Guard #2121 blinked his eyes and then leaned forward. That was odd- the dampener unit that blocked mutant powers in he base had abruptly turned off. He was reaching for the alarm when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

* * * * *

Monet rejoined the others back inside the Blackbird. "That¡¦s it. The rest have taken off towards the coast."

Wolverine put a hand on her shoulder. "See. I told ya we¡¦d get her outta there. Only another forty minutes or so, and we can start lookin¡¦ forward to some Ben & Jerry¡¦s in front o¡¦ the tube."

She smiled at him. He was right- she was feeling better about their chances. Below, the clear waters and dark reefs sped past as their shadow passed quickly over the breakers.

* * * * *

Daria stepped up to a guard near the outer perimeters and whispered into his ear. His eyes widened and he stared at her before running off. She checked the time. Using the time of the X-Men¡¦s arrival as an endpoint, she estimated that they had about fifteen minutes left. Daria looked around her and quickly moved off to another sector.

* * * * *

Bastion tapped his fingers impatiently on a console. He had sent two guards to bring Jubilation Lee back to him for further interrogation. That had been nearly ten minutes ago.

He reached out and angrily punched the intercom button linked to the girl¡¦s cell block. There was no answer. He tried again. Same thing. Puzzled, he turned in time to see Jubilee enter, unguarded, at the far end of the room.

* * * * *

The Blackbird landed gently in the desert half a mile from the base. The X-Men exited the plane, to be met by scores of Bastion¡¦s workers. A young bald girl pushed her way to the front and advanced towards them.

"You can¡¦t go in." She stated.

"What, you think you¡¦re going to stop us?" Wolverine began to shove his way past her. She reached out and grabbed his arm, yanking him back.

"Please, trust me. You can¡¦t go in. You¡¦ll be killed if you do."

"By who? The Sentinels? We know how to take care of hem."

"No. I already shut them all down, permanently. Just believe me when I say that you can¡¦t go in there. It¡¦ll all be made clear to you soon. I promise. Just stay here." She released him and sat down on a nearby boulder before turning her attention in the direction of the base.

Growling, Wolverine fought with his instinctual need to go in and break things into little tiny infinitesimally inconsequentially small bits before noticing Monet out of the corner of his eye. She gestured to him.

"She¡¦s right, Wolverine." She turned to look at Jean. "Can you sense that?"

Jean was staring intently at the base. "Yes." She forced her gaze back to Logan. "We are not needed, after all. It would appear that our effort may have been unnecessary." She returned her focus towards whatever was happening in the base.

Unnecessary?! Wolverine fumed a bit longer before taking out his frustrations on an innocent-looking bush. Mollified, he plopped himself on a rock and waved away the resultant clouds of desert dust.

Dammit, he¡¦d been looking forward to breaking things into little tiny infinitesimally inconsequentially small bits.

* * * * *

"How did you get free?" Bastion snarled at Jubilee.

"Daria, of course. Just like last time."

"I don¡¦t suppose you¡¦d like to tell me how she got around her reprogramming, would you."

"Nope. Not that it would really matter. You won¡¦t care in a few seconds, anyway." She brought her hands up and he could see that they were glowing all the way up to her elbows. She closed her eyes in concentration and abruptly the glow turned into a bright, pulsing light. She opened her eyes again long enough for him to read her intentions.

"You wouldn¡¦t. Not with all the innocent-relatively innocent- people in this base. You¡¦re not that kind of person."

"I know. That¡¦s why Daria¡¦s been evacuating the place for the past hour." She quirked a little half-smile. "Looks like it¡¦s just you and me now, bub." She began to move her hands to meet each other in front of her.

He sighed in resignation before reaching vainly for something, anything, that would serve as protection.

* * * * *

"An idea what we be waitin¡¦ for, Logan?" Gambit asked from his seat beside Wolverine. He played absently with a deck of cards, flipping them end over end.

"Not a clue, Gumbo. Not a blasted c-"

The houses and bare ground that covered the underground base suddenly blasted straight up into the air. A second later, the force of the explosion roared through the area that they were in, instantly deafening them. A second after that, a bright light that seemed to contain every color and yet none bloomed from the wreckage and rushed outwards, sweeping an immense wave of heated air and debris towards them. The onlookers threw themselves on the ground and covered their heads. If any had still been watching, they would have seen a light show greater than any Fourth of July extravaganza, as colored whorls and rosettes of pure plasma arced and spit above what had formerly been a small outpost and was now nothing more than a very large hole in the ground.

As the dust fell and the roar abated, the horde of people lifted their heads and then got to their feet. They stared in sheer wonder and amazement at the gigantic crater that now stretched out before them.

"What the hell was that?!" Marrow yelled, staring in awe. Now that had been what she called an explosion.

Monet was running towards the crater, with Wolverine in hot pursuit. They anxiously scanned the clouds of dust and smoke that billowed in front of them. Gradually, the figure of a tiny girl emerged, walking forward, the dust swirling around her form. Logan and Monet both halted, then ran forward again in time to catch her as she collapsed, their arms twining around her as they lowered her gently to the ground.

"Jubilee? Darlin¡¦, are ya all right?" Logan brushed a hand against her face she turned tired eyes to him, then turned to look at Monet.

"Yeah." She had to struggle to get the words out. "Gods, I hurt. I ain¡¦t ever doing that again." She tried to say something else, but, rather inconveniently, suddenly found herself unconscious.

Monet laughed softly and kissed the top of her head. She looked up at Wolverine. Together, they turned and carried her down to the waiting throng of humans, mutants, and one very happy mutant robot Sentinel freak girl.

*the end*