Beginning Again
By: Cory Holmes
Original Designs:
Marvel Comics Inc & Yosiki Takaya
He had been running for what seemed to be hours. The night rain
looked as if it wouldn't stop for the next few days. He kept telling
himself 'Keep going. Keep going'. It did little good for his legs
throbbed from their over-exertion. His destination appeared slowly over
the horizon, the nearest house that he could find. And what a house it was
too! It was huge! Seeing that seemed to pour new found strength into his
legs and he ran faster. Reaching the gate that blocked his path to the
door, some hundred feet away, he rushed up to it and frantically pounded on
it. An alarm started to buzz and that brought a welcome relief to his
hammering heart. A large black man came running out of the door to the
fence with a weird-looking weapon in his hand. As soon as he pointed it
towards the running figure who was gasping for breath, the figure dropped
like a sack of bricks. Seeing this, Bishop yelled "Hank! Logan! Come
quick."
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"How's he doing, Hank?" a worried Professor Charles Xavier asked
the ever-hairy Beast, who was presently looking over the battered and
bruised form that currently occupied one of the medical beds in the
infirmary.
"I won't lie to you, sir. He's in very bad condition, what remains
of his bones are either broken or dislocated. The rest of his body is
bruised, banged or sprained. It's a miracle that he's managed to live this
long. This is all without regard to the damage his mind may have
sustained." With that done, Beast put the chart that he was holding back
on it's perch at the end of the bed.
"I don't think it's wise to keep him here, he could pose a security
risk," said the always-cautious Bishop, who was standing off to one side
of the bed.
"Chuck, for once I agree with Mr. Security here. We don't know
anything about this guy. For all we know, he could be a Friend of
Humanity." Wearing a plaid shirt and faded blue jeans, Logan looked out of
place here. Beast was wearing a lab coat over his massive frame, the
Professor wearing a suit as always, and Bishop wearing his uniform.
Shaking his head, Xavier answered his student, "No, I've scanned
his mind with the help of Jean and I can find no trace of any malice
towards mutants or humans. But... there is a wall that I cannot penetrate,
maybe he can tell us more when he wakes up."
"That might not be an option, we don't even know IF he'll wake up.
And if he does, he might not be able to tell us what we need to know,"
Beast stated while he removed his coat and placed it on a hook.
"Or he won't tell us."
"Now I'm afraid that I must ask all of us to leave. He must be
allowed to rest in peace." Walking out of the room, Beast nearly walked
into Jubilee, who was standing on the other side of the hallway.
"I hear from Scott and Jean that you have a guy locked up in there.
Is it true?" Jubilee asked, almost vibrating in place.
Trying to suppress a smile, Xavier scolded his student. "Jubilee!
You should know that I would never keep someone "locked up" unless they
needed it!" Now Jubilee couldn't meet the Professors gaze, and seeing
this, Xavier added to his sentence, "He's unconscious, he won' t be able to
move for quite some time." Now the look on Jubilee's face caused Beast,
Logan, and surprisingly Bishop, all to roar with laughter. Even the
Professor started to chuckle a little bit as Jubilee started to fume and
turn a deeper shade of red than was humanly possible at the round of
laughter made at her expense.
Later in the Rec Room, the idle conversation between Beast, Scott,
Jean, Jubilee, and Storm started out innocently enough, however, due to
Jubilee's insistence, the topic became the intruder of last night: "So, is
he cute?"
A slight groan escaped Beast's lips as he had heard enough about
this subject to last a life-time. "My dear Jubilee, I believe that you
will have to make that decision on your own. Once he wakes up, that is."
"How long will that take?" she seemed to vibrate in place again
with an expectant look on her face.
"Yes, I would like to know too. It would be nice if he could
defend himself from these constant attacks to himself" Storm said for the
first time the conversation had begun.
"Speaking of attacks, who do you think could have done that to
him?" Scott asked.
"That I have yet to determine" came the powerful voice of Xavier.
All five pairs of eyes turned towards him. It wasn't like the worlds most
powerful telepath to not know what was going on in a person's mind. "There
is a wall in his mind that I cannot penetrate, it's as if he has no memory
of his life."
"It's as I have feared. The damage to the body, may damaged the
mind as well. There are chronicled incidents of this happening before, all
over the world."
"But can I see him?!" I want to know what he looks like, what he
sounds like, what he..." Jubilee stated with a glassy look on her eyes.
Five voices agreed as they yelled, "NO!." Hearing this, Jubilee
crossed her arms with a "humpf" and stalked away.
Breathing a collective sigh of relief, the occupants of the Rec
Room decided to take Jubilee's inititve as a topic of discussion. "Who is
he?" Jean asked.
"I've matched his identity to a Missing Persons report, his name is
Sho Fukamachi. He's an exchange student from Japan. We might ask Logan if
he could have a talk with him when he wakes up, after all, Logan did spend
some time in Japan."
"That I did," Logan said, entering the room and the conversation,
"there's something about him that's familiar. I just can't put my finger
on it yet"
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Pacing back and forth outside of the infirmary, Jubilee couldn't
stop herself from dreaming about the person on the interior of the room.
Visions of a handsome, tall, nice guy kept dancing around in her mind.
Every three hours, Beast would come and make a check up, every time he came
to the infirmary he told Jubilee, "Stay outside of his room. If you go in,
you may make his condition worse." And every time Jubilee would answer
"Yes, doctor" much to Beast's irritation.
She did eventually get a glimpse of the guy, but the view was
obscured by casts, machines, and Beast himself. All she could see was his
face, which had healed very well. It only had one bruise and that was over
his eye. Now, even if she tried, she couldn't keep the the images from
entering her mind and bouncing around. When Beast saw this, he turned
around and closed the door right in Jubilee's face. Unable to keep her
face from turning red with anger, Jubilee failed to notice to presence of a
new-comer. "Jubilee?" Jubilee, startled, jumped up, spun around, ready to
hurt whom ever it was.
Xavier had not expected his student to be so easily frightened,
then he reminded himself that she wasn't telepathic, so she couldn't have
known that he was there. As Jubilee finished her jump, Xavier asked her
something that he couldn't have in front of the others, "Jubilee, would you
do me a favour? I was wondering that, considering the fact that you
probably wouldn't leave him alone while he's here, would you please try and
get him to talk about his past and get him to tell you who did this to
him?." If it gave her an excuse to sit down and talk with him for a while,
she would jump at it.
Nodding her head furiously, Jubilee failed to notice Beast walking
out of the infirmary "Jubilee, how many times have I told you not to get
in my way when I'm attending this patient?" Startled for the second time
in as many minutes, Jubilee jumped around and prepared to hurt Beast, or at
least try.
"It's my fault Hank, I kept her detained." Xavier apologised.
Seeing this, Beast decided to change his attitude toward Jubilee, for the
moment. Shaking his head, Beast walked away. Xavier soon followed after
securing Jubilee's agreement. Turning to leave, Jubilee noticed that Beast
had left the door slightly ajar, probably in his attempt to make haste in
leaving Xavier and Jubilee alone.
'Well, never look a gift horse in the mouth, Jubilee thought.
Being especially quiet, Jubilee tip-toed her way into the room. 'Too bad I
didn't take Gambit up on his offer to teach me how to sneak properly',
Jubilee thought as she make a small creak in the floor. Not being able to
get a good look at the form lying under the covers, Jubilee had to walk
closer. From her closer position, she could clearly make out his face. It
was just as beautiful as she had imagined. Like all hospital rooms, this
one was cold, sterile, and lifeless. The only thing out of place was the
figure lying under the bed. His left arm was in a cast and his right arm
was plugged into the intravenous and heart monitors. Now that she was
within touching distance, she reached out and picked up his left hand. It
was a smooth as a new car's finish. When she did that, the heart monitor
started to beep. At first it was a beep every few minutes, but now it was
picking up the pace. For the next few minutes, time seemed to stand still.
Soon the heart monitor was beeping once a second. 'Uhoh, I'd better get
Hank', Jubilee thought.
Just as she rounded the corner, she realised that she had spent
three hours with the boy, and that Beast was probably on his way right now
to check up on his patient. Now she started running. Just as she rounded
the corner, she had attained enough velocity to knock Beast down when she
rounded the corner. Picking themselves off the floor, Beast glared at
Jubilee and asked "What do you think your doing, running around like a
chicken with it's head cut off?" Breathless, Jubilee couldn't think of
anything to say so she simply grabbed his large wrist and started to drag
him in the direction of the room. When she got there, she threw open the
door and shoved Beast inside.
Closing the door behind her, Jubilee pointed to the heart monitor
and asked, "Does this mean that he's going to, like, wake up?" Being like
Jubilee, Beast chose to ignore her and he went straight to work.
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For the next hour, everybody dropped what they were doing and went
to visit the infamous room. Right after Jubilee had dragged Beast into the
room, Xavier came inside. Smiling at Beast, Xavier nodded his head in
anticipation. About twenty minutes later, Jean and Scott came in. A few
minutes after that, Logan and Bishop graced the room. Storm, Rogue, and
Gambit had left the mansion earlier to go shopping, although it was Gambit
who protested to this. All stuffed in there like a can of sardines, they
all waited patiently for Beast to finish. None of the spoke, the only
sounds were Beast's instruments and tools, and the beep of the heart
machine. Whenever Beast asked someone for assistance, they gave it
without asking why. Soon Beast had moved away from the bed and said
"That's all I can do, we'll just have to wait and see." Just as he turned
around to usher everyone out, a groan came from the bed.
Jubilee raced to the bed, beating Beast there. Still having his
eyes closed, the figure rolled over, with an audible crack as his shoulders
tried to pop back into place. Taking a closer look, Jubilee noticed two
small growths on his back, on the inside edge of his shoulder blades.
Pointing this out to Beast, she moved away so Beast could get to work.
Having no clue as to what they were, Beast took one of his scanning
instruments and took a reading. Getting a look at the results, Beast tried
to roll him back over, but the figure resisted and opened his eyes.
When he saw the blue-furred figure standing over him, he promptly
closed his eyes and collapsed on the pillow. Turning on his heel, Beast
used his massive frame to effectively push everyone out of the room. When
they were all in the hallway, he made his request, "Professor, could we all
meet in the war room when Gambit and the others get back from shopping?"
Wordlessly, Xavier nodded his head.
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In the two hours it took for Gambit, Rogue, and Storm to get back,
Jubilee had twice tried to get Beast to tell her what was going on, and
twice Beast had ignored her completely. When the front door opened and
Storm came in with two bags of stuff, Jubilee had been their to greet them,
more or less. "And what took you so long?!"
With her usual calm, Storm answered her, "Child, we took half the
time it would have taken you to shop at Salem Centre." Turning red with
anger, Jubilee retorted with a snort. The door closed by itself. Then
Rogue and Gambit were at the door.
"Hold it, chere. Gambit can' see where he goin'" Gambit's voice
came, from the outside. "Now, were dat door?" He was answered with a loud
bang as he walked into it. "Merdre. D'you t'ink you could help Gambit,
oui?"
Unable to contain any more laughter, Rogue answered him threw fits
of laughing, "Men, what Ah do for them" she said in her southern drawl as
she opened the door for him. Gambit came stumbling inside. Jubilee got
one good look at him and started to laugh in amazement. Then Xavier
floated into the foyer, and sucked in a sharp breath when he got a look at
Gambit.
Gambit had four, no five boxes of stuff held in his arms. Stacked
one on top of another as they were, Gambit couldn't see where he was going.
Walking like a blind man, Gambit felt his way along. "Chere, if you t'ink
you can get Gambit t'do dis again, you be gravely mistakn'."
"Awwww, quit yer gripin', at least you didn't have to baby-sit
Little Miss Lover-Girl here" Wolverine interjected, just before he was hit
with a small burst of fireworks. "Enough of all this silly
chatter, we have work to do." Dropping his packages with a sigh of relief,
Gambit started walking in the direction of the war room. Seeing what
Gambit did to her precious purchases, Rogue could barely keep herself from
flying beside him and elbowing him in the ribs. But duty called, and she
obediently followed the others into the depths of the mansion.
Once all assembled, Beast began his explanation as to why he
insisted such a meeting be held. "As you all know, we have had a some-what
unexpected guest be here with us. While his injures have been healing
alright, actually faster than expected, he's shown no signs of ever waking
up. That all changed about two hours ago, I was doing my tri-hourly
check-up on him when Jubilee came running around the corner and knocked me
down, when I questioned her as to why she was running, she grabbed my arm
and hauled my down to his room where I found that his heart was picking up
pace, to the point where it should have exploded, but it didn't. The rest
of you know what happned, but for Gambit, Storm, and Rogue's pleasure, I
will fill in the gaps. After I found him in his new state, the others
arrived to see what was happening and to assist when needed. After an hour
of working, I came to the conclusion that he would live, and turned to
remove everyone from the room when he turned over. Seeing this, Jubilee
ran to the bed and saw something that I failed to see in my first and
subsequent examinations of him, he has two small growths on his back that
look like tumors."
"But why are two tumors causing all of this commotion?" Wolverine
asked, looking slightly annoyed.
"As I was just going to say, the tumors on his back are unlike any
I've seen before. When I took a scan of them and saw the results, I
requested a meeting. The reason being that they don't have human DNA..."
"So what, who said he was human anyway?" Wolverine asked, sounding
annoyed, instead of just looking annoyed.
"They're devoid of mutant DNA as well" Beast finished without even
acknowledging Wolverine, which just got him more annoyed.
"If they have no human or mutant DNA, what kind of DNA do they
have?" Xavier asked, now completely mystified by the guest.
Shaking his head, Beast answered his teacher "I can't tell, but
it's defenatly not of earth origin. Now don't go aking me to answer a
totally wierd question, like where they came from, 'cause I don't know."
Cyclops spoke for the first time in this meeting, "Hank, you said
that Jubilee ran into you from the direction of his room," hearing this,
Jubilee blushed and Hank nodded, "and that , after knocking you down,
proceeded to 'haul' you to his room right?" Hank nodded again. "Then that
leads me to wonder, how did Jubilee know that the man was in trouble?"
"Yes, I would like to know that as well"
"It's like this, I was, you know, waiting outside his room, as
always, and then I heard the beeping. After a while, the beeping, like,
sped up, and I went to get Hank." When Jean heard this, she made a face.
She looked at Xavier, who nodded.
"Alright, now that the guest has woken up, we are to treat him
kindly and with respect. Wolverine, you said that you would spend some
time with him?" Wolverine nodded. "Meeting ajourned. Jubilee, Jean,
would stay here for a little while longer?" While the others got up to go
their seperate ways, Jubilee blushed again while Jean just looked at
Xavier.
*She lied* Jean told Xavier telepathically. "Jubilee, why did you
lie about how you knew that the man, Sho, was in need?"
"Uhhh, it's, you know, like this..." Jubilee had started when
Beast's v\oice cut over the P. A system.
"Professior Xavier, I think that you should report to Sho's room,"
Beast said over the intercom.
"What's wrong Hank?"
"He's gone."
"What do you mean that he's gone, Hank?" Xavier asked, concern
filling his voice.
"Well, I went to check up on him, as usual, and I found his room
empty. His window was closed, so I can only surmise that he left through
the window. Wolverine has gone tracking on the grounds, in case that he
might have stayed around."
"I want all X-Men to fan out and find him." Xavier yelled. When
he saw the look on Jubilee's and Jean's faces, he added "He is lost,
probably scared, he has no idea of what is going on, and he might hurt
himself or worse, others, in an attempt to get away. Also he has peaked my
curiosity and I would like to know more about him." When he finished, Jean
and Jubilee looked at each other, looked at Xavier, looked at one other
again, and walked out of room to join in on the manhunt.
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He'd been searching for ten minutes now. The rain mysterously
stopped. 'It has to be here', he reasoned. Soon he came near a cave,
large and foreboding. "I've been here," he said in a whispered voice, like
if he spoke to loud, he might wake someone or get their attention. 'That I
don't need right now, to have them find me'. As soon as he finished that
thought, another popped into his head, and another and another. 'Who? Who
am I running from? Why am I running? Who am I? What am I?' "I'm a Guy?
Yeah I am guy, I'm definitely not a girl" he said to no one in particular.
"That cave looks inviting. I'll be able to sit down and think." He took a
quick glance around himself and saw nobody, so he went in.
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Jubilee paired up with Wolverine, and the two of them started to
look around the southern end of the grounds. Storm was kind enough to stop
the rain. However she had said the she could only do so for a short period
of time. Walking fast enough to stay slightly ahead of him, and the moon
light being the only source of light, gave Wolverine a chance to get a good
look at the determined expression on Jubilee's face. "What's eatin' ya,
Jubes?" he tried to sound friendly. It almost worked.
"I hate the fact that after all this time, he finally wakes up, and
then he runs away on us. Not even a 'Thank You' for our help in keeping
him alive," now that someone had asked her, she could lash out, "I want him
found so he can say 'Thank You'." The whole speech made Wolverine stunned
and shocked at the same time, and shocking him was not an easy thing to do.
Now the expression on Jubilee's face turned from one of determination to
anger. 'Alright, this is new' was the only thought that Wolverine could
manage before he smelled something, 'It's human alright, and I smelled
this before...' was all he could think of before Jubilee broke out into a
dead run. "I've found him" she said when Wolverine cought up with her.
"He just went into the cave."
Turning his head and bending down, Wolverine sniffed at the rock.
"Yep, he's here. I think we should..." He stopped his sentence short when
Beast and the others came to suround the cave. "How'd you get here?"
Cyclops answered for the group, "The Professor is monitering our
minds to assist us in our search, and it seems that he's helped us a
lot..."
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'Damn! I've been seen!' He thought. 'No, not seen, but there were
voices back there. They seemed almost... human. What's wrong with a human
voice? Is it the fact that the voices who usually chase me are inhuman?
Yes that's it. Please don't come in, please don't come in, please don't
come in, please don't... Damn here they come.' He turned around and ran
faster. But as he ran, he failed to see that stalactite hanging from the
room and he ran right into it. It cut his back and he stiffled a scream.
A heartbeat later, he heard a ripping sound and noticed that his hospital
gown had been torn off at the waist. Now for sure they'll find me, the
growths on my back are pulsating. Pulasating? Looking at his back, there
indeed was a soft blue light eminating from them at regular intervals.
'Faster!!!'
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Cyclops took the lead and strode boldly into the cave. After about
ten minutes of walking, they heard a grunt and a ripping sound. With a
sudden blast of insight, Jubilee shot off a stream of fireworks. "What
the? Jubilee, what are you doing?!" yelled Cyclops.
In a calmer voice Jubilee responded to her leader, "Would you
rather we snuck up on him to make him even more suspicious and afraid? The
way I see it, if we announce our presence and make ourselves friendly, he
might not run away and attack people. Now make your choice and decide on
what we'll do." Cyclops was so stunned at Jubilee's response that he had
barely enoght time to nod before she walked further into the cave and out
of sight.
Pulling him aside, Wolverine addresed Cyclops, "Cyke, I've got to
talk to you, the Professor, and the others when this is done. Leave
Jubilee out of this discussion." After that, he walked onto the cave to
join the others, as did Cyclops. With Jubilee on point, they searched the
cave, Jubilee shot off fireworks every minute, and soon came upon a soft,
blue light that seemed to be getting brighter. Just as they came close
enough to see the source, it suddenly died out.
Wolverine's heightened senses detected a faint scent. "Cyke, it's
definatly him" he whispered. His senses also told him of something on the
floor and on the stalactite, "Cyke, he's bleeding. There's some on the
floor and on that spike" he pointed Cyclops in the appropriate direction.
Before he could answer, the light was back, and brighter than before.
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'Voices again. And their closer! Must keep moving. They'll kill
me if they find me like this.' He did a double-take. 'Wait a sec, they'll
kill me? How can I be sure of that? I don't even know these people, so
how will I know that they'll kill me? Also, how else would they find me?
I'm almost positive that this is the only form that I can take, unlike some
of those mutants that I keep hearing about. I wonder if they're involved?
What about the creature that I saw before, the blue one with fur, I don't
think I've seen a model like that. What model? What am I blithering about?
It's a word, it starts with...Z? Damn! Those voices are getting closer!
I won't let them find me!' He was unable to think any more as a wave of
pain coursed through his head. He started to walk deeper into the cave.
'Does this thing go on for?' As before that thought was silenced by
another throb of the head. 'And why do these organisms on my back keep
pulsating? It'll only serve to lead them to me.' Then the light returned.
'Damn it! It's brighter than before and my head hurts even more now' was
all he could think of before he realised that his thinking, coupuled with
the headaches, had allowed his pursures to almost reach him. He started to
go deeper into the cave.
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"All we have to do is follow that light to it's source, and if it
goes out, we can just follow the blood to it's source. Any questions?"
Cyclops asked in his best leader-voice. No one put up their hand.
"Alright, it's probable that he's running now, so must we if we intend to
catch him, let's move." and with that, they started to run. Being faster,
Beast and Wolverine pulled away from the group and made good time of
catching up. They rounded another corner and saw the source of the light,
Sho's back. He seemed to be holding his head, presumably in pain, and he
was muttering something inaudible. With a quick motion, Wolverine had
closed the distance between them. Sho saw him and turned around, also with
a quick move, he jumped back to increase the distance between them and
yelled "GUY...." before he collapsed on the ground screaming in pain. Now
his back was glowing even more, so much that it hurt to look directly at
it. In a speed that would put an Olympic team to shame, the otheres
started to arrive.
"Back off Wolverine, let me tend to him" Beast spoke with the voice
of authority that he hardly ever used. Wolverine reluctantly moved away
from the figure on the floor who was moaning in suppressed agony. With a
great surge of effort, Sho picked himself up off the floor and leaned
against the wall. Beast approched with caution, not wanting to frighten
off Sho again. Slowly lifting his head to see Beast, Sho got a good look
at Beast, and then his back flashed another pulse of light, this one the
brightest of all, and then suddenly cut out. When Jubilee light up the
room with a burst of fireworks, all of the assembled saw that Sho was lying
on the floor, apparently he passed out when his back had flashed. Looking
him over, Beast saw that aside from his the cut on his back, Sho was
apparently O.K and living. "This is for the best, now we can move him with
no problem whatsoever. You can approach, it's alright, he can't hurt
himself or anyone else for a while it seems. Now if you would be so kind
as to help me Wolverine, we can get started on bringing him home and back
to his nice, cozy, hospital room." Looking like he could be on vacation,
Wolverine picked up Sho's legs, while Beast got his arms, and together they
got him out of the cave and into the cool night air.
Jean telepathically asked Xavier to get Cyclops' car ready so
Cyclops could just get it and come back so they could transport Sho back to
the mansion. In the ten minutes it took Cyclops to get his car and return,
Sho's back had lit up twice. The first was very dim, very hard to see.
The second was a lot brighter, and when it lit up, Sho rolled over, as if
he was trying to release some sort of pressure off his back. The light was
bright enough so that it was hard to look at. When Cyclops returned, it
took him, Wolverine, and Beast to carry him into the back seat carefully
enough so that he wouldn't get hurt any more that his is. Since Cyclops'
car was a convertable, the hood was down to let fresh air in. Jean rode
with those who had carried Sho into the car.
The high point of the trip was when Sho started to moan in pain and
his back again lit up. This time the light just seemed to get brighter and
brighter and just wouldn't stop. Cyclops stopped the car and everyone
looked at Sho, Jean was sitting beside him and was nearly knocked out of
the car when Sho sat up, screaming in pain. His eyes had become a strange
mettalic blue, while his voice was almost mechanical. When he screamed, a
powerful bolt of electricity formed on his back, flowed down to his arm,
and arced from his hand to the ground. And just as soon as it had started,
it stopped. His eyes became their normal colour again and he collapesed
back onto the seat.
Cyclops stepped on the gas harder. Wolverine was mumbling
something along the lines of "First he's human, then he's not. Next he's
got some tumor on his back, then he runs away. Then Jubilee get's pissed.
Not a good sign. And now he generates some lightning..." the rest was
lost. Beast was tending to Sho and got a mild electrical shock during the
display of power. Soon the car arrived at the mansion and Xavier was
waiting for them, medical gear and all. Gently placing Sho on the bed,
Beast started his examination of him and found that Sho had sustained no
damage from the lightning.
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****So, Whaddya think? Please give me C&C!
Endymion
gholmes@awinc.com