Subject: [OTL]: (New Mutants II/Wisdoms) Breeze Book 1 Conclusion (PG-13) Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 20:58:19 -0800 (PST) From: Phil Hartman will1@earthling.net Breeze Book 1 Conclusion By Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: They're Marvel's, except for those who aren't. Etc. NOTES: At the end ... read as you will. -------------------------------------------------------- 12/31/2002: X-Mansion: 21:45 hrs EDT: -------------------------------------------------------- Blip. There it was again. [Another unauthorized access !?] The cybernetic thought flickered across the consciousness of Tom Maximoff, who reinforced the Cerebra mainframe's firewall and shook his head. Then he returned to flesh and blood, instead of his electronic form, and looked at his teachers in frustration. "Whatever's out there, it's continuing to try and hack into the mainframe. I can keep it out for a while, but ..." the teen said, shrugging. "You're doing your best, Tom. We've almost backtracked the signal," Kitty Pryde-Wisdom reassured the boy. She looked at her husband, who was rocking their yawning 6-month old son Aaron, and smiled faintly. "Right. Off to bed, little man," Pete Wisdom said with mock severity - - before he jumped, causing Aaron to squeak with surprise into wakefulness. "WHOTTH'BLOODY'ELL !?" Pete's shout made Kitty and Tom turn, their eyes widening at the figure flickering a few inches above the floor amidst a wave of green energy. The flicker resolved itself into a young Caucasian woman in a brown and yellow bodysuit, whose red hair spilled around her as she fell to the floor. "So ... far," she whispered, getting to her feet. She looked at Pete and Kitty, then at Tom, and finally Aaron, before her blue eyes narrowed. "Where is Rachel Summers, and what date is it ?" -------------------------------------------------------- She managed not to drop the glass at the flicker of chronovariance which slammed against her mindshield. #A strong C-V,# Rachel realized. She made her way to the kitchen table, setting her juice before her and steepling her fingers. ~A visitor ?~ ~Not for you - I hope,~ Rachel gently reprimanded the cosmic avatar of life currently time-sharing in her mind. The Phoenix Force made what the psionic girl swore was a sneezing sound, and retreated back to its "cage." #I'm almost used to this. That's not necessarily a good sign,# Rachel thought, leaning back in her chair. She'd been managing to keep the Phoenix under relative lock and key over the last three months, despite the occasional mental shock which threatened her control of the dangerous entity. #Mom said the way to control it is to not to try to always control it,# Rachel reminded herself. She sighed again, then watched as the Wisdoms entered the kitchen, followed by - "YOU !?" Rachel gasped, meeting the visitor's eyes. "Bright Lady," the newcomer - whose face and left arm bore some circuitry, Kitty observed with mild concern - replied. The time-traveler bowed before Rachel, then dropped to one knee and offered the girl her hand. "I am a harbinger of light and shadow, Bright Lady. Under your orders, I dare not take direct action unless necessary to preserve the timestream. As you will - may - one day remind myself and my fellow Askani ..." the woman began. Rachel's blood ran cold as she finished the sentence. "'What is, is.'" Pete and Kitty traded a concerned look as Rachel looked at them, ashen-faced. "Her name is Zirala. She's from a possible alternate future similar to that of the teenaged version of Aaron we met at the start of the semester," Rachel began. Kitty's concerned look shifted to suspicion, and Pete clutched Aaron more closely. The Wisdoms remembered the terrors of the alternate timeline in which another Aaron had grown up - terrors which included a devastating war fomented by a possible future rampage of one of their current students. "IF I can assess the state of the Lehnsherr Princeling, all the darkness may yet be avoided," Zirala interjected. Rachel gave the woman a dark look and snapped, "Don't go mucking around in my head. Just because you claim to be one of these - 'Askani' - doesn't mean that you can just pop into my mind -" She stopped, as the air grew thick. Static electricity started to fill the air. Aaron bawled, his eyes glowing with his own nascent bioelectric power. Then, the telepaths recoiled in pain, as a freight train of grief and rage filled the astral plane. ~FATHER !!!!!!~ Blue fire came rushing into the kitchen door - - as Zirala gave Kitty and Pete a look of absolute remorse, grabbed Aaron from Pete's arms, and disappeared in a flash of green light - - and then everything went blue-white. -------------------------------------------------------- Sentinels. The very word was practically an obscenity to most mutants. The 20-foot-tall mutant-hunting robots were despised, and at least under the Parahuman Equal Rights Act, supposedly illegal in the United States. Of course, they hadn't reappeared in the United States. They had appeared over Genosha, the only all-mutant country on Earth, and proceeded to do what Sentinels tended to do when confronted with mutants. It was the mental cry of one particular mutant in Genosha which had stirred Charles Xavier Lehnsherr from his New Year's Eve stupor of self-pity. ~Father ?~ Chuck sent out telepathically, trying to lock onto Magneto's mental signature. What he got back was - pain. Great waves of pain, from not just Magneto, but others. And Chuck screamed as a second source of pain pierced his mind. ~Hello, little Lehnsherr. I've been waiting for you to slip up,~ Amahl Farouk whispered telepathically, hatefully, seeking. He found blue-white fire, and grief turned to hardened psionic steel. -------------------------------------------------------- If it hadn't been for the New Year's Eve party in the Danger Room, the casualties might have been worse. As it was, they felt the shockwave all the way in the second sub-basement. ~RAY !?~ Frank Richards sent, horror-struck at the psionic agony and terror which he felt from his girlfriend. He opened a teleportal to the surface, followed by the small crowd of other New Mutants who had stayed at the mansion for the holidays. They reappeared, aghast, amidst wreckage. "It's ... gone," Brigit Shane breathed, lighting one of her hands harmlessly aflame to provide illumination. Entire hunks of wall were standing, but that was about it. The reinforced floors of the ground floor rooms were scorched, while the second floor was just gone. "Ray !" Rachel's brother Nathan cried, darting into the remains of the kitchen. Rachel dropped her telekinetic shield, then returned Nate's hug while the Wisdoms staggered from behind Rachel. "Chuck," Rachel said, giving Frank a fearful glance before she hugged him. "Something happened in Genosha with Sentinels, then Chuck - freaked out. On a massive scale. And Aaron -" "What !? What about Aaron !?" the other teens and Nate exclaimed. Rachel looked at Kitty with a mixture of guilt and concern. "He was ... saved. Taken into the timestream," Kitty breathed, swallowing hard. She looked at Rachel and asked, "You'll find her ? Somewhere ?" "Or somewhen. For as long as it takes. We'll bring Aaron home, Kitty," Rachel promised. "You're bloody calm !" Pete snapped, trying to hide his tears. "A cheeky time-traveler just yanked our son into the future ! Or past -" "Pete." Kitty's tone of voice stopped Pete, and she hugged him. "We have to have faith. I saw the woman's - Zirala, Rachel said - eyes. She was trying to help. "I have to believe that. Now come on - we need to find Chuck. Quickly." ------------------------------------------------------- EPILOGUE: ------------------------------------------------------- He walked, shuddering, amidst the ruins. "It was a miracle," they said. "Not a Sentinel got through." The Genoshan Presidential Palace didn't look like the Sentinels had been stopped. Nor did the scorched, shattered pieces of helmet scattered around what had been the balcony of the presidential suite. Chuck knelt down, then picked up the most intact portion of the helmet. #Father,# he thought, closing his eyes. #Not even a chance to see you off ... and you died defending our people.# Another picture - purple hair over a lavender face, laughing solid-green eyes - teased Chuck. #And Clarice ... left. She had a right to go to her homeworld -# A third, a fat man shifting to a monster, which screamed in frustration, then terror, and finally agony - #And Farouk. Gone. By my hand,# Chuck realized, a dark chuckle escaping his lips. #I'm alone. All alone. Mother is off with LeBeau - not that I can begrudge her - and Clarice is on her homeworld, and Father ...# He howled again, letting the Abyss envelop his mind. And he took off north, limned in blue flame, towards Europe and oblivion. -------------------------------------------------------- TBC in Breeze Book 2 -------------------------------------------------------- NOTES: For those who've been following this with any regularity ... I needed to catch up, chronologically, before the end of the year. (A companion closing piece for Summerswind Book 1 is coming soon.) This is NOT the end of either arc, nor will questions raised by either of these closing chapters go unanswered ... Happy New Year, Phil H.