Uncanny X-Men (Marvel Omega)

Into The Light, Part I

NOTE: This was written by Ryan Krupienski but is included in here for completeness sake as it is part of a crossover.

***

Washington D.C.; The Lincoln Memorial

"Just who the HELL do you think you are?"

If there wasn't anyone else around, Scott Summers would strangle the life out of Cassandra Nova Xavier. She's pressed his buttons numerous times since arriving at the Xavier Institute months ago, but this time she's gone too far. Moments ago, the woman who claims to be the long-lost twin sister of Charles Xavier made an incredibly controversial announcement to the world regarding her brother. To Scott, what she did is the ultimate violation of the X-Men's trust, and he means to make her own up to it.

"ANSWER ME!" Scott yells, his face mere inches away from Cassandra's.

"Step back, Scott!" Cassandra says, her cold gaze more than a match for Scott's. "And I suggest you stop speaking to me in such a loud, rude manner!"

"Rude?" Scott asks rhetorically, mocking bewilderment. "Lady, you have a lot of nerve. You've just crossed the line again... except this time there's no coming back. You are GONE, Cassandra! You're no longer welcome at the Xavier Institute!"

"Scott, please!" Jean Grey cuts in, planting both her hands across her husband's chest as she tries to get him to look at her. "Just calm down, please! This isn't the way to resolve anything!"

"Like hell it isn't!" is Scott's response.

"You've got a nasty temper, you know," Cassandra says nonchalantly.

"Cassandra, you're not helping matters, so I suggest you shut up," Warren Worthington III says, earning him a surprised look from the bald woman. "I think you've said enough."

"Scott, honey, let's go get some air..." Jean begins to say, but Scott refuses to listen.

"I want an explanation, Cassandra," Scott says, calmer this time but still just as angry as before. "I want to know what the hell you think you were doing out there!"

"Yes, I'd like to know as well," Ororo Munroe adds in, crossing her arms as her eyes fix themselves on Cassandra.

"As would I," Henry McCoy says with a nod.

Jean lets out a sigh as she turns around to face Cassandra as her teammates are. She looks at Cassandra, very clear expressions of uncertainty and sadness on her face, and she asks, "Well?"

Cassandra looks around at the X-Men before her, smiling meekly at each of them, even Scott. "I do suppose I owe you all an explanation. Indeed, I suppose I should have told you about my planned announcement before the press conference, but I knew you'd never go along with it."

"You got that right," Scott says, and Jean turns her head and glances at him, silently telling him to be quiet.

"You see, my friends," Cassandra says, exercising some caution with the last word, "the X-Men are about to go fully public for the first time. Our home, our dream, our operations, everything about us is about to be exposed. It can't be any other way, what with the campaign being headed up and funded mainly by the institute. In order for this campaign to be a success, we need to convince people that mutants aren't so bad as it's long been thought... and that starts with shedding ourselves of our secrets. We must have nothing to hide, we must be open and honest, we must show the world who we really are and hold nothing back. I can't stress enough how integral these steps are."

"Do you have a point, Cassandra?" Warren says, his lack of patience showing as much in his voice as on his face.

"Yes, I do," Cassandra answers. "And that point is, sometimes we must fill the gap. Sometimes where there is nothing, we must create something. You know and I know that the Xavier Institute harbors no 'dirty little secrets'... that we really have no grand revelations for the public. Therefore, in an effort to show that we are making an effort to practice what we preach, we must twist the truth. We must give them what they want... we must give ourselves, exposed, whether it be fact or fiction."