When it was time for Star and Jubilee to testify
against the three punks, Professor Xavier, Rogue, Star, Jubilee, and
Wolverine piled into a large van with the logo "Xavier's School for
Gifted Youngsters" emblazoned on the door, and drove to the
courthouse. Professor Xavier had explained to both young women that
they were to remain calm and to answer any questions put to them
completely and honestly. Jubilee considered the whole thing to be an
exciting adventure and had spent considerable time choosing a wardrobe
for both herself and Star, only to be overruled by Jean. Consequently,
she was sulking. She was startled out of her funk when Star suddenly
turned to her and said,
"Jubilee, will you please shut up!" Jubilee stared at her, her mouth hanging open.
"But I didn't say anything!"
"You have been mumbling constantly for the last half
hour and I have grown tired of listening to you complain." Jubilee
turned to Wolverine for support. He could only shrug.
"Star, child," Professor Xavier's voice spoke quietly in her mind.
"I am not a child, Professor, and I wish you would stop referring to me in that
fashion."
"You are correct, Star, and I apologize." Xavier
continued, "However, Jubilee was not verbalizing. You need to
strengthen your shields the way Jean has taught you," he paused. "And
you might consider apologizing to Jubilee."
"Of course, Professor. I don't know what is the matter with me. I feel ... strange."
"It will pass, dear." I hope, he added to himself.
He sensed her bolstering her shields before she turned to Jubilee.
"Jubilee? I'm sorry. I guess I'm just scared about all this."
"S'okay." The two young mutants sat in an
uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, then Star said,
"Jubilee? Beast gave me a portable chess set. Do you want to play a game? I promise not to
cheat."
"Sure." Wolverine watched as Star set up the game,
letting Jubilee choose her pawn. He continued to watch them as they
played. Jubilee with youthful enthusiasm and Star with a cool
efficiency which was almost frightening to watch. As they pulled into
the underground garage at the courthouse, Jubilee made a final move and said,
"There! Checkmate!" Star smiled at her.
"That was fun. Shall we play again on the way home?"
"Yeah, if it's not dark by then." They put the game away as Rogue parked the van.
"Jubilee, are you ready?"
"'Course, Professor."
"Star?"
"I think so."
"Keep your shields tight."
"Yes, sir."
They reached the courtroom precisely on time and
were told to wait in an anteroom until the girls were called. As their
guardian, Professor Xavier would accompany each into the courtroom
when they were called upon. Star was called first. When she and
Professor Xavier entered the courtroom they were greeted by an almost
palpable wave of hatred. Star staggered back a step and Xavier steadied her.
"Easy, Star. Remember your shields."
"Yes, Professor." She straightened her shoulders and
took the witness stand as directed. The Prosecutor quickly questioned
her. Her answers painted a clear picture of the attack as it had
occurred. Then the attorney for the defense rose.
"Miss Star, is it true that you are a Mutant?"
"Objection, your honor," the Prosecutor stood. "This
has no bearing on the case at hand."
"Your honor, if you will allow me to continue, I
will show that this question does, indeed, have bearing in this case."
"Very well. Objection overruled. Answer the question Miss Star."
"Yes."
"Is it not also true that you are a telepath?"
"Yes."
"A telepath capable of controlling the minds of others?"
"Your honor, I must object to this entire line of questioning."
"Objection sustained. Councilor, if you please."
"Yes, your honor. Miss Star, you have stated that
nothing you did provoked the alleged attack, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Nothing at all."
"No."
"Not even, perhaps, a casual probe of the minds of the young men in question?"
"Your honor!"
"Councilor, consider yourself warned. If you
continue this line of questioning, I will find you in contempt."
"No further questions, your honor."
"The witness may step down." A bailiff stepped
forward to escort Star from the courtroom, and Jubilee was called as
the next witness. The bailiff turned toward a different door than the
one through which they had entered. They intended to keep the witnesses separate.
"Professor?"
"It's all right, dear. I will send Wolverine to join
you." Star followed the bailiff through the door to another small room
with several chairs spaced around the walls. She tried to block the
thoughts of those gathered to support her attackers, without much
success. Her shields were not holding.
"Filthy Mutant," burst upon her as the bailiff
closed the door behind her. "How can they allow a thing like that to
actually testify in court? Why, its not even human!" She fought to
close the hateful voice out.
"Mutants like that ought to be drowned at birth,"
came another, different, voice. "My boy would never have done anything
like this on his own. She was asking for it. Imagine, she had the
nerve to parade around among normal people, like she owned the place."
"That ought to take care of her credibility. No jury
in the world is going to convict a normal boy of attacking a mutant,
who may, just may, have been controlling him. I don't even have to
prove anything. It only requires 'a shadow of a doubt' after all."
Other voices crowded into her mind, overlapping,
unintelligible, hateful, angry. She was trembling violently, the
silver bracelet jangling on her wrist, when she heard Wolverine's voice.
"I don't care if it is a restricted access area,
bub, a friend a' mine's in there and I ain't about ta leave her by
herself." She could hear the menace in his quiet tones, and could feel
that the guard could hear it as well. The door opened and Wolverine
stepped in. He closed the door behind him and looked at her. She was
as white as a sheet and shaking so badly that he could hear her teeth
chattering even over the jangle of the bracelet. He gathered her into
his powerful arms, holding her close. Her trembling eased as she
sensed his determination to protect her. She leaned on him as she
struggled to rebuild her faltering shields. As she closed the hateful
voices out, she became aware of his heart beating strongly in his
chest, the strength in his arms, the warmth of his body close to hers.
When she finally stopped trembling, Wolverine released her. She moved
away from him reluctantly and he guided her to a chair.
The outer door opened and a bailiff, with two police
officers, entered, their hands on their weapons. Wolverine turned
toward them, his head lowered dangerously, his hand fisted at his sides.
"You folks got a problem?" he asked them.
"his is a restricted area, mister. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."
"Like I told yer friend there," Wolverine said. "I'm here ta take care o' the kid."
"That's part of our job."
"Yeah. An' yer doin' it real well, too," Wolverine
snarled. "If I'd been here ta hurt her, I'd a done it an' been long
gone 'fore you showed up." As the tension mounted, Star began to shake
again, her bracelet jangling as she raised her hands to her head.
Startled by the sudden metallic sound, the young
bailiff snatched his weapon from the holster and pointed it at Star.
Moving with speed allowed only by inborn grace augmented by years of
training, Wolverine stepped forward, past the closer police officer,
and disarmed the bailiff. The gun clattered to the floor as Wolverine
lifted the startled man by his shirt front and slammed him into the wall.
"Didn't your daddy ever tell you not ta play with
guns?" His claws glinted in the glare of the fluorescent lights.
"Put him down, mister. Nice and slow." Both officers had their weapons trained on
Wolverine.
"Please." Star whispered. "Don't." She stood behind
them, her body rigid, her eyes closed. The bailiff had eyes for
nothing but Wolverine's claws. Wolverine and the second police officer
turned to Star while the first officer didn't take her eyes off Wolverine.
"Please! Stop it!" Star cried, her voice ragged.
"Uh oh," Wolverine muttered under his breath as he
retracted his claws with a sharp snick. The first officer spared Star
the briefest of glances then said,
"Get her out of here, Terry." The officer turned
further, lowering his weapon, and reached for Star.
"No!" Wolverine shouted instinctively. "Don't touch
her!" He dropped the bailiff and lunged for the second officer. The
first officer fired her weapon, the muzzle less than two feet from
Wolverine's chest, just as the second officer grabbed Star's wrist.
The officer shouted in surprised pain, tearing the silver bracelet
from her arm as he snatched his hand away. Star shrieked. The bullet
exploded before it could strike Wolverine, covering everything in the
room with a fine metallic powder.
The physical contact with the police officer had
been the final blow. Star's brittle shields shattered. The thoughts
and emotions of every man, woman, and child in the entire city smashed
in on her. She shrieked again, an agonized sound. Her eyes flew open.
They blazed, white light literally pouring from her sockets. Her skin
began to glow. The bailiff collapsed, then the two police officers
sank to the floor. A wave of exhaustion swept through Wolverine and
he fell to his knees.
"Star!" he said through gritted teeth. "Stop it,
Star!" Her gaze fell across him, burning his skin. He cried out and
she snapped her eyes away from him, looking upward.
"Away from here," he heard her say. "Too much." The
ceiling of the room exploded outward, then the ceiling of the room
above, allowing bright sunlight to flow in. She rose swiftly through
the hole she had smashed in the building, her body glowing brighter by
the moment, her clothing beginning to smolder. Wolverine blacked out.
Star wept as she rose ever further into the sky. She
had been overwhelmed by the thoughts and emotions of the thousands of
people surrounding her and she had instinctively reached out to those
people for the power she needed to block them out. But it was a
vicious spiral. The further she reached, the more minds impinged upon
her and the more power she needed. The closer they were, the more
energy, life force, she stole from them. So she removed herself.
This had happened before, only she had not been
strong enough to escape the cage. Instead, she had killed them,
bleeding them of their life force relentlessly, unable to stop. The
Doctor had been perversely pleased. It had been necessary to replace
the dozen or so lab techs and guards she had killed, but what did that
matter, he thought, his experiment was going so well. Star cried
bitterly as she remembered. She had listened to the Doctor's thoughts,
utterly unable to block him. She was the first of his creations to
survive the virtual metamorphosis from child to adult.
"A pity, really," he'd said to the new lab tech at
his side. "Unless we perfect that psi-dampener I'll never be able to
breed them." He looked at her, watching him. "Ah, well. I suppose I
can always clone the successful ones, can't I?" He laughed. "Start
this one on inhibitors in six months. That should give her body time
to stabilize. Until then, this section is to be completely off limits.
All feedings are to be handled remotely, is that understood?"
"Yes, sir." The tech made a note on the pad he carried.
"If anyone has a problem with the order, remind them of what happened to your
predecessors."
"Yes, sir." They left the room, the tech looking back only once.
Star understood the remembered conversation now. She
had read everything in Professor Xavier's extensive library, and all
of Beast's medical texts. Without the daily dose of inhibitors, her
body had returned to its natural chemical balance which, somehow,
triggered the loss of her painfully developed shields which, in turn,
triggered the deadly assault. She had felt the people around her
beginning to collapse, their minds fading. First the police and the
bailiff, then Wolverine. Then others in the next room, including
Professor Xavier and Jubilee. She'd felt another familiar mind go dark
as her power reached Rogue. Her clothing burst into flames as she
sought to go ever higher, trying desperately to outdistance her own
mind. At last, as she gasped for breath in the thinning atmosphere,
the voices faded from her mind. She could not stay here long. She dared not descend.
"Logan, can you hear me?" The Professor's voice
seemed to come from a distance. "Logan?"
"C'mon, Wolvie. Ya gotta be okay." With a great
effort, Wolverine opened his eyes. Jubilee was sitting on the floor,
bending over him. He looked past her to the Professor and Rogue. He
groaned and closed his eyes.
"Wolverine?" Jubilee said anxiously.
"S'okay, darlin'," he said, cautiously opening his
eyes again. "I just ain't had a headache this bad in...well, longer 'n
I can remember." Rogue offered him her hand and he gingerly got to his feet.
"Where's Star?" she asked him. He indicated the hole in the ceiling.
"Ya mean somebody took her?" Jubilee asked.
"No, darlin'. She left under her own steam."
"Oh, great. Just what this family needs, another flyer!"
"Jubilee!"
"I'm sorry, Rogue. I didn't mean anything, its just
that you and Storm flit about where ever you want to go, and you guys
won't even let me drive."
"Rogue, will you try to find her? I'll contact Jean and have her send Storm to help
you."
"'Course, Professor."
"Rogue."
"Yeah, Wolverine?"
"Be careful when ya find 'er. She was glowing white hot when she lit outta here." Rogue
nodded.
"Jubilee."
"Yeah?" Rogue tossed her the keys to the van.
"Way cool!" Rogue disappeared through the hole in the ceiling, to begin her search for
Star.
"Jean."
"Yes Professor?"
"We have lost Star. Rogue is looking for her. Will you ask Storm to help her?"
"Of course."
"Try to sense her, Jean. I am somewhat weakened and can not find her."
"Yes, Professor." He felt her concern but knew she would wait for an explanation.
"Professor?"
"Yes, Jubilee?"
"What happened? I mean," Jubilee gestured around the
courtroom, filled with unmoving bodies. "How come they're all knocked
out but you and me and Rogue weren't?"
"When I felt Star lose control I was, somewhat, able
to protect you and Rogue. Familiar minds are easier to shield.
Wolverine, you were too close to her."
"No kiddin'."
"Are they gonna be okay?" Jubilee asked.
"I believe so. Those furthest from the, uh, center, should recover first."
"Shouldn't we be goin'?"
"Of course, Wolverine." Professor Xavier and Jubilee
left through the open door. Wolverine saw the broken bracelet lying on
the floor and paused to scoop it up. He put it in his shirt pocket and followed.
[ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 ]
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