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Last Issue- As intruders are discovered on the grounds, the school ends up capture; first by Emma's power hungry sisters, and then by Mojo. Mojo then takes the opportunity to make them his newest stars. However, someone else has followed them, and it means more trouble for the school.
Previous issue: Disasterous Discoveries
Attention: Generation X and their villains, as well as any other mutant mentioned in this work, is property of Marvel Comics. The character Richard Cale is one of my own development. There will be changes to some of the characters background, as this work is part of Marvel Mayhem on ComicVine.com.
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Chapter 9: Deals and Contracts
Angelo Espinosa ran with both Clarice Ferguson and Jonothan Starsmore through the warehouse they had gotten into. Deep down, he knew they wouldn‘t have gotten into the place if this was the real world, but since this was some sort of sick program by the entity known as Mojo, they were able to sneak into it with ease. Clarice’s teleportation ability was a help, since it let them get past the guard desk. That would be only a momentary boon, since their pursuers, a group calling itself M-Squad, were trying to force their way into the building.
As he glanced back, he could see that the security guard was yelling at them, obviously not believing their claims. As they ran through the building, out of sight of anyone in the vast place, he finally chanced speaking with the others. "Looks like we lost those M Squad jokers for now."
They all listened for a moment, and after a few minutes of silence, he heard Clarice break the silence. “It might stop them for a bit, but eventually, the building’s security might spot us. We need to either sneak out, or find a better place to hide.” He nodded in agreement with that assessment.
He watched as Jonothan pointed towards a far off section. “Then lets head over there. Looks like there are plenty of areas to duck in and out of over there.” Angelo glanced in that direction, noticing that many rows of shelves, full of stuff, lined that area. It would be the perfect place to hide.
He let Jono lead the way, and thankfully, they made their way to those very shelves without being spotted. As they did, Angelo managed to catch a glimpse of a face he had hoped to never see again. It was a little different, with a disfiguring burn along the side of it, but still, Paige Guthrie was unmistakable.
Once they were amongst the shelves, and had stopped to catch their breath, he glanced over at the others and said, “I think…” His words froze in his mouth, and everyone seemed to have frozen. It had happened to him before, as well as the others. He even remember it happening as M-Squad had them cornered. He could have even swore that he saw a pleading look in their eyes.
Soon, the booming voice of Mojo came echoing through the whole building. “Will our three young mutants manage to out run M-Squad yet again? Will those mutant hunters finally eliminate the monsters they hunt? Find out next time on ‘Mutant Monsters’.” When the last words were said, everything transformed around him and the others. In the blink of an eye, the warehouse they had ducked into became the school building.
They had gone through the process once or twice before, and it was as disorientating as it had before. He took a moment to look around the room they arrived in, which was one of the common rooms for the students. At first, he would have sworn they had been sent there alone, but after a moment, he noticed Emma Frost sitting at a table, her head resting on it. He then glanced over at a door he noticed the first time they had been transported back. Behind an energy shield was Emma’s sisters, and both were laying on the floor. Both looked like they had been through a rough time.
He turned to Emma, who at that moment just started to stir, and heard her say, “Well, you three seem to be alright. Mojo has dropped us off in here almost every five hours that has passed in our world. It has been days since I’ve seen you three.” That made Angelo and the others gasp.
It was Clarice who made the key statement. “Days. What Mojo has been having us do seemed to be weeks.” It was the truth. All through the times Mojo was filming, Angelo had managed to count sunrises and sunsets. He had counted almost eighteen of both. He also saw the shocked look on Emma’s face. Obviously, what ever time she had gone through where ever Mojo was filming the show she was part of, that amount of time had not passed.
He then saw her put her head in her hands. “Weeks? Mojo seems to be able to control time in these filming areas. The show he has my sisters and myself doing feels like we’ve been doing it for a month. Mojo seems to have godlike powers, to be able to manipulate time.” That made them all nod in agreement.
Angelo decided that since they just heard some very bad news, the news he had might not be so bad now. He shook his head, and then said, “Well, I doubt this will make it better. I just saw Paige in the one area we were in. She didn’t look as nice as she did when we last saw her, but giving what we heard had happened to her, I’m not surprised.” He noticed the look of horror that crossed the others faces, and he had a feeling that the situation was about to get much worse than it already was.
Emma Frost became instantly alert when she realized what Angelo’s words meant, even if he didn’t. She stood up, even though her body ached from what she had done. Mojo had her and her sisters waging a battle with one another, in a fantasy setting. Luckily, their outfits managed to look modern enough to pass for normal. She started to pace, and in part hoped her sisters were out cold for the moment.
She spoke mainly to the students there at the moment. “That is definitely bad news. Something tells me that my sisters weren’t the only ones who found the school. I’m betting that the backlash that Richard and Yvette inadvertently caused boosted psychic powers. I gained the ability to send one of them a message, alerting them to the school. No doubt, Paige got a similar message, and I have a feeling it was from Jono.” She glanced over at the psychic mutant, and noticed that he put his hands up in a defensive gesture. She sighed and said before he could speak. “I’m not saying you did it willingly. It was a fluke of a thing to happen.”
She then heard Clarice speak up at that moment, and her words were laced with concern. “Didn’t Mojo say he didn’t want to deal with Emplate yet? If that was the case, then Paige managed to sneak in before he transported the school. Could she be dodging his ways of tracking us?”
Emma nodded, and continued to pace in the room. “Exactly why spotting her is bad news indeed. If she got here, then it could be that Emplate is working on getting here as well. We need to start plotting our escape.” She sighed, known how difficult that might be. She then looked up at the ceiling, “Which might be the reason why Mojo has been making sure we are resting here when the others aren’t here. Could be the schedules managed to line up to allow this.”
She watched as Jonothan was now shaking his head. It was obvious that this news troubled him as well, but he obviously didn’t need the rest. Given what had happened to him to cause his state, that was understandable. “We could be looking at Seattle all over again, and to make it worse, we aren’t in any shape to be fighting. I saw Richard and Yvette once when they arrived back here. They were exhausted, amongst other things.” She noticed a slight blush crossing what was left of Jonothan’s face. She had yet to see the two teachers return from whatever Mojo had them doing, but she had the feeling it wasn’t something that the two teachers wanted to talk about around their students.
Before she could even say something else, she heard Adrienne speaking from the other side of the force shield. “If you need help developing an escape plan, I’m sure we can come up with something.” She glanced at her sister, who had obviously started to rise from lying on the ground. No doubt, Emma figured the thought of plotting escape had given her evil older sister a bit of an energy boost. “Of course, we’d have to reach an agreement first.”
Emma had no doubt what that agreement would involve. Emma just shook her head at that point. “No, Adrienne. I’m not giving you the chance at taking control of either the school, the students, or the teachers.” She turned back to her students, and was glad to see that they were nodding in agreement. No doubt, whomever would agree to the idea of splitting up their group would find themselves considered a betrayer, and she could see none of the ones absent at the moment ever doing that.
Almost as if her thoughts conjured them up, she heard some of the others appear, but the words she heard were not uplifting ones. “I can't believe you'd do something like that. I don't care if it was what that fat blob wanted, you almost killed me." She wasn't sure if it was Abcissa, or Jubilation Lee, but the tone seemed to signify a serious betrayal had happened. Of course, if it was something Mojo wanted for the show they were doing, she hoped it could be forgiven.
She glanced over at the new arrivals, and saw that both versions of the same person were glaring at Monet St. Croix, and standing a few steps back was Everett Thomas, obviously trying to stay out of it. Monet St. Croix, however, looked almost furious as she responded to the accusation. "I did not intentionally try to kill you. Mojo did want the scene to look like I was trying to get you out of the way. Maybe he was using the anger I had for you to fuel that. You basically stole Everett from me, and it doesn't help that your so-called vampire slaying outfit is a bikini. I see Everett ogling you every time, and it's like a knife in my heart."
For a moment, Emma understood now why Monet seemed to be so hostile to Abcissa, and then Jubilation. Both were the same girl, in a sense, but the one had managed to form a relationship with the boy Monet had liked. The news of the bikini didn't set overly well with Emma, but the way Mojo had talked, the show they were doing was something he had done before. That, however, was inconsequential at the moment. She quickly put authority into her voice, and said, “While I’m sure this discussion might be important, there are more pressing issues at the moment. I’ve been informed that Paige has been sighted here.” Those words had the desired effect, as Emma noticed a shocked look on all of the latest arrivals.
Abcissa couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Someone had managed to not only sneak into Mojo’s dimension, but was avoiding detection. What was worse was the fact that it was the one person who had betrayed the group to the fiend she had only heard about, Emplate. It was enough to make her forget about the incident that happened in her show, as well as Monet’s whole issue about her winning Everett’s heart.
She looked at Emma in complete disbelief. “You can’t be serious about that. Mojo doesn’t usually let anyone, or anything go around unnoticed. I know I thought I had gotten away with escaping, but he proved me wrong.” It was a humbling thought, that the fat blob managed to make her think she had escaped, but for someone to travel in Mojo’s world unnoticed was unheard of.
She spun around in shock when she heard a female voice say with an American Southern drawl, “Oh, it can be done, if yuh have the right tools.” Abcissa was now facing the treacherous mutant, Paige Guthrie, and the fact that the girl’s face was now scarred was evident. The rough features of the scar was the only way she could tell where the girl was, as the rest of her body was covered in a surface that seemed to bend light around it.
At first, she wanted to attack the girl, knowing that the woman would turn them all into a meal in moments. She had even prepared a plasma burst for that, but held it in check as Emma held up a hand, and spoke. “Something tells me you are stuck here as well, Paige, or has your master arrived?” Deep down, Abi was hoping that the force known as Emplate wasn‘t there. She didn‘t think she could handle that threat as well.
She breathed a sigh of relief when Paige shook he head. “Not yet, Miss Frost, but it will be a matter of time. He wanted me to just observe, and Ah must say that what this Mojo thing is putting you through is very interesting.” She watched as the mutant girl walked around the room, keeping her distance from them, but all the time, had an obvious hungry look on her face.
When the girl was done pacing, she heard her boyfriend ask the key question that was on her mind. “So, you are hiding your presence by keeping that skin?” She heard Paige laugh at that, and admired her boyfriend when he said, “Or you have some way to locate things that are hidden now? Is that an ability of Emplate‘s?”
She heard a harsh laugh come from Paige at that point, and knew she wouldn‘t like the answer. “No. Ah got that ability from a mutant I fed off of. It had been a nice long meal, and he had the ability to find anything hidden or lost. It allows me to be able to know where every camera is, as well as locate you. Ah‘ve been watching everything you‘ve gone through, and I must admit, it has been entertaining.” She saw a slight smirk cross the face, and figured Paige was thinking about the things the two teachers had been stuck doing. “However, Ah‘m not here to fight you. I have an offer for you.”
Already, Abi didn‘t like what this could mean, and from the looks on the other‘s faces, they didn’t either. No doubt, it would be an offer of freedom, and it would cost them the two teachers. It was Clarice, who asked the question that she was certain they all knew the answer too. “I‘m guessing Emplate would offer us a chance to escape if we give you Richard and Yvette, right?”
She was not surprised when Paige just laughed again. “Got it in one, Clarice. Emplate will take us all home, if Frost hands over Richard and Yvette. If Emplate understands them right, they‘d be willing to accept, but the agreement must be made by Frost.” She watched as Paige locked eyes with Emma, and Abi could swear that Emma‘s eyes got wider, as if she realized something. Then Paige nodded, and left the room.
After a few moments of tense silence, Abi heard Emma gasp, before saying, “We need to work on an escape plan. Our time here may be numbered.” She then watched as Emma motioned everyone towards her, obviously wanting to keep her voice low. Abi nodded, and noticed the others were moving close, into a huddle.
Once that was done, she heard Monet ask, in a most serious tone, “What‘s wrong, Miss Frost? Don‘t tell us you are actually considering the idea.” She was relieved when Emma shook her head. She was actually enjoying the two teachers at the school. They were different from the other versions of the two she had seen.
When Emma spoke, she realized the true nature of the problem. “No. I would not do that. However, Paige made sure to only say the last name. That means if Adrienne or Cordelia agree to it, we‘ve lost them. I‘m thinking our best bet is to get a message to the X-Men.” She watched as Emma looked at her. “Abi, do you remember the channel number you typed in to the television.” She quickly nodded, and Emma smiled. “Good. That will be our message to the X-Men. Now we need to be able to boost our psychic abilities to get the message to them. Mojo has been keeping our psychic abilities at bay.”
Abi knew why that was. Too many times, Mojo had been out foxed by someone with psychic powers. He had been unaware of the ability the first pair of Richard and Yvette had. He often tried to crack it, whenever he spotted the pair in an alternate timeline. It was why, she was certain, Mojo worked them the hardest. To be too tired to use their psychic abilities, which would be secondary power to them.
She realized that everyone else had the same thought, especially when Jonothan said in his psychic voice, “So we need Richard and Yvette to give one of us a boost. Think it will work?” Abi watched as two things happened at that moment. First, Emma nodded in response to Jonothan‘s question. That made everyone feel better. Then, she noticed two figures appear inside the doorway Paige had left through. Both were laying on the floor, and both were in what appeared to be a heavy robe. She didn‘t need to see the mane of red hair on the obviously female figure to know who they were. Now, she just hoped the two were not too exhausted.
Yvette slowly lifted her head. Considering all the 'shows', as the fat, sick-minded, Mojo called them, she and Richard had filmed, she was lucky she had the energy to do that. What she saw, however, worried her. All their friends and students were there, which was a first in however many days had passed since they arrived in the Mojoverse, but they were all worried. Hoping to ease the tension, she weakly smiled, and said, "We're fine. We aren't hurt, just exhausted." To her dismay, no one seemed less worried.
She watched as the vampire, Jubilation Lee, walked over, and kneeled down to look her in the eye. That close, she noticed a slight grimace on the girl's face as she said, "Definitely exhausted, but I can pick up faint trace of something on you two. That doesn't matter now. What matters is that we need to put some sort of plan to contact the X-Men, and soon. Paige appears to have gotten here with us."
Those last few words chased all exhaustion from her. She could even sense alertness from Richard as he started to stir. She knew he wasn‘t about to get up off the floor yet, since they were only wearing the robes that were around them. “Don‘t tell me Emplate got here. I don‘t think I‘m in any condition to fight. I know I‘m not really dressed for fighting.” That statement she had to agree with, but she was doing what she could to control her fear. She doubted the robe would survive a sudden use of her primary power.
It was Emma Frost who delivered the news, and Yvette noticed the grim look on her face. “Thankfully, Emplate is not here. Paige had somehow followed us, and has been watching all of us. Today, she approached us, offering us the chance to escape, at the cost of your freedom.” The horror of that scenario sent a chill through her. Of course, she knew Emma would not do that, but then Emma made the most chilling statement. “Unfortunately, the way she phrased it means that either of my sisters can accept.”
That last statement made Yvette sit up, while holding the robe closed around her. She had been surprised at first when she found the robes had nothing to hold them closed, but after all they had done, it made sense. She kept her eyes locked on Emma, and she knew Emma had a plan. “What‘s the plan, Emma, and who are we contacting?”
When Emma answered the question, she didn‘t feel surprised at all. “The X-Men. I‘m hoping that the message will get through if it has a boost from you and Richard, like what happened…” Emma trailed off, not wanting to say aloud what had happened before. Yvette was thankful for that, since the incident was a bit embarrassing now. She actually hoped that the incident was only just speculation in the students‘ minds, instead of known fact.
Yvette noticed that Richard had now raised himself up onto his arms, while still laying on the floor. She knew why he had not yet gotten into a sitting position. The robes they had been given were just fine for someone Yvette‘s size, but Richard stood just a bit taller than her, and due to their time running from Emplate, he had put on some muscle weight. This meant that in any position other than standing, or laying down, he could not close the robe. “Emma, how do you intend for us to give this psychic boost to you, or whomever is to send the message? We don‘t want to repeat the events that caused that to happen in the first place, for obvious reasons.”
Yvette realized before Emma could say anything what the plan was. “You want us to focus on you, instead of holding our psychic abilities in check.” When the headmistress nodded, Yvette smiled and looked at Richard. “It would be like when we talk privately, except we are just sending the power to her.” She saw Richard nod in understanding. She then remember how they usually did that; sitting in a meditative pose.
She looked around, and then said, “We‘ll do it. I definitely don‘t want anyone here anywhere near Emplate. I just hope the X-Men understand when they get the message. I would just ask that someone gets us something to wear.” She watched as some of the students nodded, and rushed off to fetch them some clothing. She them took some deep calming breaths. It would be best to be calm right now. She also hoped it would help get out of her system what ever Mojo was putting into the areas he filmed their ‘shows‘ in out of her, since after she last glanced at her lover, she felt her excitement building. It was not time for that now. It was time now to work on escaping.
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Mojo turned on the hidden cameras he had in the school. He had made sure they were still functional just for this rare occasion. He had made sure that every one of his ‘stars‘ were never allowed to be in the place at the same time for too long. This would be the first time he had done so, and it would be interesting to see how things played out. He figured there might be some general concern. This was hard to tell, however, since the audio feed wasn‘t back up yet. Without turning, Mojo spoke to his multi-talented, multi-armed, subordinate. “What‘s going on in there? I was expecting some attempts at plotting, as well as the others flocking to their near naked teachers.”
He watched the screen as he heard Spiral manipulate the controls, and start to explain. “It appears, sir, that they are entering a meditative stance. Most likely, it is something they are doing to calm themselves down after all they have been through.” Mojo watched carefully, noticing that only certain members of the group were doing so.
A grim realization hit him as he realized a common trait of those mediating. “This can‘t be happening. I‘ve been making sure the two lovebirds have been run ragged.” It was true. This last time he had them in their studio, he had gotten about twenty two hour movies out of them. He had also made sure that they were constantly using their main powers. The combination should have been enough to exhaust the duo completely.
While he wasn‘t expecting an answer, he heard Spiral respond to his statement. “Not sure what is happening, sir. But I‘m still trying to determine what they were talking to before the two teachers appeared. The only thing I can figure was a possible camera glitch, since I can‘t find the weird blur again.”
He shook his head, and turned to face Spiral, the look in his eyes telling volumes. He then pointed at the screen. “I don‘t care about some damn camera glitch at the moment. Get to checking the psychic levels. I‘m betting they are trying to call for help right this moment. We can‘t let that happen.” He was glad when she went quiet, and then worked to manipulate things.
Mojo quickly returned his gaze to the screen, and watched. He couldn‘t see any glowing eyes, a sure fire sign that they were using psychic powers. What he did see, however, were eyes kept closed. As he watched, he was pleased to see Emma Frost grab her head, and then collapse. It was followed by a few of the other psychic mutants, and after a minute, the two teachers collapsed as well. All looked unconscious, and that made Mojo happy.
He turned to face Spiral then as she spoke. “Nothing had appeared to be happening, but then a sudden spike happened, and it appears Emma Frost got a short message out. I could not tell who might have received it, nor the contents. What I can guess is that the teachers must have boosted Emma‘s power, using their unique abilities.”
Mojo sighed, and then looked at the screen again. “Those sneaky mutants. I was running them ragged to prevent them from using those powers. I still can‘t figure out how to block their abilities.” He then motioned to Spiral. “Give them an hour, then pull them back. Obviously, I didn‘t work them hard enough. They weren’t supposed to have the energy to do that. Once that is done, try to check for that glitch again. It could be something about it prompted this action.”
He didn‘t wait for a response, but left the control center. He had other things to think about. He had another project going on using the DNA he had collected from them, a project he had done before using DNA from the X-Men from another timeline. He also had the plot points for future shows to figure out. Some of the shows weren‘t doing as well as he had hoped, so he might have to do a series finale, or at least promote some impending deaths. He would, however, implement more security around the ‘studios‘. He just had the vaguest feeling he would be needing it in the near future.
Next issue: Technical Difficulties.
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