Two days later...

For the first time in a long time, the mutant containment cells on the third underground level of the Muir Island Research Facility were in use. Frankly, Moira would be more than happy when S.H.I.E.L.D. showed up to take the murdering bastards off of her hands. It didn't matter if they came from another dimension, they were still who they were. She still remembered what they'd done to the Morlocks -- to Kurt and Kitty.

Excalibur had arrived back on base right as she, Rory, Allerdyce, and Verney had finished locking down the surviving assassins. Somehow two humans, one "villain," two dying Legacy patients, a baby, and a pair of annoyed ghosts had done what no superhero team had even managed before: with the exception of Scalphunter and Prism, they'd taken the Marauders alive. The story was making the rounds of the X-teams even now, and Pyro was already cheerfully embellishing his part in the rout. Pyro, who of course wasn't going anywhere after his "heroics." Frankly, Excalibur was stuck with him for the time being.

That wasn't what was on Moira MacTaggert's mind at the moment, however. She was more interested in the rack of test tubes before her. Specifically, one particular test tube. What had started out as an idle series of genetic tests to determine identities and examine the effects of repeated cloning had turned into an all-night obsession when she'd noticed something unbelievable in one of the samples on that rack. She'd checked and double-checked and triple-checked her results, then run them past McCoy. Twice.

She was not imagining things. There were Legacy antibodies in Scrambler's blood sample.

It had to have something to do with his power to alter mutant abilities: to alter, null, and increase the effects of the x-factor in a mutant's DNA. Legacy killed by destroying a mutant with their own power, cranking it up to beyond "maximum" and burning out the unfortunate victim like a supernova. Scrambler must have had Legacy -- perhaps still had it, even --but somehow his own power had interacted in an unusual manner with the disease's genetic onslaught. The stronger the effect of Legacy on his power, the stronger his power's capability to nullify any dangerous surges of his own mutant abilities.

Effectively, within his own body, he'd managed to cancel out the most serious symptom of Legacy. This must have allowed him to live far beyond the natural lifespan of an infected mutant...and given his immune system enough time to finally concoct a defense.

It wasn't a cure, but the antibodies were a bright new start. A step in the right direction, after all of the fruitless dead-ends and wasted nights. If this worked...oh, lord, if this worked, Dawn Embers didn't have to die.

Things were finally looking up.

Moira decided that she couldn't get anyone's hopes up yet, but at very least she could get started with some blood work-ups on Dawn and Pyro, to see if she could trigger a similar effect in her two patients. She tapped the intercom to the main living area, where she knew her assistant was currently kicking back to a few videotaped episodes of "Blackadder."

"Rory? Can ye round oop Allerdyce an' Dawn an' send 'em doon here? A need some more samples -- it's urgent."

"St. John's here with me. He'll be right there, won't y'lad?" Moira heard Australian-accented grumbling (something about "bloody vampire") in the background. Both Moira and Rory blithely ignored him. "Last I saw a'Dawn, though, she was walking out to the cliffs with Ember. I'll go get her. I could use the fresh air."

Dawn could have kicked herself for using such a stupid line, but Ember merely smiled shyly and nodded. "Yeah. I guess so."

The two girls stood facing each other a mere foot apart on the cliffs above the Muir Island landing, in the exact spot where Dawn had caught the baby almost three days earlier. A chilly morning breeze ruffled their nigh-identical blue manes, streaming like banners in the direction of the Facility. The baby -- whom Dawn now knew was named Skye -- was fast asleep in her mother's arms, safe at last.

Her mother. Dawn still couldn't get over the fact that she was looking at herself, only three years older and already a parent. Still, from what she could tell, it hadn't exactly been a voluntary conception.. Ember had captured and broken like a wild colt to serve as a Marauder...and, when she was old enough to survive the experience, Sinister had coldly upgraded her status from "filly" to "broodmare."

It frightened Dawn to think how close she'd come to suffering the same fate. If it hadn't been for Glenn... Glenn. He was the difference. Ember didn't know Glenn Keaton, had never known him. So he hadn't been there for her when she'd needed to escape from the Oklahoma boarding school which served as Sinister's secret culling pool for potentially useful mutants. Sinister had found Ember useful, all right -- useful enough to artifically impregnate her when she was only sixteen, useful enough to force her to continue serving him as an assassin even as her child grew within her belly. She'd been lucky beyond words to escape, however she'd managed it.

Now he wanted both mother and daughter back. Badly. And yet Ember was voluntarily going back to her own dimension...to risk recapture.

It didn't make any sense.

"You can stay here, you know." Dawn had tried to convince her before, to no avail. Ember wouldn't say why she had to go back, but she'd been single-mindedly determined to head home the instant Moira let her out of the observation ward. Dawn didn't honestly think that she'd get a better answer out of her now.

She was therefore surprised when Ember replied quietly, "Do you know about Generation X?"

"Of course I do! They were my best friends, for a while, until...well, you know." Dawn unconsciously rubbed at the now obviously Legacy lesion under her jaw. "What are you saying?"

Ember glanced almost guiltily down at Skye's blissful sleeping face. "When the Marauders captured me, I'd...I was staying with them. My own dimension's version of Generation X, I mean. They took me in, took care of me, and..."

Dawn stared at her in horror, making the jump of logic quite easily. "So you're saying that Sinister might have them?!?"

"I don't know. I have to know. I can't hide here, knowing that they might be...his."

Dawn chewed thoughtfully on her lip for a few long moments, turning slightly aside to gaze out to sea. The sun was rising, the dawn defiantly breaking through a bank of grey stormclouds to stream pink light over the Mu ir cliffs. The new sunlight felt warm on Dawn's cheeks, and she couldn't help but see some symbolism in it.

I must be out of my mind.

With a sigh and a determined set to her jaw she turned back to Ember. "All right then. I'm coming with you."

"What? Now hold on, you can't..."

"I'm dying anyway," Dawn said simply. "And soon; it's getting harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning. If I can help you free Generation X before I go, or at least reunite you with them if we're wrong about Sinister, then...heck, it sounds like a good deal to me. They're technically my friends too, you know."

Ember considered this. Then she smiled, shifted Skye to her shoulder, and stuck out her free hand so Dawn could briskly shake it. "Deal. Need anything from your room?"

"Nope. I'm ready."

"Good, because I can't stand waiting a minute longer. Hey, Rasputin? You still hanging around? It's time to go home. And, uh, Dawn?"

"Mmmm?"

"How about you tell me about this 'Glenn' guy along the way?"