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He heard her voice, clear and precise, as it sounded over the sound system in Point Zero. He tried to fight through the crowd of people to get close to her, but was hindered at every attempt. Her voice was melodic as that song escaped her lips・ Under a lover's sky I'm gonna be
with you Logan got further towards her, his heart pounding inside his chest. He couldn・t see what was going on at the bar because of all the people in the way of his vision but he knew it was she. It had to be her. Only she could ever sing that song like the way this singer was・ You can try to resist Logan was drawn to the music like a moth is attracted to a flame. The thought of seeing her again filled him with a joy that he thought he could never feel again since she left. There's no escaping love Jean noticed he was gone and alerted the others to the situation. As the looked around for their missing comrade, the song continued... You can try to resist Logan got closer, pushing people aside. Nothing was going to keep him from her. He lost her once; he wasn・t going to lose he again. Not ever. Underneath the starlight starlight The song ended as abruptly as it had begun. By the time Logan reached the bar where the song had been performed, the singer had gone. His heart sank. She・d disappeared again and he was so close to seeing her again. By the time the other X-Men caught up with him, his expression had changed from joy to sorrow. *Don・t worry Logan. We・ll find her. * Jean said to him in his hand. Logan nodded, appreciating he attempts to comfort him. He really thought for a moment they had her but they had hit another dead end. Genesis emerged from a side door and came running up to them. He pointed to the door; "Zion will see you now." He said. "Zion? Who the hell is that?" asked Cyclops. "Our leader・" he said, ushering them towards the door. One-by-one they exited the bar through the side door. Through the door was a flight of stairs leading down into a basement area. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, the X-Men saw in the dim light what looked like your every average storeroom. Barrels were piled everywhere, bottles of wine were stacked in racks, and there were even boxes of salted peanuts sitting on a small table in the corner. "Dis is your base?!" asked Gambit sarcastically. This whole thing seemed like a farce to him. This had to be a prank or joke- these people couldn・t possibly have a base in a grimy little wine cellar. Genesis went to a wine rack and pulled a bottle out. As he did so, there was a loud sifting noise as a metal doorway that was cleverly concealed behind some barrels opened smoothly. He urged them to enter. "Please hurry through." He said. The X-Men entered without question. When they were all inside, Genesis flicked a switch on the wall and the door closed behind them. The X-Men looked around them. They were in another room under the Point Zero club. In this room was a large computer console with a large screen and numerous pieces of addition equipment built into the terminal. The screen illuminated the relatively dark room, and a figure could be seen working at the console. It was difficult to see whether it was man or woman because of the tall-backed chair. And as they entered the room this person didn・t move an inch. A large round table was situated in the centre of the room. On it were piles of paper stacked neatly into orderly piles. Exodus sat at the table looking through some papers as Genesis, closely followed by the X-Men, approached. She smiled politely and offered them a place to sit at the table. All of them obliged except for Wolverine who stood with his arms folded nearby. They waited a couple of minutes before the same door they had entered re-opened and a man in his early thirties walked into the room. Genesis and Exodus rose from their seats as a sign of respect for this man. As he walked towards them, Wolverine made note of his appearance. He had short blonde hair; he was dressed all in black and didn・t look at all like a mutant. But then again you can never tell. Maybe this guy was human. The man smiled as he sat down between Genesis and Exodus. He sighed nervously and spoke softly; "As you・ve probably guessed, I・m Zion. It・s a pleasure to meet you. I can only say how glad I am to see you. We didn・t think you would come." "Well, we have reason to believe that a friend of ours may be in trouble. It was her who sent us the message, we believe." Said Cyclops. "Your friend?" Zion asked in a confused tone. Cyclops replied to Zion・s question also in a confused tone. "Yes. A woman named Jubilation Lee sent us that message." Zion shook his head as if he・d never heard of this person before. "There・s no Jubilation Lee in our group. There・s just myself, Genesis, Exodus, Eve and a few others, but certainly no Jubilation Lee." Wolverine sighed. Another dead-end. If this guy hadn・t heard of her and he supposedly knew everyone in the city then・ "But it was her who sent us the message. The voice on the message matched that of Jubilee・s!" exclaimed Wolverine. He wasn・t going to let this go without a fight. *Easy Logan. This isn・t easy for all of us, y・know.* The rationality of Jean thundered through his head. He looked at her and nodded, agreeing to calm down. Zion actually laughed at this; "Must be some mistake. Eve sent you that message not this ・Jubilation Lee・ character as you say." Beast leant forward. "Eve?" he asked. This woman had intrigued him ever since he had seen her image on the large screen in the park before they had come to Point Zero. Zion nodded. "That・s right. She・s the last hope Eden has at reclaiming what it once had when it was originally built. No doubt Genesis and Exodus explained our situation to you." The X-Men nodded in unison. Zion stood and started to circle around the table like a vulture. "Eve is the last remaining creator of the Faculty. She was here when Eden was first built. She helped to create the Faculty so it might bring happiness and safety to all humans and mutants that live here in Eden. That was the purpose for which Eden was built. To provide a place of solstice to all those who believe that we are all one in the same. I too believed this until Reb Tanaka took over as Systems Operator. Since that day no one in this city has been free. Curfews, security check points, identity checks- it・s all about control with him. He keeps us under control and he will use this city to his own ends." He slammed his fist hard down on the desk. "But Eve will change things. With your help we can free the city of Eden and re-programme the Faculty back to it・s original programming." He continued. "But what if the people are happy with this new regime. Ah mean, ah saw all dem people out there today and they seemed content to me." Argued Rogue. This entire group seemed like they were the ones who wanted full control of the city. Their claims sounded ridiculous. "Project Sky・" started Zion, "Project Sky is the thing we・re worried about the most. A few weeks ago Eve managed to hack into the Faculty- a difficult task especially from this terminal- and she found a file named ・Project Sky.・ She managed to download the entire file to our terminal here. What we found out from it is nothing short of barbarous." The X-Men listened with interest. Whatever this Project Sky was, it must be serious if these guys had gone out of their way to contact the X-Men. "Y・see, Tanaka plans to destroy Eden by launching it into space. He believes that the Faculty in its ・infinite wisdom・ has decided that humanity in any stage of evolution has no place on this earth. The people in this city don・t deserve to die just because it is the will of the Faculty. Regardless to what happens, we・ve got to stop it. Eden is the only city in the world where humans and mutants can live together in peace. That・s why we called you guys. We need your help to stop Project Sky." "You seem to put a lot of faith in a faceless woman, Zion." Said Storm, "I hope she is as wonderful as you say." Zion smiled at this and turned to face the computer terminal. "Eve!" he called gently to the figure behind the computer. Eve had been there the whole time, listening to the conversation as she worked on the computer. She stood, stretching her slim form, her long hair swinging as she moved. As she stepped out from the console, they could see that she was wearing the same clothes that she had been wearing in the image they had seen earlier- a bare backed blue hankieved top, a pair of shiny leather trousers and a pair of black boots. Sexy entire, Wolverine thought as he looked at her. Then he noticed something on her shoulder- three scars, like puncture marks almost. His heart began to beat faster as the realisation dawned on him. Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned around to face the group. As her face came into the light, the X-Men were astonished; "Jubilee?!" uttered Wolverine, looking at her in amazement. TO BE CONTINUED・
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