Attention: Generation X and their villains, as well as any other mutant mentioned in this story, is property of Marvel Comics. The character Richard Cale is named after family relations. Any other reference to anything copyrighted is a chance happening.

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Truth Be Told

Chapter 7: Emma's Story (updated)

Emma and the others arrived on the scene to see that the man holding Jubilee and Rich were motionless, as if the two had been frozen in time. Emma said to Sean, "What is happening?"

Sean was watching and said, "I dinnae. Rich said he heard Jubilee scream, and he and Yvette were going to check it out. He called us to head out and when we all get here, Rich and that man seem to appear as if they are frozen in time."

Finally the man spoke, "Richard, what are you doing here? Did these mutants kidnap you?" The man must have know Rich, but how did he know Rich. Emma tried to telepathically tell him to release Jubilee only to see a bigger problem.

She turned to Sean and said, "He's a Sentinel. He must be a new form of Sentinel. But I don't know how he knows Rich." She saw a look in Sean's eyes as if he knew the answer.

Just as Sean was about to say something, Rich finally spoke to man, "How can you say that. You always told me all people were created equal and should be treated that way. I came here by choice, but why are you here? I thought you were dead."

"Mutants are not people, Richard, they are freaks of nature that should be eliminated." Emma saw Jubilee tremble in fear. Rich still had his calm demeanor on, although it was becoming evident that he was struggling. The man continued, "Apparently your parents were trying to protect you from the harsh truth of the world with lies. The world needs to be cleansed of mutants. Now you can't be here by choice, Richard, because you are not a mutant."

Emma could tell Rich was almost upset at this. Rich approached the man and said, "I am a mutant, Bastion. It was a few days after my ability appeared that I was told you killed yourself, and now I find that was I lie to protect me from the worse thing of all. You always told me to treat people as equals, regardless of what they were. Now I find out that you are the biggest hypocrite in the world. I now wish you were dead. The man I saw as a second father, would rather see me dead. If you are going to do anything to them, you will have to kill me first." With that, Rich closed his eyes and stood at attention.

Nobody moved, in fear that one wrong move would cost Rich's, or Jubilee's life. Emma was frightened, because Rich appeared to know Bastion on a first name basis, and Sean knew the connection. Emma tried again to scan Bastion's mind. This time, she saw what appeared to be a conflict. She finally detected a human part to Bastion. The human half seemed to be fighting against the Sentinel part. Eventually, the human part of Bastion said to her mind, as if it knew she was there, "Ms. Frost, I don't want to kill my nephew. I never knew he was a mutant. I always told him to treat people with kindness. I always told him to strive for a better world, and now, the computerized part of me says I must kill him, for he is a plague to mankind."

She mentally spoke back to Bastion. "He came here to do just that. All of these children came to do exactly that. To learn to use their abilities to help humanity." She had hoped that those words might prevent a catastrophe.

Mentally again, the human Bastion said, "I'm sorry, for what I have done. Please make my apologizes to my nephew, I just hope he will listen. Tell Ms. Lee to move away." Emma was confused by the nephew statement, but she didn't have time to think about it. Upon hearing that, she opened her eyes and saw Bastion release Jubilee. He made a couple of motions, pressing what appeared to be buttons. Emma realized what Bastion was doing. The Sentinel, formerly a human being, was going to take his own life.

"Jubilee, get away fast. Nobody move." She yelled to everyone, just as Monet started to fly towards Rich. Emma quickly went into Monet's mind and said, "Child, get back or else you will get injured."

Monet answered back in an upset psionic tone, "But, Rich.."

"Rich will be fine. He will not get injured." Just then, an explosion happen right were Bastion was standing. There was a red spray that lashed out everywhere, and the metal that was in him had atomized. Emma noticed that Rich had finally moved. She watched as Rich opened his eyes and looked around. He saw the blood and noticed that Bastion had died. Instead of getting upset, Rich's face became stone cold. He appeared as if nothing in the world would phase him. It was then Emma realized how bad he had been affected by Bastion's death.

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Monet watched as Jean Summers gasped and said, "That must have been terrible for him, to watch a family member kill themselves."

Emma said, "That was what lead to the breakdown, but we didn't know how sever it was until recently. We figured that we needed to keep an eye on Rich. He was upset, but he didn't want to show it, mainly because of what he had found out that day."

"I understand, but how serious had it become?"

Monet answered Jean's question, for she felt she had to tell all this. "Rich tried to take his own life."

Scott Summers asked the question, "How did he try and do this?"

"I don't think he truly wanted to go through with taking his life. He said that drugs would kill him, due to the medication he takes, but if he wanted to face death, he wanted it to be on his terms." She then told them of that terrible day that Rich tried to take his life.

Bump....for reasons that will be revealed later in the week.