Issue+46+-+'Free+Falling'


 * Issue 46 - 'Free Falling' **




 * Plot**

The eXalts have located a center of vampiric influence in San Francisco at the top of the Millennium Tower. Bastienne was able to place a device to steal the data from the computers. The group then located a magically warded area that contained ancient ritual scrolls and a morbidly obese vampire with the ability to boost super abilities. The vampire, named Pearl, boosts Vortex in exchange for blood when suddenly Claw, Moksha, and Mystikos vampires burst in with their familiar servants! The Claw vampires move with super speed. The leader leaps over the eXalts’ heads and forces Pearl to boost his powers. The Moksha begin throwing gouts of flame. The Mystikos use mind control to force the mutants to attack their allies. The familiars block the exits from the room. The eXalts are trapped!

As the battle progresses, Glimmer is knocked out by a Claw vampire. Phantasma redirects the Claw’s thrown blades and injures the Claw leader. She then grabs a silver sword from a Claw vampire and gives it to the unarmed Bast. Medic fatigues himself to heal Glimmer. Jubilee steals a silver sword from a Claw vampire. Glimmer, Bast, Jubilee and Phantasma are mind-controlled by the Mystikos. The Moksha first teleport Pearl to safety in the lobby, then telekinetically move three of the six ancient scrolls from the room and then teleport them far away. Things look dire for the eXalts. Vortex, who is boosted, blasts down the interior walls. Phantasma shakes off her mind control and telekinetically blasts back the familiar horde, knocking most of them out. Bastienne and Glimmer attack one another, then free themselves of the mind control. Bast teleports them to an exit. Blur grabs Pearl and brings him to an elevator. He sends Pearl down to the first floor.

The battle turns against the eXalts again. Vortex is taken out by the Claw leader, then Medic is dropped next. The Moksha finish teleporting away the last three fragments of the ritual. They then use their fire to stagger Phantasma. Bast stabilizes Medic, then uses her sword to finish the Claw leader. The Moksha then use fire blasts to knock out Bast. Glimmer is stunned by the remaining familiars. Things look desperate. Jubilee and Blur drag Medic and Vortex, respectively, into an elevator. Glimmer recovers and heads down the stairwell. Phantasma grabs the unconscious Bast and follows. While Jubilee and Blur battle a familiar in the descending elevator, Glimmer holds the stairway door open long enough for Phantasma and Bast to escape into the lobby. The eXalts arrive at the same time. The familiar in the elevator has been defeated – but in the other elevator, Pearl has burst into flames and has died. Jubilee covers herself and the group escapes.

Back at the school Jess tends to everyone’s wounds. Bastienne and Phantasma’s wounds from the Moksha fire will not heal, even with Medic’s ability. Jubilee offers to use her blood to heal them, but they decline. Dane then returns in his RV with Ginny and Davan. They pass by the crowd of protestors outside. David greets him at the door and says they need to talk later. Dane goes down to the medical lab to see everyone. Bastienne throws a heavy object at him, saying it’s her turn for a vacation. Mac fills Dane in on what he’s missed. Meanwhile, David receives a phone call from Vanessa, the school’s lawyer. She says the district attorney’s office has offered David a plea deal: if he pleads guilty he will be allowed to be free on parole, but he has to agree to be dosed with Hope. There may be a similar deal for Cameron. David says he’ll think about it. David and Dane speak later that night. David says he was originally angry with Dane over running off with Davan and he was going to threaten to kill him if he did it again. Over the course of the week, however, he changed his mind. David says he realizes that he’s on a path that will lead to him being dead, in jail, or evil in a few years, and that makes him a bad father. He says Dane should take care of Davan, but that Dane needs to be more stable – he can’t run off all the time. Dane gets angry, saying that David can’t tell him what to do. They get into an argument over whose fault it was that Meghan is gone and who is more or less trustworthy than the other. In the end, David tells Dane to think it over and leaves. That night Jubilee is allowed to stay in Mac’s room after the staff agrees that she’s earned their trust.

On Saturday morning it is clear that the Academy X reconstruction is almost complete. Dane gets a notice from Lucius: Maki Matsumodo, Ebon Shogun of Hellfire Club: Tokyo, is on the line. Maki thanks Dane and the eXalts for the computer files from the Millennium Tower. Hellfire Club: Tokyo was able to identify the areas of the vampires’ financial influence and now they’ll be able to reclaim that area. She says half of the deal is now complete. Dane asks about the other half, not knowing of Bastienne’s promise to ask if Maki can have a seat on Academy X’s Board of Trustees. Dane says he understands, then asks if Maki will assist in finding Dracula. Maki says she doesn’t have the resources, and she believes Dracula has been destroyed, anyway. Later on Saturday the staff sees news reports that James Sangrey of the Peaceful Coexistence Party is giving a stump speech in Sacramento with Michael (“Discord”) Schwartz in the background. The student staff returns after lunch. They help complete the finishing touches on the school. Samantha, still burned from the attack, misses her helicopter lesson. Bastienne takes Jubilee up on her offer of healing. Jubilee bites her wrist and feeds some of her blood to Bastienne. The headmistress is healed, but she now feels drawn to Jubilee. Another side effect is that her strength increases. After dinner David brings up the unresolved issue surrounding Jess: she’s been exposed to nanites implanted by the vampires. What should they do? Jess goes to Dane and says the decision is his – she wants to stay, but she’ll abide by whatever he decides.

Dane calls a staff meeting late Saturday night. He puts the issue to a vote: should Jess be allowed to stay, or be forced to leave? It is a tense discussion and Lucius immediately abstains and leaves the meeting. David makes a case that Jess shouldn’t be allowed to stay – she could be a danger not only to them, but to the students, and especially the babies. He votes for her to leave. Billy says they don’t abandon a friend and need and votes for Jess to stay. Cameron agrees with Billy. He says they trusted him when he was under his Weapon XI brainwashing and they should give Jess a chance. Mac is unsure, but says they shouldn’t punish Jess for something she might do. David argues with him, saying that Cameron and Jubilee’s danger was known – no one knows what Jess might do. Ruth surprises Billy when she says she agrees with David’s arguments and votes that Jess should go. Jess says that she isn’t sure if she’s allowed a vote, but she wants to say. Dane says she does get a vote. Mac is torn, but in the end decides he must abstain because he can’t morally support either side. Bastienne says she’s biased and abstains. Samantha likewise abstains. The tally is 3 for Jess to stay, 2 for Jess to go. Only Dane is left – and he can break ties. He finally decides to allow Jess to stay, but says she must remain away from students as much as possible and must never be with a student alone. Jess agrees to the stipulations.

On Sunday the rest of the students return except for Kiah, who has been transferred from the school by her parents. The kids are excited to be back. Thomas calls Bastienne from Los Angeles and says he’s heard rumors that Blade is in LA. A building has been burnt down with people inside – but no bodies were found. Bastienne confirms Blade is there. Midterms week begins. Billy continues training, hoping to reclaim the powers he lost when they were “burnt out” rescuing Ruth. Billy and Ruth continue planning a wedding, though there is no date. Outside of teaching, Sam stays in her room with the twins. Sarah’s hand tries to cheer her up. Bastienne also visits her when she’s not with her wife or drawn to Jubilee. Dane gets a call on Wednesday from Agent Owen of S.H.I.E.L.D.: someone has broken Pixie out of S.H.I.E.L.D. custody via an explosion. Academy X’s lawyer, Vanessa, and the doctor who was visiting Melissa were killed along with seven S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel. Owen begins to threaten Dane that they’ll be repercussions if he finds they were involved in the escape, but Dane hangs up on him. The “official” news story is that a pilot crashed a plane while landing on the Triskelion in a training accident, resulting in the deaths of Vanessa, the doctor, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The east coast school calls to express their condolences and informs them that they’re sending a new lawyer: Evangeline Whedon.

The Academy X staff suspects that the Mutant Revolutionary Force (MRF) may be involved in Melissa’s escape. Dane hits the streets in areas with a lot of MRF graffiti and eventually finds an MRF member: a kid with reptile eyes and scales. The kid seems to know nothing about the Triskelion jailbreak. Dane pays him $100 to pass some information onto his superiors. On Saturday many of the seniors take their first trip into the Danger Room. Darryl, Maria, Robert, and Tatiana do well. Maria has learned to project heat blasts. Tatiana shows the previously unknown ability to gain a person’s form and powers by touching their blood when Klaus is knocked unconscious and bleeding. Dave and Klaus are the first to be knocked out. Christian and Vincent do okay, but Wicked refuses to get involved. Afterward they choose codenames: Radian for Christian, Shift for Darryl, Keratin for Dave, Pincer for Klaus, Fever for Maria, Glob Herman for Robert, Catiana for Tatiana, and Wicked for Wicked.

On Tuesday Lucius realizes that coded transmissions have been sent from the school. It began when Dane returned. Since then it’s been once a day – always from a crowded room (making it difficult to tell the source), except once from Dane’s room. Bastienne and Dane go through the security camera footage and realize it must be Billy, Bastienne, Dane, David, Jess, or Mac. They call a staff meeting to figure out the source of the signals. David comes up with the idea of using Tatiana’s newfound ability: if she touches Maya’s blood sample from the lab, she should be able to use her powers. But first they need to make sure that Tatiana can hold onto those abilities long enough to make the plan work. Tatiana agrees, and David cuts his hand to allow Tatiana to touch his blood for the test. Tatiana touches his blood – and freaks out! She says, “She killed them! She made them all kill themselves! All those deaths!” The staff realizes that Tatiana has David’s memories. She must be remembering when David and Cordelia were at the Church of Humanity meeting where hundreds died in a mass suicide. The deaths were actually due to Cordelia’s emotion control abilities, and David never told them! Later that night Jess visits David and takes a vial of Hope from his refrigerator. She asks why he has it. David says he’s concerned he might go evil, and it’s “Plan Z” to inject himself with Hope if he thinks it might happen. Jess says he can’t be trusted with the Hope. She brings it to Dane and tells him the story. Dane takes the Hope for safekeeping.

On Wednesday Nicholas takes a hard hit at Combat Club. He goes berserk. He grows to thirty feet tall, then throws Aliyah into a tree with such force that she is impaled and dying. He then turns on Chelsea. Hayley, the freshman with an unknown power, uses her shirt to wipe off her makeup, revealing her ability to charm others with her physical appearance. Nicholas shrinks to normal form and begins ripping off her clothes. The other boys follow suit, including Mac and David!...

**Next:** __Issue 47 - 'Sick Things'__ **Previous:** Issue 45 - 'My Time (Has Come)'