* DISCLAIMER * This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction involving characters created and owned by Marvel Comics Group. * WRITTEN BY * Samy Merchi * ARCHIVED AT * http://mash.yok.utu.fi/~samerc/fanfic/index.html * STARRING * Elizabeth "PSYLOCKE" Braddock Generation X * CONTINUITY * This story takes place after OPERATION: ZERO TOLERANCE and before PSI-WAR. * MATURE CONTENT * This story includes: various verbal references to sexual acts a scene of explicit sex (m/f consensual) a scene with non-explicit teenage nudity * DEDICATED TO * My late mother, Seija. She went away not because she wanted, but because she didn't have a choice. I'll ever love her and ever miss her. I am just happy our love had a voice. ************* * MADONNA * * CHAPTER 4 * ************* *** Sunglasses covered her face. A hat covered up the formerly blonde hair that was now being dyed purple. A trenchcoat covered up the expensive clothes underneath as she held it tightly around her, like it could replace the hug of a beautiful son. She had stood there for over an hour, watching the three-year-old boy go around the playground of the daycare center -- repeatedly going down the slide, digging up little excavations in the sandbox, chasing his playmates around the yard, picking up speed in the swings. Her heart jumped and she gasped when he fell down and she wanted to run over and make sure he was all right, but before she could get past her fears and move, he was getting back up again. As always, the day came to an end too soon. The brunette came. He shouted "Mommy!" and ran into her arms. She held him tightly with a content smile on her face. She asked how his day had gone, and he would tell her of the pictures he had drawn, the games he had played, the stories he had been told. On the other side of the street from the daycare center, Elizabeth Braddock's heart felt like it was turning in her chest. She turned her back to the child, pulled the trenchcoat tighter around herself and started walking away. After she had walked a block, her stony face was marred by a droplet of moisture appearing from under her sunglasses. She walked away from her son, leaving him behind, because she did not want to put him in the middle of a conflict. She wanted him to be...happy. *** "If you think we are letting you just waltz in here and take the children", Emma Frost said, "then you are..." She paused, her expression turning into a frown and her words slowing down. "...sorely...mis...t--" (( Something's wrong. )) Banshee did not waste a moment. (( Our first priority's gettin' the children clear, Emma! )) he broadcasted telepathically to Frost, before launching himself forward, propelled by his sonic scream, and soaring across the room, tackling Leech and Artie, with the intention to carry both of them outside and out of the battle. Unfortunately, the two had quite different ideas. "Leech not going anywhere!" the Morlock said, and expanded his power-negation field outwards from his skin to encompass Banshee, whose sonic scream cut off in mid-flight. "OOFFF!!" the Irishman wheezed as he, together with his two young charges, hit the ground. He did his best to keep the two children on top of him so he would absorb the impact, but was not fully successful as Leech hit his head on the ground and with a groan fell unconscious. However, Banshee's victory -- such as it was -- didn't last long, as Artie's eyes glowed brightly, and a frown of concentration rising onto his face, he 'mindlocked' Sean Cassidy, freezing the former X-Man's motor functions in place. "The kids are on Humpty Dumpty's side!" Paige shouted, and then swallowed as her head slowly turned to regard Monet St Croix. "I think we're in trouble, Ms Frost --" "Not Humpty Dumpty -- Nanny!" Jubilee shouted as she kicked into overdrive, little fireworks starting to pop around her as she leaped towards Nanny, swinging her arm in a wide arc in front of her and manifesting a rapid-fire series of energy plasmoids which shot out towards Nanny, exploding in her face. "And the big guy's Orphan Maker!" "AIIEEE!" Nanny screamed as the explosions filled her visual sensors and she stumbled backwards. Her shoulder-mounted rocket launcher fired with a soft THUMP!, discharging a missile which blasted towards Jubilee. Ka-WHOOM! The missile was simply too slow for the hyper mallrat who vaulted over it and landed in a crouch just in front of Nanny, preparing to launch a leg sweep to take the cyborg down and out. However, the explosion when the missile hit the roof interrupted her, as the shockwave filled the room. "Ahnnghh!" Paige gasped as her eardrums were torn by the shockwave. She was the closest to the explosion, and the sound alone knocked her mind for a loop -- but that wasn't enough, as debris started raining down on her. "PAIGE!" Emma screamed despite herself as she saw Husk be buried by a hailstorm of debris. (( Jubilee --)) she then broadcast hurriedly to her remaining student. (( My telepathic powers don't work on them -- can you hold them back? )) (( No problem! I can run circles around these two-bit losers! )) Jubilee replied quickly. (( When I was with the X-Men, we used to eat tin-plated bozos like these for breakfast -- besides, *Wolvie* would've already -- )) (( I don't CARE what Wolverine would have --)) Emma started as she tried to lift a heavy wooden beam in the pile of debris over Husk. However, she stopped in mid-sentence. (( Jubilee, behind you --!! )) Monet's firm grip caught Jubilee's exposed back, grabbing her bra strap. "I never liked you, Jubilation", she said sharply, as the muscles of her arm tensed, preparing to use her leverage to smash the Amerasian girl thru a wall. "Yeah well I never liked you, you prissy little rich daddy's g-- AIIIIEEEAAARRRGHHHH!!!" Jubilee was too stubborn to give up. Even knowing what would happen, she had wrapped her legs around a table leg for leverage. When Monet yanked on the bra strap, it was merely a question of what would give. Jubilee's legs? The bra? Or her chest? The bra tore upwards by the force of Monet's yank, up Jubilee's back-stretched arms and over her head, leaving only the bra in Monet's hand as the Algerian girl stumbled backwards. Jubilee herself fell to the floor, gasping from pain, tears glistening in her eyes and sobs wracking her body as her chest felt like it was on fire. She refused to whimper, biting roughly down on her lip to prevent herself from screaming further as she curled into a fetal position. "JUBILEE!" Emma shouted, and then fixed her eyes on the off-balance Monet. "All right, you've gone too far, Monet, and I WILL STOP YOU!" she hissed, and suddenly unleashed all her adrenaline-boosted telepathic fury against Monet. Monet never stood a chance. Emma had tried to get into her mind before, but they had been relatively calm situations. Then again, a raging hurricane would be 'relatively calm' compared to Emma's current mood. Psionic force blasted thru Monet's mind, annihilating the heretofore unbreachable barriers mercilessly, overwhelming any and all defenses and completely obliterating them. The dark-haired beauty screamed. She screamed from the bottom of her lungs like she had no mind left with which to hold back -- just a primal reaction to the worst pain she had ever felt, without an ounce of pride to get her to try to fight back. Then, as she scream ended, she fell, like a puppet with her strings cut. She collapsed onto the floor, and lay there, unmoving. "Very nice, my dear", Nanny's voice rang thru the suddenly-silent room. "But as I'm certain you've noticed, your telepathic powers simply don't work against Nanny and her Orphan Maker. You don't have a prayer against us, dear Ms Frost." "Even if I believed that", Emma said with narrowed eyes, "what makes you think my telepathy doesn't work against you?" She let her mind touch against Jubilee's, sensing the girl's agony, and with a gentle astral persuasion, put the teenager to sleep to protect her from the pain wracking her young body. "A variation of my Pixie Dust", Nanny explained. "The original compound reacts with ambient electromagnetic energy of the psionic wavelength to reinforce any telepathic activity in an area and make the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. The new version, with which our armors are coated, however -- has the opposite effect, dampening telepathic activity, and effectively making us invisible to your powers, as you have no doubt noticed." "That's what you think", Emma Frost smiled in a cold bluff, before her expression turned more serious and she said, "What do you want from us? And what have you done to Monet, Artie and Leech?" "Why, I've merely made them into my Lost Boys (and Girls)", Nanny answered. "As I intend to do with the rest of your charges, once you and Mr Cassidy are out of the way. They will be much safer under my wing than yours -- after all, if you could take care of them, we wouldn't have won this battle." "Now?" the Orphan Maker asked Nanny, and levelled his rifle at Emma, a red laser targeting spot appearing on the blonde's forehead. "No", Emma Frost answered with a calm smile, and let her mind grab two people. The still Pixie-Dust-affected Artie, and Sean Cassidy. First, she turned off Artie's 'mindlocking' of Banshee. Then, she whirled Sean around, and unleashed his sonic scream. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! "ARRGH!" the Orphan Maker screamed as the irresistible wail of the Banshee slammed onto him and smashed the armored being right into one of the living room's remaining walls, and further, clear thru the wall. With a loud clank, Orphan Maker's rifle fell down onto the living room floor when its holder had been knocked away. "Peter!" Nanny gasped as she turned to see Orphan Maker be knocked away. "How DARE YOU!" she screamed, turning towards Emma and firing another missile from her shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. "I will not allow ANYONE to hurt my Orphan Maker!" "I would say it's too late for th--" BOOM!! Emma's words were interrupted as the missile hit a couch and detonated. A fireball exploded outwards from the point of impact, and the shockwave cast Emma against a wall with a "WHUNGGHH!!" She went limp and fell down onto the floor, unmoving. The psionic hold was broken as the White Queen went unconscious, and Artie and Banshee regained full control of their faculties. Fortunately for Generation X, Sean was by far the more experienced, and recovered almost immediately. While Artie was still trying to figure out what had happened, Sean had already whistled up a supersonic frequency which knocked the pink-skinned teenager right out. "So", Nanny said with a sigh, turning towards Sean Cassidy. "It comes down to a duel between the two of us." She pulled out a gun and pointed it at Banshee. "I regret doing this, Mr Cassidy -- I truly do. But it is for the best. For the children." CH-CLAKK! "I doubt that", Elizabeth Braddock said as she stood behind Nanny, holding the Orphan Maker's rifle against the older woman's back. "Unless you would like to test the resilience of your armor against your stooge's rifle, I would suggest you stand *very* still." SFIKT SHNK "Nobody's gonna hurt Nanny while I'm here!" the Orphan Maker proclaimed from the hole in the wall he had made on his way out. His arm was pointed towards Psylocke, a pistol having formed in his hand from the material of his armor. "I've stopped your bullets before, Orphan Maker", Banshee said. "I can do it again." "If you so much as try to hurt my Peter, I will personally make certain you die, Cassidy!" Nanny hissed. Elizabeth let her eyes move from Nanny who was watching Banshee to Banshee who was watching Orphan Maker to Orphan Maker who was watching her. She sighed mentally. (( I feel like I'm in politics... )) *** It was a Monday morning. Evan walked into his office, and closed the door behind him. "Good morning, sport." Evan blinked and glanced towards his desk. Behind it was sitting someone. A man, late twenties, early thirties? About a decade younger than Evan, maybe. "Who are you?" "Jamie Braddock, not *quite* at your service", the man smiled, and with a THUNK!, put his feet up onto the desk. "Betsy's brother." "She never told me she had a second brother", Evan said as he put his briefcase down onto the desk. "I'm sure there's a lot of things she hasn't told you, won't tell you, and shouldn't tell you", Jamie simply smiled as he dug up a cigarette and lit it with a gleaming Zippo. "That's not the point, though." "Oh, and pray tell, what *is* the point?" "Point #1: You hurt her. Point #2: She's my sister. Only I'm allowed to hurt her. Point #3: You owe me." "I 'owe' you?" "Gooood. That's a smart boy", Jamie said, getting up from the chair and blowing a cloud of smoke in Evan's face. "Now for the thousand-dollar question -- how are you going to pay me?" "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Mr Braddock. I have no intention of paying you anything in any form or shape. Now, if you would please leave --" "I don't think so", Jamie said, and suddenly pointed a gun straight at Evan's face. "Now you listen to me, and you listen to me good." Evan took a few steps backwards, wide-eyed, but didn't say anything. "Okay. Here's the deal. I'll be back, next year, same time, same place." Jamie walked around the desk, coming to sit on the front edge of it, keeping the gun all the while pointed at Evan. "If she hasn't been on the cover of Vogue by then, you're dead meat." "You're *joking*!" Jamie's eyes narrowed. "Do I *look* like the kind of man who has to joke?" Evan swallowed. "That's impossible -- you don't get to be on the cover of Vogue that fast -- and besides, I don't know any people there who'd --" "That's your problem", Jamie pointed out, and started walking towards the door. "You have one year." Then, he stuffed his gun in his pocket, smiled sweetly, and opened the door. "Good day, Mr Starsmore." *** THWAPP! Angelo Espinosa's skin launched itself from his wrists and wrapped around the Orphan Maker. Then, he yanked roughly, contracting the skin at the same time rapidly, to pull Orphan Maker backwards, as it fired from a slingshot. Then, as the armored killer flew across the living room towards him, he blinked and suddenly realized Orphan Maker would slam right onto him. "Uh-oh." (( Let go! )) Jono shouted in Angelo's head, so loudly that the Latino complied instantly without question, the strands of skin holding Orphan Maker going slack and unraveling from around the villain. Then, Jonothon Evan Starsmore ripped off the bandages from over his chest and lower face. *** He is warm. She feels secure. He is her brother. Or so she thought. Byron Bra-Dhok, Kaptain Briton, an alternate timeline version of her brother, had impersonated Brian. Held her when she had been vulnerable. Made her feel safe. Kissed her. He had tried to rape her. She had fought. Hard. Penetrated his mind. Found out he wasn't Brian. And she had cut loose. It wasn't Brian. "You FILTH..." It wasn't Brian. "You VILE..." It wasn't Brian. "...DISGUSTING..." It wasn't Brian. "...*FILTH*!" It wasn't Brian. She spread her arms. A window opened. A gust of wind smashed him into a wall, sending tremors thru Braddock Manor. It wasn't Brian. Her hair flapped wildly in the wind. Her eyes became furnaces of hate and loathing. Her face twisted in anger and fury. Her mind thrust into his, and started ripping it into little shreds. It wasn't Brian. His eyes rolled back. He recoiled, fell onto the floor, writhed like a worm on a hook. He had lost, and they both knew it. But she had no mercy, no pity for the killer, the rapist, Sat-Yr-9's lover and fellow ruler on the fascist dictatorial Hitler-like world. He would die, and they both knew it. It wasn't Brian. Slowly, the voice of reason broke back into her consciousness. She stood there, in the middle of the room, surrounded by ghostly silence. Her face was moistened by tears of frustration and sweat of horror. Her eyes looked into the distance, as if too afraid to focus on the present, as if her mind was trying to flee her both. A small gust of wind played with her bangs. It wasn't Brian The smell of charred, smoldering flesh filled the room, but she didn't notice. Her mind had turned off the present, gone bye-bye. He was lying face-down on the floor, the eyes of his corpse still open, as blank and horrified as hers. Small wisps of smoke trailed upwards from the base of his neck, corrupting the room with the stench of death as his presence had corrupted it with the unforgivable sin of breaching sibling sanctity. *** Eerie light lit up the room as the psionic furnace known as Chamber cut loose. Energy erupted outwards from his chest as if a bright light had been flicked on, and a concussive tidal wave of force impacted directly onto Orphan Maker. Everyone shielded or averted their eyes, leaving only Jono himself to see how Orphan Maker flew across the room, and crashed thru yet another wall. The ceiling of the room shook slightly as the supporting walls were enduring more and more punishment by the minute. "PETER!" Nanny screamed and then turned her gun on Jono. "Very well", she said angrily. "If you all are trying to deprive me of my dear boy, I have no choice but to do the same to you. Say good-night to your charge, Mr Cassidy." "If you intend to hurt Jonothon", Elizabeth Braddock said sharply, as she vaulted thru the air and landed on the floor between Nanny and Chamber, "you're going to have to go through me." She pointed Orphan Maker's rifle straight between Nanny's eyes. Her own blue eyes showed little hesitation, only the ferocity of a lioness protecting her cubs. "His mother." Psylocke's eyes narrowed further as she continued. "And I can promise you right here, right now, Nanny -- you even so much as blink in his direction, and I will blow your armor to pieces, rip your tiny mind to little shreds and choke the Orphan Maker with what's left of you without a single moment of hesitation." "Madonna", Angelo whispered at the words. "You never told me your mother had kachongas like that, Jono... Not to mention cajones." *** "They certainly seem to trust you... The rest will be arriving soon. We've been gathering them for months... From all over the country... Part of our function is to give them sanctuary and learn about them. We've got a place in the city, but funds are short and other factions are pressing us hard. We need your help." "Brian...please?" Elizabeth asked her brother. It wasn't so much Gabriel's speech that had persuaded her, as it was the sight, the feel, the smell of children in the house. What did it matter if they were Warpies? They were children, needing tender love and caring. And Elizabeth had felt so alone ever since she had given up her baby. "NO! I said before, I don't trust them. They're dangerous", Brian objected, like he always did to most everything. So quick to judge, so paranoid that he was being manipulated. "But Brian, they're children." "WARP children. They're destructive. And, in YOUR hands", Brian said, pointing at Gabriel, "corrupt. I won't have them -- OR YOU -- in my house." "Brian", Elizabeth snapped angrily. "It's MY house, too, and I say that they stay. They're living beings. They need protection...education....love. We can give them that. IT'S OUR DUTY." "Here, here", the other RCX agent, Michael, interrupted, backing up Elizabeth's words with an arrogant smile. "Shut up!" Brian said to Michael, starting to raise his voice. "This is my house and you have no say in this matter!" "You shut up, Brian!" Elizabeth retorted, her own voice rising as Brian's did. "I'm so tired of you lording over it all and making all the decisions, like your life was the only one that mattered! There are other people here to be considered -- CHILDREN, Brian!" "This is MY HOUSE, Betsy!" Brian started shouting. "I won't be forced into anything!" "Oh, right", Betsy said harshly as her face started quivering as if holding back tears. "I forget -- your own comfort is what matters. You'll help people, as long as it doesn't interfere with YOUR own life!" "That's not true! I've had to sacrifice -- to sacrifice --!" "Sacrifice what, Brian?" Betsy said as tears started glimmering in her eyes. "DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT SACRIFICE! I gave up my own BABY because I wanted him to be happy! The baby, mind you, that YOU wanted me to abort -- just so he wouldn't be a burden to you!" "I never said he would've been a burden --" "SHUT UP, BRIAN!" Elizabeth started crying. "If you'd have come out with me in the first place when I asked you, none of it might have happened -- but did you care?" She sniffled, and blinked her wet eyes as her make-up started to run. "Oh noo -- YOU wanted to spend a quiet night at home and be with Courtney rather than look after your sister! Far be it from you to look after OTHER people when it takes away from YOUR personal comfort..." "Betsy, I --" Elizabeth was not in the mood to listen to Brian's excuses. She was weeping openly, and whirled around, running out of the room to escape from the pain. "Betsy!" Brian shouted, and then snarled in frustration as she disappeared thru the doorway. Slowly, his eyes moved from the empty doorway, and onto Gabriel. "FINE!" he growled. "You want my house so much, TAKE IT! But STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" *** Nanny looked around. On one front, Psylocke, Chamber and Skin. On another, Banshee. And she was alone. "Oh my", she whispered to herself, and then glanced towards the hole in the wall Orphan Maker had most recently made. "I'm coming, Peter! Don't you worry about a thing!" she hollered as the jets of her armor engaged and she flew across the room and out the hole in the wall. "We've got to go after her, Sean", Elizabeth said, lowering Orphan Maker's rifle briefly. "She can still wreak havoc --" (( Hang on a while )), Jono interrupted, and placed a hand onto Psylocke's shoulder. (( What'd yer mean, 'mother'? )) *** "Nanny, it hurts, it hurtsss!" "Peter, it's all right, Nanny is here!" she whispered urgently. "Nanny will take care of you!" She kneeled down on the floor beside Orphan Maker's downed form and quickly assessed the damage Peter's armor had taken. It had been dented in various places, and electricity sparkled here and there in obvious short circuits. "Oh dear", she whispered. "I do believe, Peter, that it is time for us to fight and run away, to live to fight another day..." "Not quite so fast, 'Nanny'", came a new voice, and the woman in question turned around to see the black teenager Everett Thomas -- Synch -- standing in the dim light of the hallway, his arms crossed over his chest. *** "Not. Now. Jonothon", Elizabeth said icily, and removed Jonothon's hand from her shoulder. Again, her butterfly aura appeared in front of her face, and after a few moments, she said, "Synch has found her. And there's another psi-signature near them... Let me contact him..." *** "Time is too fleeting for this, child. And rest assured, I do not want to hurt you, but we can not tarry here any longer --" The muzzle of a machine gun popped out Nanny's shoulder-harness, and opened fire towards Synch. "Don't worry. You won't hurt me", Synch replied as he took a few steps back and mentally activated his powers. A rainbow-colored aura sprang to life in front of him, and the bullets ricocheted harmlessly off it. "What --" Nanny said in astonishment. "Your powers do not work that way!" "No", Everett smiled. "But Penance's do. I just put my aura in synch with her diamond-hard skin, and the rest is history. Now, I've been informed that the two of you have attacked the school and injured my friends. Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Penance's silent form crept up from the shadows of the hallway, and she halted in a mute crouch beside Synch's leg, like a lapdog or a loyal pet. Which the girl wasn't, but none of Generation X had yet been able to unravel the enigma of who or what she was. "I would rather opt for no way at all, child", Nanny said, and pressed a button on her belt which activated her teleporter. Smoke started to billow around them, preparing to swallow them up and spirit them away. "Oh no you don't!" Everett said, and bit his lip, as he concentrated, trying to expand his mutant-sensing ability to find an aura that would be of help to him. Going beyond Penance -- the first, closest that he found... "Monet?" He blinked in surprise, but nonetheless, he synched himself to the girl a few rooms away. Everett Thomas was careful not to put himself in complete synch with Monet, remembering the mental shock that had put him thru when he had last attempted it. Instead, he just mimicked the girl's invulnerability, super-strength and her other superficial abilities. Then, he looked down to Penance questioningly. Generation X didn't know if the girl was mute or deaf or both, or how they could possibly communicate with her. But right now, at this moment, Everett Thomas didn't think about that. They just acted, working in perfect unison, like they were in synch with each other. He picked her up. He primed her for a throw. And then, with a furious motion, he cast her forward. Penance cut thru the air like a perfect arrow, propelled by Monet's strength. She put her hands in front of her, spreading her razor-sharp fingers in front of her, ready to slash at the people who had hurt her family. THUNK! Penance sailed thru the thick cloud of smoke, and hit the wall behind it. She ricocheted off it, and fell backwards onto her butt, right onto the very spot where Nanny and the Orphan Maker had been mere seconds earlier. Now, they were gone. And the smoke dissipated without a trace. "Damn!" Everett cursed, and kicked the wall beside him, then blinked as his foot went thru it like it was paper. "Oops." He looked at Penance and smiled sheepishly. "As far as we're concerned, they did that, right?" Penance's expression was indecipherable. She just sat there in a crouch, her blue eyes watching Everett. No nod, no shake of her head. Just that ever-present silence, her enigmatic expression, and the corners of her mouth, slightly upturned -- no so much so that she'd be smiling, but at least she appeared content. Happy, one might even venture to guess. *** "They're gone", Psylocke said, having remained in mental contact with Everett. Now, she broke it off, and looked to Sean. "It's over." Then, the healing started. Sean Cassidy kneeled beside the pile of debris under which Paige was buried. Straining, he lifted a few wooden beams off the pile, and then with a supersonic whistle cracked to pieces a large piece of concrete. Then, he tested for a pulse in the blonde girl, and sighed in relief. Angelo Espinosa tried to keep himself from casting worried glances in Sean and Paige's direction. He was a pragmatic person, and concentrated on taking care of the others while Cassidy was busy with Paige. He knelt beside Emma Frost's unconscious form, and started lightly slapping her on the cheek to wake her up. Jonothon Evan Starsmore kept Elizabeth Braddock from going anywhere. Cassidy wasn't panicking, so everything would be okay. And he asked Betsy what she had meant with her words. She swallowed down a lump in her throat, and nodded slowly. She said some words, and brushed a hand across her moist eyes, mentally cursing her cheap runny mascara. She explained, and he listened. Her heart quivered in fear that he would reject her, wanting her to stay away like she had all these years. He felt dizzy, and turned his back to her, leaning his forehead onto one of the still-standing walls. He had no lungs to breathe with, but still felt like he was short of oxygen. During the talk, Everett and Penance walked in. She remained near the doorway, taking up a silent crouch there and just watching the proceedings. He, on the other hand, winced at the sight of the devastated living room, and as he glanced around, he saw Monet and Jubilee, both lying out cold on the floor. He felt his heart skip a beat, from fear that the most important person in his world had been hurt. His mouth was dry and his breathing quickened. Then, he went to get Jubilee's pullover from near the fireplace, and walked over to her. He blushed at the sight of her shirtlessness, but nonetheless forced himself to dress her, pulling the pullover down over her arms and head gently, trying not to wake her up. Emma had awakened by now, and she and Angelo checked up Artie and Leech, and then carried the two unconscious boys out, heading to the medlab with them. Jubilee woke up only moments after Everett got her shirt on, despite his attempts to be delicate. She blushed crimson as she realized he had dressed her, and no doubt gotten a good look at her pathetic little chest. The boys would laugh at her and she'd hurt. Sean lifted Paige up into his arms, and headed off to the medlab after telling Everett to bring Monet. Everett nodded as Sean exited, and then his eyes locked with Jubilee's. They looked at each other for long moments, and then he broke the gaze by looking over to Monet while swallowing nervously. She kept watching him even though he looked away. She pretended not to notice the secret glances he gave her from the corner of his eye. She felt a thrill run up her spine every time his eyes brushed over him, even if it was just for an eyeblink. They lifted Monet up, and Jubilee started complaining about how heavy and fat and ugly the perfect-bodied Algerian beauty was. Together, they got her out of the living room, and started a trek towards the medlab. Elizabeth Braddock took a deep breath, and walled in the hurt in her heart. She had talked and talked and talked. She didn't know what to say anymore. And he still had his back to him. She didn't care anymore if her mascara was running. She didn't care if her cheeks were wet with tears. She turned away herself, and walked out the door. He didn't turn around. He just stood there, like a stoic statue. His mother wasn't his mother. An X-Man was his mother. How much more could a life get screwed up by a few words? There was a poke. He turned around to look. Penance. She was crouched beside his leg, and looked up into his pained eyes. Never had they carried more hurt than now. She felt his pain in her own heart, and though she didn't understand any of what was going on, she wanted to help. She just didn't know how. She tried for the only thing she knew made her happy. Nervously, her face taking on a slightly shy expression, she lifted her hand up. She didn't know if it would be of any help, but she extended her hand upwards, towards him, offering him the object she had poked her with. An apple. *** Jono walked down to the basement where he had made his abode. As so often, Angelo was hanging there. This time, he was making an awful racket trying to play Jono's electric guitar and failing abysmally. Jono shook his head and walked over to pull the guitar's plug from the wall. "Hey! What gives, Jono?" Angelo said as the power from the electric guitar was cut. (( Yer playin's givin' me a bloody headache )), Jono said, and then asked, (( Want to cash in that plan o' sneaking off to the local pub for a pint? Not that I can drink, but I think I'll be good company tonight. )) "Come to think of it", Angelo quirked an eyebrow, and dug a keyring from his pocket. I've still got the keys to the Jeep, and I've got the video to return..." (( We might as well not get in trouble for nickin' the Jeep )), Jono smiled, and pulled out a keyring of his own, dangling it in front of Angelo's face. (( C'mon, let's roll. )) *** Back in New York City, the shadows of Warren Kenneth Worthington III's bedroom grew for a moment, then retreated again. CHOMP! Elizabeth Braddock munched on the apple and swallowed it down, before leaning down to plant a kiss onto the cheek of her sleeping love. "Maybe I do have another man in my life, Warren", she whispered quietly into his ear, "but I don't love you any less because of it." She held a silver angel tightly against her chest for a moment, before placing it down on the nightstand, to wait for her in the morning.