X-Men of Tomorrow
                          by Ben Church
     The X-Men and Gyric are the property of Marvel 
Comics.  Mulder and Scully are owned by either Ten 
thirteen Studios, or Fox.  The Tomorrow People are the 
property of Nickelodeon Studios.  Shade, Max, Flash and 
The Cat belong to the one the only....TWIST!

                            Chapter 2
Westchester County, New York
April 15
9:20 am
     Hotshot stepped quietly out of the silent mansion. 
 It occurred to him that there would usually be someone 
up by now, but he didn't worry about it.  He checked the 
film in the camera, and hefted the megaphone he'd gotten 
from his room, and grinned.  "Fall asleep in my company 
will they?" he thought.
     He crept back to the van and looked inside.  Much 
to his delight, they were all still asleep.  He opened 
the door as quietly as he could.  Then he brought the 
megaphone to his lips and took a deep breath.
     "WAAAAKE UP!!!"  The sight of all occupants of the 
van jump two feet in the air, was one that Hotshot was 
glad he'd just gotten on film.  It was definitely a 
Kodak moment.
     "I'm gonna kill you bunghole!" Jubilee shouted.  He 
dodged as she came for him.  Hotshot laughed.  The rest 
got out of the van grumbling.
     "Hey wait a minute," Hotshot said, seriously.  
"Where's Storwell?"  Marrissa had not gotten out of the 
van with the others.
     He went into the back of the van, and found Shade 
still asleep.  "My god," he thought.  "She could sleep 
through an attack by Apocalypse."  He bent over her to 
shake her.
     Suddenly her eyes opened.
     "BOO!" she yelled in his ear.  He jerked back and 
fell out of the van on his ass.  "You really thought I 
was asleep didn't you?"
     "Yes I did."
     "Acting!" she said in a perfect imitation of Jon 
Lovitz.
     "Hey Fearless Leader!" Jubilee said impatiently.  
"Where is everybody."
     "It's only 9:20 Lee.  They're probably all still 
asleep."
     "Hello?  Anybody home?" she asked irritably.  "How 
many X-Men do you know who sleep this late?"
     "Um actually, just you.  You're right.  Let's check 
it out.  Everybody be on your toes."  They entered the 
mansion and Hotshot was suddenly struck by the deafening 
silence.  He'd been too worked up about his prank to 
notice it before.
     "Shaw and Maxwell, search the grounds.  I'll check 
with Cerebro." Hotshot said.
     "Um," Max began.  "Which Maxwell?"
     "Flash."  The search for the missing X-Men was on.

Silver Diner, Rockville Maryland
April 16
11:50 a.m.
     It hadn't been nearly as hard to find the Silver 
Diner as Scully had feared.  Her mother had eaten there 
before and gave them directions.
     Mulder sat next to Scully in a secluded booth in 
the corner of the restaurant, across from Gyric and a 
man introduced to them as Major Damon, from some obscure 
branch of the military.  Mulder was immediately 
suspicious.
     Mulder looked over the folder that Gyric had given 
him.
     "It says that there has been a previous 
investigation led by Mr. Damon here, marked inconclusive 
and closed."  He looked at Bill questioningly.
     Bill looked slightly uncomfortable.
     "I discovered that one of the men involved in the 
investigation, Col. Masters was working for another 
organization.  So I ended the investigation."
     Mulder could tell that Bill was not telling them 
the whole truth, but he let it rest for the moment.  
Most likely it was a cover up or something.
     "Well, I guess the first thing to do is to check 
the sites where the children vanished from."  He held 
the pictures of the five children who'd vanished.
     The first was an Australian boy who'd disappeared 
two years ago from his home, and had not been seen 
since.  
     Another was a short brown haired boy from England. 
 He'd vanished from a public bus on his way to school, 
and had reappeared later that day, on the same bus.  
Soaking wet, and with seaweed stuck to him.
     There were two black girls.  One from the states, 
and one from England.  The American girl had vanished in 
the middle of a talent show.  She'd shown up later at 
her home, unharmed.  there was not much on the British 
girl.
     The last one was a tall red haired boy named 
Marmaduke.  "With a name like that, I'd want to 
disappear too." Mulder thought.  Then he looked at the 
boy's family history.  He was the son of...
     Mulder looked at Bill.  "No wonder he canceled the 
investigation." he thought.  "So now why would he be 
cooperating now?"
     "Well," said Scully.  "We'll get right on it, and 
report to you-"

     "Whenever you have anything to report." Gyric 
ordered.  "You have our numbers."
     "Of course." Scully said, slightly put out.  
"Bill?"
     "I've got some leads of my own.  I'll get back to 
you."
     As Scully and Mulder left the diner and walked to 
the car, Scully turned on Mulder.
     "I know that look Mulder!  You think those kids 
were abducted by aliens don't you?"  Mulder looked 
surprised.
     "Are you kidding?  That's a ridiculous idea!"  Now 
it was Scully's turn to look surprised.
     "Can it be you're finally coming to your senses?"
     Mulder smiled.
     "No Scully, I have a much stranger hypothesis this 
time."  They reached the car.  "You drive Scully, I want 
to look over these files."
     "What's your theory this time?" Scully asked, 
dreading the answer.
     "First of all, I have to tell you why I don't 
believe those kids were abducted.  The American girl 
disappeared during a talent show, several people were 
looking right at her.  The British boy vanished on a 
bus.  A full bus.  There's never been a case of aliens 
abducting anybody from such public places.  There've 
never been that many witnesses.
     "But look at the circumstances in which these kids 
disappeared.  The boy was being threatened by bullies.  
The girl's mother said that she was extremely nervous 
about the show."
     "Mulder are you saying that you think these kids 
made themselves disappear to escape these situations?"
     "It's a basic survival instinct Scully, escape."
     "That's not the point, Mulder.  There's absolutely 
no scientific basis for that."
     "Has that ever stopped me before?"
     Scully sighed.
     "No."

Somewhere in the Atlantic
April 16
12:00 p.m.
     Adam and Kevin sat in the wreck of the alien 
spacecraft.  Adam had just finished telling Kevin about 
what had happened to him in Australia.
     "Have you been able to find out why that robot was 
after you Adam?"
     "No Kevin I haven't.  I don't know anything about 
it."
     "Maybe it was built by the government to catch us." 
Kevin suggested.  "They've tried before.  Or wait!" 
Kevin liked his next theory even more.  "Suppose the 
Aliens who built this ship had enemies, and that robot 
came from them!"
     "Kevin," Adam said smiling.  "I think you watch to 
many movies."
     *Yo guys!* Megabyte's voice sounded in their heads.
     *What's wrong?* Adam asked.
     *You'd better come over here.  We've got more 
problems than one.*  Adam looked at Kevin and shrugged. 
 They teleported to Megabyte's house.
     "Now," Adam asked.  "What's wrong?"
     "This." Megabyte said, and pointed to the answering 
machine.  The tape began to play.
     "Megabyte," Megabyte's father's voice said.  "I 
need you and your friends to lay low for a while.  A man 
named Henry P. Gyric has reopened the case on you guys. 
 I'll tell you more when I can.  Bye."
     "Do you suppose this man Gyric might have something 
to do with that robot Adam?" Kevin asked.
     "He just might." Adam replied.

To be continued...