DISCLAIMER: All characters in this story are property of Marvel Inc., and
I'm
not making a profit from this, so don't sue me. 

X-Men: Yin Yang Part 4/?- Everyone hates change

Morpheus, oneill@cambus.u-net.com	

{{blahblahbla}} is thoughts
^^blahblahbla^^ is telepathy

==============

	Inside a blackened, dank cave, an unnatural hum rose above the silence. A
hazy light emanated from the corner of the cavern, where a crooked man sat
staring at the source of the light. He nodded a few times, then shut off
the light which came from a device he wore on his wrist. He turned to his
three companions who gathered round a tiny fire, and spoke to them.

	"It is time."

	"They have Essex?" a woman asked.

	"Yes. The master ensures us he will be of no worry to us."

	"Good," one of the men proclaimed in a Russian accent. "Now, we only have
to infiltrate the Rebel base, and our work will be simple from then on."

	"If," the woman proclaimed, "We can keep the big guy in check until we get
there."

	"Calm down Angie. The White Queen said he will be sedate until we activate
the frequency transmitter that Richards put together." the leader said.
"Oh, and by the way, we operate on code-names from no on. Clear?"

	"Yes, Nightcrawler," the woman answered, with a drop of sarcasm hanging on
her words.

=============

	Nearby, the Rebellion felt secure in the knowledge that they were secluded
here, shut off from the Hellfire Club's tyranny. Or so they thought. None
among them even suspected what was going to happen next, or what fate was
in store for their leader. Without this knowledge, they went about their
lives as usual.

	In the largest cavern in the complex, a training session was taking place.
This was the time of the sub-Alpha mutants. Those that would, in time, lead
the Rebellion, if they could harness their power to the utmost of their
potential. Currently, Legion, Chrome, Blink, and Maggot, were in training
here. 

	Everyone expected Legion to be the next leader of the Rebellion, owing to
his vast psionic abilities. He was being tutored by Jean Grey on how to use
his abilities, and Essex suspected that he would be her superior in a few
years time. Not that he ever mentioned it to the boy. No use encouraging
egotism. His brash nature need not be pushed any further.

	Now take Blink. She was one of the shyest mutants in the Rebellion, yet
she was perhaps the most powerful teleporter to have lived. She could
instantaneously teleport the entire Rebellion anywhere, and the projections
for her power drawn up by Doom and Essex suggested she could develop the
power to open portals in time, space, and indeed reality.

	And Chrome. Chrome was perhpas the one with greatest potential. He could
alter the molecular structure of objects, and Essex predicted he could
alter any matter, thus being theoretically capable of creating things out
of thin air. Obviously, Essex was keen to have him on a strict training
program, which tested his limits and furthered his boundaries constantly.

	Maggot was not destined to be as powerful as any of the above, but he was
still a sub-Alpha mutant. He had what has been called the oddest power
ever. When he was a boy, Magneto found him wandering the desert, half-dead.
From birth he had had digestive problems, which ended when Magento
"operated" on him. From his stomach, Magneto pulled two metallic slugs,
which were actually Japheth's digestive system manifested. When Magneto
left his side momentarily, Japheth was captured by the South African army,
and held in a secured base. Essex rescued him, and had been nurturing his
powers ever since. 

	His slugs were remarkable. Though reasonably small, they could consume
massive amounts of matter at great speed, the limits of which has never
been tested. Maggot himself has incredible strength at times, when his
slugs have fed. He has developed remarkable control over his slugs, whom he
has named Eeny and Meeny. 

	Maverick and Wolverine were overseeing this session, which basically saw
them testing themselves against some of Essex's mindless drones, as well as
an assault course cobbled together by Stark, Forge and Doom. It was no real
challenge as of yet, with each mutant easily fulfilling their tasks.

	The two mentors stood on a ledge high above the cavern floor, watching in
silence their prodigies work. Maverick spoke. "Y'know Logan, when Chrome
gets a bit more skilled in using his power, he could transform our lives
here. No more living in dirty caves. We would be able to live in normal
quarters, with brick or metal walls."

	"Yer dreamin' David. First, Essex would never allow it. He prefers to live
simple. And second, we could be livin' like that already. Forge an the
others could easily change this place. But, if we were brimmin' with
techno-crap all over, the Hellfire Club could trace us back here. And if
they ambushed us, there's no tellin' what they could do to our forces.
See?"

	"Yeah, alright." The two men watched the rest of the session in silence,
mentally noting areas where the young mutants needed extra tuition.

===

	In another area of the Rebellion's Arkansas base, Daredevil, Jean Grey,
Forge and Havok were going over the last battle with the Marauders, in
Iowa. It was the fiercest battle either side had ever participated in, and
the Rebellion intended to learn from their mistakes there. Jean projected
her recollections of the battle and drew forth the others', so that each
could see what had went wrong. They found that one of the main problems was
ambushes. Hardly anyone was watching each other's backs. That would have to
be rectified. However, now was not the time.

	"Right, what is it Essex wanted us to do now?" Havok asked, relieved that
the psionic ordeal was over.

	Forge replied with a tone that implied annoyance, "We've to assess the new
recruits, and give them a file. I'll catalogue them in my tech-net
computer."

	Alex sighed, and said, "Alright, who've we got?"
	
	Daredevil spoke up now, saying, "There's Landscape, and Helios. Two new
recent recruits of Essex. Jean, call in Landscape." A moment later, a
humanoid form walked into the room. His body was covered with moving
holograms, which were constantly changing. 

	"You called?" 

	"Yes Landscape, we want to put you onto file as a member of the
Rebellion." Daredevil said. "Describe your powers, and give us a brief
demonstration. Forge?"
	
	"Optical receivers online. Ready when you are Landscape."

	"You mean this is being recorded?" When everyone nodded, he seemed a bit
taken aback. "Oh."

	"Please," Forge said calmly, "Ignore the cameras. Just continue."

	"Okay. Well, I have the power to create hard light holographic
environments, which will remain as long as I concentrate on them. Watch."

	Landscape closed his eyes, well some skin covered the blank ovals in his
head. If that's what closing his eyes was to him, so be it. Anyway, he
concentrated, and suddenly the bare cavern walls became a tropical
environment, detailed down to birds nesting among treetops. 

	"Is it tangible?" asked Forge, astounded by the sight before him.

	"Yep," said Landscape, and manifested a snake on the table in front of
him.

	Jean screamed, and psi-blasted the hologram in front of her, on instinct.
It vanished.

	"Ow!" Landscape yelped, "That's the other thing. The holograms will
withstand any punishment, except psionic. Essex tol' me it was because of
me being part of them, or sumthin."

	Jean looked sheepish and apologised. Then Forge started thinking out loud.
"I see many possibilities for your power, and I'll say so to Essex when he
returns. You are a very promising recruit Landscape. Thank you for your
time."

	The other recruit, Helios was called in. Daredevil was the first one to
speak up. "I've never heard of you before. . .Helios is it?"

	"Yes."

	"From Greek mythology, the god of sun?"

	"That's right. You're versed in mythology then?"

	"I used to study it," Daredevil replied with interest. It was nice to meet
someone with similar interests for once. "Well. As I said, I have never
heard of you before. Why? I had heard rumour of Landscape existing, and I
have. . .sources. . .which keep me up to date on new mutants."

	"Well, I'm the son of an influential businessman, and he kept my mutant
status a secret, and hid me away in a secluded boarding school. He managed
to have scientists suppress my abilities."

	"But?" Daredevil asked, sensing the boy had something else to say.

	"My father was murdered by Sebastian Shaw. I had nowhere to go, so I fled
into the forests around my house. Essex rescued me after a few days."
	
	"I'm sorry for your father," Jean said sympathetically, "Now, excuse me if
this is insensitive, but what are your powers?"

	"It's alright, I'm over my grief now. I have the power to bend light to my
will. I can use it for illusions, but I have come to prefer using it for
offense and defense. I can create blasts of pure light."

	Forge seemed curious at this, "We've already got a number of energy
specialists. What makes you different?"

	"Well, I don't need food, or conventional nourishment. If I absorb energy
from the sun, I can survive. Also, I can dissipitate energy attacks if they
are of an electro-magnetic nature. I can also pick up radio waves in my
head, so I can interrupt secure transmissions if I concentrate."

	"Interesting." Forge seemed satisfied, and continued, "We don't need a
visual record, I scanned your mutagenic signature and all you've said is
true. Welcome to the Rebellion."

	Helios sighed as if a great weight had left his shoulders, and said,
"Thank you."

=====

	Outside, day was dawning, and four figures in cloaks stood silent against
a wall. Nightcrawler, Colossus, Firestar and Sabretooth were all here for
one reason only. To set the Rebellion into chaos, as prelude for a much
greater attack. After their last battle, Reed Richards traced Blink's
teleportation signal back to this base. It was a simple matter to dispatch
a small, unnoticeable team to check the area out.

	Sabretooth was the Marauders' secret weapon. They captured him from the
wild, and by use of telepathy and surgery, were able to control him
temporarily. Nightcrawler carried a frequency transmitter which would
reawaken his bloodlust, enough to distract the Rebellion while the Inner
Circle were transported here. With Essex gone, they would crumble
instantly. 

	Firestar turned to Nightcrawler, and said, "We're in. All we need is fer
Ruskie here to tap it a bit, and the wall crumbles." She had heat-treated
the rock to a point of crumbling weakness.

	"Perfect." said Kurt Wagner, a grin emerging on his already devilish face.
"Whenever yer ready, Piotr."

	Colossus drew back his metal fist, and swung towards the rock face.

==============

Done. That's all until next time. Not enough? Tough.

Morpheus


Roll Call
*********

Rebellion: Essex, Wolverine, Storm, Forge, Maverick, Jean Grey, Havok,
Deadpool, Daredevil, Iceman, Hawkeye, Banshee, Clear-Cut, Chrome, Doom,
Blink, M, Iron Man, Shang-Chi, Morph, Sunfire, Callisto, Glow (original),
Boost, Speed Demon, Legion, Maggot, Spiderman, Chamber, Gambit, Marrow,
Abyss, Juggernaut, Wisdom, Sabra, Landscape, Helios.

Hellfire Club: Angel, Hank McCoy, Shinobi Shaw, Quicksilver, Scarlett
Witch, Reed Richards, Emma Frost, Roberto daCosta, Mikhail Rasputin. Paige
Guthrie as slave

Inner Circle: Ennur Sabah (Apocalypse), Erik Magnus Lehnsherr (Magneto),
Charles Francis Xavier (Mutant X), Sebastian Shaw.

Marauders: Warpath, Thunderbird, Moonstar, Colossus, Jubilee, Polaris,
Wildchild, Omega Red, Scratch, Deflector (Reyes), Fenris, Sack, Vessel,
Skin, Nightcrawler, Unuscionne, Caliban, Aurora, Northstar, Pyro,
Avalanche, Spoor, Rictor, Dazzler, Meltdown, Siryn, Black Tom, Shadowcat,
Multiple Man, Random, Strong Guy, Firestar, Gauntlet, Tusk, Wolfsbane,
Feral, Magma. There's loads more, but far too many to go into here.
Sabretooth as prisoner

Externals: Gideon, Mimic, Cannonball, Nemesis, Exodus, Candra, Selene,
Crule, Absalom.

==========