Age of X-Man: Nextgen #5

The Hope Summers Memorial Library, which is currently ablaze after a bomb was set off on the top floor. Civilians run in panic from the ground floor of the library, while on the top floor, among the rubble and debris, Victor Borkowski a.k.a. Anole lies motionless on a staircase. 'There he is!' someone calls out as Hisako Ichiki a.k.a. Armor, Santo Vaccarro a.k.a. Rockslide and Robert “Glob” Herman rush towards him. 'Oh my God, Anole...what did you do?' Armor asks as she kneels beside Anole and helps him sit up. Anole coughs, and utters that he tried to get the people away. Glob tells Armor that she isn't supposed to move him, as his neck could be broken. Anole assures his friends that he is okay, before asking if anyone died. 'I don't think so' Rockslide responds, while Armor informs Anole that a lot of people are hurt, and asks him why he did this, admitting she doesn't understand. Armor tries to touch Anole's face, but he pushes her hand away, and looks to the floor. Anole gets to his feet, and explains that he wanted to end the lies – he didn't want to hurt anyone.

Suddenly: 'Freeze – do not move!' a voice shouts, and the young mutants turn to see Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman and Jean-Paul Beaubier a.k.a. Northstar, two Department X operatives, race towards them. 'That's my line, Northstar!' Iceman complains. Northstar frowns and tells Iceman that this is no time for his attempts at humor, before instructing Anole, Armor, Glob and Rockslide to place their hands behind their heads and drop to their knees – as they are under arrest! 'Crap' Armor mutters, while Rockslide asks what they do, as they can't fight Department X. 'but they'll... who knows what they'll do to Anole' Glob points out, while Armor tells her friends that it isn't just Anole, and to look at it from Department X's point of view – it looks like all four of them did this. 'I suggest you do what the flying man says. No reason to make this any more difficult than it already is' Fred Dukes a.k.a. Blob calls out as he and Betsy Braddock a.k.a. Psylocke walk towards the students. 'Just come with us' Psylocke tells the young mutants. 'Guys... on my word... RUN!' Armor exclaims as she leads her friends away from the Department X clerks.

The young mutants crash out of the side of the library and free-fall several floors towards the ground. 'We're going to die. We're going to die. We're going to die' Glob utters over and over, before Armor extends her force field around the others, 'No one's going to die!' she tells them as she hurls them through a window of a nearby building, and tells them to keep running, that she will catch up. 'Running where, though?' Rockslide asks. 'Away!' Armor responds, while on the edge of the library, Bobby grins and declares that they have a chase on their hands. 'This is not a good thing, Bobby' Jean-Paul mutters, to which Bobby points out that there is nothing wrong with a little excitement once in a while. Betsy instructs Jean-Paul and Bobby to go high while she and Blob heads them off on the ground.

'Pardon us. Sorry for the interruption' Glob tells people in the other building as he, Anole and Rockslide run past them.

On the street below, Armor goes over to a man who is about to get into a white van and tells him that she needs to borrow his van. 'What? I... who are -' the confused man begins to reply, while someone shouts 'Stop right there!'

'Come on, kids. You may as well give up. There's nowhere to go' Bobby calls out as he ice-sleds after the young mutants, while Northstar flies alongside him. Anole glances back at them, but keeps on running.

Back on the street, Psylocke walks towards Armor, her hands held up, 'You're Hisako, right? My name is Psylocke. I talked to your class a few days ago' Betsy reminds Armor, and tells her that they can sort out this whole mess, that she is sure it is just a misunderstanding. 'I'm sorry. We... we can't' Armor replies.

'Leave us alone!' Rockslide exclaims as he throws some furniture towards Iceman, knocking him backwards.

Psylocke is knocked backwards too as Armor goes up to her and slams her force field into her. 'I'm so, so sorry' Armor calls out.

The impact of the furniture slamming into Bobby hurls him back into Northstar.

'What now?' Anole wonders as he, Glob and Rockslide arrive on a corner. 'Hey! Get in!' Armor calls out as she pulls up beside them in the stolen white van.

The Blob calls out to Psylocke, rushing towards her as Betsy struggles to get to her feet. Blob puts his hands on Betsy as he helps her up and asks her if she is okay. 'No' Betsy replies, admitting that she let her guard down, thought she could talk Armor into coming in. 'It was foolish of me' she adds, before the Blob asks after the others, but Betsy tells him that she doesn't know. Betsy telepathically contacts Bobby and Northstar and asks them if they stopped the kids. 'Ahh... we ran into some trouble' Bobby responds, while Northstar admits that they lost them. 'Damn it' Betsy mutters. Blob tells Betsy that the kids blew up the library, that they have resorted to terrorist tactics, and coupled with what was in Glob's journal, he thinks they need to call in the X-Men on this one. Betsy just frowns.

One week later, images of Armor, Anole, Glob and Rockslide appear on a news announcement, as the reporter states that Department X is still on the lookout for four Summers Institute students who went missing last week. Dean Angel appears on the news announcement, remarking that they are deeply concerned for the well-being of their students and just want to ensure that they are not in any danger. He adds that they would like to implore the public to be on the lookout for Anole, Armor, Glob and Rockslide, and ask that they do not approach the students as they may be easily frightened. At a convenience store in Rapid City, South Dakota, a young woman with blonde hair looks at a television which is displaying the news report as she places several bottles of water on the counter. 'That's a lot of food and drink for one person. You going campin' or something?' the store clerk asks. 'Something like that, yeah' the blonde woman replies, listening as Angel tells viewers that if they see the students to contact Department X immediately. 'And students, if you're out there – please get in touch with us. Let us know where you are' he remarks. The clerk packs the young woman's food and drinks and tells her that with the gas the cost is nineteen dollars and 6 cents. 'Here. Keep the change' the woman replies, handing the man a twenty dollar note as she heads out of the store.

'Finally! I'm starved!' Rockslide exclaims as the blonde woman gets into the van. 'We're all over the news' the blonde woman reports. Glob asks her what they are saying. 'That we're missing. And they're concerned about us. No word about the explosion' she adds. 'That's something, at least' Glob remarks. 'Are you kidding?' Anole asks as he takes the bag of food and looks through it, telling his friends that it means they are covering it up, that they don't want anything to disrupt their little utopia. 'Egg salad sandwich. Gross' Anole mutters, adding that he bets they have wiped the explosion from everyone's minds by now. He starts eating a sandwich and declares that if they didn't have Glob here make them wax shields every night, he bets that they would have forgotten, too, although he wonders how much longer they have before it is discovered they know how to protect themselves and some sort of work-around is found. Hisako removes the blonde wig and tells her friends that, either way, they need to get to Quadra Island quickly. She reveals that they are running out of money, and points out that it is only a matter of time before someone recognizes them or this stolen van. Anole tells Armor that it is so cool she actually jacked a van, but Armor tells him to shut up.

The next day, deep within the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington, Glob and Rockslide cover the van with leaves and branches, while Armor starts a small fire. Anole goes and sits next to her as she tells her friends that she never thought that she would be a fugitive on the run from the law, hiding out in the woods and eating food over a fire. She puts a sausage on a spike as she prepares to cook it over the fire, while Anole tells the others that he is sorry, and that they should have just left him, that he didn't want to get anyone else involved. Armor assures Anole that they wouldn't have left him behind, that's not what friends do. 'If Department X had caught you... they would have... you know. Third strike and you're gone' Glob points out, but Anole tells Glob that he doesn't know, that he has never explained.

Glob pauses, before informing his friends that for the longest time he felt like he was crazy, that maybe he was losing his mind – everyone believed that this place was real, but he knew it wasn't, that it couldn't be. But he remembers where they came from, he remembers who they really were. 'But if everyone believed it was real maybe it was and I was wrong? Maybe I was...maybe there was something wrong with me. But then, when I started noticing changes... people who became problems... who acted out... kept disappearing. I don't know where they went. Only that it was like they were never there. No one remembered them. Except me' Glob explains. Glob continues, telling his friends that hopefully, by tomorrow, he can show them what he already knows, that the Life Seed is still on that beach. He adds that if they find the Life Seed and prove it wasn't destroyed in the Resolution, that it is still intact then they can show that everyone is being lied to. Rockslide tells Glob tha he hopes so, as he hates to think they became fugitives for nothing. Anole eats a sausage as he tells Glob that he believes him. Glob thanks his friends, then they fall silent around the fire.

The next day, the four young mutants walk across the shore of Quadra Island, British Columbia, Canada. 'Here' Glob calls out, before dropping to his knees, he runs his fingers through the sand and declares that this is where he was – X-Man – right before everything changed, before they ended up...how they are. Glob lets some sand fall through his hands, 'It's got to be...' he begins, but finds nothing. 'I...I swear it was right here' he utters, turning back to his friends, he declares that he must have misremembered, that it's here somewhere, he asks them to help him look. Santo, Victor and Hisako drop to the sand and begin digging through it. 'Glob, are you sure -' Anole asks, forlorn. 'IT'S HERE! KEEP DIGGING!' Glob exclaims. He knows it is here, as he saw it. Suddenly, he looks up as a voice calls out 'There is nothing there, my child'.

'Glob Herman has taken the four of you on a fool's errand. The Life Seed is not here. It has never been here!' Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm declares as she arrives via teleportation along with her fellow X-Men Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler, Lin Li a.k.a. Nature Girl, Laura Kinnry a.k.a. X-23, Erik Lensherr a.k.a. Magneto and the friend of the fugitive mutants Megan Gwynn a.k.a. Pixie. Nightcrawler informs the young mutants that Department X told them the truth about them, and warns them that they are in a lot of trouble. 'Please listen to them guys...they're just trying to help' Pixie calls out to her friends. 'Pixie?' Armor exclaims, surprised to see her, while Glob  asks Armor if they fight the X-Men. 'Fight the X-Men?' Anole exclaims. He throws his hands to his head and tells the others that they can't fight the X-Men. He thanks his friends for helping him the best they could, but he can't let them do this. 'I've already caused the three of you enough trouble. Not anymore' Anole tells his friends.

'This is crap' Armor mutters as X-23 places some cuffs on her, and Magneto does the same to Anole. Glob looks at Pixie and asks her how she found them. 'With your journal' Pixie replies, smiling as she holds Glob's journal up. She remarks that all the clues were in there, so it wasn't hard to figure out where they would be headed. 'Hey, that's mine! You can't -' Glob exclaims, reaching out for his journal, Pixie holds it away from him. Nightcrawler leaps onto Glob and forces him to the ground, 'Quite a fiction you wrote' he remarks. 'Glob's just a confused kid with an overactive imagination. I don't know how you all fell for it' Pixie remarks. Glob looks up at Nightcrawler and asks him what he is going to do to them. 'I'm sure that Department X will have a suitable punishment arranged' someone announces.

Several days later, within the Danger Room prison complex, Glob sits at the end of a long line of partitioned tables, a tray of food in front of him. He looks over to the other prisoners who are lined up to collect their trays of food, and notices Anole. He looks away, as a voice calls out 'Hey there. Mind if I sit here?' It's Armor, and Glob tells her 'Yeah... I mean, sure...please'. Armor sits down in the seat next to Glob, while Anole comes along and asks if the seat next to her is taken. As he starts to sit down though, the Beast, sitting at another table calls out 'Hey... come sit with us. We stick to our own kind in here. Ferals eat with the ferals'. Glob turns away and sees Rockslide carrying his tray, but Rockslide walks right past Glob and the others. Armor smiles at Glob and introduces herself as Hisako, adding that she is new here, holding her hand out. Glob looks at her hand, to which Armor tells him that this is usually the point where he would shake her hand and tell her his name. But Glob quickly stands up, causing his tray of food to clatter to the floor as he runs away.

Glob rushes into his cell and takes a piece of paper and a small pencil out from under his pillow, where he begins to write:

My name is Glob Herman.

What follows is everything I can remember about the world before we came here. An official account of the truth.

I only hope that one day, someone can use this to somehow undo what has been done to us.

But please be careful with this information. I tried to expose the truth. I tried to fix the world. All I wanted to do was to protect my friends. But instead... instead, I damned them to live out the rest of their lives in prison.

Their minds have been wiped. They don't recognize one another. Armor tried to introduce herself to me today, as though we'd never met, but I think I've messed up her life... their lives... enough. Part of me is glad they don't remember. I couldn't look into their eyes knowing that this is all my fault. That this happened because they listened to me.

It's better that they forget... the same way that I'm sure the world has forgotten us by now. And maybe that's for the best. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I am crazy. Maybe everyone else was right. Maybe this is our real world. Maybe this is where we really belong.

Life goes on for the students of the Summers Institute. Shark Girl sits alone in the cafeteria, watching the movies featuring Nightcrawler that are displayed on monitors around the cafe. Bling smiles at Pixie, who sits next to her, and later, Pixie listens attentively in her civics class. Angel smiles and waves at students who pass him on the school grounds.

The chickens, Scott, Logan and Hope, peck at the ground, and suddenly look up, as the young twin mutants Manon and Maxime appear, and begin to feed them. 'You know what?' Maxime asks his sister. 'I can't remember who told us...but this is pretty relaxing' he remarks. 'Yes, a nice way to forget about your worries for a few moments, non?' Maxime agrees as the sunsets behind them.