UNCANNY XMEN MINI-MIXED BLESSINGS
BY LOGANALPHA30 WITH HELP FROM SHADOW8
()-Art Instructions
[]-Caption Boxes
""-Words
++-Time, Place, Boxes
-Thoughts
+McCormack Federal Research Facility+ +10:00 P.M.+
(Scene opens as we fly around an indiscriminate government facility, with a high wall surrounding it with a guarded gate, spot lights moving around, guards and guard dogs walking around the grounds, barbed wire on top of the wall and a marsh nearby). [McCormack Federal Research Facility, to the rest of the world it's known as one of the nations leading cancer research centers, in truth however it's just one of the many front companies being used by Apocalypse to further his genetic pursuits] (We see a spotlight glide over the water and then go away.)(Then we see three heads pop up out of the water, they're Betsy, Siryn, and Tabitha, except Tabitha is facing the wrong way)
(Then with a scowl on her face Siryn looks back and bops Tabitha on the head). "Oww, hey," (Tabitha says turning around before being silenced by a glare from Betsy). (The three of them slowly creep out of the water and hide behind a big rock as the spotlight passes by them)."Okay, Tabitha, first things first, use your bombs to take out the guards in the towers, then Theresa, I want you to get her close enough and to provide cover,"(Betsy says while glancing back at the wall.)
"Right, are ye ready Tabitha," (Siryn says looking over at Tabitha as the three of them hunker down as the spotlight goes by again.)"I think so, but can't we just wait a.." (Tabitha says biting her lip and with a pained but yet hopeful look on her face)."No, you go now or I'll," (Betsy growls with a very angry look on her face, she's gritting her teeth and her fist is clenched)."Okay okay, I said I was sorry," (Tabitha says turning to look back at the towers).
"Come on Tab, lets' go before ye do somethin that you'll regret,"(Siryn says grabbing Tabitha's arm and dragging her to the top of the big rock before we see Siryn rise up in the air while carrying Tabitha).Okay Tabitha, just like we practiced(Betsy thinks peering over the top of the big rock).Okay, I can do this, I can, right(Tabitha thinks as we get a shot of her from her shoulders up as she's being carried by Siryn, and Tabitha has a worried look on her face).
"Okay Tab, ah'll use me scream tah stun the guards, then you open up," (Siryn says looking down at Tabitha)."Have you put on weight or somethin , I cannae hold ye up forever," (Siryn says with a strained look on her face).
"Okay okay, I'll do it, just don't rush me,"(Tabitha says scowling before next panel is a full panel of Siryn carrying Tabitha, who's smiling and has her arms outstretched and swirls of plasma are coming out of her hands, which are pointed towards the first guards tower.)"Yeehaw, eat plasma bucket heads,"(Tabitha says smiling widely as the first blast of her attack hits, which we see in a panel of the guard jumping out of the tower with a scream of fear, then a panel of Tabitha turning towards the second tower and also blasting it.) "Now the wall," (Siryn says looking down towards the wall).
"I know I know, get off my back will ya,"(Tabitha says looking determined before we get a panel of her from the stomach up, her powers are flaring, thus casting a yellow light on her and Siryn, who doesn't look to happy.)
(We see a picture of Psylocke angrily peering over the top of the rock and thinking), Quit yer bloody yappin and just do it. (Next we see a big panel of a wide shot of the two guard towers and the wall in the background, in the foreground in the air is Siryn and Tabitha-which we see her plasma blast go from her hands to the middle of the wall at the bottom, is a big explosion with pieces of rock flying outward). "Finally, now move in," (Betsy says leaping over the big rock and running towards the open gap in the wall).
"Okay Tabitha, down ye go," (Siryn says as we see her fly down and drop Tabitha back on the ground)."Come on, let's go," (Tabitha says with a broad smile on her face as she runs towards the nearest door)."Tabitha wait, we're no..,"(Siryn begins to say as she starts to fly after Tabitha).[It had started off well enough, but given their luck, it didn't last](Suddenly we see sirens going off, warning lights going off and we see soldiers shouting as they come storming out of the many doors and aiming their guns at Tabitha and Siryn). "Tabitha, look out," (Siryn says with an arm outstretched to grab Tabitha and pull her back). "Huh, what,"(Tabitha says whipping around to see with a very shocked and worried look on her face soldiers running towards her guns drawn.)Stupid girl, get out of the.. (Betsy thinks jumping to fight the soldiers with her psyblade ready to strike.)
(We see a soldier fire his gun, then Siryn pushes Tabitha our of the way with a shout of ), "No", ( as the blast hits Siryn in the should and she's thrown back a ways before she slams into the wall and then drops to the ground and then we see her very groggily trying to get up while mumbling something incoherently)."Lorna, shut it down, now," (Betsy says running towards Siryn as we see the image of the building, the wall, and the soldiers dissipate into thin air). "Oh Terry I'm so sorry, I don," (Tabitha says with a shocked and sorry look on her face as she puts her hands to her mouth.)
"I hear you, sorry are ye,"(Siryn says looking up at Tabitha with an angry look on her face, a hand gingerly at her clearly injured shoulder, and she's gritting her teeth).(Suddenly with an angry growl Siryn leaps at Tabitha, with Betsy reacting by looking amazed at what Siryn is doing and Tabitha reacts with a shocked look on her face as she starts to back up).
(Then we see Siryn encased in a green field that halts her progress as Betsy reacts with a start, and Tabitha almost falls down, while Siryn reacts by looking around and saying,)"Huh,"(with a confused look on her face).(Then we switch to a shot of Lorna in the danger rooms control room, sitting at the main console, resting her chin in an upturned palm, and her elbow is on the console, wit a fed up look on her face, her other hand is outstretched and pointed, palm downwards towards Siryn, Tabitha, and Betsy, her powers are flaring up).
"I think that's far enough, we're all friends here, right,"(Lorna says arching an eyebrow as we see the console casting different colored lights on her face).(Switch back to inside the danger room).
(Betsy has her hand on Siryns off shoulder and the other is at Siryns hurt shoulder, while Siryn is looking at her shoulder, her off arm is holding the injured shoulder just below the wound, it looks bad).(Looking back upwards towards the control room Betsy says,)"Yes we're all friends, but I think we should get you to the infirmary and take a look at that shoulder,"(then she turns to Tabitha),"meanwhile you hit the showers, we'll talk, later,"(Betsy says with a serious look on her face.)"Uhh yah sure, but shouldn't I help," (Tabitha starts to say as she starts to stretch out her hand towards Siryn with a helpful look on her face.)
(We do a close-up on Siryns face, she's angry as she says glaring at Tabitha),"Aye think ye've done enough; I think we can manage without you." "Oh uh okay, I guess,"(Tabitha says with a dejected look on her face as she slumps her shoulders as she turns to leave the danger room, as we see Psylocke and Siryn watching her go.)
(After Tabitha goes around a corner we see Lorna sitting in the control room, from behind, we see down into the danger room, Siryn and Psylocke are small in the picture and they're looking up at Lorna as Lorna says with a concerned look on her face),"Don't you think you were a little hard on her, stealth assault missions take time, and we just started on this one."
"She's had experience with this kind of mission before, I'm not going to baby her, if that's what she wants then enrollment is still open back at the mansion,"(Psylocke says with a scowl on her face before we see her and Siryn exit the danger room.)(We go back to Lorna who we see turn around in her chair as she shrugs her shoulders with an I give up look on her face).(Lorna starts to get up but then an image pops up on a nearby screen of Valerie Cooper, who says,)"Hello, anybody there?"(Lorna turns to the screen and says with a confused look on her face,) "Valerie, what are you," (before Valerie cuts her off by saying,) "We need to talk.".
[Meanwhile across town, Cannonball and Warpath are having problems of their own](We see Sam and James looking tired as they're sitting at a table outside of a diner, with a meal between them on the table)."We've been out here all day, and we still haven't found jobs yet," (Warpath says before taking a bite from his sandwich and wiping his mouth with a napkin.)
"Ah know, battlin it out with every supervillian from here tah Timbuktu while savin the world doesn't exactly qualify as viable job experience," (Sam says with a sarcastic look on his face as he looks around at the other customers, who are milling about.) "And I don't think to many people are going to want to hire mutants, so unless you're holding out on me we're in trouble," (Warpath says with a serious look on his face.) "Funny, ah guess we could always ask Warren for a job," (Sam says smiling weakly.)"Come on Sam, could you really see either or us wearing suits and working in one of those office buildings all day," (Warpath says with a slightly sarcastic look on his face). "Ah know what you mean, ah'll never work in one of those, it's just not natural," (Sam says shaking his head.).
(Then we see Sam and Jimmy break out in a fit of stifled laughter before we see them finish their meal and then taking off in Warpaths jeep). (We switch to a shot of the jeep coming to a stop at a red light, Sam and Warpath are both wearing sunglasses, and Warpath is driving while Sam is looking through a newspaper, marking off job listings with a pen.). (Sam turning to Warpath says,)"Well there's only one left Jimmy," (to which Warpath just looks over with a grim look on his face).
[As Cannonball and Warpath race to find employment, Warren Worthington delves into more ominous pursuits] (We see Warren sitting at a large computer console with many computers and TV screens of varying sizes on with images of members of the Xtreme team, Apocalypse and his horseman, members of the home team, his own team, and images of newscasts from all over the world, along with stacks of papers and files, with a half eaten meal sitting on a desk that sitting nearby, with a cup of steaming hot coffee sitting on the console beside him, the room is dark).
(We pan around and see Warren looking from screen to screen with a grimace on his face, then we look down and see the files that he's holding in his hands, in big letters we see-Xavier Protocols-one one paper and Sage's bio is the other). "But what does it all mean, what am I missing," (Warren says with his chin resting between his thumb and index finger.)
(Then we see on the main screen a news broadcast come up as we see images of mutant/mutant and human/mutant violence, then a bearded reporter says,) "Mutants, every day more and more of them are wreaking havoc on humanity and the world, what is to be done, leading analysts support a far more direct approach then has been previously deployed, one that mutant rights activists like Professor Charles Xavier have strongly opposed, that of a registration and containment policy, that and more, tonight on Inside the News with John Scallen,"(the man says looking serious as the screen goes to the fuzzy black/white nothings on screen as we see Warren from his mid chest up, his shirt is open and we see a ring being suspended on a gold chain, his left hand is over his face like when something unbelievable in a bad or embarrassing way happens, with his thumb on his temple and the rest of his fingers flare out, and we see that Warren needs to save as he says,) "My God, it's already starting."
(Then we see him sigh and then slump down in his chair with a scowl on his face.)After all these years you'd think that those "leading analysts" would've figured it out by now that not all mutants are a threat to humanity, but now it looks like I'll have to move my timetable up, that'll cause problems(Warren thinks as he picks up a remote control, presses a button that changes the fuzzy screen to one that shows an open book on a table, then with a push of another button blocks of the books text appear on the screen, overlapping the image of the book, and in the bottom left hand corner of the screen we see the words-Memory Reconstruction at 89%-)
(Then looking like he's in a trance Warren says,) "So it is written, so shall it be,"(before he turns off all the screens with one button, the room is very dark now and all we see is a faint outline of Warrens shoulders and head.)(Then we do a close-up of Warrens face, his eyes begin to glow a bright red and he has a little sinister smirk on his face.)
[Back out on the job hunt.](Scene opens with Sam and Warpath sitting at a bar, they look like they're waiting for somebody to talk to them about the job). "Is it me, or is everyone here ignoring us," (Warpath says looking around with a slightly nervous and impatient look on his face). "But you have to admit, we probably do look a little out of place here, ah mean look at us, we probably look like extras from HeeHaw to them," (Sam says sarcastically with a smile on his face.)
(Then they look at each other before they break out into a short burst of laughter.)(Then we see a woman walk up to them and say), "Well who do we have here, Howdy Doody and Tonto." (We see first a sort of taken aback look from Sam and Jimmy and then we see them glare at the woman.)(With a smirk the woman says), "So you two are here for the bouncer jobs, funny, but you two don't look very menacing, what makes you think you could work here?"
(Sam and James exchange sort of -uh say something, then no you say something-looks as they then look around quickly before they notice a group of men causing trouble at the end of the bar).(Then Warpath and Sam get up off their barstools and walk to the end of the bar). "Is there a problem here," (Sam says to one of the men that's causing the trouble). "Huh, what do you want pretty boy," (an angry member of the group says sneering at Sam, who smirks back, which results in the man throwing a punch that hits Sam squarely on the nose, but we see Sam's blast shield come up, and Sam doesn't even flinch). (With a look of wonderment and a howl of pain the guy that punched Sam holds his hurt hand gingerly).
"Why you," (another one of the guys says before picking up a barstool and smashing it over Warpaths head). "Oww", (Warpath says shaking his head before with a smirk he grabs the guy by his collar and then heaves him across the bar, and near the door).(Then we see a huge fight break out).
[Later, back at the mansion.]
"So what are we going to tell Warren, we can't exactly just leave, can we," (Lorna says putting a suitcase in the trunk of a car.) "I left them a note," (Alex says as he also puts a suitcase in the trunk, and we see him slightly cringe before Lorna says,) "Another note, not again Alex, I swear I.", (as she's visibly angry at Alex). (We see Alex smile and kiss her before saying,) "Just kidding, I told Elisabeth all about it, and she'll tell Warren and the others for us."
"That's better, I think, but did the fax from Val tell you where we're headed," (Lorna says stepping back as Alex puts their last suitcase into the trunk and then shuts it.) "Nope, all the fax said was that Val had a private jet waiting for us at the airport, but only the pilots know where we'll be going, I guess we'll find out when we get there,"(Alex says smiling before stopping to look back at the mansion).
"I hate going into a team like this, I mean I don't like leaving one newly formed team only to go and join let alone command another one," (Lorna says looking slightly sad at the thought of leaving). "Ah come one Lorna, don't think of it that way, think of it as a promotion, now get in or we'll be late," (Alex says opening Lorna's door for her.) "I guess, but I just have this feeling that we're stepping out of the proverbial fire, only to walk into an all new one," (Lorna says as she gets into the car and Alex shuts her door). "Yah, I know what you mean," (Alex says glancing back at the mansion with a concerned and uncertain look on his face before he gets in the car and drives away.)
[As Havok and Polaris exit stage right into an unknown future, a tired and hungry pair of newly employed bouncers pull in](We see Sam and Warpath pull in and drive up to the mansion, they pass Alex and Lorna who are leaving).
"That's strange, ah wonder where they're headed in such a hurry,"(Sam says with an uncertain look on his face as he gets out of the jeep and watches Alex and Lorna's car exit the mansions gates, he has to use his hand to shield his eyes from the setting sun). "Ah don't worry about it Sammy my boy, they're probably just off on one of those romantic candlelight rendezvous that Tabitha keeps prattling on endlessly about,"(Warpath says with a smirk as he gets out of the jeep as well and casts a joking glance at Sam before he says as he starts towards the mansions front door).
"Ah guess, but somethin's just not right here, ah can feel it in my bones," (Sam says with a worried look on his face as he turns and follows Warpath towards the door)."Come on mason-dixon, you're just hungry, now we'd better get inside and find something to eat before we're forced to eat some of Tabitha's leftovers,"(Warpath says with a feigned sickly look on his face, but also with a sly smirk on his face as he opens the door). (We see Sam and Warpath take a quick look of -uh oh, better hurry-at each other before pushing each other out of the way while trying to get inside the door).
(Scene switches to that of Siryn sitting in the living room watching TV, with one hand she's holding an icepack on her injured shoulder, and she's holding the remote to the TV in the other, she doesn't look very comfortable, and we see a cup of steaming hot tea by way of the steam rising from it that's sitting on a coaster as Warpath and Sam enter the room). "Oh hi guys, find a job," (Siryn says meekly). "Yah but, what happened to your shoulder," (Warpath says with a concerned look on his face as he sits down on the couch that's nearest to Siryns uninjured shoulder).
"Just a little training accident," (Siryn says looking down at the floor). "What happened, are you okay, hey wait, where's Tabitha," (Sam says with a worried look on his face.) "Tabitha is what happened, she got lazy in the danger room, and look what happened," (Siryn says wincing in pain as she gingerly readjusts the icepack.) "Ah'm sure she didn't mean tah, uh, so then where is she", (Sams says looking embarrassed and with a weak smirk on his face). "I think she's out by the lake, at least she was when I last saw her,"(Siryn says looking up at Sam and putting the remote control down on the table in front of her).
"Okay thanks, ah'm gonna go..",(Sam says as he exits the room and we see Siryn then lean up against Warpaths shoulder, to which he responds by smiling at her and puts his head on top of hers, which is resting on his shoulder.) [As he treks out to the pond to find Tabitha, question after question swirls around inside his head] (We see Sam come over the top of a hill, he looks tired and worried as then he stops for a moment, before continuing towards Tabitha).
(We see Tabitha standing near the waters edge, head down and her shoulders are slumped). "Been out here long," (Sam says as he arrives near Tabitha, we're looking over his shoulder from behind as we see Tabitha say), "Sniff, Oh uh hi Sam, sniff what'cha doin way out here," (through her sniffles as we see her from her shoulders up, her head is down as we see her from the front, and a tear is sliding down her cheek). "Fine, how yah doin girl," (Sam says putting a hand on her shoulder).
"Oh me, I'm fine never better, and how'd that job hunt of yours go," (Tabitha says as she walks away from Sam with her hands stuffed in her pockets). "Jimmy and I found work as bouncers for one of those dance clubs that you're always talkin about so much, and we met this nice lady named Erica who.hey, are you listening,"(Sam says coming up beside her and looking concerned). "Gee, you're pretty perceptive aren't yah, I don't know what happened Sam, one minute everything's going just fine then blammo, Terry's hurt and it's my fault, I, I don't know if I can stay here any longer,"(Tabitha says squinting her eyes as she looks into the sun, with more tears now coming down her face).
"Yah can't leave Tab, not after what that..after what Death has done, you and Paige are now the only family ah got, and ah'm not gonna just let you leave cause the it got hard, now I love you to much tah watch you go anywhere without me, so if you leave, then I'm leaving to," (Sam says touching her shoulder with his hand). "Really, you'd do that for me," (Tabitha says with a meek smile before she frowns and says), "but I love you to much to do that to you, but how am I gonna get through this Sam, I feel like I'm all alone.".
"Hey, now wait a darn minute, as long as there's breath in my lungs you'll never be alone, now ah'm gonna tell you how you're gonna get through this, now we are gonna get through this together, ah promise,"(Sam says taking Tabitha in his arms and holding her chin up with one hand and smiling at her). "Really," (Tabitha says raising her tear filled eyes to Sams as we see their embrace from their waists up). "Yes really,"(Sam says with a smile before kissing her first in a close up of their mouths during the kiss, then of them during the kiss from their shoulders up, and then finally in a full panel picture we see them kissing with the setting sun behind them). [And in that moment, two hearts became one]-END
+McCormack Federal Research Facility+ +10:00 P.M.+
(Scene opens as we fly around an indiscriminate government facility, with a high wall surrounding it with a guarded gate, spot lights moving around, guards and guard dogs walking around the grounds, barbed wire on top of the wall and a marsh nearby). [McCormack Federal Research Facility, to the rest of the world it's known as one of the nations leading cancer research centers, in truth however it's just one of the many front companies being used by Apocalypse to further his genetic pursuits] (We see a spotlight glide over the water and then go away.)(Then we see three heads pop up out of the water, they're Betsy, Siryn, and Tabitha, except Tabitha is facing the wrong way)
(Then with a scowl on her face Siryn looks back and bops Tabitha on the head). "Oww, hey," (Tabitha says turning around before being silenced by a glare from Betsy). (The three of them slowly creep out of the water and hide behind a big rock as the spotlight passes by them)."Okay, Tabitha, first things first, use your bombs to take out the guards in the towers, then Theresa, I want you to get her close enough and to provide cover,"(Betsy says while glancing back at the wall.)
"Right, are ye ready Tabitha," (Siryn says looking over at Tabitha as the three of them hunker down as the spotlight goes by again.)"I think so, but can't we just wait a.." (Tabitha says biting her lip and with a pained but yet hopeful look on her face)."No, you go now or I'll," (Betsy growls with a very angry look on her face, she's gritting her teeth and her fist is clenched)."Okay okay, I said I was sorry," (Tabitha says turning to look back at the towers).
"Come on Tab, lets' go before ye do somethin that you'll regret,"(Siryn says grabbing Tabitha's arm and dragging her to the top of the big rock before we see Siryn rise up in the air while carrying Tabitha).Okay Tabitha, just like we practiced(Betsy thinks peering over the top of the big rock).Okay, I can do this, I can, right(Tabitha thinks as we get a shot of her from her shoulders up as she's being carried by Siryn, and Tabitha has a worried look on her face).
"Okay Tab, ah'll use me scream tah stun the guards, then you open up," (Siryn says looking down at Tabitha)."Have you put on weight or somethin , I cannae hold ye up forever," (Siryn says with a strained look on her face).
"Okay okay, I'll do it, just don't rush me,"(Tabitha says scowling before next panel is a full panel of Siryn carrying Tabitha, who's smiling and has her arms outstretched and swirls of plasma are coming out of her hands, which are pointed towards the first guards tower.)"Yeehaw, eat plasma bucket heads,"(Tabitha says smiling widely as the first blast of her attack hits, which we see in a panel of the guard jumping out of the tower with a scream of fear, then a panel of Tabitha turning towards the second tower and also blasting it.) "Now the wall," (Siryn says looking down towards the wall).
"I know I know, get off my back will ya,"(Tabitha says looking determined before we get a panel of her from the stomach up, her powers are flaring, thus casting a yellow light on her and Siryn, who doesn't look to happy.)
(We see a picture of Psylocke angrily peering over the top of the rock and thinking), Quit yer bloody yappin and just do it. (Next we see a big panel of a wide shot of the two guard towers and the wall in the background, in the foreground in the air is Siryn and Tabitha-which we see her plasma blast go from her hands to the middle of the wall at the bottom, is a big explosion with pieces of rock flying outward). "Finally, now move in," (Betsy says leaping over the big rock and running towards the open gap in the wall).
"Okay Tabitha, down ye go," (Siryn says as we see her fly down and drop Tabitha back on the ground)."Come on, let's go," (Tabitha says with a broad smile on her face as she runs towards the nearest door)."Tabitha wait, we're no..,"(Siryn begins to say as she starts to fly after Tabitha).[It had started off well enough, but given their luck, it didn't last](Suddenly we see sirens going off, warning lights going off and we see soldiers shouting as they come storming out of the many doors and aiming their guns at Tabitha and Siryn). "Tabitha, look out," (Siryn says with an arm outstretched to grab Tabitha and pull her back). "Huh, what,"(Tabitha says whipping around to see with a very shocked and worried look on her face soldiers running towards her guns drawn.)Stupid girl, get out of the.. (Betsy thinks jumping to fight the soldiers with her psyblade ready to strike.)
(We see a soldier fire his gun, then Siryn pushes Tabitha our of the way with a shout of ), "No", ( as the blast hits Siryn in the should and she's thrown back a ways before she slams into the wall and then drops to the ground and then we see her very groggily trying to get up while mumbling something incoherently)."Lorna, shut it down, now," (Betsy says running towards Siryn as we see the image of the building, the wall, and the soldiers dissipate into thin air). "Oh Terry I'm so sorry, I don," (Tabitha says with a shocked and sorry look on her face as she puts her hands to her mouth.)
"I hear you, sorry are ye,"(Siryn says looking up at Tabitha with an angry look on her face, a hand gingerly at her clearly injured shoulder, and she's gritting her teeth).(Suddenly with an angry growl Siryn leaps at Tabitha, with Betsy reacting by looking amazed at what Siryn is doing and Tabitha reacts with a shocked look on her face as she starts to back up).
(Then we see Siryn encased in a green field that halts her progress as Betsy reacts with a start, and Tabitha almost falls down, while Siryn reacts by looking around and saying,)"Huh,"(with a confused look on her face).(Then we switch to a shot of Lorna in the danger rooms control room, sitting at the main console, resting her chin in an upturned palm, and her elbow is on the console, wit a fed up look on her face, her other hand is outstretched and pointed, palm downwards towards Siryn, Tabitha, and Betsy, her powers are flaring up).
"I think that's far enough, we're all friends here, right,"(Lorna says arching an eyebrow as we see the console casting different colored lights on her face).(Switch back to inside the danger room).
(Betsy has her hand on Siryns off shoulder and the other is at Siryns hurt shoulder, while Siryn is looking at her shoulder, her off arm is holding the injured shoulder just below the wound, it looks bad).(Looking back upwards towards the control room Betsy says,)"Yes we're all friends, but I think we should get you to the infirmary and take a look at that shoulder,"(then she turns to Tabitha),"meanwhile you hit the showers, we'll talk, later,"(Betsy says with a serious look on her face.)"Uhh yah sure, but shouldn't I help," (Tabitha starts to say as she starts to stretch out her hand towards Siryn with a helpful look on her face.)
(We do a close-up on Siryns face, she's angry as she says glaring at Tabitha),"Aye think ye've done enough; I think we can manage without you." "Oh uh okay, I guess,"(Tabitha says with a dejected look on her face as she slumps her shoulders as she turns to leave the danger room, as we see Psylocke and Siryn watching her go.)
(After Tabitha goes around a corner we see Lorna sitting in the control room, from behind, we see down into the danger room, Siryn and Psylocke are small in the picture and they're looking up at Lorna as Lorna says with a concerned look on her face),"Don't you think you were a little hard on her, stealth assault missions take time, and we just started on this one."
"She's had experience with this kind of mission before, I'm not going to baby her, if that's what she wants then enrollment is still open back at the mansion,"(Psylocke says with a scowl on her face before we see her and Siryn exit the danger room.)(We go back to Lorna who we see turn around in her chair as she shrugs her shoulders with an I give up look on her face).(Lorna starts to get up but then an image pops up on a nearby screen of Valerie Cooper, who says,)"Hello, anybody there?"(Lorna turns to the screen and says with a confused look on her face,) "Valerie, what are you," (before Valerie cuts her off by saying,) "We need to talk.".
[Meanwhile across town, Cannonball and Warpath are having problems of their own](We see Sam and James looking tired as they're sitting at a table outside of a diner, with a meal between them on the table)."We've been out here all day, and we still haven't found jobs yet," (Warpath says before taking a bite from his sandwich and wiping his mouth with a napkin.)
"Ah know, battlin it out with every supervillian from here tah Timbuktu while savin the world doesn't exactly qualify as viable job experience," (Sam says with a sarcastic look on his face as he looks around at the other customers, who are milling about.) "And I don't think to many people are going to want to hire mutants, so unless you're holding out on me we're in trouble," (Warpath says with a serious look on his face.) "Funny, ah guess we could always ask Warren for a job," (Sam says smiling weakly.)"Come on Sam, could you really see either or us wearing suits and working in one of those office buildings all day," (Warpath says with a slightly sarcastic look on his face). "Ah know what you mean, ah'll never work in one of those, it's just not natural," (Sam says shaking his head.).
(Then we see Sam and Jimmy break out in a fit of stifled laughter before we see them finish their meal and then taking off in Warpaths jeep). (We switch to a shot of the jeep coming to a stop at a red light, Sam and Warpath are both wearing sunglasses, and Warpath is driving while Sam is looking through a newspaper, marking off job listings with a pen.). (Sam turning to Warpath says,)"Well there's only one left Jimmy," (to which Warpath just looks over with a grim look on his face).
[As Cannonball and Warpath race to find employment, Warren Worthington delves into more ominous pursuits] (We see Warren sitting at a large computer console with many computers and TV screens of varying sizes on with images of members of the Xtreme team, Apocalypse and his horseman, members of the home team, his own team, and images of newscasts from all over the world, along with stacks of papers and files, with a half eaten meal sitting on a desk that sitting nearby, with a cup of steaming hot coffee sitting on the console beside him, the room is dark).
(We pan around and see Warren looking from screen to screen with a grimace on his face, then we look down and see the files that he's holding in his hands, in big letters we see-Xavier Protocols-one one paper and Sage's bio is the other). "But what does it all mean, what am I missing," (Warren says with his chin resting between his thumb and index finger.)
(Then we see on the main screen a news broadcast come up as we see images of mutant/mutant and human/mutant violence, then a bearded reporter says,) "Mutants, every day more and more of them are wreaking havoc on humanity and the world, what is to be done, leading analysts support a far more direct approach then has been previously deployed, one that mutant rights activists like Professor Charles Xavier have strongly opposed, that of a registration and containment policy, that and more, tonight on Inside the News with John Scallen,"(the man says looking serious as the screen goes to the fuzzy black/white nothings on screen as we see Warren from his mid chest up, his shirt is open and we see a ring being suspended on a gold chain, his left hand is over his face like when something unbelievable in a bad or embarrassing way happens, with his thumb on his temple and the rest of his fingers flare out, and we see that Warren needs to save as he says,) "My God, it's already starting."
(Then we see him sigh and then slump down in his chair with a scowl on his face.)After all these years you'd think that those "leading analysts" would've figured it out by now that not all mutants are a threat to humanity, but now it looks like I'll have to move my timetable up, that'll cause problems(Warren thinks as he picks up a remote control, presses a button that changes the fuzzy screen to one that shows an open book on a table, then with a push of another button blocks of the books text appear on the screen, overlapping the image of the book, and in the bottom left hand corner of the screen we see the words-Memory Reconstruction at 89%-)
(Then looking like he's in a trance Warren says,) "So it is written, so shall it be,"(before he turns off all the screens with one button, the room is very dark now and all we see is a faint outline of Warrens shoulders and head.)(Then we do a close-up of Warrens face, his eyes begin to glow a bright red and he has a little sinister smirk on his face.)
[Back out on the job hunt.](Scene opens with Sam and Warpath sitting at a bar, they look like they're waiting for somebody to talk to them about the job). "Is it me, or is everyone here ignoring us," (Warpath says looking around with a slightly nervous and impatient look on his face). "But you have to admit, we probably do look a little out of place here, ah mean look at us, we probably look like extras from HeeHaw to them," (Sam says sarcastically with a smile on his face.)
(Then they look at each other before they break out into a short burst of laughter.)(Then we see a woman walk up to them and say), "Well who do we have here, Howdy Doody and Tonto." (We see first a sort of taken aback look from Sam and Jimmy and then we see them glare at the woman.)(With a smirk the woman says), "So you two are here for the bouncer jobs, funny, but you two don't look very menacing, what makes you think you could work here?"
(Sam and James exchange sort of -uh say something, then no you say something-looks as they then look around quickly before they notice a group of men causing trouble at the end of the bar).(Then Warpath and Sam get up off their barstools and walk to the end of the bar). "Is there a problem here," (Sam says to one of the men that's causing the trouble). "Huh, what do you want pretty boy," (an angry member of the group says sneering at Sam, who smirks back, which results in the man throwing a punch that hits Sam squarely on the nose, but we see Sam's blast shield come up, and Sam doesn't even flinch). (With a look of wonderment and a howl of pain the guy that punched Sam holds his hurt hand gingerly).
"Why you," (another one of the guys says before picking up a barstool and smashing it over Warpaths head). "Oww", (Warpath says shaking his head before with a smirk he grabs the guy by his collar and then heaves him across the bar, and near the door).(Then we see a huge fight break out).
[Later, back at the mansion.]
"So what are we going to tell Warren, we can't exactly just leave, can we," (Lorna says putting a suitcase in the trunk of a car.) "I left them a note," (Alex says as he also puts a suitcase in the trunk, and we see him slightly cringe before Lorna says,) "Another note, not again Alex, I swear I.", (as she's visibly angry at Alex). (We see Alex smile and kiss her before saying,) "Just kidding, I told Elisabeth all about it, and she'll tell Warren and the others for us."
"That's better, I think, but did the fax from Val tell you where we're headed," (Lorna says stepping back as Alex puts their last suitcase into the trunk and then shuts it.) "Nope, all the fax said was that Val had a private jet waiting for us at the airport, but only the pilots know where we'll be going, I guess we'll find out when we get there,"(Alex says smiling before stopping to look back at the mansion).
"I hate going into a team like this, I mean I don't like leaving one newly formed team only to go and join let alone command another one," (Lorna says looking slightly sad at the thought of leaving). "Ah come one Lorna, don't think of it that way, think of it as a promotion, now get in or we'll be late," (Alex says opening Lorna's door for her.) "I guess, but I just have this feeling that we're stepping out of the proverbial fire, only to walk into an all new one," (Lorna says as she gets into the car and Alex shuts her door). "Yah, I know what you mean," (Alex says glancing back at the mansion with a concerned and uncertain look on his face before he gets in the car and drives away.)
[As Havok and Polaris exit stage right into an unknown future, a tired and hungry pair of newly employed bouncers pull in](We see Sam and Warpath pull in and drive up to the mansion, they pass Alex and Lorna who are leaving).
"That's strange, ah wonder where they're headed in such a hurry,"(Sam says with an uncertain look on his face as he gets out of the jeep and watches Alex and Lorna's car exit the mansions gates, he has to use his hand to shield his eyes from the setting sun). "Ah don't worry about it Sammy my boy, they're probably just off on one of those romantic candlelight rendezvous that Tabitha keeps prattling on endlessly about,"(Warpath says with a smirk as he gets out of the jeep as well and casts a joking glance at Sam before he says as he starts towards the mansions front door).
"Ah guess, but somethin's just not right here, ah can feel it in my bones," (Sam says with a worried look on his face as he turns and follows Warpath towards the door)."Come on mason-dixon, you're just hungry, now we'd better get inside and find something to eat before we're forced to eat some of Tabitha's leftovers,"(Warpath says with a feigned sickly look on his face, but also with a sly smirk on his face as he opens the door). (We see Sam and Warpath take a quick look of -uh oh, better hurry-at each other before pushing each other out of the way while trying to get inside the door).
(Scene switches to that of Siryn sitting in the living room watching TV, with one hand she's holding an icepack on her injured shoulder, and she's holding the remote to the TV in the other, she doesn't look very comfortable, and we see a cup of steaming hot tea by way of the steam rising from it that's sitting on a coaster as Warpath and Sam enter the room). "Oh hi guys, find a job," (Siryn says meekly). "Yah but, what happened to your shoulder," (Warpath says with a concerned look on his face as he sits down on the couch that's nearest to Siryns uninjured shoulder).
"Just a little training accident," (Siryn says looking down at the floor). "What happened, are you okay, hey wait, where's Tabitha," (Sam says with a worried look on his face.) "Tabitha is what happened, she got lazy in the danger room, and look what happened," (Siryn says wincing in pain as she gingerly readjusts the icepack.) "Ah'm sure she didn't mean tah, uh, so then where is she", (Sams says looking embarrassed and with a weak smirk on his face). "I think she's out by the lake, at least she was when I last saw her,"(Siryn says looking up at Sam and putting the remote control down on the table in front of her).
"Okay thanks, ah'm gonna go..",(Sam says as he exits the room and we see Siryn then lean up against Warpaths shoulder, to which he responds by smiling at her and puts his head on top of hers, which is resting on his shoulder.) [As he treks out to the pond to find Tabitha, question after question swirls around inside his head] (We see Sam come over the top of a hill, he looks tired and worried as then he stops for a moment, before continuing towards Tabitha).
(We see Tabitha standing near the waters edge, head down and her shoulders are slumped). "Been out here long," (Sam says as he arrives near Tabitha, we're looking over his shoulder from behind as we see Tabitha say), "Sniff, Oh uh hi Sam, sniff what'cha doin way out here," (through her sniffles as we see her from her shoulders up, her head is down as we see her from the front, and a tear is sliding down her cheek). "Fine, how yah doin girl," (Sam says putting a hand on her shoulder).
"Oh me, I'm fine never better, and how'd that job hunt of yours go," (Tabitha says as she walks away from Sam with her hands stuffed in her pockets). "Jimmy and I found work as bouncers for one of those dance clubs that you're always talkin about so much, and we met this nice lady named Erica who.hey, are you listening,"(Sam says coming up beside her and looking concerned). "Gee, you're pretty perceptive aren't yah, I don't know what happened Sam, one minute everything's going just fine then blammo, Terry's hurt and it's my fault, I, I don't know if I can stay here any longer,"(Tabitha says squinting her eyes as she looks into the sun, with more tears now coming down her face).
"Yah can't leave Tab, not after what that..after what Death has done, you and Paige are now the only family ah got, and ah'm not gonna just let you leave cause the it got hard, now I love you to much tah watch you go anywhere without me, so if you leave, then I'm leaving to," (Sam says touching her shoulder with his hand). "Really, you'd do that for me," (Tabitha says with a meek smile before she frowns and says), "but I love you to much to do that to you, but how am I gonna get through this Sam, I feel like I'm all alone.".
"Hey, now wait a darn minute, as long as there's breath in my lungs you'll never be alone, now ah'm gonna tell you how you're gonna get through this, now we are gonna get through this together, ah promise,"(Sam says taking Tabitha in his arms and holding her chin up with one hand and smiling at her). "Really," (Tabitha says raising her tear filled eyes to Sams as we see their embrace from their waists up). "Yes really,"(Sam says with a smile before kissing her first in a close up of their mouths during the kiss, then of them during the kiss from their shoulders up, and then finally in a full panel picture we see them kissing with the setting sun behind them). [And in that moment, two hearts became one]-END