********************************************************************** 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 . 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) This story is being archived at least at my fanfic page at . Previous parts can be found there if needed. ********************************************************************** ************************** *** HELLIONS: REBIRTH! *** ************************** CHAPTER THREE: Seeking Redemption Emma Grace Frost was not a woman to be deterred when she was pursuing something. She had just discovered that three people she had thought dead, and whom she had loved dearly, were in fact alive. And nothing - NOTHING - was going to stop her from going after them. She had a chance to reclaim something lost to her... Fix a mistake she had made. Find release from the ghosts haunting her every single night and morning. Every single night before she went to sleep, she could not block away the memories of her beloved Hellions. It was a time when she broke down. After a long day of exertion, when she prepared to rest, and relax. Then they came. The ghosts. And they never gave her the rest she needed. All night, every night, she turned and twisted in her lonely bed, trying to get a few eyefuls of nightmares, which would be even worse than being awake. And the mornings? They were hardly any better. More often than not, she woke up, and before even realizing it, she had her mind on the coming day of work. How she would have to monitor Manuel and school him on subtlety. How she anticipated watching Jennifer pulling her little seductive tricks with the other students of the Academy. How she thrilled at what Catseye would have learned since the last day. And then... Then she would remember. Then she would remember, and what small respite her sleep might have granted her, was over. But now, she had a chance to redeem herself. A chance to almost go back in time, and reclaim her past. She could again surround herself with some of the people she missed so much, and maybe rid herself of the ghosts. To finally be at peace. The sharp sound of her high heels clicking against the floor echoed throughout the dark corridor. It had been years since this particular corridor had been used, and the dust covered every place. Though these underground halls under the Academy had years ago bustled with Frost's mercenaries and workforce, they were now completely abandoned. Deserted. Manuel quietly followed behind Emma, glancing around at the corridors. Her determination was plain as day to him, and it strengthened him as well. For the first time in years, he felt like a Hellion again. It was like everything since he left the Academy for Nova Roma, had never happened. And for the first time in a VERY long time, Manuel de la Rocha smiled. Slowly, the dark shadow overlooking the Academy began to move. Unknowingly - perhaps by instinct, perhaps by coincidence - it traced the very same steps Manuel had taken earlier. With a light step it moved down the hills, taking but a few minutes to reach the valley floor, and lay its eyes on the buildings where resided the sleeping students of the Massachusetts Academy. It was hours past midnight, and hours before sunrise, when the outstretched form of Monet St. Croix suddenly sat up in her bed, her eyes snapping open. If one didn't know her, there could well be a suspicion that the expression in her eyes was terror. But of course, those who knew Monet, knew that she wasn't afraid of anything. Right? As the light snapped on, Paige Guthrie's eyes opened almost instantly. Not as if awakening in panic from a nightmare, like Monet had only scant minutes earlier, but more a peaceful, slow awakening which she had so gotten used to back home at Kentucky, when the sun rose. "Monet...?" Paige mumbled silently, rubbing her eyes to clear them for a few brief moments, then turned to look at the Asian-American Jubilation Lee, who was still snoring loudly in her bed, a cowboy hat over her forehead. As usual, the late-sleeping Jubilee didn't seem to exhibit any kind of signs that she would be waking up anytime soon. In the doorway stood the young teenage girl Paige had spoken the name of. Monet St. Croix -- or rather, M, her codename, since she was fully dressed in the red and yellow uniform that was shared by all the members of this group of young mutants, Generation X. "There is trouble", Monet stated with grim conviction, and such surety that Paige did not even consider the possibility of Monet lying. "I must depart to awaken and inform Mr Cassidy, but the risk of my leaving without warning the rest of you would leave you susceptible to the approaching hazard, defenseless in your sleep. Gather the others, and fall back towards Ms Frost's house", she commanded, and then vanished from the doorway, as a wraith in the night. Paige simply blinked dumbly for a moment. Then another moment. And then, suddenly, she snapped to action, and clambered out of her bed, rushing towards her closet, opening it loudly and starting to dig out her costume. "Jubilee, get dressed!!" she said, while pulling on the red spandex pants. Hmph. They felt a bit tighter than usual. She should go on a diet. After pulling her pants on, she looked over her shoulder, only to notice Jubilee having turned onto her side, her back in the direction of Paige, and happily slumbering onwards. "JUBILEE!" Paige yelled, and ran over to the slacker GenXer's bed, putting a hand onto Jubilee's shoulder and shaking her roughly, trying to wake her up. "Get up, NOW!" "G'way..." Jubilee muttered quietly into the cowboy hat her face was buried in, as she curled up into a little ball, trying to protect herself from the noise. A brief, unladylike curse flew from Paige's lips, and then, she thought of something. Quickly, she placed a few nails onto her wrist, and then plunged her sharp nails into the skin, and started pulling, as if to tear off her own skin. And that is exactly what she was doing. Sharp SHRIKTs and SCHRECKs filled the room as Paige Guthrie exercised her mutant power to tear off her outer skin, to reveal another substance underneath. This time, she tore the skin off her hand, to reveal another hand underneath -- made of ice. Quickly, she placed the literally icy hand against the sleeping Jubilee's back. The result was pretty much as expected. First, a horrible shriek, as Jubilee practically jumped a foot up from the bed, and then a THUMP as she fell on the floor. Then, a growl, followed by dozens of small, multi-colored energy plasmoids flaring to life around Jubilee as she started getting up. "You're gonna pay for that, Guthrie", she snarled. "We don't have time for that!" Paige said quickly as she went back over the her closet and quickly resumed getting dressed in her red and yellow Generation X uniform. "Put on your costume, we need to go wake up the boys!" With an ongoing stream of unintelligible grumblings coming from her mouth, Jubilation Lee nonetheless moved over to her closet, and started pulling out her costume. However, the energy plasmoids surrounding her still kept glowing, morphing -- LIVING. Reflecting her anger, still pent-up. A quick glance over her shoulder, at Paige's turned back... PAF! "YOW!!" "Ms Frost...?" Emma nodded, as her fingers danced on the keyboard of a computer console. "I am aware of the situation, Manuel", she replied with a near emotionless tone, not letting herself be distracted. A few more quick taps, to complete the login process, and the computer once known as both Cyberiad and Mutivac began its boot-up process, a huge viewscreen in the almost-cavernous chamber deep underneath the Massachusetts Adacemy flaring to life, displaying a map of the world as the memory core of Cyberiad was being filled with programs and information from the back-ups laid to rest over a year ago, after Emma Frost's legal death, since revoked. This room had not been visited since. Manuel's eyes turned towards the viewscreen, but he seemed a bit worried. Okay. More than a bit worried. "I can sense... I'm not sure what I can sense, Ms Frost... But whatever it is... It's powerful... It's blocking my empathic reading of it..." Again, there was little response from Emma apart from scant words, spoken in little concern. "I know who our 'surprise guest' is, Manuel. Generation X can buy us the time we need." With their lives, if need be, Emma thought to herself, but did not say aloud. Taptaptaptaptap. Emma's fingers raced. Roulette. Catseye. Bevatron. One by one, she recalled the specific mutant signatures of these individuals from the files of Cyberiad, and activated the search program for each of them. She bit her lip. Her Hellions. They are alive. They are ALIVE. And NOTHING would stop her from bringing them back. Not even her responsibilities to Generation X. "Generation who?" "Fall back?? Fall back my cute little butt!! When *I* was with the X-Men..." "Shut up!" Angelo snapped, and glared at Jubilee. "Paige is right! We don't have anything to gain by fighting here and now! We need to back off, get time to think, set up an ambush!" Of course, he -would- say that. He always ran. From everything. "You tellin' me your precious X-Men don't know tactics, chica??" Paige bit her lip a bit, looking at Angelo. He wasn't usually like this -- not this angry. Well, he was always angry, but he was never like this... Her eyes went to Synch. "Everett, can ya synch t' whatever's comin' an' tell us anything about it?" She was nervous. That much was obvious in her surfaced accent. "I..." Everett started, and turned his head westwards, towards the driveway and the gates. A multi-colored, rainbow-hued aura flared into existence around him, wavering almost like a sentient being for a few moments. Then his expression grew worried, and he swallowed. "No." He quickly shook his head. "It's too powerful. It's shielding itself somehow. I think we should do what Angelo says and back off to find Mr Cassidy or Ms Frost..." << 'e's roight >>, commented Jonothon Evan Starsmore, dubbed Chamber due to -- well, no one really knew who invented his codename, or where it came from. Not that anyone really cared. << We jus' woke up. We need time an' not goin' off half-cocked, not knowin' 'oo we're facin' >>, he continued in his telepathic speak. "Feh", Jubilee said, and quickly, silently opened a window outlooking the driveway outside while no one was paying attention to her. "WOLVIE would never run from some creepo who's probably expectin' us to run. WOLVIE would say to do what the enemy doesn't think we're gonna do... WOLVIE would..." Everyone had, as usual, tried their best to ignore Jubilee when she went on one of her rants. Unfortunately, this time, Jubilee had been counting on that, and used it to cover her escape. When her voice suddenly paused, everyone quickly looked around, to where she should have been. She wasn't there. The curtains around the now-open second-floor window were flapping in the wind coming from the cold outside air. "Mr Cassidy??" Monet slammed open the door of the little cabin where the Headmaster Sean Cassidy lived, and rushed towards the man's bedroom. Sean Cassidy was a light sleeper. Something he had had to learn during his Interpol career was to always be sensitive to the sounds around him. And his superhumanly sensitive ears helped a lot, too. Within seconds of Monet calling entering his cabin, he was already getting up from his bed, ready for everything. "Monet?" he called out in a loud voice, while pulling on a pair of plain grey slacks over his Felix the Cat boxers. Despite the urgency of the matter that Monet was well aware of, as she opened the door to Sean's bedroom, she was the portrait of calm perfection. Never did she allow herself to display any kind of strain, of distress. "A dangerous entity has entered the campus", she quickly explained. "I am unaware of the intruder's identity, but I can with reasonable probability ascertain that her intentions are not peaceful. I believe the others might soon -- if not already -- be in need of our assistance." "Saints, Monet!" said the Irishman, shocked, and never one to conceal his emotions. "Then don't just stand there, lass -- show me t' th' situation!" He quickly started out of the bedroom, and towards the front door of the cabin. Monet followed Sean, and took to the air beside him as they got out of the cabin. "As you wish, Mr Cassidy", she replied. "Should we not make an attempt to contact Ms Frost?" The air rushed in the ears of the pair as they soared upwards, to take a bird's-eye-view of the campus, to pinpoint where trouble might lurk. "I'm already doin' that, lass", Sean smiled faintly, past his concentrated expression. << Emma? >> There was no sign at all of receiving Sean's psionic call on Emma's face. She was completely mesmerized by the viewscreen of Cyberiad, as it scanned outwards from itself. Slowly, one blip after another lit up on the screen, almost on top of each other, designating the mutants at the Academy. Manuel's face went pale as the last name appeared on the viewscreen, the name of the intruder on the grounds, and he couldn't restrain a nervous swallow. "Ms Frost...?" he asked hesitantly. << Emma! Wake up, woman! Monet's thinkin' there might be an intruder on th' grounds! >> "We still have time, Manuel", Emma replied with an unwaveringly stony expression, and watched the circle around Massachusetts Academy, indicating the area of Cyberiad's completed scanning, slowly grow larger, beyond the town of Snow Valley and towards Boston. "Don't worry." Two words, meant to reassure. Something Emma didn't exactly excel at. But it was enough for Manuel. Emma was not just anyone to him. True, she died, and let the Hellions die... But, she was back now. And that alone reinforced Manuel's conviction that Emma Frost was not an ordinary person. Manuel did not believe in gods, but if he did, she would be one to him. << Emma!! Stop yer bleatin' dreamin'! Can ye hear me?? >> "We have time..." Emma said quietly. "PAIGE! LOOK OUT!!" "Wha-huh?" Paige quickly looked behind her shoulder, and her eyes widened as she saw the wall of the girls' dorm building -- which they were standing outside of -- behind her topple forwards, towards her, to bury her... "EEEEEEEEEE!!!" she screamed, too terrified to even start husking into anything more durable than her human form -- not that she would have had the time. Angelo cursed as his warning came too late, and with honed reactions, his fist pointed towards Paige, and several strands of skin shot out, to wrap around Paige, and then retract at high speed, yanking her out from under the wall, just as it came crashing down. Paige breathed heavily, scared and shivering at her close brush with death, and leaned against Angelo without thinking. "Angelo... Ah..." She bit her lip. "Ah almost died..." << I think it don't matter where we're goin', people >>, Jono commented flatly. << I think, 'ooever's 'ere, it's playin' cat'n'mouse wit' us. >> "I think Jono's right", Everett said, looking around, the rainbow-aura flaring around him. "I can't track it. I hope Lee is okay..." he started, then suddenly the ground around him started rising, slowly shaping into a gigantic hand which grabbed him, squeezing him. "ARRGH!!!" "Synch!" Angelo shouted, reabsorbing the strands of skin he had wrapped around Paige back onto his wrist, as he turned around to see Everett Thomas being crushed. "One..." Everett strained "...chance..." Suddenly, his rainbow-aura flared, and exploded outwards with concussive force, shattering the earthen fist around him into little fragments showering the other members of Generation X. Everett's mutant ability was to duplicate the powers of any other mutant in his vicinity -- in this case, Chamber. "There!" Sean said, pointing towards the girls' dorm building and a rainbow-hued explosion in its direction. "It's Synch's power signature! Come on, lass!" The Banshee's sonic scream intensified, propelling him forwards at high speeds, towards the scene of the battle. "There!" Emma said at the precise same moment as Sean himself uttered the word a few hundred feet above her head. A blip had appeared on the viewscreen of Cyberiad. "Bevatron!" Was that a little note of disappointment in Emma's voice? No. She -was- disappointed, true, but it did not show outwards, in any manner. Manuel frowned a bit, as his eyes fixated onto the blip. Bevatron. The boy who had lived when Tarot didn't. But he didn't say anything. Didn't complain. Not in front of Emma. It would be showing weakness, and right now, more than ever, he wanted to be worthy of Emma. "In Boston?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow. A brief nod from Emma, and she suddenly remembered something, dashing over to a closet, and opening it. She took from one shelf an object somewhat resembling a cellphone, and handed it towards Manuel. "Take this", she said. "You will be able to track the others down with it when you are in the vicinity. It has an operative radius of roughly fifteen miles, depending on environmental variables." "-I- will be...?" Manuel started, before his eyes widened a bit in understanding. "Ms Frost, I am -not- leaving you..." he started, but got quickly cut off. "This decision is -not- up to you, Manuel", Emma snapped. "You will do as I tell you! Is that clear??" Her voice was sharp, commanding, even angry. A moment passed, and there was no answer. "IS THAT CLEAR, MANUEL??" Emma said, louder, her eyes narrowing. Biting his lip lightly, Manuel looked downwards submissively. "Yes, Ms Frost..." he said quietly, and swallowed a bit. Then, his eyes went to the cellphone-like object in his hand, and again, he spoke, his voice hesitant. "Ms Frost... I don't know how to use this..." "I am perfectly aware of that fact, Manuel", Emma said, her anger still seething underneath the surface. She turned her attention back to the viewscreen, and cursed for Cyberiad to scan faster. Jubilee would -never- admit it -- not even to herself -- but she was scared. After she had ditched the rest of Generation X to do some quick recon work like Wolvie would do, she had almost practically run into the intruder. Only by concealing herself in the bushes outside the biosphere, and concentrating -really- hard on not letting any fireworks slip, had she managed to avoid the woman. Or so it seemed, anyway. The woman had walked along the lane, past the biosphere, and just like, a foot or so from Jubilee. But the woman hadn't noticed her. Only like, a few minutes after she was gone, did Jubilee finally let her held breath go, and almost collapsed from the exhaustion of not having remembered to breathe for minutes. Though she was definitely cocky and reckless, Jubilee knew that Generation X needed some major-league help like, pronto! What could she do? Go to a phone and call the X-Men? Call the cops? No one would get here in time! What would Wolvie do?? He'd...look at other options. Jubilee bit her lip, trying really -really- hard to think and concentrate for a moment. Then, it hit her, and her eyes widened. Without another thought, she broke into a run towards the lake, with a single thought dominating her mind. Wolvie. << Anyone recognize tall, dark, an' gorgeous 'ere? >> came Jonothon Evan Starsmore's psionic speak, as he regarded the figure that had just made its presence clear, having shown itself to the clustered Generation Xers in the middle of the lane going between the girls' and boys' dorms. "I know one thing... She makes me sick..." Everett said, and turned around, away from the figure, falling onto his knees weakly, feeling dizziness overtaking him. Angelo lifted an eyebrow, his eyes on the mysterious figure. "Como? You gotta be kiddin', Ev... She's not -that- bad to look at..." he started, before his head turned to notice Synch's condition, after which he immediately rushed over to his teammate. "Synch! Pull yourself together, dude! We can't stay here!" Paige was the last to react, and her eyes widened, as she recognized the figure, the dark-haired woman before them. "Ah know her!" she exclaimed. "Sam's told me about her! She's..." "Selene", came a voice, and the GenXers turned their heads around, to see two forms descend from the sky. Monet St. Croix -- M -- and Sean Cassidy, their Headmaster -- the Banshee. The word had been spoken by a female, the beautiful Algerian woman who descended down onto the ground between Selene and her teammates with seemingly little fear in her posture. "Monet", Selene replied in an overtly sweet tone, seemingly ignoring the rest of the little gathering on the lane. "How are you, child?" Her demeanor was regal, for the moment polite, but with a hint of danger lacing her every syllable, her every move, as she stood there, on the lane, only a few dozen feet from Generation X. Immediately, Banshee's eyes narrowed. "Monet? Ye know Selene, lass??" he asked, in an astonished tone. Without turning around, Monet shook her head. "I have never met her in my life, Mr Cassidy", she quickly replied. Perhaps too quickly. Her posture, as usual, was unwavering, not betraying anything of her thoughts or emotions. << Then how'd y' know 'er, gel? >> demanded Jono, with a bit more commandingness in his tone than usual. He wasn't one to pry into other peoples' business, preferring the same courtesy to be extended to him as well. But, now... "There is precious little I do not know, Jonothon", Monet replied, but even still, her eyes were icily on Selene's. Not a move was made by either dark-haired beauty. Generation X was less calm, and the apparent mutual recognition between Monet and Selene was not the best thing to break ice. All of them were tense, waiting for the next move. Noticing that Jubilee wasn't around, Sean didn't know whether to be worried or to thank his lucky stars. Probably both, he thought to himself, and sighed inwardly, and then stepped up, to Monet's side. "I don't know what yer business is here, Selene", he said sternly, "but ye could've called ahead an' arranged f'r better visitin' hours." A faint smirk coming to her lips, Selene's attention finally shifted from Monet, and her eyes moved to regard Sean. "You misunderstand my intentions, Cassidy", she commented plainly, with some rogue amusement flickering on and off her face. "I have not come for a visit. I have come to take dear Monet here." "Well, maybe you have better luck, chica..." Angelo muttered under his breath. "Ain't like she's into guys..." "Angelo!" hissed Paige, and jabbed her elbow into his ribs sharply, causing Espinosa to wince slightly. Unfortunately, the comment was heard by Selene, and her eyes narrowed. Even as Sean opened his mouth to protest against her claim of taking Monet, she was already continuing to speak. "I see you can not seem to put together an X-faction without a misfit or two, Cassidy", she commented in a cold tone. "Would you like to see what I did to the X-Men's little gargoyle when we first met?" Suddenly, Angelo felt the uniform he was wearing get tighter. Which was odd, since he always kept the jacket open to reveal his chest in both a macho gesture, and a tactical advantage, to reveal more of the skin which was his weapon. A few fractions of a second later, Angelo understood what was happening. His uniform was constricting around him, trying to strangle him! The jacket was already wrapping itself around his throat, preventing him from breathing... That's when all hell broke loose. A loud scream tore thru the air, as Sean Cassidy activated the superhuman sonics which were his mutant heritage. Using the scream for propulsion, he rose into the air, and directed the sonic waves towards Selene, in an attempt to attack her with them. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE The wail of the Banshee is powerful enough to instantly liquify metals, to destroy small islands, to break every single bone in a human body... Selene was knocked back. True, her concentration broke, and the clothing on Angelo's body ceased to strangle him. True, Sean was not using anything near maximum power. True, Selene had been prepared. But really, the only result was pretty much just angering the woman who used to be the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. Her eyes narrowed, and focused on Sean. "You are an annoyance, Cassidy." Time was running out. Emma knew this, but did not let it show on her expression. For the first time in years, she felt like herself, and the real she did not show weakness. Showing weakness was a weakness in itself. That is what she had so long taught the Hellions, and she was not succumbing to that weakness herself. The chamber was silent, as Emma and Manuel watched the viewscreen, the area Cyberiad had completed scanning now included the whole of New England, and slowly extended down the East Coast. Not a muscle moved on the face of the White Queen, as she tensely waited, watched, -wanted- the next two blips to show up. And they did. "Ah", Emma said, and a smile that was neither cold nor warm came to her lips as two new blips blinked into existence, next to each other. "Atlantic City." That made sense, Emma thought. That was, after all, Jennifer's home town. Emma quickly turned around, to face Manuel. She now knew the locations of all the three missing Hellions. Without asking for consent, without letting him know what was going on, she placed her fingertips on his forehead. Suddenly, horribly, Manuel let out a horrific scream, and collapsed onto the floor, not moving. Emma paid his predicament little attention, as she ran out of the room, her white cape flowing behind her as she left her perhaps favorite student ever behind, in the dark, empty room, with only the humming of Cyberiad accompanying Empath. "Good bye, Manuel", was what Emma whispered under her breath, unheard by the young man...and a touch of moisture touched her eyes for a brief moment, before she forced her emotions away, and disappeared into the dusty tunnels. "Good luck." << Cassidy's DOWN! >> Chamber shouted, as the unconscious body of Banshee flew right past him, impacting onto one of the dorm building's still-standing walls. Angelo screamed. He had fired strands of his skin at Selene in an attempt to ensnare the sorceress. He had succeeded. Selene had allowed him to succeed. "And now, youngling, I shall drain the life from you", she stated with cold simplicity before beginning to do this very thing, using the skin which Angelo had so graciously provided as a conductor. "ANGELO!!" Paige screamed in terror, feeling her heart jump, and before she even realized what she was doing, she tore the skin off her right hand, to reveal a sharp metal blade. Jumping between Angelo and Selene, she slashed once, twice, thrice, and Angelo collapsed, from both the pain of Selene's life-draining, and the relief when Paige severed the link, cutting the skin strands which connected him to the sorceress. *POW* Monet's fist impacted onto Selene's chin solidly, while Paige rushed to check on Angelo's state. The immortal beauty was sent flying back in the air, and crashed into the boys' dorm. Even Banshee hadn't managed to knock the woman back that much. Maybe she hadn't been prepared this time? Mmmaybe. "Chamber!" Monet yelled commandingly. "Aim your psionic blast towards the supporting structures!" Doing as ordered, Jonothon Evan Starsmore ripped off the bandages covering his chest, and a bright bluish-white jet of energy flame burst outwards from him, hitting the dorm building's wall and bringing it down along with a sizeable portion of the building itself, all crashing over to Selene, to bury her. "I said aim towards the supporting structures, Jonothon", Monet commented, her voice slightly dismayed. "You could have brought the entire building down." << I'm no construction worker, gel. I don't even know what supporting structures -are-. >> "We...gotta...get...out of here", Angelo strained, as he was being helped up by Paige. "We can't fight her. She's too powerful. We gotta run -- regroup elsewhere." "But..." Paige started, "...we just buried her under tons of bricks...She can't...she can't take that..." She shivered, not realizing it, and pressed closer to Angelo. "Don't you read the files, chica!?" Angelo snapped angrily. "That woman over there's mopped the floor with X-Force! Y'know, the outfit your brother used to hang with?? We don't have a chance against her! We're out of our league! We gotta..." Just then, the bricks started moving, and unnaturally, began shaping into a pair of stone golems, controlled by Selene's mutant power to control inanimate matter. The bricks moved from around Selene, revealing her, and merged with the ever-growing golems, until they were huge, twenty-feet high constructions standing on both sides of Selene, looming menacingly over Generation X. "A good try, children", Selene intoned freezingly. "You are doing better than the New Mutants did. But that will avail you of little." Angelo's eyes snapped to Monet and Synch. "Everett, synch to Banshee! You two carry us out of here, NOW! Don't forget Cassidy!" Synch blinked once, and then the rainbow-aura around him flared to life, flickered, and he inhaled sharply as he felt Banshee's sonic power strengthen his larynx. Then, the two youths quickly did as ordered. Monet picked up Skin and Husk; Synch grabbed Banshee and Chamber...and Generation X raced up to the sky, away from their enemy. Selene watched to the sky, as Generation X fled at high speed. She smiled faintly. She knew there was no reason to pursue. She knew, as well as Generation X, that there were still other people left on-campus, and that they couldn't desert the children. Artie. Leech. A light chuckle passed past Selene's lips, and she silently started towards the biosphere, the stone golems lumbering beside her. As Manuel woke up, less than a minute after collapsing, he was lying on the cold floor. While stumbling up, his eyes widened. He now realized what Emma had done. Before, he hadn't known how to drive a car. He hadn't known how to operate the tracking unit. He hadn't known the correct mutant signature parameters to input into it for the lost Hellions. He hadn't known that there was a jeep parked at the edge of the Academy. He hadn't known where the keys to that jeep were. But he knew all that now.