From: fuzzy@athena.mit.edu (Dark Fuzzy Rules OK!)
Subject: NEW MUTANTS: Kid Dynamo Chapter 11, Part 3 of 3
Followup-To: rec.arts.comics.xbooks
Summary: "Queen for a Day" concludes
Keywords: X-Men, Magneto, Destruction of New York
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 21:00:53 GMT

Kid Dynamo Chapter 11, Part 3 of 3
    "Queen for a Day"
    by Connie Hirsch
    
       * * *
    
    Halfway across the open expanse of New York Harbor, I was
 having serious doubts.  We were too exposed -- this was quite
 different from zipping between the Manhattan skyscrapers, where
 there were plenty of escape routes and hidey holes.  I was just
 about to ask the kids if I could carry them, so we could fly
 faster, when I made the mistake of looking at our destination.
    The alien ship was definitely going to hit the Statue.
  The knowledge was like a drink of extremely cold water,
 spreading chill through my insides.  "Holy shi--" I started to
 say, breaking off when I remembered who was with me.
       We pulled up just in front of the monument.  It's
 nearly 300 feet high -- the pedestal making up half the
 elevation, but even so, it's a stupendously big statue.
  Amazingly, there were tourists still in the crown.
    I looked up -- the alien ship was looming over us now.  It
 had almost ceased its westward drift and now seemed engaged in a
 slow motion somersault back towards New York, which would take
 its tailpipe crashing through the Statue of Liberty in only a
 matter of minutes.
    _Think, Jessica_! I said to myself.  _And don't panic while
 you're at it_....
    "Okay," I said to the kids.  "First things first.  I want
 you to clear all the tourists from the Statue.  They'll never
 get down the inside stairs on their own in time.  Get them away
 from the base of the pedestal.  If -- _if_ -- there's wreckage,
 we don't want it landing on them."
    "What are you going to do?" said Destroyer.
    I looked up at the alien construct above us.  "Try my hand
 at ship-wrangling," I said.
    I landed on top of the crown, sitting so my legs dangled
 down on either side of the "points."  I didn't want to waste
 concentration on keeping myself in the air.  I took off my
 helmet and put it carefully on the flat, rubbing my temples
 where it had pressed.  Then I sat a little straighter, shut my
 eyes and began to try to _grab_ that ship.
    It was vaster -- a hundred times the size of the zeppelin
 mast, easily.  Even if I could only take hold of a portion,
 though, I might be able to push it away.
    If I _could_ take hold....  Another anti-telekinetic
 field, like the one on War's armor.  It was like trying to hug a
 thornbush.  I shook my head; the field hadn't _hurt_, exactly,
 and I didn't seem to be harmed by it, but I couldn't grab the
 Statue through it.  
    I looked down at Power Pack, busy ferrying tourists down
 to the ground.  They were trusting me to get the job done.  If I
 held onto the ship despite the field....
    Ever play snap-the-whip with you as the whippee?  It was
 like that -- all I could do was grit my teeth and hold on as
 hard as I could.  I couldn't extend my grip; I couldn't exert
 any force.  I tried for the longest time, but eventually, I had
 to break off.
    I let my breath out with a great sigh and opened my eyes. 
 I had an audience -- the Power Packers had joined me.  I
 hurriedly put my helmet back on and realized I'd been clenching
 my fists so tightly my knuckles were white.  I opened my hands
 and looked at the deep dents my fingernails had made on my
 palms.
    "Are you okay?" Counterweight said.  "We didn't want to
 disturb you."
    "Oh, _I'm) fine," I said disconsolately.  "I just can't do
 it."
    "Oh," said Molecula.  "But it slowed down -- we thought
 --"
    "No, it's doing that on its own," I said.  I had a touch
 of headache, from concentrating so much.  "If it were only 50
 feet higher."
    "Hey -- Al -- Destroyer," Counterweight blurted out.  "I
 bet if we went up and you disintegrated that tailpipe, I bet the
 ship would miss Lady Liberty!"
    "You know -- it might work," I said.  "If your power works
 on the ship...."
    There was nothing to do but try it.   Starstreak had to
 push the boys onto the structure.  I couldn't get any closer
 than ten yards or so: when I hit the field my TK started going
 flaky and I dropped like a rock.  Evidently the Pack's powers
 weren't affected by the field.
    The two girls joined me right above the Statue, where less
 than 50 feet now separated it from the ship.  "I don't think
 they're going to make it, do you?"  Molecula whispered in my
 ear.
    "I sure hope--" I said, measuring with my eye.  The ship
 was still moving, slower than before.
    "Could you -- could you pick up the statue?" said
 Starstreak, making little rainbow loops around me and her
 ethereal sister.  "Could you move _it_ instead?"
    "I don't know...." I said, letting my seeker sense wash
 over the monument.  It was all of one piece; structural girders
 bolted and reinforced all through it, metal welded to metal,
 metal sunk in concrete, stone mortared together.  "There's no
 place I can just take it apart, and have any chance of putting
 it back together again," I said.
    "But if the ship hits the Statue, it's gonna damage it
 anyway," said Molecula.  "You'd be more careful, anyway."
    She was right and I opened my mouth to tell her so when an
 all-too-familiar voice spoke up behind me.  "Under the
 circumstances I shall not remonstrate with you for your failure
 to take the children home as I requested."
    I turned.  "Fa--"  I caught myself in confusion at what
 I'd almost said.  There was no time for dealing with a personal
 relationship that had suddenly steered wide of what I'd thought
 it would be.  "Magneto!" I said.  "I can't stop the ship!"
    Magneto raised an eyebrow at my slip, glanced upward at
 the diminishing gap.  "The lads are doing their best," he said. 
 "Pity it isn't enough."  He raised his hands and bright lines of
 power flared out, carefully missing the spot where the boys
 still worked at disintegrating.
    I watched his face as he worked, stern and determined.  He
 frowned as he brought his arms down.  "If I had more time," he
 said.  "The ship is protected in several ways."
    "Oh, _please_ save the Statue of Liberty, Mr. Magneto,"
 Starstreak said tearfully.
    "I have not failed yet," he said.  He was still,
 concentrating.  "How simple," he said.  "What is the American
 expression?  'Don't raise the bridge, lower the water?'"
    He gestured again, and his power flowed over Lady Liberty.
  With a creak and a groan, the great metal statue bent at the
 waist.  The ship would clearly miss it now.
    "Oh!"  I said.  There was a cheer from the kids.
    "Messieurs Bertholdi et Eiffel surely did not foresee this
 day when they built an all-metal statue," he said.  "A provident
 choice of materiel."
    Destroyer and Counterweight floated down from the tailpipe
 and I caught the younger brother by the hand to hold him in
 place.  We all watched as the ship, seeming to speed up now,
 passed through the space where the Statue's massive head and
 torch had formerly occupied.
    "You're going to be able to put it back, aren't you?"
 Counterweight asked hesitantly.
    "Indeed," Magneto said.  Again, he sent his power forth
 and the great statue straightened, dimples in her green copper
 skin straightening out as brightness played over them.  "As good
 as new," he said.  "In fact, I've reversed some oxidation and
 improved the structure slightly."
    "Cool!" Counterweight said.  Magneto's eyes twinkled as he
 looked at me.
    The ship was falling towards Manhattan now.  "It's going
 to land in the harbor!"  I said.  "Look at it go!"  Luckily
 there were no ships in its path and it landed with a great
 splash, the "bow" coming to rest on X-Factor headquarters on the
 shore.
    "Uh-oh," I said.  There was a mini-tsunami developing as
 the ripples spread out from the ship.  "I'll get that," I said
 and dropped to just above the water level in front of Liberty
 Island.  As the big wave approached I hardened the air into a
 wedge, forcing the wave to break well off-shore and swing around
 the island.
    I watched the wave recede toward the Jersey shore. It was
 mostly deserted wharves and warehouses, so far as I could see
  -- nothing I had to worry about then. I heard a clicking,
 snapping noise and looked around to see the crowd of tourists
 who'd been standing on Liberty Island were clustered around the
 wall at the front of the island taking my picture. I flew back
 up to where Magneto and Power Pack hovered in front of Lady
 Liberty.
    "Very good, Jessica," Magneto said. He didn't hover so
 much as he solidly _stood_ on the firm floor of a magnetic force
 field. "Your control of a large area field is impressive."
    His expression was not at all mocking. "I did what I
 could," I said shyly. _I almost called him 'father,'_ I thought.
 It had slipped out in a moment of stress.  I'd just been in his
 head and now I felt so confused about everything I'd ever
 thought about him.
    "It is high time you were getting home," he said. I looked
 up and realized he was addressing Power Pack.
    "But what about X-Factor?" Counterweight piped up. "You
 said you'd go after them --"
    Magneto shifted his eyes speculatively towards the now
 quiescent ship. "So I shall," he said, "But I shall take time
 first to see you are sent home."
    "I can take them," I said a little guiltily. "We really
 _were_ headed there--"
    "Save the explanations for later," he said.
    There was a flash of white light on the statue's torch
 next to us: Illyana's stepping disk, with Illyana in it. She put
 her hands on her hips. "I've chased you over half of Manhattan!"
 she said to me. "You kept moving around -- I'd just find
 someplace to stand and off you'd go!"
    "Illyana," Magneto said in an even, firm voice. "I have no
 time for questions or explanations of why you are pursuing
 Jessica _or_ what you are doing in Manhattan. You will now
 assist Jessica in seeing these children home. You will then
 return for me. I shall be at the ship."
    Illyana's lips pursed in a firm little line.  She put her
 hands together and salaamed. "'As you command, Master,'" she
 said. White stepping disks welled up and swallowed us all except
 the Master of Magnetism.
    
    * * *
 
    "Hey!" said Counterweight. "Where is this place?"
    "Welcome to Limbo," said Illyana. "Sort of a way station
 for lost souls and kids on their way home."
    "Don't worry," I said to the kids, "She's a friend and on
 our side." Little Katie relaxed, and so did her oldest brother.
 Thoughtfully I added, "And her brother is an X-Man."
    Counterweight goggled, "Really?" he said in a voice that
 almost cracked with curiosity.
    After that, matters went much more smoothly. I convinced
 Power Pack that Illyana could be trusted with the secret of
 their address and she teleported us to the roof of the apartment
 building -- just as their mother came walking tiredly up the
 street to their front door. The kids said goodbye and scrambled
 for the stairs. Illyana and I shamelessly eavesdropped above
 their window until we were assured everything was hunky-dory.
    "Back to the ship?" I said quietly.
    "Sounds good to me," she said. "Listen... don't let Maggie
 get to you.  We did the right thing and he's just gonna have to
 accept it."
    "'Darling, I didn't know you cared,'" I said lightly, and
 she laughed.
    Another _wrench_, a stop off in Limbo, another _wrench_;
 we were back on top of the ship. There was a crowd of people on
 it -- the press was interviewing X-Factor! Someone turned and
 said, "Hey -- there's more of them!" and some of the reporters
 who weren't on the inside circle around X-Factor came running
 over to us.  I thanked my lucky stars I still had my helmet on.
    "[Drat it all!]" said Illyana softly in Russian, "[I
 screwed up that jump -- we missed some time here.]"
    "[Oh boy]," I said.
    "How did it feel to save the city?" said the first
 reporter and they just about surrounded us, the questions coming
 thick and fast -- did we know Magneto, had Apocalypse really
 gotten away?
    "Wonderful, does anybody really, what do you think?"
 Illyana said equably while I gaped at the microphones and lenses
 being thrust in my face.
    There was a pushing in the crowd and Jean came walking
 through into our circle. She caught my eye and gave me a wink.
 "And these are two of our friends who came to help us in our
 fight against Apocalypse," she said, standing between us and
 putting friendly arms on each of our shoulders. The press
 snapped away -- and that's when some photographer took the
 picture of the three of us that ended up on the front page of
 one of New York's lesser tabloids.
    While the flashes strobed, Jean leaned over and whispered
 into my helmet, "I thought Magneto said he told you to go home."
    I smiled for the press and then whispered back to her. "We
 couldn't leave, not knowing whether you were okay."
    "Thanks," she said quietly.  "But with the press here, we
 can't talk in private. We'll try to visit in the next few days,
 okay?"
    "Sounds good to me," I said in an equally quiet tone.
    Illyana was still "answering" questions while we talked.
 The information content was nil, of course, but she seemed to be
 enjoying herself greatly.
    I caught her eye and nodded.  "It's time for us to go
 now," she said, bowing slightly and moving to stand next to me. 
 "Smile for the cameras," she said to me, her arm around my
 shoulders.  The flashes of the reporter's cameras shifted into a
 general white light as we 'ported away.
    
    * * *
 
 Somehow, I'd imagined we'd have a welcoming committee back at
 the mansion.  Illyana put us back right where we'd started from,
 the big entrance foyer.  There was no one in sight, and somehow,
 something felt wrong.  I looked at the grandfather clock; it was
 barely four hours since we'd left on our rescue mission to
 Manhattan.  We must have lost at least an hour on the bad jump. 
 I looked around, said, "Are you sure you got us back the right
 _day_?"
    Illyana gave me half-a-smile.  "Haven't made a mistake
 like that in a while," she shrugged.  "Think I got it right.
  Let's go check."
    I felt as though we walked through a deserted house for
 the first time; though I could hear faint talking and knew we
 were not alone.  "Can you feel it?" I said to Illyana, "like a
 sense of... doom or something?"
    She considered this.  "Nah," she said.  "Everybody's down
 in the basement."
    To get to the underground complex we passed right by the
 living room, where the TV set was turned on, the sound low.
  There were three heads poking up behind the sofa back: Dani's,
 Rahne's, and Amara's curly  blonde one.
    There was some sort of news report on the TV; I could see
 a reporter talking to the camera with "Dallas, Texas" and the
 CNN logo imposed over her.
    Amara's head turned.  "You're back!  One less worry,
 then," she said, getting up and coming to the doorway.  
    Dani was right behind her.  "So what took you so long?"
 she said.
    "Glad to see you, too," I said.  "We were fine until the
 last jump, where we lost a couple hours."
    "Hey," she said, and shook her head.  "I was about ready
 to chew my nails up to elbow length.  But Maggie ordered us to
 sit tight--"
    "What's up?" Illyana said, jutting her chin at the
 babbling TV.
    "The X-Men are in Dallas," Amara said.  "There's some kind
 of trouble -- some threat to reality called the Adversary
 they're fighting." Her voice lowered.  "I do not think the
 battle goes well."
    "Where's everyone else?"  I said.
    "They'll be down in the media center," Amara said, her
 eyes looking back to the screen.  Despite her composure, Amara
 was worried, which worried me.  Amara never wasted energy
 getting upset over little things.
    Illyana picked up on this as well.  "I'm glad Peter and
 Kitty are safe in Scotland."  She looked again at the TV set.
  "Let's go to the media center," she said to me.  "If only to let
 them know we've shown up."
    I turned to go and turned back before Amara had gone back
 to the couch.  "'Lito -- how is he?" I said.
    She smiled gracefully.  "Resting in the infirmary with
 Roulette and Catseye," she said.  "Sharon put them off limits so
 they can rest -- Catseye was in a particularly bad way.
  However, I doubt she would object if you looked in for just a
 minute."
    "They'll be staying for a while?" I said.  
    "The White Queen will call for them tomorrow," she said.
    "Hey, they're showing more pictures," Dani said.  "Looks
 like the real fight is starting!"
    "We'd better get downstairs," said Illyana.
    The media center allows the X-Men to monitor almost all of
 the world's major broadcast channels, as well as major computer
 newswires such as UPI and Reuters.  Magneto, Dr. MacTaggert, and
 the others were watching the big screen showing CNN while the
 other sets showed network anchors trying to describe what they
 were seeing on CNN.  
    Illyana opened her mouth with such a sarcastic look that I
 poked her before she spoke.  "It's not the time for a joke," I
 whispered.  Evidently a camera crew had gone along with the
 X-Men, wherever they were, broadcasting back to Dallas.
    "It's Storm!" Doug said.  "She's got her powers back!"
    Magneto left his chair and came to the doorway where we
 stood.  "You were further detained?" he said.
    "Mistimed my next-to-last jump," said Illyana with a moue.
  "I didn't want to risk any potential paradoxes by trying to make
 up for it."
    He shook his head.  "I feared to have set out in search of
 you both."  Even _he_ was glancing back at the screen; the X-Men
 were supposedly his friends, now.  "We'll debrief as soon as the
 _other_ situation resolves.  Illyana, if you would rest as much
 as possible -- there may be need of your services soon."
    "Why don't I take you there now?" she said.  "They're in
 Dallas, right?"
    "_Illyana_--" Magneto said.  "The X-Men are in another
 dimension whose portal is presently in Dallas.  There seems to
 be an impenetrable barrier about it -- so we could not help in
 any case."  He put his hand on her shoulder.  "And lastly, you
 are weary.  You have already misjudged one jump already.  Rest
 as much as possible.  If there is need, I'll call you."
    Illyana's face wavered between defiance and weariness.
  "Trust me," Magneto said, and she nodded, finally.
    "I'm headed to the infirmary," I said.
    Magneto nodded.  I looked up at him and had a feeling of
 double vision.  I saw the man who had fathered me and tried to
 take over the world several times; and the quiet soul who longed
 for happiness for the children who'd been given into his care.
  Having had him in my head, however briefly, had confused me more
 than I knew how to comprehend.
    "Perhaps it would be a good idea for Sharon to check you
 over," he said.  He'd put his hand on my shoulder and I hadn't
 noticed him doing it.  I had to be unwell.
    "I think I'll crash down there," said Illyana.  To
 Magneto, she added, "You know where to find me if you need me."
    
    * * *
 
 The infirmary's lights were dimmed.  Sharon was in a chair
 next to Roulette's bed.  The young Hellion was sitting up
 sipping a glass of fruit juice and watching CNN.  Beyond her I
 could see 'Lito and Catseye asleep.
    Sharon quietly greeted us.  Illyana declined medical aid,
 kicked off her boots and laid down on one of the unoccupied
 beds.
    "How about you -- need any doctoring?" said Sharon.
    "I'm not bragging or anything," I said.  "But I didn't
 take so much as a scratch."
    "You had us worried," Sharon said.  "When you were knocked
 through the Daily Bugle building...."
    "Wait a sec'," I said.  "How did you know I got knocked
 through a building?"
    "There was a news crew up on roof of the next building,"
 she said.
    "What did you call it -- the Daily Bugle? As in the
 tabloid?  I never caught the name,"  I said.  
    "I hope you didn't rile the editor," Sharon said.  "J.
 Jonah Jameson is down on superheroes at the best of times."
    I recognized that name.  "Oh, well," I said.  "Too late."
    "Come quick," said Roulette.  She looked terribly thin
 still.  The TV was showing the X-Men about to undergo a magical
 ceremony.  Sharon and I went to sit by her -- I moved another
 chair over.
    "Oh no -- oh no!"  Roulette murmured as the Indian
 outlined his plan to stop the Adversary.  Nine people had to die
 to fulfill it -- the only problem was there were only six X-Men
 there to participate: Storm, Havok, Wolverine, Dazzler,
 Psylocke, Rogue, and Longshot.  "They're _heroes_," she said to
 me tearfully.  "They can't die."
    I took her hand.  On my other side, Sharon put hers in
 mine as well.  "They'll do it too," she said quietly.
    The NPR cameraman Neil Conan and Scott's estranged wife
 Madelyne Pryor volunteered to make up the quorum.  I watched it
 all, as "Forge" spoke his spell and the volunteers went out in a
 great flash of white light.  Even though I had never met these
 people I was still touched by their bravery, and I was so very
 glad of the human comfort of two warm hands in mine.
    Then the TV cut away; the dimensional portal opened and
 Forge and the female reporter walked out; the darkness over
 Dallas cleared.  The commentator was talking a mile a minute --
 "Can this, then, be the end of the X-Men -- time and time again
 they have disappeared from public view, only to reappear when
 least expected--"
    I turned the volume down with my TK.  Sharon was crying
 openly and Roulette's eyes were wet.  "I can't believe it,"
 Sharon said, her tears belying her words.  "How will we go on
 without them?"
    I didn't cry; there was just a great pressure in my chest.
  I remembered War dying in front of me; grateful to have an
 honorable death, telling me not to mourn but to live right.
  "We'll do our best," I said to her, to myself. "We must."
    
    The story will be concluded in
    Kid Dynamo Chapter 12:
    "Family Feud"
 
    This story (c) 1992 Connie Hirsch
    The New Mutants, Magneto, the Hellions, Loki, the Hellfire
 Club, the Horsemen of the Apocalpse, Spiderman, the Avengers,
 Power Pack and all constituent characters (c) 1992 Marvel Comics
 Group.  
    This story is not for sale and is not to be distributed
 without permission of the author.
 
    

--
**(Connie Hirsch  still: fuzzy@athena.mit.edu no longer: chirsch@lotus.com)**
        Oh life is a glorious cycle of song/ A medley of extemporanea       
   And love is a thing that can never go wrong/ And I am Marie of Roumania.    
						-Dorothy Parker
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