[McDragon's Memo: Aaron "Tornado" Thall controls, well, tornadoes. He's Jubilee's best friend/sort of unstated boyfriend. They were at the same orphanage together way back when, and now are both at Generation X. Tornado was created by Aaron Thall, and if you want to read the Teen Two stories, write to me. Shakti belongs to me. Steal her and I will hurt you. She's in my vampyr novel.]

CHAPTER ONE, SCENE ONE

She ran through the woods at breakneck speed, knowing that if she could just reach the orphanage she would be all right.

She tripped, fell and rose with a fluid grace that had her running at top speed before the scattered dirt had a chance to settle.

It wasn’t enough.

She heard a twig snap to her left as she jumped instinctively to her right. Lightning struck out of nowhere, burning the dirt black where she'd been standing a split second before.

Her heart pounded faster, and she scrambled for a low branch. Adrenaline surged through her morphing body as she pulled herself up, a demon's black claws just missing her ankles.

The fence surrounding the orphanage was visible through the trees, and she leaped for the next limb as renewed hope raced through her body.

Panic hit as she saw another drooling beast ahead of her. She closed her eyes, bracing for the impact even as she lunged for the ground in a last ditch effort to escape. The earth rushed up at her, and she rolled with the impact, bruising her shoulder.

She felt the demon land beside her, ripping into her calf with its talons.

Ignoring the pain and the blood pulsing down her leg, she jumped up and ran again, praying she would make it to the orphanage gates before the monster's poison took effect.

As black started to cloud her vision and slow her steps, she wondered what dying would be like or if she would. Her movements faltering until she could no longer stand, she fell to the earth with a sigh.

SCENE TWO

The computer screen blinked, signaling that the girl was awake in her cell.

“We have a metamorph; now we need an energy discharger and some form of controller.” He swept his straight black hair away from his eyes, punching up choices around New York for the meta-humans and mutants he needed.

“Here’s one, near where we picked this morph up,” the tall, dark-haired female next to him said.

“Orphaned?” he asked, without turning around.

She nodded. “According to the files it’s a girl named Chiya, between the ages of six and eight, blond, blue-eyed, controls animals. Oh, and she has a lion. She might come in handy trying to control that girl.”

He grinned, saying, “You’re just sore because she killed three of your precious demons.”

“And gutted one of the guards, and maimed another one before the idiots retreated, leaving her for us!”

The tall, lean man turned and looked over his sister's shoulder at her machine.

“But this “Chiya” is pitifully powerless,” he commented, scanning down the list.

She nodded in agreement as she located another child on her computer screen.

“Here’s a possibility," she said. "Female, powerful, red hair, green eyes, orphaned.”

“Name?”

“Dorilys Fire. Oh, wait. Says here her aunts have custody.”

“Hmmm. Any record of gang activities? She ever run away?” he asked.

Nightshade shook her head dejectedly. “No. Looks like she’s a good kid.”

“Keep scanning,” he told her, activating his own console. “Hey,” he said after a bit, “take a look at this.”

“It’s from two years ago!” she exclaimed. “No doubt they’ve already been adopted.”

“No, look,” he said, pulling her back before she could leave. “The girl ran away, and the boy is now considered missing.”

“Oh, goody, we get to track down a couple of kids who may or may not even be alive.” She turned back to her console, dismissing the whole thing.

“But it’s worth it," he insisted. "Look how powerful they are!”

Nightshade turned back reluctantly and whistled as she scanned the power readouts.

“And they’d be even more powerful now!” Knave speculated.

Nightshade looked into her brother’s handsome face and smiled. “I’ll get right on finding them,” she said and went back to her own computer.

CHAPTER TWO, SCENE ONE

Jubilee went flying down the main street of Salem Center, New York. Her rollerblades were almost sparking as she turned suddenly down an alley, shouting at people to get out of the way or get run over.

She stopped abruptly and turned around, belting “Aaaaaaronnnn!!!!! Come on!”

Aaron turned the corner, almost colliding with the stationary Jubilee.

“What took ya so long?”

“I stopped to pick up that kid you knocked over,” he said dryly, watching her from under his eyebrows.

“I gave fair warning,” she shrugged.

“Jube, ‘move or die’ isn’t exactly what I’d call fair warning.”

She looked at him for a minute, then grinned and said, “Come on, I know this great place to get ice cream,” and with that she sped off again. Aaron laughed and followed quickly.

“Hey, Jube, cool it you’re sparking!” he shouted suddenly, watching as golden spheres of light started to glow and shoot around her body.

She skidded to a halt and looked back at him, surprise on her face. “It’s not me, I swear!” The spheres multiplied, blinding and buffeting Jubilee as if a million soccer balls had turned to solid light around her.

“Aaron! Help!” she cried. Fireworks shot from her hands, passing harmlessly through the spheres and blasting concrete chunks off buildings as people screamed and scattered haphazardly.

“Hold on Jubilee!

"IT’S SPIN DRIVE TIME!!”

Aaron’s costume appeared out of nowhere, quickly followed by his belt, laser gun, mask, and last, his board. Creating a small whirlwind with nothing but the power of his mind, he sent it out to Jubilee, trying to pluck her out of the light cage. As she went up, so did the lights, and Tornado succeeded only in taking her feet from the ground.

He looked around frantically for an adversary but saw only the crowd beginning to gather.

How do you beat lights that can touch you, but can’t be touched? You don’t, came the answer into his mind. He looked around frantically for the man responsible.

Jubilee's terrified scream was cut off abruptly as Tornado whipped around to see her body fall limp amid the ring of spheres, fear and dispair growing as he helplessly watched her disappear.

WHERE IS SHE? Aaron silently shouted the question, hoping against hope for an answer, horror turning to anger toward the man who had taken her.

You’ll be joining her soon, the voice returned softly as Tornado looked down at the spheres beginning to multiply at his feet.

“I don’t think so. After all, if I’m caught how’m I gonna play hero?” he said, pushing away his fear for Jubilee to deal with the situation.

Leaping up and away from the light, he jumped on his board and shoved off, starting to scan the crowd for anything unusual. That man wasn't going to get away with 'Lee, he was determined.

This is silly. Why don’t we just reach an agreement? The voice said in his head. It unnerved him how soft and calm it was, as if it were discussing lawn fertilizer instead of the best friend he'd ever had. He clenched his teeth and tried to calm down to keep a clear head.

O.K. You return J, and I’ll agree not to kick your sorry butt, he thought. Laughter echoed in his mind, sending chills through his spine like fingernails on a chalkboard.

No, I was thinking something more like this. His board stopped dead, throwing him off and onto the street. He stood up quickly and backed into the sun as squat, monster-like things appeared in the shadows, smiling and showing off their sharp yellow teeth and sharper black claws.

Tornado looked up, heart racing, checking rooftops to see if he could find his hidden opponent.

Nothing.

If he would just come out I could get him! he thought, panic starting to control his actions.

Too true, too true. So I won't show myself.

Tornado shuddered with repressed anger, grateful when a demon raced out of the shadows to kill him, and he could hit something.

Going down on one knee, he easily blocked the strike from the small thing. He flipped the demon into the street over his shoulder with far more force than was necessary, scattering the growing crowd. More demons jumped him, and he swept them back with a fastball tornado, the crowd egging him on as he turned his attention to the horde of them swarming out of the shadows.

“Oxygen drain!” he shouted, pulling the oxygen from the air around the monsters until they suffocated.

Replacements flooded forward.

As he fought, storm clouds gathered over the once-clear sky, and bright blue lighting flashed overhead.

He stood quickly from his kneeling position, the last of the demons dispatched. He studied the crowd that had gathered, worry creasing his brow as he searched vainly for a likely suspect.

“Ask him now, Jess,” a voice whispered to a small girl. She stepped forward and smiled hesitantly. In her hands was a TEEN TWO magazine and pen. She looked up at him with adoration as she whispered, "Can I have your autograph?"

Tornado continued to concentrate on the gray sky, watching as blue lightning flashed, coming closer and closer to the ground.

He didn’t hear the small girl asking for his autograph. Thunder shook the earth as lightning shot toward her head. He jumped for her, pushing her out of the way as he absorbed the lightning strike.

Everything went black.

CHAPTER THREE, SCENE ONE

Shakti sniffed his brown hair carefully, trying not to wake him up. He smelled vaguely of the girl who had been brought in earlier, and she wondered if they were siblings. She sat back on her haunches and studied his face.

No, she decided, not siblings. The other girl had an Asian look to her and he didn’t. But they lived together. Too young to be living alone, and they didn’t stink of the streets. Adopted?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a groan from the man and she sprang back into the darkness, the only sound that of the chain rattling heavily across the stone floor.

Aaron’s eyes opened slowly, though he could’ve kept them shut for all the good it did him.

He sat up slowly, and immediately wished he hadn’t. His head throbbed and his muscles shook with the effort. Blackness threatened to swarm over him, and he fought for consciousness.

It was ten minutes before the room stopped spinning and his stomach stopped trying to rebel against his body. It was another ten minutes before he had enough control over his senses to know that something was wrong. It was quiet. Like a graveyard.

He tried to peer into the darkness and found that he couldn’t, his eyes still hadn’t properly adjusted. As they did he started to look around. His belt was gone. As was his gun, board and mask. He realized disgustedly that he was laying in a puddle of water and when he tried to move out of it found that there wasn't a place that was dry. He was in a tiny stone cell, with one door by his feet, and a window high up on the nearest wall. He frowned. No way out there, it was only about two by three inches.

A chain hung from a hook on the wall by his head, disappearing into the darkness within a few feet. Instincts told him there was a something back there, very alive and very wary.

“Jube?” There was no answer and he inched closer to the darkness, kicking water off his feet with every step. “Jubilee? Is that you?”

He strained his eyes, looking as hard as he could, and found that he could almost make out a form in the shadows.

Then he saw the eyes. He pulled back slightly in shock, then looked again. They were cat’s eyes all right, like Tiger’s in the dark, only bigger.

“Nice kitty. Cute kitty. Gentle (pleasepleaseplease) kitty.” He backed up, trying to keep it calm, and sat on the wettest side of the cell, away from the cat who was smart enough to go somewhere almost dry.

In the shadows Shakti smiled evilly. He thought she was some sort of large cat! The thought was almost obscene. If she were a wild animal she’d have eaten him by now.

Knowing she was safe for the time being (he seemed too afraid of her to try anything stupid) she leaned back against the wall, settling herself in for a cat nap as Tornado leaned back and prepared to spent the next few days and nights watching the animal.

SCENE TWO

“You can’t do this, you bungle brained chimpanzee!” Jubilee shouted. “My friends’ll find me! And then they’ll kick your butts from here to kingdom come, and they won’t show ya the way back!!!”

Knave looked back at Nightshade who stood by Jubilee, programming the computer for her specific DNA patterns. “Can’t you shut her up?” he asked; his patience was wearing thin.

Nightshade shook her head, holding back her smile at her brother's irritation. “You said you wanted her conscious, remember?”

Knave grunted and looked at his computer.

“Ha! You think you can break me by doing all sorts of mean torture things and stuff to me, but you can’t! I’ll never be quiet!” Jubilee continued her tirade.

Nightshade bent over the girl, her straight black hair falling over her shoulder and landing on Jubilee’s chest. “You’d better be quiet. Knave gets mean when someone pisses him off. And I think you’re almost there.” She stood up and went back to tightening clamps, her lips quirking smugly.

Jubilee was silent for a minute, as if thinking about it, then, “You can’t make me be quiet! You can’t do anything to me! You want me conscious, remember? So ha! To you! And you too!” she added, looking at Nightshade. The twins exchanged glances.

“Start the programming.” Knave said quietly. Jubilee shut up. For a few seconds.

“What programming? What’re you talking about?” Her chatter continued as Nightshade threw switches and Knave typed into the computer. Nightshade pulled a helmet-like metal thing from above J’s head, placing it over her hair.

“Hey! Careful with the do!” Jubilee cried as fear stirred slightly stronger in her heart.

Tornado, where are you?

CHAPTER FOUR, SCENE ONE

That’s not a cat. Aaron thought in frustration as light shone on the girls lower legs. He walked quietly closer and knelt beside her, looking at the young woman and finally laughing to himself when he realized that she’d let him think she was some kind of wild animal, most likely so she wouldn't have to share the dry dirt over here.

Black hair waved over her shoulder, tapering down to her tiny waist which led to long muscular legs and little feet. Her long eyelashes lay against clear, pale skin and small fangs peeked between her lips. Pointed ears twitched along her hair, listening to all the sounds she could while sleeping. In the dark he could make out broad shoulders and strong arms, and a long, black tail draped over her legs.

He moved to gently pull her hair out of her mouth, and as he did so her eyes snapped open, and her face twisted suddenly in a frightening snarl. All her muscles were ready to fight as she grabbed his arm in a powerful hold, turning suddenly catlike while her ears moved up her head and her fingers dug claws into his wrist, causing little drops of blood to form and drop down his arm.

“Hey, stop it!” In a slight panic he blew a fastball tornado at her, sending her spinning across the room and slamming against the wall.

A yelp escaped her lips as her head hit the stone and for just a second Aaron was sorry.

Then he looked back down at his bleeding arm.

“You clawed me!” he exclaimed in shock, appalled that anyone, except Jubilee, would do that.

She sat up slowly, her hair falling in her face, and seemed to exude an instant aura of royalty. “Only because I don’t know you.” She spoke quietly, like a predator on the hunt, and as such her muscles tensed.

“Oh. So if you knew me you wouldn’t claw me?” he asked, put off by her tone and manner.

She arched one delicate eyebrow, watching him for a minute with a steady gaze before answering. “No. If I knew you, you would have drawn back a bloody stump.”

“Oh.” Somehow, he didn’t doubt that she meant it. She said it so calmly, it seemed perfectly normal and he found himself not taking offense. “Uh. . .I’m Aaron.” He waited a few minutes and when she didn’t say anything he prompted, “What’s your name?”

“Shakti.” The single word was final, dissuading any more conversation. Aaron was determined to find out as much as he could about Jubilee, and braced himself to grill her until she told him what she knew.

“Did another girl come through here recently? Short black hair and blue eyes? Not very tall?”

Shakti, to all appearances, ignored him. He watched as she dug mud out from under her fingernails, pulled most of the knots out of her hair, wiped the chunks of grime off her body and examined the claw marks on her calf that had been reopened. Then she looked up.

“She left a few hours ago. Just a little bit before they brought you in.” Her cat-like eyes narrowed. “What is she to you?”

He hesitated, unsure what their current status was. “She’s. . .just a friend.”

Shakti’s eyebrows rose. Suddenly he felt a though he’d been verbally attacked, even though the hunter hadn’t said anything. She can speak volumes in silence. He thought to himself, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze.

She flipped her hair back over her shoulder with a twist of her head, and it was then that he saw the chain around her throat. The same one I saw attached to the wall, he thought as he felt his own neck.

“Why do you wear a chain, but I don’t?” He asked.

She looked at him, eyes narrowed, and answered his question with another. “Have you killed a man?”

“Not here, but I don’t. . .” he stopped and looked unbelievingly at the frail girl before him. “No way.”

Her only answer was a slight smile as she turned into a panther and started to clean herself.

SCENE TWO

Jubilee slung over his shoulder, the burly guard carried her down the long hall and back to the cell where she would stay until the twins had need of her. He wondered briefly what they were doing, then quickly banished the thought from his mind; thinking things like that would get him killed.

Stopping at the cell door he roughly asked the guard to open it so he wouldn’t have to put the girl he was carrying down.

“Stand back!” the guard shouted into the wooden door, knowing that the prisoners could hear him in there. Two more security men angled their guns in through the crack, aiming one at the boy who wasn’t chained to the wall, and the other at the already snarling girl.

Even though he knew she couldn’t reach the door with the chain around her neck, the burly guard found that she still was a scary sight and he didn’t want her near them.

“Jube!” The boy cried, recognizing the limp form of the girl. He started to move forward, coming up off his knee with a determined expression, raising his hands in a powerful gesture and whipping up a tornado, ready to leave now that he knew where Jubilee was. Something slammed against his shoulder, sending him spinning back and landing hard against the wall, hitting his head painfully and slowing him down for a instant.

Before he got up Jubilee had been lain on the floor, and the door sealed.

Standing shakily, he hurried to the slack form, making sure she hadn't been hurt and assuaging his own fears before looking at his shoulder for blood.

“That was truly moronic.” Shakti said from the corner.

“There’s no blood.” He her told her, ignoring her remarks, as he'd learned that was easiest.

“That’s because they hit you with a power drain instead of a bullet.”

He looked up quickly in confusion, asking, “Power drain?”

“Drains off at least half your power, leaving you with some power so they can do their tests, but not enough to fight effectively.” She watched him for a reaction, humor in her eyes.

Great, he thought in irritation and slight dispair, Now how’m I supposed to get us out of here? He tested his powers quickly, trying to pick the smart aleck huntress up any way he could, but as hard as he tried, he succeeded only in whipping her hair around her face and making her mad.

Giving up at last he turned to Jubilee, hoping she was all right and could use her powers. He shook her lightly, calling her name softly as her eyelids fluttered and finally opened.

“Aaron?” She asked uncertainly, fear tinting her normally happy voice.

“Yeah,” he smiled reassuringly, even though he didn't feel it, “It’s me.”

“Aaron!” She sat up and hugged him gleefully, then sat back and beaming, asked, “So have you figured a way out yet?”

He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably, feeling awkward. Powerless and without a plan. “Not quite . . .”

Jube hit his shoulder, saying happily “Then we’ll just have to figure it out together! After all, Teen Two’s back!”

He smiled, glad she was back to herself, then asked “How’er your powers?” hoping she could bring the house down around their heads.

“Uh, well. . .I thought I’d leave the power stuff to you.” Jubilee bit her lip and fingered her hair, looking at him sheepishly.

Tornado sighed. “They got your’s too, huh?”

Jubilee just nodded, looking glumly at the floor.

“Must be hard, having to use your brains instead of you powers.” Shakti said softly from the corner. Aaron listened to the scathing comment, wondering if she could be jealous of their friendship.

“Who’s the shadow girl?” Jubilee whispered furiously to Aaron.

“Shakti. She’s stuck here like us. Would you get that chain off her neck?” He smiled, charming her into a better mood. The last thing he needed was two mad girls.

“Oh," she sighed, "O.K.” She paffed it grudgingly off Shakti’s neck, leaving about six inches of chain hanging from her collar. Shakti jumped at the sudden sparks by her head, but she didn’t complain when she found her chain gone.

In a normal tone Jubilee continued, “Hey move over will ya? I’m sittin’ onna grate or sumthin’.”

“Oh, sorry,” Tornado said as he moved back, pulling her with him. “Hey, wait!” He picked Jubilee up, moving her off to the side, ignoring her protests of being “man-handled” in his excitement.

Shakti got up and walked silently to the group, bending over Tornado’s shoulder to see what he was doing. Jubilee slapped her tail as it twitched in her face, and Shakti turned to slap at Jube, an instant fight starting as Aaron tried to move the iron bars.

“It’s chained to the floor,” he murmured to himself, musing over how to get it undone. “Hey, Jubilee,” he turned to see a ball of fur and yellow trenchcoat rolling around on the floor as Jubilee shouted insults and “that hurts!” and Shakti hissed and yowled.

“You guys!” he shouted furiously, grabbing the first thing his hand came in contact with, which turned out to be Shakti’s leg, and pulled, trying to separate them before they killed each other. As they came roughly undone and Jubilee sat panting, Shakti turned partially human, looking at him fit to kill as she tried to catch her breath.

He snapped his hand back sharply, not wanting to be clawed again, and moved away turning to Jubilee and using her as cover.

“Can you blast the chains that are holding the grate down?” He asked, keeping half a worried eye on Shakti to make sure she didn’t jump him. She calmly changed into a panther and started to wash herself.

“Yeah,” Jubilee said, throwing death looks at Shakti as she walked to the grate and paffed it open. “But it takes twice the effort it should.”

“Unnerving huh?” Tornado asked absently as he struggled with hefting the grate.

“Uh huh.” Jubilee said as she pitched in to help. Slowly it pulled open, revealing a black tunnel going straight down. All three peered down uncertainly.

“Get some light down there, let’s see if we can tell where it goes.” Aaron said quietly. Jubilee shot firecrackers down the tube, and for a instant they saw the bottom as it branched out two different ways.

“Which way’s out?” Jubilation asked as they looked.

Aaron shrugged, trying not to show his concern. “I’ll go first. That way if I get lost you can still try to get out.”

“No way! When I was with the X-Men I always got to go first, I was the littlest and the only one who could fit through the tunnels. I have experience.”

“I don’t want you getting hurt or killed, I’ll go first,” he said, concern for Jubilee overriding his terror.

“I think not. I-” She was interrupted by Shakti, who had crept up quietly behind them and was listening to the argument.

“I can smell the fresh air from here, you two argue all you want but I’m going.” And she jumped over their heads and disappeared into the darkness.

Her voice drifted up in the shocked silence that followed, “I’ll find the way out and come back for you.” And she was gone.

CHAPTER FIVE, SCENE ONE

“You think she was telling the truth?” Jubilee asked for the umpteenth time since Shakti had left. She scratched her cheek and pouted at the floor.

“Why would she lie?” Aaron asked, exasperated.

Jubilee sighed and looked up. “It’s been such a long time, though!”

“Think about it," he said, ticking points off with his fingers, "She has to get out, get in, get back to us without being caught-”

“That would help.” Jubilee added bitterly.

“-and beat the guards out there. Of course it’s going to take a long time.”

“Do you like her?” The question was asked accusingly, and Aaron realized in surprise that J was jealous. He had to admit, Shakti was drop dead gorgeous.

“She’s . . .interesting. Well, she’s O.K. for the most part as long as you don’t touch her.”

Jubilee “humph”ed. “I don’t think she’s coming back.” She declared, standing up, “We’d better get out of this ourselves.”

“Jube-” A sound outside the cell caught his attention, and he listened intently for a minute before the door grated open, sending a shaft of light through the room.

“Oh ye of little faith.” Shakti said, standing in the doorway. “To think I wouldn’t come back.”

“What took ya so long?” Lee asked irritably, hands on her hips and eyes flashing.

Shakti gave her a Look in answer and started to shut and lock the door, leaving them in there.

“Wait!” Aaron shouted in a panic, blowing a tornado to swing the door back open before she could lock it. “J was just kidding.”

Jubilee “humph”ed.

“Come on,” he growled, pulling Jubilee to the door, “Before someone comes to check on all the commotion.”

They ran out and down the hall, past the unconscious guards on the floor, Shakti grumbling about how loud they were and Jubilee grumbling about snotty black panthers, while Tornado grumbled about women. (“Can’t live with ‘em, can’t kill ‘em.”)

They passed door after door, all closed, all leading down different paths. When Shakti stopped, signaling for them to be quiet they flattened themselves against the wall. Aaron listened to the voices in the open door, heart pounding.

“We’ve got the morph and the energy discharger, now all we need is that controller.” Tornado recognized the voice right away as the one in his head earlier, but the other voice was a mystery to him.

“I’ll have him brought up right away.” You could hear buttons punching, and then her voice rang out, “Two oh four, bring the boy up.” Static greeted her ears and Shakti started to slide quietly by the door, slinking like a shadow across the threshold.

“Two oh four, answer.” Came from the room, sounding like she was beginning to get irritated. “Something’s wrong.” Jubilee started across the doorway, crawling slowly across the floor on her stomach. “They’re not answering.” Tornado moved up to the doorway, getting ready to move across and keep going. “Check the monitors.” He stepped out into the open, his heart beating frantically. “They’re gone!” The girl in the room whipped around, spotting Tornado as he jumped out of sight. “There! Get him!” two guards stepped out, aiming at the fleeing threesome. He stopped and turned, blasting both guards with fastball tornado’s, and feeling the power drain making it seem as if he’d done much more.

Demons stepped out of the well shadowed hallway, ginning and drooling all over themselves. Fireworks burst from Jubilee’s fingertips, blasting them back into the shadows as Shakti in half panther form slashed at the monsters, proving quickly she was as deadly as she looked.

“Come on,” Tornado said, “Let’s face the real threat.” He strode back into the room, shadowed by a catlike form and backed up by Jubilee.

“You took us by surprise once, know do it while we’re aware.” Tornado said, his eyes flashing.

The twins faced him, both with long black hair which snapped in the wind that had picked up inside the room. “All right.” They replied in unison. The roof of the house ripped off suddenly, revealing the growing storm outside that flashed with blue lightning. The boy’s eyes crackled, mirroring the storm that grew and raged.

Snarling, Shakti jumped forward, her wounded leg not carrying her as far as it should have, but working under the stress.

Jubilee blasted the creatures that suddenly appeared, clearing a path for Shakti to get to the woman.

Tornado jumped to the side as lightning struck at him, whipping up a tornado as he did so and hurling it at Knave, breaking his concentration and making the storm falter.

“Hey,” Jubilee declared, “They’re making clones!” In the slight break in action Tornado looked around, seeing clones of Jubilee and Shakti, and one empty tube with his statistics on it.

“Not for long! Focus all attacks on the equipment!” For moment he wondered if Shakti would rebel, as she gave him a dirty look. Then she switched her attack to the computer beside her, and he breathed a little easier.

“Watch our backs!” Jubilee said as she blasted the cloning devices.

“No!” Knave shouted, sending deadly lightning at the two girls repeatedly. Tornado shot them away, directing them with small twisters at Nightshade, who was bringing out more demons to kill his teammates. Nightshade screamed and went down amid a shower of sparks as the computer was hit and exploded. Shakti was thrown back, twisting in mid-air to land on her feet by Tornado. Jubilee threw a last spark at the clones, then jumped back to regroup with the others.

Knave knelt by his sister, holding her tightly as his lab burned around him.

“Give it up.” Aaron said, “Jubilee call the police. We’ll hand these jerks over into custody.”

“I don’t think so.” Knave said as he stood up, holding his sister in his arms. “You won today, children,* but the battle isn’t yet over.” Golden spheres grew up from his feet, dancing gently around his body. “Adios!”

“Stop him!” Tornado started toward Knave, determined not to let him get away, but by the time he got there all that was left of Knave and his sister was laughter echoing in his head.

“Was that supposed to scare us? It didn’t.” Shakti said wickedly as she licked demon blood from her claws.

“Eeeewww, that’s gross!” Jubilee exclaimed, watching Shakti with a horrid fascination.

“He got away.” Tornado said in irritation.

Shakti looked up in surprise. “But you heard what he said. He’ll be back and you can just get him then. After all,” and an eyebrow quirked up, "you're the Teen Two."

Tornado laughed, looking up at Jubilee. "Yeah, that's right, you ready to take that guy on, Jube?”

“Hey, why not? So long as he doesn’t get to make any more clones of me. There is only one Jubilation Lee.” Her chest puffed up and she smiled.

“Thank goodness.” Shakti added.

“Why you-”

“O.K., lets go home.” Aaron interrupted quickly.

“You know where we are?” Shakti asked as she sat down and looked at the marks on her leg she had ripped open, and ripped further.

“Yeah we’re. . .” Aaron stopped, then smiled sheepishly. “At least, I’m sure I could figure it out.”

Shakti said volumes in silence.

Jubilee stared at Shakti’s leg while Tornado looked around, trying to find something that might tell him where they were.

When he came back to the two girls Shakti was wrapping her leg with the remnant’s of Jubilee’s trenchcoat.

“Wow. You let her rip up your coat?” He asked in disbelief.

“Well, I can get a new coat but that leg could get infected and she can’t get a new leg. And besides,” She said after a pause, “She said she’d buy me a new one.”

Aaron simply laughed. “Hey,” He said, remembering why he had been excited, “I found my stuff! It wasn’t too damaged in the fire, and I think I can get my board to work.”

“Great!” Jubilee said, “Then we don’t have to walk back!”

“Good.” Shakti said, as what could’ve almost been a smile touched the corner of her lips.

SCENE TWO

After much riding around Aaron figured out where they were, and went back up the stairs to tell the girls his good news.

Shakti was sleeping, tired after her long ordeal, and Jubilee was playing tic tac toe with herself in the rubble.

“Come on, get up.” He told Shakti, carefully not touching her, “We’re gonna go home.” She yawned and stretched like a cat, then sat up and followed Tornado and Jubilee quietly through the maze of hallways and stairwells.

The last flight of stairs was the longest, and Shakti’s leg almost gave out on her halfway down. Using small tornado’s to keep her from scratching or biting him, Aaron carried her down the rest of the way, her screaming protests turning him deaf in one ear. Or at least, that’s how it seemed.

One by one on his board he took them home, Jubilee to their home, Shakti to hers.

“Here,” He said in parting as she stepped off his board in front of a small white house, “Take this.”

“What is it?” She asked, looking curiously at the small, round thing in her hand.

“A comlink. If you ever need us, just call.”

She almost smiled and nodded, putting it in her pocket and limping toward her home. As she reached the door she hesitated, looked back over her shoulder and said “Call if you need.” And disappeared into the house.

Aaron smiled and rode home. Maybe at some point she'd loosen up and make friends.

Epilogue:

Shakti’s leg healed quickly and she was soon back to tormenting the neighbors.

Jubilee got a package a few days after the escapade, and when she opened it she found a yellow trenchcoat inside with a one word note: Thanks.

And as for Tornado, well, you’ll have to keep reading his stories!

Alla that legal junk. Jubilee, Synch, Husk, M, Artie and Leech and any others I may have missed, are copyright Marvel comics and are used without their permission. Power Rangers Zeo, Melrose Place, and 90210 are also copyrighted and used without the copyrighter’s permission. Tornado is copyrighted to Aaron Thall, and yes, I have his permission. Shakti, Knave, Nightshade, Chiya, and Dorilys Fire are all copyrighted to me, Jenna B. McDonald, ah ha hahahahahahhaha!

Comments, questions, shouts, indignities, are heard and/or ignored or laughed at, or read aloud to friends if I really like it :) at mbsm@earthlink.net.

* I just couldn’t help it, there has to be at least one cheesy line in all comic related stories! Back to the living room

X-Men, Generation X and other recognizable characters here belong to Marvel Comics. I am not making any money off these stories, and if you really like them you should consider buying some comic books. I mean these stories for entertainment purposes only; no one is making any money off them.

These renditions of the characters belong to me. Please do not archive these stories elsewhere without my permission. Some of the characters here--the ones I created--belong to me. Do not use these characters without permission. All of them are copyrighted as of May 2000, and most of them have been copyrighted since before them. If you have any more questions, check out this disclaimer. Thank you.

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