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Post by pyrceval on Feb 20, 2008 15:59:51 GMT -5
The Multiverse Presents
The Uncanny X-Men #10 An Uncommon Child Part 2 of 3: From Past to Future Written by: Kyle Jones (Wonderphoenix) Edited By: Luke Nester (Pyrceval) Westchester, New York November 23, 1963, 5:25pm"This can’t be happening!" Jean exclaimed. "How the hell did we get stuck back in 1963?" "Maybe I was nervous," Benjamin replied. "I don’t know! I guess that made me send us somewhere other than you waking me out of the trance." Jean was clearly agitated. "So, send us back!" Benjamin looked again at the newspaper, then back to Jean and hesitated. He shook his head. "What?" "Honestly, I really don’t know if I can." The rain stopped and Jean dropped the telekinetic shield that kept them both dry. "Benjamin, at least try." Jean pleaded. "We can’t stay here and I don’t have the power like you to take us home." She looked around at the different styles of cars and buildings. This can’t be happening. Oh, Scott, where are you when I need you. "I can’t promise you that I won’t make this worse," he stated. "But, you’re right. This is my fault and I am the only one that can fix it." He let the newspaper fall to the ground and took a deep breath. "Take my hand." Jean did as he asked and the blue light began to swirl about them until they disappeared.
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Post by pyrceval on Feb 20, 2008 16:01:45 GMT -5
The Xavier Institute
<<X-Men, report to my study at once!>>
Within minutes and as usual, The X-Men quickly gathered in the office.
"Where are Jean and our guest?" Ororo asked.
"Ain’t it pretty obvious that they’re gone?" Logan retorted. "Why else would Charlie summon us like this?"
"Wolverine," The Professor answered, "now is not the time or the place. As you can clearly see, as you said, they are gone."
"What happened?" Scott demanded. "Where is Jean?"
The Professor shook his head. "I wish I knew, Scott. They were both sitting here in my office one second and then, in the next, a blue light swirled around them and they both disappeared. The question now is……where are they and how do we get them back?"
"Professor, I assume the answer to this is going to be yes. But, for the sake of asking, have you tried to contact her telepathically?" Hank questioned.
"I have indeed. Now, if someone will assist with my chair, I want to further scan for both of them with Cerebro. Hank, will you?" The Professor rolled his chair from behind the desk and Hank left the room.
For almost a minute no one said anything.
Finally, Scott broke the silence. "Go ahead, Wolverine. We all know what you want to say so why don’t you just go ahead and say it."
"Look, Cyke, I don’t take any pleasure on Jeannie not being here so it ain’t my style on this to say I told you so."
"You did warn us," Peter added.
"Warning or not," Scott continued. "Jean is missing and we don’t know where she is or what that guy was up to. We should have known something wasn’t right when he just appeared like that. Didn’t any of you find that even a little bit strange? I mean, he appears, says to us that he is SUPPOSED to be an X-Man? What the $&C@ is that all about?"
Ororo approached Scott and placed her hand on his shoulder. "We all know that you are worried about Jean. So are we." She turned to the others. "However, it doesn’t do any of us good to speculate now on what might or might not have happened."
"Ororo is right," Scott said as straightened his back and tried to smile. "For all we know, Jean and Mr. Anderson or on their way back right now or could appear any moment."
"So, what now? We just wait?" Logan questioned.
"What about Jean’s cell?" Kitty asked after phasing in through the closed doors. The others turned to look at her. "I’m sorry. I know I should not have been listening."
"I have her phone," Scott replied as he reached into his pants pocket and took out a pink Motorola Razr. "I was going to go into town this afternoon to get her a new one since this one has a bad battery. She gave it to me this morning after it wouldn’t power up."
"At least it was a thought." Kitty added. "Can we go now to see if the Professor found her?"
Wolverine smiled to himself as he watched Kitty leave the room. Kid’s got spunk.
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Post by pyrceval on Feb 20, 2008 16:04:15 GMT -5
London, England Outside an abandoned junk yard November 23, 1963 5:15pm
Blue light descended from the sky and swirled as it reached the ground until Jean and Benjamin materialized.
"Where are we now?" Jean, quite a bit disoriented, asked.
"Definitely not Kansas," Benjamin answered.
"Sorry if I don’t think that was funny."
"Just trying to lighten the mood."
"Forget the mood….get us home!"
Benjamin realized that his comment was out of line. "Sorry.""No, it’s not your fault and I shouldn’t have snapped."
She smiled. "We can stand around her all day or we can figure out if you have taken us home." They both left the yard and walked out into the street. The first thing they noticed was the vehicles with the driver’s side opposite of the norm. "You’re right, Ben. We’re not in Kansas. We’re in England!"
They continued to walk down the street tying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Benjamin looked up and saw the top of Big Ben towering over several buildings. Why does this seem so familiar? Not paying attention, he collided with a woman walking in the opposite direction. They both fell to the ground. Jean reached down to help her back to her feet while, unbeknownst to the woman, telekinetically giving Benjamin an assist. "Are you okay?"
"Madam, I am so very sorry," Benjamin apologized. "I wasn’t paying attention at all. Are you hurt?"
"Nothing more than my pride," she replied as she picked up her purse and straightened her rose colored dress. She had short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "I assure you that I am fine." She reached out to shake Benjamin’s hand. "I am as much to fault as you as I too was not paying attention."
"Still, I feel so horrible," Benjamin continued but shook her hand. As he did, his precognitive ability kicked in and he quickly removed his hand.
<<Ben?>> Jean said telepathically.
"Madam, would you happen to have a piece of paper?" The woman shook her head, took a pad and pencil from her purse and gave it to him. He quickly scribbled an address and a date on the pad and returned it to her. "I know this is going to sound strange but take that address and mail your resume to it on the date I listed. You won’t regret it."
<<BENJAMIN! What are you doing?!?!?>>
"Okay???" The woman was puzzled. "I guess it can’t be any stranger than what I was just asked to do by a fellow teacher at the school where I am doing my student teaching." She laughed. "Barbara, that’s her name, asked me to follow one of her students’ home and report back to her."
"What is so strange about that?" Jean asked.
"It isn’t normally strange except the student told Barbara that she lived in that junk yard at the end of the street." She laughed. "So, just to make her happy and maybe get extra points on my final grade, I’m on my way now to check it out."
"Well, I think we can answer that for you," Benjamin stated. "We just came out of that yard and there wasn’t anyone else in there. Just junk. There was an old car, plenty of boxes." He looked at Jean and she nodded in agreement, "and a telephone booth."
The woman nodded and began to walk away. "Still, just so I can say I did it, I will check it out." She smiled and put the piece of paper inside her purse. "You two watch where you’re going." Having said that, the young woman continued down the street.
Jean turned to Benjamin, "What was that all about? We’re trying not to be noticed and you go and go all fortune teller on her. "
"Trust me, one day you’ll understand."
"That’s the problem. I DON’T trust you. I don’t even KNOW you and here I am with you in 1963 England with absolutely no chance of getting home on my own. What if you can’t get us home? What if we keep popping in and out and get sent further back in time?" Jean began to cry and Benjamin moved to console her. She raised her hand in protest. "I’m sorry. It is just that this scares me that I might never get home." Benjamin stood silently as Jean regained her composure.
"Want to try again?" he asked.
"We can’t stay here forever. So, yes."
"Can you put a mental picture of the mansion into my thoughts? Maybe if I can see the mansion I can use that image to help me send us back to it."
"It’s worth a try." Jean reached up and put an index finger on each of his temples and closed her eyes. She thought of the mansion with it beautiful gardens and high ceilings – and how much she liked living there. With that, she sent that image telepathically to the man standing beside her.
<<Do you see it?>>
"Yes."
<<Then take us there.>>
The blue light began to swirl around both of them and, in an instant, they were gone unaware that the young lady they met earlier had returned from the junk yard and was walking towards them only to see the duo disappear.
Barbara and Mr. Chesterton won’t believe this! She thought.
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Post by pyrceval on Feb 20, 2008 16:05:20 GMT -5
Present Day, Outside the mansion
"A penny for your thoughts?" Hank asked as he approached Scott.
Scott turned to Hank, his eyes – as always – hidden behind the ruby shades he was forced to wear. Scott was thankful, for once, in that they shielded his despair from being seen by the others. "You know what my thoughts are."
"Yes, good friend, I do."
"Hank, I know everyone is thinking it and just not saying it."
"Thinking what?"
"This guy isn’t like Nightcrawler. He can obviously teleport way farther than Kurt and who’s to say that he didn’t teleport himself and Jean to the future or God only knows where???"
"That is a possibility but it will do neither one of us any good to speculate on where and when they are. For once, this is something that even the Uncanny X-Men can’t handle. Even IF we did have someone who could teleport like our guy did we would have no way of tracking them or knowing when or where they were."
"I know."
"Scott, we are all worried – even Wolverine in his own way." Hank looked to the heavens. "I am a man of science and a mutant who constantly deals with facts and theories and the such. " He looked back at Scott. "But, with you and Jean, I see something that science cannot explain because I see a connection between the two of you that quite frankly amazes me." Scott smiled. "Perhaps it is her telepathic link to you? Perhaps it is that your souls are linked. I can merely speculate. However, I have faith that this connection will lead Jean back to us."
"I wish I shared the same faith."
"Then, have that faith. Reach out to Jean with your thoughts and maybe – just maybe – you can be the beacon that lights her way home."
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Post by pyrceval on Feb 20, 2008 16:07:14 GMT -5
The blue light began to swirl once again until Benjamin and Jean materialized. "Did we make it?" Benjamin asked. They were standing in a street in front of a brick wall that looked to go on a least a mile down the road. About a half mile away was an iron gate that served as an entrance to the estate behind the wall. Jean put her hand on the wall, looked at Benjamin, and smiled. "I know this wall." She answered. The two began to run in the direction of the gate and stopped when they saw a golden plate giving the address. It read:1407 Graymalkin Lane "You did it!" Jean exclaimed. "You brought us home." Jean reached out telepathically to her fellow X-Men. <<Scott, we’re back!>>There was no reply. Jean sent out another telepathic message. <<Professor? Storm? Hank? SCOTT? >>Still, no response. "What’s wrong?" Benjamin asked. Almost by instinct, she covered them both in telekinetic energy and began to levitate them off the ground. "I can’t get a response from anyone." She lifted them both above the wall but wasn’t prepared for what she was about to see on the other side. "Oh, by the fire and the life," Benjamin mumbled. Jean began to cry as Benjamin fought to hold back his own tears. They hovered there – speechless – at the sight before them. There was no mansion. There were no gardens. There were no students. No X-men. There was only rubble. A giant crater hollowed out the ground below what would have been the mansion. The grass was gone and only dirt and weeds remained. Off in the distance, the lake – where Benjamin had first appeared – was nothing more than a mud puddle with fallen trees – dead for at least five to ten years. Jean shook with terror but moved them forward until they landed at what would have once been the front porch. "What has happened here while we were gone?" "You’ve come back," a man’s voice said. Jean and Benjamin turned to see an elderly man, dressed in attire probably worn during the 1940s, standing about a hundred yards away. Where’d he come from? She thought. And why does he seem familiar? He walked with a cane and limped to them both. He was no more than five foot eight and maybe weighed one hundred thirty pounds. "Who are you?" Benjamin demanded. The old man smiled. "Youngster, that isn’t the question you need to be asking me." He leaned on his cane and looked at them both. "WHEN are YOU!" "Wait………you mean this isn’t the pres…………we’re in the future?" Jean questioned. "Exactly," the old man replied. "And, you, Youngster, this is what will happen to the X-Men….and all the mutant race…if you don’t get Jean Grey back to where she belongs." To Be Continued . . .
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