The room was completely still except for the crackling of the charged energy particles of the portal. Nate and Jubilee were ready to attack when Nate suddenly dropped his telekinetic shield, and motioned for Jubilee to stand down.
"Are you sure about this, have you scanned him?" Jubilee wasn't sure this was a wise decision, but she trusted Nate's powers. The only telepath stronger than Nate was Charles Xavier, and there was no way Nate could have missed his tlelpathic signature.
Jubilee relaxed her stance and powered down, but she reached for the dagger she kept strapped to her ankle. "Better safe than sorry," she thought.
The figure emerged from the portal, and both Nate and Jubilee breathed a sigh of relief. In front of them stood Nathaniel Essex, Mr. Sinister, their father. "I see you two were expecting me. That must be why you aren't armed and ready." The words were light, but both of them knew the anger and seriousness behind them. Sinister had taught them to always be on guard. Friends were never forever, and loyalty frequently turned into betrayal. Those who weren't ready, died. It was the survival of the fittest, and he'd drilled it into his "children". He had told them to never trust anyone, and as he greeted them, they knew he included himself in those warnings.
"It was my fault. I scanned you, and I knew it was OK." Nate spoke hastily, but also a little defiantly. It seemed that Sinister's only concern was with finding fault. Nate had been worried for his father's safety, and the admonition he was recieving was completly unlooked-for.
"That's no excuse. Both of you should have had more sense. All of my plans would have been for nothing if it had been Xavier or one of his ilk instead of me. Oh, yes Nathan, I know you are an alpha class telepath, but you're not yet ready to face Xavier. An you daughter, haven't you been taught the skill of an assassin? You know never to lower your weapon. That small dagger is no match for the threat that you might have faced. Your mentor would not have approved. Didn't Logan teach you to weild the Katana? I expected more of you Jubilation."
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again, Daddy." Jubilee trembled with rage. All of her previous concern vanished at Sinister's mention of Logan. "He knows Logan betrayed me. How can he do this to me? He knows how much it still hurts," Jubilee silently fumed. She had been so frantic with worry over her father's lack of communication, and now that he was finally here all he could do was cause pain. "But it is good to see him, at least he wasn't hurt. Xavier hasn't taken everything from me, yet. If only "daddy" would be a little bit more flexible," Jubilee's thoughts shifted with mercurial speed. It was impossible for her to separate every emotion she was feeling, but anger wound up on top.
"Don't get your back up Jubilee. Yes I know how you bristle at the mention of your old teacher. But now is the time to put aside such petty differences."
"Petty! How dare you say--"
"Enough! As I was saying, right now we need to concentrate on the problem at hand. Xavier moved more quickly than I had anticipated, but that shouldn't throw more than a small crimp in my plans."
"You mean you knew about Xavier, that he was active again? But you said he was probably dead? When do we attack? I'm ready to take the old man down!" Nate was exuberant. In his eagerness he was practically bouncing off the walls. He couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice. This was what he had been "born" for, to exterminate Charles Xavier. He didn't have any delusions as to Sinister's true motives in engineering him. But, he thought to himself, somewhere along the way Sinister had become attatched to his creation. The "X-Man", created from the genetic material of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, had become Nathan Essex, a son.
"Well, I hadn't expected the X-Men to mobilize against me so soon, but I knew that they would come after me. It just happened a little bit faster than I had anticipated. But we must deal with these new developments. Xavier's next target is going to be Magneto. He's the only one who can challenge him for leadership. I need to get to Magnus before the X-Men do. I know they plan to kill him, but I have greater plans for the Master of Magnetism. He-- well, that's besides the point. Now I need you two to follow my orders to the letter. There's no more room for deviation." Sinister, could be very revealing when he chose to be, but as usual he never divulged more than he intended. His ambiguity annoyed Nate, because he was ready for action. He had already been out too long. Sinister had forbidden him from going on any missions with Jubilee, because Nate preferred to kill his victims with his mind. Sinister feared that Nate might lose control, and break contact too late, causing his own mind to revert to a catatonic state. Nate had fiercly argued that he knew himself and his abilities, and he would never make such a foolish mistake. But Sinister had been adamant, so Nate had humored him. It irked him that Sinister let Jubilee take more risks than he did Nate, but he also knew how valuable he was to Sinister. At times like these he felt more like a weapon than a human. Now fate was intervening. Finally, he would get the chance to show Sinister that he wasn't second to Xavier in power. He had been practicing in the simulation chamber in the lab underneath the apartment building. His mind and powers were in peak condition. He was ready.
"So your plans are finally coming together. You must be so ecstatic Father. Do you have something for us, or do we just follow you around like good little children." Jubilee's mocking tone didn't hide her feelings. She was still angry, and she wasn't about to let Sinister get away with baiting her. "Logan...God! Just thinking the name burns me up." Jubilee couldn't seem to let go of Sinister's earilier remarks. She turned away from both her brother and father, but his next words had her spinning back to face him.
"My my, so much emotion for the one you vowed was dead to you forever. Jubilation, you must learn to control yourself. Logan had assured me that he had taught you the basics. But you do bring up a good point, which I was just about to address. I am going to look for Magnus. Gambit has brought me some interesting news on his whereabouts. I'll join his team, and we'll get to Magneto before the X-Men. Creed and Rogue are joining Chamber's group in LA. Ariel gave me some disturbing information about attacks on mutants in the area. I'm sure that Xavier's New Mutants are looking for our team. Sabretooth will know what to do. He's been with the Marauders the longest, and I have complete faith in him. You two will join them soon enough, but right now I need you to go to Madripoor and find an old friend." Sinister moved to stand directly in front of Jubilee as he said this, he was challenging her to refuse the command. But he knew she was powerless to do so. She would obey him, after all, she had been trained to do so, and there really was no alternative.
--To Be Continued--