VISITING
                   by Francisco Charrua


                          Scene 5

Angelo yawned and stretched as he slowly opened his eyes. He
looked up  to find  Monet still  sitting in  her chair.  The
rising red  sun bounced  off her  entranced  expression.  He
looked a  bit  further  and  smiled  cockily,  "Buenos  dias
chica!"

"Good morning Mr. Espinosa."

Angelo's  smile   was  instantly   replaced  by   a   doomed
expression. He realized that the blond haired figure looking
out into  the horizon,  was in fact the White Queen. "I mean
... Uhhh, well, what I was trying ..."

"Why thank  you, I'm  flattered.", Emma  curtsied and slowly
exited the  room. Standing  right outside,  was Husk, trying
not to giggle too hard. {Well, Paige honey, you know what to
do.} With  this, the  young girl  counted up  to thirty  and
walked into the room.

"Angelo Espinosa!!"

"Si senorita.",  the young  man jumped  to his  feat, "Oh...
It's you Paige."

"Frost told you to keep an eye on M!"

"Relax gringa,  I was at it all night! And besides, what can
possibly  happen  at  six  in  the  morning?",  he  was  now
retracting the  extra layer  of skin  that had  served as an
extra blanket that evening.

Paige walked over to the chair and  waved  her hand in front 
of  Monet's  eyes. "Ah swear this is  starting to bother me, 
she's been like this for two days."

"That's right chica, two days of Angelo freezing his rear in
this room  every night.",  Skin warmed  up his arms with his
hands.

"Hi there  guys!", Everett  stood by  the door with his arms
crossed, "Breakfast's  ready.",  He  was  on  his  way  back
downstairs when  he suddenly remembered something. He turned
towards Monet's  room, "Oh,  by the  way, rumor has it we'll
have the wall fixed today."

Angelo and  Paige looked  at the room, the exterior wall was
gone, exposing  it to  the outside  elements. Monet remained
seated, not  budging a  muscle. The  day was calm and sunny.
They walked  out of  the room  leaving the  door  open,  and
joined the rest of their teammates for breakfast.

                          Scene 6

At ten of the clock, the Generation X team was in the danger
grotto. Angelo  stood on a branch of a huge tree, eight feet
above the  ground. Right  bellow him,  was a  thick slab  of
concrete. The  frightened young student looked down at Emma.
He could  not believe  that she  wanted him to jump and land
flat on his back ... again. During the first few trials, the
White Queen  had aided him through the whole fall. She would
block his  sense of  fear and  help  him  form  an  adequate
cushion with  his skin.  Sean was directing the session from
the control  room. This was the fourth time Angelo was going
to try this on his own. The other students watched in wonder
as he  dropped down.  As he  descended, a  pad of  skin grew
around his  neck and shoulders. Two seconds before he it the
ground, another  one appeared  on his  lower back,  and  two
others on  his elbows. Emma exhaled in relief. Her student's
lack of sleep was becoming a problem.

Back in the house, a desperate Synch tried to get through to
his colleague.  He was  able to  get his   aura synchronized
with her,  but something was amiss. He had always needed M's
guidance in  order to use her powers properly. Synching with
her super-strength was not a problem for him, unfortunately,
right now  he needed her latent telepathic ability. This was
going to take some doing.

During the  rest of  the training  period, everyone   played
war. In  this  particular  exercise,  each  student  had  to
immobilize another teammate. At the end, who ever was pinned
down  by   someone  would  loose.  The  team  was  scattered
throughout the biosphere. Angelo hid in the bushes hoping to
ambush  someone   without  embarrassing  himself.  He  still
remembered his flying lesson from when he tied up Monet with
his skin.  Paige had  husked into  a slippery  form, and was
standing in  the open  defiantly. Chamber, as always, didn't
have much in this game for him. As Sean would apologetically
put it,  the  goal  of  the  game  was  to  immobilize,  not
disintegrate. Occasionally,  some of the students would even
team up.

"Pssst ... Angelo ..."

Skin raised his head in surprise, he was very well concealed
in his hiding spot. He quickly glanced behind him.

"I'm right here... Below."

"Mondo?", whispered Skin, "Where are you amigo?"

The young  Samoan emerged  from the  ground looking like the
Swamp Thing, "I've got a plan.", like someone right out of a
spy movie,  he suspiciously glanced around, "Paige is headed
this way. We can both take her out."

Angelo erected  his right  thumb,  "Way  to  go  ombre!  And
without Everett  to use  our power  against us,  victory  is
surely ours!",  They both  sank back  into  the  bushes  and
waited for their prey...

                          Scene 7

A few  minutes had  passed since  Everett  had  successfully
entered Monet's  mind. Surrounded  by complete  darkness, he
shouted, {Monet? Can you her me?}. As he walked towards what
appeared to  be the  corner of  a room,  he saw a child. She
looked like a young Monet wearing adult clothes.

The six-year-old was looking down, her hands were covered in
the sleeves  of her  over-sized jacket.  {You wish  to speak
with me?}, the child raised her left arm and looked up.

Everett soon noticed that she was pointing to someone behind
him. He  turned his head, {EMPLATE!?}, the creature he gazed
at bore  an uncanny  resemblance to  the well  known foe  of
Generation X.  The monster's  skin was horribly covered with
dark scars,  but its features were not masculine. Dressed in
a white  gown, black  thick hair  flowed past its shoulders.
The beast  danced around  in circles,  despite its grotesque
features it  carried itself  with  a  certain  grace.  Synch
carefully backed  away in  order to better observe these two
strange figures.

{Claudia...}, the  monstrous figure  whispered to the little
girl, {Are you ready?}

The child shook her head, {Still weak...}

{Claudia, is  there someone  here who   wishes  to speak  to
us?}, it  was now  kneeling in  front of her. The young girl
turned her head in Everett's direction. Her companion slowly
rose to her feet. {Here we are Mr. Thomas.}

Synch stammered, {Wh-who are you?}

{We're  M}

{Monet?}, Everett  saw no  evidence that creature before him
could be  her. But  next  to  the  total  blackness  he  had
encountered during  previous visits  to M's mind, this was a
shining beacon  of hope. He urgently continued, {M, look ...
You have  to snap out of it! Just because you are related to
the guy, doesn't mean you're like him!}

The creature  walked towards him, {You don't understand...},
Everett was now feeling light headed, {Ev... We are the ones
who  are   telepathic...  Not  you....}  The  darkness  that
surrounded Everett suddenly switched to a blinding light. It
burned into  him. Agonizing,  he covered  his eyes.  A voice
rang through  his mind,  {You cannot  remember ...  you must
look for the darkness...}

Everett uncovered  his eyes,  "Damn it!", he was back in the
room, "Not again..."