! You can barely speak the language, bub," laughed Logan as he joked with his friend. Logan, codename Wolverine, put on a tough exterior but deep down he cared for his friends, and they all knew it.
Remy took a sip of his drink before responding. "I'm teachin' t'finer points of literature, not common grammar. But perhaps you should sit in on one on my classes, you might learn somethin' mon ami," Remy joked back.
They all laughed and then moved onto a new topic.
Clearly bored of the conversation and curious as to what his daughter was up to since he heard them screaming something about hide and seek, Remy decided to gracefully excuse himself from the room.
Well, I t'ink dat I'll join the kids outside in deir game," Remy said as he excused himself from the table.
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A glance into the woods behind the Mansion revealed a pair of shining red eyes. Jessica knew the she was supposed to be looking for Nathaniel, but sometimes her father did join in their games without notice.
"I see you Poppa! Here I come!"
The six year old ran over to the woods as fast as her little legs could carry her, hoping to run into the arms of her father, what she got instead was the scare of her life when the figure stepped out of the shadows and reveled to be no one other than the Boogie Man himself; those stories Uncle Bobby and Aunt Jubilee told to scare them were true after all! She didn't even have a chance to scream as he grabbed her, scooped her up and made his way towards the frightened Nathaniel standing in the clearing behind her.
"RUN NATEY RUN! Don't let the Boogie Man catch you!"
Nathaniel Summers screamed, turned, and ran as fast as he could, but a six year old is no match for a grown man. The scary man soon grabbed him as well. It wasn't the first time he had seen the man, something about him seemed familiar. That's it! Mommy and Daddy showed him a picture of this man once, told him to be careful of him, that he wanted to hurt Mommy and Daddy a long time ago and he might want to hurt him as well. That thought scared him more than he could ever dream of. In fact, he was so scared that he couldn't think, couldn't move. Jessica on the other hand, didn't seem paralyzed with fear as she desperately tried to wiggle out of his grasp. Nathaniel couldn't understand why she was fighting so hard, it would just make things worse, he knew it. It was better to wait for Mommy, Daddy, and everyone else to arrive. Jessica couldn't understand why Nathaniel wasn't putting up more of a fight, last time a bad person grabbed her, she fought and she won.{1} Jessica swung at their captor, unfortunately her reach was a little short and she kept missing, "Let us go! You're a bad man and we don't want to go with you!"
Their captor just laughed a sinister laugh, "You have spunk, a fearless energy about you. You better settle down or it will someday get you into trouble."
Jessica thought to herself this wasn't the first time a bad person grabbed her, last time something happened that made the bad lady let go. If she thought hard enough she could do it again. Momma, Poppa, and the others told her not to try to use her powers, but she often did it anyway, she couldn't help it. She took off the gloves she was wearing and dropped them on the ground. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out the stone that Nathaniel had given her earlier. She had seen Poppa do it lots of times, and she had tried it once before, but nearly destroyed her room and blew up her favorite teddy in the process.{2} Maybe she could get it right this time. Had her captor looked down he would have noticed that the little girl's eyes had shifted from green to red. Nathaniel's eyes grew wide as he noticed what his friend was doing. He had seen the adults use powers but never someone his own age. She charged the stone in her little hand and threw it at the man.
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Gambit didn't even make it out of the kitchen before a scream was heard, though it wasn't the type of scream he heard earlier. Those were screams of joy and laughter. This was Nathaniel screaming in terror.
He was the first one out the door while Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Cyclops, and Jean abandoned the coffee they had been drinking and ran towards where they last saw the children playing. For all of them, especially Cyclops and Jean-Grey, their worst fears were realized.
Cyclops bellowed at his nemesis, "LET THEM GO SINISTER, DAMN IT! They're just children! You know I'm the one you want, that's always the case."
"Don't be so vain Mr. Summers. Why should I want you when I have in my possession what I always dreamed of, the offspring of you and Jean-Grey. With him I will achieve what I couldn't do with the child of you and Ms. Grey's clone. I will create the perfect fighting force and…"
He was cut off mid sentence when a small charged stone hit him in the face, exploding on impact, temporarily blinding him. The distraction caused him to lose his grip on the children and give the X-men the opportunity they needed to strike. Being the faster runner Nathaniel sprinted into the safety of his mother's arms, but being smaller and slower, Jessica was grabbed again by Mr. Sinister. He lifted her up and bellowed "I'LL TEACH YOU TO INTERFER WITH MY PLANS!!!!!" Before the X-men could do anything he zapped the little girl with powerful plasma bolts {3}. The pain was more than her little body could bear and she tried to think of the last time she felt safe. She recalled the club house in David's yard and how they could hide there from the world. David was a big boy; nearly a year older than her, he would save her.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Jessica's screams were more than her parents could bear, but before they could act Sinister released her and she felt in a heap to the ground.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, and yet it all happened so quickly. Rogue flew at Sinister with a punch that knocked him off his feet while Gambit scooped the little girl off the ground and raced her to the infirmary. The rest of the X-men proceeded to attack Sinister while Jean told Nathaniel to get in the Mansion before joining the fray herself.
Unaware of the action going on several stories above him, Beast was analyzing some samples in his lab when Gambit crashed into the MediLab and placed his unconscious daughter on the hospital bed.
"Oh my stars and garters! What happened," Beast exclaimed, noticing that the girl looked unnaturally pale and wasn't moving.
Between breathes Gambit choked out, "Sinister…attacked…save her Beast…"
Dr. McCoy took Jessica's hat off, placed it to the side, and quickly got to work…
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"POW!! BAM!!! BOOM!!! You're dead," David was playing with action figures in his club house, completely unaware of the real action happening down the street.
"NeeeeeeeaaaaaOOOWWW KAPOW! He pushed up his glasses as they started to slide off his nose. All of a sudden he dropped his toys because he felt that something was wrong. He didn't know what it was or how he knew but Jessica was hurting, he just knew it! She was his best friend, and he had to do something. Suddenly he felt something and it told him what to do. He ran from the club house and sprinted to the Mansion down the street as fast as he could…
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With the rage that filled them, the X-men fought off Sinister and he retreated, vanishing as quickly as he had arrived. When one of their own was in trouble, the X-men knew how to act, but when helpless children, THEIR children were in danger, then nothing would keep them from moving heaven and earth to defeat their enemy. Once Sinister had teleported out of there by pressing a button on a device in his hand, the X-men rushed back into the Mansion. Jean and Cyclops when to check on their son while Rogue raced to the MediLab in the subbasement. Wolverine and Storm went to alert the others of what happened, and to make sure that Sinister was indeed off the Institute grounds.
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Rogue ran over to Gambit and he held her in his arms. She entered the room just in time to see Beast turn towards them. He had tried everything he could, but the machines kept spitting out the same readout. He tried to stop her from flat lining, but there was nothing he could do. Beast looked at the LeBeaus with the saddest eyes they'd ever seen. His eyes watered up as he said, "I…I'm afraid she's gone, I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do but there just isn't." He looked away from their gaze and buried his head in his hands.
Gambit reached over and grabbed Beast by the collar of his lab coat, "NO! You HAVE t' do somet'in' Hank, save my baby please. DO SOMET'IN' DAMN IT!" His red-on-black eyes filled with tears when he realized the doctor had done everything possible. He saw her hat lying in the same spot Beast had put it down. With one hand still holding onto the collar of Beast's lab coat, Gambit picked the hat up and clutched it tightly against his body. "Please…MON DIEU!!! WHY!!!" He loosened his grip on his friend and Beast wrapped his arms around the grieving father.
Rogue almost seemed oblivious to her husband's actions. She walked across the room and sat on the bed next to the body of her daughter. Her little girl, the miracle baby she had managed to give birth to six years ago. She felt nothing, just numbness. She held the little girl's hand in hers. Besides Remy, Jessica was the only other person that she could touch without a barrier. That's because the little girl was a piece of each of them, created out of love. Then she pushed some hair out of the child's face. It was that white streak, the same one that she herself had. It constantly fell into Jessica's face the same way Rogue's own did, as if the streaks had a mind of their own. The only difference was that Jessica's white streak was embedded on a background of brown hair the same shade as Remy's instead of her own chestnut color. She looked so peaceful, as if she was sleeping. Underneath those eyelids were green eyes the same shade as her own. Everyone always commented that Jessica is…Jessica was…a carbon copy of herself. But Rogue knew better. This was definitely Remy's child. She had that same mischievous nature, that same fire for life. She was a risk-taker, lived and loved as if everyday was going to be her last; in this case it was her last day.
Rogue looked up and saw David running into the room as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Where's Jessie-Rose," he asked. He called her that from the minute he learned her name. He kept trying to say Jessica Rose and always ended up with the same results. The nickname stuck. Rogue's eyes started to well up as she realized that she would have to explain to this little boy that his best friend was dead. HER baby was dead! The only child she could ever have was gone!
Rogue got off the bed and caught the little boy in her arms and held him tight. "Ah'm afraid she's… she's gone Shugah." Rogue said choking back tears. She then explained carefully that Jessica was hurt very badly to the point where she would never wake up again. "She's gone," Rogue repeated as the tears fell.
Even though he understood the concept of death, after all his own father died when he was a baby, David seemed undeterred by what Rogue told him. "No she's not gone, she's right here, Ms Rogue." He said pointing to his head
"Oh sweetie, Ah know that ya'll always remember her…"
"No, I mean she's IN my head."
Gambit and Beast both turned towards the little boy.
"What do you mean, petite," Gambit asked crouching down to the youngster's level, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders.
"I mean she's in my head…REALLY in my head."
The little boy wriggled free from the LeBeaus' grasp and ran over to the bed where his friend lay. He straddled over her body and he put his hands on her head. Moments later the little girl began to cry.
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Although they weren't sure what happened, the X-men found out that the little girl had somehow transferred her being into a portion of David's mind. Professor X had realized that Nathaniel, David, and Jessica shared a special bond of friendship, but he never realized that it extended to this sort of action. After analyzing both David and Jessica's minds a few days after she healed from her physical wounds, Beast had a theory though. It was widely suspected that Gambit had slight telepathic abilities since he was able to charm people. Beast figured that Jessica probably had a stronger form of her father's telepathic abilities, thus causing her to transfer her essences temporarily into her young friend. But know one knew if this was a one time event or if this could happen again. Only time would tell what really happened.
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Author's Note- Round and round this story goes, where it stops, nobody knows! :-P
{1}-Ch 22- Jessica's absorption powers kicked in during an encounter with Belladonna
{2}- End of Ch 19: Yes that was the mysterious force that destroyed a wall in Jessica's room. SURPRISE!!! Guess her powers have been around longer than the incident with Belladonna.
{3}- I had to look up Sinister's powers, I honestly didn't know what they were!
Tammy- Maybe the mental blocks just damped her powers or maybe she's powerful enough to override the mental blocks all together! Only Jessica seems to know! :-)
Star-of-Chaos- You are right, Storm shouldn't be left alone. You think she realizes that Logan likes her so much? All these secret crushes the X-men have on each other! You'd think they were in high school! As for kicking the FOH in the head, please continue, don't let me interrupt :-P
IshandahalfAs the child of two incredibly powerful mutants, it seems little Jessica LeBeau has more potential than anyone knows. More will be reveled over time…As for the entire FOH incident at the school, David's safe too…for now anyway, after all he's only in kindergarten. Lucky for him he only needed glasses. Yup, it is prejudice jerks like the FOH that make life even worse for mutants than those superpowered enemies. At least the X-men can fight them head on, the FOH are more sneaky. Personally, I find Belladonna worse than Joseph since at least Joseph wasn't evil. Belladonna is just evil incarnate no matter what! And yes, the FOH is a close second! :-)
T.- Yup, Jessica passed her physical, but she's lucky that she's alive this time! :-)
Kitsu Lebeau- Nah, you weren't rude at all, that just means you were paying attention. Keeping me on my toes is a good thing :-) Um, have fun at your special event!