Chapter 18

Jammin' In

The Stars

Part 1

Disclaimer: Nothing's really changed, same as before except for where Lance and Betsy are concerned and as well as the Morlocks' feelings about the revelation of the Cleveland School.

A Week Later, Outer Space

"Lovely to know that D'ken's made himself some friends since we last saw him." Grumbled John 'Thunderbird' Proudstar as he and several others, including several of the Misfits flew around in a spaceship known as the 'Brightwind' in an effort to chase down former Shi'ar Emperor, D'ken Neramani.

"Yeah, wonderful." Muttered a sickly looking Lance Alvers as Dani 'Mirage' Moonstar piloted her ship all over in order to also avoid oncoming fire from D'ken's allies in the form of several Pangorian ships.

"Geez, kid, maybe you shoulda stay backed on Earth if you can't handle bein' out here." Guido 'Strong Guy' Carosella told the sickly youngster.

Lance groaned as his friends and Betsy in particular, continued to shoot him concerned looks. "Its not that, I think its more to do with the fact I'm not on Earth anymore and its messing with me thanks to what my powers are." Which when he thought about it later, thought having his power suppressor on would've made that less of a thing.

A near hit forced the Brightwind into a roll and it was enough to make Lance vomit much to the dismay of everyone else.

A Little Earlier On

A week after Lance's little chat with the Coyote where Betsy was concerned would see him and the Misfits head to Cleveland, Ohio for a live music show being put on by Lila Cheney, Alison Blaire, and Cherry Bomb in the form of their 'Jam Stars' group for a charity. Something Wanda was quite happy about due to her love for their respective music and so was Lance as well. Though Abeytu had opted to remain behind back at the JOE base due to her Mutation courtesy of her X-Gene and not being comfortable enough around that many people and Agent Walker was off on an assignment for the CIA. Spyder had also opted to remain behind to hang with Abeytu and Trinity and to also help keep an eye on the babies. That, and she wasn't wanting to see Lance and the others be all couple like since her 'older brother' had finally asked out Betsy for a first date much to the older girl's happiness. Xi had chosen to use a holo-watch in order to hide his appearance but would learn a little later it wouldn't even be needed. "You know, I've heard stories for years about that Duck of Cherry Bomb's." Remarked Althea Delgado as she and her boyfriend, Todd Tolensky, walked around the area with their arms entwined and hands held together following the concert's ending.

"Like how he's actually from another world but I dunno, seems more like a Mutant to me." Todd added as several looked their way.

And he knew it wasn't because of him, but rather because of a nearby Betsy and Lance due to the fact that Betsy had recently dyed her hair purple thanks to the fact that the JOE base is a fairly lax one about a number of things. The fact that the music show/charity event had gone so well had surprised the former Brotherhood members considerably due to the fact that two weeks ago, Alison 'Dazzler' Blaire had revealed to the world that she's a Mutant and been one for decades. And not only that, helps run a school for Mutant and Human teenagers in Cleveland with several others including the members of Cherry Bomb. But even with the fact that Cleveland and most of Ohio had been supporting Mutants for years long before the revelation of Mutants being a thing, those running the school had taken certain measures to ensure it was hard to find to avoid trouble. Of course, when the Morlocks across the Country learned of the School, a lot of them had some unkind thoughts towards the Cleveland School since they had kept to themselves for so long.

There was even a pot shot taken at Xavier during the commercial that had made the Misfits rather curious over and those present hoped to possibly find out the history that was clearly involved. "Don't forget that he's also the Mayor of Cleveland." Pointed out Betsy in amusement from the stand she and Lance were at.

The Duck, Howard to his friends and his wife, Beverly, had been the Mayor of the city for a very long time and it still amazed the teenagers a great deal and wondered how much trouble Mayor Howard had dealt with from racists and the like because of his looks. Lance chuckled while thinking about that and it'd be Todd who beat him to saying something about it. "A Mutant Mayor, that's wild even for us, yo."

Honestly, how no one had found out about Mutants long before now thanks to Cleveland was beyond him and he wondered what Xavier thought and felt over the whole thing. Frankly, it made Todd wonder what his and everyone else's lives would have been like had they been fortunate to have been born in Cleveland. "Still, its invigorating to know of an entire city that is Mutant Friendly even if it does make me wonder how Professor Xavier hasn't been getting recruits from here." Remarked an undisguised Xi as he ate from his Cotton Candy.

Wondering if Pietro was perhaps bothering Wanda and Eden again considering they were here on a date as a couple. The whole notion being something the Speedster still had trouble comprehending. Of course, there was some thinking that he was jealous due to his own lack of companionship. "You kids know ol' Baldy, eh?" Came a Hispanic voice from near by.

Althea looked over to the source to see an older Hispanic male and narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah, you could say that but we aren't his recruits."

The man scoffed. "Probably for the best." He said and making the teens rather curious.

"Call me Rictor, had some dealings with the old man back in the 80s that didn't go all that great for me and some friends of mine."

Said dealings that had seen James Proudstar end up in a coma for several years and for John to long believe that Xavier had been responsible for it. "Hey, you part of that school that's around here somewhere by chance?" Todd asked him.

Figuring that if he was, then they got a small piece of the puzzle figured out where a certain potshot towards Charlie Boy was concerned. Rictor smiled at him and the others. "Yeah, you kids interested in joining up?"

Unfortunately, they weren't able to answer thanks to the fact a spaceship of all things had descended and wasn't making any strides to conceal itself! To the further surprise of everyone, an image appeared from it of a man with a rather interesting hairstyle and an angry look on his face. "Aww Hell, how'd he get out of prison!?"

"You know him?" Wondered Betsy in shock and surprise.

"I am D'ken, rightful ruler of the Shi'ar Emperor until interference saw me wrongfully thrown in prison! I am here to gain my revenge on those here involved before going after my throne!" Declared the figure.

Not wasting time, Rictor yelled for an evacuation to begin and rightfully so as D'ken began to fire his ship's weapons. "Holy crap!" Yelled Todd as panic and chaos started all around him and the others.

"Guys, start helping with the evacuation!" Ordered Althea as blasts occurred all around them.

Which made things tricky but thanks to Pietro's speed after he showed up once he wasn't going to be successfully flirting anymore, things were a little better. Lance, Betsy, Xi, and Arcade after they ran into him, ended up finding themselves on another spaceship after seeing Rictor interact with someone from it and then got on board. Leading to some tension in the process. "Who the Hell are you!?" Wondered a man in concern and suspiciousness as the ship took off.

"Fellow disenfranchised folks like us where Xavier's concerned, John." Rictor told him quickly.

"Huh, well isn't that something." Muttered the man.

"No time to bring them back, we'll have to do so after we've taken care of D'ken and ensured he's back behind bars." Announced Alison Blair herself to their surprise.

"This… This is a work of art." Murmured Arcade in awe as Lance started to feel oddly ill as Xi decided he would make with the introductions, not thinking this would cause an issue where their Military ties are concerned.

Alison smiled at Arcade while feeling alarmed over the kids' Military ties but leaving it be for now to focus on the current situation. "Dani's gonna be happy about that, come on, I'll take you guys to the bridge."

True to form, Alison was right where Dani was concerned. "Thank you! I call her the 'Brightwind' after an old friend and you can call me Danielle 'Mirage' Moonstar, or Dani for short." The woman said cheerfully despite the situation at hand.

Rictor then explained the group's history as they flew after D'ken's spaceship while ensuring no one could see it until they were far enough and close to Earth's atmosphere to leave it the ship undisguised. Julio 'Rictor' Richter, John Proudstar, and the big guy known as Guido Carosella had been in the Marines together during the 70s and pretty much stuck together afterwards, Guido had become Lila Cheney's bodyguard/friend and from there met the likes of Danielle Moonstar, Rusty Collins, Alison 'Dazzler' Blaire, and later, Cherry Bomb, during the 80s. They'd had several adventures out in the Cosmos and had become a part of the space faring group known as the 'Starjammers' while over throwing D'ken and allowing for his sister, Lilandra, to claim the throne of the Shi'ar Empire and bring peace and stability back to the Empire. Sadly, Rusty had to remain away from Earth due to some problematic events with the US Government around the start of the 90s but honestly, he didn't mind that much given all that the Cosmos has to offer.

Sally 'Skids' Blevins was also out there with him as well due to their relationship and neither had wanted to end it. Leading to her following along with him. And after Arcade spotted several ships coming their way, the stakes grew a little higher once they realized they were Pangorian. Sparking Proudstar's comment in the process and after Lance threw up, he quickly apologized. "Couldn't be helped, what are your powers?" Wondered Rictor.

"He can create Earthquakes, remember?" Dazzler remarked as one of the Pangorian ships went kaboom.

"Oh, like me! I forgot what it was like to be that affected by the lack of contact with Earth." Remarked the man with a frown on his face.

"Might be because of Magneto's experiments on me that kinda screwed me up a little. Or that you've had a longer period of time to get used to this kinda thing." Lance told him and several faces darkened at the mention of that man's name.

"Another reason to avoid Xavier." Grumbled John darkly as D'ken's voice was heard.

"Surrender and I will be merciful to an extent, Starjammers!"

"You know that's never gonna happen, D'ken! Now, how'd you get out of prison when you're a lifer?" Asked Dani.

"Even to this day, there are still those loyal to ME!" Crowed the man and managed to get a lucky shot on the Brightwind.

Thankfully it didn't cause much damage and that annoyed the former Emperor and ordered to have them being kept fired on.

Author's Notes: Notes same as before... While thinking of various ideas for this story, the idea of Dani, Rictor, John, Guido, Lila, Alison, and even Cherry Bomb having known one another for years and being a part of the Cosmic community in some way came to me and I'm glad I finally got to use that idea. Inspiration for this also comes from the 'Howard The Duck' movie from back in the day and L1701E's earlier works involving Cleveland being a fairly Mutant friendly place. I also originally was gonna have the school mentioned here that Alison and the others part of in California but as I wrote this, I ended up changing the location to Cleveland.