The Cale Storyline Story 14 Chapter 4

Attention: Generation X and their villains, as well as any other mutant mentioned in this story, is property of Marvel Comics. The character Richard Cale is named after family relations. Any other reference to anything copyrighted is a chance happening.

====================================================

Iron X

Chapter 4: Unnerving Meetings (updated)

Canon stepped into the elevator surrounded by four of his bodyguards. He'd just spent the last two hours in a gym facility set up on his arrival. He'd been practicing his unique style of swordplay, as he did from time to time. Now after his work out his mind felt sharper than ever. He felt entirely ready to handle the business that lay before him in the land of the rising sun.

The door opened and Canon's entourage stepped out followed by Canon himself as they walked down the hallway they were joined by a much larger individual. "How was the rendezvous?" Canon asked without turning to face Equilibrium.

"There were negotiations, but nothing major." Equilibrium reported, "They agreed to your terms and are awaiting your instructions."

"Good, good." Canon smiled. The cards were finally falling into play. Finally Canon felt he had some control in this Cale situation which had plagued him so recently. If all went well now Canon's attack on Cale would be over before Cale knew it had begun.

Canon stepped into his office, still smiling with self-reassurance. As he entered the door one of his aides approached, "Sir you requested to be notified if anyone from Paladin tech tried to contact you while you were out." Canon nodded, "We received a phone call from the head of the company himself, a Mr. Richard Cale."

"What?" Canon raged. So much for his flawless plan. He reached out and grabbed the aide by the lapel, his eyes gleaming, lips drawn back in a sneer. The aide flinched and Canon caught himself. He let go of the man and caught his composure, "leave us." He said to the other aides in the room. The men filed to leave, the last one closing the door behind him. Canon walked around

to his desk and sat down, "I apologize for that display," he said in calm voice, "but you must understand that something of that magnitude should require my immediate attention." Canon sat forward and placed his palms together crossing his fingers in front of his face, "What did Mr.Cale say in his message?"

The aide looked back nervously for a moment before he continued, "He simply asked to speak to you personally... and sir... he mentioned seven." Canon's left eyebrow raised, but he made no other acknowledgments.

The man stood nervously for a few seconds before Canon finally spoke, "My dear friend, what is your name?"

"Jacque... Jacque Depluir."

"Jacque," Canon said as he stood, "I'll do no more than reprimand you this time, but working for me requires obedience... we cannot allow ourselves to become ill-informed." Canon motioned towards the door.

Equilibrium shook his head mockingly "Most unprofessional of you sir, mistreating the help like that, be he a Neanderthal or not, not good morale." He said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up." Canon said as he walked over to his desk again, "This Cale situation has got me on the edge. He seems to know enough about me to connect me to Asylum 7, and yet I have no information upon anything of his past." Canon turned on his computer; "It's very aggravating to attack an enemy you know nothing about."

"You have spies don't you?" Equilibrium said as he sauntered up, "Operatives who specialize in acquiring information? Then use them."

"Idiot." Canon replied, typing at his keyboard, "Don't you think that I have? Nothing but his cover story has come back to me. Whoever he is, he's good at hiding secrets. More so even than myself." Canon's eyebrows lifted as a screen came up on his computer, "Until now."

"Hmm?"

"It appears that Mr. Bonega, at least, is doing his job. He's sent me some extensive information including video feed."

Equilibrium walked around the desk to view the monitor. In the E-mail he saw text clippings from a court case involving Cale and a Mutant calling himself Soundwave. Asylum 7 marked files about an anti-mutant terrorist named Bastion Cale, with sub-notes on Bastion's family and files on terrorist's effects on the family. A page was highlighted; discussing how family members of known terrorists can grow to have violent tendencies of their own. Then there was the video footage. Richard Cale on the show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." Accompanying the file was a personal note from Bonega, 'Mr. Cale seems to have been on more than one game show.' It read, 'it may suggest he is using them as a kind of publicity stunt to attract others to his following'.

"Intriguing," Canon remarked.

"I suppose," Equilibrium remarked, "in my personal opinion he still appears to be no more than a somewhat gifted individual with delusions of grandeur. Still hardly worth our attention."

Canon looked at Equilibrium sternly and the giant stepped back, a look of fear coming over his face, "Are you blind, or merely stupid?" Canon stood and approached his towering lackey, "If this is the information to have surfaced, you can obviously piece together what is still hidden; Richard Cale is a genocidal madman, brought on by internal family conflict. He is well

experienced with dealing with opposition, and... most importantly... he has a gift for recruiting followers, believers in his cause, enough so to make him a television celebrity." Canon looked Equilibrium strait in the eyes, "He is a uniquely dangerous individual, and he must not be underestimated!"

************************************

Clairice awoke early. It wasn’t because she was nervous. She wanted to spend a little private time with Darrett, especially after the dream she had. She had dreamt that she and Darrett were together, with a child, living in a huge place. It was such a beautiful dream. She smiled when she thought of it. She looked over at Jubilee. Did Jubilee have dreams like that about Everett? Then she wondered if Jubilee was awake. If Jubilee was awake, she couldn’t sneak off. She went over to Jubilee and said, very softly, “Are you awake?” She watched for any sign of movement before she decided she would visit Darrett. She smiled when she noticed Jubilee did not wake up. She smiled and then teleported out of the room. She knew where she was teleporting to as well. She arrived right by Darrett’s bed. She leaned down and kissed Darrett and softly said, “Wake up, handsome.”

She watched as Darrett openned his eyes and smiled at her. He also had a slight worried look on his face as he said, “Clairice, you shouldn’t be here. Everett could wake up and find us here.”

She laid down next to him and said, “Well, maybe we should so someplace we can be alone.” She passionately kissed him so he’d get the meaning. She made it a long deep kiss, and hoped Everett wouldn’t wake up.

When she finally stopped the kiss, she looked him in the eyes as he said, “Ok, where do you have in mind?’

She smiled and got off the bed. She then said, “There was a small room that we passed on the way up here. It looked quiet in there. Hopefully, no one will wake up for a while yet.”

She watched as he got out of bed and said, “Alright, but we better not be gone for too long. If Everett or Jubilee wakes up and finds us missing, we will be in deep trouble.” She knew what he meant. The minute one of the two wake up, they will inform Rich and Yvette.

She smiled and said, “Ok, but let’s leave by teleport. It shouldn’t wake anyone up.” She took Darrett’s hand and smiled. “To our little hideaway.” She then teleported them to the spot she saw on the way in.

Everett wasn’t sure if he heard noise in the room, but when he openned his eyes, he knew he had. He had awoken to the sight of Darrett and Clairice leaving through one of her portals. He sat up just as it disappeared, and he said, “Oh man. Rich and Yvette are going to flip.” He quickly got up and got dressed. He didn’t take long, since he didn’t know what the two were up to. Only one thought went through his mind. He had to get the others. Then he wondered if it was really Clairice. When he was finally dressed, he ran for the door and headed out of the room, running straight for the room that the girls had. He hoped that Jubilee was awake, but he had a feeling she wasn’t. He first knocked on the door, and said, “Jubilee, wake up.”

When there was no sound, he openned the door and ran in. She was still asleep in bed. He ran over to her and gently nudged her. At that, she openned her eyes and said, “Hey there. Won’t you get in trouble for being in here?”

Everett just shook his head and said, “Not as much trouble as Clairice and Darrett are going to get into. Look.” He pointed over to where Clairice had been sleeping. He watched as she followed where he was pointing to.

He watched as she sat straight up and said, “Oh man. It’s gonna hit the fan. They can’t keep running risks like this.” He knew what she meant like that. There had been a few times the two had been caught in some kind of situation. Each time, someone dismissed it and didn’t tell Sean and Emma. He had even heard that Yvette had caught them once. His thought was interrupted when Jubilee said, “Ev, why don’t you try synching up with one of them?”

Everett knew what Jubilee was getting at, and sighed. “I tried it once with Darrett, but I couldn’t synch with him. I never tried it with Clairice because I thought it was because of alternate time-lines and such.” At least, that was his thought on the matter. He never really tried much, because Darrett’s power seemed very unsettling.

Jubilee started to get up and said, “Well, let me get dressed, and then we will tell Rich and Yvette. Hopefully one of them will have an idea. Besides, the sooner we find them, the better things will be.”

Everett had to agree with that. “Yea, we have to leave for the show in a bit. We can’t have them far away for long.” As he left the room, he hoped Jubilee wouldn’t take long. He also hoped that the search for the others wouldn’t take long, and maybe there would be an answer for why he couldn’t synch with Darrett.

Rich looked on at the scene is disbelief. He knew it was a dream, but it had a bad vibe about it. Rich was standing in front of a giant hand, and it appeared that Jubilee was struggling to get free of the hand. He looked up to see a giant form of Adrienne Frost, acting like a puppeteer. He knew her face, but her eyes glowed red, and on her blouse was a number seven. What did that mean? Rich then looked back at the hand, but it was gone. He almost feel backward when he saw it was now a sentinal, but what was worse was, he could see Jubilee in it. He was in fright when he shout, “NOOOO!”

Rich felt two hands on his shoulders, and opened his eyes. He saw Yvette looking at him and said, “Hun, you need to wake up. I think we might have a problem.” He then heard the knocking at the door. She then said, “They’ve been knocking for a few minutes. We better get dressed, fast.”

Rich got out of bed, and quickly put on some clothing. “I hope it isn’t my nightmare coming true. That’s the last thing we need now.” He saw the way Yvette looked at him. This worried her. She knew his nightmares usually came true, and they were rarely wrong. He just said in their mind link, "If it isn’t what I think it is, we are alright."

He saw that she calmed down a bit and they went to the door. When they got to the door, Rich opened it to see Jubilee and Everett there. He was both relieved and yet concerned. Why were they upset. It wasn’t until Everett spoke that he knew the problem. “Darrett and Clairice just left, together.” That was not good news.

He stepped out of the room and said, “How did that happen? I had the boy and girls separated to prevent that.” Indeed, he originally planned for everyone to stay in their rooms, but he forgot one thing. You can’t totally control teenagers.

He then heard Jubilee say, “I guess Clairice woke up and got Darrett. I don’t know what made her decide to do it. All I know is I had some nice dreams last night.” That had him worried.

Rich gave a quick glance to Yvette and she said, "I think I didn’t have the empathic link set for one way." He almost rolled his eyes, but decided not to. He then heard Yvette say, “Maybe you and Everett should look for them, hun. You can synch up with Darrett and find him.”

He was about to comment on it when Everett said, “I can’t synch up with Darrett. I’ve tried, but nothing happens.”

Rich could not believe how difficult this was getting. Why didn’t Everett try to synch up with Clairice. He moved toward Everett to gain his powers and said, “Then try to synch up with Clairice. That may be the only way to find them.” He watched as Everett started to focus on the idea. Apparently, Everett never tried it before. Rich started to focus on it as well. Soon, their aura’s flew off and out of the room. The hunt was on. Rich looked at the other and said, “When I give the word, open the bed room doors again. They will be back by then.” Soon the two left the apartment.

As then headed through the halls, Everett said to him. “Rich, how did you know this would work. I thought it wouldn’t since they are both from different timelines.” He had to admit to some of the logic, but he wondered how faulty it had been.

Rich looked at Everett and said, “You never know unless you try. Beside, that can’t be the reason, but there must be an explanation.”

He watched as Everett stopped and said, “Look. The aura’s are in front of that door. I bet they are in there. Now how do we catch them in the act.”

Rich smiled and said, “Everett, why do you think I told Yvette to open the doors when I give the word. We’ll chase them back. When I tell you to, head back. It will send the two back to the room quick. By the time you are up there, they will be.”

He watched as Everett nodded and said, “Very sneaky. I should go when you say so, and the ruckus you cause send the two back to the room. I’ll be ready to run.”

Rich called back his aura, and started walking to the door, very slowly. He wanted Ev’s power to leave him before he did anything. He felt it fade away as he neared the door. This would be it. That’s when he felt something for the first time. For the first time, he was getting Darrett’s power, and it shocked him. He saw who the boy’s parents were. That answered some questions, but he couldn’t tell the answers, not yet. He looked back at the door and shouted, “Ok Everett. I’ll check here, you check down at the other door.” He quickly opened the door, only to see the portal disappear. The room was now empty, but he knew a lot about Darrett now. Now, all that had to be done was tell the others.

Yvette waited in the apartment. She was waiting for the right moment to open the door to the girls room. She knew it wouldn’t take long for Everett and Rich to find the two stragglers. She had a few choice words ready. She figured Rich had a few words ready too. Soon, she heard Rich say, "They should be there by now."

She quickly turned to Jubilee and said, “Anything?” Jubilee was listening at the guys door for any sounds of activity. She knew Jubilee wouldn’t open the door until she said to.

She watch as Jubilee nodded and said, “Sounds like someone just arrived. I think Clarice will be in her room in a few seconds.”

This was it, the moment of truth. Yvette looked at Jubilee and said, “On three. One. Two. Three.” Yvette then opened the door to the girl’s room as Jubilee opened the door to the boy’s room. She saw Clarice, who appeared a bit shocked, and said, “Both of you out here, and into the next room. We need to talk.”

She saw the look Clarice gave her as she said, “How much trouble are we in?” At least she was concerned about what would happen.

Yvette wasn’t sure how to answer that one, but she said, “It will be up to Richard. Now march.” She watched as Clarice left the room and headed into their room. She then looked over at Darrett and said, “You too. You have been at the school longer than Clarice has. You should know the rules better.”

Darrett just hung his head in shame. She didn’t want to go hard on them, but they left her no choice. As Darrett entered the room, he looked at her and said, “I hope you aren’t too rough on us.” She could tell in his voice, that he was thinking about his time. It sent a chill through her.

She turned and said to Jubilee. “I’m going to keep an eye on them. You get ready for the show, and tell Everett to do the same.” She then entered the room and closed the door. She then said, “What were you two thinking?” She watched as both had their heads down. She then said, “Listen, I’m not going to pass judgement. I looked the other way back when those girls were at the school. I can’t do that now. It wasn’t me who discovered you missing.”

She was almost startled when she heard Rich say, “What was this about back at the school?” She turned to see he had walked in the door and closed it. She thought that Rich had found out before then. He then said, “Does anyone care to tell me?”

She was almost startled when Darrett said, “Well, something happened that Clarice was losing her outfit, and I was holding it up. While I was doing that, we ended up kissing.” Yvette was almost shocked when he fessed up to that.

She watched as Rich thought about it for a second and said, “Well, that was innocent, but this wasn’t. What exactly were you two up to?”

Yvette felt a wave of guilt pass through her when Clarice said, “Well, I had a dream about Darrett last night. We were alone, together, and, well...” Yvette had a bad feeling where that dream had manifested.

She quickly said in the mind link, "Hun, I think I’m partially to blame for this." It was her feelings last night, before they fell asleep, that was being reflected in Clarice.

Rich just said to her, "We should have been more careful. But they acted on it." She knew he was right about both things. He then said, “I wish I could go easy on this. The only reason Yvette and I aren’t affected by this rule is that we are married. You two aren’t. You would be risking a lot by doing that. You may be suspended for this, but I’ll hold judgement until we get back.”

She then looked at the two and said, “You should both get ready for the show. We have to leave soon.” It was true. They were due to be at the studio in a short time, and she had to get into dress attire.

She watched as both started to leave the room. Before they could both get out the door, Rich said, “Darrett, can you stay for a moment?” She saw fear cross the boy’s eyes. She wondered what Rich wanted with Darrett. It startled all in the room, and this worried her for some reason. What did Rich want with Darrett?

Darrett was stunned when he heard Rich tell him to stay. Why did Rich want him to stay? Was he going to be expelled right then and there. He knew he shouldn’t have gone with Clarice. He watched as Clarice left and closed the door. He then said, “What’s wrong, sir?”

He watch as Rich motioned to a chair and said, “Sit down. We need to address an issue that just arose.” Darrett was nervous now. It wasn’t about Clarice, but something else. What could it be. Rich then said, “You never wanted anyone of Generation X to know who your parents were, did you?”

Darrett was stunned. Rich had somehow latched on that deepest secret. Darrett felt as if he was going to faint. He then said, “How did you find out?” It was hard for him to believe that Rich had found out, but he had.

Rich just looked at him and said, “Is it that important? The fact is I know that Everett is your father, and Daria is your mother. You never let me get your abilities because of that fact.”

Darrett knew Rich was right on that part. Darrett didn’t want Rich to get his abilities. It was the main reason he never got close to Rich. He then said, “I never wanted to tell them, but I always thought I should. What do you think I should do?” He was never sure what to do, and now he was confronted by it.

He saw Yvette was thinking about it as well, and she finally said, “Don’t tell them. It would be more harmful than good.”

He realized what she meant. For the good of the team, his secret needed to never be revealed. Darrett then said, “Do you think I should ever tell them?” It was a thought that always ran through his head, and since his secret had been discovered, it needed to be asked.

Darrett watched as Rich looked at him and said, “I can’t answer that right now, Darrett. What I can tell you is to that we have to soon head to the studio. Hurry and get ready. Remember, dress up. We have to look our very best.” Darrett nodded and headed off the boy’s room. On his way, he saw that everyone else was dressed and ready. As he looked everyone over, he wondered if fate would allow them to look normal for the whole show.

************************************