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DISCLAIMER

1) This material is not used for monetary profit in any manner.  It is
done solely for enjoyment purposes, and as homage to the great stories
and characters of Marvel Comics Group

2)  All  the  characters,  events,  and locations portrayed within are
recognized as property of Marvel Comics Group should they so wish.

3)  This  story  has been written by Samy Merchi <samerc@mash.yok.utu.fi>.  Any
commentary  in  the  form  of compliments or critique is welcomed, and
eagerly hoped for.  So go ahead and drop me a line telling me what you
thought, okay?  It'll make my day.  ;)

4) Part of dialogue and events have been taken from Uncanny X-Men #281
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                      *** HELLIONS: REBIRTH! ***
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                       CHAPTER TWO: Revelations

   Manuel  stood  there, looking into Emma's eyes, not knowing what to
do.   Everything  came flooding back at once, and he remembered how he
had  proclaimed  her dead at the Hellfire Club, when the Sentinels had
attacked.  He remembered how he had watched Tarot go down as he looked
into  her  eyes.   He  remembered  turning  his  back and running, not
stopping  until  he fell down from exhaustion, when his knees couldn't
carry him anymore.
   Emma  Frost  had been Manuel's guiding light, the one he had always
relied  on.  To Manuel, Emma had been the strongest person on earth, a
titan,  someone  who  always prevailed.  When he had thought her dead,
his  world  had come apart at the seams.  For a while, he thought that
by going back to Nova Roma, to be with Amara Aquilla, he could survive
by  her  strength...   But  then...  then...  Oh God, how he wished he
hadn't  done it...  Betrayed Amara and the people of Nova Roma...  His
eyes squeezed shut, as he tried to hold back the tears...
   Then,  there  was  a gentle touch at Manuel's shoulder, Emma's hand
descending  onto  it strongly, reassuringly, and he drew strength from
it.   Emma  was alive.  Emma was alive.  That alone gave him strength,
and he lifted his eyes up, to look into hers.
   "Let's  go  inside, Manuel", Emma said calmly, motioning for Manuel
to  come in.  She stepped to the side as he walked in, glancing around
the  surroundings  he  had last seen so long ago.  With a quiet click,
Emma  closed  the  door  and  looked  at  Manuel.   "The  parlor?" she
questioned with a raised eyebrow.
   Manuel  nodded  quietly,  and  watched  Emma  start towards a door,
following her, his eyes lowered.  His step was tentative at first, but
at  every  step  he took, he felt the house welcome him back, as if he
had never been gone.  Step by step, he started to feel like the man he
used to be.  Started to feel like Empath.
   "Anything  to  drink, Manuel?" Emma asked curiously as they entered
the  parlor,  as she headed for the minibar with enticing motions.  He
watched  after  her  with a yearning eye, then shook his head to clear
it.  "Some brandy, please, Ms Frost", he said in a weak voice.
   Emma showed no indication of noticing anything special about Manuel
yet,  treating  this  as  if it were just another of their meetings so
long  ago.   She took two glasses, a bottle of brandy, and poured them
drinks, motioning Manuel to sit.
   Promptly,  Manuel  complied  and  sat  down  in  a  plush recliner,
watching Emma quietly.  He wasn't going to start the conversation.  He
was barely in the condition to reply yes or no to her questions.  Just
relaxing  in  the  chair,  he  felt  himself hoping he could just fall
asleep there, and stay there forever.
   "Here",  Emma  said  as  she  gave  Manuel  his glass, and sat down
opposite  him.   She  took  a quiet sip, letting her eyes run over his
form  quietly.   He  was  certainly a far cry from the self-conscious,
fashionable  young  man  Emma  had  once  known.  Now, his hair was an
unkempt  mess,  his  face showed a slight stubble, and there were bags
under  his  tired  eyes.   The  trenchcoat  he  wore was old and torn,
covering  up  a  normal,  cheap  sweatshirt  and a pair of jeans.  His
sneakers  were  all muddy and worn out.  "I must say, I preferred your
old look", she commented sarcastically.
   Manuel  lifted  the  brandy  to his lips, with trembling hands, and
took  a sip, not replying.  Emma smiled slightly, amused at how low he
had fallen.  Still, there was a tinge of both relief and joy at seeing
him  again,  and concern over his state.  "I am happy to see you back,
Manuel", she said softly, letting her affection show thru slightly.
   A  moment  of  quiet  passed.  "I have missed you", Emma continued.
Manuel  looked up with a pitiful expression, like a whipped puppy that
didn't  know  what  happened now.  And he didn't.  He had no idea what
was going to happen.
   "I am glad you survived."
   Manuel's  eyes  suddenly widened.  He didn't want to remember.  But
he  did.   And  he  felt slight anger rise inside him.  "You abandoned
us",  he  said  venomously,  then  looked down, almost afraid of being
killed on the spot.
   Emma  frowned,  and  then she lowered her eyes.  She was hurt.  She
had beat herself up enough about this, and now...to actually be blamed
for it by other people...  She didn't know what to say.  "I..."
   "We  trusted you, Ms Frost", Manuel went on, scared as hell, but he
couldn't  stop  himself.   It was all coming out, like flood gates had
been  opened.   "We trusted you, and you let us all down!  You left us
to die!"
   "I..." Emma closed her eyes tight, putting her brandy down.
   "How  could you leave us???  We trusted you!!  You were supposed to
take care of us!!!"
   "Be  quiet,  Manuel..   Be  quiet..." Emma said weakly, feeling her
heart be wrenched out of her chest.
   "How  could  you  do it???  We counted on you!!!  We trusted you to
protect us!!!"
   Emma squeezed her eyes tighter, tears starting to fill them and she
concealed  her  face  in  her  hands.  "Please be quiet..." she almost
whimpered.
   "We...   I..." Manuel sniffed and shook his head.  "Do you have any
idea what it did to me, Ms Frost??" he asked thru his tears.
   For  a  moment,  they both fell to silent weeping, then, amidst the
tears,  Emma somehow found the strength to stand up from her chair and
walk  to Manuel.  "I know, Manuel..." she said quietly, sniffling.  "I
wish I was a god...all-powerful...  But I'm not..." She reached out to
touch his face, and he flinched at first, then looked up, at her, with
moist eyes.
   Emma  came  down  and  put  her arms around Manuel.  "I'm so sorry,
Manuel...   You  have  no  idea  how  much  I  wish  I could have done
something..."  She  sniffed,  tears  running  down her cheeks.  "But I
couldn't...   I'm  not  invincible,  no  matter how much you may think
so..."
   Manuel  looked away, closing his eyes.  He wanted to say something,
but  didn't  know  what.  Then, he just turned around and put his arms
around  Emma.   "To  me,  Ms  Frost  - you always will be..." he said,
crying softly.

   Allison  was  frustrated beyond belief.  How could it be possible??
How  could  there  be  no record at all of a young child named Allison
Crestmere??   All  the  data  banks,  all the agencies she had checked
out...nothing!  Could Selene had so carefully erased away her complete
existence?
   How?   HOW???   She could feel her temper rising as she pounded the
keyboard  in  vain,  trying to find the solutions to the mess her life
had  become.   And she had thought life had been complicated being the
daughter  of  the  first  senator of Nova Roma, thrust into the modern
world from the 1st century.
   But  that  was nothing compared to what her life was now.  At least
before,  she  belonged  somewhere.   She  was a member of two isolated
communities, the roman-incan remnant colony of Nova Roma, nestled deep
within  the  Amazonian  jungle, a place cut off from the modern world.
And the New Mutants.  Her other family.
   Now,  all that was gone.  Nova Roma had just been an elaborate ruse
by  the  witch  Selene.   And  the New Mutants were gone, and in their
place  was  something called X-Force, all her friends having been died
or  scattered around...  Nothing remained for her...  All she had ever
belonged to, had crumbled around her...
   Allison  hid  her  face  in  her hands, as she began to cry softly,
tears  of a broken heart slowly streaming down from her eyes.  Who was
she??   Where  did she belong??  Who cared about her??  The one person
who she had thought loved her, had betrayed their love by manipulating
her.
   Damn you, Manuel!
   Damn you, Selene!
   The  quiet  sound  of  her  weeping  filled  her  small flat as she
struggled  to  regain  control  of  her  emotions.   "Help  me, father
Jove..." she sobbed desperately to herself, without even realizing she
wasn't  supposed  to  believe  in  the  Nova  Roman  gods anymore.  By
instinct,  she  called  out  for  them.  They were still there, in her
heart.   Deep down, she had never lost her faith.  It didn't matter if
Nova Roma was a ruse or not.  Her faith was not something depending on
exterior  circumstances.   Her  faith  was  inside  her.  And it would
always be.  Maybe that is why she was answered.  Sort of.
   "Amara."  The  cold  voice came out of a dark corner of the cramped
flat,  almost an eerie hiss.  It was obviously a female voice, and one
which struck an almost familiar chord within Allison's soul.
   Allison   spun  around  quickly,  shifting  into  her  fiery  Magma
incarnation  and  pointing one closed fist at the intruder, letting it
glow  with bright fire.  "Who...  YOU???" Her jaw dropped slack.  "But
I heard you died!!!"
   The shadowy form took a few steps towards Allison, her bright white
teeth  drawing  into a mysterious grin.  "I know", she said teasingly.
"I  planned it well, didn't I?" She lifted her arm, extending her hand
towards Allison invitingly.  "Amara Aquilla, you are needed."
   "But  I'm  not..."  Allison  started,  but her voice was cut off in
mid-sentence  as  she  and  the  mysterious guest disappeared, leaving
behind an empty apartment lit with only the eerie phosphorescent light
of the computer.

   It had taken Manuel and Emma a quarter of an hour to get over their
crying  fit.   Now,  they were sitting opposite each other, wiping the
tears from their eyes, and drinking heavily, with trembling hands.
   "I...  Manuel...  I never found out what happened after I...  I..."
Emma's  voice was hesitant, and ashamed.  She didn't want to live this
again,  remember  what happened...  But she wanted to know.  No, more.
She  -had-  to  know.   She had to know what had happened.  She had to
know how they had died.
   Manuel  looked  down,  his  eyes locking onto the floor.  He didn't
know where to start.  He took a few long breaths, just as reluctant to
relive  this as Emma was.  "I don't know..." he said weakly, trying to
avoid having to remember everything.
   "I  will be there with you, Manuel", Emma said reassuringly.  "This
time I won't leave you." Her tone was soft, like the look in her eyes.
<<Let me see>>, she said in Manuel's mind.
   With  a  sigh,  Manuel  looked  up  and nodded.  Like so many times
before, he prepared himself for Emma's telepathy, closing his eyes and
leaning back on the recliner.
   Emma  smiled slightly as she noticed Manuel still knew how to relax
and  open  up  psychically.  At least all her teachings hadn't gone to
waste.   A  tear fell from her eye.  She had made a difference.  Then,
with a psychic SNAP, time slipped away...

   "Pierce!    NO-OOOOHH!!!"   Emma  screamed  as  Pierce  fell  down,
clutching  her waist in his death throes.  "It IS Sentinels!  The fool
has brought Sentinels into the middle of the...  EEEEEE!!!"
   The  Sentinels  -  three of them - entered the Hellfire Club from a
teleportal.  The lead one attacked both Pierce and Frost, having fired
a high-voltage taser cable to the back of Pierce's head, electrocuting
the cyborg.  Its other hand extended to grab Emma as she screamed.
   Manuel  and  Emma followed the scene in their astral forms, and she
put  a  hand  to his shoulder, protecting her favorite student, making
him  feel safe.  They watched as the X-Men and Hellions reacted to the
entrance of the Sentinels.
   Storm  was  the  one  to react the quickest, as was typical for the
leader  of the X-Men, forged in the fires of countless battles.  "They
appear  disoriented!   It  may  take  a fraction of a second for their
robotic circuitry to adjust to the teleportation!" She raised her arms
and fired a lightning bolt towards the chest of the Sentinel attacking
Frost.  The flash lit up the room and snapped everyone to action.
   Bevatron  was  the  next to act.  The impulsive french boy had just
graduated  to  the  alpha  Hellions weeks before and was eager to show
off.  To prove his worth.  The poor boy had no idea of the seriousness
of  the  situation.  "You don't have to tell me twice, Storm!" he said
as  he  pointed  his arms at the same Sentinel Storm was attacking and
let  loose  a  stream  of  bioelectric  energy.  "My blast can free Ms
Frost, but..."
   Then,  the  big  moment.   For  both  Emma  and  Manuel.  The scene
trembled,  as  if  an  earthquake  were  taking place, as it reflected
Manuel's memories and emotions of the moment.  Everything was becoming
unstable...   Color was fading from everywhere except Frost, as Manuel
and  Emma  watched her fall down when Bevatron's blast freed her.  She
lay on the floor, immobile, and the astral Manuel closed his eyes, not
able to watch himself approach Frost.  "But...  But she's so still!  I
can't feel her...her emotions!" Even though Manuel closed his eyes, he
couldn't  prevent himself from remembering the horror of the moment as
he pronounced the words, "The White Queen is dead!"
   Manuel  couldn't  watch  the scene unfold further, but Emma steeled
herself  up,  ignoring  her seeming death and concentrating herself on
watching  what happened to the Hellions from now on.  She had to watch
to  the  very  edges of Manuel's vision, looking for the events Manuel
himself  had  ignored...   She  pushed  her telepathy further, digging
deeper  into  Manuel's  subconscious,  ripping  his  memories  to  the
surface,  pulling  up  details that he had seen, but had ignored.  She
-had-  to  know.  She wanted all the details Manuel had, no matter how
deep.
   Emma's  astral  avatar  started  to  glow  with  white light as she
summoned  every  last  ounce  of  her  psychic reserves to dig up more
information,  to  see  every  single  tidbit of information Manuel had
subconsciously seen.
   The  second  the Hellions had seen Frost go down, they had exploded
into  action.   Emma sensed how Manuel had just stood there, gaping in
disbelief, and shook her head in dismay.  He should have known better.
But  she  watched  proudly as Roulette assumed command like it was her
second nature.
   "Damn  it!"  Roulette  shouted  even as Fitzroy's voice broke thru.
"And  the rest of you will join her soon enough!  Sentinels!  Obey the
voice  of  your  master!   Programming  alteration.  Attack the X-Men!
Attack   the   Hellions!"  he  called  out  and  the  gigantic  robots
immediately shifted their focus as directed.
   Archangel  streaked  towards two Sentinels standing next to a wall,
flying thru them and the wall, demolishing it as he took the Sentinels
along out of the building.  "They were doing a good enough job of that
without  orders,  friend",  he  said.   "Iceman!   Throw up a barrier!
Protect the civilians on the street!"
   It  didn't take Iceman a second to comply with Archangel's commands
as he formed an ice-slide underneath him and followed Worthington out,
starting  to  form  ice  barriers  on  the outsides of the building to
protect  civilians  from  fallout of the battle.  "No sooner said than
done,  Angel!   Hey!   This  is the flavor I've been missing!  This is
like  the  old  days!   But  our  big russian buddy is in trouble!" he
called  out,  watching  one  of  the  Sentinels blast Rasputin with an
energy blast.
   "Don't  worry,  Drake!"  Roulette  called  out.   "Bevatron!   Give
Colossus  a hand!" she said as she watched a Sentinel grab Tarot as it
fell  out  to the streets.  Her eyes steeled up and a bright dark glow
manifested  in  her  hand.  With a quick motion, she tossed a spray of
small  black  disks  towards  the  Sentinel holding Tarot.  "Those tin
soldiers  -  no offense, Rasputin - are going to pay for what they did
to Ms Frost!"
   Bevatron  complied  and  directed  his  electron  blast towards the
Sentinel  blasting  Colossus,  blowing  the  hand where the blast came
from,  clear off.  "I did it!" he shouted, even as Roulette's bad luck
disks  caused  the Sentinel holding Tarot to land clear on its back to
the  streets,  leaving  it  vulnerable  for the onslaught of the saved
russian  who  crashed  to  the  ground near it.  "These Sentinels seem
different  from  any  we have battled in the past", he commented as he
tore  into  the  robot, causing it to release its hold on Tarot.  "But
not so different they can resist the power of my armored form!"
   "I'm  free!   That's one I owe you, X-Man!" Tarot called out as she
pulled from the Sentinel's grasp.
   Iceman  swung  back in, riding one of his ice-slides.  "Yeah, well,
it's a debt that might get called in sooner than you think, Tarot!" he
shouted  as  he  moved  to  cover one Sentinel in ice, even as another
started  to swing a punch at Colossus.  "Peter!  Look...!!" he started
to  call  out,  but  too late.  The steel russian got smashed into the
asphalt  by a hulking fist.  "NO!" Iceman screamed and intensified his
ice generation over the Sentinel he was attacking, but in vain.
   "Continue  termination of target Colossus, 2024", one Sentinel said
in a metallic voice, as it and another one started advancing on Tarot.
"We will recapture target Tarot."
   "The  hell  you  will!"  Roulette snarled, and a bright golden glow
manifested  in  her  right hand as she started to manifest a number of
good  luck  disks, watching from the huge hole in the wall down to the
streets.  She glanced over to Colossus and watched Storm and Archangel
come to his aid, even as Iceman kept freezing the robot wrestling with
Rasputin.   "Catseye!   Get  Tarot  out of there NOW!  Bevatron!  Give
them a distraction!  Collapse the ground below the Sentinels!"
   Too  late.   The  good luck disks in Roulette's hand started taking
effect,  and  the  already  stressed  floor buckled once, and crumbled
under the trio of Hellions.  Roulette.  Catseye.  Bevatron.  They fell
thru the floor, downwards...disappearing from sight.
   Emma next focused on following the Sentinels attack Tarot...but she
already  knew  what  would happen to her...  How she would die...  She
had been dormant in her own body when Jean Grey had watched Marie-Ange
be  drained  by  Fitzroy.   She  knew what had happened, though it was
hazy, like a dream...or a nightmare.
   "No!  My Tarot cards!" Tarot said as she dropped most of her cards.
"No  time  to  collect  the  ones  I've dropped.  Have to make do with
whatever  I..."  She  projected one of her quasi-lifeforms in front of
herself,  as  if  to  protect her but it was hardly an obstacle to the
advanced robots.
   "Target Tarot materializing countermeasure", one Sentinel said, and
Emma  felt a shift in Manuel's world.  The near-catatonic state he had
gone into upon seeing Frost go down, was broken and he whirled around,
to  look  down  to  the  streets.   "Marie-Ange..." his lips whispered
quietly as he watched her.
   "Countermeasure..."  one  Sentinel  started.   "...countered!" said
another  as  it  blasted  clear  thru the witchen projection.  "Target
Tarot terminated", it coldly reported, and Emma felt Manuel's heart be
torn out, as he looked down.  Marie had looked up, when she went down,
and for a fraction of a second her eyes had locked onto Manuel's, with
nothing  but  love  in  its purest form shining in them.  "I love you,
Manuel",  she whispered before losing consciousness and falling limply
to the street, to be protected by Jean Grey.
    That was all Manuel saw.  The love he saw in Marie-Ange's eyes was
so  strong,  that  finally,  he  could not deny it.  He gave in to his
feelings, letting himself love - for the fraction of the second he saw
her, and projected that back to her.  For a fraction of a second, they
shared  their  love.  Then it was over.  Manuel turned around and ran.
He  ran  out  the door, ran out of the Hellfire Club, ran, ran and ran
until he had no strength left to run...

   SNAP
   Emma  lifted her hands to her brow as she readjusted herself to the
physical  world.   She  swallowed once, and if she had any tears left,
she  would  have cried.  But this time, of joy.  "They are alive", she
whispered quietly.
   Manuel's  head  lifted  up, to look at Emma in confusion.  "What??"
His  expression  grew  slightly  hopeful,  his  eyes  looking  at  her
pleadingly.  "Is Tarot...?"
   A  soft  sigh  came from Emma's lips as she looked down.  She shook
her  head  softly.   "No,  Manuel",  she  said in a quiet, sharp tone.
"Marie-Ange is dead." She stood up and walked towards Manuel.  "Silly,
silly  boy."  Her  tone  was sad, wistful.  "Why couldn't you admit it
earlier?   You  could  have been happy together." She looked down, and
placed a hand onto his shoulder.
   Manuel  looked  down  again,  hiding  his  face in his hands to sob
quietly.  "I thought...  I thought..."
   "I  know what you thought, Manuel", Emma said, rubbing his shoulder
gently.   "But  we must concentrate on the living", she said solemnly,
turning  around  to  look  out  the  window,  slowly  walking  to  it.
"Roulette.   Catseye.  Bevatron.  They are alive.  They are out there.
Somewhere."
   A  silence settled for a while as Manuel tried to regain control of
the   emotions   buffeting   him.   "Bevatron",  he  snorted  quietly.
"Bevatron lives, but Tarot doesn't." He sobbed again, pitifully.
   Emma  sighed and looked down, then at the bright full moon outside.
Tarot.  Jetstream.  Beef.  They were dead.  And all the beta Hellions.
Snooze.   Trial.   Breeze.   Lube.   Survival.  Film.  Link.  Kinesis.
Phantom.   Chain.   Beacon.   Drought.  Stim.  Colony.  Tensile.  Tap.
Barb.
   Barb.   Her  eyes moved to overlook the boys' dorm over the fields.
How  would  Angelo  react  if  he  knew?   Maybe  she should tell him.
Someday.   Someday, she will.  When she has first dealt with the loss.
And  right  now,  the  first  step  with  dealing with the loss of the
Hellions, was to find the Hellions.  Then, the next step...
   ...the   next  step...is  something  they  would  all  figure  out.
Together.
   Together.

   Overlooking  the  valley, at the very same spot Manuel had stood an
hour  ago,  a  dark  shadow  arrived.  A predator had come.  Something
powerful...  Something sinister...